Dr. William C. Dement, considered by some to be the father of sleep science, said that “Healthy sleep has been empirically proven to be the single most important determinant in predicting longevity, more important than diet, exercise, or heredity”.

Put more succinctly, sleep is more important than anything else to have a long life.

Sleep is important for many reasons. It provides a chance for the body to release stress, repair the normal wear and tear of the body, and do all of the other things that the body does when it relaxes. Basically, sleep is the time when the parasympathetic nervous system can take over. Heart rate slows, food gets digested, damaged cells get repaired or replaced, our immune system takes care of bacteria and viruses to keep us healthy.

During the day, when we are awake and active, we can be under a lot of stress. Stress raises the sympathetic nervous system, the one that controls the flight-or-fight response that we hear so much about. It also suppresses the parasympathetic system, so our immune response is slow, we don’t digest well, and our systems become acidic. If we stay in this mode for long, our systems become toxic.

We fix this when we sleep. By not getting enough sleep, we run the risk of not undoing all of the damage done by the day’s stress.

That’s where Nikken’s new Naturest Magnetic Mattress Topper comes in. It is a magnetic mattress pad that goes on top of your existing mattress. Nikken decided to go with natural latex for this pad because it keeps its firmness better than any man-made foam, naturally wicks away moisture, and makes it easier for you body to regulate temperature. It is naturally resistant to dust mites, mildew, and other microbes too. What this means for you is that you will sleep better. Your less likely to move about during your sleep, allowing you to stay in the deeper, rejuvenating stages of sleep.

If you’re looking at a magnetic mattress pad, then you probably already know that magnets are beneficial to the body for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, your body was designed to be in a magnetic field, specifically the Earth’s magnetic field. It is a very big magnet with a north and south pole. If magnetic fields were harmful, then the human race wouldn’t have come as far as it has. That is why Nikken uses neodymium magnets in the new mattress pad. They are natural Earth magnets so that we sleep fully exposed to the Earth’s natural magnetic energy while staying safely indoors.

The magnets in the new mattress topper help the body to relax and stay in that deeper, rejuvenating sleep. Magnets have also shown to be very helpful in stimulating the natural healing responses in the body. While not commonly talked about, doctors use magnetic fields to help bones heal if they haven’t healed properly on their own. So, it is safe to say that magnets can help the body to heal. They also promote energy flow ( we use magnets to generate electricity, so that is a proven fact as well ) and their is a lot of energy flowing in the body in the form of blood circulation and nerve conduction.

So, to summarize, sleep is vitally important for long life because it is the time for our bodies to relax and take care of the repair and rejuvenation that is possible during the stressful day. The Naturest magnetic mattress pad significantly helps that process by providing a restful environment built on natural latex foam and magnets that help the body stay in the deeper stages of sleep where that body restoration takes place.

Wayne Woodworth

PS. Nikken is offering free shipping on the Naturest pads until July 31, 2010

Do you have difficulty sleeping more than a few hours at a time? Nikken has just launched a new magnetic mattress topper and will discontinue the current Ultra Kenko Pad once they run out. They are calling the new magnetic pad the Kenko Naturest Mattress Topper. There is also a new Naturest pillow as well that will replace the existing pillow.

The technology advances are cool but the most important thing is how people are sleeping. I used to have trouble getting to sleep at night until I started using Nikken’s current magnetic mattress pad, the Ultra Kenko Pad. Once that was on my bed I could fall asleep within seconds of laying down, and still do. The only down side to that magnetic pad is that it is very firm. If you like a soft bed then it probably took a little adapting to, and it did for me.

There are a few people who still had trouble sleeping with that one. Two people in my upline told me that before the Ultra Kenko Pad they would sleep very little. With that pad they could sleep 4 hours or so at a time and feel great. That was a significant improvement for them and they were happy with that.

Now comes the new Naturest mattress topper. These same people are saying that this new pad is helping them to sleep 8 or 9 hours a night. They might not get that every night, but even just 2 or 3 nights a week of sleeping completely through the night is a huge breakthrough for them.

The new magnetic mattress pad, or mattress topper as they are calling them now, is made using a natural latex rubber and a new magnet technology. Latex provides many benefits. It is a renewable resource, so it is good for the environment. The latex is much softer than the foam from the current magnetic pad, so it is more comfortable and easier to adjust to. Natural latex is also resistant to microbes and such, so it is cleaner and better for the body.

I don’t know much about the science behind the new magnets in the Naturest pad other than that they have figured out how to incorporate 3 magnets, offset from each other to some degree, into each node. They are calling this Radial-Axis Magnetism or RAM and it somehow creates a 3-dimensional magnetic cocoon effect that wraps the body and is able to pull you deeper into sleep.

While all of the new technologies are great, the important thing is that people who had trouble sleeping are now able to sleep through the night. Of course, there is no guarantee that you will experience the same results that they have. The cool thing about magnets is that they don’t have any negative side-effects, so it doesn’t hurt to try it out.

The Kenko Naturest Mattress Topper and pillow is currently in a pre-order phase. Leave me a comment here or use my contact page to reach me to find out more about it and order your own.

Wayne Woodworth
Independent Nikken Wellness Consultant

You’ve heard all the noise in the news about the government’s proposed health care plan.  I even received an automated phone survey from one of our congressmen to get my input on it. The survey also asked questions about taxing the wealthy, which I discuss on another blog. This is about my take on the health care debate.

I think the government, and the whole “health care” industry in general, has taken the wrong approach. Drugs and surgery are only attempts at fixing problems after they occur, and for the most part they only cover up symptoms without addressing the cause of the illness. A better way is to address the lifestyle choices that are causing the problems. I choose to call it “wellness care“.

You are the result of the daily choices you make. If you choose to eat fast food, drink sodas, and deprive yourself of sleep on a regular basis then you have a better chance of getting sick. They increase the stress and acidity in the body. That’s all there is to it.

If you prefer to eat healthy vegetables, supplement your diet, drink plenty of clean water, and get enough sleep, then your chances of staying healthy are much better. These choices decrease acidity and put less stress on the body.

It all comes down to choices.

I can put it another way for you. The US has one of the most “advanced” medical system in the world. Nobody is better at drugging and cutting the body than we are. We are also one of the most chronically ill countries on the planet. Why is that? My opinion is  that health doesn’t come from a pill bottle or syringe, and that is all that a government health care plan is likely to address.

This is what I’m doing to stay healthy, especially with all of the illness concerns that people have right now. I have an organic salad with spinach and other tasty leaves just about every day for lunch. I eat my salad dry so that I need to drink plenty of water to wash it down which helps to make sure I get the necessary amount of water every day. I also take nutritional supplements, sleep on a magnetic mattress pad, and make time to play with my kids (play helps to relieve stress).

What choices are you going to make today?

Wayne Woodworth
Practicing my wellness care plan.

I was asked yesterday if magnets can help with fibromyalgia.  I would like to be able to just say “yes” and move on, but that would be irresponsible and get me in a whole bunch of trouble with Nikken and the FDA, so I won’t.

Before I go any farther,  I want to make it completely clear that I am not a doctor, I cannot diagnose whether you have fibromyalgia or any other condition, and I cannot prescribe anything for any condition that you may have.

So, what can I say about fibromyalgia?  Well, for one, medicine hasn’t actually decided what exactly fibromyalgia is.  It is closely related to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the lines between the two conditions appear to be very blurry.  It is classified as one of the many auto-immune conditions where the immune system attacks the body as if it was an attacker.  People who have fibromyalgia usually complain that their whole body hurts all the time, and it is a chronic condition, which means that they will probably have it for a very long time and maybe the rest of their life.  People with fibromyalgia don’t usually have much hope of getting out of pain, which is a really sad way to have to live.

I read a good description of fibromyalgia on another site.  It said that it is an inflammation based condition.  For whatever reason, inflammation is triggered and it stays on, becoming chronic.

As a Nikken consultant I have heard many people report that problems with inflammation have improved after using the magnetic sleep system, insoles, and the biaxial magnetic rotation products.  I have also heard several testimonials in regards to fibromyalgia specifically.

As I said before, I’m not a doctor, so I cannot tell you that magnets will help you if you have fibromyalgia.  I will say that magnets have been determined to be completely safe, unless you have a pacemaker or some other battery-powered implant.  With that said, my recommendation is that if you want an alternative to living with pan, give the Nikken magnets a try.  Use the sleep system, insoles, and always drink plenty of water (we are 70% water and need to stay hydrated) for 3 months.  The worst that can happen is that nothing happened, and just maybe something might.

Wayne Woodworth
A good night’s sleep on a magnetic mattress pad makes me feel great.

Have you heard that the benefits that people get from magnets is just the placebo effect?

placebo – a substance containing no medication and prescribed or given to reinforce a patient’s expectation to get well.

placebo effect – a reaction to a placebo manifested by a lessening of symptoms or the production of anticipated side effects.

I recently saw an episode of the old TV show M.A.S.H. where the doctors didn’t have any morphine to give their patients for their pain after surgery.  They decided to make sugar pills to give the patients and hope that the placebo effect would get them through until a new shipment of morphine arrived.  The mind can do amazing things if we let it, or cause it to think it should.

When talking about magnets I sometimes hear that they don’t really do anything.  Any supposed benefit is just the placebo effect.  If I have a headache what do I care if the  “lessening of symptoms” is because of a placebo effect or because of drugs masking the pain?  I just want the headache gone.  The thing with the magnet, placebo or otherwise, is that there aren’t any side-effects either.

So, the next time you use your magnetic patches or magnetic insoles to take care of a problem and someone tells you that it is a placebo, just say “So what!”.

Wayne Woodworth
Magnets are a placebo? The pain is still gone.

Have you used magnetic insoles, magnetic jewelry, or any other magnetic products?

Most of the people I have talked to use them to take care of a particular condition, which I think is great.  As a massage therapist, I recommend Nikken magnetic products to my clients to help with sore muscles and to promote relaxation.  Did you know that they can be a great preventative too?

The Earth’s magnetic field is not uniform.  It varies from one place to another so that one place can have a positive magnetic field and others, not even too far way, can have a negative field or a neutral field.  The earth’s magnetic field shifts constantly as well.  NASA has reported that the magnetic north pole moves every year and reverses on average every 300,000 years.

Nikken’s magnetic products are static earth magnets that can help balance the magnetic field that you are immersed in every day.  It is my belief that staying in this supportive magnetic field can help prevent a lot of the every day issues that we all face, things like fatigue, lack of energy, mild discomfort, and other similar issues.

Sleeping on a magnetic sleep system, like Nikken’s Ultra Kenko Pad or KenkoAir mattress, far-infrared comforter, and magnetic pillow will help balance your energy while you are sleeping and allow your body to make the best use of the few hours it has to energize and restore itself.

Wayne Woodworth
Independent Nikken Wellness Consultant
Magnetic Insole Wearer

Disclaimer: I am an Independent Nikken Wellness Consultant and massage therapist. None of my statements have been approved by either Nikken or the FDA. I do not diagnose conditions and I do not prescribe any product to treat a particular condition.

My first experience with Nikken was with the Ultra Kenko Pad.  A massage therapist friend invited us to a Wellness Home Preview and we were allowed to borrow the magnetic mattress pad for a week to see what we thought of it.  The short version of the story is that we ended up joining Nikken and highly recommend both the product and the business.

We put the magnetic pad on our bed and covered it over with the sheet  and settled in for the night under the far-infrared comforter.  Nobody told us to put our regular mattress pad over it too.  I wish they had because my first thought was that I was lying on a rock.  Firmness aside, I slept better than I had in years.  With the combination of the magnets, far-infrared, and negative ions everything on the bed just felt right.

Since we joined, Nikken has introduced the Kenko Air mattress which is an air mattress, similar to those number beds, with the Ultra Kenko Pad on top of it.  I tried one out once and it is very nice.  You can control the firmness of each side of the bed independently.  We don’t have one yet because our existing mattress is in great shape and there is no need to upgrade yet.

Wayne Woodworth
Independent Nikken Wellness Consultant
Magnetic sleeper

Disclaimer: I am an Independent Nikken Wellness Consultant and massage therapist. None of my statements have been approved by either Nikken or the FDA. I do not diagnose conditions and I do not prescribe any product to treat a particular condition. These are my opinions based on my experience with the Nikken sleep system.