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The Hidden Power of the Downstate: The New Science to Ignite Energy, Enhance Sharpness, and Reclaim Balance
Leverage your built-in rhythms of Upstates and Downstates to enhance energy, sharpen thinking, balance moods, fuel fitness, and more .
If you’re like most people, the relentless daily grind of go-go-go, do-do-do, can run down your energy and deplete your resources. While most of us find our lives full of “Upstate” moments that rev up our stress engines, it doesn’t have to be this way. World-renowned sleep researcher Sara C. Mednick, PhD, shows us how we can access the most replenishing and repairing aspects of sleep through activities and moments that happen during our day by diving into our “Downstate.” Dr. Mednick shows that bringing ourselves back to the Downstate is critical for our health, well-being, and cognitive longevity.
Drawing on her original findings—and those of others across many fields of medicine—Dr. Mednick creates a comprehensive picture of the Upstate/Downstate rhythms that orchestrate all of our bodies’ vital systems, along with a novel theory that aging is caused by spending less and less time in Downstate activities. The Power of the Downstate offers practical, evidence-based insight into how we can all enable those systems to work together in better harmony. You’ll Get ready to be more alert, productive, and cognitively sharp during the day, feel greater intimacy and affection, and enjoy consolidated, restorative sleep at night . . . not to mention expand your years of mental and physical vitality.
If you’re like most people, the relentless daily grind of go-go-go, do-do-do, can run down your energy and deplete your resources. While most of us find our lives full of “Upstate” moments that rev up our stress engines, it doesn’t have to be this way. World-renowned sleep researcher Sara C. Mednick, PhD, shows us how we can access the most replenishing and repairing aspects of sleep through activities and moments that happen during our day by diving into our “Downstate.” Dr. Mednick shows that bringing ourselves back to the Downstate is critical for our health, well-being, and cognitive longevity.
Drawing on her original findings—and those of others across many fields of medicine—Dr. Mednick creates a comprehensive picture of the Upstate/Downstate rhythms that orchestrate all of our bodies’ vital systems, along with a novel theory that aging is caused by spending less and less time in Downstate activities. The Power of the Downstate offers practical, evidence-based insight into how we can all enable those systems to work together in better harmony. You’ll Get ready to be more alert, productive, and cognitively sharp during the day, feel greater intimacy and affection, and enjoy consolidated, restorative sleep at night . . . not to mention expand your years of mental and physical vitality.
- GenresNonfictionScience
Audiobook
Published April 19, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 22, 2022
This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to get truly aligned with themselves!
You might think it’s a book that is going to tell you that you should rest…..which of course is a very important message and would be worthy in and of itself. But then you start reading the introduction, and immediately see that this book helps you understand, and experience, how getting truly rested and restored requires coordinating your behaviors with your body’s natural rhythms: sleep/wake cycles, heart rate, breathing, eating, exercising and even sensual/sexual activity.
Throughout the book, the author explains -- based on science, and in simple terms, how being restored (the downstate) and being revved (the upstate) are meant to be in exquisite balance with one another.
Reading this book will change your life!!
You might think it’s a book that is going to tell you that you should rest…..which of course is a very important message and would be worthy in and of itself. But then you start reading the introduction, and immediately see that this book helps you understand, and experience, how getting truly rested and restored requires coordinating your behaviors with your body’s natural rhythms: sleep/wake cycles, heart rate, breathing, eating, exercising and even sensual/sexual activity.
Throughout the book, the author explains -- based on science, and in simple terms, how being restored (the downstate) and being revved (the upstate) are meant to be in exquisite balance with one another.
Reading this book will change your life!!
September 9, 2022
The fact that Mednick references craniosacral therapy by someone who claims to have a Phd (doesn't say in what and her web site doesn't say her credentials either. I suspect this person has a PhD from one of those degree mills) basically is all you need to know that this book isn't high quality science.
The quote she gives by the false PhD craniosacral therapist is on page 249-250. The quote she writes is, "This energetic field that the therapist and client can drop into is the domain of the deeper, broader, more spiritual, if you will, rhythms." Craniosacral therapy is nothing more than a type of massage. I've had a few sessions back in the late 2000s. It is not a medical practice.
This book is poorly written and there is little practical advice.
The quote she gives by the false PhD craniosacral therapist is on page 249-250. The quote she writes is, "This energetic field that the therapist and client can drop into is the domain of the deeper, broader, more spiritual, if you will, rhythms." Craniosacral therapy is nothing more than a type of massage. I've had a few sessions back in the late 2000s. It is not a medical practice.
This book is poorly written and there is little practical advice.
October 9, 2022
Your body has “downstate” restorative systems and processes that you can tap into in order to feel energized and perform at your best. The most restorative downstate activity is slow-wave sleep, which you can benefit from by going to bed around 10 p.m. Another top tip is that by changing your eating habits, exercise routines, and light exposure, you can shift your sleep schedule to an earlier time.
During the daytime, you can also tap into the power of the downstate by activating your parasympathetic “RESTORE” system. Three ways you can do this are deep breathing exercises, yoga inversion poses, and spending time in nature.
During the daytime, you can also tap into the power of the downstate by activating your parasympathetic “RESTORE” system. Three ways you can do this are deep breathing exercises, yoga inversion poses, and spending time in nature.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews