Sleep-Powered Wellness
Better Bedrooms for Turbocharged Zzzz's
It’s obvious that a lack of sleep leaves a person feeling tired and prone to impatience and crankiness. Less obvious is that a five-hour night of sleep leaves a person 50 percent more likely to overeat. Sleeping less than four hours a night will cause a person to enter a pre-diabetic state in less than a week. Other studies have shown that lack of quality sleep contributes to body pain, diminished memory and intelligence, high blood pressure, cancer, and other maladies.
There are obvious factors that can cause poor sleeping, like bright lights and loud noises. However, there are also many less obvious contributions, and that is where this book comes in. Hobbs, a wellness consultant and the author of The Sick House Survival Guide, found herself inundated with requests to help people discover the sources of their varied illnesses after her first book came out. What she discovered was that poor-quality sleep was a recurring theme in many of these situations. Her research into the problem showed that along with light and noise pollution, things like cosmetics, polyester sleepwear, air pollution, and microwaves also had a significant impact on sleep patterns.
For example, devices that use wireless communication have invaded our homes in ever increasing quantities. Wireless computer routers, cordless telephones, and tablets are just a few of the devices that use microwaves to carry that communication through the air. Unfortunately, microwaves also increase cortisol, which is a hormone that makes people alert and active. At night, cortisol levels naturally decrease, but cell phones, computers, and entertainment systems in our bedrooms all work to raise the level of cortisol in our bodies, thus disrupting sleep and leaving people susceptible to illnesses.
Hobbs includes information from numerous studies as well as the history of different technologies in a way that is easy to digest and reads like a story. She also offers valuable advice on how to alter our environments to promote healthy sleep, such as removing polyester from the bedroom, choosing clocks with red displays, or setting cell phones to airplane mode to turn off the microwave transmissions. According to the Center for Disease Control, millions of Americans do not get enough sleep. This book will help many who have already tried all the obvious methods to discover more ways to improve the possibility of a great night’s sleep.
Reviewed by
Christine Canfield
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
