Saving Your Energy – Essential

Hello and welcome:

In my last blog I wrote about looking at health and longevity in terms of energy rather than a series of biochemical reactions.  In this blog I am going to disclose some simple steps to increase your overall energy by limiting its loss. 

Imagine that your body is powered by a rechargeable battery.  The power for all activity comes from this battery.  Using energy depletes the battery and replenishing energy recharges the battery.  This relationship between loss and replacement determines the overall energy level of your battery and impacts our physical/mental health/spiritual health.  Unfortunately, over our lifetime, most of us lose considerably more energy than we restore.  The result is aging and illness.

The initial step in conserving energy is to stem unnecessary losses.  In my house I try to unplug as many electricity driven things as I can, on a daily basis; trying to limit electricity loss is good for the ‘ol wallet.  For example, even if the TV is turned off, it is still drawing energy so that when you turn I back on, it comes on immediately.  Your cell phone, even when in quiet mode is still running a number of programs in the background…draining the battery.  Computers in sleep mode are quite active and using energy.  Same thing happens with humans and we waste a lot of energy.

Emotions and Energy

The biggest source of wasted energy is our emotional response to the world around us.  Emotions are energy and in most people their emotions are constantly and vigorously reacting to everything they see, hear and feel…fear, anxiety, excitement, depression, hate, happiness, frustration, etc. It is like being on a roller coaster. Up and down, down and up, emotions are constantly playing off our thoughts.  Try to have a thought that is not linked to some feeling or emotion.  It is pretty hard.  This is a primary reason for a tremendous loss of energy on a daily basis.  This is the low hanging fruit that we can easily change.

I have heard many patients, friends and family say that they are “emotional” like it is an uncontrollable genetic trait handed down through the generations; a family “curse” that cannot be contained and must continue. Often, they are proud of being controlled by their emotions and use it as an excuse for their irrational thoughts and actions.  Then they tell me how tired they are and what can they do to feel better. 

Young people are very emotional; indeed, their emotions are feeding off two batteries (see my last blog).  Older adults do not have that luxury.  We only have one battery. The simple answer to conserving energy is learning to control our emotions or, at least, to not over-react to every emotional opportunity.  In today’s world there is no shortage of emotional opportunities.  It does not matter how hard you work to recharge your battery if your energy is being squandered on unregulated emotions you will always have an energy deficit and be tired.

How We Squander Our Energy

Three reasons: 

• We live in a world with insane volumes of instant information, both accurate and fictitious, feeding over-the-top emotions.  Everything is a crisis and there is a crisis somewhere every few minutes. We respond  reflexively without taking time to think and evaluate.

• We feel like we have accomplished something after an emotional response…and we have.  We have accomplished the further draining of our battery and decreasing our energy levels.

• Emotions are “active” energy and we are conditioned to only feel “active” energy.  If thoughts and emotions are opposite sides of the Yin/Yang symbol…Americans are quite emotional and 90% of the time we live in the active part of the symbol…in Yang. The state of Yang, unregulated, does not conserve energy…it squanders it. Yang energy is highly addictive and can be as destructive as any illegal drug.  In the state of Yin energy is conserved. We don’t like how Yin feels so we avoid it.  Yet we need desperately need to be in a state of Yin to conserve energy.

What To Do

The first step in raising the energy levels in the “ol battery is to stem the daily loss of energy.  For example, it does not matter how much water you put into a barrel.  If the barrel has a lot of holes, the water will leak out and the barrel will never remain full.  The first step is to plug our holes and this can be helped by being quiet.  This type of activity slows the constant out-flow of energy and allows the “holes” to heal.  Over time, you save a portion of the energy you make.  You feel less exhausted and heal faster.  You become more resilient and are able to handle stress better.  Your skin looks younger and fewer wrinkles associated with stress.  More energy results in better health.  There is robust medical research on the clinical benefits of being “quiet.”

My Recommendations for You:

1. Every day spend some time in the state of Yin.  It is not complicated and has significant benefits.  The main activity that results in a state of Yin is to be quiet and motionless.  Meditation is a Yin activity but most Americans do not like meditation…we like being active (Yang junkies).  Just sitting quietly is a form of meditation that Americans can identify with.  Thousands of medical studies show that meditation has significant health benefits.

1. Meditation and high blood pressure (click here
2. Meditation and heart disease (click here)
3. Meditation and diabetes (click here)
4. Meditation and depression (click here)
5. Meditation and anxiety (click here)
6. Spend relaxed time in nature…I like sitting on the beach listening to the waves but kinda tough living in a suburb of Chicago
7. Turn off TV/cell phone/news media
8. Read an interesting book
9. Sing out loud (even if you, like me, do not have a singing voice)
10. Be silent and be content in silence…10-20 minutes per day…conversation with others diminishes benefits

In the past, before the technology we have today, people spent time in the state of Yin because there was nothing else to do.  Today we have to carve out time for Yin – based energy conservation.  I like starting with the above suggestions before trying formal meditation practices.  Other forms of meditation take time to learn before benefits are realized.  Many quit before reaching that point.  Once you are comfortable with being in the state of Yin…then the practice of meditation is easier and has greater clinical benefits.  

Next blog will detail the effects of food and food quality on energy levels…the upside of organic/plant -based diet vs fast food/processed food – based diet.  Stay tuned.