Author: Lisa Nikolaou

How can I get a better night’s sleep?

Posted on by Lisa Nikolaou

Sleeping well directly affects your mental and physical health. Not getting enough sleep can take a serious toll on your daytime energy, productivity, emotional balance, and even your weight. Yet, many of us regularly toss and turn at night, struggling to get the sleep we need.

Getting a good night’s sleep may seem impossible when you’re wide awake at 3 a.m., but you have much more control over the quality of your sleep than you probably realize. Just as the way you feel during your waking hours often hinges on how well you sleep at night, so the cure for sleep difficulties can often be found in your daily routine.

Unhealthy daytime habits and lifestyle choices can leave you tossing and turning at night and adversely affect your mood, brain and heart health, immune system, creativity, vitality, and weight. But by experimenting with the following tips, you can enjoy better sleep at night, boost your health, and improve how you think and feel during the day.

1. Try to go to sleep and get up at the same time every day. This helps set your body’s internal clock and optimize the quality of your sleep. Choose a bed time when you normally feel tired, so that you don’t toss and turn. If you’re getting enough sleep, you should wake up naturally without an alarm. If you need an alarm clock, you may need an earlier bedtime.

2. Avoid sleeping in—even on weekends. The more your weekend/weekday sleep schedules differ, the worse the jetlag-like symptoms you’ll experience. If you need to make up for a late night, opt for a daytime nap rather than sleeping in. This allows you to pay off your sleep debt without disturbing your natural sleep-wake rhythm.

3. Be smart about napping. While napping is a good way to make up for lost sleep, if you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night, napping can make things worse. Limit naps to 15 to 20 minutes in the early afternoon.

4. Start the day with a healthy breakfast. Among lots of other health benefits, eating a balanced breakfast can help sync up your biological clock by letting your body know that it’s time to wake up and get going. Skipping breakfast on the other hand, can delay your blood sugar rhythms, lower your energy, and increase your stress, factors that may disrupt sleep.

5. Fight after-dinner drowsiness. If you get sleepy way before your bedtime, get off the couch and do something mildly stimulating, such as washing the dishes, calling a friend, or getting clothes ready for the next day. If you give in to the drowsiness, you may wake up later in the night and have trouble getting back to sleep.

6. Avoid screens within 1-2 hours of your bedtime. The blue light emitted by your phone, tablet, computer, or TV is especially disruptive. You can minimize the impact by using devices with smaller screens and turning the brightness down.

7. Say no to late-night television. Not only does the light from a TV suppress melatonin, but many programs are stimulating rather than relaxing. Try listening to music or audio books instead.

8. Don’t read with backlit devices. Tablets that are backlit are more disruptive than e-readers that don’t have their own light source.

9. When it’s time to sleep, make sure the room is dark. Use heavy curtains or shades to block light from windows, or try a sleep mask. Also consider covering up electronics that emit light.

10. Keep the lights down if you get up during the night. If you need some light to move around safely, try installing a dim nightlight in the hall or bathroom or using a small flashlight. This will make it easier for you to fall back to sleep.

11. Take Magnesium. Magnesium is an essential mineral required by the body for muscle and nerve function, maintaining heart rhythm, building strong bones and energy production. The secretion and action of insulin also requires magnesium.

Fruits high in magnesium include dried figs, avocados, guavas, bananas, kiwi fruit, papayas, blackberries, raspberries, cantaloupes, and grapefruit. The daily value (%DV) for magnesium 420mg per day.

Foods high in magnesium include:

  • Spinach
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Lima beans
  • Black beans
  • Edamame
  • Almonds
  • Cashews
  • Peanut Butter
  • Avocado
  • Brown rice
  • Whole wheat bread
  • Dark chocolate

12. Try Alternative Therapies. Acupuncture can work well to addresses imbalances of energies in the body or treat certain organs that might be waking you up at night. Osteopathy and Massage Therapy can also work in different ways to reset or calm your sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system to help your body return to homeostasis so you can relax better in bed.

With a few little changes you can experience better sleep and better overall health!

Heart health

Posted on by Lisa Nikolaou

Did you know that cardiovascular (aka heart related problems) are the second greatest cause of death in Canada (and no, the leading one is not Covid-19). The good news is it is one condition you can greatly influence. Here are some options to support a heart healthy lifestyle

Natural Therapies

Acupuncture: Balances the body’s organs and encourages natural healing. Acupuncture can target the nervous system to balance cardiac arrhythmias. It may also reduce angina and balance blood pressure.

Massage Therapy: This has been proven to help with lower blood pressure. It helps promote relaxation as well as improve overall circulation.

Osteopathy: This can also help through relaxing the nervous system and promoting health circulation. It also takes a holistic approach to treating other areas that could be taxing the health of the heart. It is also one of the few disciplines that can treat the heart directly on a structural and emotional level.

Reducing Stress reduces Blood Pressure

Physical Activity: Get active! Physical movement and activity is a natural stress reliever. You produce happy chemicals in your body that give you an overall sense of wellbeing. Also, that heart is a muscle and go exercises that get your heart rate up are good for you. Not to mention when your exercising the circulation to the rest of your body improves. I could go on about the many benefits of exercise but you probably already know its good for you.

Meditation: This can be a wonderful stress reliever. During meditation, you get a chance to quiet the mind. It can instill peace and calmness. With regular practice it has been shown to actually lower your heart rate and reduce heart disease

Connect with Others: It is common to isolate when you become stressed. Yet, social contact can be a stress reliever (when with the right people). As humans we need positive social interactions and thrive when we feel we are supported. Let’s not forget the heart is the seat of emotion. Having positive relationships, caring for someone else, or feeling loved all affect the heart. While love can actually heal the heart, “Broken heart syndrome” is a very real medical condition.

Yoga and Breath Work: Deep breathing and focus, helps to connect the body and mind together. Yoga is a great way to alleviate stress and to control your breathing techniques. The heart and lungs are primarily responsible for making sure every cell in your body receive oxygen, so mastering your breathing is super advantageous.

Keep a Journal: Journaling is a fantastic tool to help unjumble your thoughts and fears. Once there on paper, it can help you to let it go or work on it.

Psychotherapy: This can be beneficial for many reasons. Counselling can reduce stress/anxiety through talk therapy and exploring healthy coping strategies. Getting to the cause of anxiety, depression, or broken relationships can help you to heal on many levels.

Support Cardiovascular health through Vitamins!

Vitamin D: The sunshine vitamin! Helps improve mood, helps hormones and will certainly help with bone health. New research shows it can also support the cardiovascular system

Magnesium Bisglycinate: A vital mineral that does over 300 reactions in our bodies. It supports nervous system and muscle health. It also is going to aid in blood pressure and support healthy glucose levels.

B-Complex: Also known as the stress-supporting vitamins. These key players support energy production, nervous system and brain function. In order to have proper nerve function, B-Complex is very necessary. 

CoQ10: An antioxidant found in the heart, liver, kidney and pancreas. It is important for energy production and heart health. CoQ10 can lower blood pressure, preventing migraines and overall well being. (CoQ10 can lower blood pressure, always check with your doctor and get them to check your blood pressure to make sure it’s right for you)

Eating healthy can support your heart health! If you would like support to create a heart healthy diet or would like to know what supplements would be best for you, a nutritionist can be an excellent resource.

Of course we must mention that heart conditions are very serious. If you experience any chest paints or concerning cardiovascular symptoms (shortness of breathe, elevated or irregular heart rate) it is important to have them checked out by a doctor right away. Natural therapies are great for prevention, and helping you get back on course, but in an acute situation the Hospital is the first place to go.

How do I set & keep my goals??

Posted on by Lisa Nikolaou

Goal setting can be challenging.. It is even more challenging keeping it!

Here are a few pointers on how to make those goals into reality!!

  1. Prioritize your goals– What is more important or curtail. What needs to be done asap or what do you need most.
  2. Be realistic– What is doable? Is it something that you realistically can complete? ( traveling the world in 2 months…not realistic).
  3. Plan– If you don’t plan according to your goal, it becomes a dream not reality. Put a plan into effect according to what you want to accomplish.
  4. Execute– Put your plan into practice. Once you do all these steps, your goals can become reality.

I myself, like to write down my goals on old fashioned pen and paper . Once I’ve written out all my goals, I do step one…which is Prioritize my goals. This way I am thinking of what is the most important goal to me. Then I must be realistic! Even if something is very important to me, If it’s clean out my freezer, but it’s the sweltering summer.. that would not be a good idea or realistic. It would make more sense to do so in the winter to store your freezer items outside while cleaning.

Formulating a plan from here is easier because you’ve been realistic and prioritized your wants and needs. I again write down my plan and follow it that way it is being put into action.

Happy goal setting all!!

Do you have the Winter Blues

Posted on by Lisa Nikolaou

Many people go through short periods of time where they feel sad or not like their usual selves. Sometimes, these mood changes begin and end when the seasons change. People may start to feel “down” when the days get shorter in the fall and winter (also called “winter blues”) and begin to feel better in the spring, with longer daylight hours.

Symptoms of major depression may include:

  • Feeling depressed most of the day, nearly every day
  • Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed
  • Experiencing changes in appetite or weight
  • Having problems with sleep
  • Feeling sluggish or agitated
  • Having low energy
  • Feeling hopeless or worthless
  • Having difficulty concentrating
  • Having frequent thoughts of death or suicide

For winter-pattern SAD, additional specific symptoms may include:

  • Oversleeping (hypersomnia)
  • Overeating, particularly with a craving for carbohydrates
  • Weight gain
  • Social withdrawal (feeling like “hibernating”)

Specific symptoms for summer-pattern SAD may include:

  • Trouble sleeping (insomnia)
  • Poor appetite, leading to weight loss
  • Restlessness and agitation
  • Anxiety
  • Episodes of violent behavior

How is SAD treated?

Treatments are available that can help many people with SAD. They fall into four main categories that may be used alone or in combination:

  • Light therapy
  • Psychotherapy
  • Antidepressant medications
  • Vitamin D

Vitamin D

Because many people with SAD often have vitamin D deficiency, nutritional supplements of vitamin D may help improve their symptoms. However, studies testing whether vitamin D is effective in SAD treatment have produced mixed findings, with some results indicating that it is as effective as light therapy.

Foods rich in vitamin D are the following.

  • Fatty fish, like tuna, mackerel, and salmon.
  • Foods fortified with vitamin D, like some dairy products, orange juice, soy milk, and cereals.
  • Beef liver.
  • Cheese.
  • Egg yolks.
  • Mushrooms such as maitake, morel, chanterelle, oyster, and shiitake