Prairie Health & Wellness Newsletter — April 2024, Edition 4
Membership Reminder
Annual Wellness Lab Panel
Our comprehensive wellness lab panel includes Complete Blood Count, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, Lipid Panel, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, Vitamin D, Omega Panel, Hemoglobin A1c, Fasting Insulin and Prostate Specific Antigen (for Men). We encourage our members to complete this panel annually (included in your membership).
Massage Therapy Services
Our Massage Therapists at Movement by PHW utilize a variety of techniques and tools to achieve the therapeutic benefit that is right for each person. We understand there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to body work, and strive to tailor visits to the needs of the individual. Whether it's deep tissue, lymphatic drainage, relaxation, myofascial release or other, we work with each person to assess how massage may be most beneficial for their needs.
Supplement Highlight
Sleep Support MD
Sleep Support MD is a tasty chewable tablet that helps calm the nervous system to support quality sleep. It contains melatonin, which acts on receptors to encourage sleep, and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), a precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin. These tablets also contain vitamin B6, inositol, and L-theanine for additional help in supporting the body's natural ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.
Pillar of the Month: Sleep
The Central Pillar of Health
A Word from Dr. Williams
Sleep is by far one of the most underrated pillars of health. However, it is foundational to all things wellness. Want to have more energy, improve your mood and cognition, boost your immune system, prevent chronic illness, balance hormones, manage stress better, or lose weight? The answer to all of these questions is “SLEEP!”
Chronic sleep deprivation, whether from lack of sleep or poor quality sleep, is linked to dementia, heart disease, mental illness, cancers, autoimmune conditions, and so much more. It is during sleep that our brains remove waste products, restore and repair damage, and assimilate information into long-term memory.
The brain has a unique mechanism for the removal of waste products, requiring a specific pattern of circulation that only occurs during sleep. Poor sleep allows for the accumulation of waste which can cause damage to brain cells over time. Research¹ indicates that sleep benefits memory not only in the neurobehavioral domain but also in the formation of immunological long-term memories; thus, helping the immune system store information and react accordingly to threats.
Sleep deprivation is something that must be addressed when working to improve overall health and longevity. With our go-go-go attitudes, indoor lifestyles, and constant stimulation from devices, it's no wonder that good quality sleep has become elusive to so many. Adults should be getting 8+ hours of quality sleep every night. I promise this IS attainable with intentionality and practice. Here are some tips I often recommend:
Schedule. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. Stable circadian rhythms improve the ease of falling asleep, staying asleep, and maintaining good sleep quality.
Light. It is ideal to get outside in the early morning sunlight, soon after waking. The angle of morning light exposure hitting the retinas triggers a physiologic chemical cascade, starting an internal timer for the body to be more ready for sleep at bedtime. Try to get a second dose of low-angled sunlight around sunset to emphasize to your body that the internal timer that started earlier is about to run out.
Activity. Sleep must be earned! Studies show that people with higher levels of activity get better quality sleep. If you have a sedentary job, try to get in a walk over lunch or a brief workout after work, every little bit counts!
Limit Naps. If you must nap, keep it under 20 minutes and no later than 3pm. When we nap, we drain a sleep chemical called adenosine, which helps us feel sleepy in the evening. Sleep is like a pressure relief valve for adenosine, so napping drops this level and makes it more difficult to fall asleep at night.
Environment. Make sure the sleep environment is cool, dark, and quiet. If you don’t like full silence, a sound machine can help. If you do wake up overnight, do your best to stay in bed, don’t turn on any lights, and try not to open your eyes. These can all make it more difficult to re-enter sleep.
If you’re struggling with sleep and want to dive deeper into what might be causing these disruptions, set up an appointment with your provider to discuss solutions. We have many tools and resources for this central pillar of health!
Checkout our Low Carb Desserts Cookbook!
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