I LOVE a little bit of humour in everyday life. As they say, ‘laughter is the best medicine’.
As I write this article, the obvious expression that comes to mind is ‘The early bird catches the worm’, but like every good rule there is always an exception and the exception in this case is ‘but the second mouse gets the cheese!’ – think about it.
On a more serious note, ‘The early bird catches the worm’ is basically a life message telling us that it is very important to get a good start to the day.
As this is an obvious expression of truth, if we examine different cultures we will find the same message delivered in different ways. In the Irish language there is the great Seanfhocal – Tosach maith, Leath na hoibre i.e. a good start is half the battle.
In the world of sport they will often use the expression about a team that ‘They hit the ground running’, i.e. the team got off to a good start. All of these different expressions are basically saying the same thing – get going early and make the day happen.
People who regularly do this will tell you that as a consequence of early rising that their day runs much smoother and that they get many of the their daily chores done in double quick time.
In fact they will more readily tell you that when it doesn’t happen (getting up early) that they spend the rest of their day ‘chasing my tail’.
Again to examine the real reasons that this practice bares such fruition (a very appropriate word I might add!) we must again look to our ancestors.
One of the basic aspects of our survival is our desire to consume food so this was as much of a priority for ancient man as it is today.
The main difference is that ancient man didn’t have ready access to the local supermarkets, nor did he have means of preserving food like salt (I’m talking a long long time ago!) or modern conveniences like deep freezers.
Ancient man had to rise early in order to pick the wild berries that were still available and also to hunt for the wild animals that had as of yet been disturbed. Life was thus easier for the man who rose the earliest as he didn’t have to forage as far into the local forest.
This has followed on as being a ‘Truth’ for mankind passed down through the ages – that the man who surfaced early and ‘got a good run at the day’ found that he had a clear advantage over his fellow man who chose to stay in bed.
I am well aware that I am generalising and I am also well aware that modern living doesn’t always allow for this e.g. People like factory workers, doctors, nurses, taxi drivers etc. who by no fault of their own have to work night shift.
Yes this is true of the modern world and yes it is true that some of these workers are quite happy to this, but it still raises the question of the long-term effect such changes in our living patterns can have on our bodies.
To examine this we have to observe such things as our circadian clock and our circadian rhythm which basically means how darkness and daylight effect the natural functioning of our bodies.
Modern living is here to stay but the real question is ‘what effect does modern living and – in this case particularly – changing our sleep pattern have on the performance of our bodies?’
I would argue that best practice if at all possible would to try to go with the natural rhythm of getting up early and going to bed early at night-time, but I can also hear the expression – a job is a job. Yes I agree ‘a job is a job’ but sometimes we have to ask the question – at what cost to our bodies ?
Next week I am going to write about – The benefits of Early Rising
