Because nature’s rhythms affect each and every one of us in different ways, this chapter is one of the most useful ones if you want to get the very best out of your three-day break – and one, I hope, that you’ll come back to over the Weekend.
Whether it’s the 24-hour cycle of day and night or the cycle of changing seasons, the natural rhythms of the planet we live on have a profound impact on each and every one of us. We’ve seen how considering the seasons and the moon cycles is important in planning when to have your weekend away. Here I want to concentrate on thinking about organizing your activities on those detoxing days. Every cell in your body is ruled by light and, according to Chinese medicine, each organ in the body functions much better at certain times of the day or night. So imagine how much we could benefit healthwise if we were to follow our natural rhythms a little more than we usually do and work with them rather than against them!
Of course, being as close to nature as possible would entail going to sleep when it gets dark and waking up when it gets light. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go with the flow and sleep for 14 hours a night in the winter and manage on far less in the summer when there is so much more to get up for? It’s not easy to do in the 21st century, when even the birds are confused by artificial light and continue to sing through the night in built-up areas! But it’s very possible to do during your three-day Plan.
Any mother reading this is probably thinking that I’m barking mad. How on earth can a parent get even eight uninterrupted hours of sleep a night? That’s why it’s so important for you to have a child-free weekend. Just for once in your life you will be able to get the amount of sleep your body needs. You will be able to try eating at different times of the day to see what it feels like and you will be able to go with the flow.
If you can’t change your routine by going to bed and getting up any earlier after the 48-Hour Plan don’t worry – just try it for one weekend. Be utterly selfish and do what you want to do, when you want to do it. The background information and suggested timetable below is just that – information and suggestions!
body clocks
We have various internal clocks that regulate different bodily functions throughout the day. The most important is the ‘circadian rhythm’ (from the Latin ‘circa’ – about – and ‘dies’ – day) – it’s a 24-hour cycle that influences the important biological processes such as body temperature, hormone production and waking and sleeping. Problems with the circadian clock can cause all sorts of disorders – one of the most obvious is jet lag.
According to our circadian rhythm, there are two natural periods of sleep: between 10 p.m. and midnight, and between 1.30 and 2 p.m. So on all those occasions when you’ve blamed your lunch for that early afternoon slump, this drowsiness may well have been more due to your circadian rhythm, rather than to what you’ve eaten – although that plays a part as well! The Spanish obviously know something we don’t, and I for one would heartily recommend a short siesta after lunch if that’s what your body tells you it needs – especially during the 48-Hour Plan.
! TOP TIP FOR MOTHERS, SHIFT WORKERS AND ALL-NIGHT PARTIERS
If you have been up all night, 15-minute naps throughout the day are much more suited to our natural circadian rhythm than a longer sleep – so try to grab a quick quarter of an hour when you can, rather than sleeping for longer and throwing your body clock out of synch even more.
The hormone cortisol, produced by the adrenal glands for fight or flight, also rises and falls according to a 24-hour clock. Cortisol levels in the blood peak at the start of the day at around 7 a.m. but dip in the late afternoon or early evening when nature intended our hunting activities to slow down. They remain low during the night when we slept around fires which scared off wild beasts.
Body temperature follows a completely different 24-hour pattern. It increases through the day and reaches a high point in the late afternoon or early evening (a great time for sex and exercise!) and then decreases to a low a few hours after midnight: between two and four in the morning. There are more natural deaths, suicides and episodes of depression during those hours than at any other time of the day or night. I can’t help thinking there must be a connection.
There are good times to carry out certain activities for your body processes. If we eat, sleep and eliminate at the optimum time, even if it is only for three days, we’ll reap the benefits of nature’s vitality and strength.
Here is an example of a 24-hour clock incorporating Indian Ayurvedic principles, the Chinese method of linking certain organs to certain times of the day, our natural circadian rhythm and the way the human body has evolved over the last few thousand years, I’m not suggesting that this clock should be a blueprint to be followed religiously during the Weekend, because I believe that you should only do what you want with ‘your’ time without having to refer to a rigid timetable. But I hope you’ll find it useful and interesting, and at least try some of the suggested time slots (also before or after your 48-hour break). It’s your plan and your choice!
suzi’s optimum body clock
morning
6–7 a.m.: According to all the research I’ve done, one of the keys to a healthier life is waking up at the right time and in the right way. Ideally, this should be without an alarm clock and around sunrise, which could be as early as 4 a.m. in the summer, or as late as 8 a.m. in the winter. Some of us ‘owls’ find it very difficult to become ‘larks’, but these tips have helped me change from a lifetime of staying up late to someone who can’t bear to miss a second of sunlight!
You may, initially, need an alarm clock to wake up at such an ungodly hour while your system adjusts to the new schedule. Set it for 7 a.m. at the very latest if you want to become a lark. Always get out of bed no matter how you feel, put some classical or new-age music on, and get on with your daily routine. By the evening you should feel tired enough to go to bed earlier than normal, enabling you to reset your biological clock. At first you willfeel tired and slightly jet-lagged but eventually – I promise – you’ll feel better when you wake up and realize that you suddenly have all this extra ‘me’ time in the day!
! TOP TIP FOR RELUCTANT LARKS
If your hours are really out of synch with nature’s rhythms, and a sudden change would be too difficult to cope with, instead try adjusting by setting your alarm clock progressively earlier. Every three or four days move your waking time ahead by 10 or 15 minutes. Gradually you will start feeling sleepy earlier in the evening and your body will soon adjust to its new rhythm.
This is the time of the day to have soothing music on in the background, to do stretching and breathing exercises and have some quiet time, even if you have to hide in the bathroom to accomplish this!
Having a drink of warm water and lemon now, instead of tea or coffee, will really wake up the digestive system and, because 5–7 a.m. is large intestine time, this is the perfect time to move your bowels. Having a poo as soon as you can after waking allows your body to get rid of toxins and waste that have been accumulating in your system overnight. Starting a new day with clean insides is not something many of us can find the time to do. But if you lock yourself in the bathroom and just sit there for 5 to 10 minutes every morning, the bowel will eventually do the job it’s supposed to do and get into a regular and natural cycle.
7.30–8.30 a.m.: This is the time of day when exercise will best boost your energy levels. Try a 20-minute gentle jog, or 30 minutes of brisk walking, outside in the fresh air and sunlight. This will really wake you up and speed up your metabolism which, in turn, will promote weight loss. If it’s winter you may well want to move this session to a little later when it’s lighter, and wrap up warmly! If the weather is really foul, you could stay inside and do the suggested yoga exercises.
8–9 a.m.: A good time to moisturize and massage your skin. Following a skin-brushing session, have a warm bath or shower and then do the suggested self-massage technique.
Between 7 and 9 a.m. is stomach time, so start the day with a hearty breakfast. You are ‘breaking a fast’, so the body needs lots of nutrients at this time, in the form of fruit, grains and nuts. Warm porridge will sustain you for longer during the winter months and the smoothie (recipe in chapter 14) will keep you going during spring, summer and even autumn.
Try and eat breakfast within an hour of exercise. This means the carbohydrate content is converted to glucose quickly, rather than stored as fat, and will go straight to the muscles that need it.
10 a.m.-midday: The best time for doing research or admin – obviously not during the Plan! But a great time for reading, relaxing and thinking!
Midday: The body needs a snack because your brain has used nearly a quarter of the available glucose by now. Seeds and nuts with dried fruit will be the best snacks for maximum brain energy. (This is also the most beneficial time to have a cup of coffee if you are still having just the one a day!)
Go for a walk around this time as your body temperature and energy levels will be starting to decline between now and 2 p.m.
afternoon
1–3 p.m. is small intestine time, so now is the best time for the absorption of nutrients. Make sure your lunch is packed full of vitamins and minerals from fresh fruit and vegetables, seeds and nuts, pulses and brown rice.
2 p.m.: The usual time for our natural body rhythm to slow right down. Have a catnap of no more than 15 minutes, if you can.
Between 3 and 5 p.m. is bladder time, and between 5 and 7 p.m. is kidney time, so drink extra water between 3 and 7 p.m. to help flush your system. (But remember to have the right amount and to leave a gap before eating your evening meal.) This is also the worst time of the day for sugar cravings. A glass of fruit juice, or a cup of herbal tea, and a snack of seeds, nuts and fruit will help stabilize your blood-sugar levels.
6 p.m.: The best time to go to the gym as your body temperature has risen to its highest level and your muscles will be nice and warm. During the 48-Hour Plan, this is a good time to go for a 30-minute brisk walk or do the yoga exercises, as you may want to avoid the gym.
evening
The best time to eat supper is between 6 and 8 p.m. so that your body has a fighting chance of breaking the food down and assimilating its nutrients before you go to sleep (when it should be repairing your cells rather than digesting food). Nature is expecting us to ease off from our ‘hunting’ activities at this time of the day so we should eat ideally not much later than 6 p.m. so that digestion would be completed by around 10 p.m. Late meals require an increase in metabolism when we should be slowing down, and this can disrupt your sleep pattern.
You’ll be pleased to hear that alcohol has less of a negative effect now than at any other time of the day because the blood absorbs it more slowly in the evening as there is more food in the system. So if you’re going to have a drink (NOT during the Weekend), now’s the time.
7–9 p.m. is Circulation Sex time (in Chinese medicine) – the best time for the reproductive organs. Interestingly, in Western medicine this time slot has also been found to be the best time for sex because sperm production peaks at around 4 p.m. and ovulation normally takes place between 3 and 7 p.m. on an ovulating day! It’s a good time for sex even if you are not trying for a baby as the body will be winding down and de-stressing.
9–10 p.m. is a good time to cleanse – so a bath, steam or massage would really benefit you around now. It’s also important to unwind, so make it a relaxing bath, meditate or do some yoga exercises. Do anything that helps slow you right down such as reading, talking, listening to soothing music or even having a gentle walk around the block.
Watching TV at this time is not brilliant because it excites the nervous system, even if the programme is low-key. This also applies to working or sorting out your bills. You don’t want to be doing anything at this time that gets your brain going. Try to avoid watching TV or doing any work after 8.30–9 p.m. This will allow the system a quiet hour to settle down before bed! (And of course you won’t be doing either during the Weekend, will you?)
10–11 p.m.: If you want to bound out of bed early in the morning, you’re going to need to be in bed by around 10 p.m. the night before. If you’ve had a relaxing, stimulus-free evening, this will be much easier. Don’t get agitated if you can’t sleep, just relax.
From 11 p.m.-3 a.m. is gall bladder and liver time, so the body’s best chance of cleansing and repairing itself is going to be during those hours. If you know the expression ‘an hour’s sleep before midnight is worth two hours after midnight’, these organ times make sense. If you want strong collagen and, therefore, good skin it’s important to get as much deep sleep as possible before 3 a.m. As you know from experience, the later you get to bed the lighter and more restless your sleep is. Too many nights like that and eventually chronic fatigue sets in, with mood swings and a dull complexion.
Research has also shown that people who are regularly denied sufficient sleep have a reduced number of natural killer cells in their blood to fight infections. It’s thought that sleep is needed for the brain to ‘talk’ to these immune cells, which may have become weakened during the day.
what sleep does for you
Boosts the immune system.
Rests the heart and central nervous system.
Enables all the organs to repair themselves.
Repairs muscles.
Nocturnal growth hormones repair the skin.
Improves mood.
Makes us brighter!
Your bedroom should be a sleeping room, so avoid watching TV or working in it. You should start feeling sleepy, naturally, when darkness falls. If you don’t, a pre-bedtime cup of soothing camomile tea or snacks such as bananas, cottage cheese, or turkey – anything full of the amino acid tryptophan – will help you sleep better and shouldn’t interfere with your digestion too much. (None of these are on the menu during the 48-hour detox, so use one of the bath suggestions in chapter 8 instead.)
If you can’t get to sleep, instead of putting the light on and reading, which will stimulate the brain, rest with your eyes closed and adopt a ‘I don’t care if I don’t sleep’ attitude. Recognize that falling asleep is out of your control and is up to nature – trying to sleep doesn’t work, and nor does counting sheep!
It’s important to arrange to do nothing during the three day Plan so that it won’t matter if you don’t get to sleep till the middle of the night – you’ve got all the following day to catch up! Even if you are notsleeping, your body is still getting much-needed rest and it’s far better to be in bed with the lights out during this early and important part of the night than to be up and about. Remember, this Weekend is all about getting back in touch with nature, having a completely stress-free three days, and looking after yourself.
And, as you’re now well aware, the organ we need to nurture as much as possible during any detox plan is the liver. So the whole of the next chapter is dedicated to giving your liver the best possible food and using techniques to help it detoxify and help you reach optimum health and weight.