12-Minute Read
Written by: Coach Stephen Burba
What is Recovery?
I have spent a lot of time thinking on how to explain Recovery to people. I have thought about leading in with myth-busting on protein, joining the “more sleep” brigade, and even thought about going to war with the anti-CWI (cold water immersion) populus. But, none of those sat right with me. I don’t want to make this a “side taking” piece. I want this to change your perspective on not only how you understand recovery, but also how you understand life. What I want most is for you, after reading this, to reflect on your life and immediately know how to change food, routines, intensities, etc. in a way that optimizes your living experience and increases your capacity to truly live a full and healthy life. For us to grasp this concept of recovery, we must first understand what life is.
For the nerds out there, a deeper rabbit hole blog will be written in regards to life & its constant cycle of proving its existence and battling entropy. For the need of simplicity however, I want you to understand “life” as this: the constant cycle of being challenged and recovering from these challenges. Our challenges come in all forms and intensities and can last mere seconds to years or even our lifetime. These variables to our challenges matter more than we give them credit for because when it comes to learning and recovering from these challenges, we must match the challenge variables with recovery variables. Only when these variables are matched do we finally adapt to the challenge and return to a balanced life or a neutral state; a state known as homeostasis. I would like to think we all know most of our challenges and stressors (it should be noted that a challenge and a stressor are the same and these words are interchangeable). We face obstacles everyday. But, beyond the basics of recovery, most of us don’t know the magnitude of variables, resources, and strategies there are for recovering. Which is why we are here, reading this. So, let us begin. Before we discuss recovery variables, let's understand what recovery itself actually is and the resources it needs to be optimal.
Recovery is a function of life that is responsible for learning and for managing entropy. I know, I have snuck in some nerd language, I’ll rephrase. It is a function of life that manages resources in a way that allows the body to learn and repair from stress. In fact, recovery and learning, much like challenges and stressors, are interchangeable. We have not fully recovered from something if we have not completed learning it. And, since we are constantly challenged to some degree every day, we also are trying to recover from challenges every day. When this constant cycle of life starts to tip out of balance, we begin drifting into unhealthy territory. In order to keep the scales balanced, we must utilize and replenish our resources for recovery. Here are the whats and hows to accomplish just that.
Resources of Recovery
The most obvious resources are nutrients (vitamins, minerals, water, protein, fats, and carbs) and sleep. Sleep is one of the most needed resources there is. Every aspect of learning/recovery occurs when we sleep. We create new memories, new movement patterns, new behaviors, repair the body, flush toxins, etc. when we sleep. So we must ensure that we get quality sleep that occurs in a safe environment. I will discuss this more a little later. But, before I do that there are a couple more resources I want to shine light on…literally.
Sunlight. Yes, sunlight is a resource. Have you heard of your circadian rhythm? Your internal clock that controls the on/off process to almost every function in your body. There are countless studies on the effects of sunlight on us. Graveyard shifts destroy mental health mainly because of the lack of sunlight. Low sunlight is associated with a lot of common diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, and chronic depression. When the sun touches our skin first thing in the morning it is a literal wake up call to our “daytime” metabolism. Just 15 minutes of sunlight in the morning can boost mental health and metabolism! So yea, I would say that is a needed resource. And since I mentioned mental health I’ll drop the next two resources here. Emotions and Socializing.
Emotional Energy is real. It isn’t voodoo or made up, it is an actual energy source and an important one at that. Without emotional energy we could not fuel learning. For example, we learn faster about things we like (hobbies) or about things that are dangerous. These events/lessons are learned and recovered from quickly because we have an emotional attachment to them. I, personally, will even go as far as saying that that is how we prioritize learning when we sleep. Whatever challenges that transpired throughout the day that had the highest emotional energy attachment will be recovered from; will be learned, first. And also, this resource, like all energy resources, is finite. We only have so much emotional energy to give per day before we can no longer learn effectively and need to replenish.
A social life, or the sense of being a part of a community, is an important mental health resource. The simple and also philosophical reason why this is; if there were no other living creatures around me for me to interact with, then how would I know that I am alive? We need to know we exist. If we begin to think we don’t exist or that our reality is unclear, the body will begin to feel threatened all the time. No environment will feel truly safe and we will never be able to recover. Sure, there are plenty of people out there who do not like to socialize or have anxiety about it or are hermit crabs. However, they know there are other living things around them. They walk past others at the grocery, or they work with them etc. Even isolated people, self sustaining, have a bond with their plants and living ecosystem. There are a whole lot of nerdy important reasons for this resource but we won’t go that far. However, this does lead us to our last two main resources for learning and recovery.
These last two overlooked resources are time and shelter. How much time do we spend in a challenging environment versus in an environment that allows us to recover? Example, a child's first day of school. Their challenging environment is the school. They are guessing about it, interacting with it, and being stressed in every facet of existence while in that environment. Then, we have the environment which allows them to recover from this experience, their home; their shelter. Our shelter should be a place where we are free from challenges or at least the challenges are low enough that we can tackle them without breaking a sweat. If I spend too much time in a stressful environment and not enough time in a safe space then I will be slipping more and more out of balance. To take these two resources a little further, I would emphasize how much time one spends in a sympathetic (fight/flight/challenged) state vs a parasympathetic (flow/freeze/relaxed and safe) state. This is important because we will not try to start a recovery process in an unsafe or challenging environment. It is a natural survival mechanism that ensures our internal resources are where they are supposed to be, either facing the challenge/running away from it or recovering from it. If we are being challenged, then we will have our energy placed in our muscles, adrenals, etc to make sure we have the highest odds of success. Once the stress is over (truly over), and we feel safe, then we can internalize and learn/recover from it. This is why shelter must be safe and relaxing to optimize recovery and we must allow enough time in this space for that process to be completed. Take these two resources seriously because they affect our quality of sleep as mentioned earlier. With that being said, we can begin seeing the larger picture of recovery.
Application
Let us get out of concepts and definitions and into examples for better application. Every situation is unique. Every person is unique. How we recover and learn is important because life's compounding stressors, either by choice or by circumstance, will always be there. We need to not only understand our recovery resources but also how to manipulate and replenish them to optimize recovery. Here is what I would recommend as quick changes to our lifestyles and training that help level the field.
Training
To start, let us look at the various forms of high intensity training. It could be heavy resistance training, high impact training like plyometrics or fighting, athletic performance training, cardiovascular training like VO2 max training, the list can go on. So how do we analyze this? Start with time. How much time per week or day do we spend in this high intensity state? Take that and begin incorporating time spent on the other side of it; relaxed and safe. Find what your minimum amount of personal time is needed to balance X amount of high stress time. Then, plug and play. More intensity, more relaxation. If it is high impact training, then we need time in low impact environments, etc. Optimizing time will allow the nutrients and sleep side of things to be more effective.
Anxiety & Depression
Outside of physical training, we have the mental side of stress & recovery; anxiety and depression. To recover/learn from anxiety we must know what it is and the resources it needs. To keep it simple, anxiety is another of life's functions that exists to make us take action on upcoming challenges. We only get anxious about the future, how we will handle it, the scenarios that may occur, and how we will feel during it. We get anxious so that energy is readily available BEFORE something happens. The scarier or the more unknown the future event is, the more energy we will produce to handle it. This means, to learn from anxiety, we must act in a way that better manages the future. We must do something that makes us use that energy to resolve the upcoming concern. This could be as simple as writing a plan or to-do list, doing research to gain knowledge about the unknown, etc. Having a daily practice that keeps your future in check is a good strategy for working with anxiety and ultimately recovering from it. If your future events are out of your control, use training to burn off that anxious energy as your management tool. Yes, training is stressful but, the fact that it is positive stress that you are mostly in control of helps extinguish that anxious energy and put us in a safer mindset. When it is all said and done, recovering from anxiety requires using that anxious (physical) energy and following it up with appropriate time spent in an unanxious state and a safe environment.
This “unanxious” state that tends to follow anxiety is introspection, or more commonly heard of as depression. Technically, anytime we become introspective, we are in a state of depression. Like anxiety, depression is a function of the body that puts energy towards self reflection. This function exists because we need to reflect to analyze and learn. After every stressor, there is a reflection to know if we handled the stress well or not. If not, we will think of a way to handle it better next time. The more intense the challenge, the more intense the following introspection will be. As mentioned earlier, emotional energy is fuel and introspection is the function it fuels. Without feelings, we could not fuel the learning process of introspection. To truly recover from depression, we must use the emotional energy to create a new plan of attack to handle the stress better or reinforce the actions we took to manage it the first time. Or, simply put, we must feel those feelings until we know the best way to move forward. Then take action. The more we try to avoid our feelings, either through stimulants, “staying busy,” or other addictions/substance abuse, the further from recovery we get and the longer it will take. Just like training can help burn anxious energy, being around people we know and care about can help use some emotional energy. If the weight gets too heavy, “feel good” movies or books, friends and family etc can help ease some pressure. Anxiety and depression are no easy functions to handle when we don’t understand them and especially when they grow into chronic disorders. Seek help if the burdens are too much! It will help you recover mentally AND physically.
At the end of the day, to allow recovery/learning to happen, we must have our resources in check; replenish them as they get depleted. Obviously, nutrients are the easiest to replenish. Sleep would follow behind that. Emotional energy requires balance to replenish however. If your day was emotionally draining, spend time with people (community) or in environments (shelter) to get those emotions back. Make sure you allow and even schedule time for your self care. You must make time to replenish. You won’t magically have relaxation time, you have to allow time in a parasympathetic state to happen. Nothing beats a good soak in sunlight to help you relax and boost your spirits. Below is a list of our resources and best practices for them. Use this list and your awareness of stress to begin optimizing your recovery.
Optimize your sleep
Avoid stimulants: no caffeine after 12pm and no simple carbs/alcohol for dinner. Obviously caffeine will interrupt sleep but what most don’t know is that carbohydrate foods that sit higher on the glycemic index spike your sympathetic nervous system’s fight/flight response. If we do that, we interfere with your parasympathetic nervous systems function of inducing sleep. This means waiting to calm down post-carb before the process of sleep can begin.
Have a high protein/healthy fat dinner: protein requires a lot of gut energy and will help transition outward energy to inward energy. Most people feel lethargic after a meaty meal, this is why! Carbs speed you up and proteins slow you down (a little oversimplified but you get the jist). With this adaptation you get the best of both worlds; protein to help repair the body AND the appropriate meal to help fall asleep easier and faster.
Finish all your tasks before dinner: knowing that your healthy protein-packed dinner will reduce outward energy and begin your winding down process should help you understand this. We do not want to induce a stress response when we need our energy digesting food and starting our sleep process. So yes, even if it means a later dinner, get your chores, tasks, homework, etc. completed ENOUGH for you to relax with dinner and ease into bed.
Have a night time ritual: routine promotes safety and the safer we feel at night the faster our body will begin the steps for sleep. I highly recommend a ritual that consists of avoiding blue light, social media, and tv after 9pm at the latest (the earlier the better); listen to some relaxing music/sounds or read a hard copy book as a form of meditation; and breathe deeply through your nose while you wind down. All these tips increase the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system - an essential step of recovery.
Balance out your stressors
Hard Training stress: use flow training, walking outside, yoga, or some form of fun low impact stimulus that you can stay nasal breathing with and feel safe and comfortable doing.
Community stress (typically being around/working with people you don’t like): balance your community stress with socializing. Hangout with friends or family that you WANT to be around and enjoy the moments. Too much stress from this will make you not want to be around people and lead your body to thinking that your environment is not safe.
Emotional stress: Go through the feelings! Take time to feel what is going on, do not repress. Do it with people close to you or just take some time for yourself. Process the emotions and reflect. For some this may require therapy, which is an excellent self-care action.
The best practice for balancing stress is spending time in a safe and relaxing environment. This could be listening to nostalgic music while taking a walk in a park, a candlelit dinner with a loved one, meditation, a hot bath, etc. You know what helps you relax, do more of that and less rushing off to bed before unwinding; less “go go go” and more “slow.” Taking time to smell the roses actually has purpose.
Nutrients and managing inflammation
Add antioxidant-rich foods to your daily diet. This can be berries and other brightly colored fruits and vegetables. This could also come from a high variety in herbs and spices! Most spices are rich in antioxidants; garlic, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, etc.
Protein, as mentioned previously, should be biased at dinner. Light on protein throughout the day but heavy at night. This is the most optimal time to digest and use it!
Pro- and prebiotic foods/supplements drastically help with gut inflammation leading to better digestion speed and absorption of nutrients.
Hydration should be an obvious one but there you go. The more sore or stressed you are, the more water you should drink to help keep everything moving.
Contrast Showers (hot to cold, repeat), saunas, and cold water immersion are all great inflammation management systems! Try one or all, even daily.
Movement! “Motion is the lotion.” The more we move, the better the circulation and thus better nutrient transport to inflamed areas. This includes simple acts of stretching throughout the day, getting a massage, or even using a theragun.
With ANY stress comes inflammation. It is a natural recovery response. We use inflammation for nutrient transport and to battle disease/infection. However, high levels of, or chronic (long-term) inflammation will tear us down. We can only process so much inflammation at a time so if we let it build and build we will eventually “crash.” This is why high levels of inflammation lead to depression. So, we need to manage as much inflammation as we can to keep recovery efficient.
I truly hope this helped reframe your understanding of life and recovery. It is so much more than protein and sleep and balanced training programs. Recovery must be all inclusive, knowing who you are, your daily challenges, your goals and utilizing the resources available to you. Life is about balance, find yours and take life AND training to the next level.
