Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Rest

7 April, 2012 by Leave a Comment



These next two months will hold many moments for me to stop and reflect. My firstborn is 18 years old today and will be graduating from high school next month. If time were personified she would obviously have wings. I’m really not sure where the last 18 years has gone. 


I look back at clouded memories wishing every moment had been recorded. But they weren’t. 


It’s up to me to hold those memories close to my heart.


It’s up to me to remember the good times, and let the bad memories remain in the past. Because let’s face it—they are not all good memories. 


Which brings me to today’s tip to a happier you: Take time away to rest and create some great memories with those you love. 


This week was spring break, and my family definitely made memories this week we will carry with us forever. With money a little tight right now, we—well, David— ran upon a Living Social deal and rented an RV for the week. Now let me tell you, camping for this girl is the Fairfield Marriott!


We spent three days as a very close-knit family of five. 

  • No television
  • A shower the size of a locker
  • A kitchen table converted to a bed
  • Five suitcases crammed in a pile in the corner
  • Wet towels and washcloths hanging on open cabinet doors

With those circumstances, we spent great family time.

  • We play game after game of cards and UNO on the table/bed before anyone slept on it
  • We didn’t have the distractions of a normal home: No laundry or dishes to be done, no cooking, and no point in straightening up.
  • Lots of outdoor time together hiking and climbing on rocks up the river

We had a great week and actually spent time together as a family, which life has a way of making impossible sometimes. 


The funniest memory of the week, though, was one I wouldn’t have anticipated. In an RV, there’s the dreadful task of emptying out the “black water.” For all you campers, you know what that is. For those of you like me, it’s the poop tank. 

The law of gravity is quite an important one to consider when emptying out the poop tank. There is a nice sized brown tube that connects from the RV to the hole in the ground that I suppose is a septic tank of sorts. The more experienced campers had a nice little wire rack that held the tube at the correct angle to drain the poop. We weren’t in the “experienced camper” category. In order to empty the tank, all five of us had to hold the tube off the ground at the correct angle. When it got too heavy in one spot and sagged, we had to get the “wave” motion going with the tube to drain it correctly. Teamwork! There’s nothing quite like feeling the weight of human waste flowing through a tube to create a family bonding moment that will last forever!  

So while we must exercise, eat correctly, clean house, work, and all the other stuff that takes our time, don’t forget to take time to just get away and rest and spend quality time with your family. And if you decide to embark on a camping trip, be sure to call me for tips on the poop tank! 
From my heart,
Celeste


Here’s a few snapshots from our trip…hope you enjoy! 😉


Filed Under: Family Focused, How to be Happy, Life Through the Lens, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Do you have insomnia? Learn how to sleep!

11 February, 2012 by Leave a Comment
When God created the earth, he rested on the seventh day. Wouldn’t it be nice if we only had to rest once a week? It sure would free up time for my to-do list. But sleep doesn’t work that way. God created us to need sleep, and unfortunately, a little more than once a week. 
When I was in the midst of my seven years of hell, insomnia plagued me frequently. In my depression, all I wanted to do was sleep. But also in my depression, I didn’t want to do anything at all, so my brain never really told my body it needed sleep. So of course the pharmacist in me took the easy way out—a sleeping pill called Ambien. The depression and lack of activity, however, even kept the Ambien from working the way it should. I never slept for more that two to three hours at a time, and once I went twenty-one days straight with not one wink of sleep. I know, I’d tell you it was impossible too if I didn’t experience it myself. 
The sleep-wake cycle is complex. No two ways about it. There are six stages total sleep-wake cycle, and each of the following hormones plays a part: Cortisol, Acetylcholine, Glutamine, Norepinephrine, Dopamine, Serotonin, Adenosine, Galanin, GABA, Melatonin, Progesterone, etc.; are you getting the picture? Did God create a complex brain or what? He knew what he was doing and He gives us instructions on how to take care of it.
…And when they sleep, they will wake refreshed. 
(Jeremiah 31:26 CEV)
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil;
For he gives to his beloved sleep. 
(Psalm 127:2 ESV)
And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” 
For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 
(Mark 6:31 ESV)
On September 25, 2010, when God showed mercy on me and rescued me from the pit I was in, quite a few light bulbs came on. The revelations didn’t come all at once, but over a few months God revealed truths to me that I couldn’t see in the pit. I won’t bore you with too much sciency stuff, but I want to give you some absolutes about sleep. 
•   Some type of exercise early in the day will help you sleep at night. 
When we exercise, our body makes cortisol (our fight or flight hormone), which lasts in our body about eight hours. It also breaks down ATP to give us energy and a hormone called adenosine. Once the cortisol level begins to drop off early in the evening, the adenosine is there and ready to calm us down to get ready to sleep. If we exercise too late in the day, the timing doesn’t allow this process to occur any faster, so we can’t get to sleep. Since I’ve started running in the mornings, I’m typically asleep within a minute…once I stop talking of course. 

•   A sleeping pill is meant for short-term use only. 

As is the case with many drugs, once your body becomes used to them, their effect declines. Ambien, a common one used today, activates GABA receptors in your brain that control the rhythm of sleep cycles. It’s speculated that Ambien does not allow for an adequate amount of REM sleep which is necessary to recall past events. If you’ve ever taken Ambien, you know that it really messes with your memory. I can remember waking up in my bed, having no memory of the night before—no memory of getting the kids to bed, cleaning up the kitchen, or taking my shower, yet apparently I had done them all. 

•   Meditation can be a powerful tool, not medication. 

I used to roll my eyes when people told me that. I always thought meditation was just a new age title for prayer. Now I have been known to recommend prayer at bedtime, because when we pray, the devil will put us right to sleep! But when insomnia is a problem, prayer can sometimes make us dwell on the things in our lives that cause worry. Here’s a little meditation trick that I find very helpful when you can’t go to sleep: 

When you are in the bed completely relaxed, begin breathing in and out slow to the count of four.
Breathe in…1 2 3 4; breathe out…1 2 3 4.
Repeat.
 Each time you breathe out, try to let your body relax a little more by the count of four. 
By counting, your brain doesn’t have time to think about all of the things trying to crowd your brain. The repetitive action of counting and breathing naturally helps our bodies produce calming hormones like melatonin. It works like a charm. 
•   Sleep in a dark, quite room. 

The happy hormone that I’ve talked so much about, serotonin, is actually converted to melatonin to help us get into that deep sleep. However, it is impossible for serotonin to be converted to melatonin in light. Melatonin can only be produced in the dark. That’s why it’s so difficult for people who work third shift to get on a sleep cycle that is effective, and why there is such a high incidence of depression and insomnia in Alaska when the sun shines twenty hours out of the day. It may be “all in our mind,” but it’s the chemicals “all in our mind” that are in control. 
I know this was a lengthy post, but sleep is essential to everything we are. Lack of sleep causes us to be depressed, overweight, fatigued, in pain, short-tempered, stressed, anxious, etc., and insomnia plagues more people than you might think. Please share this with anyone you know who suffers from insomnia. The pharmaceutical world we live in pushes us to take this for that or that for this, when the best answer to insomnia is simple lifestyle changes. 
So put some of these tips into practice and sleep your way to a happier you! 
From my heart, 

Celeste
Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, Making Changes, Managing Prescription Drugs, Physical Wellness, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,