How to Increase Your Energy Level and Improve Physical Fitness with Jairus Martin

In this episode, Jairus Martin, who has worked as a fitness trainer at various universities, including Harvard University and Liberty University, shares some of the concerning research findings about high levels obesity, depression, and overall poor physical health among ministry leaders, college students, and church attenders.

Jairus talks about the importance of defining a Biblical perspective on bodily health, “unselfish self-care,” how to get quality sleep, and the three things you could work on to give yourself more energy. Jairus also gives numerous simple and actionable suggestions for how to improve your overall health this year.

Transcript

David: 0:35

Well, I am here. Jarris Martin Jaris. Good to have you on the podcast today.

Jairus: 0:40

Hey, I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

David: 0:43

Well, Jarus yeah, this is going to be fun. Jared, just to give a word of introduction for you here. Uh, for our audience, Jaris is a former personal trainer and he currently, still works in the personal fitness industry and all around just a pretty fit guy. So we're going to be talking today about. Fitness and nutrition and how that really connects with overall well-being in particular with collegiate life. Not exactly known by most people to be just the extremely helpful time of life. And so we're going to be connecting those things. So I'm excited, Jaris, especially this year that we've had where. I feel like everyone's mental health, physical health has just been kind of tested and challenged in a lot of ways. And so, um, Jeris again, just so great to have you here, man. Um, anything more you'd like to say about your background or how it relates to this topic?

Jairus: 1:38

Yeah. Um, I mean, just a little background on me. Um, I'm born and raised in central Pennsylvania, uh, was raised in a Christian household, which I, um, Count is a, uh, an incredible blessing. Um, I just grew up playing sports, um, and you know, growing up in central Pennsylvania came from really small towns. Um, a lot of people that I went to school with, um, you know, basically just got married right out of, right out of high school. Got married, really young, um, worked manual jobs and they loved it. But for me, I felt something different and I, and I don't really know, um, what inspired it really. Uh, but I was, I was one of the first, I was the first person in my family to go to college. Um, I went to Liberty university in Virginia. Um, got my degree in exercise science with a minor in psychology. Um, And then after that, I, uh, yeah, I worked in the fitness industry. Um, the beginning was a lot of collegiate strength conditioning. So training athletes at the college level, um, I was at different universities, uh, Bucknell university, Harvard, uh, university of Delaware. Um, so all over the place on that. And then, uh, moved into more of the private side in terms of personal training. Um, started my career in Florida. And then, um, when my wife and I got married, Um, she's a nurse. Um, so she, uh, got offered a job here in Philly, which was her dream job. Um, so we moved here about a month after getting married. Um, and then after that, I worked for, um, about three and a half years, um, training clients, uh, managing personal trainers here in Philly. Um, and right now I work for a, a fitness technology startup that's based in Boston. So. You know, fitness was always something that I, that I enjoyed and, uh, growing up in the church, um, I realized that we're called to use everything that we have at our disposal to speak into the lives of other people around us. And obviously, um, our career and our work is, uh, is a huge piece of that considering how much time we spend in it. Um, and so for me, I just, I I've always been passionate about, um, using what. My, I guess you could say my gift is in terms of speaking to the lives of other people. And it's something that I, um, that I take seriously and I love doing, I love, I love talking to people on this topic. Um, but I, I don't want it to be a misconception of. Just because fitness has always been something that I'm passionate about. And, uh, I'm interested in doesn't mean I haven't had my own struggles. I mean, we, we talked earlier in terms of how COVID hit Jim shut down in Philly. Um, fortunately in terms of my career, I had just left the gym two weeks prior to just by God's leading. That's a, uh, an awesome, uh, Testament to what God has done in my life, but that's. Story for another time. Um, but, uh, yeah, I don't want people to think that just because I'm passionate about it, that it's always come easy to me. Um, you know, I've dealt with mental health struggles. I have, um, you know, it runs in my family. Um, I've actually, uh, Dealt with and am dealing, living with an eating disorder. Um, you know, I've, I've had that lack of motivation. I've had, um, feelings of depression and feeling like exercises, the absolute last thing that's on my mind and this last thing that I want to do. Um, so having, uh, the combined passion, but also the past experiences that are very similar to, um, people that I've come across, I feel like, um, You know, God has led me in a direction that, uh, allows me to speak hopefully into the lives of other people so that they too can benefit from, um, you know, what I, what I love talking to people about.

David: 5:37

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Man. Well, yeah, certainly fitness is one of those things and you know, more broadly sports and activity just can be one of those things that can bring a lot of different types of people together. Jaris, just with your story, you know, curious to know how did you initially get interested in this? Cause I know you shared some of your professional background, but. Uh, w what, what point in your life did you say, Hey, you know what I want to take fitness seriously? Was it related to some of those health challenges that you were having? Or what, what motivated you to even pursue that more seriously?

Jairus: 6:13

That's a good question. It, it. Started, um, it definitely started, I knew I wanted to go into personal training, um, in high school that's as far back as I can remember. Um, it might've been earlier than that, but, um, you know, I kinda touched on it that there was, um, My family has some significant health issues that they've dealt with. And I think, um, maybe even subconsciously that affected me in terms of looking around and seeing, um, how that negatively impacted their lives. Um, and then in my. In my maturation of understanding health and fitness better, um, and also growing in the word and understanding what God calls for us, um, to be, and to do. Uh, that's what helped me realize how powerful. Physical health and fitness can not only be just for your body, obviously, but also for your mind and also your, your walk with God. Um, and so, yeah, I, I don't know what really kicked it off, but maybe it's that, you know, seeing what other people have dealt with and then just being something that I enjoyed, that I decided that it was going to be a career path.

David: 7:28

Yeah, that's fascinating. Well, well, Jaris. Yeah, just to connect, even in the themes that we really address here on this podcast, college life, Christian faith leadership, that's really geared towards serving others. I'd like to talk a little bit about even just overall attitudes and perceptions towards fitness. And you talked about this a little bit personally, you know, your own journey and concerns about how people might misperceive you. Uh, as someone that's just sort of. I don't know, like, you know, kind of always been a certain way. Maybe you've always been into fitness, but, uh, just, just you and I were even communicating some before the podcast about just various attitudes and things that people can have. And I've certainly seen that. Across my experience in sort of the, the world of Christian community, where men, you know, you can just, you see some people that have some really different views towards physical health. And even, I think you see this throughout church history as well. Uh, so could you just talk a little bit about that and your perspective on overall attitudes and views that various people and in particular, Christians have towards health and fitness.

Jairus: 8:40

Yeah. Um, I think in my time as a personal trainer, I saw, um, Basically people that can be classified. Down to three groups. Now, keep in mind that this is on a spectrum. No, I mean, very few people fit into one group perfectly and don't fit into another group. And they also might, um, range on day to day. Like some days they might be in one group and the next day they might be in the second group. So it's definitely a fluid spectrum that people can go back and forth on whether it be in the micro scale or on a macro scale. But, um, essentially I kind of break down. That those groups into three different groups, group a, um, was the people that I saw the most as a personal trainer. And this how I described them is there are people who really knew they needed professional help to get them help healthier. Um, they came in and they were ready to go. They knew that they couldn't do it on their own, whether they, um, tried it previously or they just like knew themselves. And they said, I need someone who's going to coach me. Um, whether it be form or whether it be accountability, the knowledge piece, whatever it was. So group a was the ones that they knew that they needed professional help. Um, and then there was group B. So. These were the people that kinda thought that they understood the premises of health and fitness enough to do it on their own. And some of them justifiably. So some people were very knowledgeable. Some people had years of experience of training. Um, some people were just getting into it. Maybe they were intimidated by working with a trainer, but they felt comfortable in terms of doing it on their own. Um, and they were working on it. They were in, they were in the gym or they were. Running or they were exercising several, maybe a couple of days a week. Um, so they, they knew that it was important. Um, they had some knowledge and they were ready to tackle it on their own. Um, and that was obviously to different levels of success. Um, and then group C is a. People that maybe believe that exercise is important. Um, once again, maybe it's a varying degrees, um, but just weren't able to prioritize it. They weren't able to make it an active part, active and consistent part of their life. Um, and now for me as the trainer, this is probably the group that I saw the least because, um, if they're not prioritizing, it gives me less opportunity to see them within the gym. Um, and so. You know, that was the group that I saw the least, but based on national statistics, I know that this group probably contains the majority of the people. And like I said, maybe, you know, a lot of people are falling in that between group B and group C, like they're working on it. They know it's important, but they can't prioritize it to do consistently. So probably a lot of people are in that mix of group B and group C. Um, but you know, a lot of the stuff that I try to tackle is, uh, with group C. So let's address, you know, whether it be the skepticism or whether it be your. Your S your, um, your, your inability to prioritize it for whatever reason let's tackle, what, um, how, how he can get you to a place where your making the right choices. And you're setting yourself up to make better choices moving forward. What I, it's kind of what I call is a inertia or momentum. It's like when you. Haven't done anything for a really long time. You've been really physically inactive getting started. There's so much negative momentum and negative inertia against you because it's that, it's that idea that if you're pushing a Boulder up the mountain, the hardest time is getting it started. Once it started, you have a little bit momentum and it's going to be a little bit easier. Um, and then same thing once you're going. And you're consistent and you're pushing that Boulder and you're really like, you're crushing it. It's going to be hard to stop you. Something needs to come along. That's going to stop you. And so you can think of positive or negative momentum kind of working in either direction. So, um, Yeah. I think what I would love to, what I like to be able to do is convince that group, see, okay, this is why it should be prioritized. And then we can also get into some of the logistics of like, how, how can we actually make practical changes? I know, uh, It's February. So statistically, by this point, if people are, are in the gyms with COVID, who knows, but, um, this is around the time where they're falling off if they haven't already. So, uh, being able to address why, how, um, not only in terms of exercise, but the other pieces too, um, that are gonna go into that. So, um,

David: 13:33

Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I definitely, even as I think about my own journey, I probably would have put myself in different groups, a, B or C it at various times. And Jared, you made a great point, even. Uh, I know when we were talking previously about how just in the, in the world of the Christian faith, where you've got some pretty troubling statistics, whether it's for. Christian ministry leaders, clergy, or even for your everyday church goer that unfortunately the statistics even in this subset are not so good. Could you talk a little bit about that?

Jairus: 14:09

Yeah. Um, it's actually really interesting. Um, there's several studies or a couple of, um, that I'll talk specifically to, um, one of them was the. Pawtucket heart health program. Um, they found people that who attended church were more likely than non church members to be 20% overweight and have higher cholesterol and blood pressures. That's the first one. Um, the second one was actually among young church goers, um, who went to church services weekly or more. Were found to be 50% more likely to become obese in their middle age than those who rarely or never attended. Um, and then in terms of ministry leaders, um, uh, Duke divinity school, a study of more than 2,500 religious leaders. So a pretty large sample size found that 76% of clergy were either overweight or obese and 40% reported dealing with depression or feeling worn out some or most of the time. Um, And then, uh, college students, I'm talking to you specifically on this one. Uh, there was actually some research conducted recently in the spring of 2020 from Carnegie Mellon, uh, university of Pittsburgh, university of California, San Diego, um, found that 61% of surveyed university students, this, um, this study was, uh, done, like I said, spring of 2020. So right around the start. Of the pandemic and locked down quarantine. All of that, um, the study found that 61% of surveyed university students were at risk of clinical depression of value twice the rate prior to the pandemic. Um, and this rise in depression came alongside dramatic shifts in, in lifestyle habits. So, um, It's kind of sobering when you look at some of the T statistics and evaluate, not only, I mean, I think it's pretty well known that college students, if we're looking at, um, people that are going to. Have the stack deck, uh, the, the stack or the, the deck stacked against them is a college students in terms of sleep nutrition, stress activity. Um, you know, it's going to be pretty difficult, especially considering the workloads that they have, the social life that they might be trying to maintain. So, um, I, you know, it's, it's, uh, it's definitely interesting to, um, evaluate that. And if we're going back to kind of the perception of health and fitness within the Christian atmosphere, I think it's interesting, um, outside of the busy-ness of our lives, that's like, The PR that's like the main one that I've run into people might have a positive feeling towards health and fitness. Um, but they just get busy and they just can't prioritize it. And, or they don't know like practical steps to take. Um, but outside of that, uh, one factor that I've really run into is this idea. This perception that exercise and physical fitness is centered around vanity. Um, they think ultimately, you know, if I'm in the, if I'm in the gym or if I'm taking care of myself or if I'm, you know, if I'm focusing on being healthy, um, That represents a vanity that is only centered around you. Um, but ultimately I encourage people to view health as a truly other, as an others focused pursuit. Um, especially when you recognize that, um, the simple truth is that Christians can and have a significantly larger impact on the people around them. When they practice positive health and wellness habits. And that's just, that's not just, that's not just limited to Christians. That's everybody. Like if you're taking care of yourself, it's not vain. If you are better able to take care of those around you, it's not self-centered. It can be, if you, if you make that your sole focus and you make that, um, You you, you dwell on, um, how it can be self-centered. Uh, but the one thing that I find is unselfish self-care if you're taking care of yourself, um, that, and, and you're keeping your perspective in the, um, fact that God has given us this incredible body. Um, and he has. Uh, built into us hardwired systems that if you take care of yourself, you will function better. Um, and when you evaluate that, if you can take better care of yourself, you can take better care of those around you. Um, especially when you consider that you're in a node of a large network of people. Um, I steal this from, uh, Jordan. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead.

David: 18:53

you know, you're making a lot of good points. I just don't want to, to, to people to miss it. You know, you made this point earlier about unselfish self care and you, you talked, which I think is so correct, uh, of how particularly in the Christian community, there can be this perception that. Somehow you're being selfish. If you're, if you're, you know, trying to watch what you're eating or maybe you're trying to make time to dedicate time to exercise that somehow that maybe is, is, has vanity at its root. And I think if I'm honest, even in my own heart at times, I feel like sometimes I can. I can maybe start thinking that way a little bit. cause I want to be all in for Jesus. I want to be like, Hey, I'm, I've got one life to live and it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the Lord and I want to pour my life out for God. And it, you know, not, not. try to create some physique that, Hey, it's going to be, it's going to be wrinkled and old one way or another, you know, in a certain number of decades. So, so I think it's true that, and I think maybe it's an overreaction against the, what I do think is a very real thing of almost like a, a body idolatry or just an obsession that you certainly see in some segments of the culture with. the body. but what I hear you saying is that, and I, that I would agree with is, Hey, okay. Yeah. Don't, don't, don't be vain. Don't, don't be idolatrous with your body, but also, if you actually want your body to be functioning well so that you can serve more people so that you can do the mission that God has given you to do. Well, you actually need to give some attention to your body. just in the same way that if you want your car to run for longer than 20,000 miles before the engine falls out of the bottom, it's probably a good idea to get an oil change and to do some routine maintenance and to make sure that it's not just sitting still unused for years at a time. Uh, you've got to, you've got to keep things in working order. So is that, is that a fair summary of the idea that you're trying to convey?

Jairus: 20:52

absolutely. I think, I think that's perfect. I love the analogy with the car, because I mean, as a Christian, you could say, yeah, God, I trust you. Like, I don't need to change this oil. I surrender it to you. This car is going to run and like it's in your hands. And, um, I think what we're touching on is if God isn't at the center of your life, the devil loves to use anything that he can, to skew something that was meant for good, uh, to be evil. And that can, that can obstruct our view. and the way that I think about. In terms of how you approach your health is the devil. Ultimately, once you at your weakest and least effective as a Christian, he wants you at your waist. Yeah. At your weakest and least effective. Um, so this tells me that your health and your energy is a gift from God, because that's the opposite of that weak and ineffectual approach. Um, so you improve yourself. When you take that proper care of yourself. So if you're centered yourself around God's will and God's mission for your life, um, and that means taking care of your physical and mental health. That means that's a calling from God. Um, and anything less is sub-optimal. Um, and ultimately if we're trying to improve our health and fitness, and we know that. We can run at an optimal level and use that to glorify God and, and further his kingdom. Um, you have to be able to have the courage to evaluate where you are contributing or not contributing to your own wellness. And that takes a lot of that takes a lot of introspection that takes a lot of honesty that takes a lot of, um, uncomfortable conversations that you might need to have with yourself in terms of where am I? Um, Contributing to being ineffective in my ministry, through my body, um, you know, pain and suffering is inflicted by Satan. He wants you to be in pain. He wants you to suffer. Um, and we know that if you're taking care of yourself, those things physically are going to be less likely. Um, so I think it's beneficial to look around at your life and evaluate. Where you might be self-inflicting pain upon yourself, whether it be your nutrition or you're not getting enough sleep. Um, The uncomfortable truth is that you're either growing or you're dying. There is no holding still. Um, even if you're maintaining, you're getting older, you're having you have less time. So it it's it's dwindling. So either you have that option to grow or to be held back. Um, and I think your health is one way in which Satan wants to see you destroyed ultimately like he wants you. At your absolute worst. Um, and that's not just at the end of your life when you die. Like that's every single day, he wants to see you make habit choices that he knows is going to detract from the physical ability that God has given you to further his kingdom. And I think ultimately that's where it comes down for, for believers and in realizing, um, You know what kind of perspective we need to keep health and fitness and in terms of how we can use it to, to serve the Lord.

David: 24:12

Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's great. Jaris, you know, even talking about suffering and all of these things, I know there's, there's a biblical view of suffering. but what I think is, is helpful. In the context of what you're saying is that, and I'm just, I'm trying to kind of hear maybe the objections of what someone might be saying. And they would be saying like, well, yeah, but you know, all Christians suffer and Jesus suffered and you know, it's true. and by the way, if you're actually exercising, there's an element of suffering that goes with that too, in order to achieve a better level of overall health and wellbeing. But I think the key differences that. Suffering when it's from a Christ centered perspective or God directed, uh, uh, point of view. It's, it's redemptive. It's not destructive. Is that Whenever her God allows us to go through some suffering it's because he has some higher, good and view that he wants to do something deeper inside of us, or he just wants to do something through us. Uh, but many times, what would you say? And I agree with Jaris is that we bring. Suffering on ourselves physically by a room, poor choices by just eating garbage and living a sedentary lifestyle. And by the way, 2020, I think everybody that wasn't living a sedentary lifestyle before is now because we're all just on computer screens and doing video chats all day. I mean, you know, we talk about even the college students and man, you know, if the college lifestyle was, was unhealthy before I think that. The pandemic probably took it to an all time high. I mean, students are so isolated from their friends and the social element has been largely stripped away just on these classes, on their computers all day and night. It's just, it's crazy. Uh, but just again, to catch it, your point is that. We've got, gotta be intentional. And I think the biblical word that, that I I've heard for ever since I was a kid, it's kind of an old school word is, stewardship. And, and oftentimes that word stewardship is referred to more so management and it's, it's really what it means managing, uh, uh, and oftentimes using the context of finances, however, managing what really isn't just our money. It's actually. God's money. It all belongs to God, but that there's an element of stewardship that really applies to what we're doing with our bodies and our physical health as well. And so while elevating physical health as the ultimate priority in life, I mean, that's not biblical, but it's also not biblical and it's also incorrect to view it as of no importance. So while it's not of. Utmost importance, kind of physical fitness, exercise, nutrition, et cetera. It's also not of no importance. Why? Because our bodies were made by God. They're valuable in the sight of God. And in fact, we're made in the image of God. And so if we're viewing our bodies and care for our bodies as worthless, wow, we're really following into a serious, wrong way of thinking in that.

Jairus: 27:15

Absolutely. You, you hit on a lot of good stuff that I, that I want to echo off. I know, um, one of the. Kind of my, actually my, one of my favorite scriptures is first Timothy four eight. Um, and it says for bodily exercise profits, a little, but godliness is profitable for all things. Having promise of the life that now is, and of that, which is to come and to read that a lot of people take that at face value and they say they read that first part for bodily exercise profits, a little, um, in some, in some translations. They, they say for bodily exercise, profits, little. So that kind of changes like the wording a little bit. That which makes it interesting. And people I've talked to the people that use this to justify it's only have a little value, but godliness is profitable for all things. And I say, yes, you're absolutely right. But that doesn't downplay. The importance of physical health. What it does is reemphasize how important spiritual health is because once again, physical health won't do you much good if you're striving in the wrong direction, like we were talking about. I mean, it's not going to do you much good, unless God is at the center of that. And to hit on your point of, um, You know, the gift that God has given us in stewardship, I think is a perfect word. Uh, my, my go-to, um, reference in terms of this aspect is Matthew 25, 14 through 30, that the parable of the three servants and the, and the bags of silver, um, to, you know, obviously within that story, if people are familiar, the master gives his servants bags of silver, each different quantities. Um, and you know, From there, he comes back and asks, okay. After a while he says, what did you do with my money? And, you know, two of the servants, um, they increased how much money, how much silver that they had, um, while the third one took it and hit it and gave it back. And, um, I think about that aspect in terms of our health, um, in that we're blessed. Um, most of us are blessed with incredibly healthy bodies. If you, if you consider how much can go wrong with your brain and your body, and you're able to function at a relatively normal level, um, not only that, but also in the 21st century where you could argue it's the hardest to be. Physically healthy, but in, in reality, it's actually the easiest in all of human history. Um, we live in America in the land of opportunity. Once again, that can relate to, you know, overindulgence and the issues that we see, but we've been given such incredible blessings that I kind of view us as that first servant that I think he gave 10 pieces of silver. Like he gave a lot to, and. Ultimately like he's going to demand. What did you, what did you do with that? What did you do with all of those gifts that I gave you? Um, and I view physical health as one of those things. Like you talked about financial, um, health, like I I'm, I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey and people. People could obviously take money to this really unhealthy place, but we're called to use it to glorify God. Um, and, and I don't see why the same thing shouldn't apply to our health and fitness. Um, because if we're taking care of ourselves, we can definitely use that to further the kingdom.

David: 30:52

Yeah. That's, that's really good Jaris. And just, you know, I love that analogy that you reference, uh, or that parable really from Matthew 25, about the bags of silver, because you know, not everybody has the same. Genetics, not everybody has the same family history and the same, you know, thing, things that shape who we are genetically as well as experientially. And even, even speaking globally, you know, the reality materially and physically of what's experienced in the Western world, it's going to be dramatically different from, uh, some other parts of the world. And so I love that that idea of stewardship is that, you know what. It's not about what you, what you have or doing something with what you don't have, but it's about what are you doing with what you do have, and are you being intentional for me? That word intentional is always such a key concept. Key word, because we can either just go with the flow of self-destruction and you talked about the spiritual warfare element. That's this enemy who wants to bring suffering into our lives and get us into. Patterns and habits that are harmful to us that will, will hinder us from really being the kind of blessing and the benefit to others that we ought to be. And so we've gotta be intentional and we're to avoid those traps Juris. I'd love to talk just a little bit, uh, about specifics for the person that's listening to this. And I would imagine just like you said, there's some that as this podcast is released, maybe they have started a strong. New year's resolution. And they've been going for a while. Maybe they're starting to fall off. Maybe there are others that are already energized and motivated, but I'm guessing that they're probably more than a few, especially at this time that are really out of the habit that, that maybe they've never established a habit. Maybe they, the eating habits and the overall lifestyle choices are just. Unhealthy. And maybe even there, they're thinking about switching this podcast off right now, because they're just feeling a sense of shame or defeat in this area. And of course we want to present hope and specific action steps that anyone could take to really move forward. What would you say as a personal trainer and all your experience with various athletes, as well as your personal journey? What's something for that third group of person, that person that's just feeling completely. Defeated in this area right now. What are some action steps that they might consider taking in order to break that pattern?

Jairus: 33:33

I think, um, one of the things that makes a good personal trainer makes yeah, makes a lot of people good at their profession is empathy. Um, and being able to hear people and understand, okay, what has your path been? Um, and, and, and. Definitely understanding where they're coming from. Um, and what I've typically found is it comes down to, for people, if they're not making the right choices, in terms of health and fitness, is it comes down to a couple of things. Either they have not enough time in their day, or they feel like they don't, they don't have enough energy that they just, every, everything is sapped from everything else that. Exercise, just as the last thing on their mind, or it's both, they feel like they don't have anything left to give in terms of their own wellbeing because they've, they know they've exerted so much time and energy on other things. And I don't blame them whenever I hear that. I empathize with them because our lives are busy. They're busy with school, they're busy with work. They're busy with children, hobbies, social life, um, And the hard part is all of these things are important. So in order, and so for me as a personal trainer to come in and say, I know all of those things are important, but you need to make fitness important. That's just going to fall on deaf ears. That's just, that's just pounding against a brick wall. I need to be able to speak to your mindset. So, um, ultimately time and energy. Are our most precious commodities because they're so limited in nature. Um, if, if we had unbounding energy, we had unbounding time, health and fitness probably wouldn't be an issue for a lot of people, but we, but they don't. Those things are very limited. Um, so I can't give you more time. There's only 24 hours in a day. Maybe, maybe we can talk about like shifting different things around, or maybe just like taking advantage of the time that you do have going on a 10, 15 minute walk, whatever it is. But one thing I do think that we can improve on is let's improve your energy levels. Let's do the things let's not even talk about. Exercise. Let's not even talk about working out. What are the things that you can do to provide yourself with more energy? Therefore you feel better throughout the day and maybe down the road, the road exercise is something that you can add into your routine. Um, and so that's how I like to kind of reverse engineer. It. Let's put exercise on the back burner. If you're not exercising, let's I'm not even going to demand that of you. Let's let's talk about three things to increase your energy. That's nutrition, sleep. And stress. Those are the three things that we can manage kind of on the backend that are going to make your life. If you can, if you can hit these things with the proper, um, with the proper habits, then absolutely. It's going to be more likely that you take on physical activity down the road. It might not happen for awhile, but that's okay. You're going to be here healthier. If you can tackle these three things, nutrition, sleep and stress. So. If we want to get into specifics. Well, first of all I say. Let's start with your mindset. Um, a lot of people think, and then you see this in January when people join the gyms and they think I'm going to go four or five times a week and they haven't been going at all, like that's a lofty goal. So what I tell people is start where you can don't demand more of yourself if, um, If this is something that's, that's not familiar with for you, or it's been something that you've been out of for a while, because that's setting you up to kind of burn out. Let's start where you can. Can you find 10, 15 minutes in the day to. You know, whether it be, um, thinking about what your, what your healthy meal choices are going to look like, whether it be just taking a walk start, where you can, um, because if you, if you demand too much of yourself, it's going to become overwhelming quite, quite quickly. Um, and then I think one thing that's more esoteric, I guess you could call it is, remember that everything that you do. Whether positively or negatively impacts the people around you. And, and, and that can be a really weighty thing. If you think about it, because think about it this way, either everything that you do. Matters or nothing that you do matters. There's no, in-between, there's not some things matter. Some things don't, it's either everything matters or nothing matters and nothing matters. We'll take you down a scary road. That's going to lead you to a lot of nihilism. So the truth has to be everything that you do positively or negatively not only impacts your life, but the people around you. So if you're not doing it for you, do it for the people that you. Care about the people that are around you. Um, there's some interesting, uh, psychology research in that people who get prescribed certain medication, um, We'll actually take it at a less, at a lower frequency than if their pet is sick and their pet gets, um, prescribed medication. They'll be much more likely to adhere to prescription, um, administration to their pets than they are to themselves. And I think that's a really interesting thing. Like we all love our pets. Like, of course we're going to take care of them, but. When it comes to our own self, like we're hesitant to do that. And we already know we're of very high value we're we're in, we're made in the image of God. So to not take care of yourself, um, I would encourage you to, to start with that mindset in that it's, it's really important that, um, for everything that you're going to do now, let's get down into the nitty gritty. Let's get down into nutrition, sleep stress. How can we make improvements? And there are. A thousand things that I could give you, but that would just be trying to drink from a, from a fire hose. That's too much. So I just want to leave you with a couple of things per topic that you can take away and kind of try to implement on different pieces, um, nutrition.

David: 40:01

it to us.

Jairus: 40:02

Okay. Let's do it nutrition. So I could go into carbs that could go into fats. I could go into all of these different things. Um, I'm going to stay away from that because that's where you can hear. And that's where a lot of things get confusing. Number one, eat slowly. Doesn't matter what you are eating, eat it slowly. And if you think this sounds simple, if you're like me, it is extremely difficult, especially if you're hungry or the food is really good, or, I mean, it is, it is a, um, an exercise in self-control, but in doing so, it, the, the benefits are multi-fold first of all, If you're eating slowly, um, you pay attention a little bit more. Um, now a lot of things go into this. If you're watching Netflix or your working, while you're eating, you're probably paying a less attention to that food. And therefore you're more likely to eat it quickly. And when you eat it quickly, Your body doesn't necessarily send that a fullness hormone to your brain as quickly. And therefore you're more likely to over-consume. Um, so my big thing with that is try not to have distractions with the meal, try to pay attention to your food, pay attention. This sounds like really kind of crazy pay attention to how much you're chewing your food, because that actually, if you're chewing it. Uh, uh, uh, a decent amount, a proper amount. It's going to help with the digestion process. You're going to get more nutrients out of healthy food. If you chew it more, because it's going to make the digestion process easier. So slow down, take a practical, practically. This is really hard. Put your utensil down in between each bite. Take a breath in between each bite, take a sip of water in between each bite. If you, if you take purposeful action in this area, you'll realize how difficult it is, but I'm telling you it can make a huge difference and they can improve your relationship with food instead of something that you're rushing around doing. Um, you actually recognize food as a nutrient and something that's going to fuel you fuel you and ultimately physiologically. You'll be okay. More likely to stop when you feel full because you ate slower, um, in terms of sleep. So, I mean, a lot of people have heard the recommendation, like sleep eight hours, um, and the emphasis is typically on how much sleep you get while yes, I would love everyone to get. Somewhere between seven to nine hours, college students research says you probably need a little bit more. And the research also tells us that you probably get some of the least, um, if we can't control your quantity of sleep, let's control your quality. Um, so once again, this is gonna sound easy, maybe it won't, but it's tough leading up to bedtime. Try to turn your screens off. 30 minutes. If you can do 60 minutes do it, but 30 minutes before you go to bed, um, there's actually some, a lot of interesting research in that the blue light from your devices, computers, phones, TVs, um, actually is similar when it enters your eyes. Is simulating sunlight. So when you're looking at these screens, your body is your, your body is telling your brain, Hey, it's daytime. It's not time for me to release melatonin, naturally produced hormone that allows you to fall asleep faster. So if you're watching TV and you go to bed immediately, it's actually going to take a good amount of time before you reach your restorative levels of sleep. Um, so that's. That's one thing that you can take away. Try to turn those screens off 30. Maybe if you're disciplined 60 minutes before bed, but let's shoot for

David: 44:00

one right there. I think that's, I can't think of how many times, even prior to me hearing about that research, it would just be watching some show before to sleep or checking something. And man, that, that really can undermine your amount of quality sleep. So I think that's a key point. Yeah.

Jairus: 44:16

Yeah. And you could even think like, Oh, I got eight hours, but I woke up feeling really tired. It's like, quality is really important. One of the things that you did that doesn't really get talked about a whole lot. So, and then also just in terms of like your sleeping environment, you want to make it as clean as cool. As dark and as quiet as you can. Um, if you have, if you're falling asleep to a TV, I know a lot of people that like that background noise, um, or they just like, you know, falling asleep to something that's also gonna reduce your sleep quality. Cause your brain is processing. Most of that information that you're receiving, it's not allowing you to get into those deep stages of sleep. So if you can make it clean, clean up your room, don't have it disorganized. That takes a load off your brain, subconsciously that you might not be aware of. If it's cool research is shows that you sleep better in a cool environment. If anyone's ever slept in a, in a hot. You know, summer day where the windows are open, but it's just like humid. You've probably recognized that you didn't sleep very well. You're sweating. Um, so they showed that the ideal sleeping temperature is right around like 65 to 68 degrees. If you sleep with that, it's pretty, it feels pretty cool. Um, but that's going to be the best for your sleep quality, make the bedroom as dark as you possibly can, um, and make it as quiet as you can. So those are a few, uh, takeaways that you can try to. To utilize to improve the quality of your sleep. Um, And then the last one comes down to stress. Uh, so, um, when a lot of people hear stress, they think stress is a bad thing. And a lot of cases, if it's chronic, if it's elevated and you're just in this constant state of stress, that is a bad thing, but we actually need stress. To go on with our lives. We need something to be working towards is where we find meaning. So stress is something that you can, um, have too much of, or not enough of, but, um, most cases, people have too much of it and it's, and it's chronically elevated. Um, so the, the things that I found to be really, um, Beneficial here are, uh, gratefulness. Um, if you realize, like we were talking before, um, the 21st century, yes. We have our issues with society. We have a lot of issues. Um, but overall things have never been better in the world. There's fewer people in poverty. That have ever existed. You're living in 21st century America, arguably things have never been better in the world. Um, realized that you have a healthy body. You have a healthy mind that you can, um, you know, do your work and ultimately serve God. Um, realizing that. You are incredibly blessed, even during times of the pandemic. And COVID, I know it can be extremely hard to focus on those positive things and it might sound corny to have, you know, that really, um, positive mindset. Like you hear that all the time, but there's actually a lot of power in being grateful for the things that you have. Um, and then, you know, kind of to that piece is that. Recognize the incredible life opportunity that you've been given. Um, I think I might have this stat wrong, but the odds of you being born are like one in 4 trillion. It's it's incredibly small. And yet here you are, you're living. Um, And you've been given this opportunity, whatever it is, whatever your life is, you have an opportunity to use that, to serve the Lord and to speak into the lives of other people so that they too can grow closer to the Lord or surrender their lives to the Lord. So, um, I think if you're, if you're utilizing just those two things, there's a whole lot, a whole lot more things that you can utilize. Um, but I think if you're able to utilize those. Things, uh, you're going to be able to not only manage your stress, but then going back to the nutrition, right. Sleep piece as well. And maybe down the road activity, workouts, exercise will become a part of your life, but if you can nail down those three things, you'll be a lot better spot.

David: 48:23

well, Jaris. That's fantastic, man. Just super practical. some key takeaways there about reducing, stress about improving, sleep, about getting better nutrition. And man, I just really appreciate you taking the time to share some of your expertise, some of your experience with the collegiate ministry leaders, as well as. College students that listen to this podcast. Uh, I know even personally I've had some just challenges towards my health, nothing diagnosed with anything crazy, but the, the mental stress of not getting exercise and coming into 2021, I just realized that. I got to get back on track in some areas. And so, uh, this is just really helpful for me. And, uh, I think just coming to back to what you said about energy, about doing things that that can help you to have the energy really, to love others, the way that you want to love others. If you want to love, uh, your community, you want to love, your, your family, you know, your, even the future generation, your children, or be around for your grandchildren. That, that self care as a part of it. And you used the term earlier, which I love unselfish self care. And so I think you, you've just presented a really helpful biblically sound view of all these subjects along with lots of research intermingled with it. So, Jared, thanks so much, man. I appreciate you. And I'm sure you've helped a lot of students and a lot of collegiate leaders here that, uh, are going to take some positive steps as a result of what you've shared. So thanks so much.

Jairus: 49:52

awesome. My pleasure. Thanks Dave.