Wake Up, Look Up

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[Music]

hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast or we connect

events happening in real time to the

Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wrock

and today's episode I want to tell you

go to bed and that's because uh we are

increasingly discovering at least

according to an article I read this week

in the New York Times that staying up

late is not good for us in fact there's

a label being attached to the negative

feelings we tend to have late at night

called nighttime depression now I think

anytime we talk about depression it's

important to differentiate between a

diagnosis of depression which a mental

health professional makes because you

have a particular and unique condition

versus depression as kind of a state of

being a way of saying I feel lousy and

This falls into that second category

that increasingly what studies are

showing is that the later you stay up

the worse you feel and not just like I

feel tired or I'm operating not at Peak

capacity but actually the worse you feel

mentally and emotionally that the later

you stay up you send into kind of an

agitated state of low feelings your mood

drops you feel worse you start to be

dissatisfied with things around you now

some of this is just biology you see our

bodies are on a kind of Cadian Rhythm

and because of that the brain begins

producing melatonin to get us to go to

sleep your body is quite literally

depressing and as a result your brain

chemistry and emotions are being

regulated by a natural force that's

trying to get you to go to bed but what

studies are telling us is that the later

you stay up the lower your emotional

state gets and the earlier you wake up

the higher it goes that's because

Studies have also shown us that your

Peak emotional moment I know you're

going to have a hard time believing this

unless you're a morning person is 8:00

in the morning that actually in the

morning you are more disposed to being

happier than you will be at any point in

the day and if you say not me Zach

that's not me I'm not a morning person

it might be that the two go together the

later you stay up and the longer you

descend into negative emotional state

the longer you sleep or the more

sleep-deprived you are which means

you're actually harming yourself twice

you're plunging yourself into nighttime

depression at night and in the morning

you're too groggy to enjoy what's

supposed to be at least

biologically the peak of your day and

listen the reason why I'm making a point

of this well maybe there are two reasons

one is because I think a lot of people

when they think about how they need to

grow spiritually they think in in kind

of big uh or ethereal ways they'll say

things like I need to read the Bible

every day this year I need to give away

this percentage of money or I need to

fight this sin and yeah all those things

might be necessary steps for you but

sometimes the biggest spiritual change

actually comes from the smallest and

most tangible actual change in behavior

and in this case I think a lot of people

would find they would grow more

spiritually if they just went to bed

earlier and got up earlier because it

would change the version of us that is

awake the most Put negative and uh and

low you to bed early so you get more

upbeat you in the morning but the second

thing is that the Bible time and time

again makes reference to spending time

with God in the morning Jesus for

example regularly the first thing that

he would do is get alone with God in the

morning the psalmist will talk over and

over again about seeking God in the

morning and now we know that at least

biologically part of what the Bible is

telling us is then that's when you're

going to have the sweetest and happiest

time with God in other words if you give

God a little a little bit of time before

you go to bed he's getting the worst

version of you and listen God loves

every version of you he just loves you

but you are going to get more out of

seeking the Lord at a time when you're

operating at Peak capacity not to

mention the fact that when you are at

your low State at night you are more

likely than not to make bad decisions

about what you eat about what you watch

about what you look at on the internet

your defenses are down and you're

looking for a high consider that a lot

of the sinful or unhealthy choices you

make you would never make in the morning

they wouldn't even appeal to you then

that's biology and that's design listen

if you're looking for a small change

that can make a massive difference in

your spiritual life go to bed earlier

and get up for the glory of God hey

thanks so much for watching this video

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