Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin, Svetlana Konnikova [classic fiction .TXT] 📗

able to fall asleep. We may awaken and recount and dwell on the problems in our lives, which often grow in magnitude at the daunting hour of 3:00 a.m. Tensions and pressures accrued during our everyday routines, including demands at the workplace and the negative impact they have on us, can interrupt our sleep and cause depression.

Experts usually classify various modes of sleep into three categories: 1) superficial, when a person can be easily awaked by even a small noise; 2) a deep sleep, bringing satisfaction and rest; and 3) a sleep accompanied by good and bad dreams. When people suffer insomnia, the duration of deep sleep decreases at the expense of a superficial sleep. These changes lead to some problems in the morning. When a person feels tired and jaded, his memory, concentration, and efficiency suffer. In addition, even at the beginning of a new day he may experience headaches and weakness.

Causes of insomnia vary

Even a healthy person can suffer from sleeplessness. Fatigue and irritation inhibit reflexes in the brain’s cortex. Any stress can attack the sensitive nervous system and disrupt a good night’s sleep. Some people also experience insomnia when they are sick with colds and fever or have poor blood circulation or respiratory problems.

All these conditions prompt the sleepless to get fast treatment, and many reach right for a sleeping pill, which is counterproductive and dangerous. Fastacting tranquilizers are enemies to the body. Too many people think the sleep154 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies ing pill is the answer to their problems. On the contrary, they can promote a dependency on them and the consumer may find that he cannot function normally without them—or with them. At this stage the consumer is addicted. Chemical addiction destroys the body’s ability to react in a natural way and, left untreated, can eventually lead to death.

The treatment for insomnia depends on the causes that provoke it. Try to discover your triggers and eliminate them. Perhaps you habitually drink alcohol at lunch or at dinnertime or you try to boost your energy, drinking strong black coffee several times a day. Try the following instead. Healthy people are usually able to restore their sleep in 10–14 days without the use of sleeping pills.

r1. Replace alcohol or coffee with a glass of carrot, tomato, orange, apple, or grape juice. Become accustomed to a new taste. You’ll be happy to see that this simple change in your habits can help you to sleep soundly throughout the night.

r 2. People with sensitive nervous systems should take a walk in the fresh air before bedtime and/or take a warm, calming bath. If not a bath, try a cold shower.

A woman in Kazakhstan created a method of treatment with cold water to cure herself when she got very sick. Then she offered her water treatment technique to her husband, two daughters, and grandchildren. When she was sure that it helped those who tried it, she opened several schools for adults and children, training them in a cold water self-cure technique. You can do it yourself following these simple steps.

r 3. Take a cold shower or swim in a pool with cold water each morning.

r 4. Apply a cold pack (kept in the freezer) to the back of the head or neck before bedtime.

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r 5. Massage your body in a circular motion with a natural bristle brush to help induce a good night’s sleep.

Massage will stimulate blood circulation and drive blood to the external areas of the body. Sleeplessness is often caused by an accumulation of too much blood in the brain. The brain is always at work, 24 hours a day. The mind is always busy, and very often we are under stress, so we need a fair balance between day and night, which requires a deep, sound sleep to preserve our health and energy.

To begin, get familiar with simple folk remedies, which are preventive measures for healthy people with a sensitive nervous system, who are prone to developing insomnia.

r 6. Try going to sleep and waking at the same hour each day. You wil benefit from a routine biological rhythm. It is important to reach a balance.

Since prevention is better than cure, take good care of your nervous system and heart, which works very hard, constantly pumping blood to your brain and all other internal organs. Many centuries ago King Solomon wisely advised people to take care of their hearts more than anything else. He made a good point by saying that “out of the heart shall flow springs of living water,”

referring to the Holy Spirit (John 7:38).

In Russia and northern European countries, such as Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, and Denmark, sauna baths are very popular. These beneficial treatments are now practiced in many other countries around the world. You’ll read more about them in the chapter, “Dialogue with the Trees of Strength and Everlasting Life.”

r 7. People have enjoyed sauna baths for centuries. After these baths ( banya), some people, especial y in Russia, plunge into icy water or walk barefoot or rol in the freshly fal en snow.

These simple procedures are proven to build the body’s resistance to il ness and drive the blood from the brain to be distributed 156 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

equal y throughout internal organs and the skin. This procedure promotes a healthy, restful sleep. You’l read more about calming bath remedies later in this chapter. The following are simple folk remedies that have proven successful for many years. Try them and