Anat Baniel writes on her website (anatbanielmethod.com), “When we bring attention to what we feel as we move, the brain immediately starts building billions of new neurological connections that usher in changes, learning and transformation.”
Did you know that your brain also needs to clean out the old to make room for these new neurological connections, in other words, new learning?
And just how does your brain do that?
Every time you sleep.
Yes, when you sleep your brain eliminates no longer used connections as well as streamlines the ones you have been forming.
Imagine your brain is like a garden. For a garden to be healthy it will have new growth (the new learning), but it also needs tending. The weeds need to be pulled and the roses need to be pruned.
This is what your brain is doing when you sleep. It does the weeding (recycling pathways you no longer use) and pruning (making the pathways you do use more efficient).
A sleep-deprived brain is not getting to clear out the old and make room for the new.
Functioning on a sleep-deprived brain is like trying to find your way through an overgrown forest with no trails and dense undergrowth. You end up having to create your own path, which is slow-going and inefficient.
A brain that has had enough sleep works as though you are strolling through a beautiful botanical garden with cleared pathways and well-placed foliage and flowers.
Your brain creates space – up to 60% by this process of self-cleaning so that you can have lots of room to absorb and synthesize new information – space to learn.
Ever feel like after doing intense, focused work that you want to take a nap or go to bed early?
Based on what your brain does when you sleep, you can complete your project or learn something new with greater ease and have a higher quality, more desired outcome by taking that nap or going to bed early and working on it again later.
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I used to feel guilty about getting enough rest. Thought I had too much to do.
Discovering that getting enough rest actually makes me more productive is amazing. Reading Anat’s article on what takes place in the brain when it is at rest reinforces this belief. I feel better physically, mentally and emotionally.