In this episode of the podcast, we discuss foundational health management practices. This is the first half of the topic, as there are quite a few things to consider with this, even when only discussing the foundational stuff you can do.
Show Notes
Look after yourself first, before you look beyond yourself (don’t blame society, the government, the world etc.). If you aren’t doing everything you can to improve your health within your capabilities, why do you think someone else, that does not know you at all, is going to do a better job for you?
What are the foundations of being healthy?
- Diet, training, sleep, stress management
- Psychosocial and spiritual
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Needs are baseline requirements, they do not mean fulfilment. Are we looking for optimal, or are we looking for the bare necessities?
- a lot of people are looking for self-actualisation and they haven’t had a glass of water, a well-balanced meal, or a decent night’s sleep in months.
Each need does not need to be met 100% before moving onto the next. For example, while genuine starvation amidst a famine might make food-seeking one’s number one priority, this is not going to be the case for someone in a mild caloric deficit. Therefore, while we need to satisfy each need before moving on, it does not need to be 100% satisfaction.
When we experience an insult to one of our needs, we often end up realising “what really matters”. However, this realisation often dwindles away once the need is met once again. When a family member falls ill, you suddenly realise the importance of Belonging & Love Needs, but 3 months down the line when they are well again, you probably find yourself seeing them less and prioritising your own personal goals once again.
Note on self-actualisation: “Hell is to meet the person you could have been at death and to realise you are not even his shadow”
Congruence is a key component of self-actualisation, as per Carl Rogers. Therefore, you need to have a clear idea of who it is that you want to be. Congruence does not require 100% overlap, so it is okay if you are uncertain about the specifics. Start with a general ideal, move forward, and re-evaluate.
So what are the highest yield health practices we can focus our time and energy on?
Diet
- Calorie appropriate. That allows you to obtain/maintain healthy weight/BMI/body fat/waist circumference
- Sufficient protein, fibre, and essential fats. Less than 10-15% of calories from saturated fat. Sufficient water.
- Something that you actually enjoy doing, integrates into your life, and you can see yourself eating this way for a long period of time.
Training
- Resistance training
- Cardiovascular training
- Walking (sufficient NEAT)
- Government guidelines (exercise guidelines)
- WHO Guideline for adults aged 18–64 years
- should do at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity;
- or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity; or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity throughout the week
- should also do muscle-strengthening activities at a moderate or greater intensity that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these provide additional health benefits.
- may increase moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity to more than 300 minutes; or do more than 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity; or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity throughout the week for additional health benefits.
- should limit the amount of time spent being sedentary. Replacing sedentary time with physical activity of any intensity (including light intensity) provides health benefits, and
- to help reduce the detrimental effects of high levels of sedentary behaviour on health, all adults and older adults should aim to do more than the recommended levels of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity
- Something that you enjoy doing and can see yourself doing for a long time. If it is something outdoors and/or something that gets you socialising, even better.
Sleep
- Sufficient duration and depth
- Consistent sleep schedule
- You can survive a long time without food or exercise, but without sleep, the wheels fall off the wagon quickly.
- Recalibrated well-being could be masking chronic sleep deprivation.
Stress
- You can’t burn the candle at both ends. If you intend to live vigorously, you must recover even harder and that starts with managing your overall stress load.
- Meditation and mindfulness
- It isn’t just about breathing techniques and journaling, it is about understanding how to autoregulate your life stressors and stress “reducers” so you can be at balance.
- Do you have hobbies that reduce your stress (staying up until 2am watching Netflix isn’t a hobby, and it likely isn’t reducing your stress)
- Deliberately choosing your career and life plans with long-term stress in mind (e.g. doctor choosing between Surgery vs GP?).
Psychosocial and spiritual
- This is probably the least practical of our recommendations because it is so different for everyone, but you should hopefully be able to glean some insight from this.
- Do you feel safe and ideally loved in your current environment?
- Are you connected to others? Do you have friends that you see and speak to regularly? Are you part of a community?
- Do you feel like you have high self-esteem? Do you regard yourself as someone who is worthy of love and care?
- Do you know what you want out of this world, and do you feel like you are on the path to achieving it?
- Do you have a deeper connection to the world beyond you as an individual?
- What is your spirituality like? Do you have a connection to the divine? The universe? Something beyond the physical world?
- Have you read philosophical and/or religious texts?
For many people, these may seem “optional” and unrelated to the remaining health practices. However, religiosity tends to be protective against various insults and supports coping during times of bereavement, illness, or looming mortality. This is clear in those who have been to war, with exposure to war leading to a higher probability of post-war religiosity, as seen in US Military Post-2001. Greater participation in religious activity relates to better health in countries characterised as being religiously diverse, e.g. USA, and is generally associated with lower risk of depression, hopelessness, and suicidality.
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