My new favorite tool that helps me feel fantastic!
I don't know about you, but sometimes it seems we are living in a world on fire. This may lead many of us into a stressful state, whether we are conscious of it or not. Between managing our lives through work, family, and personal needs and the world’s crises that seem to be insurmountable at times, it can leave us exhausted in mind, body, and spirit.
On the positive side of being on fire, I love living at 110%. Living life fully is always on the agenda. Sometimes, it works for me, yet as I get older and hopefully wiser, I’m beginning to appreciate the balancing power of relaxation, quiet and calming my nervous system. It’s an absolute must to maintain my fitness and well-being. For many years, I resisted this balance and paid the price with, at times, poor sleep, anxiety, melancholy and digestive issues.
Perhaps you may be experiencing some of the effects of stress or a nervous system out of balance:
Fatigue
Decreased cognitive abilities
Overuse of stimulants to stay alert
Low adaptation to exercise
Poor Sleep
Infections that don’t go away as quickly as they used to
Nagging injuries
Joint pain and dysfunction
Poor mood
Inability to relax
Low libido (for women, it’s loss of interest. For men, it can result in poor performance)
Irritability
Digestive distress
Thanks to Dr. Andrew Huberman at Stanford, I found a great tool I now use daily: Non-Sleep, Deep Rest (NSDR). It takes no effort or cost, and after 10 minutes, I feel like a new person.
NSDR benefits:
Reduced anxiety and stress (which improves overall health and well-being).
Improve cognitive function. Science suggests that a 20-minute NSDR after intense focus can improve neural plasticity by 50%, meaning we supercharge our ability to improve memory, attention, and processing.
Improve sleep quality
Improve wellbeing
Regulate heart rate and blood pressure
Improve Immunity
In a nutshell, NSDR is a self-directing tool that shifts from waking, thinking, and usually stressful states into calm and relaxed states while still awake. A few things happen to create this shift and believe me; it happens faster the more you do it.
NSDR works by using visualization and shifting our respiration to influence our thoughts and brain activity. During our waking and busy lives, we tend to view the world as challenging (even if it’s fun and interesting challenges), yet during NSDR, we teach our minds via our bodies to feel the world as a friendly and calm place. There is no need to stress; everything is okay, and the body can relax before jumping into the next task.
Additionally, as we move through our days, we can become so focused on tasks that we increase our brain waves to the point that doing more can impede our memory, attention, and processing ability. NSDR helps to shift the brain waves into ones that provide rest and rejuvenation.
NSDR loosens our focus and instead seems to move us into a place where we become a restful witness. When we rest deeply or sleep, the first step is for our thoughts not to disappear but become fragmented. This fragmentation leads to a relaxed and restful state.
You can start right now if you wish. Here are a few options for NSDR.
Yoga Nidra is linked to the Yogic tradition of Yogic sleep. For some, this may conflict with religious beliefs or be too spiritual. I’ve tried Ally Boothroyd’s free YouTube videos, and find them fantastic…. https://www.youtube.com/@SarovaraYoga/videos
For others who would like to try a more secular-based form of NSDR, rooted in Science from Dr. David Spiegel at Stanford, you can try his Self-hypnosis app Reverie. https://www.reveri.com
As human organisms, we must balance mind and body activity with rest. Without it, our bodies start to erode and become sick and unhappy. NSDR is a super tool that helps us feel rested, motivated, and ready to get on with the rest of our day or can pull us gently into the much-needed sleep we need.
If you try it out, I’d be curious to hear how it goes.
Yours in Health,
Sarah.