Oct 15, 2020 in Health Coaching

Why we always get tired at some point, even if we could get perfect balanced nutrition ?

The answer is very simple and intuitive. We get tired because our body is not good at doing several things at the same time.

13 members found this to be effective.

It's your turn now! Let's support each other by clicking "Helpful".

+1

Article cover image

DISCUSS #Relationship

DISCUSS #Parenting

The answer is very simple and intuitive. We get tired because our body is not good at doing several things at the same time.

I mean, of course, our body always does several things at the same time, but that process is not perfect. Because if it was perfect, we would never feel tired.

In other words, the body can be considered as a perfect manager of its own vital functions as long as you put time inside the equation. But, if you remove the time factor, the body is no longer a perfect manager.

Doing several things at the same time is hard because each “thing”/process (taking place inside your body) requires energy. The body has a limited amount of energy that depends on environmental factors, including quantity and quality of food. So the body has to decide how to use and prioritize the energy it possesses. For example, it is well known that when the body digests food, it prioritizes blood supply in the digestive area in order to secure a good digestion. On the other hand, if the body needs to run away from a danger, it will recruit maximum blood volume in the muscles.

From a general perspective, there is an incredible amount of processes in the body that happens at the same time, but all these processes can be categorized in two categories: yin processes (regenerative) and yang processes (“destructive”). There are also different subcategories inside yin and yang processes that I explain in one of my books (“The Electric Cell Principle”). But here, you just need to know about the conflict between intoxicating processes and detoxification processes.

Intoxication is inevitable, like Thanos (a wink to all Marvel fans). In fact, when we move, breathe, think or digest, we inevitably create toxic wastes that we need to neutralize and eliminate (CO2, various acids, reactive oxygen species (ROS), microbes, etc). Even if we were living in a perfectly clean environment, with idealistic food, we would create wastes inside our body just by the process of living. That’s why we need detoxification on a daily basis, in order to survive.

Detoxification and “intoxication” happen at the same time but, as I said,…not in a perfect manner.

So the problem is not that yang processes (energy production for moving, thinking etc) eventually starts to get “tired”. At the cellular level, there is no such thing as a process getting “tired” (unless you want to consider aging or structural defects in the long term).
The problem is that the body has not enough energy to assure at the same time perfect yang function and perfect yin function. Hence, Nature invented a mechanism (through hormones, cells signalling…) that makes our body wants to relax, in order to inhibit yang and allow yin.
Tiredness is not a foe. It is simply necessary for our survival.

Interestingly, as an ecosystem evolves, the amount of available energy increases. So, maybe, if the ecosystem continues to evolve in a beautiful and complex manner (like in the Amazonian forest), species will experience maximum energy levels that will allow them to get rid of sleep. However, that day has not come yet and, with the present destruction of the environment, the odds are not in our favour…

Ok, I understand if you are still sceptical about tiredness. I can hear you wondering: why Nature would have not developed a system perfectly capable of orchestrating both yin (regenerative) and yang (“destructive”) processes at the same time?

The evolutionist kind of answer would be: because separating yin and yang was the most cost-effective strategy for the survival of species (“Principle of Least Action”). This is a good answer, but also quite boring. Fortunately, I can give you another answer.

First you need to know that the more complex is a biological system, the more energy it requires. So, as natural history has shown, the need for complexification is greater than the need of being fully functional 100% of the time. So, even if we had more energy available, our body would probably decide to use it for the construction of a more complex inner structure, instead of using it for being more efficient in combining yin and yang processes simultaneously.

In other words, being awake has no specific definition. There are different intensity levels of wakefulness. If you have more energy you will be “more awake”, which means that you will be more active, producing more toxins, and so you will need even greater sleep/yin.

So, imagine you take a very good idealistic supplement/food that boosts your energy levels at the core of your being, in a way that your body is free to decide whether to use that energy for yin or for yang processes. Even in that case, you will probably need a yin period and a yang period, because stronger yang means stronger yin, and stronger yin means stronger yang.

From that perspective, coffee drinkers have a paradoxical behaviour. They drink coffee to remove tiredness (yang effect) without realizing that the effect of increasing yang is precisely to increase yin (tiredness) indirectly! The more intense is our activity or yang pattern, the more intense our yin needs to be in order to recover perfectly.
If yin is not as intense as yang, then it means we are nervously exhausted, our homeostasis is partially broken and we are on our way towards illness.

Now, even though perfect yin and yang simultaneity is very difficult to achieve, studies show that the rate of regeneration/recovery can improve along with structural complexity. For example, an athlete will recover much faster from exercise than a common person. This is because the quality/intensity of yin has improved along with the quality/intensity of yang. So the duration of yin processes can decrease because the intensity/quality of yin can improve.

Finally, there is probably another reason why we get tired, i.e. why we need yin and yang separation. It involves space occupation. It’s like when you’re cooking: you cannot prepare the cake on the table and eat at the table at the same time. Preparing a cake requires a lot of space because you need to dispatch tools on the table. So you cannot prepare the table for eating while you are preparing your cake. You need to finish preparing your cake before putting in order the table.
That is the same idea with body’s chemical reactions. There are yin and yang chemical reactions. When too much chemical reactions happen at the same time, each chemical reaction becomes less effective because of the dilution effect. However, despite the possibility of that phenomenon, I think that it is far from being the main reason why yin and yang need to be more or less separated.

I am still fascinated to notice how sleep is universal. Did you know that even worms need sleep ? (https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-biology/2017/08/31/what-can-tired-worms-tell-us-about-sleep/ )

Cheers !

Giovanni Navajo
Navajo Heal

Articles that helped others

Article illustration image
WikiExpert  's profile image
Feb 20, 2020
Lead a healthy lifestyle today!

Read the journey of a Certified Health Coach and learn how to overcome stress through a healthy lifestyle.

Health Coaching
Number of helpful indications
12
Article illustration image
WikiExpert  's profile image
Apr 19, 2019
Weight loss through Online Coaching

We had a very good conversation with Steph, Two-Time EMMY Nominated, Health & Fitness Expert.

Health Coaching
Number of helpful indications
8
Article illustration image
Shivani Patel 's profile image
Jul 9, 2020
Mental health & meditation

Importance of mental health

Life Coaching
Number of helpful indications
8

WikiExpert - Effective Support That Helped Others

WikiExpert - Effective Support That Helped Others

Welcome to WikiExpert! Effective Solutions Trusted by Others

Have you recently checked the "Discuss with Experts"?

Together, for Support WE TRUST!

Already have an account? Log in