Imagine if your mind and your body went to couples therapy. Your mind might say to your body: “I have things to do and people counting on me. You are not helping by acting sluggish.”
And your body might retort by saying to your mind: “Yeah, well, you never want to go for a walk or feed me nutritious food!”
Sometimes it’s the relationships we have with ourselves that take the most work.
Enter the mind & body therapist.
Doctors. Self-help books. And highly regarded business leaders almost always bring up the importance of exercise, drinking water, meditating, eliminating sugar, sleep, journaling, and other killjoy activities. But other than touting that these things are good for our health or productivity, few ever cover why.
That’s why we consulted Debbie Serban, founder of Serban Wellness & Fitness in San Diego, CA, who gave us not only the scientific reasons behind why top-performers promote eating vegetables over being a vegetable but also compelled us to actually (consider) adopting healthier habits.
For instance, we’ve all heard it’s best to exercise first thing in the morning. Most people equate this with time-management. Still, I don’t know about you, but unless my house is on fire, nothing shall come between me and my warm duvet at 4:30 AM—not even a kajillion dollars, let alone a Peloton.
However, there is a physiological reason for breaking a sweat at dawn. Doing so actually combats our stress hormones before they’ve had a chance to kick in. In fact, exercise flushes out cortisol, a toxic stress hormone.
According to Debbie, exercise is “The Great Equalizer.” Getting your heart rate up through strength training and cardio for at least 30 minutes increases your endorphins and balances your hormones. It’s like hitting your body’s reset button. Physiologically your body settles. And soon it starts to crave exercise. (Maybe not the getting-out-of-bed-before-the-rooster-crows part but the after-effects for sure.)
You can lead a horse to water…
We also discussed the myriad benefits of drinking water (that clear liquid we use to make coffee).
You’ve likely heard that more than half of your body is made up of H2O, which means your body probably needs it, but let’s be honest—water is pretty lackluster. Those convinced of its benefits are still apt to need some sort of incentive to drink it regularly, such as a time-stamped water bottle or the addition of cucumber slices. However, Debbie provides a thought-provoking analogy that just might persuade you to reach for your water canister, regardless:
“Think of your body as a dishwasher or washing machine. In order to clean what’s on the inside, you need to run water through it. Water flushes out toxins, rehydrates our cells, and keeps headaches at bay—because water increases blood flow.”
To meet individual needs, Debbie recommends converting about half of your body weight into ounces. So if you weigh around 150 pounds, you should aim to drink about nine cups of water a day.
Unfortunately, coffee doesn’t count. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it dehydrates rather than rehydrates. Go ahead. Take a moment of silence. Or perhaps…
Meditate.
Meditating seems to be all the rage these days, but if you work in an adrenaline-run, fast-paced industry, and the idea of sitting still while simultaneously freeing your mind of all thoughts makes you want to jump out of your skin, Debbie offers an alternative she calls “Moving Meditation.” The goal isn’t to stop thinking or moving; it’s to be mindful. Why? Because it releases endorphins (those feel good hormones) and is another way to hit your body’s reset button!
Ever have an epiphany or creative idea pop into your head when you’re in the shower or driving? This is why. You’re not focused on controlling your thoughts; they’re simply coming and going as they please.
Thus, Debbie recommends going for a short walk and observing the trees…being in the moment. I personally find anything that requires focus but not a lot of cerebral energy to have the same meditative effect, such as shopping, fixing a broken appliance, or trying to make my bed look like one of those strategically unmade beds advertised in every Pottery Barn catalogue.
Another mindfulness exercise Debbie suggests is simply writing down one to three things you’re grateful for that happened today. I like taking this exercise a step further by performing an act of gratitude, such as sending a handwritten thank-you card or text message to someone who made my day a little brighter.
Self-soothing your inner-child.
There are those who think burning the midnight oil every night is going to earn them a badge of honor. And then there are those who do everything we can to avoid such people because they are cranky. In addition to contributing to a poor mood and inability to concentrate, research also shows that a lack of sleep compromises our immune system and puts us more at risk of developing heart disease, Type II Diabetes, and other maladies. And if you already suffer from one of these conditions, sleep deprivation can make your diagnosis worse.
This is where practicing good “sleep hygiene” (a term coined by Debbie) comes into play. For instance, what are you putting into your body at night? Sugar? Alcohol? Sleep aids? Are you overstimulating your brain?
A common complaint is waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to quiet your internal monologue. This has to do with our sugar intake, which, yes, includes wine and even sugar substitutes. According to Debbie, if we have dessert or a glass of wine too close to bedtime, we probably feel pretty good before we drift off. But then about an hour later, our bodies experience a sugar crash and wake up wondering what’s going on.
And then our minds begin to think…and think…and think…
Fortunately, there are solutions to this. One involves increasing the amount of time between that glass of wine and bedtime (or abstaining from having a nightcap altogether). Or, for whatever reason, I’ve found reciting the following mantra in my head often helps:
“Every issue feels exaggerated at night. Tomorrow this won’t feel so big. And I’ll be better equipped to handle this tomorrow if I get some sleep.”
Food for thought.
It’s not just what we’re feeding our bodies that affects our sleep, it’s what we’re feeding our minds. For some, reading a self-help book before bed can be overstimulating; it either causes excitement or a to-do list to begin formulating. The same holds true for journaling. If it riles you up, don’t do it when you’re trying to wind down. Don’t fall asleep to the news, either; it’s meant to pique your interest, and the topics aren’t exactly ones you want your brain trying to process during slumber.
If you choose to read before bed, ensure it’s something that relaxes you—and rather than looking at a tablet, Debbie advises to read actual printed words on a page because if the content on your tablet isn’t laid out in a simple left-to-right format and has pop-up ads, switching to blue light isn’t going to do much good. A doctor also once told me that reading line by line (left to right) simulates how your eyes move during REM sleep and can help lull you to sleep.
Speaking of which, Debbie cautions against popping sleeping pills because while they may induce sleep, they act more as a sedative and interfere with your body’s natural sleep cycle—similar to how anesthesia is used to knock you unconscious before surgery. Rarely, do you wake up feeling restored, especially if the drug hasn’t fully been metabolized.
Retrain your brain.
Debbie calls the above modifications “retraining your brain.” And I don’t know about you, but I’m more willing to try something unappealing but good for me—like trading in my warm, cozy, perfectly-conformed-to-my-body duvet for a pair of yoga pants—if I understand the why behind it.
Hence, I think I’ll go ahead and open a bottle of…water this evening and ask my body—
How does that make you feel?
How to Build a Team as Invested in Your Business as You Are