Give Your Body a Break!

We are definitely a nation of do-ers. We go go go all the time. We work long hours, play hard, party like a boss, stay up late, drink too much, and eat round the clock. A lot of us are not just doing, but OVER doing. This applies to almost everything we do.

We overdo when it comes to work. That might mean sitting on your butt for 8 or more hours a day. (And we all know sitting is the new smoking.) We might work long shifts, or even night shifts. Staying up all night has been shown to be highly detrimental to your health. Our circadian rhythms govern our hormones, which in turn govern every process in our bodies--from fertility and sex drive to hunger, weight loss or gain, and sleep patterns. When we don't sleep at night, as we were designed to do, everything is thrown off. We often end up sick, injured, stressed out, fat, and unhappy.

After all those long hours of work, we deserve a treat, right? Or maybe a LOT of treats. Fast food, sugary desserts and drinks, booze, and maybe even some stronger drugs are just the ticket to numb us into oblivion. We use excess food and alcohol to medicate ourselves. Often the weekend turns into something we need to recover FROM, instead of an actual break from the stress of the work week.

Maybe we have turned to something healthier to help our stress. Exercise is a great stress reliever! So good for your body and mind. But this is something we can also OVERDO. Gentle activity is fantastic on a daily basis: walking, t'ai chi, yoga, qi gong, or any type of slow movement can be practiced daily for stress relief, without breaking the body down. However, more vigorous activities like running, playing sports, aerobics, etc can do more damage than good on a daily basis. If muscle tissue is breaking down and never allowed to heal and rebuild, you might end up exhausted, sick, injured, and depressed.

Moderation is the key.

We need to balance all this DOING with some NOT DOING.

Give your body a break!

If you tend to work long hours, try taking some weekends off. Use this time just to relax and do NOTHING. Take a break from scheduling parties and dinners and classes and trips. Try sleeping in. Read a book for pleasure. Take a bath.

If you tend to indulge in excess food and alcohol, try cutting back or cutting it out altogether. Maybe use one of your days off to fast. Give your system a complete rest. Fasting is very restorative for all the cells of your body. Give your liver a break and take a vacation from alcohol, too.

If you tend to drive your body hard by exercising, schedule some down days where you just stretch and relax. Maybe splurge on a massage or do some foam rolling. Meditate or do some deep breathing.

Our bodies put up with all kinds of abuse. Once in a while, they deserve a break!