I try it: 28 days to rest and revitalize - the before
I’ve got some big things coming up in the spring. Change! Upheaval! With the benefit of foresight, I know I need my nervous system to be stronger for what I’ve got coming. I know my habits could use their own spring cleaning so my self-care doesn’t fall into an abyss.
So I’m creating a foundation for bliss. A little stability to help me ride the wave of projected change and stay standing.
Over 28 days, I’m going to focus on my sleep and HRV (heart-rate variability) with habits and practices designed to help both. One practice a week, where the practices accumulate and build on each other. I’ll focus on rest the first two weeks and add more specifically restorative practices the last two weeks. The goal: rest and rebuild for resilience going into spring and summer (summer always knocks me around).
Why focus on my sleep and HRV?
They are measurable things. I wear a fitness tracker (whoop), so I can measure how those things are doing.
HRV(Heart-rate variability)
Heart-rate variability is literally the variation in timing between your heartbeats. So you might have 850 ms between two beats and then 790 ms between the next two beats. So it’s a function of your heart rate, but a very specific one.
Here’s the thing though: HRV is a measure of our autonomic nervous system. If you’re looking for a way to quantify how your nervous system works, this is it. It’s a measure of the balance between the two parts of the ANS: parasympathetic (”rest and digest”) and sympathetic (”fight or flight”/stress) systems. When your nervous system is balanced, it gets signals from both the parasympathetic and sympathetic systems, which causes the variation in your heart rate, or HRV.
Is that enough science for you? Basically, I’m choosing to use my HRV as a measure because a high HRV is tied to a healthy nervous system, but it’s also a measure of how capable our bodies are of taking on stress and strain. The higher the HRV, the more capable we are of taking on stress.
Sadly, my baseline HRV has decreased since I’ve had covid. So I’m giving myself four weeks to create habits that will improve it long-term and prepare me for oncoming stress!
How will I do it? Here’s the breakdown
Week 1 - Sleep
For week 1, I’m focusing on getting in bed by 9:30 with a goal to be lights out no-later than 10:30pm.
I catch a second wind around 10 pm that will have me scrolling my phone or trying to clean the bathroom until 2 AM. And then I’m exhausted the next day.
So I’m giving myself plenty of time in bed to wind down. No work from bed, just cozy delights designed to soothe me into slumber and lights out no later than 10:30pm.
Week 2 - Breathwork
groan It’s trendy for a reason.
Breathwork is
free
easy to adapt to individual needs
easy to do any time and anywhere
backed up by ancient traditions and modern science 🤓
And it has significant ties to improving HRV.
I personally see a lot of benefit from it. I’m just not the most consistent with it. So I’m creating consistency by challenging myself to do 21 days of breathwork starting on week 2.
I’ll be doing 5 rounds (about five minutes) of alternate nostril breathing every day.
Week 3 - Restorative yoga and mindful movement
I’m moving. I’m thawing out. I’m getting our bodies ready for the extra movement after a winter spent on the couch under every blanket I own.
I’ll do a variation on restorative yoga by actually beginning my practice with some more active movement. Some swaying, some dancing, some cat-cows. I’ll complete the stress cycle and getting the wiggles out before trying to lie in one position for several minutes at a time successively.
I’ll do 10 - 15 minutes of movement and restorative yoga every day.
Week 4: Self-care spring cleaning morning routine
This is essentially an audit of my morning to see if there’s anything I can adjust in my morning or evening routine to make more time for myself in the morning. I don’t want to roll out of bed and go straight into a meeting or getting ready for work.
Nothing brings on the burnout quite like giving your first waking moments to capitalism.
Once I’ve audited my time, I’m going to pick one thing that sounds really fun to do in the morning and do that. Like reading or making myself French toast every day. Something that gets me out of bed in the morning. True story, the only thing that got me out of bed winter semester of my freshman year of college was the Life cereal in the dining hall.
Depending on if I’m tired or wired in the morning, I’ll also pick a couple rituals to support the state of my mind and body. If I’m feeling extra tired, I might put on a dance track while I brush my teeth. If I’m feeling anxious, I’ll go for some choral music instead.
With something to look forward to and a few nourishing rituals, I’m creating the perfect corporate-free morning.
And that’s the plan! Four weeks to rest and rebuild myself to make it through a whirlwind spring with nary a scratch.
I’ve got a little public Notion to keep me on track, if you want to follow along.
