Thriving sleep is Part of Our Spiritual Lives
Sleep is regulating to keep us centered and optimizing healing
Sleep in mental health is strengthening our mental and emotional well-being
Sleep is part of our spiritual formation and care, to be fully ourselves
Listen to any sleep expert and they'll tell you ...
"The quality of our life is directly linked to the quality of our sleep ... and disrupted sleep is the common denominator associated with mental health challenges."
Why is that?
Because sleep is whole health, whole person healing and restoration ... disrupted leaves us feeling lacking (mentally, emotionally, physically, and yes — spiritually).
Think about it ... when need more sleep dealing with the flu, because during sleep our immune system is more efficient to fight off the ailment. Sleep is when our brain is consolidating, categorizing, and replenishing itself.
Healthy sleep, is our body and brain optimizing itself (our life) back to homeostasis.
Sleep optimizes mental health and whole-being.
Sleep for our mental health ... think of sleep in relation to our mood and cognition (i.e., mental health).
Mood is related to our ability to experience pleasure (life, limbic system).
Cognition is related to our ability to problem-solve, plan, maintain emotional stability, memory recall (prefrontal cortex, hippocampus).
Great sleep equals our ability to enjoy, find meaning, and be mentally sharp. Even in any mental health diagnosis, healthy sleep can help us be resilient through distressing symptoms and challenging situations.
BUT if you’re like me, when I have poor sleep I feel "meh" 🫤, irritable 😠, and not as mentally sharp and I have difficulty recalling that thing ... you know, that ... ugh, I can't remember." 😆. Needless to say, I’m a bit more reactive in any current stress … and to God, too.
Sleep is part of our spiritual life to thrive in the daytime (and at night).
When Elijah was running for his life (complaining and wanting to die) the first thing Elijah needed was sleep (1 Kings 19:5). Throughout the Old and New Testaments, sleep was commonly seen as a space and time where God interacted through dreams ... an ancient standard (Numbers 12:6; Job 33:14-15) ... think of the Bible stories you know (e.g., Gen. 20:3, 28:10-12, 31:24, Matthew 1:20, 2:12, Acts 16:9-10, and so many more).
If we reach deep back into the Jewish roots of Christianity, spirituality is not a compartmentalized discipline, it’s our whole, living being … in sleep and being awake. The Jewish thought of the body is like it being the wings of the soul. So, deep care must be taken to our ability to soar (Psalm 103:5). So, just as much as we care for our bodies in wakefulness, we must likewise take the same efforts to not deprive the body in sleep.
Sleep can be part of our “spiritual formation.” You can even consider adding in a bedtime prayer asking, “Lord, reveal your deep love and ‘friendship’ to me in my sleep.” Why not, right? I often do this, not that I expect to have a dream from God, but maybe restful sleep is enough of God’s love in a simple way.
Start your spiritual sleep practice to improve your mental wellness and well-being.
Sleep is a multi-layered topic dealing with "sleep efficiency" quantity, quality, and circadian rhythms (i.e., early bird vs. night owl, routines). BUT it's key to everyone's mental health ... and is part of our spiritual well-being, our spiritual life.
We provide a helpful focus and tools in our Thrive workbook, Ch. 1 SLEEP! We make it interesting with a Biblical narrative, facts, and tools you can start working and measuring effectiveness (adapting as you go).
> The Thrive chapter on Sleep (Ch. 1) begins reflecting how King David could sleep during a crisis point in his life (and how it refreshed him ... his mood). Then, the chapters walks through more science and tools to move toward thriving sleep.
Goodnight.
Joe Padilla | Grace Alliance
