The New Southwest – November 2010
Insomnia is one of the most serious and common health problems. The average American is said to sleep an average of 5.5 hours. A minimum of seven or eight hours is essential. Insomnia weakens the immune system and is a major contributor to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
A few months ago a friend introduced me to the LifeWave® line of products. At my suggestion, the company encouraged me to do a research project on Silent Nights, their “Non-transdermal Acupuncture Activation” system for sleep enhancement.
I enrolled 25 individuals with chronic insomnia. We did a battery of baseline tests for the effects of the insomnia and gave them the LifeWave Silent Nights patches. These paste on patches “… only reflect energy back into the body and they do not generate energy.”
LifeWave patches are a safe and effective new technology capable of gently stimulating acupuncture points without the use of needles. LifeWave’s Silent Nights patches utilize this innovative technology to stimulate acupuncture points on the body for improving the flow of energy and promoting drug-free sleep. The patches are designed to stimulate acupuncture points by several mechanisms that involve both acupressure and energetic principles.
The self-adhesive patches utilize the principles of Oriental medicine and needle-less acupuncture to gently stimulate points on the body that have been used to balance and improve the flow of energy in the human body for thousands of years. Because the patches are non-transdermal, the use of these patches results in a natural way of improving the quality of your life without any chemicals, drugs or sedatives entering your body.
Multiple independent double-blind-placebo-controlled clinical studies have already been completed proving the effectiveness of LifeWave technology. In addition, extensive infrared studies have shown that LifeWave patches provide a thermo regulating effect to the body, promoting relaxation and stress reduction by stimulating parasympathetic nervous system activity. The parasympathetic nervous system is one of the main divisions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS, in turn, is the component of the nervous system that is responsible for balancing and regulating all of the internal organs and glands, which occurs unconsciously. The parasympathetic system specifically is responsible for controlling the processes of the body that occur when the body is at rest. Finally, brain wave monitoring of individuals wearing the Silent Nights patches has shown that the patches calm brain waves patterns, bringing deeper more restful sleep.
The results of my insomnia study were striking:
$ 72% to 88% of the subjects experienced significant improvement in sleep!
$ 72% had NORMAL daytime sleepiness (ESS test)
$ 80% had improved quality of sleep (LESQ test)
$ 88% had improved length of sleep (PSQ Test)
There are a number of additional scientific studies on other LifeWave products, making this one of the very few companies actually doing the research essential to prove efficacy for these subtle energy approaches to health. In order to remain neutral for potential future research, I have resisted the urge to become a distributor.
For more information about the Silent Night sleep patches and other LifeWave products, contact Jim Ricker at (520) 954-2290.
Author: Dr. Norman Shealy is one of the world’s leading experts in pain management. He was among the first physicians ever to specialize in the resolution of chronic pain. A pioneer in developing safe and effective treatments such as Biogenics, he founded, in 1971, the first comprehensive pain and stress management facility in the country, The Shealy Institute, respected world-wide for its innovative and successful rehabilitation approaches. Over the years, Dr. Shealy’s intensive pain and stress management research has resulted in numerous pioneering treatments. His published works total over 275. His seminars and workshops are given worldwide, and attended by physicians and laypersons alike. He has acted as consultant to leaders in every specialty, including the personal physicians of Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower.
This article is Copyrighted© 2010 by Self Health Systems, 5607 S. 222 Road, Fair Grove, MO 65648 and is reprinted with permission.
Six Reasons To Not Scrimp On Sleep
A recent survey found that more people are sleeping less than six hours a night, and sleep difficulties visit 75% of us at least a few nights per week. A short-lived bout of insomnia is generally nothing to worry about. The bigger concern is chronic sleep loss, which can contribute to health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure, and a decrease in the immune system’s power, reports the Harvard Women’s Health Watch.
While more research is needed to explore the links between chronic sleep loss and health, it’s safe to say that sleep is too important to shortchange.
The Harvard Women’s Health Watch suggests six reasons to get enough sleep:
1. Learning and memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.
2. Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.
3. Safety: Sleep debt contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.
4. Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do.
5. Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
6. Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.
