The Best Kept Detox Secret: Why sleep is a must-have for optimizing health and well-being

Sleep doesn’t just exist as a means of not feeling tired in the morning. It’s so much deeper than that: Sleep is one of the major times that your body detoxes itself! 

In this wellness-focused world, many people are completely obsessed with detoxing, whether that means drinking celery juice, taking herbal supplements, dry brushing or sweating it out in the sauna. But really, your body does the most detoxing while you sleep.

The cycles your body experiences during sleep are essential for enhancing the quality and length of your life. Many of us, however, have lost touch with the natural rhythms that promote healthy sleep and dreaming.

Did you know that your brain digests and assimilates information during our dreams throughout sleep? Much of this assimilation occurs during the brain’s natural detoxification process, performed by the glymphatic system.

Similar to the lymphatic system, the glymphatic system flushes out “garbage,” or neurotoxins, through the brain. For the glymphatic system to do its work effectively, your body must get into restorative sleep cycles, meaning sleep and dreams are essential to its functioning.

If the glymphatic system can’t do its job, the resulting buildup of neurotoxins can have serious health implications.

How Sleep Deprivation Can Affect You

• Decrease in cognitive function
• Weight gain
• Memory loss

Sleep yourself well by creating the optimal situation for you to fall asleep and stay asleep. Patience and finding the correct routine for you is key here.

Some helpful things to consider might be:

• No eating after 8pm to allow your digestion to wind down
• No more blue light 1 hour before bedtime (phones, computer, TV).
• Put your legs up the wall to allow your lymphatic system to drain, and your blood to circulate, which can also ease your nervous system.
• Take a high-quality CBD supplement to ease your body and mind and prepare for rest.
• Take a hot bath or shower
• Meditate and breathe deeply to slow heart rate and calm thoughts.

Emily Loss
Manager of Social Strategy and Partnerships
 

Emily strives to assimilate brand vision and goals by utilizing real voices, and by pushing boundaries. She has a passion for experience architecture and immersive video, and try to weave both through all marketing projects that she is a part of. She is well-versed in creatively forging emotional connections and authentic relationships between brands and partners while nurturing online communities and gaining an audience’s trust.

Emily is fired up about holistic healing, and the progression of the CBD industry. Her mission is to empower others to heal themselves naturally through accurate information, education and the compelling voices and stories of fellow human beings.