Participants: Daniel Miller, James Marcum
Series Code: WM
Program Code: WM000365
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00:35 "Praise God for I am fearfully and wonderfully made"
00:39 What a great text the psalmist, David, shared with us 00:43 and I want to welcome each one of you to "Wonderfully Made" 00:46 Thank you for allowing us to come into your home 00:49 and to minister to you today, and to help teach 00:51 more about the bodies that God has given us. 00:54 Today, we have an exciting topic that I'm very passionate about 00:58 and that's the topic of sleep! 01:01 I'm glad to have with me today, Mr. Daniel Miller 01:04 Dan, I'm glad you're here today. Thank you 01:06 Now, Dan, is a businessman from Chattanooga, TN 01:10 and he's also a health consumer 01:12 And, in talking about sleep, I think it's very useful 01:16 to have someone that might have had some experience 01:20 with sleep, and I think all of us have had some 01:22 experience with sleep. Right 01:23 Can you just tell us some of the experiences you've had 01:27 in your sleeping patterns over the last few years. 01:30 Well, my sleeping patterns are a little bit different than 01:34 those peoples... 01:36 Owning a business like I do, I run the business during 01:43 the day, and then at night, I plan, in my mind, 01:46 what my next day will be. 01:48 And so, in doing that, what I do is stay awake all night 01:53 and so I've had to develop ways that I can get my rest 01:58 and still function... which is very difficult when you 02:02 don't have any rest. 02:03 So that's part of problems that I've had. 02:06 Well how do you adapt to this, 02:07 and do you think this lack of sleep has affected 02:09 your health, or your performance in any way... 02:12 or do you think it's catching up to you, 02:14 or you think it's something your tolerating well? 02:17 Now when you have a family, it always affects the family 02:20 when you don't have enough sleep... 02:21 you're grumpy the next day, you're short with people, 02:25 you don't have the patience that you should have... 02:27 You know, there are a number of different issues when 02:30 it comes to that. 02:32 As far as my performance at work, I don't think it 02:34 affected that, but, you know I can't tell you that for sure. 02:39 You know, we deal with our sleep habits in several 02:47 different ways, I guess... 02:49 And the way that I have is I like it completely dark, 02:53 and I sleep with a fan on. 02:56 I can't sleep any other way. 02:58 And so that's kind of helped me deal with some of the 03:00 issues that I've had when it came to that. 03:03 Well, that's what we're going to talk about today. 03:05 We're going to talk about sleep... 03:07 and as time has gone on in the practice of medicine, 03:10 I've gone on to think that sleep is as important 03:15 as anything else we do in taking care of our bodies. 03:18 And we're going to explore that with today's topics. 03:22 One of the things that I'm now appreciating about sleep 03:25 is, you know, Dan, most people spend about a third 03:29 of their life sleeping... Right 03:31 ...or trying to sleep well. 03:33 Most people admit that they don't feel like they 03:36 do that part of their life well ... sleeping well. 03:39 Now, if I asked you bluntly, "Do you think you're 03:41 sleeping well in your life... 03:42 Is that an aspect of your life that you think you're doing well 03:46 I think, at this point in time, I am, because I've finally 03:50 developed steps that I needed to take. 03:52 It's kind of a learned behavior for me. Right 03:55 A third of us... you know we spend a third of our time 03:58 in sleep, and it's sort of a shameful admission, 04:01 and I'm one of them to admit that a third of my life... 04:04 I'm not living well. 04:06 And yet, as Christians, and living to the glory of God, 04:09 we want to do as well as we can in ALL of our time... Right 04:14 whether that's sleeping time, or waking time 04:18 I've studied some statistics recently, 04:20 and 60 million Americans right now... 04:23 60 million Americans... and I'm sure those across 04:25 the world have similar problems 04:27 feel like they suffer from insomnia... Right 04:32 And insomnia is not being able to sleep. 04:36 A couple of interesting statistics that I wanted to 04:39 share with you, and the audience 04:41 before we get started today... 04:42 Did you know that a giraffe, as big as a giraffe is, 04:46 and as long as he is, guess how many hours a day 04:49 a giraffe sleeps? I have no clue! 04:51 A giraffe sleeps on the average of 2 hours, or 1.9 hours a day 04:56 That's an average amount that a giraffe sleeps 05:00 Now here's another animal that I thought was very interesting 05:02 Do you know how long a brown bat sleep? No 05:05 A brown bat sleeps almost 20 hours a day! 05:09 A brown bat spends roughly 83% of his time sleeping 05:14 We spend about a third of our lifetime to sleep, 05:17 so that's what we're going to focus on today... 05:19 ways we can think about that one-third of our lives 05:22 that we normally don't give it much thought... Right 05:25 So with that, let me tell the audience how we got these 05:29 questions... These are people that write 05:30 questions to Heartwise Ministries from 05:32 all over the country, and what I'm doing is, 05:35 I'm grouping these into topics, 05:37 and these are all questions that have to do on the topic 05:40 of sleep, and I'm praying that as we talk, 05:42 that everyone will look at their own sleep habits 05:45 and maybe we can make a change here or there. 05:46 I don't think these changes occur overnight. 05:49 I think, you just try to change here, and then as 05:51 you feel better, you move to the next one... 05:53 So let's move on to our questions now... 05:54 All right... 1st question comes from Brenda in California. Okay 06:01 Brenda says, "My doctor gave me a prescription to help me 06:04 sleep at night... I still sleep poorly. " 06:07 "Should I take a stronger dosage?" 06:09 Okay. Well Brenda, I think that a lot of people don't 06:15 realize it, but I try, in this type of situation, 06:19 I would want to know... Why does a person not sleep well at night 06:23 What is the root cause? 06:26 A medication really doesn't solve the problem 06:29 It just perpetuates it. 06:31 And a lot of people don't realize that when these sleep 06:33 medicines came out years ago, and some of the names 06:37 ...one was called "Halcion" 06:38 I don't know if you've heard of that... Right 06:39 but they took that off the market because it was 06:42 causing people... Well, maybe they didn't take it off the 06:44 market, but it was associated with adverse events. 06:47 The most popular one now is called "Ambien" 06:49 but there are a lot of other sleep aids out there. 06:52 But the FAA only recommended that these medications 06:57 be taken for 2 weeks or less. 06:59 They've never recommended them to be taken long-term 07:03 Is it possible then that these medications are meant to 07:06 reset your sleep clock? 07:08 Because I, at one time, had taken Ambien, 07:10 and for a short period of time while I was taking it, 07:15 I just didn't understand how sleepy I was 07:19 until I woke up one morning, and realized that I was so 07:23 rested, you know, life was totally different for me. 07:26 Well that's possible because the sleep aids change the 07:31 chemical transmitters in the brain. 07:33 And they're only made, really, for the short period of time 07:36 until you can look at the cause of what caused 07:39 the insomnia to begin with. 07:41 I'm afraid nowadays that people are staying on these 07:44 years, and years, and years, 07:45 and they're not getting at the cause, and they're all 07:47 altering the chemicals, but we're never FIXING the problem 07:51 We're just sort of covering it up and that problem 07:52 is going to get worse, and every chemical reaction 07:56 you have in your body leads to something else... Right 07:59 So let's get back to Brenda for a second... 08:02 Brenda... We're going to look at a graphic here that might 08:07 give us some suggestions to help you sleep well at night 08:09 and looking at the cause of why you don't sleep well 08:13 The first sleep suggestion that I would give to you... 08:16 and you might be doing a lot of these things... 08:18 is try to have an empty stomach 08:20 We recommend having a stomach empty 3 to 4 hours 08:23 before you go to bed at night 08:25 because a lot of your energy goes to digesting food. 08:29 Up to a third of your blood flow goes to digest the food 08:33 Also when you lay down at night, you could have acid bubbling up 08:37 and that can affect sleep greatly 08:38 We would like for you to avoid stimulants... 08:40 More exercise during the day, so you're more tired 08:43 Avoid stress and that's a whole other topic. 08:47 Sometimes you can take a natural substance called "melatonin" 08:51 that might aid in your sleep. 08:54 Another thing that seems to help sleep is laughter 08:57 Laughter creates all these endorphins, 08:59 and I wonder if Johnny Carson slept better 09:03 because he laughed so much. 09:05 Sunlight increases a substance called serotonin which 09:09 aids in sleep. 09:10 And, of course, reading the Bible... 09:12 In Ephesians 4:26, it suggests that we don't go to bed 09:15 ever with anger in our hearts. 09:17 These are all some suggestions that might help you a little 09:21 bit in dealing with sleep, Brenda 09:26 Now, one of things we mentioned just a second ago was 09:30 stimulants... 09:32 Now, what kind of things, when you were having your 09:35 sleep problems, that you considered that might have 09:37 stimulated your mind at night, or your whole body system 09:41 that might have affected you, because I think 09:42 a lot of people don't look into things that stimulate... Right 09:46 Other than just the caffeines and so on and so forth... Right 09:49 Everyone knows about the caffeines, 09:51 and everyone knows about, you know, certain medicines 09:53 What are other things that might have added to your problem, Dan 09:56 For myself, a child, you know... That's right 10:01 It came at a time when we had just had our daughter 10:05 and, you know, she was up at different times during the night 10:08 so it broke up my sleep pattern. 10:10 There's a whole list of different things, I would assume 10:16 and you probably know more about those than I do, 10:20 but you've got lights being a stimulant... 10:24 You've got sounds being a stimulant. 10:25 For myself, light is a major stimulant for me. 10:30 Temperature... being very hot is probably one of the 10:35 major causes that I don't sleep; I like to sleep in a cool room 10:42 Well, in talking a little bit more about stimulants, 10:44 anything that affects the senses, can adversely 10:48 really affect these sleep patterns, 10:50 because, remember, at night the sleep time is a time 10:53 where you're basically turning off... 10:55 And anything that's coming into the senses, 10:58 could alter this... whether it be a sound, 11:00 how about snoring next door? 11:02 Does your wife snore? 11:03 No, and I'll never admit that on national... Okay 11:06 Well, I mean... you don't have to admit that, 11:09 but I hear a lot of people that snore at night, 11:12 so the other one doesn't get good sleep... 11:13 And no one will say anything... Yes 11:15 You'll leave a third of your life tired and in torture 11:19 rather than say, "Listen, you have a sleeping problem... 11:21 we need to deal with that... Well most people will deny 11:23 that they do snore... Right 11:24 I think lights is a good one, sound... How about taste? 11:27 I've had some people that had a bad taste in their mouth 11:30 and they can't sleep from that... 11:31 That's another sense that needs to be turned off. 11:33 And that goes back... I think a lot of the sleep 11:36 problems we have, these 60 million people, 11:38 this food is a big deal... 11:39 How many people eat late at night now? 11:41 I would say a lot. I don't know the numbers. 11:44 We didn't bring up... 11:46 You know, we talked about the caffeine... 11:47 a lot of people don't realize that caffeine could stay 11:50 in your system up to 20 hours. Right 11:53 It's just not, you know, you drink 1 coke in the morning 11:55 or caffeinated beverages, and it's totally out 11:58 And, caffeine affects people different ways... 12:01 Some people can get by with it. 12:03 Alcohol... a lot of people drink alcohol, because they think 12:06 it's going to help them relax at night and go to sleep. 12:08 ...And is that the case? No, it's not the case 12:10 Alcohol BREAKS up your good sleep pattern because it 12:12 changes again... some of those neurotransmitters that's 12:15 going on in your head... Right 12:17 I'm finally... here's one big one in our society that I 12:20 think needs to be talked about, about why Americans 12:22 aren't sleeping well. 12:23 And going back, a third of our life... 12:25 this is a long period of time! 12:26 I'm very passionate about why we've given that away. 12:29 A third... a lot of people are watching too much 12:34 television... #1 Yeah 12:35 And I think that stimulates the mind. 12:38 One way or the other, before you go to bed... 12:39 I mean, you know, there are not too many good shows anymore 12:43 Of course, the shows on 3ABN make exception to that 12:47 And also, the sports, sporting events 12:51 You know, everyone gets revved up and excited, 12:53 and when you get revved up, and excited, those chemicals 12:55 that make the stress hormones go up, and it's a whole 12:59 cascade of events... so we can't turn off that clock! 13:02 ...And video games Yeah, video games are just 13:04 a host of things... 13:05 And I think in talking to people about getting good 13:08 sleep, I want to encourage everyone out there 13:10 to look at the stimulants you have before you go to bed 13:14 We want to turn OFF the senses and not turn ON the senses 13:18 Well I think, Brenda, I hope we can get at the root cause 13:21 of yours, but let's go to another question now 13:24 Let's go to a question from Max, in Texas 13:27 He writes, "How do I know if I'm getting enough sleep?" 13:31 Well, that's a good question since we're talking about sleep 13:34 It's a difficult question, actually 13:35 And we hear this frequently... 13:37 How many hours of sleep do you need to feel well? 13:41 Or to know that you're getting enough sleep? 13:43 And how do you know you're getting enough sleep? 13:44 I don't know... everybody's different... 13:45 Bill Clinton says he only needed 4 hours of sleep per night 13:49 to exist as our President. 13:51 Well that's not very much... 4 hours 13:53 I would have wanted him to sleep a little bit more 13:55 But it goes back to saying that everybody is different 13:59 One of the things... you know, how do you KNOW? 14:01 That's a good way, and I think you have to think about it 14:04 And, I think that in sleep, you have to treat sleep 14:07 like a job... You want to do it well 14:09 ...you want to learn about your body, 14:11 find out about your sleep patterns, and OPTIMIZE it 14:14 And, one of the things that we know is... 14:16 If you have to wake up to an alarm clock, 14:19 maybe you're not getting enough good sleep... okay 14:23 A second thing is if you're tired in the day, 14:25 we KNOW that you're not getting good sleep 14:28 ALSO, frequently people that are not getting enough sleep 14:30 are involved in more accidents Correct 14:33 You know... they do CRAZY stuff... 14:34 They get in car accidents. 14:36 We see in people, one sign that might not be 14:39 getting enough sleep is frequent colds 14:41 They get colds a lot, and infections... 14:43 Lowered immune system 14:44 But when at night, when you don't get enough sleep, 14:47 the immune system is affected 14:48 There are these cells in the body called... 14:50 "natural killer cells" 14:51 And, Dan, these go around and really scarf up those 14:55 things that aren't supposed to be there. 14:57 We know that people that don't sleep just don't 14:59 make these to the degree that people does 15:01 Another thing that might be a sign... 15:04 this is a little bit off... and you're going to have to 15:06 follow me with this one... 15:07 A sign that you're not getting enough sleep is 15:09 people getting fat! 15:11 Now would you believe that? No... 15:13 People getting fat could be a sign... 15:15 as you're not getting enough sleep 15:16 Well, what goes on in your brain... 15:19 when you're not getting enough sleep... 15:21 there's a hormone called "growth hormone" 15:23 that helps people grow... 15:25 And you've heard that kids grow at night when they sleep 15:27 Well, at night, that's when the growth hormone really kicks in. 15:30 But at night, if you're not sleeping well, 15:33 the growth hormone levels could go down 15:36 And if your growth hormone levels go down, 15:38 guess what happens? 15:39 You're not growing, you're not metabolizing much, 15:42 you could... say you're putting on extra pounds.. Right 15:45 And another thing that could happen... 15:46 ...you wake up tired the next day, 15:48 you're stressed out... 15:49 And how do people deal with stress... some people? 15:51 I deal with it very poorly. 15:54 But some people EAT... 15:56 You know, they wake up and they don't feel good in 15:58 the morning, so what are they going to get? 15:59 You know, more things that adversely thought... 16:03 they might get some more donuts... 16:04 They might say, "Well, let's have a cappuccino or something 16:07 to get the day going... 16:08 And all along, they're not dealing with the 16:10 root called stress 16:11 Now another thing that goes down is there's a hormone 16:14 in the brain that's called "leptin" 16:16 Leptin is a very important hormone that says... "I'm full" 16:19 And if you're not making this leptin hormone, 16:22 you're always not feeling this "full" 16:24 and this happens in people that don't sleep well 16:26 Now, are there medications that can take over for leptin? 16:30 Not really... not that I know of. 16:32 It's just sleep... God has made the body to need sleep... Right 16:37 And with that sleep, you have restorative patterns 16:39 and your brain does things at sleep that 16:41 it can't do during the day. 16:42 It processes memories... it makes these hormones 16:45 like leptin that says, "I'm full" 16:46 It does a lot of things... 16:47 The brain is a busy place... even when you're not 16:50 conscious to it. Right 16:51 And a lot of people, when they think about sleep, 16:53 they don't think, "Well, my brain has to go to a 16:55 different environment for a while to get its job done 16:59 So, they're not letting their brain get it's job done 17:01 It's like, you know, you're working all the time... 17:03 and the brain is still working, 17:05 but it's doing a different type of work... 17:07 And see, that goes back to what I was having problems with 17:09 ...My brain never shut down at night. Right 17:12 And different parts need to work 17:13 And other things... Have you ever heard the comment 17:15 that... "I need my beauty sleep?" Yes 17:18 Do you know that studies have shown that people that 17:21 don't get sleep, AGE must faster... 17:23 They get wrinkles... the full 9 yards 17:26 And it's sort of the same process we're talking about 17:28 Resting... I view resting as therapy for many things... okay 17:33 In the Bible, Genesis 2... 17:35 The God of the Universe worked 6 days... 17:38 and then what did He do? He rested. 17:39 He rested a full day. 17:41 And, He set up day and night. 17:43 And if this rest was good enough for Him, 17:44 there must have been a master plan... Correct 17:47 And we see... "Well, why do we get all these diseases?" 17:49 "Why do we have all these problems?" 17:50 "Why do we have all these stresses?" 17:52 One of the problems, I think, is not getting enough sleep. 17:55 So, getting back to Max's question... 17:58 Some of the things we talked about... the alarm clock, 18:00 the tired, the accidents, the frequent health problems 18:03 Max, are you getting wrinkles early? 18:06 You know, maybe that's a sign. 18:08 But all these might be a sign that you're 18:09 not getting enough sleep. 18:11 All right, let's go to Fred in North Carolina... 18:17 He says, "My wife told me that I have sleep apnea. " 18:21 She is not a doctor, but does read a lot. Oh... okay 18:25 There you have it! Could she be right? 18:28 Well, Fred, take it from a man that's married... 18:32 My wife is always right! 18:34 And you're going to have to treat it that way. Mine is too. 18:36 Fred, you're going to have to just treat it that way 18:38 You know, your wife is right... 18:39 And in this case, Fred, you know off the record, 18:41 she IS right about this one. 18:43 You could very well have sleep apnea. 18:45 And sleep apnea is a medical condition where at night 18:49 you don't breathe... 18:51 Sleep apnea... apnea means periods where 18:55 you're not breathing at night 18:57 And the sort of characteristic breathing pattern 19:01 is like this... 19:04 they do that over, and over and over 19:06 And physiologically, when that happens, 19:09 the oxygen levels go down in the body... Right 19:12 So the tissues don't get renewed... 19:14 You can have high blood pressures in the lungs... 19:16 it can cause all sorts of problems... 19:18 The heart has to pump harder 19:19 It can cause funny heart rhythms... numerous things 19:22 Recently, sleep apnea, they say, What was that football player, 19:26 the Green Bay Packers, "Reggie"... White? 19:28 Reggie White! 19:29 He actually had sleep apnea... a big old strapping guy, 19:33 very young... He had this as a complication 19:36 Nowadays, Fred, a lot of people are walking around with 19:39 sleep apnea, and they walk around it their whole lives 19:42 and they never realize they don't have it 19:44 The cells in the body aren't getting enough oxygen... Right 19:47 So, the symptoms of sleep apnea, Dan, 19:50 people that have it... 19:51 They're tired all the time 19:53 They have headaches 19:55 They could have high blood pressure 19:57 They're irritable... because they're not sleeping 20:00 They make lots of mistakes... 20:02 It's a major problem... A difficult thing to go through 20:05 I had a cousin at one time, that had this same situation 20:10 and he would go to sleep at a red light! 20:13 And... people would come, and have to wake him up 20:16 to get him to go through the red light... 20:17 so I thought that was kind of a dangerous situation... 20:21 How is he doing now? 20:22 He is,... well, taking care of it. 20:26 Now, we have a video, a slide that we want to show up 20:31 about the different aspects of sleep apnea 20:33 and, going over the consequences... 20:36 What happens when you have sleep apnea? 20:38 We talked about the fatigue, being tired all the time 20:41 Headaches might be a symptom 20:43 High blood pressure... we talked about the abnormal heart rhythms 20:46 and we put strain on the heart because it has to pump 20:49 against such high pressures in the lungs. 20:52 So sleep apnea is a problem that we need to deal with 20:59 What are several ways or applications that they use 21:04 in the medical field to deal with sleep apnea? 21:07 A couple of things... I think the most useful thing is 21:11 losing weight and exercising. 21:13 They say that if you can lose about 15 pounds, 21:15 often you can treat sleep apnea successfully... 21:18 But usually, it's because of the airway... 21:20 there's too much pressure on it, 21:21 or the muscle tone in the tongue is poor... Right 21:24 Sometimes they can cut an area in the back of your throat 21:27 to let more air in and out. 21:28 But the most common type of treatment is where they 21:31 put a mask... it's called a "sleep mask" 21:33 and it blows air in 21:35 And what I try to do in the management of 21:37 sleep apnea, is hit it on 2-folds 21:39 I try to get to the root of the cause 21:41 ...If it's weight loss, lose weight 21:43 ...If it's sleeping in a different position, 21:45 as well as placing the mask until they can do that... Right 21:48 And people that wear the mask it's a pain to wear, 21:51 but they feel so much better for the first time in years 21:54 they've had rest 21:55 It's amazing, so... 21:57 Now with Fred, who's up in North Carolina, 22:00 would he take what his wife says for granted 22:04 ...or would he go to a sleep center 22:06 where they would be able to help him a little bit? 22:08 Dan, what would you do in this situation? 22:11 I think I'd go to the sleep center... 22:12 I think I might... What I would do, Fred, is 22:15 I would tell my wife... 22:16 I'd say, "Honey, you're probably so right, and I think you're 22:19 SO right, that I'm going over to this sleep center... 22:23 and there, they're going to watch me when I sleep 22:25 and they'll hook me up to oxygen monitors, 22:27 and they'll see if my oxygen level goes down 22:29 in the middle of the night, and if I meet criteria for 22:32 sleep apnea, then I'll have aggressive treatment for this. 22:34 If this goes on untreated, 22:36 it creates tons of health problems down the road... Right 22:39 So, I hope that answers your question, Fred, 22:41 ...that's what I would do All righty! 22:43 The next question comes from Dave in Reno... 22:49 He says, "Is there a difference between resting and sleeping?" 22:53 "I rest a lot but sleep only a little. " 22:56 Wow... Dave, this is one of the most difficult 23:00 questions I think I have to answer... 23:03 in sorting through resting and sleeping... 23:06 You can be asleep and not get good rest... Right 23:12 And also, you can rest and not sleep 23:15 So, in answering your question, Dan, what I've been trying to do 23:21 in the treatment of people, 23:22 how do you know what's true in life? 23:23 You know, you see... eat this diet, 23:25 high fat diet, low fat diet... 23:28 or being fed everything through the media 23:30 You know, how do you know what's true? 23:32 This medication is so good for you, 23:33 then you take it off the market 23:35 So what I do when it comes to tough questions, 23:37 I try to turn to the Bible, 23:38 and see if the Bible gives us insight 23:40 Like the Day of Rest... 23:41 you know, that only makes sense 23:43 I'm turning to God for our answers... 23:45 The diet, you know, Daniel and his friends... the diet they ate 23:48 But, I want to throw some texts up here in our next slide 23:52 here and give some texts that I wanted to share with Dave 23:56 that might help him a little bit 23:58 Sleep does not necessarily equal rest, 24:02 and one of the texts I like to share is Matthew 11:28 24:06 and that's the text that says... 24:08 "Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, 24:11 and I will give you rest. " 24:14 What do we have to do? 24:15 We have to come unto him, and I will GIVE you rest... 24:18 That's a gift! So I will give you 24:21 Now that's not necessarily sleep, but that's a REST 24:24 in itself... "I will GIVE you REST" 24:26 Psalms 37:7... again talks about REST 24:29 And then there's Genesis 2:2, where it says... 24:32 "God worked for 6 days" 24:34 The God of the universe, of the whole universe 24:38 ...What did He do for 1 day? He rested! 24:40 And I don't think He slept at all... 24:42 I mean He might have slept, but He rested, 24:43 so understanding what God means by REST 24:47 I think it's all about, you know, our spirituality 24:50 ...you know, to have that rest, that peace, 24:52 where the mind is allowed to work on other things 24:54 It brings to the mind one more text that I wanted to share 24:58 with everyone... Hebrews 4:9, says... 25:01 "There remains therefore, a REST for the people of God" 25:06 I think that when you have God in your life, 25:08 there's a certain rest that you cannot attain 25:11 any other way. Right, I agree with that 25:15 We've got one more question Okay 25:20 "I'm a truck driver, and my shift is at night, 25:26 I sleep during the day. I am 45... 25:29 Is this hurting my overall health? 25:32 There are so many different aspects 25:36 that could be talked about here. 25:38 There could be a chance if you're not resting well 25:42 during the day, that it could affect you... 25:45 Have you ever worked shift-work? 25:46 Have you ever had to work night? I really haven't. 25:49 Well this question is very dear to me because 25:53 I DO stay up at night, and Tuesday night 25:55 is my call night, as long as weekends, 25:58 and I never sleep well on that night, 26:00 and I do think it affects my health 26:02 because when you break that night/day cycle 26:04 that's not natural, and when you disregard 26:08 one of, sort of, God's Laws, you're going to have some 26:12 consequences, and the consequences that we're 26:14 talking about... the circadian rhythms, you've heard that term 26:17 Yes... the night/day... God created that 26:21 At light, we have a substance, when light comes into us... 26:24 a substance, a sleep substance that's made called melatonin 26:28 And this is released from the pineal gland, 26:30 and this actually helps us sleep a great deal. 26:33 So, I think that when you break this cycle, 26:36 you know, the light/day cycle, these natural chemicals 26:39 that help you have true rest, 26:41 it is disturbed... right thrown off 26:43 And then you get these subsequent health problems 26:45 that we sort of identified with that adversely 26:50 affects everything. 26:51 I've also heard that night shift work basically affects 26:55 your whole quality of life long-term 26:57 And it's probably the same mechanism of this light 27:01 melatonin, pineal... all this is probably as an associate 27:05 Well, we've certainly covered a lot about 27:07 sleep today, Dan... 27:09 I want to thank you for joining us 27:10 I appreciate your inviting me, I've had a great time... Good 27:14 A couple of final thoughts I want to leave everyone with 27:16 are that sleep is an important part of our lives, 27:19 and we spend a third of our life resting or sleeping 27:23 ...we need to do it well, and to the glory of God 27:25 We need to think about our sleep patterns 27:27 and do it right... 27:28 Spend some time thinking about it like we've done today 27:31 and just not sort of haphazardly let the years 27:33 go by, and then all of a sudden figure out we 27:36 have health problems because we didn't sleep. 27:38 And the second thing I want to leave everyone with 27:40 is poor sleep could certainly be because of stimulants 27:44 We have too many stimulants in our lives, too many stressors 27:47 We've talked about TV, eating big at night... 27:49 We've talked about caffeine that 80% of the 27:52 United States is now taking. 27:54 Now finally, the last thing that we want to talk about 27:57 is the TRUE rest... the real peace that comes within 28:01 it comes from walking with God 28:03 "Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden, 28:06 and I will give you rest. " 28:07 What a wonderful promise for us today! |
Revised 2014-12-17