Downtime
Health, Productivity, Music, Fitness ·On the way in to work this morning, I was listening to an episode of the Huberman Podcast, which is often thought-provoking. The subject of ultradian cycles came up - I hadn’t heard of them before, but apparently our bodies have 90-minute cycles that happen during the night / day. If you pay attention to how you are feeling, they can be used to help achieve focus, by planning periods of concentration to align with them.
During the discussion, there was a throwaway comment that, although concentrated effort during the ultradian cycle could lead to effective learning, it was actually during deep sleep over the next few days that the actual neural work would happen that results in memories and associations being formed.
This brought to mind the similar concept around physical training. It’s the training you do that lets your body know what’s expected of it, like being able to lift heavy weights, move your legs to run or ride or whatever. However, the actual muscular growth happens, again, during sleep or on days when you are resting. The body uses the downtime to rebuild back stronger.
There are many more examples of this idea. My experience of music practice is that much of the improvement I experience actually happens between sessions - I stop, and still can’t play it, then return another day and find I’ve got better overnight.
My main point is that it is easy to slip into a mindset where it’s all about pushing hard, working long hours, training all the time etc. But actually it’s just as - or even more - important to build in the downtime to let those improvements materialise.
I suppose I’m writing this to help remind myself how important it is to build in enough sleep and space into my day!