Did you feel like a sloth after the Super Blue Moon? The day of I felt vitalized, energetic and ready to let it all go! The next day I could barely keep my head up.

I know moon phases can affect sleep patterns but I had slept like a baby that night. So what’s up with this? I have thoughts…

Any emotional release can make us tired. When you have a really good cry, it can feel like you need about a 7 hour nap because you cleaned out all of those toxins in your body. Did you know there is a chemical difference in our tears depending on our emotions? According to The National Institute of Health – 

Emotional tears, an exclusively human means of communication, are complex and rarely the subject of scientific research. The same nerves, receptors, and transmitters seem to be involved in their production as those used for basal and reflex tears. However, stimuli must be received in a cognitive/social context, detected by “induction centers” in the telencephalon, and forwarded to effector centers. Increased concentrations of protein, prolactin, manganese, potassium, and serotonin have been detected in emotional tears. Various theories try to explain the reason for and benefit of emotional tears. A number of factors, such as ethnic group, social status, profession, hormonal situation, gender, and individual threshold, influence whether an individual is a “crier” or a “noncrier.” Manipulative tears are a strong weapon for unbalancing other people, and the expression “crocodile tears” is used for both manipulative tears and aberrant gustolacrimal tears. Pathological crying occurs during depression, but it also occurs in the context of central nervous system disease as prolonged crying fits without cause or emotion. Absent emotional tearing is observed in congenital, often syndromal, disorders.   Read more here. 

In today’s world of being strong and taking on anything and everything, it’s easy to let stuff build and build until it has nowhere else to go but out. Sometimes it comes out sideways. I used to get physically sick as if my body was saying, “well if you can’t see you need rest, I will MAKE you see it”. Other people explode in anger and frustration, yelling at anyone who makes the mistake of coming near them.

And sometimes we’re lucky enough (or have put in enough work) to notice we need rest and we take a break and regroup. No matter how we get there, everyone has a breaking point.

After all the “stuff” gets out, it’s natural for our bodies to need a minute to regain strength. When we’re stressed our muscles tighten, our jaws clench, our shoulders seem to want to reach up and touch our ears – it’s a workout.

So if you’re feeling unmotivated or unable to get up and go right this moment, maybe continue drinking extra water, get some extra rest and cut yourself a little slack.  It’s easy to feel like, “ok, I did it, I let all the gunk go, now I can move at superhuman speed”. But what would happen if you gave yourself a break? Maybe you’d get even more accomplished and be even more effective? Maybe you’d get an extra nap? Seems win win to me.