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Record Live is a conversation about life, spirituality and following Jesus in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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And here we are again for another week, Zanita
and it's Dr. Christiana we used to work together at Adventist Media for a little while. It's great to to have you on today. Can you just tell our audience a little bit about you and what you do?
So I am, currently working as a director in the health department for the Greater Sydney Conference in, the Seventh Adventist Church.
And, I also work, , part-time. As a consultant with ELIA Wellness, which is a health brand, that, , you guys should check it out if you dunno anything about ELIA wellness, www, ELIA Wellness dotcom. And, so my background has been in medical research, before in the past in heart disease and hypertension.
And so now I'm really looking into more public health, community health, and it's been fun so far.
And it says, on your email that you are, uh, certified, let me get this right. Lifestyle medicine professional. Can you tell us in a nutshell what lifestyle medicine is?
, so lifestyle medicine is really, a medicine that, looks into the concept and understanding of lifestyle.
So the application of lifestyle, that is in conjunction with conventional medicine. And, so it's, applying, some of the lifestyle principles, that can actually really help in bringing healing,, to those who are struggling with health. Particularly, chronic lifestyle diseases, but also, for prevention.
It's also really important. I think it's growing more and more in terms of its awareness, today. Hmm.
We are looking today at, the Sabbath and how that is beneficial to our health. We often think of it as beneficial in many ways, but maybe that's one thing we sometimes miss.
Can you tell us how that kind of fits into your practice and your job?
Yes. Good. Question because,, I'll tell you what, me working, for the Seventh Day Adventist Institution, and myself as a seven Day Adventist. Sabbath is very much, something that's a part of me, but also a part of the community that I am in.
And I, really believe that Sabbath has, has been really a gift for mankind. And it is something that God has given to us as a form of recharging. And, sometimes when we are working in ministry, , it can actually be difficult sometimes to even switch off. Uh, I have found that. And sometimes, like the Sabbath day, the seventh day Sabbath.
Can be the busiest days,, of the week. When you are serving and when you're connecting with others. Mm.
Mm. So they say An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but what about the Sabbath a week? Does the Sabbath a week keep the doctor away? How, how does, maybe we'll start broad and then narrow down to some specifics in terms of, because it seems odd to me that a specific day designated a specific name could be beneficial to my health.
Like, how does Sabbath benefit my health?
Yeah. Good question because essentially what the Sabbath principle comes with taking time off from your daily labor. And if, let's say, if I go back again to, the origin, of where this sort of Sabbath concept is coming from,
Well at the time of creation when God created and then he created for six days according to Genesis account in chapter one. And then also that he rested on the seventh day. And then later on, it's actually mentioned in the Book of Exodus when, Moses was, given the 10 commandments where it says that six days you shall labor.
Uh, it says, remember the Sabbath, six days you shall labor and one day you will actually rest. And that includes you and your family, your neighbors, your strangers, the animals, , your, the servants. And I guess with this, there is this time out. And this time out is something, that God has given to us.
Now. I didn't grow up. , keeping the Sabbath. , so, for me it was like a new concept when I. First learned about it. And in fact, I was quite resistant, initially in, thinking about, the benefits of the Sabbath because I feel like I'm missing out.
I have to put my books down. Can't work on that particular day and it seems like I can't, I can't do these things. And, there is this, , part where we feel like we're not being efficient when we can't actually work even on the seventh day. There is this sort of like restriction, but in essence, this, understanding of time out.
, I have, seen, , more and more in, what people are, talking about and what people are studying, that there is a, there is a human rhythm. With having time out, we are designed to have that, there is a circadian rhythm, which is like a 24 hour rhythm. And then there is this, circaseptan rhythm, which is a seven day cycle.
And,, so it's, it's sort of wonders like, you know, where is the seven day cycle coming from? I mean, there is really nothing in nature, that looks into the seven day cycle., when we think of one the year, the earth, , is revolving around like it takes one year, and then after that the moon revolves around the earth.
It takes a month and there's this. Things that are cycled that see nature, but when it comes days, it's not there. But scientists have actually looked at, there is actually a cycle. In not only just human being, but also animals and, uh, from unicellular animal and also multicellular animals. There are these, circaseptan rhythm and which is a, something where, um, there is a seven day cycle in the heartbeat, in the blood pressure.
Body temperature, hormone levels, even transplant rejection is every seven days. And then we've got, even mice mortality that have been infected with malaria. There is a similar cycle with like dying potentially on the seventh and the 14th and the 20 on the 21st day. So there's this rhythm that's happening there and you wonder like,, are we supposed to be following this rhythm?
We're seeing more and more of a rise of the mental health, issues, a mental health crisis and, where there is a need to pause and really to take that time out, , especially nowadays when technology is just so at your fingertips, right? Literally you can get access to so many things, instantly like that.
There is more and more evidence that when you take the time out, it actually allows your body to then, heal, but also the body to then re rejuvenate, itself. So I guess little bit of, taste there in terms of. The possible benefits .
And even with like, , Loma Linda, Adventist, Seventh-day Adventists were living in Loma Linda. They live 10 years longer. Then the California account, Californians who live there. , and so what's the, what's the difference? And, and it has actually been very unique that seven day event is not only focused on, the lifestyle with diets and as well as exercise and social connection, religious, , observance as well, but it's also that time out, , timing out from the usual thing and where there is a way for our brain to be able to, be more creative when you take yourself away from something and then you come back again into your, normal routine.
Even that concept itself is already, that's like for all of us, it makes it's common sense. But having that time out, just because of the circaseptan rhythm, but also the mood. There's a study that looked at the mood is increased, is, , a much, , more, , of a pleasant mood that people would have , on the seventh day, as opposed to the rest of the other days.
So I've just been seeing these things in terms of. The, benefits that we are seeing more and more even in organisms outside of just human beings.
Yeah, I think it's insane how you're talking about, we have, obviously we can see when it's the end of a day by the sun and the moon and all of that.
I think it's wild that animals and plants have this seven day cycle as well. , I don't know if you can speak into this at all, but I know that place is like, Uh, communist Russia and the French Revolution have tried to subvert the week to like a five day week or a 10 day week, and it just didn't work.
Like people just crashed. Have you heard of any other studies like that where people have tried to change the amount of days to rest?
, yeah. , well, not outside of that, time, period, in terms of, I think they tried the 10 days and I think 30 days. And yeah, like less productivity, less efficiency, and , it really just shows that we're just geared for this seven day cycle.
, there is a study that looked at how, Jews,, living in Israel, they tend to, there's less death on the Sabbath, on the Shabbat,, in Israel,, which is interesting. Look, I mean, I think more studies need to be done, with that particular study itself. And, uh, but there is this.
A paper that looked at that as an observation, that there is less death on the Shabbat, compared to the rest of the other days in Israel because a lot of them are keeping the Sabbath, in that country.
Mm. So you've talked, so you've talked a little bit about, um, The observable, I guess the, the phenomenon that is this seven day cycle in nature, it's unexplained.
Where does it come from? , and the benefit of, taking a gap day, uh, taking a day away from work, away from stress, away from other things. What are some of the personal in terms of. As a person keeps that Sabbath, what are some of the benefits they're gonna see sort of straight away?
If someone hasn't done the Sabbath before, what are some things that you see as lifestyle changes that you've seen for people? You mentioned you didn't grow up keeping the Sabbath, so what were some of the things even for yourself that you experienced like, oh, hey, as I'm starting to do this, it made a, an impact in the short term.
Mm. Yes., I have found that, for me, personally, it was something that, was a journey for me , , first it was a trust journey, for me to go, oh, perhaps maybe the seventies seventh has a, there is, Yeah, it's worthy to actually, , follow. And, I, I think it was really more of an, an act of submission.
And when I looked at various things in terms of creation and six day creation concept and that God rested on the Sabbath, but really when it comes to what had benefited me, I, I realized, That it wasn't taking me away from being efficient. At that time, I was already working in medical research.
So, I just basically took that time out and I realized that I actually could think better when I had actually taken that time out. And I've been able to, find that I could rest more. , Because I have a tendency to be a bit more of a workaholic, so I pushed myself quite a bit and and with that, it actually forced me with the Sabbath concept, it forced me to take, , the time out.
And that, has made a difference, , in terms of relationship. I got to spend time with others more, as opposed to me, even if I, I may have actually been still at work or maybe doing other things that are not necessarily, allowing me to, have a connection with God as well. , And, , that is like a setting aside a time when I could reflect and we think about meditation, , of it being beneficial, right?
Daily meditation and having that retreat., but the Bible actually talks about having that retreat every single week. . And so, for me that has been , a journey of I realized this is actually a real, this is awesome. Uh mm-hmm. Uh, and then there was one time when I was studying and I literally, I was looking at the time and I went, Okay, I'm gonna study up to this point and I'm thinking this is a really fake journey because I wasn't studying when I first discovered it.
And then later on I started studying again and I literally had to go, I'll close the book and put it aside and go, I am now not gonna think about uni and I'm not gonna think about my, subjects. And when I came back again too, and even when I was studying exam, it wasn't necessarily, uh, it wasn't actually interfering, with my workload, , or with my, you know, with my exams or even, my assignments.
, I, I think for. It needs to be something that they, they ought to try. Now I was, , reading up some stuff about, how there's an, this Jewish girl, , who is a, she does a lot of these web awards and, and so she,, has, shared that she does more like a.
, technology Sabbath because all the time she's connecting on, technology and, you know, phone, laptop, et cetera, and, uh, social media and, and that was her thing. And so for Sabbath, she just finds that it's like it's, she's having a technological, day off. And, um, and there's another, a, Baptist,,, female minister.
She actually started observing the Sabbath because, she was told that she's got some issues, with chronic migraine. And, , and for her that it was just the beginning of her being able to just heal again. So I think. We forget that sometimes we just need to actually switch off. But more importantly, I think it's that connection with our creator, our designer.
. I was just traveling recently and my phone was like dying and I wanted to. Just recharge it for a little bit up to a point where I could still use it until I get home.
So I was borrowing someone else's power and I, I, I plugged in and I thought maybe once you gets to 30% power, then I'm able to kind of like just keep going, for the rest of the, of the evening. And, and I'm thinking about power,, and the need to recharge to get that. Maximal power. These phones are engineered to be recharged at some stage, , so that there's 100% power.
And I find that even with the Sabbath, it's the same. We're engineered, we're designed to have maximal power if we're actually taking that time out on, on the seventh day of the week. We're getting, we're getting a recharge. So that starting on the, as soon as sun down, that's when it really begins, that, that first day of the week is, , going maximum, um, with just more energy, more, creativity and understanding.
Hmm.
Yeah, I think your experience, yeah, it makes sense. I think it's, I think it's very relatable because, , I feel like so many people actually fear the Sabbath or they don't practice it because , they're thinking, I've got so much to do. I don't have time for a Sabbath or a day of rest. But what you are kind of saying is that when you take rest, your productivity improves, your memory improves, your creativity improves, .
You actually end up doing more when you take that day aside.
Mm. Yes.
Another thing I'm kind of thinking is that when we think about rest, sometimes it's a bit subjective. What is, restful for me, for example, might not be restful for you.
Can you give us some others that, maybe some guidelines even as to what kind of things can we do on this Sabbath? Or what kind of things do people commonly do that might not be restful?
Yeah. Look, some of the things that, , well, I personally, what I've done, , and this will be subjective as well cause it's kind of my experience, is these, time in nature.
And, there is this understanding when you spend time in nature, , there's these natural killer cells that are increased and , and we're able to then have better, it increases, uh, uh, improve, sorry, our immune system. , and also our hormones. And so this is where when we're spending time in nature, there is a benefit.
So people call it forest bathing. I think it came from a Japanese , concept, this forest bathing. , and there's truth in this where when we are spending more time in nature, we are able to take ourselves away into. Into what I would call it as God's cathedral and where you see what he has made this right.
I'm walking away from a manmade thing onto what God has made, and I'm seeing the grandeur of different things, which then allows us to, to think about what are some things that we can learn from nature and, what are some things that we can, , just reflect on in terms of his creativity, , his goodness.
So being in nature A, it helps us physically, uh, but also it helps us to connect and to think about our design, the designer of these natural environment. And also just , the connection, with God. So spending the time to pause because I have, , found, especially when I'm serving, like I, I have to preach on Sabbath and then sometimes we would be doing, a training, .
Sometimes we'll be actually be sharing, um, health with others and there will be time. It's like, it's a. Blessing of service. So that's what we call it, a blessing of service. But I always wanted to, I made a thing because there were times, , I went into a journey where I'm just so flat out and I'm just constantly around people.
And maybe because I'm also a little bit, , I love being around people too. That, I'm surrounded by people, but I'm not necessarily making that time out to connect with God. So I made it a thing where in the morning I'm, I spend some time with God, Sabbath morning, or even in the afternoon.
I just would take myself away and go for a walk and, , and just talk to God and seeing beautiful things around me. And even if there isn't much beautiful things, you know, just pulling yourself away to just be in silence and in prayer. That's really part of meditation as well. Which I think is a time when we can just pause and think about, our relationship with him.
, as much as it's also good to build that relationship with others, especially our loved ones and friends,
just. Observing the world around us. It seems like a lot of people are picking up this concept of Sabbath, um, if we could call it Sabbathing. People are studying to Sabbath and it seems to be common, more popular in Christian circles outside of Seventh Day Adventism.
People are picking it up. Um, but it seems like as you've reflected sometimes for us as Adventists, Sabbath is the hardest day of the week or the busiest day, or, it's quite,, full on. Is there a danger that we are missing the point or losing some of the, the pioneering sort of cutting edge sort of ideas around Sabbath that we had.
You know, we wanted to share Sabbath with the world. Now the world is picking it up, but maybe sometimes doing it differently or doing it better than, than we are. Do you think there is some. I don't know if improvements is the right word. How can we do Sabbath well, if it is the busy day or the stressful day, sometimes of the week for us.
I feel like for all of us, it's like a journey that we're constantly, , creating that improvement on how to, how to do Sabbath well. And because it's like, it's an experience, right? And, and from one Sabbath to another, it's different. , and it can be that at times, yeah, we're not sleeping as much and this is where, how can we make sure that we are actually having enough rest?
And how can we actually pause? And I can be guilty of this because. I can cram in a number of things, and so I've just tried to make it that I don't have any, preferably no meetings on Sabbath. And, , if, if there is like a training where people can actually gain benefits, yes, we can do something like that.
, but if you can do it on a different day, , where you can actually. Have more time to just chill out and to just relax. Not having to pack things up, not having to, minimizing in terms of like food. How do we do food? , I sometimes struggle with this because we wanna be able to feed everyone and we have people over at our place, and they come over and we wanna be able to, have good food together because it's time for our small group to get together and it's a celebration.
And, Sabbath is always associated with celebration too. It's not necessarily, oh, it's the most boring day, it's the most quietest day, but it's like, it's a day of celebration. And so this is where you get the nice things out. , but how is it that we can do it in such a way that we're not laboring so much?
Cause then we just, we actually end up missing out cuz the Bible actually says, The Sabbath was made for man, not man was made for the Sabbath. And so the Sabbath supposed to be beneficial for us. So how do we actually intentionally go, let me prepare some of these things beforehand so that I can then have the time out and not having to cook and labor myself over the stove.
And I, yeah, it's like for me it's a continual, Growth of creativity and how to modify, , my time, and help with others and show, Hey, you know, let's do it maybe after, after Sabbath. Let's do it on Sunday. Because that's a time when connection really needs to be built more rather than just the doing, of it or laboring of the, as much as service is actually important and service is, a blessing.
And others can be blessed. But, yeah, how do we do it like, so that we can prepare everything as much as we can that we do less? Mm-hmm. I don't know, but I mean, like, what do you like, do you do?
Yeah, it's good. This is right when we like to get practical on record live. I know that some people, they. Consider Friday, and so they use Friday as like preparation day to like make food or to clean the house or get things ready for the weekend. Obviously that is not possible for everyone because many people work on Fridays or Fridays, just another busy day.
Um, myself, I, goodness. What do I do to prepare? I don't know. I think I also try to have my chores out of the way, or if there's , Things I need to do. Then I write it down on a notepad so that I don't forget to come back to it. , it's kind of like the act of writing something down helps put it aside.
Personally, what about you guys? What, what's changed your Sabbath?
I don't do it as much as I could, but something that, has been impressed on me recently is, I guess, the idea of joy or delight delighting in the Sabbath. And challenged by that. So what gives me joy? , I don't get much time to read, like non-work related stuff.
I'm always reading, editing, writing, but I don't get to read, just sit and read a book that I wanna read or an enjoyable, thing. So reading a book, going for a walk or something, doing some exercise, like I don't actually get a lot of time in the week, so I'm starting to be challenged in some of those areas.
Like is there a way I can bring myself joy or find delight in that day to do something that maybe others would think, Hey, that's not really my thing, or that's not really relaxing, or that's not appropriate for the Sabbath, but for me it's like, it's a release, it's a connection point. It's a helpful thing to recharge my batteries cause I'm not getting to do it during the week.
So that, that's I guess, something that I'm. Observing. I've been challenged by the Digital Sabbath idea. You've mentioned it today, but also, , I've received an article for our publications about the idea of Digital Sabbath. Again, I wrote something some years ago about the concept, but for myself, it's sort of slipped away.
So I'm re-looking at that. Hey, how much time do I spend on my phone, on my laptop? . Can I cut that for the 24 hours and just go cold Turkey? I think it's something I'd like to do, not just for myself, but for my family. I've got young kids now and it's like, we want to not be on screens all the time, so that's something that's challenging for me.
I can't say I'm. Fully happy with where I'm at with my Sabbath thing, but I'm, I'm certainly challenged and working towards doing it better because I think it's a really important thing for all of us, to experience and to enjoy those benefits. Is there one thing in a nutshell, Christiana, that you think we can go away this week?
And do, what's something we can take with us into this week if we've watched this and we're thinking, Hmm, what's my first step?
I think being intentional. If you want to give it a try, be intentional and,, don't let it like, just happen to be that you walk into it, but, Plan, in advance, you plan in advance for holiday, you plan in advance for something exciting with parties, et cetera.
What will you plan for Sabbath? To be intentional and also to keep it. Make it different. So you try to make it different that you're reading something else. And how can you make it different, that it's special and it brings a connection with others, but also it brings a connection to your creator.
It comes back again to, it's a recharge. You're gonna recharge your phone for maximal power. What's the best way to recharge? Physically, mentally. Socially as well, but especially spiritually.
It's general, but I think it's a principle that we wanna take from it rather than us being so prescriptive that you can't do this or you ought to do this. Everyone has like a different journey and, for me it's been a journey that you're just continually evolving and creating more and more.
Very cool.
Hey, thanks Christiana for, for joining us. We really appreciate your insights 📍 and we'll see you next week.