Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach podcast. My name is Angela Sharina, I'm your host, I'm your Brain's Coach and it is my job here to bring to you all the best recent, cutting-edge, most interesting, important, useful and applicable to your life brain-body tools so you could take better control of your energy, of your thoughts, of your emotions and, most importantly, actions that you take to create the life experience that you absolutely love living through Today. Folks, as you guessed from the title of the podcast, we are talking about recovery and the best ingredients for that recovery pill. If the recovery was a pill, it would have these ingredients so you can then get out there and, every single day, be as close to expressing your fullest potential as possible. Without recovery, being and doing your best just isn't possible. We talked about recovery and stress, allostatic stress and how all of the things that we experience throughout our day, that they can be adding to our stress load. And if we don't learn how to manage our days better, how to manage our time better, how to manage our engagements with the world, like the things that we do, how to manage our mind better, if we don't learn how to manage that better, then we can always be in that suboptimal state where we're just not going to be able to tap Nothing close to expressing our best, expressing our full potential in the world, and getting often into that flow state when you're just super present and you are delivering to the moment the best you are capable of.
Speaker 1I'm going to read you a quote. When we are sleep deprived, we're actually functioning at a lower level, under nose to our conscious awareness. We might think we're doing A-plus work, when really our brain is conserving its output by working at a substandard level. And this is a quote from an article by Dr Michael Gervais. He is a high-performance psychologist, one of the top ones working with athletes and people in business, people in special forces so high-performance psychologists by trade and training, as he likes to say. And in the article he talks about how crucial recovery is for optimal, for big high performance. Recovery is the other part of the other side of the coin of high and optimal performance, without which that side of actual performance isn't possible.
Speaker 1And the tricky part is here, folks, is when we function at a suboptimal level, we have no conscious awareness of it. So they did a bunch of tests, researchers of all kinds. So they did a bunch of tests, researchers of all kinds sleep test and stress load and overwhelm testing people at their optimal Like with sleep. It's better because you can design an experiment where you sleep-deprived people and then you can give them all the sleep they want with the best possible conditions. And then you can test things out Specifically, take people through cognitive tests and actually being able to see how they perform on the days when their sleep is awesome and on the days when their sleep got shortcut sleep shortcut and there's never been a case that people performed better or even the same when they are sleep deprived. But when you actually ask the people and they asked how do you think you perform, they're like, yeah, as usual. That's the tricky part, folks. That's the tricky part, folks, when you are in that suboptimal state, you don't even know it, and so you have to create different awareness checkups that will allow you to see when you're actually under-recovered and you might be shortcutting your performance.
Speaker 1So for me, for example, it is when I start feeling negative and mildly irritated about basically everything that's going in my day. Whether I see a person, I feel like they are a little bit hostile to me, or maybe think or don't like me, or everything that happens I tend to interpret in the negative way. Like you know, your whole day and your mind has this blue tint that just everything is not right. When I notice that in myself and I notice this negative energy that kind of is underneath everything, I know that I need to recover. I need to dedicate more time to fixing me. Before I can go out in the world trying to help other people, trying to build the vision that is in my head, trying to create any sorts of positive impact, I have to take care of myself first, because you will not notice how that will affect all the interactions in your day.
Speaker 1And so what do I do? Well, obviously, I take care of my sleep. But what I also notice is that when I don't manage other things well usually I'm pretty well on nutrition and exercise, et cetera but when I don't manage my workload, when I don't manage my social interactions, when I don't manage my mindset, I'm going through some challenges when I don't do that. And then I start compromising things like my walks and nature and some breaks in the midday, breaks in the midday, meditation or breath work, when I start compromising on those and also don't manage my time, my engagement, my social interactions, well, that's where, even when I sleep really well at night, it's just not enough. I still feel overwhelmed, fatigued and tired and irritated. And so I know that I must engage, manage my time better, I must manage my activities better, and we're going to talk more on this podcast about that, and we already talked about that.
Speaker 1How, for example, scheduling the right kind of activities at the right time for you, for your brain, like if you're a morning person, your most challenging tasks, tasks that require a lot of creativity and also cognitive thinking, probably should be in the morning, because that's where your brain has all its best capacities at your disposal to actually attack the task. And then in the later part of the day, then you can take on easier tasks, more chilled work, and that will allow you to manage your energy better. So by the end of the day, you're not exhausted and sleep will allow you to recover fully. And then obviously also introducing breaks in the midday to keep going, to keep performing at somewhat optimal level, to allow your energy resource to restore as you go, which will recharge to some degree your batteries, so by the end of the day again, you are not at your absolute zero or below zero and you're still pretty good, and then you sleep and you can start again. So that's the space where you want to be to optimize your performance and, most importantly, your results and your impact on the outside world.
Speaker 1If you want to do that, you have to get better at managing activities, at managing your energy beyond sleep, and obviously, again, nutrition and exercise, movement play a huge role in that. And distributing your activities and interacting with or building, creating the kind of social interactions that energize you more than draining you. But if recovery was a pill, what other essential ingredients I would introduce into your routine, just like I introduced that into my personal routine and into routine of my clients? And it is based on research, on really solid research, that when we do this, that allows us to unload some of that stress, to recharge our batteries to some degree and then again not feeling drained, overwhelmed and fatigued and instead going at a pretty good pace throughout our days and then sleeping and then being able to go after it again and again, and again. So what are these other essential ingredients that will allow you to recover and restore your energy, restore your capacity to perform throughout the day as well?
Speaker 1Obviously or maybe not obvious, take breaks, guys, taking breaks between your work bouts. Sometimes it's every 30 minutes, depending on the kind of work. Sometimes it's every 90 minutes. Scientists say that our brain works or goes through this 90-minute cycles, whether that's when you're asleep or when you're functioning and awake throughout your day. So our brain goes through 90-minute cycles when you're going through this cycle of focus, of productivity, of engagement, and then your brain needs to disconnect and to get a little bit of me time and relax and stop producing resources to create that focused, engaged working state. So, at least every 90 minutes, introduce some form of a break and a couple of most effective breaks are breath work and meditation or body scans.
Speaker 1I perform five to 10 minutes. Some breath work might be box breathing might be four, seven, eight breathing might be psychological sigh to switch your nervous system into rest and digest state, allow you to recover and allow you to restore some of that energy capacity in your cells and, most importantly again, it will switch your nervous system into rest and digest state where you spend less energy and you start recovering some of those resources. So breathwork one of the most effective ways to change your physiology, to recover, recharge and to not get yourself into a state of exhaustion, complete exhaustion, by the end of the day. So breathwork I introduce that in the middle of the day, but I also do mini cycles of breathwork. Just a couple of deep breaths when you breathe in and then breathe out really, really slowly. Deep breath when you breathe in and then breathe out really, really slowly. Introducing that frequently into my day that's what I'm aiming also for with my clients.
Introducing this throughout the day will allow you to switch your nervous system into that calm, restorative, energy-preserving state more often and, plus, that will allow you, to your mind, your prefrontal cortex, to unlock more creativity, make more connections. That is not possible when your nervous system is in fight or flight response or a stressed state. So introducing breath work, often like mini breath works, in a form of a couple of deep breathe-ins and breathe-outs. Breathing out process should be twice as long as breathing it or longer, and then having a five minute of this breath work in the midday, or sometimes I change it with body scan. It's a form of mindfulness practice or mindfulness meditation, which in research seems to be very effective for restoring things like dopamine, a neurotransmitter, a molecule in your brain that is needed to switch on your focus motivated, driven state, that engaged state that also helps to get into flow, very productive state, but also very energy and resource-driven, brain resources demanding state.
Speaker 1So body scans like Yoga Nidra you can just look up non-sleep depressed protocol or Yoga Nidra 10 minutes, and a bunch of stuff on YouTube will pop up. I have my favorite protocol that I'm going to link in the show notes. It's about 10 minutes, a little bit less than that, and basically you lay down or you sit in a very comfortable chair and you close your eyes and you pay attention to your body and you scan one part of your body, you go through with your attention from one part of your body to the other and that is body skin. That allows you to restore, refresh a lot of your energy and cognitive capacity. So again, you can perform more optimally and not end up in a drained, overexhausted state at the end of the day. My usual routine is introducing breathwork at the beginning of the day after my workout session, three minutes usually. Then in midday I would have this body scan or some form of meditation. Body scans I found work more effectively in terms of my restoration and how awake and focused and ready to go, I feel, after. So that body scan or meditation for 10 minutes in the midday and then at the end of the day another breathwork session, usually box breathing or 4-7-8 breathing, for 5-10 minutes and mini breath breaks, everywhere sprinkled so I make sure that I'm in that creative, playful, calm and focused mode and I'm not overexerting, not overexhausting myself, so then I can transition to sleep, have my sleep and feel 100% refreshed and ready to go the next morning.
Speaker 1And, last but not least, weekly and daily nature exposure in micro and macro ways. Why nature is important? Because it's actually also based on research, one of the most effective ways to manage your stress, unload that stress de-load, to switch your nervous system really fast and consistently into rest and digest state, which also reduces anxieties, worries, restores your energy. Nature is a healer. Officially, in some countries it is even prescribed by all kinds of mental health professionals and integrative health professionals, helping people to reduce and manage stress, get over burnout and prevent that burnout. So nature is a very effective tool and healer indeed and you can introduce it in different ways.
Speaker 1So I recommend, once a week go and do a deep dive into nature. I personally do hikes for a few hours, might go, climb a mountain, might go to the forest, so immerse yourself in nature as it is. But then there are microwaves that are also effective from going into urban parks or just sitting under the tree and having a lot of plants around you, looking into the sky, which is also nature. Even listening to nature sounds like bird sounds or rain sounds also introduces nature elements. Or looking at nature pictures and landscapes also introduces these elements of nature into your life, into your environment, into your day. Obviously, the more, the deeper you go into nature, the more profound the effect is, the faster the effect is. But all those smaller interventions also work and allow you to manage stress, which drains your energy and cognitive and mental resources. So this allows you to prolong your resources, not exhaust yourself, manage stress, prevent burnout. This toolkit allows you to do that.
Speaker 1So you get your sleep as a foundational recovery protocol. Without sleep, none of this folks will work. So sleep first and make sure you have good nutrition. You have your movement practice, because these also contribute to proper functioning of your energy, energy producing plants, of your cells. Nutrition and movement allows your energy system to function properly. So without that it's also kind of a moot point with all the breath work, even though it will still help. But you gotta look into nutrition, into movement as well. You cannot be eating junk food and have no nutrients that your body and brain need for recovery as well and then expecting everything to function well and nature to just fix all of that. No, that doesn't work like that. It has to be a systematic you just fix all of that. No, that doesn't work like that. It has to be a systematic, integrated approach where you put all the bricks in place to build a strong foundation and then you can hope for optimal performance every single day, where you have a real chance to deliver your best to the present moment, creating maximum impact and results and changing the area of the world that you are so passionate about.
Speaker 1So if recovery was a pill, first of all you would take care of the basics sleep, and then nutrition and movement and then you would add three additional ingredients, kind of like a supplement, a recovery supplement. You would add breath work. My recommendation for most of my clients just do throughout the day, just get used to taking deep breath Whenever you feel like you're too much in your head, like you're feeling overwhelmed, getting exhausted, tired. Do one, two, three breath, deep breath, breathe in and long, long, long breath out. So sprinkle breath work everywhere. And number two in the midday, take 10 minute body scan, yoga Nidra my favorite protocol, very simple to do, is linked in the show notes and research-based, very effective to restore your energy and cognitive resources. And number three micro and macro dose nature. Once a week, do a deep dive and then every day, go for walks. Surround yourself with plants, listen to nature, music, bird sounds, et cetera and that's your recovery in a pill, if you could do so.
Speaker 1So how's your recovery? What's your recovery practice? How you can introduce more of these recovery protocols? Take your recovery supplement daily, so every day you wake up feeling fresh, fully restored, with the capacity to deliver your absolute best to serve the world and build the vision that you are passionate about. Think about that, think about your recovery routine.
Speaker 1If you need any more resources, if you need any help with I don't know burnout prevention, better sleep habits, better sleep routines throughout the day, nutrition movement, let me know. I'm a coach. I can walk you through the simplest protocols, tell you exactly where your biggest missing points are and how to address them. So reach out, angela at brainbreakthroughcoachcom. But, most importantly, folks. Just think about your day. Where can you take that recovery pill, breathwork, nature body scans? Where can you introduce that recovery so every day you wake up fresh and ready to go to deliver greatness? Hope this helps. Don't forget to share this podcast if you found it useful and would like people you love, admire, cherish and value to recover better so they can show up as their best self as often as possible. So please share with your tribe. That's the biggest thank you you can give to me and till next time, figure out your recovery routine and make it happen. Talk to you soon. Stay tuned, keep recovering.