Stimuli, Rest and Meditation
- Oliver Marcell Bjerregaard
- Nov 3, 2017
- 4 min read
You wake up in the morning and the first thing you do is reach for your phone. You check your notifications on social media, e-mails, etc. As you've gotten out of bed you turn on the TV or radio and eat breakfast. After breakfast your either go to your car or public transport. In the car you listen to the radio or music; if you're on the train you're glued to your phone while listening to music through your headphones. Throughout the day you're either working or studying in school. You're most likely using a computer in school, bouncing between social media and school-related content (oh, and simultaneously you're constantly checking your phone for the latest snapchats, instagram post(s), etc.)
As you finish school or work, you're heading home. Once again, listening to radio or music in the car and on the train glued to your phone whilst listening to music - you might be one of the few who's reading a book on the train. You get home; there's dinner for the kids, maybe you're hanging out with your friends, watching TV or going to the gym. In each case there's probably a phone, a TV, a radio or music involved. Night time is upon you and you spend your evening watching TV, netflix, playing on your phone/computer; you might be doing homework while there's musc or a TV active in the background.
As you go to bed, you're probably falling a sleep to a turned on TV or looking at your phone until you pass out. Now, before I get into the juicy part, i'd like to make it clear: I think social media is fantastic, I use various apps, media outlets, etc., myself. I'm not against modern technology, music, radio or television. On the contrary, I enjoy and use these modern artifical stimulants too. But, and of course there's a 'but':
You never get to rest. You think you're getting rest, but you're not. Your brain is constantly exposed to a variety of stimuli. Not just once in a while, or at certain hours of the day, but constantly - and you're wondering why stress is such a massive factor in the modern day society? You're not only getting bombarded with stress from your school, university or workplace, but you're also bombarding yourself with information every waking hour of the day. The sum of all this stimuli will make you tired and therefore you seek stimulants such as coffee, alcohol, bad choices of food, etc. (I'm not hating on coffee, I drink it myself, but if you drink coffee merely to survive the day, then you got a problem. If the only energy you get is from a stimulant such as coffee, then you're only tackling the symptom, not the disease)
The Western world is haunted by bad sleep, obesity, joint problems, brain fog, auto-immune diseases, etc. In my previous posts, i've talked about the importance of proper nutrition in relation to the modern chronic degenerative Western diseases, but taking care of your mental health is equally important. With the modern day stimuli/information overload you're causing a lot of harm to your mental health. Here lies a very essential problem: you're not just feeding yourself with stimuli, but you're addicted to the stimuli. You cannot sit alone with your own thoughts for 10 minutes without getting bored, restless or feeling a sense of anxiety from missing out on information or stimuli.
A mind that cannot find relaxation within itself isn't functioning properly. It's a mind that has to be repaired. If you choose not to repair it, then you'll pay a heavy price - which most Westernised people are already paying for: horrendous sleep, elevated stress, chronically high levels of inflammation, disease, etc.
- What kind of methods are there to counter the information-overload?
There's a ton of methods regarding this topic. Various meditation techniques, breathing excersises, mindfulness, etc. Here's a list of 3 things that I would recommend: 1) Variations of Transcendental Meditation
- Transcendental meditation is know to be extremely expensive - and it is. I therefore recommend that you do some research and educate yourself within this area (books, articles, video material, teachers, etc). The practise works very well for people who needs to calm down and find some peace from all the modern day stimuli and stress.
2) Practice breathing methods and cold therapy
I think, that one of the most efficient breathing methods is those under the Wim Hof method. I strongly recommend that you buy and follow the 10-week online Wim Hof course or participate in one of his seminars. He will teach you his breathing exercises and cold therapy. His methods have been studied by both universites, hospitals, etc. and they've proven to be very effective against stress.
3) The 30 day challenge
- Now, this is a method i've used on myself and some of my close friends. It's quite simple and it works amazing as a step toward practising meditation. For 30 days, everyday you'll have to sit or lay down with closed eyes for 30 minutes with zero stimuli. Everytime a thought comes to mind, you'll investigate that thought and then let it go. The goal is to EMPTY the mind. You'll experience, that the gap between thoughts becomes increasingly bigger. 30 minutes doesn't sound like much, but for the average stimuli-addict this is a long time. I would recommend this challenge as a precursor for transcendental meditation or other practices along those lines.
