Flu - Cold Season And Rest

This is the third part in this series about the cold and flu season.  Please visit the first series, Flu - Cold Season And Mind Body Healing and part 2, Flu And Cold Season And Nutrition.   Reading these first two parts in this series will help you to understand today's blog post much better.

Stress and trauma and nutrition are not the only things that impacts the health of our body.  Getting adequate rest and sleep are essential for our body to function at maximum efficiency.  All too often in our life, we view rest as something we may or may not do on a yearly vacation and we see sleep as something we have to fit into our day.

In many ways we have the emphasis on rest and sleep backwards in our life.  Instead of making it a priority, we try to fit it into our busy schedules, if we happen to get the chance.  We don't see it as a necessity, rather we see it as something that you could do every now and then.  Our bodies require sleep and rest to function.  It is a time when our cells rejuvenate themselves and our mind defrag the stressful and busy moments of our day.


Additionally, even if we take some limited time out to get rest or sleep, we often have the smart phone or laptop near by checking every Facebook or Twitter posting that comes through.  We have the TV turned on or music going in our ear, keeping our body from doing anything but rest and sleep.  We try to fit activities into our moments of rest and sleep, thinking we are exceptional at multitasking.  Unfortunately, we are only fooling ourselves with the illusion that we are taking care of ourselves when it comes to sleep and rest.

It is all about how we view our body and whether we give it the respect it needs, or we see just how much we can abuse it throughout our life.  The more you take care of your body, the more it will be there for you.  I know first hand from my days of suffering through the paralysis of a conversion disorder, that working day and night nonstop is not good for you.  You may get away with it for awhile, but sooner or later it will catch up with you.

One of the fallacies that we tell ourselves, is that we're doing okay now and we just have to keep pushing in life.  All too often in our society, we think that the more we can take on, the more human we are when in all reality, it is just the opposite.  In fact, if you stop to rest and sleep, you can take on so much more and save your body from experiencing all types of physical conditions in the future.

The old saying goes that you know what happens when you burn the candle at both ends - it burns out quickly.  This is what we are doing when we don't take time to stop and rest every day.  There is nothing so important in life that should prevent us from taking time out of our day for this.  It doesn't mean you have to spend hours resting, but even a short 15 or 30 minutes can do wonders for you.

Consider these methods to help give yourself a much needed rest in your day.  Find a park bench and sit in the sun for 15 minutes emptying your mind of all the stress in your day.  Feel the sunshine on your face and body.  You could also take 5 minutes and walk outside the door of the place you work and just feel the sun and wind upon your face.  Hear and watch the birds or other wildlife around you if possible.  Observe the clouds in the sky and let your concerns of the day drift away with them.  You could even sit in a quiet room for 5 minutes or at your desk and just focus on your breathing.  By grounding yourself to your breath, you will come back in to your body and find your place of power and strength.

There are so many things you can do in your day to help you rest, but if you spend your energy and your body as if the bank account is never ending, it will run out at some point.  We are all experiencing far too many health conditions these days that are a direct result of how we treat our body.  Whether it is through our daily nutrition, our past experiences and trauma or the lack of adequate sleep and rest, we are turning ourselves into ticking time bombs.  Hopefully, we will wake up before it is too late.  Hopefully we'll see that our life is much more valuable than degrading it down into something we abuse each day.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 11/28/12 by Don Shetterly

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