It’s kind of cliche, but my body is my most valuable asset in life. In a lot of ways, it is also the only thing I really own. And furthermore, in some pretty metaphysical ways, it’s my space-time traveling machine. All that suggests that it makes sense to focus on my body first when driving better overall wellness. But it’s hard to really define the positive component of wellness when talking about my body because the vast majority of literature focuses on ‘health’. Remember that I define healthy as the lack of disease and pain. But the lack of a negative state isn’t necessarily a positive. So how to get to all that positive goodness and realize optimal body wellness?
Back in the day, I started with nutrition, but if I were doing it all over again today I would have started with the physical content. That’s why I show Physical first in the menu bar and in the list below- there’s a lot more bang for the buck there than there is for nutrition. Since I’ve spent a lot more time on my nutritional approach, however, I’ve created that content first and then circle back to the physical stuff. If you are intending to follow along or use any of the information I present, please be cautious about any steps you take. If your body isn’t ready you can do more damage than good in some cases. Make sure you consult your doctor and other health experts before you make any drastic changes.
For me, achieving a high degree of bodily wellness involves addressing three main areas: physical wellness, optimal nutrition, and having a high-performing daily rhythm. The following table provides links to each of these subareas and descriptions of the content you’ll find under each.
If you want to do the most you can to improve your body, then start with exercise. This isn’t about losing weight or looking better though. Physical exertion improves metabolic function better than nutrition or sleep. The best overall thing is cardiovascular exercise, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Under the Physical menu item I focus on Cardiovascular wellness (the measurable kind), strength training (skeletal muscle), stretching, and kinesthetics (in-motion).
Ah, nutrition. It turns out that poor nutrition is a really good way to realize negative disease states (duh?). On the flip side, however, optimal nutrition doesn’t really do that much to increase longevity or your quality of life. In short, great nutrition removes the likelihood of many of those negatives (disease and pain) from your life, but it doesn’t add positives directly. Under this menu area, I hit the Science behind optimal nutrition, my own “SIMPLE Eating” approach, a review of common ‘flavors’ of diets, how to implement better eating, and a few staple recipes that make that happen.
The rhythm of your day, your routines, habits, and sleep cycles are a critical foundational component to wellness. I’ve done a ton of reading about how I spend my days, the habits I foster and grow, and how I schedule my routine. This includes how I fit in the Physical work described above and eating too. But when most people hear the term “circadian rhythm” they probably think of sleep, but it’s much more than just sleeping. Just to tick the box, however, good sleep involves a lot more than being tired and putting my head on my pillow – so I’ve discovered. I had problems sleeping for decades, and finally cracked the solution when I started preparing for sleep immediately when I woke up. It’s a lot more than getting myself physically tired before bed because (get this)- sleep is between your ears more than anything else. So being physically tired, but stressed out, won’t help.