Your Body Loves a System

When you don't know what to do, wait a week

Years ago, I had a memorable gym teacher. Besides rope-climbing, basketball, and touch football, he taught a weekly health class. He wasn’t a board-certified physician, just a savvy instructor giving sound advice that involved a bunch of Ehs and OKs.

In the health class, he emphasized how important our bodies are. “You only have one. Take care of it, OK?” He was energetic, expressive, and engaging, often using exaggerated gestures — a quarterback, a second baseman, a jump shot — to draw attention. He wore the same outfit every day with no regard for style: shiny black pants with no crease, a white, sweat-stained shirt, a black bow tie, and some kind of ugly shoes; stiff, high-top black clunkers meant only for gym teachers and not for public wear. He wore wireless glasses and bore a snarky, confident smile.

As a bonus, he was my baseball coach. “Eddie, get down, get ready, don’t wait for the ball to come to you. Eh? OK?”

One thing he taught was, “Your body loves a system. You’re wondering what I am thinking, Eh? OK. You should. Well, I mean, be consistent in your activities. OK? All right? Try to do the same thing at the same time every day. Eh, OK? Eat at the same time, go to bed at the same time, get eight hours of sleep, learn how to have fun, play games, and relax. And do it in an orderly fashion. Your body will love it. Eh. OK?”

No, I never forgot those words. I tried to live by them. Yes, I know, I admit I have a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but that’s not so bad, is it? And I thought, “If I’m going to advise on good health practice, I’d better practice it myself.”

So, it has dawned on me over the years that his advice was good; the body loves a system, values regularity and predictability, and wants the genies to work together utilizing the marvelous mechanisms our bodies have offered.

Our body functions as an integrated system. Optimal performance requires coordination between various parts. Here's what I mean.

Think of it this way: your heart pumps blood, your lungs oxygenate it, your digestive system supplies nutrients, and your kidneys filter out waste. Each organ specializes in what it does best. Kinda neat. Eh? OK? ( I’m taking on the gym teacher's lexes)

Here’s another way to see it. Your nervous system, controlled by your brain, acts as the command center, sending electrical signals to perform tasks such as throwing a baseball, climbing stairs, running when threatened, and maintaining your balance.

Your endocrine system releases chemical messengers (hormones) to control processes like sleep, growth, and metabolism.

Without proper coordination, your organs would function independently and cause chaos. And poor health.

These roles have evolved over eons, driven by the need to survive. It's astonishing. Elegant. Millions of cells work together as a single, functioning whole.

A rhythm is a way of life. Rhythm or not, life is not easy because the world is full of people who:

Work too much

Sleep too little

Rarely exercise

Eat poorly

Drive too fast

Spend too little time with their families

Don’t listen to their children

Don’t give of themselves

Listen to bad information and

Introduce elements, ya know, drugs, that disrupt rhythm.

And if you think about it, many, if not all, of these things are within our control. Unlike many people in this world, we are fortunate. Like the nervous system’s control center, we can control what we eat, how we drive, and whether we exercise.

Exercise effortlessly with a sweet thought, not panic, in your mind. Don’t ‘fit-it-in.’

Take a moment to close your eyes and remain quiet, thinking, or not.

As Anne Lamott describes her frustrations … wondering why you shouldn't just go into the kitchen and have a nice glass of warm gin straight from the cat dish.

Now there’s a thought. No, don’t do that.

When you don't know what to do, wait a week.

Your body is a temple. Do not destroy it. Do not self-destruct.

Oh, and remember, “No” is a good answer.

As my wizened old gym teacher and health instructor maintained, “Your body loves a system. Eh. OK?”

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