Participants: Don Mckintosh (Host), David DeRose
Series Code: HFAL
Program Code: HFAL000174
00:49 Hello and welcome to Health for a Lifetime.
00:50 I'm your host Don Mackintosh. 00:52 Today we're going to talk about insomnia which means... well, 00:56 we'll learn more about it in a minute as we talk to our guest. 00:59 Our guest is Dr. David DeRose. 01:01 He's a physician from southern Oklahoma. 01:03 He started a ministry entitled, "CompassHealth," available 01:09 on the internet, compasshealth. net 01:11 Dr. DeRose we're glad that you've joined us. 01:14 It's always good to be with you, Don. 01:15 Now you trained in internal medicine, which is looking 01:18 more closely at medical conditions, but also you're 01:22 interested in preventive health, in other words 01:25 preventing things. 01:26 CompassHealth - tell me a little bit about this ministry. 01:30 CompassHealth has been around for about 3 years. 01:33 We really started the ministry to focus more on giving broader 01:38 dissemination to health wisdom that God has given to His people 01:43 collectively. 01:44 We just find out in the market place that many people don't 01:48 recognize the really cutting edge insights that God has in 01:52 the scriptures and scriptural principles. 01:54 So CompassHealth has started with that in mind. 01:57 We do a lot with various types of media. 02:00 I host a regular radio show and a number of TV appearances 02:05 of which we are doing one right now, seminars, and do 02:09 a lot of writing as well. 02:10 compasshealth. net 02:13 Does God have anything to say or science have anything to say 02:17 about this problem of insomnia? 02:19 First of all what is it? 02:20 Some background on it and then I guess you're going to share 02:24 with us some things to do that are non drug type strategies 02:28 to deal with it. 02:29 Well, this is a huge problem. 02:30 If you just look at medical magazines, medical journals, 02:35 you'll realize it's a pressing problem because every 02:38 medical journal, I haven't done a study on it, but it seems 02:41 like every journal I get has ads for the latest and greatest 02:45 sleeping pill. 02:46 People are troubled in our society with insomnia. 02:50 It's even more frustrating because we're probably 02:52 driving ourselves harder than ever before 02:55 and as far as the little amount of time that we spend in bed 03:02 sleeping, so it's very frustrating if you finally 03:05 get a chance to lay down and you can't fall asleep! 03:07 Very frustrating! 03:08 I don't seem to have this problem in my discipline 03:11 which is preaching. 03:12 A lot of people seem to go to sleep during my sermons. 03:14 But at night their having problems, right? 03:17 Yes, exactly. 03:18 The problems really are caused by a host of things. 03:22 We have what we call primary insomnia. 03:24 That means where the insomnia is occurring for reasons that 03:28 the average medical professional would not identify. 03:31 It's not some clear cut disease state that's causing 03:34 the sleep problems. 03:35 But then there's secondary insomnia 03:36 where actually medical conditions are causing 03:39 the problems. 03:40 So it may be a woman who's going through menopause, 03:41 through the hormonal changes are interfering with her sleep. 03:44 Could be restless leg syndrome, or sleep apnea, 03:48 breathing problems, disordered breathing problems at night, 03:51 So there can be these so called secondary causes of insomnia 03:55 there's a medical condition. 03:56 The treatment for those we're not going to say the treatment 03:59 is not necessarily just what we're going to be talking 04:04 about today because we want to talk about general strategies. 04:07 Specific strategies are called for if there's a medical 04:11 condition that's causing the sleeping problem. 04:13 The restless leg syndrome - is that mean like your leg 04:15 is keeping you awake at night? 04:17 It's sometimes spoken of a movement disorder. 04:21 Periodic movement disorder can sometimes affect the legs 04:24 but it can affect other parts of the body as well. 04:25 So, you're going to share with us some basic principles on how 04:30 to address this problem. 04:32 One of the things you say is have a daily sleep routine. 04:35 That's right. 04:36 This is something that most people in our culture 04:39 have gotten away from. 04:40 In the old days we used to do things in a fairly typical way. 04:44 We were living closer to the land. 04:47 Our forefathers were farmers, many of them, and they had to 04:52 be disciplined. 04:53 Well, in our culture, what we do is we tend to run on one 04:56 schedule during the week and another schedule 04:58 on the week end. 05:00 And even during the week, if there's a program we want to 05:03 watch that's on late at night, we'll watch that. 05:07 If we've got something pressing, now I'm not saying 05:11 we've got to be, "Uh oh, Don, it's 9:15, I've got to 05:15 start my bedtime routine, it was nice that you stopped by 05:18 10 minutes ago but you're not part of my routine, so time 05:21 to go. " 05:22 We're not talking about interfering with our Christian 05:24 ministry and our walk. 05:26 But at the same time we're saying if we do things in a 05:29 more regimented way, have a routine, schedule, and a 05:32 sleep routine, most of us don't make a big enough distinction 05:36 between our waking hours and our sleeping time. 05:39 We don't give our bodies any chance to wind down. 05:44 I've noticed with my children, my 18 month old and my 05:49 5 year old, that at certain times if they go past a certain 05:54 time 7:00, 8:00 o'clock at night and we ramp it up 05:57 they have a real hard time going to sleep. 06:01 But if they have a routine they go to sleep. 06:06 But that routine, just like it's important for the kids 06:09 it's important for adults and some of the things that can 06:13 contribute to conducive routine. 06:14 But the message is though making a distinction between waking 06:19 activities and sleep. 06:21 You're balancing your check book at the same time you're watching 06:24 the evening news and you're thinking about all the problems 06:28 you're going to handle the next day by writing a list. 06:30 That is not putting your mind or your body in a 06:34 framework to rest. 06:35 So take a shower, take a bath, read something devotional, 06:40 play a musical instrument for a little bit. 06:44 Some routine, something that you do that helps you wind down 06:47 and tells your body "I'm now getting ready for bed. " 06:49 Ok, what about late night meals? 06:53 Late night meals - you know the conventional wisdom on this one 06:56 is they can help you sleep. 06:58 And they actually can. 07:00 Some people by eating right before they go to bed 07:02 it will help them sleep. 07:04 Many people notice this. 07:06 They say, "You know when I eat I get sleepy right after. " 07:10 But here's the problem. 07:11 If your blood sugar is rising early in your sleeping hours, 07:16 in other words you've eaten a meal and you go to sleep, 07:20 certain restorative hormones in your body are going 07:24 to be suppressed. 07:25 You're not going to make as much melatonin as your body needs. 07:29 You're not going to make as much growth hormone. 07:31 Growth hormone is not just needed by kids to grow taller. 07:34 It's needed by adults to build up the body 07:36 from the wear and tear of the day. 07:38 If your blood sugar is rising you're not going to get 07:41 optimal levels of those. 07:42 So yes, eating late at night may help you fall asleep. 07:45 People recognize that. 07:48 But it can contribute to poor quality sleep. 07:51 Many people notice that not only they poor quality sleep 07:54 they sometimes report more vivid dreams, nightmares, 07:57 and things when they eat right before going to bed. 08:00 Ok, so there's a definite payoff and there's not a good payoff. 08:03 What is some other things we can do to avoid insomnia? 08:09 Well, avoiding insomnia is great. 08:13 Treating insomnia or addressing it is also important. 08:16 One of the things that does both is regular physical exercise. 08:19 Exercise - we've got to be a little careful with this one. 08:23 I know we've talked about it before on other programs, 08:27 but it's important to emphasize it in this context. 08:30 Physical exercise is important for regulating our metabolism. 08:35 Many people go to bed at night. 08:37 They're laying in bed and they can't sleep. 08:40 They're in a state of what we call hypertonic fatigue. 08:43 Hypertonic fatigue - now that's sounds important. 08:44 It is very important and that's why I mentioned it. 08:47 Your muscles are tense and they're trying to lay there 08:50 and go to sleep and they can't fall asleep. 08:53 The strategy for hypertonic fatigue is not rest - 08:57 it's exercise. 08:58 But if you're laying in bed and your muscles are all tense 09:02 and you can't relax, you don't want to go out and run 5 miles 09:07 because many people will find that late night exercise 09:11 wakes them up. 09:12 So what you do at night if you can't fall asleep, this is 09:17 what I do, it's not frequent, but if I lay down and I can't 09:21 fall asleep and feel more tense, I'll get up and take a walk. 09:24 A light, slow walk, maybe just walk through 09:28 my living room and pray, maybe walk outside my house, 09:32 whatever. 09:33 I'm in a fairly quiet area so it's not walking in the streets 09:37 of Manhattan. 09:38 The kids are old enough now that the living room is not dangerous 09:40 to walk through like mine. 09:41 That's right. 09:42 So the idea is the light exercise at night if you're 09:45 having trouble sleeping can be an excellent strategy. 09:49 But during the day doing more vigorous exercise can help 09:52 you at night time have your muscles relax and get some of 09:55 that tension out so you can fall asleep better. 09:57 I notice that when I do have a good exercise program 10:00 in the morning or during the day I don't have to sleep as much. 10:04 That's right. 10:05 Why is that? 10:06 It's because your body is operating more efficiently. 10:08 At least that's the way that I conceptualize it. 10:11 There's several things going on. 10:13 One is your sleep quality may be better. 10:16 Your muscle tension is less when you go to bed. 10:19 There's a number of things that happen with exercise 10:22 metabolically that seems to be useful. 10:25 Optimal, daylight sunlight exposure you're talking 10:29 about as well here. 10:31 Yes. 10:32 Most of us live in an artificial environment. 10:34 Most of our jobs call for us to be indoors in our culture. 10:37 So we're not getting exposed to outdoor light. 10:40 People that wake up in the middle of the night 10:43 and can't fall asleep. 10:44 It's 2:00 o'clock, 3:00 o'clock in the morning and they wake up. 10:48 They can't fall back to sleep. 10:49 Many of these people are helped by getting 10:52 bright light exposure. 10:53 By bright light we're speaking of light like you get outside. 10:56 Like what we have right here? 10:57 This is very bright. 10:59 I don't know how many lux this is but a bright day outside 11:02 would be like 3,000 lux, somewhere in that range, 11:05 that's a unit of light measurement. 11:07 So yes, this is doing us good even though we're indoors 11:10 recording this. 11:12 Late in the day, if the show is being recorded 5:00-6:00 o'clock 11:17 or bright light therapy, if someone 5 or 6 p. m. sometimes 11:22 in some parts of the country in the winter months 11:25 it may be dark, so they can use a light box. 11:28 But the idea is that bright light exposure helps to set the 11:31 circadian rhythm and the person will often sleep better 11:34 through the night. 11:35 What about sleep environment? 11:37 Sleep environment - this is a very important one. 11:40 Some people say. "Hey, I can sleep anywhere. " 11:43 That's great if they really can. 11:45 But most people can't. 11:46 There's several qualities of an optimal sleep environment. 11:50 One - it should be generally most people sleep better 11:54 in a cool environment - not cold so they're shivering 11:57 - but a cool environment. 11:59 They should be comfortable when they're lying down. 12:02 It should be quiet and should be dark as possible is the most 12:07 conducive for optimal sleep. 12:09 So what if your husband or wife snores? 12:12 If your husband or wife snores that definitely produces some 12:15 challenges. 12:16 The challenge may actually be worse for them because the 12:18 snoring could indicate a tendency to sleep apnea. 12:22 So especially if they're stopping breathing at night 12:25 they've got a major sleep problem. 12:27 But for you, that snoring is not helping you sleep either is it? 12:32 I'm not admitting to anything for myself but the person 12:36 that goes through it, yes, probably so. 12:37 I realize that but if you were in a room... 12:39 I had a friend just the other day they were telling me 12:43 that they were at a Christian camp and there was some 12:46 shortage in housing. 12:47 So in with their family they moved some other people 12:50 and one of those people snored the whole night. 12:52 One of the children came in with one of the parents saying 12:56 "I can't sleep, I can't sleep. " 12:58 So, yes, we can relate to this. 13:01 What do you do? 13:02 Many people say the only way I can sleep is to sleep in 13:05 another room. 13:06 Other people say, "What is the cause of the snoring?" 13:10 Many people if they are over weight and snoring, 13:12 weight loss can help address the snoring. 13:14 There are other techniques that can address that. 13:17 There are surgical techniques because sometimes the snoring 13:19 is really a problem contributing to sleep apnea. 13:23 But the other strategy is just using ear plugs. 13:26 Some people with simple in the ear, ear plugs decreasing 13:30 the sound 25 decimals and then putting some white noise on 13:33 at the same time - fan running, sounds of the ocean, whatever - 13:37 the snoring will just blend right into that. 13:40 Someone told me once to put a tennis ball in a sock 13:43 in your back. 13:44 If you got some people snoring and they roll over they hit that 13:46 and then they'll go on their side and won't snore anymore. 13:48 Sometimes that does work. 13:49 That's a good strategy. 13:51 I'm glad you're the host of the show because that's one 13:53 I wouldn't have mentioned. 13:54 That does work for some people. 13:56 We're talking with Dr. David DeRose. 13:59 We're talking about insomnia. 14:00 It's something that is a big problem. 14:04 Join us when we come back and continue talking 14:06 about this subject. 14:09 Have you found yourself wishing that you could 14:11 shed a few pounds? 14:12 Have you been on a diet for most of your life? 14:14 But not found anything that will really keep the weight off? 14:17 If you've answered yes to any of these questions, then we 14:21 have a solution for you that works. 14:23 Dr. Hans Diehl and Dr. Aileen Ludington 14:26 have written a marvelous booklet called, 14:28 Reversing Obesity Naturally, and we'd like to send it to you 14:31 free of charge. 14:33 Here's a medically sound approach successfully used 14:36 by thousands who are able to eat more 14:38 and loose weight permanently 14:39 without feeling guilty or hungry through lifestyle medicine. 14:43 Dr. Diehl and Dr. Ludington have been featured on 3ABN 14:47 and in this booklet they present a sensible approach to eating, 14:50 nutrition, and lifestyle changes that can help you prevent 14:54 heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. 14:56 Call or write today for your free copy: 15:09 Welcome back. 15:10 We talking with Dr. David DeRose. 15:11 He's a physician in southern Oklahoma. 15:13 We're talking with Dr. DeRose today, about insomnia. 15:16 He has a webpage compasshealth. net 15:20 where a lot of this information can be shared 15:22 even in more detail. 15:23 You're keeping me awake here! 15:25 This program has not put me to sleep but the object of this 15:28 program is to put me to sleep - put people to sleep so they 15:30 can get a good night's rest! 15:32 Isn't that right? 15:33 Well, that's the goal and if they fall asleep during the 15:35 program we'll just consider it a compliment. 15:38 So we've talked about several strategies. 15:40 We won't go over those again because there's quite a bit 15:43 more we have to cover. 15:44 But you're saying also avoid unnecessary stimulants. 15:47 What do you mean by that? 15:48 Well, you know the two primary stimulants that we use in our 15:51 country are caffeine and nicotine. 15:53 Both of those habits are often things that 15:57 people use throughout the day. 15:58 Caffeine taken even after noon, as early as 12:00, 1:00 o'clock 16:05 in the day, you know 1:00 p. m. can interfere with sleep 16:08 in the night for many people that are sensitive. 16:10 So really the best policy with caffeine is leave it out 16:13 altogether. 16:14 If you feel you must use caffeine, if you're having 16:16 trouble sleeping, definitely don't have any of it after 16:19 noon. 16:20 When it comes to nicotine, well I don't know of any people 16:23 that are addicted to nicotine that stop using it at noon. 16:26 Nicotine really is another compound that interferes 16:30 with quality sleep. 16:31 They both work together, don't they? 16:32 They're both stimulants. 16:34 Alcohol? 16:35 Well, alcohol generally in the levels that it's used 16:39 has more of a depressant effect. 16:40 So many, many people have found that alcohol is something 16:44 that can help them sleep. 16:46 You don't recommend that though? 16:47 No, I don't recommend it. 16:48 The reason why is sleep is just not an all or none phenomena. 16:52 We have what is called a sleep architecture. 16:55 We go through stages of sleep. 16:57 If you take alcohol it interferes with quality sleep. 17:01 It interferes with the sleep architecture. 17:03 You don't get the restful sleep that you need. 17:05 So alcohol is not a short-cut to better sleep. 17:08 Leave it alone. 17:10 You're asleep but you're not asleep. 17:11 You're not getting the kind of sleep you need. 17:12 That's right. 17:13 What about medications that disrupt sleep? 17:16 Are there any that do that? 17:17 Well, there's other medications. 17:18 Of course we've mentioned caffeine and nicotine. 17:22 Those are drugs, 17:23 but we don't usually think of them as medications. 17:24 Diuretics, water pills - many people take those late 17:30 in the day or even earlier in the day and they're going to 17:32 the bathroom throughout the night. 17:34 Now, I'm not making a plea on international television 17:37 for people to stop using their diuretics because if 17:40 they've got congestive heart failure, believe me getting up 17:43 to go to the bathroom is better than suffocating in your sleep. 17:46 Don't stop your Lasix, don't stop your? 17:48 That's right! 17:49 But if you're on a diuretic maybe for high blood pressure 17:53 it maybe worth talking with the doctor if you're getting 17:56 up frequently - "Is there another medication I could use?" 17:58 Are there some lifestyle strategies that would free me 18:01 from reliance on this drug? 18:03 What about ways to position yourself to increase sleep? 18:10 Yes, this is an interesting question. 18:11 Sleep position a lot of people think well this doesn't have 18:15 much to do with quality of sleep. 18:16 As we get older, most all of us will experience some degree of 18:22 osteoarthritis. 18:24 These are just normal degenerative changes that happen 18:27 in our bony structure. 18:28 Many, many people have problems for instance with back pain, 18:32 or arm, or neck, or other pain. 18:35 Sleep position can have a profound role on us. 18:38 Let's just talk about low back pain - very common. 18:40 If someone is being interrupted as far as their sleep because of 18:45 their low back bothering them, what can they do? 18:47 One of the strategies is to keep you knees bent 18:50 when you're sleeping. 18:51 So if you're laying on your back put a large pillow under your 18:56 knees so your knees are bent. 18:57 Behind the small of your back put a lumbar roll, a small roll 19:02 maybe this size or smaller. 19:05 Like a towel or a blanket or a special pillow that you can buy 19:09 for that purpose. 19:10 That will help take the stress off the low back and if you're 19:13 not being awakened with pain that's great. 19:15 If you're sleeping on your side, again a pillow between 19:17 the knees, knees bent so that the hips are aligned just like 19:22 they would be if you were standing up. 19:25 Should we watch TV in bed? 19:27 Well, if you have no problem with insomnia it may be ok. 19:31 But for people with insomnia, we say, "Look it, make the 19:36 bedroom a room that is especially focused on 19:40 non-normal-waking activities. 19:44 Don't be eating in bed, don't reading the newspaper in bed. 19:51 Make the bedroom a place that is not an environment 19:56 where you are doing normal waking activities. 19:58 If I can't go to sleep and I'm saying I don't know if I'm ever 20:01 going to get to sleep, should I lay in bed thinking about it, 20:03 or should I get up? 20:04 Common scenario. 20:05 That's a destructive scenario, really, psychologically. 20:10 What happens, many people who have insomnia 20:12 becomes a vicious cycle. 20:13 Like you said, they're laying in bed saying, "I can't sleep, 20:16 I know it's going to be another terrible night, how can I 20:19 tomorrow, what am I going to do tomorrow?!" 20:21 The best strategy to do is if you're getting frustrated 20:25 you can't fall asleep, get up, do something! 20:29 Do some light activity, pray, take a light walk, whatever 20:33 it might be, don't lay there ruminating about how terrible 20:37 it's going to be because you can't sleep. 20:39 Maybe people that are having problems with sleep just don't 20:43 need as much sleep? 20:44 Well, it is true there are differences in 20:46 sleep requirements. 20:47 This is an important thing to recognize because we've been 20:52 doing a lot of education lately about telling people 20:54 that we need to sleep more. 20:55 Because this is a society who are really cutting ourselves 20:58 short on sleep. 21:00 So people are getting this message that you're probably 21:03 better off having 8 or 9 hours of sleep a night. 21:05 As we get older we often can't sleep that much. 21:08 And that's ok. 21:10 If you find that you can't perform the next day... 21:13 If you wake up at 4:30 in the morning and you feel rested 21:17 say, "Praise the Lord!" 21:19 Ok, I'm up early. 21:20 I can take some time with the Lord before anyone's calling 21:23 me on my phone. 21:24 So what do we really normally need, 21:27 a normal person - say age category? 21:30 The rule of thumb that we often talk about - 7-9 hours of sleep 21:36 in our adult life. 21:38 It's a reasonable rule of thumb. 21:40 If someone finds in their 70's or 80's they're only 21:43 sleeping 6 hours at night, they feel rested when they 21:47 get up at 5:00, but at 11:00 in the morning they're tired 21:50 well, then take a rest. 21:51 You can take a nap before noon, before lunch time. 21:55 That usually will not interfere with evening sleep. 21:59 Relaxation techniques? 22:00 That's an excellent thing to bring up. 22:02 Because that's another great thing you can do. 22:04 If you're in bed and you say, "Look it, I don't like this 22:07 DeRose guy. 22:08 I like Don Mackintosh a lot better. 22:10 DeRose says get out of bed when you're frustrated. 22:12 Mackintosh says relaxation techniques. " 22:14 That's another alternative. 22:15 So instead of being frustrated laying in bed, 22:17 do some progressive muscle relaxation. 22:20 Progressive relaxations you know like when you start with your 22:22 toes, tense them up and then relax them. 22:26 Do the same with your feet and ankle. 22:29 Just consciously doing some of those relaxation exercises 22:34 can really help. 22:35 Without waking your spouse up, hopefully. 22:37 Yes, you want to make sure and not wake the spouse. 22:40 You've got the message right. 22:41 How can I put a stop to racing thoughts? 22:43 My mind is going round and round. 22:45 You're thinking about all the programs you're 22:48 recording here at 3ABN? 22:49 That and whatever else comes up. 22:52 There are a number of strategies. 22:54 One of my favorites is a sleep tape. 22:57 A sleep tape? 22:59 Like is this Scotch tape, masking tape? 23:01 No, no, this is a tape recording - a sleep CD. 23:04 Or a sleep MP3. 23:07 Whatever medium you want to record on to. 23:11 What you do is you play this 23:14 when you're having trouble sleeping. 23:15 What you want is you want something that is engaging 23:19 but not stimulating. 23:20 Yes, ok, so not rock-in-roll. 23:23 Not rock-in-roll. 23:24 Let me give you an example. 23:25 Scripture - narrative portions of Scripture, the story of the 23:30 Exodus, Jesus ministry. 23:31 You know what happens when the children of Israel 23:35 get to the Red Sea. 23:36 Yes, I know. 23:37 Ok, the Red Sea parts. 23:38 You're not going to be laying there in suspense, 23:40 wondering are they all going to get wiped out, right? 23:41 No. 23:42 You don't listen to the latest Stephen King thriller. 23:46 You listen to soothing portions of Scripture. 23:49 That's right - soothing portions of Scripture that focus your 23:52 mind, engage your mind, but do not stimulate it. 23:54 Herbal preparations vs. medications? 23:57 Well, there are herbal preparations that have 24:00 sedative effects. 24:01 One of the more popular ones is Valerian seems to be 24:04 generally safe and somewhat effective. 24:07 Chamomile is on the list. 24:09 There are other things that are sometimes used. 24:11 You have these listed on compasshealth. net? 24:14 Yes, on compasshealth. net we have a list of some of these 24:16 common herbs. 24:18 Melatonin use? 24:19 Melatonin does have a role in my opinion. 24:21 It's being used therapeutically. 24:23 We encourage people not to get melatonin from natural sources. 24:27 And the reason a lot of people are surprised... 24:29 "Dr. DeRose, you are always advocating natural therapies. " 24:32 But natural melatonin can come from the brain of animals - 24:35 pituitaries of animals- and with our concerns for mad cow disease 24:41 and related disorders we are very concerned about not using 24:44 organ sources for the melatonin. 24:47 And that says on the bottle? 24:49 It may say on the bottle, it may not, you may need 24:52 to call the company. 24:53 Make sure that you're not getting that kind of melatonin. 24:55 Vitamin B12? 24:56 Vitamin B12- many people are deficient in Vitamin B12. 25:01 There does seem to be some evidence that it may have a role 25:04 in some of the things that people awake if their 25:07 deficiency has nerve related functions. 25:08 So make sure you're getting adequate Vitamin B12. 25:12 Ok, herbal preparations vs. medications, you're saying avoid 25:17 the medications if possible? 25:19 Well, I'm not going to say there is never a situation where 25:21 a person would use a medication. 25:23 I'm not going to be that cut and dried. 25:25 If you're in a hospital situation, if you've got some 25:28 acute loss and your doctor prescribes you a sleeping pill 25:30 for 7 days, I'm not going to say it's wrong under all 25:33 circumstances to use that. 25:35 But really beware - typically people responsible in sleep 25:38 medicine are saying that these sleep medications generally 25:42 are short term strategies. 25:44 You need to look at the bigger picture - what's keeping 25:47 you awake - look at some of these natural strategies 25:49 that we've prepared and try to use those. 25:51 There are several others that we're not able to get to, but 25:54 the one I want to end with - you're a Christian clinician, 25:56 compasshealth. net is all dedicated to the Lord, 26:01 you're involved in ministry with your family and children - what 26:04 does God's Word have to say about insomnia? 26:11 What are some principles there? 26:13 Well, you know there are a lot of things in the Scriptures that 26:15 deal with principles that we've been talking about, Don. 26:19 One of the texts that comes to mind is in the 26:23 Gospel of Matthew. 26:25 Jesus is always reaching out to us, comforting us 26:30 with who He is and how much we mean to Him. 26:33 I'm looking at Matthew chapter 11. 26:35 A very familiar verse to most of our viewers, I'm sure. 26:39 But there at the conclusion of that chapter Jesus invites us. 26:42 He says, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden 26:46 and I will give you rest. " 26:48 That's a wonderful promise. 26:51 Jesus offers us rest in Him. 26:53 And really, if you look at it, a lot of the anxieties that we 26:57 have, a lot of the things that keep us agitated are because 27:02 you and I to some extent when we're in ministry we don't fully 27:06 allow Jesus to give us that rest. 27:08 I know it's true for me. 27:10 When I find myself kind of anxious about something 27:13 it's just really a call to prayer, kind of refocus. 27:16 It doesn't mean all the anxiety goes away, I sometimes have 27:19 used a sleep tape when things are really intense, I'll listen 27:22 to Scripture, I'll listen to an inspiring sermon or something 27:26 that's not too engaging because I've listened to it before. 27:30 But the Lord really wants to give us that comfort and peace. 27:34 Well, thank you so much for joining us and every blessing 27:37 on CompassHealth and the ministry there. 27:40 Thank you for putting up that website with all the resources, 27:43 as well, for our folks. 27:45 And thank you for joining us on Health for a Lifetime. 27:48 I hope that as a result from today's program you can find 27:52 some strategies that can help you get the rest 27:54 God wants for you. |
Revised 2014-12-17