KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 29
What makes us 'hit' the floor each morning and reach out from sleep to awareness, emptiness to existence and dream to reality? It is energy - of our mind and body. The equation is remarkably apparent. We need body energy to move in the physical sense and mind energy to 'prompt'. This is because every cell in our body is expending energy - tons of it, to be precise. While a quarter of it is being used to process bits of information, even as another portion is being used to refill 'not-working' fragments of our body, much of the 'rest' is dispersed as heat to keep us warm.
In addition to all this, our brain is consuming energy at ten times the rate of the rest of the body. Most importantly, it is also choosy about what type of energy it will utilise. Hence, you ought to be discreet. You better give what it wants - because, the brain, if deprived of energy, for more than ten minutes, will irreversibly be 'shop-worn'. But, don't you worry. Because, the whole outline is natural - as natural as nature wanted it to be. So, just breathe in some fresh air, or have a bite of something you like eating.
Energy, according to Guy Brown, a biologist, is the basic constituent of the universe. It is, he says, even more fundamental than matter. It is the fountain-head of all metamorphosis. Every single event in the universe, for example, uses energy. The human body too requires enormous amounts of it - even in 'dreamless' sleep. To be alive, therefore, is actually a continuous transformation of energy. Energy is the nuclear expression of our lives. Lack of energy is the most common symptom of depression, as also exhaustion.
As we think and feel, right now, we are beginning to understand how our mind and body communicate with each other in health and illness.
While it is true that contemporary concepts of mind and body energy are fragmented, we now know how indispensable energy is to our lives. Because everything we do uses energy? Yes. This is also precisely the reason why the 'stock' basis of energy has been extended to many different capacities and fields. From physical, mental and emotional energy to psychic and creative action, besides the rapidly-expanding area of bioenergetics - the story of living energy - or, the new understanding of the energy of life.
In simple terms, bioenergetics is a luminous overview of how energy courses through us at both the micro-level of our cells and the macro-plane of our behaviour. Of what may be described as the energy dynamics of our athletic limits and our excited minds. In other words, the strength of mitochondria-rich 'brown' muscles and the high-speed power of our 'white' muscles, including the science of what makes our minds and bodies tick with computerised precision. The bottom line, of course, is energy corresponds to understanding the life and death of our molecules, cells and bodies. It is, therefore, imperative we provided more attention to it.
Let's now look at sleep - the position from which we It goes without saying that our bodies and minds are powered by electricity. How such an electrical constituent worked was itself a mystery for ages. Not anymore. Thanks to modern science, we are now able to imagine, or visualise, changes in energy within our brains - from moment to moment embarked upon this piece. Sleep is a state of physical and mental rest. During sleep a person becomes relatively passive and unconscious of the environment. One may, therefore, call sleep a form of 'detachment' with the world, too. Sleep is more important than diet and exercise. It has been experimentally proven that a good night's slumber is the single-most important predictor of longevity.
Sleep is characterised by a general drop in body temperature, blood pressure, breathing rate, and most other bodily functions. All the same, our brain is never at 'rest' during sleep. Research has shown that the brain is actively 'energetic' during sleep just as much as when one is awake.
Sleep is composed of two distinct states - non-REM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. The two alternate at 90-110-minute cycles. A normal sleep pattern of eight hours, for instance, has 4-5 cycles. By way of graphics, sleep cycles are often compared to a staircase - especially, a stairway's up-and-down pattern. Nearly 75 per cent of our sleep cycle is spent in non-REM sleep. When a person is woken up during any stage of non-REM sleep, they often report simple thought processes. They may not be able to recall any specific dream though.
In REM sleep, our breathing becomes rapid, irregular and low. Our eyes wobble quickly just as well. Our limbs also become temporarily 'paralysed'. In addition, our heart rate and blood pressure levels go up. Yet, it is during REM sleep that we are able to remember, or recall, dreams - from the most trivial to the most dramatic. Over 60 years ago, sleep was often thought of to be a passive, inactive part of our daily lives. Today, research has shown that it is not so. New studies have demonstrated that lack of sleep affects our daily functioning; it is also the precursor of systemic diseases like hypertension, heart disease and diabetes. In other words, it disturbs our physical, emotional and psychological health, in more ways than one could ever imagine.
Now, the big question. Can mental exercise preserve, energise, or build our physical and mindful abilities even in the presence of significant stressors? The answer is yes. This is one reason why research recommends a healthy 'mental-workout' each day, along with exercise, proper diet and stress reduction. The onus is on us though to making use of them, while reducing stress and improving our brain-mind intelligence, besides our physical, emotional and spiritual quotient.
Nidamboor is a wellness physician, independent researcher and author
It goes without saying that our bodies and minds are powered by electricity. How such an electrical constituent worked was itself a mystery for ages. Not anymore. Thanks to modern science, we are now able to imagine, or visualise, changes in energy within our brains - from moment to moment.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 30, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.