But Not to be Smaller

Happy Monday, my fellow musers!

Yesterday, I noticed my legs seemed more toned and I was way more comfortable in my favorite pair of jeans. That really has nothing much to do with this post, but more about that in a minute.

I have mentioned before how much I loved Brain Rules by John Medina. It's one of those books I keep picking up, and every time I do, it enriches some part of my personal life, my professional life, or the intersection of the two. (Have I mentioned that I am practicing piano better and faster than before with the help these rules?)

Just a few pages into this book and I'd had enough of a nudge to start running regularly again and to recruit my sweetheart to join me. Check this out:

"Just about every mental test possible was tried. No matter how it was measured, the answer was consistently yes: A lifetime of exercise can result in a sometimes astonishing elevation in cognitive performance, compared with those who are sedentary. Exercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving, even so-called fluid intelligence tasks...Essentially, exercise improves a whole host of abilities prized in the classroom and at work." (Brain Rules, page 14)

An astonishing elevation in cognitive performance? Yes, please! That kind of self-care was the push I needed to start running this time around. I have had an on-again, off-again relationship with running. I think this time it will stick, though. Why? Because this time around, my motives are different.

In the past, running was about being smaller. It was about weight and size and jiggle-reduction and not much else.

My loved ones cannot afford for me to be preoccupied with being smaller. My patients, their families, my co-workers, and everyone else cannot afford for me to bring a version of me that is in any way focused on shrinking. I run for so many reasons now, and a sharper mind is just one of them.

I run to show myself I am fully capable of suiting up and showing up, to get in touch with that inner voice who says, "I can," find her, and turn up her volume, to build my bravery and my self-compassion one step at a time so when I need it, I can confidently call upon that part of myself who must have hard conversations with families facing a death. I run to get bigger in heart, in strength, in confidence, in nurturing self-care, and yes, in improved oxygenation to my brain cells and sharper thinking. But never again simply to be smaller.

So when I glanced in the mirror yesterday and saw some changes, I could think, "Well, cool. But that's not important." How absolutely liberating. I will choose today to grow, but not to be smaller.

PS: If you want to learn some of the best neuroscience out there for taking care of a human brain, you can get a copy of Brain Rules here. I promise this will help you be a better therapist and human being!

A Very Sleepy 2017

Fun fact: More traffic accidents occur during the 2:00-4:00 PM window than any other time. An even better fun fact is that we actually know why. It's all because of our brains.

For something as important as understanding the workings of the human brain, the findings of much of the field of neuroscience are surprisingly murky. So, when the neuroscience community reaches a strong consensus on an issue, and declares a finding to be strongly supported, I listen. I take it to heart. I recently read "Brain Rules" by John Medina, a highly-respected neuroscientist. In this book, he distills the best of the best of neuro research and translates it into principles or "rules" that guide how to best use a human brain in real life.

So why do we consistently crash our cars more during these hours than any other time and what does it have to do with our brains? It's because our brains really, really, really want a NAP.

And by "want," I mean this is a hard-wired, biological drive. A need, like food or water.

What is our brain doing during this time and why does it need to do it so badly? This is where it gets murky again, but the best research suggests that we are doing intensive offline processing and brain de-cluttering during this time. We take all the information we have encountered during the first half of the day and only during a short sleep cycle can we actually make much use of it.

The science gets pretty clear again on this point: the drive for an afternoon nap occurs universally among humans (without serious sleep disorders) regardless of how much you typically sleep and when, whether you are a night owl or a morning lark. It's so universal and clearly defined that researchers have termed this window the "Nap Zone," and believe it's the other piece of a natural human sleep rhythm. The Nap Zone occurs because you have processes in the brain that fight to keep you continually awake, and ones that fight to keep you continually asleep. The sleep forces win out when you go to bed, but eventually give out when you wake up the next morning. When you enter the Nap Zone, these contesting forces flatline. A cease fire. Nobody is really in the lead, but you definitely feel the possibility for sleep coming on. Thus all the car crashes.

When we attempt to fight through this window, we're pretty miserable. Irritable.  Our thoughts feel s...l...o...w...e...r. We might need to have someone repeat what they just said. Worse yet, we suddenly snap to as we hit the rumble strip on the side of the highway.

What happens when we take this nap instead? Per "Brain Rules," we drastically improve our productivity and our thinking abilities. We become sharper, more creative, faster on our feet, deeper thinkers, and capable of solving the problems that were baffling or stressful before lunch.

I resisted this line of thinking at first - the idea that by taking just 20-30 minutes to sleep once per afternoon, I would actually make up for that lost and time and then some in what I would be able to ask of my brain post-nap. But the science is so, so clear here that I might as well argue that I actually see with my ears instead of my eyes because that "seems" more logical to me.

Resisting the idea that humans need this afternoon nap makes as much sense as arguing that your car runs best without ever putting gas in it, or that a surgeon will perform their best surgery by using the same scalpel over and over until it is so dull it's only good for butter. The nap serves the same purpose as trading out for a sharp instrument.

All of this adds up to the only resolution I have made for 2017 so far. Every single day possible, I will arrange my schedule in such a way that I can nap for 20-30 minutes in the afternoon. I resolve to use the nap zone for what nature intended: revving the brain up to do its very best and brightest work. I encourage you to join me in taking that very needed nap. It's already making an enormous difference for me in terms of clarity of thought, emotional stability, and creative brain power.

On that note, I wish you and yours a very sleepy 2017. Happy napping!

PS: If you want to harness the neuroscience for your own health and better therapy for your clients, you can pick up the book here.