The Three Rs: Why Rhythm and Repetition Will Get You More Rest. How To Instill Good Habits and Get Better Health This Holiday Season

(reprint from December 2022)

By Dr. Trina Ting

The holidays are a joyous time of year. Like many big events, they are filled with a lot of highs and lows. Many people often report it being a time of stress: financial, physical, emotional and mental burdens weigh on us heavily, and we wonder why we feel burned out during the happiest season.

How can we manage our busy lives, caring for others, and then care for ourselves? While the term self-care is used more than ever, it can simply feel like another thing we are failing to do. How can we put ourselves first and still get everything done? If we are not healthy, nothing else matters. Your children, pets, elderly parents, your boss: they need you healthy. Even if they grumble at time spent away from the immediate need at hand, you have to come to terms with the fact that a bit of whining now will prevent a full-blown crisis (or toddler tantrum) of mental health later.

There are a few strategies we can do now, and explain how Rhythm and Repetition can slowly earn back pockets of true Rest. And we’re not going to discuss it in the context of another “R” word: Resolutions, which quite frankly, are a source of stress itself. We don’t need more pressure and another thing on our to do list.

Rhythm: Learn to Love Predictability

My patients have often heard me say that if nothing is new, that hopefully that’s a good thing. I think we tend to undervalue stability in a world where it seems that every new achievement or milestone must be met now and documented on social media. The first step to building a new habit is making it predictable in your life and boring (in a good lway).

For example, you want to start taking your vitamins daily. A simple way to start is by placing your vitamins in the same place every day, preferably somewhere highly visible where you cannot miss it. If you take them with breakfast, place it at your coffee maker or tea pot. Train your brain to rely on the predictability of this occurrence by giving your items a regular place, if the habit you’re trying to instill requires an object.

This would look different if your goal is less tangible, for example wanting to do your deep breathing exercises every morning. If you are glued to your phone as many of us are, you can use your digital calendar or tasks to remind you. Studies on habit forming have shown however, that too much rigidity in scheduling can actually backfire, so we consider predictability in the light of being flexible. Allow yourself to postpone your breathing exercises to lunch time or before bed some days. The key with predictability is simply just to get it done on a daily (or weekly, monthly, etc) basis, and it matters less when.

Think about how much time we waste searching for your keys in the morning when we are rushing out the door for example. Many people subscribe to the rhythm of placing their keys in a bowl by their door to avoid that. Where else in your routine can you do this?

Sameness is not to be feared. Sameness allows for long-term results to be achieved and maintained. You see your dentist for the 2-3x/year cleaning, and ideally they tell you the same thing: teeth are now clean, floss and brush regularly, and we’ll see you in 4 months. It’s when they tell you something different that there’s cause for concern. I see the same thing with people’s spinal health as a chiropractor every day, and the best times for spinal maintenance treatments are when we simply do the same thing on the same spine, because it has worked and continues to keep them healthy. So embrace being boring!

Repetition: Learn to Like It Over and Over and Over Again…

While we define predictability and Rhythm as setting up our life to accommodate new healthy habits that will become a part of our every day life, Repetition is what gets us there. This is of course, knowing that the habit is effective and helpful.

Exercising your muscles builds strength because repeating the same action ten times in a row, breaks down tissue so it can be built back up again. It also rewires the brain to learn the pathways and accept this new routine mentally.

For example, you desire better posture. I gave you the neck stretches and shoulder rolls to achieve that, with the explanation that repetition will retrain your body to eventually make that the default position. However, with repetition, those exercises trains the neurology of your body to make the shift from it being a conscious action to a subconscious action. Basically, repetition of a habit will allow it to shift from having to think or remember to do it, to finding yourself doing it without even thinking.

How many times have we driven home on the same route only to get home without remembering the ride at all? The subconscious brain steered you home, and repeating the same actions will eventually steer you in the right direction as well. You might as well select a good destination.

Rest: The Ultimate Goal and Why It’s Within Your Reach

I’ll be brutally honest: 7-8 hours of good quality sleep a night is simply not achievable at this stage in life for many. Especially around the holidays and there is a lot going on, sleep may temporarily be disturbed and we feel like we are running ragged. I’m not going to go on about sleep: we all know it’s important. I’m going to discuss the third R, REST. The whole reason to increase more Rhythm and Repetition in our lives is to get more rest and improve our health.

For this purpose, Rest can simply be a moment of quiet and introspection. It can be more moments of deep breaths before beginning that important work presentation. Rest can be simply taking the time to close your eyes for exactly three minutes in your office chair uninterrupted. This is how I recommend we sneak in rest. And by building in more Rhythm and Repetition in your day, we can free up incremental moments of time in which we can take care of our physical and mental state. For you, rest might be a 10 min walk around your office building. Whatever your definition of rest is, we want to find these elusive free minutes of your day to make that a priority.

Rest is extremely important for our health. Our brain and body need breaks in order to function better; in some ways, we are not too different from computers that need to be rebooted occasionally in order to operate better.

Do not feel the pressure to do this all yourself. Ask for help. Automate where you can. Be that person who schedules as many things as possible out but still be flexible to change. Many of us don’t have personal assistants, but we can use digital apps and other people to help us. We witness this every day in our clinic: our role in helping people improve their health with chiropractic care is to also take the burden of stress off booking the appointments and managing their care clinically and administratively, to the best of our abilities.

With that said, please find the time to give yourself some rest this season. Even if it’s just 5 minutes of deep breathing a day, you may be surprised at how implementing some Rhythm and Repetition in your life allowed for that to happen, and all the positive benefits that will come from it.