[excerpted from, 9 Keys to Integrative Wellness: Personal Growth ©2023]

Sleep is that other area our grandmothers taught us was essential to health. And, one of the most underrated.

I lived for several years in South Korea, statistically one of the world’s most late-night cultures. And I’ve long suspected that it’s also one of the most sleep-deprived. (Students attend academies well into the evening, then come home to some hours of schoolwork; adults in corporate and government jobs often have mandatory work-related dinners, followed by drinks at a second location, then singing in the karaoke, then a trip to the sauna.) Sadly, the country also has exceedingly high rates of depression and suicide, and to my mind, the two factors are not entirely unrelated.

Sleep is one of our key areas of integrative wellness, for physical as well as mental health and overall wellbeing. Well beyond rest and restoration, it’s a time for healing; our cortisol production is reduced which allows growth hormones to be released, directly related to the physical healing of bones and tissues. Blood flow increases, carrying oxygen and other nutrients to all areas of the body and notably, to the brain – as when we’re lying down, gravity doesn’t work against it. Inflammation is reduced; proteins are produced, which directly relate to the body’s overall energy. Yet, as with nutrition and exercise, it’s still too often overlooked by medical doctors. (A prescription for more – and better – sleep would be nice.)

And then: there are dreams. (Psychologists, and indeed, humans in general, like to make much of those. We’ll come back to it in a moment, too.)

Sleep hygiene, all that we can do to ensure the quality of our sleep, is especially important. (You probably know: darkened room, plenty of air circulation, cool temperature, optimal mattress / pillow, and as quiet as possible – or perhaps with a steady background sound of your choice.) A good indication that the quality of our sleep is lacking: when we don’t feel refreshed upon waking, no matter how much or little we sleep.

We can’t always guarantee interruption-free sleep, nor is it actually necessary. Those with young children know well about interrupted sleep (in my case, it’s a cat), as do those who live in urban settings where sudden noise in the middle of the night isn’t uncommon (ditto) – and, as we age we may also need nighttime bathroom visits. So what do we do?

First: we sleep in intervals, just as a cat or dog, or indeed any other mammal not tied to a work schedule, would do. This is more natural anyway; so, once awakened, stay up for a bit. If not answering the call of one’s child, instead you can read, get up and do a few stretches, meditate, listen to some music, or think (but don’t ruminate). Watching video, however, is not recommended; the close and flickering light convinces the mind that daylight has arrived.)

Secondly, we make good use of those dreams, material floating up from our unconscious and our brain’s attempt to make sense of it. If you awaken for any reason, it may well be mid-dream when recall is most likely. Immediately jot down a few key details; then, after you’ve taken care of whatever awakened you (that visit to the baby or trip to the bathroom), return to your dream notebook (yes, keep one for this sole purpose) and let those initial key details serve to prompt your memory as you write down as much detail as possible. Save the analysis / interpretation for the next morning; just capture the dream for now.

A note about dream interpretation: most psychologists agree that blueprints for same are worthless; meaning attributed to the symbology of one’s dreams is highly subjective, so your own understanding of your dreams is all that matters. This does invite a careful analysis, however, rather than quick interpretation based on some scheme, and a dream journal can be particularly useful. When analyzing your dream material, you may also wish to consider any recurring themes or stories. Your unconscious is working hard to bring such material into your conscious, waking mind, making it especially significant.

You’ll learn to cherish those wakings in the middle of the night. Lucid dreaming, the ability to direct our dreams for a specific purpose, relies on a waking period in the night, an approximate 20 minutes in which we remain awake, then a ‘programming’ or planting of a certain thought or image in our minds as we return to sleep.

The third critical bit, however, is just that: resumption of sleep. As we embrace and even utilize shorter intervals of sleep through the night, we want to ensure that we can indeed return to sleep, a struggle for some of us. Everything you’ve already done to encourage sleep hygiene, as mentioned, will help, as will taking that break, getting out of bed to write in your dream notebook or read or think; you’re more likely to become sleepy again as a result. You may also want to consider meditation in order to resume sleep; additionally, you can engage a recording of steady sound at 40 Hz pure tone binaural beat, both healing and soothing.

And so, for integrative wellness we first recognize the immense value of good and sufficient sleep, ensuring our regular engagement with same (no late night videos or gaming!). We understand that sleep interruption can be rich and precious time if used wisely. And we know how to return to sleep once more, even utilizing it in lucid dreaming for an exploration and self-programming of the unconscious.

One more aspect to consider, while understanding that humans are biologically prone to be either owls (late-night) or larks (early-morning): the period between dawn and sunrise. This is natural liminal time, between night and day, especially conducive for personal growth and accessing our unconscious. Whether you actually rise at dawn, simply awaken then and linger in bed until sunrise, or set an alarm for dawn and engage in 30 minutes of journal-writing, dream analysis, meditation, or deep thinking, then returning to sleep at sunrise, this time period is worthy of consideration. (As a side note, though unrelated to sleep, the period between sunset and dusk is equally liminal and can also be utilized for inner work – shadow work especially, a Jungian concept, in which we can use means such as imagery / visualization and journal-writing to reveal and explore suppressed aspects of ourselves.)

And so: like a cat, sleep in intervals and embrace those moments in between for what they are: liminality, rich with material of the unconscious. And, like a cat, learn to resume sleep easily thereafter. And even more: like a cat, cherish the value, the integrative health benefits, of sleep.

And of dreams.