A high-5 for optimal wellness for all!

Yesterday was World Wellness Day. One of those social media things, I think. Does it make any difference to anything???

Here are 5 things you can do to change your wellness outcomes for the better:

?? Get more sleep. Your body and your brain will both love you for it.

?? Reduce the amount of hours in the day you’re eating. (Yes, that does include drinking stuff with calories/artificial sweeteners too…)

?? Eat more plants and less meat.

?? Move more.

?? Be more involved with others, even in tiny ways – it matters.

SLEEP

It knits up the ravelled sleeve of time, Mr Shakespeare tells us – if you don’t speak Early Modern English, he’s basically saying that it’s a good fix for all the crud life throws at you. (Sorry, you’re not supposed to quote from ‘Macbeth.’ But I’ve got insurance.)

Even back in the late middle ages, we knew that good kip was important, but the pressure of modern life and all our tech prevents us from getting the 8 hours we really need. Want to find out more? Read Matt Walker’s book, Why We Sleep – it’s excellent.

Better sleep impacts the way your body processes food – you’ll make more intentional choices over the course of a day, and potentially feel less hungry, after a solid night’s sleep.

And, just to be clear, alcohol does bring unconsciousness, yes, but of a fragmented nature, that’s totally different from actual REM sleep, and not in any good way. A couple of REM cycles per night helps your body repair and sorts out your head. Winning at life.

EAT YOUR NUTRIENTS OVER FEWER HOURS

Or, as those who fast would say, narrow your eating window.

When our lives were more governed by light levels, we would eat after we’d hunter-gathered our food – maybe mid-morning? – and eat with our tribe towards the end of the day as the light was going, perhaps.

We weren’t designed to snack constantly. And in the caves, I don’t think dark chocolate and red wine with Netflix before bed was a thing. Sorry?

Have your glass of red if you want it, with your evening meal. Have some good quality dark (75+% cocoa solids) as pudding if you want it. (Chocolate recommendation: M&S's single origin dark chocolate from Peru, 85%. It's a real eye-opener.)

Snacking generally means that you’re constantly requiring your body to process glucose. Healthy, well-modulated bodies can do that; a lot of us, sadly, are not healthy or well-modulated – the modern, super-busy lifestyle doesn’t support us.

If you start eating your daily nutrients at breakfast time and finish, say 10 hours later, completely, at dinner time, your body has a much better chance of dealing with all the nasties floating around your system and doing clean-ups. You’ll also potentially get better sleep – double whammy on the winning, right there.

PLANT-POWER YOUR DAY

Plants, by definition, CANNOT be hyper-processed – buy a punnet of strawberries, you get a weight label, yes, but you don’t need to see an ingredients’ list. (You might – rightly – be concerned about what’s sprayed on them, and washing such things is important; Tim Spector suggests that we do it with some sodium bicarbonate, as it gets more of the chemicals off.)

Getting a good range of fresh, canned, and frozen – everything counts – veggies, fruits, berries, nuts, herbs, and spices is one of the best things you can do for your health and longevity.

Your gut needs fibre, which is what plants are made of; it also loves variety, so make it an excuse to try something different every week and have a go at something you’ve never eaten before; why not?

Why’s your gut important? It works hand in hand with your liver; it’s responsible for maintaining loads of your body’s systems; and the chemicals all your #GutBugs make help your immune system stay strong. (Unlike all the chemicals hyper-processed food is made of, many of which are toxic for your gut.)

The meat we find in our supermarkets, unless it’s labelled organic, will be stuffed with antibiotics, so just on those grounds, it’s sensible to eat less of it; for me, meat’s a treat these days, and I make sure it’s organic and grass-fed.

MOVE MORE

We were designed to move. We were born to run. To jump. To bend and stretch. To squat. To dance.

Do whatever makes you happy, hot, and a bit sweaty. It doesn’t have to involve a gym, or lycra.

After a meal, do something rather than nothing, even if it’s just for 10 minutes, rather than crashing on the sofa and reaching for the remote. Your glucose levels will even out more rapidly, putting less stress on your body.

Stay strong – muscle loss is a normal everyday thing after the age of about 30, at around 1% per year, so working on strength is a really good shout for all of us. You only need a couple of weeks in bed after a major op to really impact your muscle mass, so having a bit more on board’s a great idea. (Muscle’s expensive for the body to maintain, so if you’re not using it, your body will decide you don’t need it.)

Another great reason for having muscle? Muscle’s an endocrine organ and makes myokines, which help us deal with inflammation, and regulate our metabolism.

GO TRIBAL

We need community, far more than has previously been thought.

We’re hard-wired for altruism.

Make moments in your day to interact with people – the bus driver; the person at the checkout; the folk you pass on the street. Small acts of community help us stay connected in ways we’re only just beginning to understand.

It’s about being SEEN. Being recognised. Being appreciated as of value to the tribe. Everyone needs that – making that happen for somebody makes good things happen for you, mentally, emotionally, and physiologically; it also makes a world of difference to the recipient.

Spread some happy through your day. Why not?

Let’s wrap up

Wellness is your right, as I see it. It’s been stolen by big business and all the craziness of modern life – I help people reclaim what’s theirs. If that feels like you, get in touch, as I’ve created something to make good things happen.

Replenish is for you if you want to know more about what keeps you well.

Invest in YOU. 6 hours over 10 weeks; fill in my questionnaire about your world, then spend an hour with me on Zoom, exploring what you want to change up. It might be to do with food, drink, exercise, sleep, hydration, hormones, stress levels, time management... you name it!

Be the change with my help, via 10 30-minute Zoom sessions, one each week for the next 10 weeks.

You have my full support on WhatsApp, with hacks, helpful tips, check-ins, and cheerleading.

More energy? Better sleep? Weight-loss? More balance in your life?

It’s all yours. It’s an investment of time and money: ￡900, which you can pay over 3 instalments if that makes life easier. Or test the waters with a Wellness Audit, for ￡99, which you can have back if you come on board the Replenish programme.

It’s permission to put yourself first, for once. It changes wellness outcomes, for sure.

Just DM me on LinkedIn, at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/loiscliff/ or fill in the contact form on my website.

Till next time,

Lois ??