16 Dec 2024

Hibernation in the modern age

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I’m currently sitting on a train that departed Birmingham Moor Street at 10:12 and will arrive into London Marylebone at around midday. If you know this journey you’ll understand that the views are amazing, especially around Warwick. I’m travelling at around 90 mph whilst watching the quiet fields, bright blue clear skies, slow moving grazing shee and the bare trees. Once again, I’m thinking about this time of year and our innate need for a period of hibernation but the unfortunate systems holding us back.. writes Will Crawford

What do I mean by ‘hibernation’? Well, not hibernating to the same degree as our furry little friends, we’ve never curled up under the roots of an oak tree and slept for a good 6-7 months, as enticing as that sounds…

I’m talking about hibernation as a period of reduced activity and increased rest. Our ability to slow down and conserve our energy. This is how it used to be for human kind for thousands of years. However, with the development of modern society, electricity and central heating, we’ve been able to create artificial environments where we can easi ignore the season - we can leave our heated home, get into our heated car, drive to our well lit, comfortably heated office and repeat on the way home. With the only interact with the outside being the chilly 7am hurry to the car.

I do believe we were once much more in tune with the changing of the seasons. Living in the Northern Hemisphere, food was never plentiful and so a low level of activity was fundamental to our survival. If we used up the same amount of energy in Winter that we do in the summer, our bodies would, as we would call it nowadays, burnout.

Why is this understanding important? I once read an interesting study in which a group of researchers gave a set of trees the perfect growing conditions at all times of the day and night. The temperature, water moisture, humidity, light intensity were all scientifical ‘perfect’ growing conditions. 24/7, no breaks. After a year, all of the trees had either died or become chronically ill and diseased.

The steady natural rhythms that nature works with are a fundamental part of our evolution. Although we may feel disconnected from these rhythms, they may have more of an impact on our health than we realise. At times, I’m sure we can feel like those trees, being forced to work around the clock without a break.

“Easy for you to say, I’ve got kids, responsibilities, it’s a busy time at work, and it’s nearly Christmas! I don’t have time to rest”. I can hear people thinking as they read this article. Well, let’s look at this from a mindfulness perspective. Never have I given out the advice: ‘just take 5-minutes for yourself’. It’s incredibly frustrating when we are given this advice. What I do say though, is take time to tune our awareness into our body and listen to what it’s telling us. What does our body need at this time of year to help it out? Only your body can tell you that, but my guess is that it probably needs more rest than it did 4 months ago.

I’m also not saying we should all turn off our radiators and go live in the woods. I’m sayi we shouldn’t be so quick to forgo our connection to nature and her seasons. Just like our body, nature is always sending us signals and messages to help us out. We just forget to listen sometimes.

Be patient and non-judgmental if you find your energy levels are lower at this time of ye than in the middle of summer. Just remember, if you’re exhausted and can’t figure out wh Well, keep in mind you should be hibernating right now.

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Their mission is to grow the practice of mindfulness through music to a mass audience; with their practice being globally recognised as a highly effective wellbeing intervention.

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