Start Your Growth With Your Basic Needs

When we are working hard we can forget to take care of our basic needs. They seem so minor but have a huge effect on our ability to learn and retain.

Have you…

1) Eaten in the last 4 hours?

2) Drank enough water?

3) Slept enough in the last 24 hours?

4) Taken a walk outside?

When I was studying for the GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) I was pushing myself quite hard, often studying 3 hours a day, while also teaching full time, and taking a microeconomics course. It always amazed me how these four simple items were so important to my progress. Here are some thoughts on these four aspects.

1) Eating every four hours keeps your body filled with the energy you need to succeed. Try to have a substantial snack that combines at least two of these three types of energy - carbs, fat, and protein.

2) There are a number of ways to determine how much water you need in a day. At the most basic level I tell people to drink their body weight in pounds divided by 2 in ounces a day. For me, at about 160 pounds, this is 80 ounces of water a day. And this is a minimum! A sufficient amount of water is essential for the body and brain to function optimally. If you are even a little dehydrated you will start to feel it. In fact, the weirdest thing about being human is if you start to feel sleepy, you are probably dehydrated. Your body will force you to slow down and go to sleep to conserve water. Instead, just drink a glass of water!

3) Sleep is almost self-explanatory. An adult needs about 7.5 hours of sleep a night. A teenager even more than that. I personally seem to need 9 hours in my 30’s! Sleep is where you both refresh your brain for the next day AND solidify everything you learned the day before. And napping doesn’t cut it - it needs to be consistent sleep. If you aren’t getting at least 7 hours a night in high school then you are hurting your ability to learn and retain. I’ll include a special note about caffeine and sleep below.

4) The weirdest advice I received while preparing for the GRE was take a walk every evening. But I was amazed at how much better I was at learning and retaining information when I would take a walk. Walks are kind of like magic. Ryan Holiday dedicates an entire chapter in his book “Stillness is the Key” on the benefits to the mind of taking a walk. The author Florence Williams has an entire book, “The Nature Fix”, on how being outside in nature improves our mood and our mind. For me, a solo walk of at least 30 minutes completely changes my mood and reinforces what I’ve learned. And no phones, texting, music, anything. Just walk with only your thoughts. This is like a moving meditation - it gives your mind time to process. The number of “Ah-ha!” moments during walks are amazing. Most scientific progress likely owes its existence to someone taking a walk when they couldn’t figure something out. Everything is made better with a technology-free walk outside.

A note on caffeine and sleep. I love my caffeine. Some days, while I was teaching, I would have 16 ounces of coffee before school started at 7:40 AM and then I would drink 2 to 3 cups of green tea before lunch. For some, caffeine is a helpful way to be alert and increase focus. But be aware of drinking caffeine too late in the day. If you hit midnight and you still aren’t tired but you woke up before 8 AM then you probably drank some caffeine too late in the day. Try to stop consuming caffeine after lunch. And if you need to drink caffeine to stay awake then it may be time to reevaluate how much caffeine you are drinking, cut back on it, and make up for it by sleeping. It will take a while for your body to function correctly again, but once it does you will notice a huge improvement.

If you want to perform at your peak, whether in school, sports, music, your career, whatever, take a look at these four aspects of health! Often our mental health starts with the basics of physical health.

Looking for help in implementing these habits in your ideal life? Reach out today and let's get started!

Tom Chapman, TruePath Discovery Coaching

Image Source: Roger McLassus