Momentum Issue 50: Use Your Ultradian Rhythm
Importance
Our bodies have naturally occurring peaks and troughs in energy throughout the day. These cycles are known as ultradian rhythms:
“Basically, ultradian rhythms are like mini-versions of circadian rhythms (our twenty-four-hour cycles of sleep and waking), except that they are much shorter, occurring many times over a single day. Like circadian rhythms, they have a powerful effect on your body, and when they are disrupted or ignored, they can really mess with your health, happiness, and general well-being.” — Pilar Gerasimo, Blue Zones
These rhythms consist of two distinct phases: The peak and the trough.
The peak is an approximately 90 minute period of time featuring high-frequency brain activity, followed by a period of 20 minutes of low-frequency brain activity — the trough.
Like we often discuss regarding our circadian rhythms, living in accordance with our ultradian rhythm is a great way to both support our health and to be more productive. At the end of our peak, it’s crucial we give our bodies and minds a rest. Otherwise, we’ll be pushing our bodies and minds beyond their limit. However, so many of us continually push ourselves beyond this, wreaking all sorts of havoc on our bodies and our mental health.
“The problem arises when we ignore these rhythms and try to maintain constant activity throughout the day, failing to heed our regular need for a break. Our goal is to make the most of those 90 minutes of activity by making the most out of those 20 minutes of rest.” — Brad Buzzard
Ignoring our troughs is a surefire way to experience burnout and other fatigue issues, as well as health concerns. Without adequate rest - both physically and mentally - we are going to suffer. Similarly, if we fail to take advantage of our peaks, we may be missing out on optimal productivity and performance.
If you want to learn more about the intricacies of our ultradian rhythms, subscribe so you won’t miss tomorrow’s deep dive newsletter.
Implementation
In short: Work during your peaks, rest during your troughs.
Learning to pay attention to our ultradian rhythms is key. Everyone has differing lengths of both the peak and trough, so there’s no set amount of time for each.
However, we tend to experience our highest peaks in the late morning and early evening, and our lowest troughs in the late afternoon and the early morning. Therefore, we want to aim to work and exercise during our peaks, and to have rest breaks during our troughs.
“This is a moment to which you want to bring your awareness. Because the feelings you’re noticing right now? Those sloggy, tired, tweaky, distracted, “blah,” or “ugh” feelings? These are signs that your body is working exactly as it should be. These are your body’s flag-waving signals that it needs some down time — now, or as soon as humanly possible — in order to regenerate cellular fuel, rebalance your blood sugar and biochemistry, flush its detoxification systems, and repair damaged tissue.” — Pilar Gerasimo
During this break, we need to physically and mentally move away from whatever we are doing. Don’t stay at your computer, don’t continue churning work problems over in your mind.
Dr. Martin Seligman, father of Positive Psychology, advocates in his book, Flourish, for getting ourselves physically active at the bottom of this cycle.
Some practices to include in your break include:
Walk
Chat with people around you
Tidy up your workspace
Stretch, gentle yoga flow
Practice mindfulness
Before You Go
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— Ashley