Last week we talked about how and why we need to recover from tasks in our 
daily life and we covered, recovering from work and technology. I challenged you to take on both of these, did you try it? How did it go? Did you notice a difference in your stress or sleep?
Today we’re moving on to the other 4 areas of our lives that we need to learn to recover from: people, fitness, food, & being awake.
Recover from people
Now don’t go thinking to yourself, but I’m not an introvert, I don’t need to ‘recover from people,’ I’m fine. Although introverts may cherish and need this time more, extroverts, I’m talking to you too!
Set aside 20-60 minutes each day for a little alone time. Think, reflect on your day, or plan—just focus on you.
If you find it hard to do, try driving the long way to work to give yourself some extra time alone. You can’t focus on much else while you’re driving so it’s the perfect opportunity! We all need a little uninterrupted, undistracted alone time in our days.
Recover from fitness
Many people that working out regularly may actually be working out too much.
If you’re waking up extra early to work out or staying up late to get to the gym, then other areas of your life may be suffering. If you’re constantly going and not allowing yourself to rest and recover, then you’re not going to get the results you want.
Research has shown that short but more intense workouts, like a 20-minute HIIT workout, are actually more effective than, say jogging for an hour. I mentioned something similar to this last week, but, I’ll say it again: be all there and give it 100% of your focus and effort and you’ll get the best results! Be aware of what type of workout you’re doing and whether you’re giving it 100%.
How do you recover from fitness? Sleeping enough and taking a day off once in a while!
Everyone needs a different amount of sleep to feel their best, but at a minimum, you should be getting 7 hours of sleep every night. If you’re getting less than that, it’s time to stop waking up early to work out and figure out a better method that will allow you to sleep longer!
And days off? Everyone needs them in order to fully recover. Try to take one day a week off to help your body recover.
Recover from food
No, I’m not talking about how after Thanksgiving you feel like you need to recover after eating so much turkey and mashed potatoes! I’m talking about fasting (intermittent fasting to be specific)—allowing your body time to recover from food on a daily basis.
Intermittent fasting is described as a fasting, eating pattern where you allow yourself to cycle between long periods of eating (throughout the day) and not eating (while you’re sleeping). There are a variety of proven benefits such as weight loss, lowered risk for type 2 diabetes, improved heart health, and more!
How do you fast? Set a period of 14-16 hours each day in which you’ll fast as well as an 8-10 hour mindful eating window. Most people do this by eating dinner a little earlier and breakfast a little later. If you find yourself feeling hungry before your fast is over, try incorporating more proteins and healthy fats (nuts, Greek yogurt, etc.) into your diet and reduce your carbs.
Recover from being awake
When I talked about recovering from fitness I talked about using sleep to recover. Well, you also need sleep to simply recover from life, from being awake!
If you’re not getting enough sleep, I can 100% guarantee you that you’re not as healthy and happy as you could be! While you can try to compensate for not getting enough sleep with things like caffeine, eventually it will catch up with you.
When you’re sleeping your mind and body recover—you need that recovery every single night to help your think better and feel better during the day!
Will you be incorporating any of these recoveries into your daily routine?
I hope that you’ll at least mindfully try to get more sleep if you’re not getting enough already! If you have trouble sleeping, check out this post on how to sleep better without using sleeping pills.
