How to be really well

Hint... its not rocket science, its neuroscience

This is a reposte from the previous post.

It can be quite sobering just to see how the influence of 21st century living is making us all unwell, and that we need to choose what we want to do and how we want to live.

It is often puzzling to people when they ask what I do, and I say that I want to support people to be exactly who they want to be.

I do not want to prescribe and dictate who people are.

I just want people to be so authentic in who they are that they take responsibility and be confident in saying -

‘Here I am, and I have chosen exactly who I want to be!’

You can be whomever and whatever you wish to be.

Just be autonomous in that decision, those choices you make.

You can choose to be unwell.

You can equally choose to be well!

So what can support you in being well?

Let us start with your morning routine.

Do not pick that mobile phone up.

Just don’t.

Do this instead.

Start with a stretch and some nice deep breaths. Bring your knees into your chest, take some deep, restorative breaths, in and out through the nose helps the body and the brain to begin to gently begin the day. Even if you are responding to a baby crying, a child demanding, maybe an oversleeping situation, just take a few seconds to do this.

Your brain and your body will thank you for it!

Rehydrate as soon as you can do - lemon water is great for flushing out the liver and starting the day as you mean to go on. Lemon is a good source of vitamin c and also helps the body synthesize collagen, absorb iron as a nutrient plus support hormonal balance. Lemon juice also promotes gastirc acid production and secretion that means the food you eat will be easier broken down, digested and the nutrients gained more easily.

Get outside and get some light as soon as possible for at least ten minutes. This will support you getting serotonin produced to be retained by the pineal gland to transform into melatonin later.

It is also a good idea at the same time (if you are not off to do a heftier workout) to move your body and raise the heart rate into the 60-65% maximum heart rate zone. You don’t need a fancy wearable, you just need to be aware of how you feel. You should be feeling warmer, slightly breathless, maybe sweating a little, you can achieve this in ten minutes by repeating the following exercises and seeing how many rounds you can do in ten minutes -

7 press ups

7 squats

7 lunges (each leg)

7 sit ups

7 jump squats

That is all.

Connecting with yourself and your body whilst you are doing it is really helpful.

This will raise your self esteem, be preventative of cardiovascular diseases, create a better sleep mechanism for later, support your body in being able to absorb energy and nutrients in the optimal way and also set the intention for a day of being present with self care.

If you are in a stressed state, fatigued, not slept well or anticipating an energy intensive day it is not a good idea to skip breakfast.

Human beings need energy. The brain is energy intensive.

So if we eat a good breakfast then we are automatically enabling it to be better regulated especially with our emotional and cognitive functions.

Eating breakfast also helps to regulate appetite and hunger.

You will eat less calories overall throughout the day, which includes snacking.

You are less likely to snack if you eat a good breakfast.

Eat whole. Eat well. Eat lots.

Honestly it will set you up for your day.

Take some vitamin D - even in summer. We are so deficit in this vitamin and we need it to keep well.

Just get some.

Maybe you may like to set a theme or an intention for the day.

What would like the day to be?

Energetic, peaceful, productive, fun, playful, fruitful, restful?

You can decide.

Maybe you could spend a minute or so visualising what the day is going to be look like, feel like, sound like?

This will support your brain in filtering for what it wants to pay attention to. if you want peace and you state this then the brain will look for signs of peace.

Isn’t that so lovely?

If you live with people have a conversation. Be really present. Look them in the eye. Hug them. Value them.

If you dont want to do this and this is a long term not wanting to - you are either living with the wrong person and need to do something about this or you need to decide on how you want to connect.

Humans need connection.

If you don’t live with others, you need to connect with strangers.

Your brain needs to know it is with other humans and they are human.

Say good morning, say hello, smile, be human.

It is so important.

Grab a coffee, have a conversation with your barista. Smile to people in the queue.

It makes a huge difference.

It is a value thing.

When you feel valued your parasympsathetic nervous system is activated. This supports growth, development, openness, connection all the things you need to be well. You can digest and absorb nutrients from food better. This enables you to have better availability of energy for your needs. You are able to produce the anti-ageing hormone DHEA from your beautiful adrenals.

This helps your molecular health, is a protective factor and helps you age well, not unwell.

Whatever you do in the day, whether its work, study, anything really, you need to ensure you take regular breaks. Stretch your body, close your eyes, take 7 deep breaths. Do this every hour if you can, but every two hours at a minimum.

When we take a break we are helping our brain to utilise the default mode network which helps to reset and recharge our ability to focus, pay attention and reduce stress levels in the body.

This actually improves productivity not lessens it.

It really is a no-brainer.

Keep hydrating throughout the day.

On average women need 2.7 litres and men need 3.7 litres. 20% of this can come from high water content food. You need more water if your urine is not colourless or light yellow. Try to have sugar free, sweetener free drinks. They are better for your organs and your brain.

You may like a morning coffee and this is beneficial for the following reasons -

It increases resting brain entropy which is vital for brain function and higher information-processing capacity.

It improves mood, reaction time, vigilance, attention, learning and motor function.

Less is more though.

Don’t have more than two cups a day and remember that it has between a 1.5 and 9.5 hour half life depending on how sensitive to caffeine you are.

When it is lunch time, it is time to get a walk. However long or short, just get out. Even if it is just five minutes there and five minutes back.

It is beneficial for our stress levels and reducing them. It can put us in a meditative state therefore reducing inflammation in our brain and body. Walking improves memory and attention, plus increases available energy in the brain and the body.

Even better, walk with friends. Enjoy the connection. Enjoy the differing stimuli of the environment. it reduces cortisol levels in the blood and helps our nervous system to be within a balanced range.

You may like an afternoon nap.

Anything between 15 and 40 minutes is good for us.

It helps out brain to make sesnse of what has happened in the morning. It can draw connections between the things that you have learnt or found out.

Naps help us keep consistent with our productivity and performance.

Napping or just resting if we cannot fall asleep is a mood booster that can help to brighten our mindset for the rest of the day.

In the afternoon a nap is better than caffeine to revive the energy levels and you really can benefit from just 15 minutes of time out with your eyes closed.

Naps also release stress and also support our immune health. If you have had a pressure filled morning a nap will also lower your blood pressure and look after your cardiac health.

It has been discovered that human beings can only be productive for 3-4 hours per day.

No-one can be productive for 8 hours.

No-one.

Human beings can at a stretch do a 6 hour day but the majority of the working hours need to be in the morning. It also needs to be accepted that not all of those hours are going to be productive.

We just are not wired up or built to do heavy mental processing in the post lunch period.

The 8 hour day was invented when most work was manual and factory based with little thinking.

Not many have this kind of work anymore.

We really need to move on with our expectations of the working day.

Have kinder strategies.

Be more realistic in what can be achieved.

It would be really radical if we actually treated human beings like human beings and not automatons.

Maybe there may be less sickness and unwellness then.

Whenever you have completed your daily tasks look around yourself.

What is your environment life?

Is it a tonic, is it toxic, is it just neutral?

We need to have stimulation that reminds our brain of what and who we want to be in life.

We need symbols, we need signs, we need reminders, we need confirmation, we need validation.

We need to surround ourselves with examples and models of what we want and who we want to be.

This is to help our mirror neuron system convince the rest of the brain that we can have, do and be whatever we want.

It is our secret weapon.

When we see it enough, we convince our brain that it can do it, be it, have it.

Check out your environment.

What is it telling your brain?

Are you safe, are you secure?

Is it supportive, nurturing, caring?

Does it delight, intrigued, comfort?

Does it encourage, stretch, develop you?

If not, why not?

The best hour for good workouts with respect to our circadian rhythym is between 4 and 5.

Disclaimer - I never do mine then, I prefer 6.30AM but I know that I cannot get the best out of my body then, just good enough. It is better for my mental health that I do my workout first thing as I run out of psychological ooomph by 4PM

A workout is anything from an aerobic heart rate to anearobic. So 60% and above. Work with your body, work with your energy levels.

Aerobic workouts have a neuroprotective factor as well as physical health benefits.

Having to keep to 60-65% of maximum heart rate can be challenging but is good for your brain.

It has been shown to be a preventative factor with Dementia and Alzheimers. This is especially for women as more women get diagnosed with this neurological conditions.

Have you had fun, laughter or play yet? Have you invested 30 minutes into a friendship? Choose now if you havent done it already. We need to have this in our lives.

Remember the sad story of the play deprived rats?

Let us always remember them, let them not have demised for nothing!

When you laugh this happens -

You take in more air so have more oxygen

You stimulate your heart, lungs and muscles, making them stronger with greater electrical impulses

You release endorphins

You create DHEA which restores and renews your cells in your body

Improves our mood and mindset

Reduces tension in the body

Boosts the immune system

Improves blood circulation

The positive emotions associated with laughter - amusement, mirth, joy, merriment also underpin improved mental functions and pain management.

We all need to laugh more.

Laughter really is a protective medicine.

If you are having a meal in the evening - and you really should as we need energy for our body to do a full detox whilst we sleep - then aim to eat at least three hours before you go to bed. You should be aiming for around a 12 hour fast over night.

If you want to eat snacks post evening meal do it mindfully. Choose the food, think about why you want that food, think about what that food is going to do for you and really enjoy it if you eat it.

Really enjoy it.

Don’t eat anything that you are not going to enjoy.

Switch off all gadgets, blue light emitters and start to wind down at least two hours before bedtime.

It is a good idea to have a warm bath, an infra red sauna or a warm shower prior to bed.

This is because a shift in temperature from warm to cooler prompts the hypothalamus to instruct the production of melatonin that is going to send you off to sleep.

Create a sanctuary in your bedroom, is it safe, secure, comforting and welcoming?

This is going to support your sleep cycle.

You need dark, serene, comfort.

Before you attempt sleep it may be good to journal for at least five minutes.

Just get the day out of your system.

Put all your worries, thoughts, concerns to bed in a book.

Then you can put your mind, brain and body to sleep in your bed.

If you cannot sleep within the first twenty minutes, get out of bed and start your routine again.

Do not stay there ruminating on not sleeping.

Go and begin your routine again, relaxing your body, switching off your brain and just doing nothingness.

What I have described has all the components for a life that has the foundations of wellness.

You will have noticed that there is nothing within it which costs exhorbitant amounts of money, take too much time or too much energy and resources.

That I think is the problem.

We do not want it to be so simple to be well, as all the influences around us instruct us really well on how to be unwell.

We need barriers so we can excuse ourselves and convince ourselves that we are not able to be well.

Give yourself the gift of including some of these things in your life.

If you can only do two things do light first thing and do connection.

If you can only do one do connection.

Improve the quality of your relationships with other human beings.

That in itself has so many mental and physical health protective factors.

Just do whatever you can do.

Own it, take responsibility and have autonomy over your future wellbeing.

You owe it to yourself.

Be well.

You can be.

Just be well.

Join me in June when I will help you all to enhance your health and wellbeing.

There are more than 9,000 billing codes for individual procedures and units of care. But there is not a single billing code for patient adherence or improvement, or for helping patients stay well.