A couple of decades ago, no one could even imagine having our latest health stats on our wrists or in the palm of our hands. It’s never been easier to detect anomalies in our bodies, seek treatment in time, and avoid otherwise preventable complications.
Health, wellness, and longevity are at the cusp of all the technological advancements that we are experiencing around us. The times are indeed exciting, and public health is only expected to get better from here. It’s never been easier to keep track of one’s health or even keep a tab on the health of one’s aging loved ones from afar.
But this makes me think — are we over-relying on these technological advancements instead of just listening to our bodies like we did before? Is there still a way to connect with our minds, muscles, and bodies in this tech-friendly time? Is technology actually making us weaker in the long run?
To many, this may seem too superficial, but not to our guest, Dr. Andy Galpin. He has dedicated his life to helping humans learn how to take their muscles, mind, and body to a stage of greater development and overall well-being. Today, he is here to throw light on how we can listen to our bodies in this tech-obsessed age.
“Technology is not bad; I use it with every professional athlete that I work with. But you don’t want to completely outsource your physiology to some clumsy tech. Technology is good for calibration and assessment.” – Dr. Andy Galpin
Before delving deeper into the topic, let’s first get to know our guest!
Who Is Dr. Andy Galpin?
Dr. Andy Galpin is an author, coach, teacher, and Ph.D. holder in Human Bioenergetics, which is the study of how energy is transferred in cells, tissues, and organisms. Soon after his Ph.D., Dr. Andy created the Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Lab at the California State University, Fullerton, where he is also a full-time professor and the Director of the Center of Sport Performance.
He has also co-authored a book – Unplugged: Evolve From Technology to Upgrade Your Fitness Performance and Consciousness. Dr. Andy’s studies prove that most people don’t fully understand the influence that exercise habits, food consumption, sleep patterns, and technology usage have on your long-term health performance.
That’s why it’s his mission is to educate people on how our habits and tech usage influence our health.
If you are keen to learn how to manage your health effectively and efficiently, then this episode of The School of Greatness is just for you!
Sleep: The Perfect Natural Recovery Mechanism
One thing that I’ve heard from a lot of the sleep scientists and doctors out there is that you can’t pay off sleep debt. Even if you are two hours behind on sleep, your brain actually stops functioning at the regular pace. So can you pay off that debt if you miss a few hours every week for years, and can your body recover from it?
“Don’t think because you’ve not slept two hours tonight that you’ll never recover some physical state ever again; that’s not sleep debt. [What the sleep scientists and doctors stress on is that] you can’t sleep three hours a night during the week and then sleep 15 on the weekends and think that will [cover up on the lost hours]. I would absolutely agree with the idea of sleep debt, … [and] it is something you want to avoid. I would also agree that if you want to perform cognitively and physically at your highest level, sleep should be a major core.” – Dr. Andy Galpin
Dr. Andy has worked with top-performing athletes, and one thing we all know about major league ballplayers or NFL stars is that they are constantly on the move. From traveling across different time zones to consistently performing on the field, the life of an athlete is tough. And managing a healthy sleep pattern with such a physically and mentally taxing schedule is not easy but is extremely crucial.
“We have to come up with solutions [to maintain a healthy sleep cycle], and we do recover and come back to [a solid] baseline. … Our bodies tend to like sudden spikes versus slow releases. … We’re going to see an endocrine response, which is hormone release, and we’re going to see all these physiological changes. This is what we’re after. You match it with an equal amount of rigor in recovery [through enough sleep], and you are sorted.” – Dr. Andy Galpin
According to Dr. Andy, what you don’t want is just a wandering baseline where you’re slightly under-slept or slightly overfed and have a little bit of stress. It’s definitely not the kind of stress that you want. That’s a recipe for all things bad like loss of focus, loss of productivity, or loss of relationships, and that’s not where any of us want to be.
So no matter where you are, what you do, or what time you work, train yourself to take out time daily so that your mind and body can get the rest that it needs to perform optimally.
