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Category: spiritual
10 facts: Sleep wake cycle linked to cortisol π
1.Cortisol is a stress hormone released from the adrenal glands, which is ideally secreted during a fight-or-flight response. However, in todayβs world, our daily lives are filled with stressful situations, such as competition, comparisons, peer pressure at work, negative people, and relationships stress. As a result, cortisol is released not just in short bursts but remains chronically elevated. This persistent high level of cortisol keeps the body in a constant state of stress, leading to chronic inflammation, sleep problems, and various diseases.
2.Cortisol plays essential role in the body for survival. But when cortisol is elevated for a longer period of time can lead to health issues like weakened immunity, metabolic syndrome and mental health issues. The functions of cortisol are :
– Maintaining blood pressure
– Elevating blood sugar levels
– Regulating the circadian rhythm
– Facilitating the utilisation of energy from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats
– Reducing inflammation
3. Sleep-wake cycle follows a synchronised rhythm with the night and daytime. During the sleep phase, the body goes through diο¬erent stages, such as:
β’ Non-REM stage: The phase where the body and mind, being awake, slowly move to a calmer state before falling asleep. Followed by a stage where the bodyβs core temperature drops, brain waves slow down. After this, a stage emerges where the heartbeat, breathing, and brainwaves slow down, entering a deep state of relaxation.
β’ REM state: This stage occurs normally after the deep sleep phase. In this phase, people have vivid dreams, and intense dreaming appears. There is weakened muscle activity similar to temporary paralysis. This stage is important as the brain is cleaning out the buildup of waste and toxins.
4. HPA axis: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is responsible for the neuroendocrine regulation. Hormones like melatonin and cortisol from the HPA axis modulate the sleep-wake cycle. When there is disruption of this axis disturb the sleep cycle. Studies show that there are reciprocal interactions between sleep regulation and the HPA axis. Stressful situations like PTSD, emotional trauma, and chronic workload can lead to long-standing sleep issues like insomnia, sleep deprivation, and lack of restorative sleep, which in turn lead to disruption of the HPA axis and vice versa.
5. The HPA axis and sleep have a significant interconnection. Good quality sleep, deep sleep causes an inhibitory eο¬ect on the HPA axis, whereas hyperactivation of the HPA axis leads to overload of glucocorticoids, wakefulness, and loss of sleep. Sleep disorders related to HPA dysfunction are:
β’Insomnia is a common sleep disorder which is found to have a connection with an increase in ACTH and consistent cortisol levels and arousal of the central nervous system.
β’Obstructive sleep apnea or daytime sleepiness has been associated with elevated pro- inflammatory cytokines, IL-6 and TNF.
6. Elevated cortisol level: Studies show that sleep deprivation has a direct connection to elevated cortisol levels, long hours of wakefulness in the daytime, glucocorticoid overload, and disruption in the HPA axis. These directly aο¬ect the well-being of the individual and increase the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Other symptoms of elevated cortisol levels are:
β’ Weight gain
β’ High blood pressure
β’ Weakness of bones
β’ Muscle weakness
7. Cortisol level: Normally, there is a spike of cortisol level in the morning, known as the awakening response, and it continues for about 60 minutes thereafter. Then, gradually the level-starts dropping and reaches the lowest level towards the evening/midnight. The factors which can aο¬ect the cortisol levels are:
β’ Stress
β’ Disturbed routine sleep schedule
β’ Morning light may cause the surge
β’ Cushingβs syndrome
8. Stress and cortisol level: Cortisol is a steroid hormone which is released from the adrenal glands in the bodyβs response to stress. Cortisol also releases sugar from the liver to combat stress. In addition to this, sleep and stress are also closely linked. Prolonged stress can lead to sleep disorders like acute insomnia. The types of stress when cortisol is secreted are:
β’Short-term stress
β’Long-term stress
β’Trauma, both psychological and physical.
9. Food and cortisol: Certain foods can support gut health, reduce stress and lower the cortisol level naturally:
β’ Whole grains and natural fibres – Whole grains are rich in polyphenols, which can support gut health and reduce stress and cortisol. Fibrous foods like vegetables, fruits, and berries contain both polyphenols and antioxidants that help reduce cortisol levels.
β’ Dark chocolate (70 – 80%) – Flavonoids in dark chocolate can lower the stress response and cortisol from the adrenal glands.
β’ Green tea contains polyphenols, catechins, and L-theanine, which can lower stress reactivity.
β’ Probiotics/Prebiotics are linked to healthy gut health, reduce stress and cortisols.
β’ Healthy fats in nuts, fatty fish, and seeds rich in omega3-fatty acids reduce stress and support mental health.
β’ Water – Consuming water throughout the day prevents dehydration and controls the cortisol level.
10. Natural habits that can keep the cortisol level under control:
β’ Good sleep routine – Firstly, keep away from cell phone or any kind of distraction at least 1 hour before bedtime, avoiding alcohol, caο¬eine intake and nicotine 5-6 hours before bedtime, maintain a bedtime schedule; going to bed and waking up the same time every day is important for sleep hygiene.
β’ Daily routine exercise, nature bathing, walking or any kind of physical activity.
β’ Practise deep breathing techniques like Pranayama, mindfulness breathing, Meditation, yoga, tai-chi.
β’ Maintaining your mental health by managing your personal relationships, staying away from negative people and a negative environment, cultivating hobbies, laughing, and listening to music.
β’ Spirituality – believing in spiritual faith, attending spiritual workshops, meditation, community spirit, kindness /charity /voluntary works, helps maintain cortisol levels.
Thanks for reading.
Peace and love π
Silent Sunday ππ
Peace and love π
10 facts: Why is self-awareness an ultimate goal?
1. Self-awareness is quite a commonly used term for mental health and well-being. While it has been discussed frequently, many people lack its actual understanding. Our everyday life is often caught up in autopilot mode, so our quality of awareness is very low. Our thoughts, emotions, reactions, habits, routines and impulses of day-to-day life are all on autopilot, so that instead of being aware of them, they keep us in control every day. So, it is important to understand Self- awareness and learn this ability of self-observation to improve our quality of awareness.
2. Many times in real life, we have gone through similar experiences, similar kinds of failures, attract similar people, have similar reactions, similar impulses, similar emotional meltdowns; the reason is not the outside world, but it is our inability to understand ourselves and our unwillingness to change. Most of the time, we are not self-aware of our emotional state, lack understanding of our strengths and weaknesses, so we end up in similar situations and experiences. As an individual, it is important to learn self-assessment, introspection and the ability to recognise our thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions.
3. Self-awareness is a psychological skill of knowledge and understanding about oneβs own emotional state. Itβs about self-observation, self-assessment of oneβs emotions, thoughts, feelings, reactions and actions. Itβs a capability of recognising oneβs own reactions, actions, and behaviour in interacting with the outside environment and other people. Self-awareness helps in identifying tendencies, understanding emotional states, strengths, weaknesses, limitations and personal goals. Itβs a lifelong learning ability to develop confidence and optimism in this dynamic world.
4. Self-awareness can be beneficial in several ways:
β’ Helps in building self-esteem, self-control, creativity, and skills
β’ Benefits include self-acceptance, emotional growth, and self-development.
β’ Aids in decision-making.
β’ Understanding strengths, weaknesses, and limitations.
β’ Accurate self-reports.
5. For several decades, thousands of research studies have been carried out to understand the interconnectedness between self-awareness and important key attitudes of human behaviour like habits, feelings, emotions, happiness, stress parameters, empathy and job satisfaction. Broadly, two types of self-awareness studies are recorded as :
β’ Internal self-awareness: Itβs the ability to observe and monitor our inner world, while some label it as a state of self-consciousness temporarily. It is found to be associated more with relationships and job satisfaction as we try to fit ourselves with our personal control and social control.
β’ External self-awareness: Some state it as the diο¬erence between how we see ourselves and how others perceive us. Studies show that people who understand how others see them can be more empathetic and understanding of othersβ perspectives.
6. Extensive research has identified five layers of self-awareness:
β’ Physical: Awareness of your physical body as shape, size, gender, race, ethnicity and five senses.
β’ Energetic: The breath and energy levels, which include the life forces that help you to move, think, create and take action.
β’ Mental: The thoughts, feelings, emotions that help you to react and take actions for yourself, others and life.
β’ The Witness: When you learn to become your witness and become aware of the diο¬erent layers of self-awareness without being judgmental. This is an essential part of the path of learning self- awareness because you can bring about changes, a better understanding of your flaws, unhelpful patterns of beliefs, and habits that need to change.
β’ Bliss: Deep connection with a Higher Self, the Truth. A spiritual interconnectedness with the Divine.
7. The skill of knowing yourself is the biggest deal. If we actively start employing this art of self- awareness, we see ourselves as in a mirror, no hidden veil, just inside out, the reality as it is. Then,we start to find acceptance within ourselves, develop resilience if changes are not possible, and consciously bring about changes in our reactions, habits, behaviour and actions in our day-to-day life whenever required. This makes our everyday life approach easier, better handling relationships with people around, self -eο¬cacy in controlling our mind, emotions, impulses, feelings, reactions, dealing with the external environment, people and the world around as it is.
8. Being in a path of self-awareness asks us to understand:
β’ Clear knowledge of our basic nature, character, impulses, flaws and desires.
β’ Observe our own habits and behaviour in dealing with our inner world and external world.
β’ In alignment with our energy levels and breath, and how they are aο¬ected by our choices and lifestyle.
β’ Keep an eye on our thoughts, feelings, emotions, impulses and learn to respond rather than react to whatever life throws us.
β’ Being a witness to self (intuitive wisdom) so that self-acceptance is easier without being judgmental.
β’ Searching for our connectedness to something bigger than ourselves.
9. Practising and learning to seek self-awareness is far from being an easy task; it is a lifelong process. Our day-to-day life is so much attuned to working, earning money, parenting, paying the mortgage, bills, and routine hustles that we hardly get time for ourselves. Besides, many obstacles cause hindrance in this path :
β’ Fear – Knowing and understanding our vulnerability, uncomfortable emotions, and weaknesses.
β’ Attachment – attachment to people, desires, things can often lead to internal conflicts.
β’ Aversions – Conscious understanding and resurfacing of situations, people, we usually avoid, internal conflicts, unresolved emotions and discomforts.
β’ Ego- Instead of being the centre of the world around us, knowing that ego is that tool to distinguish us βIβ from the outside world, learning to balance it with wisdom rather than controlling us.
β’ Ignorance – Learning and understanding about the larger picture of life, rather than being happy when life goes well and disliking it whenever life throws challenges.
10. Developing and seeking self-awareness is an ongoing process, a lifelong learning. In this process, as an individual, there is tremendous personal growth, control over emotions, decision- making and self-acceptance with limitations. Some of the basic strategies are:
β’ Daily practising mindfulness, calmness, and reflections upon thoughts without judgement.
β’ Journaling your thoughts, feelings, emotions, impulses on experiences and situations.
β’ Getting honest feedback from trusted friends, family members, siblings, and partners.
β’ Self-analysing the situations that can trigger strong emotional responses like anger, panic- attacks, pain, and fear.
β’ Self- assessment of limitations, weaknesses, strengths, and levels of resilience.
β’ Routinely reviewing the day-to-day reactions, actions, decisions and interactions.
Thanks for reading.
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May the Divinity and miracle of Christmas bring abundance, peace and joy in every home and families.
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Taming the monkey mindβ¦.5 facts π
βMonkey mindβ, yes, thatβs what the Buddhists called our wondering mind. The more you try to control, the more it wanders. This is the nature of the human mind. It can never remain still. During the day, whenever, we try to be still, the mind races ahead to the future or returns to the past in some old memories. Our mind is always thinking of something or another. Distractions like tasks, jobs, people around, day-to-day stress, entertainment, and social media, all add up to the flickering nature of the mind. Therefore, letβs explore why our mind behaves this way and how we can try to control it, if at all, itβs possible:
1.A wandering mind is quite a normal behaviour and characteristic in nature. The attention shift of the mind from one thought to another is involuntary before even we notice it. In a monotonous daily activity of a boring nature, like studying, in the classroom in case of a student, or doing daily chores, it can happen voluntarily.
2.Studies show that the mind wonders mainly for two reasons: Either the work or activity, we have been doing is not engaging and monotonous and another reason can be that facing obstacles or hard task causes worry and anxiousness.
Sometimes, Scientists, link the wandering nature to creativity, explorative and intuitive mind. However, this becomes problematic. In those times, when we are supposed to be working, we lose focus and attention or think in bed when we are supposed to sleep. Oftentimes, the mind is either daydreaming, imagining things, anxious thoughts worrying about the future or replaying some old memories, stuck in some emotional thoughts.
3.What can be the possible causes of a wondering mind?
*Anxiousness and worrying mind.
*Boring and repetitive activities.
*External distractions like our mobile phones and other gadgets, people around, noises, social media.
*Internal distractions like stress, anger, hurt, sadness. Physical discomfort like fatigue, pain, hunger.
*People with attention deficit disorder have a hyperactive mind.
4.Self-awareness: How can I realise that I have a wondering mind?
Firstly, being aware of your own mental state. Most of the time, if you find yourself, overthinking, worrying, and ruminating thoughts.
Your mind is often, exhausted, being engaged in unproductive thoughts, unable to find solutions to problems or losing your spontaneous problem-solving ability.
Being self-aware, in such a state of mind, can help us to bring about change in our mental state.
5.Taming a wondering mind can be a very difficult task. But, with practice and consistency, everything is possible.
a)Meditation is an effective tool. Again, meditation isβnt easy. Perhaps, sitting still in a quiet place, trying to focus the mind is a hardest task. Focusing on breathing is a commonest method. Other methods can be, focusing or imagining an object like sun, moon, or the ocean. Using a guided mediation or listening to nature sounds, chanting of mantras can be effective.
b)Journaling is a powerful tool to clear the mind. Noting down daily thoughts, thoughts related to job, loved ones, family, future goals, holiday plans, emotional pain, feelings of old memories can be very useful to clear the mind clutter. Writing down can self-help to acknowledge the bothering thoughts and refocus the mind to concentrate on the task at hand.
c)Physical activity like going for a walk, physical movement of the body, legs and hands, watering your balcony plants, spending time in nature, light exercises can be very helpful to reset the mind. Playing an instrument, or listening to a music piece can be rejuvenating to refocus the mind too.
d)Sleep and adequate rest are necessary to clear the mind clutter. Getting a proper goodnight sleep and following a daily sleep routine is mandatory. Making a conscious effort to keep away from our mobile phones, social media distractions, caffeine free, emotional disturbing thoughts, 2-3 hours prior going to bed, can give an adequate sleep.
Thanks for reading.
Peace and love π
Wordless Wednesday π
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3H:health,happiness,healing 