The Importance of Getting Rest
This last week I’ve been listening to a really great podcast by Diary of a CEO. I’ll put the link below. In it, the host was talking to a panel of four doctors, and they were discussing women’s health. In all the stages of a woman’s life, the most important thing a woman can do for optimal health is get enough sleep and rest. This seems like a no-brainer, but life is busy, and good sleep can sometimes seem impossible. So today I wanted to address three practices that can help our bodies get the rest we need.
The first thing we can do is try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, and also make sure we are getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep. This is really important for our circadian rhythm. A circadian rhythm is your body's internal—roughly 24-hour—clock that manages physical, mental, and behavioral cycles; influencing sleepiness, alertness, and hormones. When we go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time, our circadian rhythm can be consistently running, allowing us to balance out hormones and get the sleep we need.
The second practice we can do to help our bodies get the rest we need is meditate. The book “Stress Less, Accomplish More”, by Emily Fletcher, is an excellent book on the importance of meditation, and how simple of a practice it can be. Meditation enables our bodies and mind to rest.
The third thing we can do, as Jiu Jitsu practitioners, is to take advantage of the breaks we have during the holidays. This type of rest is the hardest for me. I love training, and so taking a break while the school is closed used to make me feel a little restless. Now I’m able to appreciate the time off to let my joints and muscles rest. It also gives me time to watch our online videos and continue my training, but in a different way.
Utilizing these three practices can help us move towards optimal health and be able to train Jiu Jitsu for years to come.