SILENCE, DAILY SIESTA, AND HEALING

In the middle of the year 2023, I began to have high blood pressure that was tilting towards hypertension. Which means I was slightly hypertensive. Before now, my blood pressure rarely crossed 120/80, despite being overwhelmed with a lot of thoughts and a job that kept me awake in the better part of the night. The simple trick was that, amid the stress, I never skipped the afternoon nap, no matter how short. Later, I discovered from an online medical journal that a nap during the day is as important as the long sleep you get at night. How true it was, I can not say for a fact. But based on my experience, it does. Coming back home to stay with my sick mum, who is down with a partial stroke, made my usual afternoon nap impossible. One day, I decided to check my blood pressure, and then discovered that it had gotten to 130+/80+. I was now slightly hypertensive. One deadly thing about hypertension is that it rarely gives signs when it strikes a person. Just something little - thoughts, stress, anger, tension, depression etc- can trigger it, and before one realises, the person is either paralysed partially or completely or dead. Such is the danger of high blood pressure. I had to talk to myself. I needed to take care of myself and be fit to take care of my mum. It would be a disaster for both of us to be down with sickness at the same time. I do not support the use of medication for everything. For example, you find people who take medication for headaches, cough, and catarh.

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My study with ALX reminded me of a long practice of mine, where I enjoyed meditation in silence. I returned to meditation and daily siesta. And guess what, it worked! Today, all I just need to do is take my siesta and have a daily silent meditation. Even if I do not meditate, I must take my siesta. Now, I can say I have experiential knowledge of my discovery from the online journal.

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What is Siesta?
Siesta is simply a nap we take during the day. Often it lasts for 1 to 2 hours.
Although some things work without medication, it does not mean we say no to medication. For example, I can not suggest that a stroke-ridden person like my mum should have a siesta without her medication. In her case, taking medication and lifestyle play an active role in keeping her fit. Medically, it is suggested that a hypertensive person and a stroke patient desist from some eating habits and food content while they take their medications. And lest I forget, I also eat healthy. I take more fruits, vegetables, nuts, and water. We can say no to medication when we develop a healthy lifestyle centered around exercising, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and water, less canned food, beverages, and avoidance of chemical waste. These are ordinary things which does extraordinary things to us.
And as a note, I have realised that in Nigeria, where I come from, healthy things and lifestyle are far cheaper compared to those things detrimental to our health. And death is expensive than life.