By Nate Solia
Hi folks, I hope you have been staying safe and well over the past few months. I know that HK has done extremely well in containing the COVID virus and hopefully when you read this we are now back to a relative normalcy in our community.
One thing that has become clear that our health is our No.1 priority. Without it, we can do very little. Even meeting with family, friends and social gatherings we need to be healthy. So with that in mind, I want to give you some tips around staying healthy:
Movement
We NEED to move every day. The amount of movement we do each day impacts our mental, emotional and physical state. Movement strengthens our muscles and bones as well as eradicates toxins from our organs and releases serotonin(happy hormone) into the body. In addition, movement strengthens our central nervous system, our circulation system and even keeps our digestive system in check. A great book is “How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy” by Paul Chek
Nutrition
We all know we should be eating right but what is ”right”? Here are some easy and not so easy to implement ways to tidy up your diet. Implement the 80/20 Rule. Eat REAL and ORGANIC food 80% of the time. This will soak up eating a Carbohydrate Rich And Processed diet (CRAP).
We are all metabolically different and our dietary requirements are also different. Some people need more proteins and fat, others need more carbs to feel good. Either way, it would pay to find out what your metabolic type is. There are many DNA, saliva tests you can take or you read the book “Metabolic Typing” by William Wollcott.
What goes hand in hand with good nutrition is good hydration. Hydration, I mean water and only water. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day, not beer, not soda, not tea – drink WATER. Formula Weight(kg) x 0.03 = required water in liters per day
Lifestyle choices
Lifestyle also plays a part in keeping health, fit and happy. For many of you, these may be different but for me they are- Mindset, Breathing & Sleep. When done correctly, daily, they impact me profoundly.
Mindset is the key to unlocking all your motivation to achieve anything, to be anyone, to winning and to learning in life. We start here and stop here. I am sure you are motivated in many things but are you motivated in getting and staying fit and healthy? If you struggle with “stinking thinking” or procrastinate, then I suggest, “Do” the book, Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. It will set a good mindset each day.
Breathing is our life force. Also called prana, chi. It is what we need every second of every day to live. If we are not breathing correctly, we are dying. Exercise, meditation, breath work are all ways of breathing life back into ourselves (Pun intended!)
Finally sleep. We need it to regenerate your body and mind. It resets and downloads our mind each day. It heals the battle wounds of the previous day. And when you are sick, sleep heals the body to get better again. Sleep must be incorporated into everyone’s life just like exercising and eating.
So how much do we need? Everyone is different. Here is a way to find out.
1. Go to bed 4-5 days in a row at around the same time and don’t set an alarm (Best to be done while on holiday or if you are not working. - Tonight!)
2. Record the hours that you sleep and average it out and round it to the nearest 90 minutes For example, you average 8 hours sleep, set the alarm for 7.5 hours. Why? Generally, we have a 90-minute sleep wake cycle. If you wake up on a 90-minute cycle, you will generally feel more refreshed.
So if you are feeling you need any or all of the above, I highly suggest starting today because, we only have 1 body and 1 mind and if you ever get struck down by any virus (and you will) you will be in the best possible shape to fight it.
Nate Solia, CHEK Qualified Health & Lifestyle Coach, CHEK Level 1 Movement Coach and has been coaching clients to healthier, fitter with less pain for over 20 years.