Mindfulness at 3 a.m.

You’re deep in sleep, probably around 3 AM, when you feel the tap from an unknown person hovering over your face. Instincts take over as you, in one motion, yelp at an octave you didn’t realize you were capable of and leap out of bed ready to fight.

“Daddy”, the intruder whispers. “I have to pee.” Quickly, your brain catches on to what’s happening and you lower your clenched fists. It turns out that your home was never in danger from your toddler, but it’s too late. Your adrenaline spiked, and by the time it drops enough to fall back asleep, your alarm goes off.

It’s now time for your daily commute. Traffic conditions are good, which in L.A. means that going 10 miles will take roughly half of remaining life. Along the way, middle fingers fly, horns sound, and you grumble words under your breath that you’d never say in front of your kids. The rest of the day follows a similar, stressful pattern and your cortisol levels stay elevated.

Too much of something thing is a bad thing. Water, for example, is the cornerstone of all life, but if there’s too much of it, you drown. Similarly, cortisol is one of the most useful, life-preserving tools in our survival utility belt. Without it, our paleolithic ancestors would be the equivalent of a happy meal for saber toothed cats. But, if there is no low tide to your cortisol levels, you’ll be perpetually locked in a fight or flight state.

So, what’s the issue? Well, when cortisol levels are high, your body temporarily suppresses other functions like digestion, tissue repair, reproduction, bone formation, and hormone and immune system function. All of these are things that are vital for longevity, but probably not as important when you’re being chased by the aforementioned saber tooth cat.

The real issue is when cortisol levels never return to baseline. Let’s take digestion as an example. If left in a stressed state, your body will never be able to realize the full nutrient potential of the food you’re eating because it’s prioritizing the tax return you have to submit before April 15.

There’s a reason mindfulness is one of the focuses that gives Functional 5 Health its name. Even now, after finishing my health coaching certification, mindfulness registers in my brain as being almost mystical. Breath work, meditation, and vagal tone stimulation have a supernatural twinge to them, but here’s the thing, they work.

I’m not challenging you to meditate for hours or do a social media fast, but something I’ve seen success with when anxiety takes over is pausing to breathe. In increments of 4 seconds, breathe in, hold, breathe out, and hold. Then, repeat until you feel the hair on the back of your neck settle back into place. The result comes more like the sun setting than a light switching off, so be patient with yourself. This isn’t voodoo, but the gradual feeling of calm is magical.

Here’s the hard part… It takes time to reset. And it’s easy to think that it doesn’t work when, two minutes after doing a breathing exercise, your next stressful trial comes and you have to stop to breathe again. As with the most worthwhile things in life, this takes effort. Keep at it. If you do, you’ll find that there is peace to be found in the chaos. And the next time your toddler wakes you up at 3 A.M., if you take a moment to breathe, you may just fall back asleep a little faster.