Know your rhythm: learning from the body

The first day. Morning. Alarm clock. He jumped up, yes, I see, on the wrong foot. All day awry. All somewhere I hurry, doing something, but in the end - did not have anything. And around solid obstacles. All do not go there, do not look well, do not. I went to bed dissatisfied with themselves and others.

Second day. Morning. Alarm clock. I turned off. I will not wake up. Let them those legs as a lay and lie. Let this mad whirlpool of events and affairs rushes past. And I'm tired of ... the whole day trying to relax. A case is waiting for something, do not give rest. Went to bed dissatisfied with himself, but with the certainty that it is impossible to live, and with the firm decision tomorrow to start a new life.




Day Three. Morning. Alarm clock. He remembered yesterday's decision. Approved. He got up, carefully choosing his leg. Ur leg was the one that must be! The day was a success! All in time, and even more than planned. Despite the crazy rhythm I was calm and placid. And people have something good! Helps disapproved. Well, not a day, and lo! I went to bed very pleased with himself, and in the firm belief that he has found the key to success, that now life will definitely be different.

Day four. A copy of the first day ... What did I do wrong? Why again in the old way? Why can not now continue to be active and effective? Why is it necessary to start all over again?

The alternation of day and night, life and death, movement and rest, inhalation and exhalation, tension and relaxation, creation and destruction, suffering and happiness, success and failure, rise and fall - a manifestation of the rhythm of the law, the universal law of development, evolution. We do not know by whom, when and for what coined the law which governs our destiny. We can not escape its influence. But freedom of choice inherent in man, is that we are free to either blindly obey the law, allowing its powerful waves carry us to God knows where, then throwing up on its crest, then throwing on sharp stones; or try to oppose him, spending his life in a useless fight that definitely above our strength and understanding; or - to learn to know the law and follow it. And in the framework of the law and seek to find their rhythm of movement through life.

How to know my rhythm and follow it?

Learning from the body

Every cell, every organ has its own rhythm of work and rest and should be clear to him. Each process that ensures our ability to move, feel, think, - rhythmic. The phases of activity and rest, absorption and separation, synthesis and breakdown, stress and relaxation regularly replace each other.

What is the biological sense of rhythm?

Our body consists of billions of independent life - cells. How to ensure that they serve the common cause - to ensure the life of the organism as a whole? Need foundation association, something that is inherent to a whole and all of its component parts. This basis is the rhythm.

As we adjust to the rhythm of life, dictated by society? For hours. (Recall the morning alarm that tells us that it's time to get up and go to work.) Similarly, the cell has its own biological clock (rhythmic processes) that enable it to check how the clock of other cells and with the "big biological clock" - one beat the life of the whole organism. But cancer cells do not live in the rhythm of his own pleasure. What comes out of it, you know very well.

Our body itself is a "cell" in the body of Nature and co-ordinate its life with its laws, again with the help of hours of beats. For example, the existence of the body's circadian rhythms, helping him to time his activity to the most suitable for this astronomical conditions: to stay awake during the day and rest at night

. But, on the other hand, our body possesses a certain independence from the changes occurring in the nature. For example, the ability to maintain a constant body temperature in spite of the season. In part, this is due to the independence of the scientific and technical progress, and in part - by the existence of rhythms, providing homeostasis (constancy of internal environment). Malfunctions in the system of internal rhythms can lead to narrowing of the "comfort zone", that is, a range of ambient conditions (temperature, pressure, intensity of the geomagnetic field, etc.), in which a person feels well enough. Example - high meteosensitivity, which affects an increasing number of people

. Rhythm helps the body to save power, and therefore work harder and less tired due to the fact that the energy consumed in the rhythmic processes and restored portions. Simple everyday example is much easier to wash one dish immediately after a meal than at the end of the week-soaked scour the mountain of dirty dishes

. Rhythm chemical synthesis and cell division allows our body to continuously regenerate, maintaining relatively unchanged its external (and internal) appearance. For example, every minute update about 100 thousand skin cells.

Activity and rest - the two phases of the rhythm, the two sides of the same coin - life. We often think that changing, evolving only when active. And the rest is a necessary measure to restore the spent force. Is it so? What is peace and what are its objectives?

Dream - the most effective way to restore vitality, no wonder so many sick person sleeps. Sleep - it's peace? For consciousness awake for most of the skeletal muscles - yes. And for the body as a whole - an active rest. In the dream, intensely replenished daily losses of substances and cells (eg, sleep updated blood cells and skin occurs 2-3 times more active than during wakefulness). In the dream, the brain continues to work actively, carrying out the reorganization of lived experience - "internalizing" (translated from the short-term memory into long-term) with valuable information for later life and forgetting excess. In the dream, the epiphysis (the pineal gland) produces the hormone melatonin, which controls all the rhythmic processes in the body (including cellular and rhythms of community life), and possesses anti-tumor effect.

Very interesting and paradoxical phase of "rapid" sleep. For some indicators (the form of the electroencephalogram, increased heart rate, pressure), it is very similar to the phase of wakefulness. At the same time, it is the deep sleep in which most of the muscles completely relaxed. It is in this phase, people dream vivid and memorable dreams and come to some insights as to which has become a textbook example of Mendeleev and the periodic system.

State of relaxation - a holiday. Relaxed muscles - an active process that requires energy. That is why, after intensive training or hard physical work of muscles can not relax and stay a while constrained, strained. And the next day may get sick. It is noteworthy that the most effective way to restore tired muscles is not long-lasting complete rest, and moderate load after a short rest.

The same principle applies active rest and to calm nerves exhausted. It has long been observed that the nature walks, exercise or cleaning the house to cope with stress better than any of psychotherapists. Motor activity in the brain creating a dominant focus of excitation, the overwhelming excitement of other areas, perfectly relieves mental stress. Our body shows us that the activity and rest are complementary, that one begets the other. Together they create a rhythm of movement, transformation, development.

Learning from cells

Cell division occurs when and where and when the body's need arises. Share or wait? The question constantly arises before the cell. Hurry, as well as the delay in the division of the body facing trouble. Excessive cell division leads to the appearance of tumors, the lack of -. The destruction of organs and tissues

The cell cycle consists of a short and active phase of actual division - mitosis, and a much longer period between divisions - interphase. Under the microscope, it looks interphase cells as a gradual increase in size. However, in reality it is very complex, active and responsible process, without which the cell separation would be impossible.

In interphase it takes place the most important event - a doubling of DNA, creation of two new centers of life, who will manage the work of the two newly formed cells. On it depends the fate of all the cellular tissue, and organ of the body. Therefore, before this phase and after the cell makes a stop, analyze the previous step and decide what will be next. These two stops are called the checkpoint - "checkpoint", "checkpoints" (literal translation - "stopping point, delay»)

. In the first checkpoint cage thoroughly checks the status of his DNA and is waiting for a particular signal, allowing it to enter into the next phase of the cycle. If a cell detects DNA damage (eg due to irradiation), it stops and corrects them. But even completely healthy cell can be stopped at this stage and transferred to the idle state (in which the cell normally does the job, but can not share) in the event of adverse environmental conditions for the division, such as fasting or increasing the cell density in the body. At rest, the cell can remain hours, months and even years, and at an appropriate signal to re-start the division.

After the phase of DNA doubling the cell stops again. Analysis of the situation carried out special proteins - "guardian of the genome". They stop the cage, carefully check the accuracy of the DNA copy, if necessary, eliminate the errors that occurred and - either allow the cell to start dividing or when irreparable damage, the cell output from the game. And depending on the severity and danger of damage it may be, and cell division stops, and even her death. It is these "guardians" are often changed, and incompetent in cancerous tumors.

Stops on the way are necessary not only cells. Without them, the movement, and the development of the human individual is at best pointless and ineffective, and at worst - destructive

. Learning from the heart

Heart - our true inner drive - working tirelessly all our lives. The secret of its performance in the constancy of rhythm stress and rest - filling and recoil. Heart rate is composed of alternating contraction (systole) and relaxation (diastole). By the time these two phases are approximately the same (see the figure), that is, half of our lives the heart is at rest. What happens to the heart during rest - pauses between contractions? Filling blood. And during contraction - Blood returns organs and tissues. Without content there will be impact, no impact - filling. Filling and efficiency - are complementary, their indivisible unity creates a pulse of life

. The heart - the center of balance filling and return to the whole organism. Heart - a crossroad where the previous cycle ends and the next begins. In each cycle, the blood goes from the heart, and returns to the heart. In humans, two circulation: large and small. The large circle Devoted heart blood, rich in oxygen, spreads throughout the body, feeding and updating all its cells, and passing through "filters" (kidneys, liver) and purifying herself, returns to the heart. In the small circle of blood, came from a large, it goes to the lungs, where she is reborn, filled with a new portion of the vital energy - oxygen and returns to the heart, where a new cycle begins. This cycle is repeated again and again 70 times per minute, 100 thousand times a day, 40 million times a year

. The heart is able to work independently (from the Greek autos - «itself» + nomos - «Law»). This means that it can regularly be reduced by itself, without any control from the part of our brain, under the influence of their own impulses. It generates these impulses "pacemaker" - a group of cells located in the wall of the right atrium. The ability to have spontaneous contractions even individual heart muscle cells. This surprising phenomenon can be observed in the culture heart cells under a microscope.

We can not control the rhythm of the heart. But the heart can not only control the rhythmic processes in our body, but also to guide us. How? Heart - an accurate indicator of our actions, feelings and thoughts. We can hide their anger, excitement or joy from anyone, but not of their own hearts. Everything that happens to us, any change in our physical or mental condition immediately reflected in its rhythm.

We often live in a hurry, trying to keep up with the rapid pace of our century. Chronic stress has become commonplace for us, but not our hearts. Heart, faithful guardian of our peace of mind, signals to us about the danger of a violation of his rhythm, calls us to stop and look into ourselves. But if, in spite of the heart prompts, we continue to live the way they are used to - in a chaotic cycle of feelings, thoughts and deeds, the heart is literally able to stop us, stopping suddenly very

. An example is the fibrillation - severe impairment of the heart, the culmination of chaos, which is expressed in different times and isolated reduction of the individual fibers of the heart muscle. In this mode, the normal operation can not be heart, it is impossible, and spontaneous termination of atrial fibrillation. To restore the functioning of the heart, need external emergency measures. The most effective way of stopping fibrillation is the effect on the heart muscle by a single short electrical pulse generated by the discharge of the capacitor. I recall an Arab proverb: 'Hit your heart, and your inclination will be on the right track »

. There are heart - is the heart. One is necessary for our physical body, and the other serves as a home for our souls. Heart with a capital letter - it is our inner voice, the voice of conscience. When in our lives we do something wrong, the voice warns us. And we say: "I feel heart", "heart hurts." But if we can not or do not want to listen to the voice of his heart, it is trying to reach out to us in a different way and can speak to us in terms of physical or mental suffering.

Heart disease, as well as blows of fate, forcing us to stop and listen to yourself, to think - where do we go? Maybe it is not there, where really want to come? Maybe we stuck on a problem and its solution in search of walk in circles? Heart invites us to return to ourselves, again remember, where and why we go, and is already here - from our hearts - a new look at the circles of his life

. Or maybe it is not necessary to wait until a disease or a stroke of fate will force us to stop? Maybe in our life rhythm provides natural-stop return to yourself, to your heart?

The sun beat

Yes, periodic stops provided by the law of Nature. This turning point of the diurnal cycle - the moments of sunrise and sunset, the main pacemaker, the heart of the solar system. Every day at sunrise the renewal occurs due Nature and humans: a bright light signal synchronizes its own rhythms of the human body (which are not strictly 24-hour) with the circadian rhythms of Nature. Regular rhythms attunement allows the body to live by the principle "all the time, all at the right time." Otherwise, the phase lead or lag its own biological clock the body would lead to the fact that its activity cycles and the rest would not coincide with the most favorable conditions for this external. What is manifested, for example, half of the blind insomnia at night and sleepiness during the day.

Our ancestors knew or guessed about the importance of such moments and to strictly follow the regime sunny day: in the villages still get up at dawn and go to bed at sunset. In harmony with the rhythms of sunrise and sunset lived Buddhist and Christian monasteries, school of Pythagoras and Plato's Academy. And now, in many health systems, one of the main conditions of healing is considered to be a return to the natural rhythms of life.



But what a modern person, because not all forced to the rhythm of work and rest coincides with the natural? First, try to follow the natural rhythm during the holidays and at least occasionally to meet the sun. Secondly ... You can live in harmony with nature, not timing their awakening and falling asleep to the astronomical sunrise and sunset. Provided that it is not confined to the influence of electromagnetic waves on our physical body to us the mystery of the Sun Date; These moments of renewal is much more important for our souls, our hearts.

Восход и заход Солнца — это точки перехода из одного цикла в другой, таинственные моменты остановки (на восходе Природа замирает, даже птицы перестают петь) и возвращения к самому себе, к цели и смыслу своего пути. Неслучайно во многих религиозных традициях именно на рассвете и на закате человек совершал таинство молитвы.

И современному человеку никто и ничто не мешает встречать Солнце и вместе с ним проживать минуты остановки и диалога с самим собой дважды в день: утром, сразу после пробуждения, и вечером, перед отходом ко сну, вне зависимости от того, когда встает и заходит физическое солнце. И в течение дня периодически останавливаться, вновь и вновь сверяясь с собственным Сердцем, вновь и вновь задавая себе вопрос «Для чего я живу?», прежде чем «Что я должен сделать сейчас?».

Познать свой Ритм и следовать ему — это значит идти по жизни, вновь и вновь возвращаясь к ее цели и смыслу.

Автор: Наталья Аднорал, кандидат медицинских наук