Page 55 - Education Issue

Pearls of Wisdom

THE HEALING POWER OF

GOING WITH NATURE’S FLOW

By Dr. Mimi Guarneri & Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf

F YOU WERE LUCKY ENOUGH
Ias a kid to have a mother or other
caregiver telling you when to go to
bed at night and putting food on the
table at a certain set time, you may
have effortlessly imbibed a sense of
just how much a regular daily sched-
ule can soothe and ease the stress of
everyday life and work to keep your
body in balance.
With record rates of obesity, di-
abetes, heart disease, depression and
sleep problems in youth and elders
alike, health experts are grappling
to identify causes and cures. Beyond
the well-known diet and exercise
factors, researchers are beginning to
discover the powerful influence that
“timing” –revealed in the burgeoning
new field of “chronobiology”-- plays
in maintaining our health and vitality
through our lives.
Dr. L: I personally discovered this Ayurvedic rishis, or “seers” cog- our best and move through the day
principle back in 1969, being driven nized the laws of Nature governing with the least effort and stress. Just as
home with my girlfriends after our first health with regard to diet, herbs, and riding the waves in the ocean is easier
“sleep-over,” feeling -- physiologically lifestyle--- the “tools” they had back (and more fun!) than swimming up-
speaking-- utterly miserable. I vowed in 3000 BC--- and clearly described stream, so is following a daily sched-
then and there that I would never stay that our body follows a rhythmic ule that’s in-sync with our body’s
up that late again! pattern of metabolic, hormonal and natural cycles.
Alas, medical school and residency physiological activity throughout the After 30 years of “clinical valida-
forced a renege on my promise, but 24-hour cycle. tion” of the Ayurvedic guidelines for
I nevertheless continue to appreciate As the earth turns on its axis, when to eat, sleep and exercise, I have
how much better I feel--- mentally, rotating us towards or away from the been delighted to find that research in
emotionally and physically—after not warm, nourishing rays of the sun, our the pioneering field of chronobiology
only a good night’s sleep, but one start- bodies respond with corresponding is validating many of these Ayurvedic
ed early-ish, like by 10 PM. 24-hour rhythms that determine the concepts.
It turns out that Ayurveda divined optimal time of day to eat our biggest
this principle over 5000 years ago, meal, go to bed, get up in the morn- “In-Sync” for Better Sleep
and teaches that everyone--- night ing and exercise. Dr. L: I recently took an infor-
owls and morning larks alike--- will When we do these activities at the mal poll of 15-20 people, about 1/2 of
benefit from an early bedtime and “right time,” i.e., in alignment with whom described themselves as night
getting up with the birds. our body’s natural biorhythm, we feel owls and half as “morning larks.” In-

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