Student Assignments: The 13th Principle of Health: Rest

I don't usually post entire assignments. However, I wanted to share this assignment from Nancy in Canada. It is a good example of a concise assignment that is not long, but contains all the elements needed for a good assignment. She has a good topic statement and spends the rest of the assignment supporting her statement with quotes and references. Very well done!

I believe the thirteenth principal of health should be rest and relaxation. When someone doesn’t get enough rest and relaxation the other principals won’t really achieve all that they could for a person’s health. For instance, having high blood pressure from being stressed can never really be helped through use of the other twelve principals without learning to relax and getting the correct amount of sleep. In “Prescription for Nutritional Healing” it is stated that “the body does not absorb ingested nutrients well when under stress. The result is that, especially with prolonged or recurrent stress, the body becomes at once deficient in many nutrients and is unable to replace them adequately.”

Studies have shown that not getting the appropriate amount of sleep can make it hard for the brain to function to its full capacity. This having been said, it then follows, any knowledge obtained would not be fully utilized. In the Traditional Healers Handbook it says that sleep “strengthens all natural functions.

On the Medical News Today website in an article entitled Sleep Deprivation Fosters Inactivity, “According to Herbert, sleep is key in regulating the body's processes, including appetite and metabolism. Lack of sleep can throw these processes off balance, and may lead to overeating, and in turn, gradual weight gain over time." This then would lead us to believe that sleep or rest is essential for proper nutrition to be at all possible.

We all know as a fact that negative stress leaves one feeling pessimistic and depressed. Relaxation can alleviate stress, rejuvenate a person’s outlook on life, and restore their vitality as well. A positive outlook can then foster faith and knowledge due to a desire to make strides towards maintaining that feeling.

In conclusion, I feel safe to say that, rest and relaxation helps to increase the positive results from following the twelve principals of health and should be included with them.