On March 17, 2017 it is the international day of the sleep: “World Sleep Day”.
Nowadays it is important to address the issue of sleep in relation to stress. Already in 2014, scientists published in international study in “Sleep Medicine”, in which they concluded that the western consumers do not sleep well and enough anymore. Recently a new exiting book was published about sleep: “The Sleep Revolution” from Arianna Huffington (https://ccgforum.com/category/slaap/).
The main question remains if patients or clients can and should answer the question ” Do you sleep wel??” with Yes. They can not! “A good sleep”, or “recover” are noit the same. Still, as a professional, you would like to know whether your client is really recovering during the night. A poor recovery means in practise that an intervention of any kind, is very difficult the,.
The 72 hours HRV measurement is a very important measuring device which maps in great detail the balance between activities (“stress”), and rest (“recovery”). it shows exactly if clients have sufficient recovery during the night, and if not, you can make a direct lijk to behavioral issues! In the scientific study mentoined above, the scientists also reported a relationship between specific behavior and habits which have a negative influence on sleep and recovery.
The picture in this post shows a recovery which is not sufficient. What do we have to do when the poor recovery is not behavior related? This means that there is in imbalance in the neuro-physiological systems in the brain. Another issues which requires expertise, to begin neutro-transmitter questionnaire. You can fins this questionnaire on our website.
To conclude: It is not about how much stress a person has. The important question is how the stress is being compensated with recovery! Carefully identifying the causes and quantifying the amount of recovery is not a luxury but necessity for every health professional.