“Life is about rhythm.” – Mickey Hart
You’ve probably heard how good habits are key to your health and happiness. But, did you know that rhythm plays an important role in habit formation? You don’t need to be a drummer to understand rhythms. Rhythm is about how often you do things, anything from your morning routine to when you check your email. The human brain seems to like patterns, and making and keeping regular rhythms can help us focus and stay energized, even at work.
The idea of rhythm has been around since the 1600s, and originally referred to the movement of objects or sound through space — basically, music and dance. Since then, the definition of rhythm broadened to include anything with a regular or predictable pattern of movement or sound. These include many things that most people don’t think of as being rhythmic at all, like water flowing over rocks or even a car driving on pavement.
Rhythm is everywhere in our world. It plays an important role in our health, safety, and well-being. In fact, rhythm is essential to human biology. Without rhythm and pattern, chaos would reign supreme in our everyday lives. We wouldn’t be able to make sense of the world around us, much less survive. It’s also true people ourselves are rhythm machines; from the rhythms of our breathing, to the cycles of our sleep, to the ebb and flow of our emotional states, we produce many different types of rhythm through each day.
This is why it’s so important to watch our own rhythms, as from being in tune with them, we can figure out ways to be more productive. One of the most important aspects of rhythm is noticing when your body is either relaxed or stressed out; if your breathing and other rhythms are going too fast, it means you need to slow down.
Understanding rhythm also means you realize going full out all of the time is not just bad for keeping your body rhythms balanced, it’s also not health. This is why it’s often best to try alternating days between working on hard tasks – like writing or app coding – and easier ones like answering emails or project planning. This allows you to alternate your own brain’s rhythms in a much more natural way and use all aspects of your energy more efficiently.
Also, rhythms also often maintained best when you have some sort of exercise routine. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean you have to hit the gym. Just walking around your workplace or home once a day for five minutes, if done regularly, will provide enough exercise to boost energy levels throughout your body.
By watching and regulating your body and mind’s rhythms, you will become a happier and healthier person. The key to being a well-tuned rhythm machine is to not give into “hustle culture” and understand that as a human being, the laws of nature do apply to you as they do any other creature on this earth, or any being in the universe. What ways do you feel you can better regulate your own rhythms?
