Sleep is essential and can’t be ignored to heal the body and mind. Meditation and breathing are daily essentials that can be used to calm and cleanse the body and mind from the stresses of daily living while renewing the spirit.
Two key hormones that work to boost our immune systems are produced during sleep.
- Cortisol regulates our immune system and the production of natural killer cells during sleep, optimizing our natural ability to heal.
Melatonin may have antioxidant properties that prevent damage to our healthy cells that could mutate to cause cancer. - Our cognitive ability to manage stress works optimally when we get an adequate amount of sleep.
- Levels of the “stress hormones” cortisol and adrenaline are affected by the amount of sleep we get. When these hormones are out of whack, it can lead to increased inflammation which creates an environment for cancer cells to increase in number.
- Make a strategic sleep schedule a priority
Tips for better healing sleep:
- Ditch the night shift
- 7-9 hours of deep, uninterrupted sleep – Set predictable hours
- Invest in blackout curtains
- Turn off the technology
- Change your sheets every two weeks and make sure they are cool and comfortable.
- Make sure you are not sleeping close to an electrical “smart meter” on your house
- Turn off the wi-fi (You can set it on a timer!)
Watch this video above by author and stage 4 breast cancer thriver, Joni Bellew with Suzy Griswold of HealingStrong.
Also, see our curriculum video below, now available at healingstrong.org/start-here.
Watch Sleep Lesson Here
This Week’s Podcast Episode:
Seeing God’s Hand in Everything
This week on the I Am HealingStrong Podcast, we have a very special guest and one of my favorite people I have had the tremendous pleasure of meeting in our non-profit arena, Ivelisse Page. Ivelisse lost her father to cancer at age 13. During his struggle, her father not only came to know God, but his journey brought Ivelisse’s family to faith as well. Years later, despite having a healthy lifestyle, Ivelisse was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. She recounts her journey with her difficult diagnosis, the use of mistletoe therapy, and her decision to live in faith and believe God’s promises, rather than succumb to fear. Ivelisse believes God spared her life so she could bring hope to those facing cancer.
