Sleep Hygiene or tips for a good night sleep:

A good night sleep is the secret to a happy productive next day. It is the time our body takes to restore and rejuvenate. Our night depends on the day we had, and the next day depends on how well our previous night was.

Here are some tips:

• · Go to sleep when you feel sleepy
• · If you do not fall asleep within 30 min, get up, do something that will induce sleep and then return to bed.
• · Create a routine: Go to bed and wake up at the same time
• · Go to bed before 10:30 p.m. According to Ayurveda after 10pm we begin a new cycle of energy. This is an energetic cycle, where we sometimes feel that we get a second wind.
• · Exercising is healthy, and useful for a good night sleep, but timing is key. Finish your exercise at least 4 hours before bedtime. Mornings and early afternoons are best.
• · Make your bedroom a sanctuary. Keep it clean and inviting. Soft light, quiet and relaxing.
• · Use your bed for sleeping only. Read, work, watch TV and fold laundry elsewhere. This way your body will recognize that being in bed means sleep. Sex is the only exception.
• · Avoid Caffeine, nicotine and alcohol 5 hours before bedtime.
• · Drink during the day, so you do need to drink much at night, and do not need to get up for the toilet in your sleep time.
• · Take a hot bath an hour before bed. The drop in body temperature is what makes you feel sleepy.
• · Develop bedtime routines. Listen to quiet music, sit silently, read something calming, or massage your body with oil.
• · Eat dinner at least 2-3 hours before bed. If you are hungry later, have a light snack, unsweetened cereal with a bit of organic milk, or a bit of warm milk with a touch of honey.
• · Do not turn on lights during the night, even if you have to go to the bathroom. Light exposure during the night impairs melatonin production, which is crucial for good night sleep.
• · See the sun as soon as it’s up, to set your biological clock.
• · Take Melatonin for a few weeks, and then let it go. (2-3mg 30-45 min before bedtime
• · Magnesium (500mg 30-45 min before bedtime)

Sleep well, wake up smiling. Have a blissful life!

Organic

Eating Organic for a better you and a better world

Eating organic simply means eating the way nature intended food to be. It is the way the world ate for centuries. The more recent style of production is referred to as "conventional," though organic production has been the convention for a much greater period of time. There was never a need to label food as organic until we stated producing toxic food.

It would make more sense to label food as toxic, including a list of pesticides and other chemicals used to grow the food, rather than need to label normal food as "organic."

When buying organic you make sure that your food does not have enormous amounts of pesticides, has no hormones or antibiotics and is respectful for the earth and environment.

Organic is better for you because you receive:

• Better tasting food. Better nourishment for the soil, goes into the plant and ends on our plate, revealing better flavor.

• Much higher nutrition levels (up to 19 times than non-organic).

• Healthier food. Save yourself from all the possible sicknesses and problems that chemicals, hormones and antibiotics might cause. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimated that pesticides might cause an extra 4 million cancer cases among Americans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutations. The EPA considers 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides and 30 percent of all insecticides carcinogenic.

• Look for the “9”. The product number on the sticker on the produce has to begin with a 9 if it is organic.

Organic farms are better for the planet:

• Non-organic food farms suffer from the worst soil erosion in history.

• Protect water quality. Ground water is contaminated with pesticides (some cancer causing) in 38 states, the main source of drinking water for more than half of the country’s population.

• Modern farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming 12 percent of the country’s totally energy supply. Organic farming is still based on hard human work, from weeding to green manure and cover crops, instead of synthetic fertilizers.

• Most organic farms today are still small and family owned.

• Support a healthy economy. Even though organic might seem more expensive, in reality, it costs more to produce non-organic food (when you include pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and cleanup, and environmental damage including estimated $74 billion annually in federal subsidies).

• Some food is GMO (Genetically modified), i.e. a lab-invented food. Most common GMO food is soy, corn and canola. This food has fewer nutrients, less flavor and is heavily sprayed. A food that is only good to the pocket of its inventors. Buying organic ensures you dot not get GMO food. Anecdote: I went to a big chain supermarket to buy tomatoes. They did not have organic, so I asked the kind employee if he knows how good these tomatoes are. Many times a farm is in process of becoming organic, or does not spray, but is too small to pay for the organic certification. He highly recommended the tomatoes. He said they are great and can last for at least 2 weeks. Hmmm, I thought, how can that be? Ah, he said. They are made with pig genes in them so they can withstand heavy spraying and will not perish easily. So for all of you that eat Kosher or Halal, watch out! You might be a eating a sinful tomato!


For more information visit:
www.ccof.org
www.organic.org
http://www.organicconsumers.org/