Mental energy and physical health

As goes the body so goes the mind, just as where the mind goes, the body follows. Neglect one and the other goes to pieces. If one is BP, the other is the Gulf Coast.

I’ll be my mother for a moment and say the three most important things for finding and maintaining the energy for creative work are

• sleep,
• food,
• and exercise.

It’s banal but it’s true. If you want a hint of the truth of this, consider it from the opposite side. What is the worst thing for creative energy? A hangover. Try solving a problem when you have one of those.

Mind and body

Each of us is an eco-system where what affects one part affects others. If we’re stressed and anxious (a mental state) our bodies respond. Our insides go kerflooey. Bladder and bowels get festive and embarrassing like a barroom brawl.

Conversely, when our bodies get sick our minds become sludge-like and whiney.

I’m not a dietician or nutritionist, I’m not even a well-informed lay person, but I do know what happens with me and I am affected, often in a big way, by lack of sleep, poor food choices, and too little exercise. I don’t need books and studies and links to know this. Experience has taught me.

Sleep is not time served

While there may be an old saying about needing eight hours of sleep the reality is that it varies. For most people this means six to eight hours, roughly. But that assumes quality sleep. Tossing and turning doesn’t count. Being in bed doesn’t count. Actual sleep does.

Personally, sleep is the single most important thing that affects my thinking. A good night’s sleep? Look out world! A poor night’s sleep? “I’m not sure I can do it. It’s too hard!”

• Brain basics: understanding sleep
• How sleep benefits brains
• The effects of sleep deprivation on brain and behavior
• Sleep and creativity

That’s just sleep. What about food?

We all know about TAD

We’re conditioned to eat way too much food in North America but even more debilitating for creative energy is what we eat. Thus, TAD.

TAD is an acronym for what I call The Afternoon Droop. It’s because of TAD that many countries have siestas. After lunch, we want to sleep. In our culture, however, we don’t believe in that. We believe in work. So wake up and get to it!

Whether you believe in siestas or the “Get back to work!” approach, we live in a society that says lunch is followed by more work. So what do we do?

Lunch determines my afternoon’s productivity. It’s that simple. If I eat fast food, or have something heavy at a restaurant like a Montreal smoked meat sandwich with fries, my afternoon is kaput. Lost. It’s like taking a sleeping pill.

I have literally been in tele-conference meetings, phone muted, sitting in my chair in my cubicle and fallen asleep. Thank heaven for meetings that aren’t in-person.

On the other hand, lighter foods like salads help maintain my energy — even jack it up a notch. The problem is that those foods don’t have the appeal of a cheese smothered pizza, but if you want the energy for creative work  …

Diet is a big deal when it comes to creativity.

• Eat to boost energy
• Natural foods that increase mental energy
• Brain food pyramid
• Healthy foods that boost energy
• Google search: Foods to boost mental energy

Exercise is not what you see on talk shows

Exercise has a bad reputation thanks to infomercials and talk shows that make it seem a self-inflicted torment intended to build washboard abs and blindingly shiny white teeth. That isn’t exercise.

Exercise is movement, any kind of movement. There is no need for pain; no need for self-denigration. Getting our bodies in motion wakes us up and stimulates the brain which in turn stimulates the whole shebang we call the body. And it doesn’t hurt.

And it makes thinking easier. It stimulates ideas. It is oomph for creativity.

I get up in the morning. I go to my computer. I start looking at email and trying to get a sense of what needs to be done. The creative engine starts to chug.

But I can’t really start until I walk the dog. If I don’t, she makes my life miserable. So I walk her.

When I return, I am different; transformed, so to speak. If prior to walking the dog my energy was a traditional old steam engine train, my energy is now a rapid transit high speed rail whooshing along.

Physical activity jumps starts the body – including the brain. The brain releases chemicals, neurons fire and ideas get tossed out like confetti.

• Physical exercise for a better brain
• Exercise for energy
• 14 Research-proven ways to boost brain power

Fueling cars without wheels

Before we can even consider the various tools and practices and steps we might take to generate creative energy, the physical aspect of who we are has to be addressed. It precedes the mental. Otherwise, we’re simply fueling a car that has no wheels.

Mind and body truly are one. We are self-contained eco-systems.

We are most creative when we are healthy. It is that simple.

(Author’s note: There is a “Do as I say, not as I do,” aspect to this post. I wrote it as much for myself as anyone else because I often forget how important health is to everything we do.)

Images: Vinni123 (Flickr) and Bill Wren

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