Sleep deprived guts, getting your rest and Darth Vader in therapy…in this episode of the Reading List.
Why Sleep Deprivation Kills.
By Veronique Greenwood
Read the Full Article
A deep dive into historical research on sleep deprivation and its negative impact on our health, and even death. As a mental health counselor I find the study of sleep fascinating as it’s one area we know can impact mental wellness to a large degree.
But until now I always thought the main focus of any sleep study would be the brain. But apparently researchers are finding that the gut may play more of a role in sleep deprivation than we previously thought.
The results suggest that one very fundamental job of sleep — perhaps underlying a network of other effects — is to regulate the ancient biochemical process of oxidation, by which individual electrons are snapped on and off molecules in service to everything from respiration to metabolism. Sleep, the researchers imply, is not solely the province of neuroscience, but something more deeply threaded into the biochemistry that knits together the animal kingdom.
Word of warning, the article depicts research studies from the 1800’s and early 1900’s where animal cruelty for the benefit of science was rampant. It’s a hard read at times.
The Lost Art of True Rest.
By Leo Babauta
Read the Full Article
When was the last time you felt restful? Most likely it’s been a while. As the article above notes, it’s not just brain health that sleep deprivation will effect.
The lack of true rest creates a drainedness, where we’re never really fully energized, fully present, fully alive. It means that our relationships start to lack energy and connection. It means we sap the joy out of our lives. That might not be true for you, but you might relate to it somewhat.
Could therapy have saved Anakin from the Dark side? We asked an expert
By Dais Johnston
Read the Full Article
At first I thought this article was going to be a silly little article about a fictional character from a galaxy far, far away. What it became was a reminder of the power, and necessity, of healing trauma.
There wasn’t a moment in Anakin’s life that wasn’t built on trauma.
The article could be misconstrued as stating trauma leads people to be evil. After all, Darth Vader is pure evil. But I don’t believe that is the intent of the article. There are millions of people who survive trauma who don’t have an evil bone in their body.
But how much of mental health is determined by trauma? Saxton says the answer is a complex one of nature versus nurture, but the main theories are the diathesis-stress model and the biopsychosocial model. Each of these takes every factor of someone’s life into account when assessing their mental health: their genetics, their psychological makeup, and their socio-cultural environment.
Untreated trauma can become insidious and as a society we need to become more aware and more preventative in treating trauma.
Why a Reading List? I do a good amount of reading and I‘m constantly finding articles which are informative, entertaining and applicable to my private practice. Instead of hoarding this information to myself, I’ve decided to begin sharing the articles and pull quotes on a semi-regular basis.
Photo by 褚 天成.