Sleep problems present frequently in clinical practice.  People do not always seek help specifically for sleep problems. Often other presenting conditions may be more acute and poor sleep is just one of the things bothering them.

Over the years I have found that it is not very effective to merely seek to treat the ‘sleep problem’ but look at what else is going on in the persons’ life.  If you are having some problems with quality or quantity of sleep, some questions which you may like to consider could be :

• How long has the sleep been problematic?
• Did sleep problems occur during or after stressful incidents?
• How much solid sleep do you generally attain (e.g. uninterrupted by waking, restlessness, rising in the night)?
• What time do you try to go to sleep and wake up each day.  – some people are having adequate sleep but not realizing it, expecting to sleep 10 hours each night when it may no longer be appropriate.
• How many hours of good quality sleep do you need a night in order to feel great the next day?
• Do you sleep in a room which is quite bright/light at night – if so this may be affecting body’s melatonin levels.  This hormone is important for sleep maintenance.
• Do you consume alcohol and/or caffeine beverages or food (such as high cocoa chocolate)?  For some people, even one cup of caffeinated tea or coffee a day is enough to keep them restless at night.
• Do you have a stressful lifestyle – emotionally, workwise, lifestyle, environmentally (e.g. noise)?
• Are you sleeping in a bed which is comfortable to you? 
• Do you suffer from pain or discomfort when you are trying to sleep (most commonly back pain).
• Do you obtain daily exercise of 30 minutes or more?
• Do you eat nutritional dense foods such as complex carbohydrates (such as different colored vegetables/salads/fruits and wholegrains) with each meal as well as some protein (such as meats, eggs, pulses, dairy, fish, nuts and seeds).  Some people suffer from swings in their blood sugar levels especially at night (even though they may fall within normal range) which can make sleep restless and un-refreshing.  With some people I find that even just optimizing the diet and exercise can help greatly.
• Do you suffer from depression?  Anxiety?

 All of the above and more needs to be addressed if a concern.  

 If any of the above are bothering you it is advisable to seek appropriate health care assistance especially if severe and disabling.  The suggestions below are not designed to take the place of appropriate health care and there are sometime contraindications to herbal remedies so seek qualified care if necessary if you have a health condition, are pregnant or on medication.

There is an Hormone balancing and energy promoting diet suitable for women AND men in my book Radiant Women to be found on http://www.rad-pads.com 

 If you are looking for a herbal or nutritional remedy which will take the place of ‘sleeping tablets’, you may not find this a very effective answer to your sleep problems.  If you are stressed for example, especially over a longer period of time it can greatly affect the levels of some of your adrenal hormones such as coritsol and DHEA.  It is not uncommon for me to see these levels higher at evenings (when they should be lower) and lower in mornings (when they should be higher) which can then make it difficult for the body to relax when it is sleep time.  People will also tend to be very fatigued with this profile.

 So in these cases it is important to address the adrenal problems in order to start to improve the sleep and energy. 

 You can ask your practitioner for some Salivary Hormone tests such as Cortisol, DHEA and Melatonin to check if your levels are satisfactory.  It is important that your practitioner knows how to interpret the test results and to then be able to prescribe natural therapies to assist longer term in optimizing hormone levels.

 Some of my favorite herbs for addressing adrenal exhaustion are:

During the Day – (e.g. morning and lunch time) :

 Withania somnifera, Rhodiola rosea, Siberian Ginseng,Licorice root (not the sweets) ,  Asparagus racemosa,  Avena Sativa (Oats), Rehmannia glutinosa, Urtica dio (Nettle).  Generally your pracitioner will have access to these.

 Other herbs may be added for individual indications. This will usually take the form of a herbal liquid extract mixture or a tablet.  Your practitioner – if they are a qualified herbalist or naturopath – can help you determine the best remedies as well as nutrient supplements which can also be helpful.

 If you do not have access to a practitioner but can obtain dried herbal teas you  might like to make yourself a mixture of equal parts of the following herbs, or at least some of them and have these after work and before bed.

 Oats (Avena Sativa), Skullcap(Sculletaria laterifolia), Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnate), and Zizyphus (Zizyphus spinosa).

Some other herbs you may have access to in dried tea form which are also relaxing are Chammomile, Lemon Balm, Hops, Lime Flower.  

 Most teabags you can purchase are not strong enough so you may benefit from 2-3 teabags instead of one.

 Some people may also like to add Valerian root herb as a tablet (it tastes vile as a tea) but the quality needs to be excellent.  Most people do well with Valerian but be aware some of us can become MORE wide awake with use of Valerian.

 Make up equal parts of the three herbs in a airtight jar and store in a dark place.  Have 4 teaspoons of the herbs in a cup of just boiled water.  Allow to infuse for at least 10 minutes. This is a gentle mixture and can be helpful over time in relaxing your system if you put in place other strategies such as a dark room, no alcohol and caffeine, stress reduction techniques, suitable exercise, dietary improvements, noise reduction regular sleep routine such as times to go to bed and wake up each day.

 There are many more strategies for assisting with sleep which are not able to be covered in this article and depend a lot upon what the presenting symptoms are. 

 Sleep well,  Wendy Dumaresq. Dip Med Herb, Ad C. NFM, Bowen Cert, B.Bus.

Attention women of all ages and stages – from puberty onwards.

I am so excited that we are able to bring you this wonderful film directed by Diana Fabianova.  It fits in very well with our role of  ‘spreading the word’ about natural options for women’s health.  Far too often women, especially young women are not offered any althernative except chemical hormone’s for women’s health problems and/or contraception and chemical laden, envirnomentally destructive products.

I KNOW as a medical herbalist focussing on reproductive health for many years that there are certainly alternatives, and that these are safe and effective.  Not only for health but also as more natural health products for menstruation.  

In fact I am rather chuffed as our Rad-pads make an appearance on this film as well -  Highlighting natural options for menstrual products.  Our new site is www.rad-pads.com  if you want to have a look at the range.

It is particularly important also that we consider the messages we give to our young women and girls about their bodies and what they can do to assist their health and well-being naturally. 

This informative and inspiring film  explores the menstrual etiquette with doses of humour and self-irony and approaches the subject through both personal and collective references. The Moon Inside You film is essential viewing for women of all ages (from puberty onwards) in that it helps give perspective from the stories of others about women’s reproductive health.  It is also important dialogue when more mature women can relate their experiences to younger women and vice versa.  It is healing and empowering.

The thought provoking interviews with women and men from expert status to ‘real women’ all over the world paint a picture of the joys, insights and taboos of the menstrual cycle.

FILM VIEWING DETAILS ARE: (film showings in other regions please see the link ate end of this post).

Venue:  Ballarat Grammar Pavilion, Forest St, Wendouree, Victoria (Australia).

Gate D, adjacent to bus stop, follow the signs

Date:  Wednesday 12th , October 2011
Time:  7pm
Admission:   $10. Book early to secure a  seat.

Further information/Bookings:  Carla Murrell (Natural Woman Network Facilitator, Ballarat area), Ph 0429 44 88 52

 Email: carl...@bigpond.com

Join Founding Director of Natural Woman Network & Rad-Pads,  Wendy Dumaresq  for a short discussion, Q& A at intermission.   Cuppa provided.

Wendy is the author of :’Radiant Women’ and  Enterprise with Soul Program  as well as an experienced medical herbalist, natural fertility management counsellor and women’s health educator.

We can email you a flier if you wish, just contact either carl...@bigpond.com or me at i...@rad-pads.com .

For film showings in other regions and countries please see www.mooninsideyou.com .

Part 1.

Every day that I work with women and men for health or business/work reasons, I hear stories.  There are many common themes in these stories.

For thousands of years story-telling has been a time honoured way of passing on the knowledge in cultures around the world.  Here is a story for you about one woman’s experience of her menopausal journey.  This story is representative of a lot of different women with many aspects in common to them all.  I thank the women who have shared their stories of the menopausal transition with me.

This story is rather on the long side so is in three parts, the latter two parts will be on future blog posts.

OLIVIA’S ODYSSEY.

“  I’ve had ENOUGH!!!!  ENOUGH, ENOUGH ENOUGH!!!!”  screamed Olivia.

She did not care if anyone heard her – although if any of her loved ones had heard they would be surprised.  Olivia prided herself on her compassion, tolerance and tendency to find peaceful solutions.  It is not really a co-incidence that her name loosely transcribed means ‘one who is compassionate and seeks peace.’

For once Olivia was quite uncaring of those around her and what they heard or thought about her.  She was fed up with hearing other people’s problems, of trying to keep a peaceful home and workplace when it seemed she was the only one making the effort. 

Olivia had left the house in a burst of angry energy at 7 am.  This was very uncharacteristic behaviour for her.  Usually she was calmly making breakfast or doing some other household task at this time with her love partner and also planning her work activities as well as trying to give attention to the myriad of activities her young adult children and partner were involved in.  But today for some reason Olivia could not bear to have any more requests made of her.  Her ‘request’ box was full!

‘Why am I still running around after them all when they are all adults now?’ Olivia pondered as she stomped along the walking track.  ‘ After all, they don’t seem to be remotely interested in my activities. ‘

Olivia kicked a stone which was in her way on the gravel path.  Her frustration had been growing for months if not years.  She seemed to feel rather resentful and angry lately but did not know why when things were good as they had been for years.  Life had been reasonably kind to her in this regard. In fact her life was almost exactly as she had planned.  Olivia was an expert in her field of work and had for years honed her skills.  She was in demand in all corners of the globe for her solutions oriented high tech work and had very much enjoyed the journey which had helped her arrive where she was at this moment.

“If I enjoy my work, love my family and friends so much, know that my health is good – why do I still feel dissatisfied, grumpy, frumpy and ‘over’ everything.  Not to forget dead tired most days and yes, I also feel like I am going crazy sometimes – feeling high as a kite one minute and lower than ever the next.”

Olivia had to laugh at herself when she realised she was talking out loud to herself.  Maybe she was going crazy after-all!

When Olivia raised her head to check out where on the path she was, she noticed a dark looking form about 50 metres ahead of her, sitting in the middle of the path. 

‘How strange’ Olivia thought, ‘Usually there is no one around here early in the day’. 

Olivia continued on her way, but as she drew closer she realised that the ‘form’ was indeed an older woman sitting slap bang in the middle of the path, which narrowed at that point.  The only way around the woman at this part of the track was to climb up the small, steep rise on the left and go around.  This was not a very tempting option as the prickly blackberries were covering the rise.

When it was clear the woman was not going to move, Olivia asked politely and just a little impatiently

“Do you need some help?”

“I don’t but you sure do – I could hear your thoughts from 100 metres away.  Hot and cranky enough to scald a cat! ” replied the woman. 

Olivia was rather taken aback at this reply.  This was not what she had in mind for her early morning ‘blowing off steam’ walk.  In fact the woman was rather rude.  ‘How dare she judge me!’ thought Olivia.

“I don’t judge you, you do a good enough job of that yourself, why else do you think you are feeling grumpy at the moment?” said the woman.

Olivia was starting to feel rather unnerved.  It seemed the older woman could read her thoughts. 

“Of course I can read your thoughts.  I am your ‘Wise Woman’. I know everything about you.  And I love you, no matter what and want what is best for you in this lifetime” said the Wise Woman.  “If you look closely at me you may recognise yourself and many other  women  in me.  What do you see?…..humour me if you please, we have all the time in the world and no one else is here”.

By this time Olivia was REALLY starting to feel that she was at least a little crazy.  She looked to the right, the left, behind, in front, even up in the trees to see if there was anyone else around.  She did not know how to respond and thought

  ‘Well, I may as well humour the old dear, what have I got to lose?’

When Olivia looked closely at the Wise Woman she did indeed notice that there were some features of the woman which seemed familiar. In fact the Wise Woman’s ‘energy’ and directness as well as her compassionate eyes reminded Olivia of her maternal grandmother as well as many other older women who she had known.  

“Who are you? Do I know you? What are you doing here or am I just imagining you?” asked Olivia of the Wise Woman.

“The fact that you are talking out loud to me is a good sign – and the fact that I answer means this is not ONLY in your mind. I am your alter ego, your inner wisdom, your guidance, your WISE WOMAN.  I am the wisdom passed down through generations of women.  The wisdom which it is now time for you to access to assist you with the next part of your life journey….

No, you are not going crazy – well only as much as millions of women before you at least.  You may feel like that at times, but now is the time to understand that you have reached a time in your life when it is wise to pause, reflect, refrain, re-invent and move on – often in a very different way than in the past.

Come sit with me now and we can delve into your hearts desires and learn from the wisdom of the elders.”

Olivia surrendered herself to the moment.  She also realised that she was starting to feel a little more relaxed.  Maybe it was being outside in nature, maybe it was the effect of the Wise Woman or maybe it was just a co-incidence.  Perhaps it would be a good investment to stop a while and listen, learn and let go……………

 Copyright – Wendy Dumaresq. 2011.

PART 2 TO FOLLOW NEXT BLOG POST.   Please feel welcome to contribute your thoughts below on Olivia’s Odyssey or your own experiences.  Perhaps you may know a woman who may benefit from this story.

Strategies for living well with your women’s health journey are available in the book ‘Radiant Women – simple steps for better menstruation and menopause“.  Print book and e-book available at http://www.rad-pads.com .

In the next blog post, Olivia and her Wise Woman will continue their Odyssey together. 

FIRSTLY – thank you all for your involvment in our Rad-pads competition. It was great to read your comments and notice how much dialogue there is around the subject of women’s health and secret women’s business.  See our blog in May 23rd.

The winner was AM from Victoria – the names were pulled out of the ‘hat’ by Dr Patrice Braun.  YOu can check out Patrice’s fascinating blog at http://globalsalon.blogspot.com/2011_01_16_archive.html . Patrice documents her work with women in developing countries.

In response to some questions directed to me via email, here are 5 top tips to consider in the health and wellness  journey of life based on my clinical experience.   I hope these are helpful and as always I would be pleased to hear from you in the comments about this post and what you might like to add to the list.

1.  REMEMBER THIS IS YOUR BODY – it does not belong to anyone else.  It is up to you to protect and nurture your body and do your best to ensure you or no-one else abuses it.  In addition your body houses the seeds for the next generation.  By being kind to your body you are also being kind to generations to come.

2.  GIVE YOUR BODY A PAT ON THE BACK – it has helped you to arrive at where you are today – your body may not be perfect (who’s is?) but it has done you great service.  So quit narking at yourself and ENJOY your attributes.  It is amazing how much you miss your fully functioning body when a part of it is injured or ill. 

3.  TREATS –  Instead of rewarding yourself with extra food, what about taking time  out AND TREAT YOURSELF with  some exercise, relaxation, massage, spa treatment, fun, laughter, time in nature, meditation, rest.  We are not machines and we DO need periods of rest and relaxation in order to re-charge.  This is what ‘weekends’ are for – and sleep.  

4 .DIETS DON”T WORK IN THE LONG RUN.  Dietary considerations are never straight forward but I have found that one of the most common causes of inappropriate weight gain is the extreme amounts of calories that people often eat in western cultures as well as  large amount of refined carbohydrates (sugars, breads, pasta’s, packaged cereals, sweets ,alcohol, many diet foods and drinks etc).  At the same time there is often greatly reduced incidental and planned exercise and movement.

Try cutting your evening meal in half, ensuring the majority of the food on your plate is multi-coloured vegetables or salad with a small amount of protein.  In fact have a look at the size of all your meals.  Are they larger than a large soup bowl in size?  Do you really need to consume so much?  Judge your meal portions by your activity and circumstances – e.g. athletes in training need more complex carbohydrates, pregnant and lactating women need to monitor that they have enough food, not skimp on the basics or have too much.  Growing children need to have more complex carbohydrates than adults but coupled with moderate protein and omega 3 fats.  These are just a few dietary tips. 

5.WATER – it is amazing how many people have very little or NO additional water in their daily life. Tea and coffee, fizzy and diet drinks are not included in your water quota.  The hydration requirements of your body vary according to your size, activity and health circumstances so it is difficult to give a ‘one size fits all’ suggestion for water consumption.  Start with a large glass or cup of water or non-caffeinated herbal tea for every 2 hours you are awake with less sipped slowly and not gulped.  You might like to start your day with a glass of warm water with some lemon juiced squeezed in it.

Your hydration needs can vary but it is important to know that dehydration contributes all sorts of problems including but not limited to bowel problems, bladder and kidney problems, headaches, fuzzy thinking, difficulty with weight stabilisation.   

These are just a few tips and thoughts.  There is a lot more information in the Radiant Women Book at http://www.rad-pads.com (see e-books for print book part of the site).  

Wendy Dumaresq, Medical Herbalist, Natural Fertility Management Counsellor,

info@rad-pads.com    DIRECTOR: Natural Woman Network & Rad-Pads

AUTHOR:  Radiant Women, Women’s Wisdom, Enterprise with Soul Program

After many years of consulting with women and/or couples regarding pre-conception care, fertility, pregnancy and beyond, I am still amazed and rather puzzled – why is this so often considered a ‘girl thing’?

It is common for me to find with couples that the male partner has not been sufficiently investigated regarding both general health as well as reproductive health.  In fact an inordinate number of people – not just men either – seem to have the opinion that fertility, especially inability to conceive is a matter which entirely involves the female partner.

Hello fella’s – hey aren’t you 50% of the next generation?  Time to extract head from sand.

Women benefit a great deal from learning the signs and symptoms of their fertility whether this is for contraception or conception. I have found over many years that the Natural Fertility Management Kits (NFM) are an invaluable aid.  These are designed for women and couples to work through at home and if there are any concerns they can make an appointment with our office as we run the Remote Natural Fertility Management assistance service.  It is so empowering to know WHEN you are ovulating and what your hormonal indicators are without having to have invasive testing.

NFM kits can be obtained easily through our site http://www.rad-pads.com  (see Natural Fertility category)  For a one off investment you  receive a lifetime of information which you can then pass on to your family when the time is right. 

I have lost count of how many times couples have come to me with only half the challenge covered.  Yes, certainly the woman needs to be well and have good hormonal balance and any health risks assessed  minimised.  But so too do men. In addition it can take over three months to BEGIN to positively affect mens fertility, as this is how long it takes for sperm formation to occur.  

It is so rewarding when I am assisting potential parents to understand that each party can benefit individually and as a couple for taking responsibility for their own areas of health, especially reproductive health. 

In a consultation and often a series of consultations with prospective parents, we often need to consider for all parties such things as:

• Toxic burden – such as toxic metal exposure, chemical exposure other toxin exposure
• Gut,  liver, kidney and pancreas health 
• Hormonal status – not just oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone, but adrenal, thyroid, para-thyroid hormones.
• Health history and family health history
• Medications – are these affecting ability to conceive?
• Dietary considerations
• Lifestyle
• Stress levels.
• Infections – especially reproductive.
• Occupation.
• Attitudes and philosophies around reproductive health and life in general.

There are a number of tests which can be performed both with the assistance of your doctor and/or with the guidance of your naturopath/herbalist.  It is important that the practitioner is skilled in interpretion of the appropriate test results.  For example I do alot of testing of Hair Samples (through an excellent laboratory) to help determine both toxic load as well as nutritional status.   It is quite skilled work to interpret and implement a treatment plan based on these and other indicators and not many practitioners I know of have done these additional studies. I have often found that levels of Manganese, Selenium, Zinc and Molybydenum are inappropriate for the individual.  These nutrients among others are very important for reproductive and generall health.

As with any other health and well-ness conditions, pre-conception care as well as treating fertility challenges is a PROCESS, not a quick fix.  Without many exceptions those who pursue this type of guided care report feeling better than in a long time with many health conditions they presented with being under control or eliminated. 

Happy reproducing!!!!           Wendy Dumaresq.

Medical Herbalist, Natural Fertility Management Counsellor

wen...@wendywithlove.com