Health and Wellness Update

The length of time you can squat down on the ground is positively correlated with life expectancy - muscle mass matters.
Resistance (Weights) exercise prevents dementia, strenthens reflexes preventing falls, strengthens bones, and even improves skin health!
“Exercise Snacks” are short 5 min walks done before or after meals and are a good method to naturally reduce blood sugar.
High velocity blood flow during cardio exercise kills metastatic cancer cells which are delicate and easily broken.
If mobility is a barrier to exercise, time in a sauna dilates blood vessels and increases heart rate acting as cardio

Sunlight helps reset your circadian rhythm.
10 minutes outside in the early morning sun sends a signal via the retina in your eyes to your body about when it should be awake and when it should be asleep.
Sunlight on your skin allows your body to produce vitamin D which regulates your immune system.
Vitamin D also strengthens your bones - having a hip fracture over the age of 65 increases your chance of dying that year by 15-36%.
Sunlight also has important effects on mood. As a baseline prescription anyone with mental health issues should be out getting exposure to sunlight regularly.

Dreams are how your brain processes emotions and allows to to be better emotionally regulated for the next day.
Sleep has a role in regulating metabolism - if you don’t sleep enough you will choose higher sugar and fat foods.
Blue light from screens, alcohol, and sleeping tablets all disrupt sleep architecture and create poorer quality sleep.
Caffeine has a 12 hour 1/4 life. That means there’s still some active 12 hours after you drink it! For good sleep keep it in the first 1/2 of the day.
Alcohol disturbs sleep architecture, so it might calm you down and put you to sleep, but it won’t be good sleep

Humans are social creatures, it’s in our biology. It’s natural to want to be liked so we won’t be thrown out of the tribe and eaten by wild animals.
Connection is what makes us feel confident, capable, safe, and worthy. A key strategy to management of stress over the longer term is connection.
Seeing those people and pets we love releases seratonin (a neurotransmitter that says we have enough) in our brain.
Connection to the natural world allows perspective on problems. We are not separate and alone, but part of something bigger

You’ve heard, we are what we eat - well baby’s are basically 3 D printed from their mothers food!
Processed food contains a lot of extra sugar to make us addicted and emulsifiers to improve texture. This combination disturbs the bacteria and gut wall causing “leaky gut” and inflammation.
95 % of our food should come from whole food that doesn’t need a label.
Muscles is a resevoir of protein and if we don’t eat enough protein the body takes it from the muscle. Aim for 2 grams of protein per kg body weight.
Our good gut bacteria live on fiber, if we give them enough they can produce protein for us

Good dental care prevents heart disease and dementia!
Saliva can regenerate tooth enamel filling in small cavities, try to have a period in the middle of the day where you aren’t drinking and washing away your saliva to optomize this.
Night time is the most important time to brush your teeth because the bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease eat the food left in your mouth

Short Term Stress Mnx - > breathing:

Fighter Pilot Breathing: try breathing in for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, breathing out for 4 seconds.
Physiological sigh: try 2 quick breaths in, 1 long breath out (physiological sigh).
Hot cocoa breaths: try a long breath in, and on breathing out purse your lips to create resistance - “don’t blow the marshmellows off your cocoa”.
Medium/Long Term Stress Mnx ->
practicing gratitude makes you happier - consider a journal or thank you cards
having a Growth Mindset - “I can’t do it yet” gives you will power to keep trying and makes you feel in control (Agency) vs “I’m just bad at this” which makes you feel helpless.
Cognitive behavioral therapy helps reframe negative cognitive distortions that the brain creates automatically. like catastrophizing, black and white thinking etc. there are free online resource like “This Way Up”
Good sleep, healthy diet, exercise, sunlight, connection with loved ones