Basic Human Needs - Vitality part I

The word Qi in Chinese

The fourth part of our basic needs according to the Naturopathic perspective is Vitality. 

Can being tired be resolved? What do I need to do to feel livelier like 10 years ago?

Chinese call this Qi, in Ayurveda it is called Prana and the more common name in most modern cultures is Life force. We all know what it feels like to be low on vitality; it is our most common state... Most do not know what it is and what makes it tick.

The Chinese say that there are three sources to our vitality;

1. Internal: We are born with a basic "Qi Battery" - when it runs out, we die...

2. Air: when we breath in air we take some of the Heavenly Qi into our body (aka Oxygen ;) )

3. Food: Nourishment gives us not only building blocks for our body, it gives us the materials for creating our vitality.

To this basic formula one can add emotional and mental vitality and of course spiritual vitality. Another aspect is motion as a source of vitality (We all know that being physically active makes us more vital).

A tool that is important to understanding vitality is sleep. We all need sleep. Sleep is the mode of consciousness most useful for regenerating vitality. Without enough sleep we are like an uncharged battery - with potential vitality that is unavailable for long...

Naturally, our vitality depends on both how much we charge up as well as how much we discharge / use up as we go about our lives. Spending our vitality wisely is crucial for at times we can have great vitality building habits and still feel exhausted because we spend it all and more on a daily basis...

The above may seem rather simple - and it can be. Then again we tend to make our lives a lot more complicated then they need to be - and with vitality more than ever. My goal in this blog entry is to clarify some of the above so as to help you understand the basics. I hope that after reading this you will know where to turn to next time your feel tired.

The first thing I ask a tired person is: "How many hours of night sleep do you get?" And "When do you go to sleep?". 

The Chinese claim that sleeping 23:00-3:00 is crucial thus going to sleep at 22:00 makes for a good night. Sleep studies show that most adults need around 8 hours of sleep. My simpler answer to this is - sleep till you don't need an alarm clock! For many this solution sounds hilarious - they just go out on the town at 22:00 so how can they possibly get to bed by then? Others claim they only get their children to bed by 21:00 so this leave only an hour with their husband or wife. Bottom line is simple - either you sleep well and enough or the quality of your life drops accordingly since your vitality drops. It's all about prioritization.

The funny thing is many tired people say they have no idea why they are so tired and then tell me they sleep 5-6 hours a night......

The second thing I pay attention to with tired people is to how they breathe. Very few people breathe optimally now-a-days. It's amazing how shallow and erratic the average breath taken is. And worst - people don't normally notice it! Exercising your breathing muscles is just as needed as any other muscle. More so, no other exercise is efficient when you breathe badly.

The third aspect I focus on is food. Nourishment allows for vitality. It is the basic relationship between the basic human needs. Each sustains the others. What people eat today on average has very little vitality in it. It is overly processed, made from low grade materials and the additives that are inserted take away the last of its value. Whole grains, unrefined oils, non-roasted nuts and seeds, fresh vegetables, sprouted legumes - all these are examples of wholesome foods that, when prepared wisely, can contribute a lot to our vitality.

Food preparations can radically alter the vital value of our foods. Steaming, gentle cooking and stir frying are all good examples of food preparation that retains a lot of the vitality. Raw is very often the best but here there is a catch - digesting raw food consumes more energy by the digestive system then cooked food. If our vitality is low this can actually cause us to feel more tired and even at times to fail with the digestion all together. Such situations benefit from gentle cooking more. The opposite can be said about the following cooking methods: Deep frying, microwave cooking, grilling over live coals (Barbecue...) and the likes. These techniques kill the food vitality leaving it devoid of any real value and otherwise damaging our health. A simple alternative for barbecue is using a stone based gas grill. Heat up the stones well, turn off the gas and barbecue to your hearts delight :) .

A lesser known aspect of food and vitality is food intolerance. If we over consume foods (Like we often do with wheat) our body can develop food intolerance to it. It is not the classical allergy response but behaves somewhat similarly by creating a myriad of symptoms in response. The most basic common response is low vitality. Varying your eating habits and going to a professional Naturopath or Holistic Nutritionist for an elimination diet can save you from this predicament.

We don't have to be tired. If you are tired (Or if someone says you are - but that's for the next blog post) go through the check list and do something about it. Your life is never going to be the same again.

[End of part I]