The power of the downstate : recharge your life using your body's own restorative systems

The power of the downstate Recharge your life using your body's own restorative systems

Sara C. Mednick

Book - 2022

"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...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."--provided by publisher.

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Subjects
Biological rhythms.
Self-actualization (Psychology)
Sleep > Physiological aspects.
Health.
Self-help publications.
Genres
Self-help publications
Published
New York : Hachette Go 2022.
Language
English
Main Author
Sara C. Mednick (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
xi, 337 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780306925795
  • Author's Note
  • Introduction
  • Part 1. Getting in the Right Ratio
  • 1. Everything You Know About Balance Needs an Upgrade
  • 2. Get in Sync with Your Inherent Rhythm
  • Part 2. Activating the Downstate
  • 3. Replenish, Revitalize, Rebuild, Restore!
  • 4. Join the Rest-o-lution, Deepen Your Sleep
  • 5. Exercise Your Right to Recovery
  • 6. You Are What and When You Eat
  • 7. Guess What? You Are Aging Now!
  • Part 3. Hitting the Reset Button
  • 8. The Downstate RecoveryPlus Plan
  • 9. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Future of the Downstate (but Were Afraid to Ask)
  • 10. Becoming a Downstate Maven
  • Epilogue
  • Domains of Action Items
  • RecoveryPlus Daily Journal
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

"Most of us live our lives as the human equivalent of smartphones running on 10 percent battery," warns Mednick (Take a Nap! Change Your Life), a psychology professor at the University of California, Irvine, in this straightforward "instruction manual invented by Nature." The key to maximizing energy and avoiding accelerated aging, Mednick posits, is spending adequate time in "the downstate," a restorative mode that gives one's body and mind a chance to recover. It's a time when "brain activity is low" and can happen during sleep, deep breathing, mindful moments, or even "on a walk around the block." When one's downstate is cut short, Mednick writes, chronic illness becomes more likely. To get the best downstate sleep, she recommends drinking caffeine only early in the day, cutting off alcohol three hours before bed, and getting to sleep by 10 p.m. On the nutrition front, readers should opt for more fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and use probiotics (though the touted fecal transplants may be a bridge too far for many). The recommendations are mostly sensible and bolstered by the studies Mednick cites throughout. Those feeling burnt out will find much to consider. Agent: Laura Nolan, Aevitas Creative. (Apr.)

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