Sleep is a mysterious thing to me. I know I need it. I sometimes crave it. But at times it feels like an interruption when I have so many things to do in a day. Since sleep is inevitable, and without enough of it you will develop a host of heath problems, do you ever wonder what goes on “behind the scenes” in your body, as you drift off to sleep at night? Sleep is truly an anti aging miracle.

First of all, the blood flow to you brain drops as it is redirected to other parts of your body like muscles and internal organs. You central nervous system rests so that you (usually) do not hear sounds, smells or other distractions. Your body temperature drops and your breathing, blood pressure, metabolism and heart rate all slow down as well.

Eventually your body will enter into a state of “deep” sleep. During this time, your pituitary gland will begin to release your human growth hormone or HGH in precisely the correct amount. HGH helps your body repair skins, organs and bones. It replenishes white blood cells that are used to fight off sickness, disease or infection. And it builds and repair muscles. Muscle tissues can only repair themselves while you sleep.

There are two types of sleep – rapid eye movement or REM and non-REM. During times of non interrupted sleep, your body goes through four stages of non-REM sleep. When you first settle into sleep you enter into stage 1 where sleep is the lightest. Stage 2 is a little deeper and brain activity starts to slow down. Finally you will enter stage 3 and stage 4. During these stages the brain waves, known as delta waves are even slower. This is called the deep sleep pattern. These four stages of sleep total about 90 minutes. So what happens the rest of the time?

Eventually your brain waves will increase again and you will enter REM sleep..Like the name says, Rapid Eye Movement will occur beneath your closed eyelids. But your muscles will stay pretty relaxed and this is the time when you will dream. This stage lasts only about 30 minutes. After REM sleep your body will begin the cycle all over again 4 or 5 more times through the rest of the night. During each cycle the non-REM, or deep sleep time will grow shorter and REM periods will lengthen. Without enough REM sleep, you may suffer with mental problems, like learning or remembering. But without deep non-REM sleep, your body begins to break down and become weak and even diseased.

Stress, physical pain, other medical conditions, medications, children, schedule differences from others in the home are just a few of the reasons why our sleep can be disrupted at night. Some people just wake up easier at night. Our sleep patterns even change as we grow older but the need for adequate sleep doesn’t change. Researchers have found that some older people do not produce enough melatonin that is needed for deep sleep. Melatonin is a hormone that the body naturally produces, but can diminish as we age. Melatonin can be found in supplement form is most, if not all health food stores.

5 Problems that proper sleep can help cure or avoid

1) Stroke – Sleep apnea is a problem that some people have. Sleep apnea is characterized by shallow or disrupted breathing patterns. In severe cases, some people stop breathing for a significant amount of time. This thief robs the brain of oxygen, upsetting heart rhythms and causing spikes in blood pressure. Ultimately, if left untreated this condition could cause a stroke.

2) Heart Attack – When breathing is disrupted, the blood does not get enough oxygen as well. This causes the heart muscle to work harder and in effect weaken. This can be really bad for people who already have heart disease.

3) Memory, Cognitive Function and Coordination – Getting enough of the right kind of sleep and your ability to learn and remember things improves as well. Your brain, like every other organ in your body needs rest to rejuvenate itself. Stage 2 sleep is need to improve motor skills and coordination.

4) Immune Function – Sleep helps speed up the healing process. During sleep your body replenishes it’s immune cells that are needed to fight infection and disease.

5) Accident Prevention - Sleep deprivation is thought to contribute to nearly half of all accident-related deaths in the U.S. Some signs of sleep deprivation can appear just like a drug or alcohol induced state. Your best accident prevention strategy could be a good night’s sleep.

Sleep rejuvenates and heals the body and HGH is produced only during the time of deep sleep. Unfortunately, many things can disrupt our sleep patterns. To slow the aging process is vitally important to solve sleep problems before they cause serious health issues or diseases. Clearly the secret to staying young could simply be found in sleeping well every night.

More Thoughts from Mellisa McJunkin – Health and Wellness Advocate

Question: What are you without an immune system?
Answer: You are dead.

As morbid as it may sound, it’s true. When your immune system is weak you will get sick. When your immune system completely fails you will die.

If I could show you a way to not ONLY strengthen, fortify, and boost but ALSO educate your Immune System now with the ONE and ONLY patent protected product on the market proven effective in 100% of subjects tested to raise the level of IaG Antibodies by an average of 73% and boost your Natural Killer Cells by up to 437%, would you be interested in hearing more? Of course you would.

Well then, what are you waiting for? More sickness and disease to take over? Good Health is not expensive, it’s priceless. Wouldn’t you say?

Get Healthy and Wise with  Extreme Health 4Life

By Dr. Al Sears, Md ~

We all know that Vitamin D touts extreme health benefits, including reducing the risk of cancer. So what about foods fortified with Vitamin D? I’m sure you’ve heard that fortified milk is a good source of vitamin D. Unfortunately, that’s not usually the case. Often fortified foods contain a different form of vitamin D called ergocalciferol or vitamin D2.

Now, if you’re deficient, any form of vitamin D is preferable to the higher risk of cancer, heart disease and other chronic health problems. Still, the natural form is far superior to the manufactured form.

1) The manufactured version isn’t as potent and doesn’t last as long in your body. The vitamin D found in milk, most fortified foods and even most vitamins is the synthetic version of vitamin D known as ergocalciferol. This man-made version is not nearly as potent, and it
doesn’t last as long in the body. Research shows the natural form of vitamin D is nearly twice as effective at raising circulating vitamin D levels than the synthetic version.viii

2) Synthetic vitamin D is linked to health problems. Synthetic vitamin D is now added to almost all milk, even baby foods, cereal, pasta, and flour. Already a number of prominent researchers have raised questions about the safety of long term use of synthetic vitamin D.ix In Dr. Zane Kime’s book Sunlight, published in 1980, he references a number of studies that link synthetic vitamin D to irritation of the lining of blood vessels.

3) It’s much easier to overdose synthetic vitamin D. Research shows synthetic vitamin D becomes toxic in the body at far lower levels than natural vitamin D. Some studies also suggest that milk can amplify the effect of synthetic vitamin D. In an experiment involving school children, the effects produced by 90 units of synthetic vitamin D were greater than the effects of ten times that, 900 units of natural vitamin D in the form of cod liver oil.x

4) You can never be sure your body’s getting enough. When Dr. Michael Holick and his colleagues at the Boston University School of Medicine tested samples of milk, they found 8 out of 10 samples contained either 20% less or 20% more vitamin D than the amount the label advertised. And some of the milk tested contained no vitamin D at all!xi

Vitamin D fortified foods are a gamble. As you can see, you don’t want to rely on them solely to ensure healthy levels of vitamin D. If you insist on staying out of the sun and refuse to get regular, moderate exposure, it’s essential to supplement. However, before supplementing with vitamin D, it’s wise to have your levels tested.

More Thoughts from Mellisa McJunkin – Health and Wellness Advocate

Question: What are you without an immune system?
Answer: You are dead.

As morbid as it may sound, it’s true. When your immune system is weak you will get sick. When your immune system completely fails you will die.

If I could show you a way to not ONLY strengthen, fortify, and boost but ALSO educate your Immune System now with the ONE and ONLY patent protected product on the market proven effective in 100% of subjects tested to raise the level of IaG Antibodies by an average of 73% and boost your Natural Killer Cells by up to 437%, would you be interested in hearing more? Of course you would.

Well then, what are you waiting for? More sickness and disease to take over? Good Health is not expensive, it’s priceless. Wouldn’t you say?

Get Healthy and Wise with  Extreme Health 4Life

Dr. Roby Mitchell visits with Doug Kaufmann, on Know the Cause. After reading the package inserts from the H1N1 vaccine manufacturer, he retracts his original H1N1 Vaccine Advice and he tells you why.

Please watch this brief video, and also read Dr. Mitchell’s blog post over at Know the Cause for a lot more detailed information

More Thoughts from Mellisa McJunkin – Health and Wellness Advocate

Question: What are you without an immune system?
Answer: You are dead.

As morbid as it may sound, it’s true. When your immune system is weak you will get sick. When your immune system completely fails you will die.

If I could show you a way to not ONLY strengthen, fortify, and boost but ALSO educate your Immune System now with the ONE and ONLY patent protected product on the market proven effective in 100% of subjects tested to raise the level of IaG Antibodies by an average of 73% and boost your Natural Killer Cells by up to 437%, would you be interested in hearing more? Of course you would.

Well then, what are you waiting for? More sickness and disease to take over? Good Health is not expensive, it’s priceless. Wouldn’t you say?

Get Healthy and Wise with  Extreme Health 4Life

If you are not familiar with Knowthecause.com yet, you need to be. The premise of Doug Kaufmann’s message is that there is a cause to every disease, and for the most part, it’s probably not what you think.

I encourage you to check them out on the web or the TV show that Doug hosts everyday. We get it on a channel of the DISH Network family package. Also sign up for their monthly newsletter too.

Anyway, they are offering 20% all books through the end of the month and FREE shipping through Dec 12th.

Give the gift of good health this year from KNOW the CAUSE

More Thoughts from Mellisa McJunkin – Health and Wellness Advocate

Question: What are you without an immune system?
Answer: You are dead.

As morbid as it may sound, it’s true. When your immune system is weak you will get sick. When your immune system completely fails you will die.

If I could show you a way to not ONLY strengthen, fortify, and boost but ALSO educate your Immune System now with the ONE and ONLY patent protected product on the market proven effective in 100% of subjects tested to raise the level of IaG Antibodies by an average of 73% and boost your Natural Killer Cells by up to 437%, would you be interested in hearing more? Of course you would.

Well then, what are you waiting for? More sickness and disease to take over? Good Health is not expensive, it’s priceless. Wouldn’t you say?

Get Healthy and Wise with  Extreme Health 4Life

(NaturalNews) A Colorado-based company is now offering U.S. consumers the option of being buried in a fully biodegradable casket made out of banana sheaves and bamboo.

“As more and more American families and communities look for eco-friendly solutions to everything in life, Ecoffins provides fitting tributes to those choosing to honor their environmentally conscious lifestyle at the time of their death,” says the company, Ecoffins USA, on its Web site.

According to Ecoffins USA’s marketing director, Joanna Passarelli, the coffins have proved particularly popular in New Mexico, where there is strong support for eco-friendly ceremonies. Passarelli says that the company has also found interest among Jewish and Muslim communities.

Jewish and Muslim tradition discourages anything that would prevent the body from returning quickly naturally to the earth, such as embalming or cremation. This sentiment is shared with supporters of natural burial.

The company has already sold $40,000 worth of its coffins, which can be purchased from 14 funeral homes across the United States. The coffins start at $800 for the smallest, while the largest is eight feet long and can hold up to 325 pounds.

Billing itself as environmentally responsible in all aspects of its business, Ecoffins USA touts its products as having a low carbon footprint. Although they are manufactured in Asia and then shipped to the United States, they are produced entirely by hand very close to where the raw materials are harvested, thus keeping production energy use low. Because smaller coffins can be stacked inside larger ones, more of the coffins can be shipped in a compact space, also keeping shipping cost and fuel use down.

According to Stephen Dawson, owner of Sax-Tiedemann Funeral Home and Crematorium in Franklin, Ill., the banana coffins are not as unconventional as many people might think. In the 1950s and ’60s, he said, funeral homes commonly used woven baskets to transport bodies from health facilities.

Sources for this story include: www.google.com; www.ecoffinsusa.com.

Natural News Original post

More Thoughts from Mellisa McJunkin – Health and Wellness Advocate

Question: What are you without an immune system?
Answer: You are dead.

As morbid as it may sound, it’s true. When your immune system is weak you will get sick. When your immune system completely fails you will die.

If I could show you a way to not ONLY strengthen, fortify, and boost but ALSO educate your Immune System now with the ONE and ONLY patent protected product on the market proven effective in 100% of subjects tested to raise the level of IaG Antibodies by an average of 73% and boost your Natural Killer Cells by up to 437%, would you be interested in hearing more? Of course you would.

Well then, what are you waiting for? More sickness and disease to take over? Good Health is not expensive, it’s priceless. Wouldn’t you say?

Get Healthy and Wise with Extreme Health 4Life