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Exhausted to energized
The moment I stopped being a cynic and started liking Dr Libby Weaver was when she said that running makes you fat. Not in those exact words, but I’m sure she was insinuating it.
When Dr Libby gave up running for two hours a day, and instead did Tai Chi and gentle walking, she started losing weight. Apparently, we’re wired to run when we’re in danger, so when we run for fitness we sub-consciously still feel like we’re in danger. Finally, someone is putting into words how I’ve always felt!
Dr Libby, as she’s known, is bio-chemistry’s answer to Oprah—a doctor of the people, with a great knack for tapping into the deepest anxieties or our times. At the moment, Dr Libby is touring New Zealand promoting her new book, Exhausted to Energized, bringing her brand of pop-bio-chemistry to a thoroughly modern ailment: bone-aching tiredness.
Throughout history, life has been hard. But what has brought us to this particular exhaustion is that we’re doing it all, and we’re doing it on our own. Dr Libby explains that we’re a blip in human history—only in the past century have male and female roles changed so much. Yet, the essential support networks of wider extended family no longer exist.
I recently read a story in the paper about the new-fangled role of the ‘sleep consultant’ for families with babies. Emma Purdue, one such sleep consultant, tells stories of working with women who are slurring their speech drunkenly, they are so sleep deprived. Of parents living on two to three hours’ sleep a night for months on end. Of young mums hospitalised with exhaustion, their immune systems shutting down.
It’s a damning reflection of our culture that we need to pay someone to help us get much-needed sleep. But we should count these people as heroes for being brave enough to ask for help out of a dangerous place.
In our stubbornly self-sufficient culture, our body systems have no choice but to be in a constant state of danger, explains Dr Libby. One of the most powerful things we can do to lower our stress levels is to breathe deeply from our diaphragm. A few times a day, take 20 deep breaths. Breathe slowly, allowing your stomach to go in and out. This simple practice of deep breathing tells your body that you are no longer in danger and that it’s okay to rest.
This reminds me a lot of what people of faith call ‘praying’. A theme throughout the Bible is that we should find rest in God; we should take time to be still, to sit by quiet waters, to be refreshed. ‘Be still and know that I am God,’ says Psalm 46:10—some versions say, ‘stop your striving …’
Praying gives us the ability to rest our souls by stilling ourselves and handing over our anxieties to a power bigger and stronger than us—a power we know as God. There is nothing more natural than praying. It is a wonderful antidote to our white-knuckled individualism. Because we actually can’t do it all on our own. We need a loving, helping hand.
This sounds so much better than running around in a state of terror. So, take a deep breath. Give it to God. Ask a friend for help. And, by the way, maybe get some more sleep. Thanks, Dr Libby!
by Ingrid Barratt (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 17 October 2015, pp3.
You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.