Puppies or Painkillers?
A university called Chapman U organizes and program called “Furry Friends for Finals” in which students can pet one of ten puppies stationed outside the library the week before exams as a means to de-stress.
Going Rogue
Another naturopathic exam session has come and gone. The end of our last midterm week tucked an uncomfortable 49 exams (in less than two years) under our already stuffed belts. Despite the over-stuffing of knowledge (taxing our Spleens, according to TCM, which is the equivalent of overeating at a buffet), I can’t help but feel empty at the end of these week-long ordeals.
Finding My Motivation
This morning I dropped J off at the airport as he caught the 8am flight back to Bogotá, Colombia. These past two weeks, where I showed him a bit of my world, after sharing his for two years, in both Bogotá and Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, were a whirlwind of activity. He met all of my family and enjoyed all the great things that Toronto has to offer.
6 Tips for Falling Asleep
Cortisol, the stress hormone, is released as part of a the Fight or Flight response. You’ve probably heard the story: back when we were huntering and gathering, when faced with a wild, sabor-toothed tiger, adrenaline was released, our blood vessels dilated, our hearts beat faster, our breath became rapid, blood was directed from our digestive organs to our muscles and we prepared ourselves to either confront the hairy beast or head for the hills (or up a tree)!
Now, instead of sabor-toothed tigers, we have exams, deadlines, tension-filled family dinners, presentations to give and blog articles to write. Instead of experiencing the Stress Response for a fleeting moment, we experience it continuously throughout our professional lives.
During a normal, healthy day, cortisol is high in the morning, when we wake up. This enables us to feel awake and leap out of bed with the bright-faced vigor of the hated “morning person”. It enables us to start our daily activities. Cortisol should level off throughout the day and then peter off right before bed time, as we digest our dinners, cuddle with loved ones before the fire and prepare to settle down for a nice, long sleep.
Unfortunately, that’s the picture of a balanced individual living in a stress-free world. In today’s world, because we are continuously living in sabor-toothed tiger-mode, our normal cortisol cycle is out of whack. Cortisol is sluggish in the morning when we haul ourselves out of bed (after hitting the snooze as many times as you can remember) and groggily start our day (with the help of the beloved espresso machine). In the afternoon we crash; we feel tired and useless all day long. Then, right before bed (I’m sure many of you have experienced this), we feel an energy we never thought possible. At 11pm we experience a cortisol high, characterized by a flurry of mental and physical activity, and find it impossible to fall asleep. It is common to hear people who suffer from chronic fatigue lament: “I wish I was as energetic throughout the day as I am at bedtime!” Of course, the harder it is for us to get to sleep, the less we sleep and the worse we feel in the morning, worsening the cycle.
Here are some tips to attempt to break the cycle and prepare the body for bedtime:
1) Eliminate non-sleep activity in the bedroom. Reserve your bed and, preferably bedroom, for sleep and sex. Studying and doing work on your bed confuses the psyche. Only entering the bed when it’s time for sleep, signals to the brain that it’s time to rest.
2) Keep the bedroom dark. Even a minimal amount of light can lower melatonin levels, an important sleep hormone, and make it harder to fall asleep.
3) Limit the exposure to electronics (laptops, television, smart-phones, etc.) 1-2 hours before bedtime. Not only does the light from these devices interfere with melatonin secretion, they also contribute to the secretion of cortisol by stimulating mental activity and, if the activity is work-related, generating stressful thought.
4) Begin a pre-sleep routine. It can be a simple meditation or a series of calming yoga poses (try “legs up the wall pose”, pictured below). You may simply choose to sit quietly in the dark. When I have trouble falling asleep I access an audio podcast meditation on meditationoasis.com. This helps me turn off the Fight or Flight response by calming my mind.
5) Consider magnesium supplementation. Magnesium is a natural muscle relaxant. Taking a dose before bedtime helps reduce the muscle tension we have built-up over the course of our stressful day and helps relax the body and prepare for restful sleep. Talk to your naturopathic doctor about correct dosing and to find out whether supplementing with magnesium is suitable for you.
6) Sleep like Buddha. According to Ayurvedic medicine, as taught in my continuing education course with Matthew Remski, the right side of the body is the Solar Side, and the left side the Lunar side. Before bed the left nostril should be more open than the right, indicating that our left, or lunar, side is more active. Try lying on your right side and, with your right pinky, block your right nostril. Breath through the left nostril for 15 minutes. You may find that your left nostril feels “stuffy” at first. This tells you that your lunar side has not yet been activated. Continue breathing only through the left nostril and you will find that, after a small amount of time, it begins to unblock and becomes the more active nostril. In the East, all statues of sleeping Buddha show him lying on his right side with his right hand under his head, as he shuts down his solar side and prepares for sleep.
In the morning you may want to try blocking the left nostril and breathing only through the right in order to activate your solar side as you begin the day.
*This article is not meant to diagnose or treat. Please visit a trained naturopathic doctor for an individual consultation and treatment plan tailored to your individual needs.
Slow Oats for a Rushed Morning
There are few things as comforting as being greeted by a steaming bowl of warm oatmeal on a cold winter morning. Unfortunately, who has the time to prepare a pot at 6:30 in the morning? Isn’t it a shame that we can’t all have our own personal chef who prepares a warm, nurturing and filling breakfast for us everyday?
Actually, there is a way that you can have your own personal chef that works while you sleep: dust off your slow cooker!
Slow Cooked Steel Cut Oatmeal with Apples, Cinnamon and Nutmeg
Steel cut oats are a minimally processed form of oat that usually takes 15-30 minutes to prepare (by simmering in a pot of water). They have a chewy texture and are low on the glycemic index (therefore a better option for those who are diabetic or pre-diabetic). They are slowly digested, gradually releasing sugar into the bloodstream, which helps keep you feeling satisfied for longer into the morning. Oats are a good source of fibre, which has been linked to a decrease in the incidence of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain cancers. Steel cut oats also contain soluble fibre, which has been shown to lower cholesterol levels.
Adding apple, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to steel cut oatmeal not only adds more fibre, a serving of fruit, but also adds a serving of healthy spices that regulate blood sugar (cinnamon), aid digestion (nutmeg) and warm the body on a cold morning (ginger).
Here’s how to make steel cut oatmeal in a slow cooker:
In the evening add to your slow cooker:
– 1 cup steel cut oats
– 4 cups of water
– 4-6 apples of your choice, cut into small pieces
– 1 tbsp of cinnamon (or more)
– 1/2 tbsp of nutmeg
– 1 piece of sliced ginger
Set slow cooker to LOW and allow to cook overnight (approximately 8 hours). In the morning, turn it off and serve oatmeal hot. Serves 4 people.
I often make enough Slow Oats to feed me for the week. I refrigerate the leftovers and microwave my portion in the morning.
Here’s to easy, delicious winter mornings where you can enjoy a hot morning meal while watching the snowfall and waiting for the rest of the world to wake up.
Living “I Am” Moments
Last semester I took the Ayurvedic Lifestyle course at CCNM, taught by Matthew Remski. In this course, one of the ideas that most resonated with me was the concept of “I Am” Moments. These are moments where the past and future fall away and we become ingrained in the present moment. Some of you might refer to them as moments of pure passion or exhilaration.
The best examples of I Am Moments are seen in animals. When I take my dog to High Park, the moment I reach down to unclasp his leash and set him free, he enters his state of “I Am.” Ears flying back, fur plastered against his face as he tears through the inner city forest, he loses all sense of past, present and future and becomes the being he was born to be. You can almost hear him exclaiming “I am I am I Am a DOG!”
He’s not self-conscious about the fact that his legs are flopping awkwardly behind him, that his body is too long or too low to the ground or that his fur is too shaggy. As he pauses for a second to turn to me with his mouth open in what can only be described as a “doggy smile”, I can almost hear him say, “thank you thank you thank you for not stuffing me into a purse and taking me to the mall. Thank you for letting me race, chase and roll in poop! Thank you for letting me be the way that nature designed me, thank you for letting me be a DOG!”
So, there you have it, an example of an “I Am” Moment.
I can perfectly identify my own I Am Moments, which I’ve experienced since childhood. I’m in a large, open space, full of art materials, where I am free to make a mess, get dirty and move freely, I have paints, canvasses, paper, pictures and glue. Whether I decide to paint a landscape or construct a giant papier maché bird mask, I am free to sculpt, to paint and to CREATE.
When I enter this state, time no longer seems to matter and I just melt into the moment. I feel that I am doing something perfectly natural for me and, in honouring nature, it is as if I enter into a state of Wholeness; I become a part of everything and everything becomes a part of me.
Your own I Am Moments may be stimulated by different things. You may have them when you run, dance, horseback ride or mountain climb. Perhaps you enter your I Am Moment when you take a patient history, solve a mathematical equation, buy and sell stocks, prepare a nutritious meal, teach a class, drive your car or relax with an inspiring book and a cup of steaming tea.
During these moments you lose a sense of the details of your life and of your problems, which no longer seem important or relevant. You cease to care about how your butt looks in your jeans, if you’re wearing the right shoes, if your hair is too frizzy or the fight you had with your mother. Your mind is absolutely clear of thoughts and you feel a sense of connection with the (excuse me) Divine. You feel as if you’re flowing with everything, as if you are part of the whole.
The point of this post is to get you to think about and honour these I Am Moments in your life. If you can’t put your finger on a specific time that you had a sense of I Am, I encourage you to think back to your childhood. Children continually operate out of “I Am” because they are naturally unself-conscious. That is, until they become corrupted with our adult insecurities and “lessons” about the importance of what others think. As a kid you operated from an uninhibited place, where you were stimulated by an awe of life and lived in the novelty of the present.
When you discover what triggers these moments in your life, make an effort to create time for them and use them as inspiration for the rest of your life. I Am Moments are the key to getting us back to our natural state; a state that is free of disease, in which the energy of our own vitality can flow freely.