Lifestyle Tip for a Calm Home - Deep Sleep

Of all the factors contributing to poor health and unsatisfied relationships, stress is perhaps the most overlooked.  

At home, while the stress response can be a helpful biological function, enabling you to respond to daily tasks, demands, and and urgencies, this "lifesaving" reaction ends up doing far more harm than good when continually triggered.

And many of the small everyday details at home can trigger stress: financial worries, clutter, juggling multiple tasks, overwhelming demands, even if they are from our loved ones…

Why you want deep sleep

Deep sleep is the stage of sleep that helps the brain rest and recover, allowing it to replenish energy. keeping hormones balanced. The pituitary gland secretes human growth hormone during this stage, which helps tissues in the body grow and regenerate cells.

The most important thing that a person can do is to set aside more time for sleep. Doing so allows the body to go through more sleep cycles, which makes it possible to have more deep sleep.

Emotional Resilience Reduces the Impact of Stress

Stress is an inescapable part of life; it's how you address it that will determine whether it will translate into health problems later on. The stress reaction should dissipate as quickly as possible after the perceived danger has passed. The scientific term for this is "resilience" — your ability to rapidly return to normal, physically and emotionally, after a stressful event.

Resilient People Are More Tuned in to Bodily Cues of Stress

During times of stress and uncertainty, your resilience is a crucial factor for how well you get through things; “resilience” is the scientific term for your body’s ability to rapidly return to normal or a harmonious equilibrium.

Some people are naturally more resilient than others, and researchers have long pondered the reasons why. One hypothesis is that people who are more resilient have learnt to listen to their body. 

Deep Sleep Builds Emotional Resilience

Exposure to trauma can weaken your emotional resilience. The good news is you can rebuild or improve it as well. One solid strategy that can help build emotional resilience is good sleep. Research shows people who get more deep sleep are less fearful.

The study,6 published in the Journal of Neuroscience, claims to be the first to demonstrate that sound, deep sleep helps buffer against emotional distress, while sleeping poorly raises your risk of experiencing a difficult event as emotionally traumatizing. According to the authors:

"Sleep, and particularly rapid-eye movement sleep (REM), has been implicated in the modulation of neural activity following fear conditioning and extinction in both human and animal studies. It has long been presumed that such effects play a role in the formation and persistence of post-traumatic stress disorder, of which sleep impairments are a core feature … 

In the current study, we employed long-term mobile sleep monitoring and functional neuroimaging (fMRI) to explore whether trait-like variations in sleep patterns … predict subsequent patterns of neural activity during fear learning. 

Our results indicate that higher baseline levels of REM sleep predict reduced fear-related activity in, and connectivity between, the hippocampus, amygdala and ventromedial PFC during conditioning. Additionally, skin-conductance-responses (SCR) were weakly correlated to the activity in the amygdala. 

Conversely, there was no direct correlation between REM sleep and SCR, indicating that REM may only modulate fear acquisition indirectly. In a follow-up experiment, we show that these results are replicable, though to a lesser extent, when measuring sleep over a single night just prior to conditioning. As such, baseline sleep parameters may be able to serve as biomarkers for resilience, or lack thereof, to trauma."

The link between mental health and REM sleep (deep sleep)

Long-standing clinical observations demonstrate that nearly all mood and anxiety disorders co-occur with one or more sleep abnormalities. 

And for Mothers, post partum depression and emotional resilience

Much of “post partum depression” is in fact sleep deprivation that wears at our ability to cope with the range of physical, psychological, and hormonal changes—that occur at least well over the first year of having baby.

For the woman whose nervous system is frozen and suppressed, the intensity of birth (despite being a worthwhile experience to bring their baby earth side) can expose, provoke, or stir up stored survival stress from old trauma resulting in the labels PPA or PPD.

(And if you didn’t know, suicide is the leading cause of death for new moms.)

When I became a mother, the bone-deep exhaustion that comes with it coloured my world. Even though I learnt to function daily with it, my mind battled a continual fog.

There is nothing quite like new parent sleep deprivation. It can be a shock for new parents, and even for second (or third, fourth...) time parents. 

Rather than adding emotional demands on the new, emotionally worn, parent, I believe it is more effective to prioritise space for quality rest.

Create emotional resilience at home with deep sleep

Sleep post-children will probably never be the same. However, recharging looks different as a mom, and I have learnt to expand my definition of rest to include relaxing activities and naps instead of believing that night-time sleep is the only good form of rest. 

Here are some ways to create small spaces to rest at home during the day:

• Comfortable seating areas around the house. If you have a few minutes on the couch, close your eyes and allow them to rest by taking in less light and visual stimulation.

• Uncluttered areas where you can relax into a soothing stretch or yoga pose, such as a child’s pose or legs up the wall. This allows your parasympathetic system to kick in as your breathing slows down.

• Baby’s nap area is not just a space reserved for childish slumber. It’s a vital spot to replenish your nurturing energies. When you do get to nap with your nap, avoid television, radio, and looking at your clock so you aren’t counting the moments to do the chores (or when baby has broken the nap). A cool, dark environment is also optimal for napping, if it is calm for adult as well as children’s sensibilities.

• Create a bedroom sleep sanctuary. Have fun with this and make it a place for rest beyond your wildest dreams.

Does your home help or hinder how well you handle difficult circumstances? How well do you handle the effects of stress and negative emotions? Let’s make space for real deep sleep — for real emotional resilience.

How to Make Your Bed: The Building Biology Way

“If you make your bed, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. That was the golden nugget of advice that Admiral McRaven gave during a commencement address: “make your bed.” You can watch the short clip here.

It seems innocuous, but the truth is that making your bed automatically gives you a “win” at the very beginning of your day. This win greatly impacts your motivation to keep going and, therefore, your actions. What if this “win” is biologically primed to support your health and vitality? Making your bed could be a crucial daily routine that sets up a biologically supportive sleep sanctuary for you to have quality deep sleep.

As McRaven puts it, “if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”

So, is there a biologically optimal way to make a bed? What can we learn from the health issues plaguing modern life about how to approach designing for this important chunk of everyday life? Here are some notes on the ideal biological sleeping arrangements—from sleep hygiene to non-toxic materials.

Making your bed helps deep sleep

If you make your bed with your health in mind, you are creating a clean, tox-free sleeping environment. You are making a space that you can rest and relax easily in. Good sleep helps maintain a healthy circadian rhythm — this is is vital because many bodily and hormonal functions operate based on your circadian rhythm, including such important everyday functions such as sleepiness, wakefulness, and hunger. 

If you can make your bed every day, you would be creating a bed sanctuary for proper daily deep sleep that necessary for health.

Why you want deep sleep

Deep sleep is the stage of sleep that helps the brain rest and recover, allowing it to replenish energy. keeping hormones balanced. The pituitary gland secretes human growth hormone during this stage, which helps tissues in the body grow and regenerate cells.

The most important thing that a person can do is to set aside more time for sleep. Doing so allows the body to go through more sleep cycles, which makes it possible to have more deep sleep.

But we know getting good sleep is not as simple as just closing your eyes. Setting up your bed and bedroom environment as a sleep sanctuary will help you achieve this.

Here are how sleep strategies can help from the perspective of building biology. And in every single action, these habits can be very powerful. As you sleep in your bed night after night, waking up from the same bed routine day after day.

So let’s look at a few closely…

Choose natural bedding

The options can seem overwhelming when it comes to sheets and pillows. Consider your sheets and pillows and choose what is tox-free and most sleep-enhancing for your needs.

The most tox-free bedding is made with natural fabrics through processes that use less water than traditional practices and don’t require harsh chemicals like pesticides or bleach or inexpensive and dangerous additives like micro plastics.

Useful guidelines include: Global Organic Textile Standard, Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX, Cradle to Cradle, and Fair Trade. These give their individual stamps of approval on products, promising that they meet certain markers in order to be considered ethically sourced, organic, safe, and responsibly labeled.

Depending on your preferences, natural bedding generally boast inherent benefits like moisture wicking and antibacterial properties.

Here is a brief list:

• Organic cotton

  Cotton is breathable, inexpensive, readily available, and easy to care for. Organic also means it is processed without using chemicals like fertilizers or pesticides or genetic modifications which reduce its susceptibility to insects like bollworm.

• Organic Hemp & Organic Linen

  Two more classic natural bedding fabrics are hemp and linen. They’re both stronger than cotton, with hemp being up to eight times stronger.

• Eucalyptus fiber

  The feel of eucalyptus is downy, resistant to irritants like dust and mold, and naturally cooling. Eucalyptus plants also combat congestion, repel insects, and promote relaxation.

• Organic latex

  The properties of organic latex make it naturally mold-, mildew-, bacteria-, and dust-resistant.

Declutter the bedroom

A clean home is a happy home, because it is a healthy.

While a home doesn’t need to be sanitised or spotless, when you tidy the bedroom, it provides a clear slate for restful sleep.

Tidying the bedroom will not only provide you with another small win for the day, it will relieve stress so that your mind can fully focus on what matters most. Learn how building biology principles can be a part of stress management techniques.

Declutter your light environment

Avoiding blue light, such as smartphones or computers near bedtime, is essential to allowing the cascade of hormones necessary for enough deep rest.

At night, keep the room as dark as possible by covering windows and turning off lights from alarm clocks and other electronic devices.

Opening and shutting your windows helps make a consistent sleep schedule and trying to fall asleep and wake up at consistent times.

Declutter your EMF environment

The last thing you want in your bedroom environment are artificial EMFs. Sleep is when your body begins the heavy duty of clearing fluid.

Artificial EMFs interfere with this process, and add oxidative stress, which leads to inflammation and weakens your cells over time[*]. Your body uses up antioxidants combating EMF radiation, leaving your cells open to damage from other sources of stress.

Growing research has found that EMFs may hit your brain especially hard and could even contribute to neurodegeneration.

EMFs can come from WiFi, cell phones, laptops, and other everyday electronic devices. Learn more here, or book a home consult.

Taking the time to make your bed

As society seem to get ever busier and high tech, sleep is seeming a bigger and bigger luxury and all things bedroom is seeing a renaissance of interest as people chase what they perceive to be elusive sleep.

I think we are realising the importance of how intertwined our bed and sleep: it is part of basic hygiene and essential to our self-care.

We spend a third of our lives asleep, or about under half of every day. This means that we are constantly being exposed to any chemicals or microscopic bacteria. It also means we are exposed to any pollution and toxins permeating our sleep environment.

The good news is that you can decrease a lot of your exposure to pollution, and increase your resilience, by a lot with just the simple action of making your bed. Try making your bed daily with these building biology practices.

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For more help, get in touch for a FREE discovery call to find out your needs to create the perfect sleep sanctuary.

So let’s get started because making your bed can change your health.

P.S. Don’t forget to grab your guide to a biological home. click here, and I’ll send it to your inbox in a few minutes. This is the perfect way to get started with the building biology principles you just learnt about.

Easy ways to enliven a space: Practical ideas from IKEA

Life can be hectic, and your interior space should be a sanctuary providing a calm environment so that you can rest, recharge and be ready to do what you need to do. Whether it is a work space, bedroom, or a play area for children, an indoor space should prioritise elements that can help one renew and recharge, instead of depleting or distracting you. 

Building Biology principles guide how we can make healthy interior spaces. This article highlights principles from Building Biology that you can apply easily to help enliven a space. I also share examples from IKEA that show how this can be in very easy and practical ways.

Being a mother, I love my strolls with the children, and I also love my indoor strolls through IKEA (or any interior-ware store). Their many room ideas are great for inspiration.

Why choose a calm environment? 

Calm isn’t a trend or a style. Any design can be calming, and any design, done badly, can be chaotic instead. 

Common factors of calm spaces may be material and visual. They share these common principles that are important for biological health:

(1) Balanced natural light and illumination

(2) Access to a view and/or perspective free of pollutants, with access to fresh natural elements

(3) Similarly, a connection to Nature, with access to fresh air, sunshine, and nature

(4) Natural and unadulterated furnishings and materials

Part of a calm environment is knowing your items and furniture are working to help you create, instead of taking up space. Another reason why IKEA is popular is how they try to have their products pull double-duty and be highly functional.

IKEA products are usually well-made, so you add a sense of proportion and order to your space, if placed well. Here are some options so easily found at the nearest IKEA for calm, enlivening space.

Plants 

The easiest way to enliven a space to include Nature or parts of it directly, in appropriate areas.

We are a part of Nature, and proximity to friendly plants help improve concentration and creativity. Plants are a natural option to calm and enliven a space as they are living things that offer air exchange, trap dust and toxins, and release oxygen into the air. If you are unsure of a green thumb, try plants that are low maintenance such as snake plants or money plants that do not add too much to an already humid environment (like ours in the tropics). Or cut flowers, stems help add connection to Nature. 

Natural materials, such as seagrass 

Natural materials can seem like a cliche or an obvious choice. But not considering its impact (whether it can be a focal point in a space) is a common mistake, as a lack of natural material, even if only perceived, can be uncomfortable to the body for extended periods.

Elements that are representative of Nature also help breathe a sense of fresh air into a space. Materials such as seagrass, wood, and ceramic add an organic feel. The natural roundness and soft textures in seagrass help balance the hard lines and flat surfaces that often make up indoor spaces. 

Seagrass also evokes the senses of touch and smell, that is calming to our nervous system. 

IKEA has had stunning ranges on seagrass the last few seasons. This is a plant growing naturally in South-East Asian coastal areas, so I’m always excited to see how IKEA re-imagines the simple material in various ways for different functions. 

Lighting 

Calm lighting is also crucial for enjoying a calm space. Ideally, you have full-spectrum natural lightning from the Sun, rather than relying on artificial light even during daylight hours. This ensures basic health, and that your circadian rhythm can be in sync with natural day-night cycles, which is crucial for optimal performance and wellbeing.

Lighting affects our circadian rhythm, which governs every function in our body. LED lighting is probably the most problematic thing indoors in recent years. LEDs are extremely problematic sources of light indoors, as their light is distorted . You want your light indoors to work with your circadian rhythm, not against it.

You want to choose lighting very carefully. IKEA only sells LED lights, so if we do buy those, select its placement and daily use thoughtfully. It pays off in in alertness, jet lag, performance (especially if you are an athlete or a shift worker), twilight, seasonality, skin response, photoreception, and more.

At the least, I would not choose open-style bulbs. Lampshades help diffuse the glare and flicker. The Molnart bulb from IKEA tries to augment this in a warmer LED and double smoke-colored glass. From their website:

This LED light bulb spreads the same warm light as a traditional 14W light bulb – without flickering or emitting any sound. This particular light bulb emits the same warm glow as candlelight (1,800 Kelvin).

Your view of the outdoors

The view you have is another essential consideration for a calm space.

A view of the outdoors offer a perspective to Nature, or the world at large. The broader range and distance are very calming for the eyes, and help avoid myopia.

Window curtains in 100% natural materials allow this light to filter into a room while reducing harsh tropical heat. The all- linen or cotton options from IKEA are a beautiful way to frame your view of the outdoors. 

A last thing...Decluttering (and Organising) 

Finally, good storage is an important component of any calm space.

This is probably what drives many to a store like IKEA in the first place—the relentless search to finally have an organised space. IKEA has chock loads of organisation options. And they don’t have to be plastic boxes! Their options in natural materials help add to a calm space, and dial down the internal clutter (pun intended) that can come through a space. Decluttering and organisation helps us remove items from a space that are past its use or not appropriate anymore. These include things that are degrading.

Decluttering helps clear out potential moldy items and dust collectors. Less discussed but perhaps even more important is that removing excess and worn-out items helps reduces stress and releases energy for other tasks instead.This is especially important for children and their developing brains. Your brain is continually filtering information from its environment. More about tidying in another post...

FAQs about EMF Assessments

Most of the questions are about how and why EMFs (electro-magnetic fields) occur, what their dangers may be, and how a Building Biology assessment can reduce your exposure to man-made EMFs.

Here are some of the more common questions asked about EMFs. Four man-made ones, in particular.

Many of the world’s top functional doctors recognise that “EMF removal is essential for proper healing”, including Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, Dr. Zach Bush, Dr. Dan Pompa, Dr. Ben Lynch, and Dr. Tom O’Bryan.

What is a Building Biologist?

As a certified Building Biologist, I help you plan and create better spaces that support your biological health.

I also draw on over 15 years’ experience in research and publishing to provide you with scientific knowledge, support, and the necessary tools for you to make informed-based decisions for your own home or work space.

What is an emf consultation or an assessment?

An assessment for a space can identify EMF sources and your EMF sensitivity. It provide solutions to reduce exposure.

In my consultations with you, I add a strong base of EMF knowledge as an essential toolkit that you can take with you in terms of healing recommendations, programs or protocols.

Why does an assessment take X hours?

An assessment is based on your priorities and needs, and a comprehensive EMF assessment paints a picture of the invisible electro-pollution in your space.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum is broad, and in a Building Biology assessment for a space, we are concerned with at least 4 types of EMFs and the health effects.

These are AC magnetic fields (cable lines, currents drawn by device, appliance, or motor, electrical wiring errors, stray electrical current on water pipes, cable tv lines, phone lines and other utility installations);

Radio frequency fields (wireless radiation from mobile / Bluetooth devices, wifi, cell phone towers, smart devices, 5G);

AC electric fields (circuits, power lines);

Dirty electricity (any manipulation of the electrical current by devices, appliances and lighting in your home, incl dimmer switches, televisions, laptops…)

As you can see, that is a lot to assess in any modern space!

EMFs are not really that harmful, are they? EMFs levels by devices are at “safe levels”. We’ve lived with mobile phones for so long. Etc.

The 1996 EMF safety standards that are supposed to protect people are based on the false premise that the only way that EMFs can hurt our biology is by causing overheating.

This myth is unscientific, considering the fact that publicly-available research published by the NASA in 1970,[1]the US Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI) in 1971,[2]the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in 1976[3] and countless others show that EMFs can and do cause damage through non-thermal mechanisms.

In other words, our current safety standards are based on a false premise, and therefore do not protect anyone against the harm caused by microwave radiation.

Thousands of studies in just the last decade is proving this. This includes the $25 US NTP study has published their conclusions after running one of the most important and costly studies around cell phones and cancer ever conceived. Their initial goal: proving without the shadow of a doubt that cell phones are safe.

What they found: the opposite; rats and mice exposed to cellphone radiation have shown “Clear Evidence” of an increase in multiple tumor types— read this blog for more detail.

It is up to you to measure for and reduce the man-made EMFs in your life.

My children are already grown up and no longer babies. Is an EMF consultation or assessment still beneficial?

Children are being conceived and born exposed to artificial EMFs. Children are at greater risk from exposure to carcinogens than adults, and this risk remains well into adolescence as they develop.

One effect is on their emotional processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control—these are fundamental skills required for success and emotional well-being.

There are many things we can do as parents to mitigate any harm and plan a path forward for children to learn how to live well in a digitised society.

Not least, creating a good space can help unplug our children, limit their screen time, and give them some digital detox.

What other services do you offer?

Interior design support and sourcing; Birth space / Postpartum recovery planning; Childrens’ space planning.