In our final post on SEEDS, we look at what Dr. John Arden considers to be the fifth seed to nurture our brain: Sleep. Dr. Arden notes that what best promotes brain function is deep sleep:
“There’s an architecture to sleep. The most important stage is called stage 4 sleep – that’s the deepest sleep. Good quality sleep is critical for your ability to think clearly the next day. Creating a good sleep hygiene and having good sleep practices is critical for mental health and for not developing dementia later on, but most importantly for not having too much anxiety or depression the next day.”
Granted, there are many people who report not sleeping well despite their best efforts. I suppose that best efforts is the point in this case; creating a nightly routine that is feeds the comfort system, avoiding alcohol or caffeine in the evening, meditation before bed – these can all help to try and get the best sleep possible.
And when we get a good night’s sleep? It increases our brain cell growth, produces serotonin, increases our memory capacity and helps booster our immune system. Sleep also helps give us more energy and can act as a natural mood stabilizer. All the more reason to hit the sack!
Dr. Arden reminds us that it is never too late to begin nurturing the SEEDS of a healthy brain – from social interaction to exercise; education, diet and sleep. Working towards tangible goals helps not only in our need to move forward, in this case, we will also be contributing to the longevity of our brain function; sounds good to me!
To visit Dr. John Arden’s website: https://drjohnarden.com/
Information for this post was found partially in two articles: http://dependent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/mental-health/rewire-your-brain-for-a-happy-life-29723181.html and https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/planting-seeds-of-healthy-brain-we-interview-dr-john-b-arden-031914
Photo credit: http://Photo by Kate Stone Matheson on Unsplash
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