Shock the Monkey
Your Key to Health
Your mind and body are anti-fragile systems, by this I mean that you need to shock your normal daily stasis to allow the mind, body and spirit, gain from adversity and or chaos. This is not new information, it has been handed down through generations. In fact here is an old saying... “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” that is the very essence of who and what we are.
Routine leads you into comfort and complacency, which in turn leaves you vulnerable. We evolved in an amazing history of adaptation to myriads of shocks to our system, growing more from the monkey into the man... see there is a benefit to Shock the Monkey. In addition to old sayings there are old customs that follow suit, we may no longer understand as such, but they are there. So here are some shocks you can do to your system to keep them more attuned and adaptable.
Binge (Occasional)
Holidays, like Thanksgiving, Easter, Yon Kippur and so many others... all involve a feast... many following a fast. This shock to the system gears up your metabolism to handle the old survival aspects of humans in times of feast or famine. The fast helps us become more attuned (as well as desperate) to sharpen our senses and actions to hunt or gather. The feast helps rebuild the body ravaged by the fast.
Dousing
Exposure of your body to extreme cold temperatures is actually a way to improve your overall health as it helps optimize energy production in your body. As example diving into ice cold water, standing under a waterfall, dumping ice water over your head each morning. These are all common practices in many countries, especially the Scandinavian block.
When exposed to severe cold, your body will increase it's production of something called "norepinephrine" in the brain, which is involved in focus and attention. It also known to help improve mood as well as alleviate pain.
While in Sweden I was brought to a great Spa in which they had a hot tub next to an ice pool. Theidea was to super heat you body, then super cool it. I will say that the water in the heated pool was really hot, but it did not burn as much as jumping in that Ice Water right after. Nore did it during the three rounds I made.
Turn up the heat
Severe heat also has remarkable health benefits as well. It seems that extreme heat stress on your body activates the genes in your body that optimize heat shock proteins (HSP) in your cells. This helps prevent plaque from forming in your brain and vascular system... it is also believed to increase your longevity. These heat shock proteins have been touted for their affect on human longevity.
One newer type of treatment is called "Bronchial Thermoplasty", which super heats the smooth muscles in the airways which in turn reduce asthma symptoms permanently.
But beyond that even more countries and cultures have supported steem baths and saunas for centuries.
Fear
Fear is a great tool, first it helps to keep us alive, but it also makes the mind body and spirit stronger. In Martial Arts you learn incrementally with freestyle sparring, then on to multiple opponents. In the Military there is no shortage of fear and physical stresses thrown at you to make you more adaptable and stronger of spirit and resolve. The more shock you endure, the stronger you become as the very thing you induce, you adapt to and overcome.
Fatigue
Another great strengthening tool used by so many training processes from sports to military to public speaking... pushing it to the max. This shocks the body systems in such a way that the body, finds new nuero pathways to create efficiency and responsiveness to altering situations.
And to close... a classic
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Image Credit: giffy, pritkin, thetalkingfly, pinimg, thesun.co.uk