With electronics everywhere, it is natural to equate our body mechanisms to a 'logical' machine. Reality is: it is a complex system of many parts that need conscious attention for overall well being. Although the body is more forgiving to occasional indulgences until age 30 or so, the key word is 'occasional' - and not let it become a 'habit'. Ancient cultures developed many best practices, that modern medicine and scientific practice is now supporting. Here are my picks:
1. Eating well: We are a biological ecosystem with more gut microbes than human cells. They need to be 'trained', fed and maintained. Otherwise, you get bloated feeling, constipation etc. Best practices here are: good hydration, eating when hungry, not over-eating, balancing nutrition (nuts, fruits and vegetables should be part of the diet), including variety and spices. Avoid sugar, minimize grains.
2. Sleeping: Sleep is vital to rebuild physical and mental energy. Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a day. Children and teens need even more. To get 8-9 hours of sleep in a typical school or work schedule (starting at 7am) you need to start sleeping at 10pm. Here is a table of sleep requirements by age.
3. Breathing: Deep breaths with pause (slow and deep breath in, pause, slow and deep breath out) are better than shallow ones. Most times we do not focus on this activity, and that's OK. Conscious, frequent focusing on breathing during the day does two things: helps you breath better, and also cleanses and helps to focus a wandering mind - see point 5 below.
4. Posture: Human body has evolved not to efficiently sit, yet we spend most time doing just that. Standing, walking, even lying down during the day is better. Like breathing, just paying attention to our posture (how the backbone is shaped currently) is the majority of the battle. Here is a good video to watch: Why Sitting Down Destroys You
5. Activity: Another fact of human evolution is our walking. Over a mere tens of thousands of years, we went everywhere on the planet - just by walking. Our body is built for walking, running and activity. Unless we turn back evolution by engineering a new species designed for sitting (which will happen in a few centuries), we are now stuck with having to move every day. I have become obsessed with maintaining my Google Fit app so that it shows that 'active-time' for at least one hour every day for a whole year.
6. Mindfulness: Human brain is a wonder. The ability to think, while improving our survival and comfort over the centuries, also cultivates habit-forming negatively charged emotions that sometimes can result in irreversibly harmful actions. Conscious awareness of our thought patterns - including positive and negative emotions is the goal of mindfulness. My favorite here is Sam Harris and his book, podcasts and various materials on Waking Up. This journey is worth pursuing over a life time. Here is a short video: Waking Up
1. Eating well: We are a biological ecosystem with more gut microbes than human cells. They need to be 'trained', fed and maintained. Otherwise, you get bloated feeling, constipation etc. Best practices here are: good hydration, eating when hungry, not over-eating, balancing nutrition (nuts, fruits and vegetables should be part of the diet), including variety and spices. Avoid sugar, minimize grains.
2. Sleeping: Sleep is vital to rebuild physical and mental energy. Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a day. Children and teens need even more. To get 8-9 hours of sleep in a typical school or work schedule (starting at 7am) you need to start sleeping at 10pm. Here is a table of sleep requirements by age.
3. Breathing: Deep breaths with pause (slow and deep breath in, pause, slow and deep breath out) are better than shallow ones. Most times we do not focus on this activity, and that's OK. Conscious, frequent focusing on breathing during the day does two things: helps you breath better, and also cleanses and helps to focus a wandering mind - see point 5 below.
4. Posture: Human body has evolved not to efficiently sit, yet we spend most time doing just that. Standing, walking, even lying down during the day is better. Like breathing, just paying attention to our posture (how the backbone is shaped currently) is the majority of the battle. Here is a good video to watch: Why Sitting Down Destroys You
5. Activity: Another fact of human evolution is our walking. Over a mere tens of thousands of years, we went everywhere on the planet - just by walking. Our body is built for walking, running and activity. Unless we turn back evolution by engineering a new species designed for sitting (which will happen in a few centuries), we are now stuck with having to move every day. I have become obsessed with maintaining my Google Fit app so that it shows that 'active-time' for at least one hour every day for a whole year.
6. Mindfulness: Human brain is a wonder. The ability to think, while improving our survival and comfort over the centuries, also cultivates habit-forming negatively charged emotions that sometimes can result in irreversibly harmful actions. Conscious awareness of our thought patterns - including positive and negative emotions is the goal of mindfulness. My favorite here is Sam Harris and his book, podcasts and various materials on Waking Up. This journey is worth pursuing over a life time. Here is a short video: Waking Up
