Journal before bed & stress-linked weight gain

Happy Friday! Each week, I'm sharing two nano health habits, a lesson, and an inspirational quote to ponder on your health journey.

No one's yet discovered the elixir of youth. There is no one fix for a longer, healthier life. What we do have, though, are nano or micro habits that together make all the difference.

Episode 5 of my podcast The Health Refresh is out now. It's about how decades of low-fat guidance saw millions of us pack on the pounds. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Two Nano Health Habits

Avoid big meals a few hours before bed: Part of the beauty of sleep is that it gives our bodies time to rest and repair. If we have eaten a big meal before bed, that's hard to do. Our gut has a lot of work to do to break that all down into the parts we can use.

Journal before bed: Writing down the day's highs and lows can be a great way to get the experience out of our head and onto a page.

You could also write down three things you'd like to get done the next day. Not a whole shopping list: just three.

One Lesson

Stress can cause weight gain. Ever noticed that you've put on the pounds during times of particular stress? There's a reason for that.

Our bodies are trying to help us by releasing a hormone called cortisol, which increases blood sugar to give us the energy we need to escape the stress. That was great when we faced a lion. Now, the best remedy is to reduce long-term stress where we can.

One Quote

"The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding."

Malcolm Gladwell

I'm a health coach for women over 50, helping you to become CEO of your health.

I studied through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York, and I have a first-class degree in molecular genetics through King's College London. My first book Nano Health Habits is available on Amazon as an ebook. The paperback is underway!