Bra(i)n Flush

This post is particular to a person, so please forgive the direct nature of it.
I think that there is a huge lack of understanding about our bodies that begins from an early age. By the time you are old enough to actually learn and remember, all primal biological knowledge begins to be “educated” out of you. In the process of adjusting to this societal structure we live in we need to reject many biological urges, but not all of them. Your body knows what it needs, and it even knows how and where to get it. Sometimes these needs cause addictions, sometimes they cause avoidance practices. If you train your body to crave the release of chemicals in the brain, you have created an addiction. Whether it is for caffeine or conflict, it’s there. Being mindful of this allows one to recognize the habits we have that fall into a cycle of addiction. This sounds a bit odd to compare heroin and, say, a bran muffin, but there is a physiological basis for this comparison. Obviously, heroin becomes wildly addictive almost immediately and is very dangerous. But a bran muffin can become addictive too, but tends not to be as dangerous--unless it is really old and you are throwing them at people… Anyway, your body knows if it has a problem or need. If you need bran in your system, your body sends off signals to the brain. The brain in turn knows what was last eaten that filled this bran need and sends a little blip on your radar saying: “Hey, I’m a bit hungry. Oh, I know! How about a bran muffin?” In turn, off you go to hunt for the sudden craving you had. These of course can be adjusted (read the previous two posts) for both better and worse. If you relish the effects of large quantities of bran in your system, you will hone that need to a clear craving and eventually turn it into a habit. With that brief outline of your body, and a quick mention about how unprepared we are to use our body, here are the three most important things we can do for the body (in my opinion).
1. Eat (healthy preferably, but sustenance of some sort)
2. Exercise (nothing major necessary, walk around, deep breathe, even meditation)
3. Sleep
To keep the body running we need these things. We take them for granted since they are essentially impossible to go without. We no longer forage for food or have to build a shelter for us to sleep in. Of course, if we did we would take care of the exercise part but those basic needs have been filled in our society. Once the importance of those elements has been diminished, it ceases to be instinctual, much less taught. Boy Scouts may be able to make a lean-to, but why? So they can show it to their Daddy’s when they come to pick them up in his SUV with Spongebob on the DVD player? I love my Tahoe by the way, so I am not condemning the niceties of this existence, but the body is a machine like your SUV. It is in fact the most complicated machine in the universe, except for the universe itself and that’s debatable. Each cell as it divides passes on its traits, and your habits. If you like bran, the next time the cell divides, it will provide more receptors for the chemical that the bran produces, thus increasing your desire for bran. This will continue, and moreover, the added receptors for your habits will actually reduce the receptors of that cell for other chemicals. Even the ability of the individual cell to expel waste can become hindered by the increased habitual receptors. The three important points I made above are necessary to keep your body aware of its internal chemistry. Adequate and preferably healthy food will allow each and every cell to function at its best. Exercising physically keeps everything flowing, but even if it is meditation, it allows your brain to “normalize” its chemical production. Finally, sleep, is one of the most important activities or in-activities you can provide to your body. All of those millions of cells need a rest. When you are asleep your body gets to relax, your muscles rebuild, your brain releases all kinds of good chemicals, and your subconscious gets to come out and play. Use this post as an excuse to sleep. Lie down and wallow in the comfort of your bed, push your brain to rehash your day. Think about what happened, how healthy you ate, whether you had too many bran muffins. Then, as your eyelids droop, think of all those cells that are either winding down or winding up for your rest, and let them help you drift off to sleep.