Aug 29

Aug 29 Just one thing (10 of them, actually)

If you live in the UK, you’ll be aware that earlier this summer, the brilliant journalist and broadcaster, Dr Michael Mosley, died in tragic circumstances whilst on a family holiday (he went missing on a mountain walk and was found after four days of frantic searching). If you’re not familiar with him or his work, he was one of those rare people who perfectly combine expert knowledge with the ability to communicate information in an appealing and accessible way.

A passionate advocate of healthy living, and of helping people to understand and implement ways to live more healthily and happily, he was, amongst many other things, the presenter of the radio programme and podcast Just One Thing, which I reviewed and recommended in the These Are The Heydays newsletter (if you’re not already a subscriber, do have a look HERE at the really rather lovely mix of information, inspiration, ideas and fun it offers up in your inbox each Friday) in which he explores all kinds of simple things we can do to improve our health and wellbeing and the science and research behind why each of them works.

In a sort of very belated tribute/acknowledgement of all I learnt from Michael’s wisdom, and as a distilled round up of the live-better advice I’ve garnered from many other sources over the years, these are the top ten things that I now incorporate into my daily, weekly or more occasional routine, each of which, I believe, play a part in helping me to feel better than I would if I didn’t do them.

(If you stick around until the end, you’ll find a couple I’m still working at getting better at)

1. Just stand on one leg

I’ve been brushing my teeth standing on one leg for so long now it feels odd if I don’t. (Obviously I alternate between the two for the two minutes of brushing.) Standing on one leg can help you improve your balance and coordination, which in turn helps to reduce the risk of falls and injuries, especially as you age. If I’m feeling particularly steady (and there are days, especially if I’m tired, when I don’t at all) I even try doing one leg dips to help strengthen my muscles a little more.

2. Just drink green tea

I was doing this, for purely taste/preference reasons, long before I knew how beneficial it could be for your health thanks to the polyphenols in it that have the potential to boost brain power and burn off fat. It seems it could even reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke. Just one cup a day is apparently enough to benefit from all these life-enhancing properties. As a regular drinker of at least four mugs a day, I wonder if the effect is cumulative?

3. Just exercise…

If you’ve followed Heydays for any length of time you’ll know I’m passionate (for which I don’t mind at all if you read obsessed) about the importance and benefits of exercise. There’s far too much evidence to ignore about the part exercise plays in keeping us not just fitter, but really substantially healthier. I’ve exercised all my life and know that the most important thing is to find something you enjoy doing and that fits into your life and schedule, because then you’ll be far more likely to stick at it. For me that’s changed over the years - currently it’s pilates, gym, swimming and walking. But what hasn’t changed is that I try my best to do some sort of exercise every day. And on the days when I don’t, whilst I don’t beat myself up about it, I definitely notice that I feel more achey and sluggish.

4. …and just track it too

The one thing that has made the most difference to the consistency of my exercise is wearing a fitness tracker (in the form of my Apple watch). It doesn’t work for everyone, I know, but I find setting a daily exercise target and logging my exercise has made me noticeably better, not just at being more consistent, but also at exercising for a little longer than I might otherwise. The only downside is how cross I get if if I forget to log a session!

5. Just take Vitamin D

Living in the northern hemisphere means we get pretty sun-starved during the autumn and winter months (and arguably the other seasons too, but let’s not dwell on that), which has an impact on our bodies and minds in a surprising number of ways including not being brilliant for our immune systems and acting as one of the recognised triggers for depression. So come September/October I take a daily Vitamin D tablet, only stopping when the sun starts to put in a reasonably regular appearance (ha!) around May.

6. Just eat whole wheat

As a devotee of both bread and pasta, I try to ration my intake of both, but when I do eat them I only eat whole wheat rather than the white variety. Whole wheat pasta is made from the entire wheat kernel which means it retains its fibre, vitamins and essential fatty acids and as a result reduces the impact on blood sugar. The same goes for whole wheat bread which contains far more health fats, vitamins, minerals and fibre than white varieties. I find eating whole wheat versions not just tastier, but less inclined to make me feel bloated. So that’s a double win.

7. Just swim in cold water

I’ll start this one with a disclaimer - this only applies to the warm months of the year. I’m absolutely not hardy enough to do it all year round. Not even in the reduced form of a cold burst in the shower. But it is something I now consciously do by seeking out places to cold water or sea swim at every opportunity (I started today with a glorious swim in the beautiful Ladies Pond on Hampstead Heath)

I have belatedly realised it’s also something I’ve been unconsciously doing my whole life, having spent all my summers by the coast in the UK, swimming and waterskiing in the freezing sea and on an only marginally warmer inland lake (another story for another blog)

8. Just get outside

There are times when this requires donning the appropriate attire and footwear (no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes) and heading out in less than clement weather, but I find being out in the fresh air, whether it’s for a potter round my lovely garden, a brief stroll round the block, or best of all, a ‘proper’ walk through the woods, clears my head and resets me physically, especially when I’ve been at my desk for a long stretch. And I’m not alone, being outdoors has been shown to make you feel more relaxed, improve your concentration and attention, and decrease anxiety and stress.

9. Just stand up

I’ve written a whole blog about the joys and benefits of getting a standing desk and the impact it’s had on me, so I won’t repeat myself (unusual, I know), rather I’ll suggest you have a gander of it by clicking HERE (you’ll also find it begins with a familiar recommendation. So much for not repeating myself then….)

10. Just take a nap

My dad used to close the door to his office every day and have a nap for exactly 40 minutes. Like father, almost like daughter. Whilst a nap isn’t something I do daily, I happily nap whenever I feel the need and have the opportunity and always have (the first thing I’d do when I started a new job, would be to scout out the nearest green space to the office so that on nice days I could take a rug and a cushion which I always kept under my desk and have a quiet snooze).

The difference between me and dad is that I know that the optimum length of time for a properly restorative nap is 20-30 minutes because it ensures you’re in the early stages of the sleep cycle and won’t feel groggy afterwards, so that’s what I generally stick to.

I’m always on the look-out for new mind and body-boosting habits to incorporate into my life, so please do let me know if you have any suggestions or recommendations.

Oh, and before I finish, and in the interests of absolute transparency, these are a couple that are still proving to be more works-in-progress than I’d like:

Just stop scrolling - pretty self-explanatory, and a pretty clear way to free up time to do far more constructive and, arguably, important things. But oh-sooooooo-hard to resist.

Just go to sleep earlier - in spite of my nightly best intentions, I still rarely get to sleep before 1130. The reason? See above, sigh……..