Wellness is Free: LIGHT

“In lieu of what we know about how profoundly light can affect our brain and overall health, every time we light up a room, step outside to daylight, draw the curtain, or put our sunglasses on, we are sending either good or bad signal to our brain. Light truly is as powerful as any drug in its potential to affect our brain and overall health. If light is a drug, then we must figure out how much light and what kind of light (i.e., what color) should be consumed when to promote mental health and general well-being.” - Dr. Satchin Panda

Modern humans spend unprecedented amounts of time indoors. In this series, I argue that our indoor lifestyle puts us at odds with essential nature-based inputs that can lead to poor health. One vital input our indoor lifestyle disconnects us from is natural cycles of light and dark. 

In a consumerist wellness landscape, light is a highly underrated health ally. Light is so omniscient that it’s essentially like the air we breathe––vital and influential but easy to take for granted. Or more cynically, one might argue that light’s health benefits receive far less air time due to its lack of obvious commercial viability. 

As a result of these factors, many people neglect to examine their relationship with light in their wellness protocol. 

Our broken relationship with light illustrates the thesis of this series. First, it’s an example of the symbiotic co-evolution between humans and natural environments and how this connection is built into our biology. Second, the potency of sunlight vs artificial light shows us that there are benefits, related to both finances and efficacy, to accessing inputs directly from the natural world. 

The scientific community hasn’t yet fully uncovered all the symbiotic benefits between humans and nature so accessing these inputs from the natural world is ideal. Sure, there are benefits to using blue light blocking glasses and light-boxes but these substitutes aren't likely to replicate the full potency of viewing daylight at the appropriate times and creating a dark environment at night. 

Let’s dive in. 

Human biology thrives on contrast.  For example, we need both stressors and periods of recovery to become resilient. One well understood example of this comes from exercise science. A bout of exercise is a stressor on the body but when followed by adequate rest and recovery, the body is able to build itself back more strongly, conferring health benefits to the entire system. 

The same principle of contrast applies to our relationship with light. We need robust signals of both light and darkness in order to thrive. Instead, modern environments lead to too little of both. We exist in “dim light” (akin to biological winter) most of the time rather than experience the appropriate contrast our bodies evolved to expect. We thrive with bright days and dark nights. 

We evolved in close proximity to the natural world, which meant being exposed to predictable and alternating periods of light-dark every 24 hours. As diurnal mammals we are supposed to be active during the day and to rest during the night. Our body evolved to “tell time” from environmental signals.These environmental signals are known as zeitgebers––environmental inputs that serve as “time keepers.” The most robust signal our bodies read is light. Other zeitgebers include timing of meals and physical activity.  

In order to read these zeitgebers our brain evolved with a “master clock”, also known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Photosensitive nerve cells in our optic nerve (Melanopsin ganglion cells) read light energy (photons) and send information about the lighting environment to the SCN which then sends signals to all our cells that help the rest of our body “tell time.” In addition to the “master clock” in our brain, we also have peripheral clocks. Our peripheral clock consists of clock genes present in nearly every cell of our bodies. Our peripheral clocks create their circadian rhythm from a combination of the light-induced SCN signal and meal timing.  

Ideally, your master clock lines up with the peripheral clocks and both are in sync with light-dark signals in your environment. The body translates this environmental input into hormonal and neurochemical signals that help our body function optimally. 

Syncing our circadian rhythm with the natural light-dark cycles in nature establishes a foundation for health. 

Circadian misalignment is rampant. Indoor living and light-emitting devices cause us to be “out of sync” with the light/dark cycles of the sun. In this modern environment we rarely get a clear signal as to whether or not it is day or night. This circadian misalignment can manifest in a variety of ways. Common forms of circadian misalignment, such as shift work and jet lag, have been well-studied and linked to multiple negative health outcomes. So much so that the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified shift work  as a potential carcinogen. Circadian impairment has been linked to psychiatric disorders, gut alterations, sleep and cognitive impairments and various types of cancers. But even if you aren't a shift worker, most of us have chronically disrupted circadian rhythms. Researchers now have names for these mundane forms of circadian disruption: social jetlag and digital jetlag. 

One of the cheapest, most potent wellness tools is to optimize your circadian system by improving your light hygiene. This optimizes foundational aspects of your biology.  Circadian alignment (when our internal clocks match natural light-dark signals) evokes powerful, ancient systems that lead to health.

THE HAZARDS OF VIEWING LIGHT AT NIGHT

For most of history, as the sun set we were no longer exposed to bright light. We currently have an evolutionary mismatch from what our bodies have evolved to expect and the modern environment. With the invention of the lightbulb in 1879 and the digital revolution, we have unprecedented inputs of light at night leading to chronic circadian disruption. 

One of the commonly known risks of light at night is that it suppresses the release of the hormone melatonin. Due to the popularity of melatonin as a supplement, melatonin is well known for its sleep-supportive benefits. Luckily for those of us who don't want to spend money on supplements our body produces its own melatonin, in the perfect form and dose, when given the appropriate light signals.

In dim and dark environments, melatonin––which has been called "the hormone of darkness"–– is released by the pineal gland as a circadian signal of nighttime and a sleep initiator. Bright light, particularly light in the blue spectrum, blocks our brains from producing melatonin. The use of artificial light and devices after dark abnormally suppresses melatonin which reduces both the quality of sleep and the ability to fall asleep. This is problematic for reasons beyond melatonin’s impact on sleep quality. In addition to its role in supporting our circadian rhythm and sleep, melatonin has several other biological benefits. 

Beyond its influence on sleep, melatonin is also a potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunomodulating and cancer-protective hormone. Melatonin is highly conserved across multiple species and is even found in primitive photosynthetic bacteria. According to one paper I read, the original and primary function of melatonin is as a free radical scavenger and antioxidant. Another article I found in the prestigious science journal Nature called melatonin, “master regulator of inflammation and cell death.”

There is a lot of buzz about antioxidants. Antioxidant refers to any compound that can counteract damage caused by “free radicals”––molecules which are missing an electron, thus highly reactive––which generate oxidative stress, which can damage DNA, cells, and potentially play a role in aging. We generate free radicals as a normal part of metabolism and certain lifestyle factors can increase them. While there is a lot of hype about antioxidant supplements, the best data indicate that getting a range of antioxidants present in a diverse, plant-forward diet is most effective. A potentially underrated antioxidant source we evolved with is melatonin. 

The ability of melatonin to reduce oxidative stress via its free radical scavenging actions is directly related to its concentration. At higher concentrations, there are more molecules of the antioxidant available to quench free radicals thereby lowering oxidative damage and related diseases. 

Melatonin is also being studied for its anti-depressant qualities likely due to its ability to reduce neuroinflammation, depressive-like behaviors, and oxidative stress. Melatonin is a highly conserved biological resource that helps us deal with inflammation and oxidative stress. This paints a much more fascinating picture than a prosaic sleep supplement found in the aisles of CVS. 

In summary, If we are deficit in darkness, we are deficient in melatonin. This means you're short changing your body of a powerfully reparative hormone we evolved to have a certain dose of every day. So, rather than investing in expensive antioxidant supplements (that likely don't work), prioritize your daily dose of darkness instead.

THE IMPORTANCE OF VIEWING BRIGHT LIGHT DURING THE DAY

In our sleep-procrastinating, screen addicted era, we've all likely heard of the hazards of too much blue light at night. But what has been underrated is the importance of outdoor daylight exposure during the day. People generally know that less light during the winter can lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is a seasonal bout of depression. But the reality is that most of us, as far as our light environment is concerned, are living in permanent winter. This is the result of modern environmental influences that lead us to spend 90% of our time indoors––a dim lighting environment––and also getting bright light signals at unnatural times.

Just as darkness signals our body to prepare for sleep, appropriately timed light exposure during the day tells our body to be alert and active. It also locks in our circadian timing so we are less impacted by some of the harmful impacts of exposure to light at night.

If you work in a bright office or have good natural light in your home, it may feel like you are getting adequate light exposure indoors. Yet, indoor light is inadequate to confer biological changes because it simply is not bright enough to have an effect. For example, the brightest lit office spaces are generally only around 500 lux whereas being outside on a cloudy day exposes you to about 10,000 lux (up to 30,000 lux on a sunny day). Additionally, our eyes are most sensitive to light at night and least sensitive to light early in the day. Therefore, we need a higher dose of photons in the early part of the day to set our circadian rhythm. Because indoor lighting is so much dimmer than outdoor light, this simply means we have to get outside. As usual, the indoor solution is inadequate. If you want to test this for yourself you can download a lux meter on your phone.https://apps.apple.com/us/app/myluxrecorder/id106955783.

Cortisol, generally maligned as a stress hormone, is also a key signal for the circadian system. Cortisol is an "awakening and alerting" hormone that helps us feel energized during the day. Ideally, it follows a daily 24-hour curve with the lowest concentrations at night and a peak right before we wake up. Additionally, there should be a sharp peak in concentration within the first hour after waking, which is known as the cortisol awakening response (CAR). One signature of depression (and circadian misalignment) appears to be a blunted cortisol awakening response . One way to induce an optimal cortisol awakening response is to view sunlight in the morning. This sets you up for appropriate cortisol and melatonin rhythms. In addition to all the other circadian-related benefits, this is a free tool for optimizing mood and energy. No supplements needed.

Additionally, Samar Hatter, a circadian biologist at Johns Hopkins, did a study that linked exposure to light at night with both depression and learning problems. This is likely due to the activation of cortisol at inappropriate times, leading to cognitive impairment. 

Another benefit of viewing lots of light during the day is that it strengthens your circadian entrainment. What this means is that you are less impacted by the bright you do view at night.  Studies have shown that viewing adequate daylight during the day minimizes the melatonin blunting effects of blue light at night. This gives you a little more wiggle room in terms of how strict you are with your nighttime light routine.

You can use light boxes or other high tech solutions to engage with more light during the day but none are as elegantly designed for your physiology as simple sunlight. In the words of renowned light scientist Mariana Figueiro during her awesome Ted Talk on Light and Health, “Daylight is the ideal light source for the circadian system––it goes on and off at the right time, and is the right color and right intensity”. 

*It’s important to mention that wearing sunglasses can reduce your bright light exposure by 7-15 fold, so don’t wear them on your walks where light exposure is the priority.

PRACTICAL TIPS

So, what are the top, low-cost behavioral strategies for translating this intriguing science to your daily routine?

My favorite heuristic for optimizing circadian biology comes from circadian biologist, Dr. Satchin Panda: 

"Get as much daylight during the day, as little light as possible at night, and no light during sleep."

Practically speaking this means going outside more and having a more intentional relationship with technology. 

Let's talk about strategies for implementing each part of the equation. 

How to get as much daylight during the day as possible.

• Prioritize getting outside in the morning. Aim to get outside in the morning for at least 5-10 minutes. This could mean taking a walk around the block or drinking your coffee outdoors.

• Schedule at least 3 outdoor breaks during your day. This can be as simple as taking a 5-10 minute walk in the morning, at lunch, and right after work.

• Don't wear sunglasses when you are outdoors (or blue light blocking eyewear). Wearing sunglasses blocks the light signal from reaching your brain. 

• Consider swapping indoor exercise for outdoor exercise. Find year-long outdoor hobbies. Depending on where you live, invest in the clothing and gear that allows you to engage with the outdoors even in harsh weather conditions.

How to limit light at night:

• Use blue-light blocking technology as a harm-reduction strategy when you need to view light at night. F.lux is a great plug-in for computers and tablets that filters out the blue light as the sun goes down. Most smartphones have similar settings you can enable. Consider using blue light blocking glasses at night, although the spectrum of light may matter less than intensity so this isn’t a foolproof solution.

• Invest in warmer-toned bulbs and dimmers. Turn on these lights at night and only use the minimum amount of lights needed after the sun goes down. Task lighting (non overhead lighting) is best. Bonus, this tends to create cozier vibes anyway.

• Create a “digital curfew” –– a time at night, ideally 30-60 minutes before you plan on going to bed––where you stop engaging with screens. To be successful with this you’ll need to replace the screen-based nighttime habits with equally rewarding non-screen based activities. See next tip. 

• Find some non-screen based nighttime hobbies that help you unwind. For many of us this essentially means considering finding some high-quality alternatives to Netflix. For me, this is reading books with some groovy music in the background, yoga, or drawing while listening to audio books. 

How to sleep in total darkness:

• Get an eye mask. In the absence of any other interior design changes, this takes care of most of the light exposure during sleep. I always travel with an eye mask as it allows for higher quality sleep in new environments you don't have control over. To take it to the next level, install blackout curtains in your bedroom.

• Get the TV out of your bedroom. At the very least, pick a time to turn off the TV at night (ideally 30-60 minutes before bed) and consider covering the TV up when you're not watching it. This helps break the associative loop of seeing a TV and wanting to watch TV.

• Charge your electronic devices in another room. The most common retort to this is, "I use my phone as an alarm clock." My response is to recommend buying a non-phone alarm clock. This is a one time change that seems to determine success or failure with breaking the habit of looking at your phone right before bed and first thing in the morning. 

Like many topics, there are a lot of high tech, expensive ways to optimize sleep, energy, and moods. I argue that none are as potent and effective as intelligently using light-dark cycles to optimize your circadian rhythm.

Light is an ally we co-evolved with. If we use the right spectrum and brightness at the right time, it positively benefits every system of the body. 

The best part is that it is free and democratically available as long as you have access to the outdoors and commit to some simple rules around how you engage with technology. 

CITATIONS:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4282293/  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41419-019-1556-7

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jpi.12360#:~:text=The%20ability%20of%20melatonin%20to,oxidative%20damage%20and%20related%20diseases.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5503661/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2020.00096/full

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.456.9753&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=107

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041310500269X

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.456.9753&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=107

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4437603/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068538/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/030645309290078L

Book Review: Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg, PhD

BJ Fogg knows human behavior. If you need some proof his Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford helped tech giants hack human psychology to develop addictive products like Facebook and Instagram. In a somewhat redemptive move, he has renamed his lab the Behavior Design Lab and is now using his groundbreaking theoretical model of human behavior to help people design healthy and happy lives. He calls his approach, Behavior Design. 

Far too often, I hear from folks who have decided they “don’t have any willpower” or simply don’t believe they have the ability to change following several failed attempts at improving their health. I believe that every human has the capacity to transform and the issue is often misinformation on how behavior change works, not some deep-seated character flaw. 

Behavior change is a skill and BJ Fogg is a wonderful teacher of the skill set. He teaches the basic techniques that give you the power to eradicate bad habits, and install the self-serving habits you desire. Here are some key highlights from his book on ways to start developing the power to change at will. 

The theoretical backdrop of all of his work is the Fogg Behavioral Model. Fogg developed a theory of human behavior that goes as follows: Behavior = Motivation x Ability x Prompt (B=MAP). Thus, when looking at changing your behavior, it requires a combination of motivation, ability, and prompt (or cue). Contrary to what we often hear, Fogg doesn’t believe motivation is a particularly useful lever to pull. Motivation is fickle. It comes and goes. Instead, Fogg recommends focusing on prompt first and ability second. 

Here is how to use this theory practically. Decide on a new habit you’d like to install. For example, meditation or a morning walk. Pick something you have some intrinsic motivation around.

Pick an Anchor Moment. This is where the prompt comes in. Find a habit that already happens automatically in your daily life. Mundane things like waking up, turning off your alarm, brushing your teeth, showering, eating meals, getting dressed, etc. Tie your desired behavior to this existing behavior. This is also referred to as “habit stacking”. 

Insert New Tiny Behavior. The key to this step is actually shrinking the desired behavior into the tiniest version of it (ideally something that takes 30 seconds or less). You’d be surprised at how many people resist this principle. I frequently am in conversations with coaching clients who have yet to have any success implementing their desired change but refuse to shrink the goal. Doing nothing somehow seems more palatable than making the goal tiny. Here is the logic. Every time we try to change our habitual behavior it requires a lot of effort and there is a lot of friction to overcome. The bigger the change, the more willpower that is required. If you start tiny, you are more likely to implement the change consistently which eventually makes the behavior automatic. Once it is automatic, the new habit can grow. 

Celebrate! This is the part of the Tiny Habit Formula that is easiest to dismiss. It can feel arbitrary and silly. It’s actually important. When you celebrate, you are leveraging your own neurochemistry to make the behavior addictive. By celebrating ( or as Fogg says, creating a feeling of “shine”) you are conjuring up a tiny dopamine rush, which makes your brain more likely to repeat the behavior in the future. This is how we learn, adapt, and even become addicted to things. Use this to become attached to your new habit. This can be as simple as telling yourself, “I’m awesome”, “Good work”, or as elaborate as a happy dance. It should be something you can do immediately after you do the tiny habit. 

Fogg combines these steps into a framework called a “Tiny Habit Recipe”. Use this to create a behavioral recipe for your desired habit. The basic format for a tiny habit recipe is: If (prompt), then I will (new tiny behavior). Then you celebrate. Don’t stress that your tiny habit is not the full, ideal version of the habit. Fogg reminds us that these “tiny habits” are simply habit seeds. Once we plant them by consistently doing the small version of the habit, the behavior is able to grow. 

What is one tiny habit you’d like to adopt? Write your own tiny habit recipe and practice the skill of behavior change in your own life. Let me know how it goes! 

Why Sleep Is DIY Therapy

Have you ever had a wise friend tell you to “go to bed and you’ll feel better in the morning” when you’re going through a rough time? Or gotten the counsel to “sleep on it” before making a big decision? We’ve all likely had the experience of going to bed emotionally distraught and woken up feeling like a brand new person. Like a lot of cliched wisdom, there is emerging science to explain why this timeless advice works. And in the age of overpriced healthcare, its good to have some DIY ways to self-soothe emotional pain.

Sleep researcher, Dr. Matthew Walker, describes sleep as “overnight therapy”. In scientific papers (here and here) he describes the brain mechanisms for how sleep soothes our emotional pain. Here’s how it works. Apparently, REM sleep is the one time during a typical 24 hour period when the stress hormone noradrenaline is not present in the brain. During this unusually low-stress state, our brain reprocesses the “emotionally salient” events that have been tagged from the previous day and reviews the events in a stress-free state. The event is then banked in our memories through a neurologically calm lens. As a result, when we think of these issues the following day, we’ll feel calmer and like we’ve gained new insights and perspectives.

Another reason sleep is potent medicine for our mental health is that sleep deprivation increases amygdala reactivity and weakens the connection between the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex. The medial prefrontal cortex (often referred to as our “adult brain”) is able to dampen our amygdala-based emotional reactivity (our limbic brain). In one study, after just one night of sleep loss, the sleep-deprived group had around 60% higher amygdala reactivity than the control group. The limbic-prefrontal cortex balancing appears to happen during REM sleep. Since prefrontal cortex engagement is the goal of a lot of emotional balancing practices such as mediation and therapy, sleep is an incredibly effective tool for gaining perspective and equanimity. 

At this point in the article, you may be wondering how can optimize your REM sleep in order to become a more zen and balanced person. 

Luckily, there are a few things we have control over that can optimize REM sleep. Unfortunately, the main tip is to reduce alcohol consumption. According to Dr. Matthew Walker, alcohol is one of the most potent suppressors of REM sleep that is known. Additionally, cannabis has similar REM-blocking effects. Knowing that alcohol is limiting the amount of “overnight therapy” we can access is a bit of a bummer but also empowering knowledge to have. 

At the very least, understanding this aspect of your biology can allow you to time your alcohol use more strategically. Depending on how much “overnight therapy” you need, you may choose to reduce or eliminate your alcohol consumption in order to optimize REM sleep. Another strategy is to have alcohol earlier in the evening (happy hour!) and skip the nightcaps. Of course, skipping the booze altogether will give you the best results. 

Walker, M. P., & van der Helm, E. (2009). Overnight Therapy? The Role of Sleep in Emotional Brain Processing. Psychological Bulletin, 135(5), 731–748. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2890316/

 Van der Helm, E., Yao, J., Dutt, S., Rao, V., Saletin, J. M., & Walker, M. P. (2011). REM Sleep Depotentiates Amygdala Activity to Previous Emotional Experiences. Current Biology, 21(23), 2029–2032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2011.10.052

5 Simple Steps To take To fix your sleep

Getting consistent, high-quality sleep is nothing short of life-changing. Sleep improves every aspect of your well-being. During sleep, your brain clears toxins, your emotional wounds are healed, and your metabolism, gut, and immune system are repaired. Whether or not you get adequate sleep even determines your willpower and hunger and satiety hormones the next day. Of course, many aspects of your lifestyle matter impact health but it is easy to argue that sleep is the most important area to optimize. 

Committing to forming new habits that set the stage for great sleep is no small feat. The wellness zeitgeist right now is all about the power of daily habits. Daily habits are vital. But I also love the idea that there are high leverage one-time steps we can take that set us up for better sleep just by changing our environment. Habits cues exist in our daily environment, so when we alter our environment, we can effortlessly change our patterns. 

If you’re feeling a wave of motivation to improve your sleep, use this energy to take the following steps. Your future well-slept self will thank you. 

Top 5 One Time Steps To Get Amazing Sleep:

1. Buy a non-phone alarm clock. I wrote a whole post on this one. If you look at your phone right before bed, in the middle of the night, or first thing in the morning, this is the single best way to break the habit. Pick a spot to charge your phone at night somewhere out of reach (ideally in a different room) and rely on an old school alarm clock that isn’t backlit ( I like this one ). This one time step will help you create a morning and evening buffer between you and your phone, soothe your nervous system, and improve your bedroom lighting environment. Also, there is an actual study if you can wait a few minutes between waking up and looking at your phone, you will get deeper sleep at night. The phone first thing in the morning creates “anticipatory” anxiety” at night that can diminish sleep quality. 

2. Get a good quality sleep mask. You can go all out and revamp your whole room by getting blackout curtain and removing or covering all ambient light sources but this can take time and money. Take the most important step to reduce light at night and buy a sleep mask ( after trying many types, I like this one the best). This will increase the amount of melatonin you produce at night which will improve sleep quality and give your body a boost of this important anti-inflammatory hormone.

3. Put your wifi on a timer. I’ve argued that the most important sleep habit is committing to a “digital curfew”  aka a time when you stop looking at screens, ideally 30-60 min before bed. But we are adults and setting random curfews can set you up for rebellion. Putting your wif-fi on a timer will cause it to shut off at your designated time each night. This is one way to pre-commit to your “digital curfew” and make it more likely you’ll follow through. Wifi timers are cheap and easy to install. You can get them at any hardware store or Amazon. 

4. Install lower wattage, warmer tone lights - Your body relies on lighting cues from the environment to determine the time of day and set its circadian rhythm. This impacts everything from sleep cycles, immune function, mood, and metabolism. The tone and intensity of light both matter. After sunset, stick to dimmer and warmer tone lights. You can do this by using dimmers, or installing low wattage, warmer tone bulbs. 

5. Put a notebook next to your bed. Many people have difficulty sleeping because they “can’t shut off their brains”. As soon as their head hits the pillow, their wheels start spinning and the anxious rumination begins. This flight or flight activation deters sleep initiation. One of the most potent tools for reducing this pattern is to start keeping a Worry Journal next to your bed. Before bed or when you wake up and can’t fall asleep, get in the habit of writing your thoughts and to-dos in a journal. This gets them out of your head and helps quiet the mind. Keep your notebook and pen within reach in order to get the habit going.

Book Review: The Joy of Movement by Kelly McGonigal

It’s well known that exercise makes us happier. This is usually attributed to a vague notion of “endorphins” and is generally left at that. In The Joy of Movement, health psychologist, Dr. Kelly McGonigal, paints a much richer picture. In it, she elucidates the extraordinary physiologic mechanisms that lead to exercise-induced psychological well-being.  

Dr. Kelly McGonigal has one of my favorite brains. She’s optimistic yet rigorous and takes well-worn topics that seem basic and overplayed and flips them on their head (for an example of this check out her ted talk on why stress may be good for you). 

In The Joy of Movement McGonigal takes the topic of exercise, which is so popular it can seem mundane, and through thoughtful narration and groundbreaking research, she makes exercise feel like the most cutting edge, novel intervention around. 

These are the 4 most mind-blowing facts I learned from her book. I’m just skimming the surface here so I highly recommend grabbing your own copy. 

Top 4 Ways Exercise Changes Your Brain:

#1 Beyond endorphins..exercise and the endocannabinoid system. 

New research shows that the legendary “runner’s high” is likely not due to endorphins, but rather endocannabinoids. Endocannabinoids are the cannabis-like molecules produced within our bodies. Endocannabinoids are small enough to cross the blood-brain-barrier in order to confer psychological benefits. 

The brain is rich in endocannabinoid receptors, particularly in the brain regions responsible for our stress response. When released following sustained moderate aerobic exercise, these molecules reduce anxiety, increasing feelings of contentment, increase dopamine, and make us feel more socially open and connected to others. 

According to McGonigal, in order to experience the endocannabinoid release from exercise, you must do moderate-intensity movement (like fast walking, jogging, swimming, etc.) for at least 20 minutes. It is likely that we evolved with this built-in reward signal to motivate us to endure sustained walking and running during our history as persistence hunters-gathers, who often had to move all day in order to eat and survive. 

As our country tries to square marijuana’s potential medicinal properties with its ambiguous legal status, exercise offers a readily accessible, natural way to play with our own endogenous cannabinoid molecules and reap its medicinal rewards. 

#2 Your muscles are endocrine glands that release “hope molecules”

In our muscle obsessed culture, it feels odd to say that muscles are underrated. Yet, in addition to their more well-known properties, new research shows that your skeletal muscles also function as endocrine glands that produce mood-boosting hormones some scientists emphatically call “hope molecules”. These are released into the bloodstream every time the muscles contract. This class of molecules is known as myokines there are many different types being discovered that provide different health-boosting effects. 

Some myokine-related benefits that McGonigal highlights in the book include, protection and regeneration of neurons, stress resilience, decreased brain inflammation, and neutralizing a neurotoxic chemical caused by chronically elevated stress hormones before it reaches the brain. 

Knowing that every muscle contraction provides my brain and body with a steady drip of mood and health-boosting molecules motivates me to seize every opportunity to move.

#3 Your step count is directly correlated with anxiety and depression.

The average American takes 4,774 steps a day. I read this stat in McGonigal’s book while in a somewhat depressive mood at the end of a long workday. My pedometer read 4,200. 

Research has shown that the average daily step count required to induce feelings of anxiety and depression and decrease satisfaction with life is 5,649. When adults were randomly assigned to reduce their daily step count, 88 percent become more depressed, indicating a causal link between walking and mood. 

There are many compelling reasons to shoot for a goal of 10,000 steps a day but if mood regulation and brain health are a priority, make 6,000 your bare minimum goal. 

#4. Outdoor exercise  = instant meditation

There is something about outdoor exercise. Many of us “hate the gym” and prefer getting outside to crowded, dimly lit, TV-centric gyms. Beyond the obvious, McGonigal helps us understand why. 

“Green exercise” aka movement done in outdoor spaces has been studied by psychologists. “Green exercise” appears to change our brains in unique ways. And unlike some of the endorphin or endocannabinoid benefits of exercise which take a little while to kick in, the benefits of “green exercise” appear to be more immediate. This may be because green spaces help our brain disengage from the default mode network (the DMN). 

The default mode network is having a moment and you may have heard about it as it relates to depression, meditation, and psychedelics. Here’s a default mode network primer: according to McGonigal the DMN is the brain network when the human mind is not focused on anything and is allowed to wander. It’s the brain’s state at baseline. When in this state, the mind is mostly self-referential and focused on analyzing your social relationships and standing. 

There is nothing inherently wrong with the default mode network, but it often has a negativity bias and when overactive it feels like anxious rumination. People with anxiety and depression tend to have an overactive DMN and as such, many of the latest cutting edge treatments for depression like Ketamine and transcranial magnetic stimulation deliver their benefits by decreasing overactivity in the default mode network. Additionally, tools like meditation and psychedelics also appear to reduce activity in the default mode network, which can lead to a feeling of selflessness, lack of self-consciousness, and a deeper connection to others and to nature. Similar to entheogens, meditation, and cutting-edge depression treatments, outdoor exercise naturally and quickly quiets the DMN. For those of us that have trouble “quieting our minds” this is an invaluable tool. 

McGonigal dives deeper and proposes a fascinating new take on the default mode network.  She proposes that the traditional DMN we hear about (the self-focused one) may not be the only “default” our brains have. Drawing on the work of Dr. Alexandra Rosati, a psychologist who studies how the human mind developed, she posits that we may have two distinct defaults. Which “default” we reside in is likely context dependent. 

McGonigal cites two primary pressures that influenced our brain development throughout evolutionary history; social cohesion and the need to get food from our natural environment. The latter influence explain the “second default mode” that takes over in natural environments. She calls it “foraging cognition”. McGonigal posits that we likely evolved with these two default modes but as indoor, screen-focused modern humans, we don’t often access this second nature-focused default mode and over-activate the self-focused network. This is why getting outside and moving can feel like such a relief. We are meant to spend ample time in both states of mind. 

This helps explain our current craze of seeking things like meditation, psychedelics and other entheogens, and pharmaceuticals that help us access our second neurological home. Unfortunately, psychedelics are still illegal and meditation takes some skill and commitment in order to reap the benefits. “Green exercise” appears to confer similar neurological and psychological benefits to these more controversial modalities naturally and for free. And luckily, we can bypass all the hype, zip past the regulatory barriers and soothe our ruminative brains immediately. Simply step outside, move your body, and gaze at your surroundings.

The 4 Essential Circadian-Habits For Health

This article is an ode to one of my favorite researchers, Dr. Satchin Panda. He runs a circadian biology lab at the renowned Salk Institute. As a nature-obsessed health coach, I love that Panda’s research illustrates the biological mechanism for my suspicion that nature is the ultimate health resource. He studies our circadian rhythm - how the timing of environmental inputs impacts our physiology.

Naturally, I was thrilled when he came out with his book, The Circadian Code. Most of the information in this post comes directly from the research cited in his book. Check out the whole book for a fantastic primer on optimizing your circadian biology for health. 

Circadian biology illustrates how interconnected our physiology is with the natural world. Our brains and clock genes sense cues from the environment and respond with hormonal outputs. Circadian disruption occurs when our internal clocks are confused by conflicting external cues. Circadian disruption is related to over 100 different illnesses. When the timing is inconsistent or inputs out of sync with each other, human health can suffer. As such, time is an underrated health resource that can be leveraged in potent ways. 

Due to the circadian impacts, camping is a health elixir. I don’t know about you but I never feel better than on a backpacking trip. One explanation for the vitality you may feel is that camping creates circadian alignment by ensuring that you are eating, moving, and getting natural light during the day and sleeping, fasting, and in a dark environment at night. 

Couple this with all-day movement and fresh air and its easy to see why camping is a powerful health promoter. Interestingly, camping has been studied as a way to re-align circadian rhythms (more on that here and here). The trick is mimicking these patterns in our day-to-day lives.

Below is a quick refresher on how the circadian system works (more in my previous posts here and here). 

We have a master clock in the brain (the suprachiasmatic nucleus) and peripheral clocks (clock genes throughout the body). Ideally, your master clock lines up with the peripheral clocks and both line up with the light-dark cycles in the natural world. 

Optimal health occurs when the master and peripheral clock are in sync with each other and both clocks are in sync with natural cycles of light and dark in your environment. 

To make this groundbreaking information practical, here are the 4 essential habits to adopt for circadian optimization:

1. Move in the morning

2. Keep a consistent sleep schedule - making sure to go to bed before 11 pm.

3. Eat all your food in a 12-hour window and stop eating at least 3 hours before bed (8 pm at the latest).

4. Get as much daylight during the day, as little light as possible at night, and no light during sleep. 

Let’s dive a little deeper into each tip. 

MOVE IN THE MORNING:

“When we are not eating or sleeping, we’re supposed to be engaged in some form of physical activity” - Satchin Panda

Obviously, moving at any time is better than not moving at all. But, if you are looking to optimize your exercise routine, morning is the ideal time. 

Here’s why. 

• You get a 12-hour mood boost from exercise so it’s nice to benefit from this endorphin high during the day. 

• You get daylight exposure at the right time to entrain your circadian rhythm and sync up your brain clock.

• Exercising in a fasted state appears to have some benefits, such as burning more fat and increasing autophagy (clearing out dead or damaged cells). In light of this, exercising before breakfast is a wise choice. 

• You’ll raise your cortisol curve at the appropriate time, which can lower inflammation and set you up for a healthy circadian rhythm later in the day. 

HAVE A REGULAR WAKETIME AND BEDTIME!

When it comes to sleep, regularity is king! This is the #1 sleep tip from sleep guru, Dr.Matthew Walker, and is reiterated by Dr. Satchin Panda. The quality and quantity of your sleep drastically improve when you stick to a routine. 

Here’s how to do it. 

• Establish a regular bedtime and wake time. Stick to this even on weekends.

• If you stay up late, try to wake up at the same time the next day. If you sleep in you likely won’t be tired at your usual bedtime and you’ll shift your circadian clock. This leads to a form of “social jetlag” ( where your circadian rhythm shifts due to your social calendar on the weekend vs the weekday). Just get up, deal with the sleepiness, and try to get to bed at your usual bedtime that night. 

The best way to actually establish a regular bedtime is to set a solid digital curfew. Set an alarm on your phone for 1 hour before your ideal bedtime. At this time, turn off your phone and devices and start winding down. 

EAT YOUR FOOD WITHIN A 12 HOUR WINDOW AND STOP EATING AT LEAST 3 HOURS BEFORE BED (Ideally 8 pm at the latest):

Food is as important as a circadian cue as light. Light sets your master clock and food appears to set all the other clocks in your body (peripheral clocks). 

Ideally, your light and food cues are giving your body the same signal. If not, circadian disruption can occur.

So, let’s talk about timing your eating for circadian alignment. 

Intermittent fasting is all the rage. While there is some compelling research behind the hype, unfortunately, the data is new and due to its restrictive nature, it can be psychologically triggering for people with a history of any type of disordered eating. 

So for now, don’t worry about the extremes, and instead, try a circadian-informed 12-hour eating window. 

Here is how to do it: You don’t change the amount or quality of what you are eating but just the time frame. You simply try to eat all your food within the same 12-hour window each day and stop eating at least 3 hours before bed (known as a 12/3 fast). Obviously, this won’t happen every single day but stick to your schedule as often as possible. 

Why? 

One reason is that when you eat right before you go to sleep the digestion process keeps your core body temperature elevated. Since a drop in your core body temperature is one of the signals that initiate sleep, eating too close to bedtime diminishes the amount of deep sleep you can get. 

Another reason is that when you are digesting food, you are not in “repair mode.” Your body thinks it is “daytime” and does not initiate the nighttime repair mechanisms that occur when you’re asleep in a fasted state. 

For a great deep dive of the research around this eating pattern, check out this ted talk by one of Satchin Panda’s research collaborators, Emily Manoogian.

GET AS MUCH DAYLIGHT DURING THE DAY, AS LITTLE LIGHT AS POSSIBLE AT NIGHT, AND NO LIGHT DURING SLEEP. 

The simple rule of thumb is to expose yourself to as much daylight as possible during the day, as little light as possible in the evening, and absolutely no light when you sleep (i.e., sleep in complete darkness). - Satchin Panda

Here’s how to make it happen: 

• Expose yourself to lots of bright light during the day (without sunglasses on!), which will boost your ability to sleep at night, as well as your mood and alertness during the day. The most powerful light for daytime anchoring is before 8:30 am. Try to get out in the early morning for at least 10-20 minutes. Prioritize a daily morning walk outside to make this a habit. 

• Avoid looking at bright screens at night. Decide on a screen curfew time (at least one hour before ideal bedtime) and do your best to stick with it. Set a digital sunset alarm on your phone as a reminder. 

• If you work a night shift or use a lot of electronic devices at night, consider wearing blue-blocking glasses. I like the Uvex brand, which you can buy on amazon.  Download the f.lux program on your computer which blocks blue light as it gets dark: https://justgetflux.com/.  Nightshift is the equivalent for iPhone but only available for IOS 9.3 http://www.apple.com/ios/preview/.

• Sleep in total darkness -- Take all devices out of the bedroom, use an eye mask, and blackout curtains if necessary. 

I’ve written about light’s impact on health before so check out the following links for more of a deep dive (links here and here). 

It’s no small task to live in alignment with the natural world and your circadian system.

To begin, break it down into the essential habits in each area: light, movement, eating, and sleep. Track your progress to see what is going well and what needs a little work. To make this easier, I created a free circadian habit tracker below to get you started. 

 As always, I’d be thrilled to be your health coach if you need a little extra support. 

Circadian Rhythm Alignment Tracker : 

(adapted from The Circadian Code by Satchin Panda)

“You can maintain a robust clock and preserve your normal brain function by following four simple habits: sleep, TRE, exercise, and the appropriate exposure to daylight.” - Dr. Satchin Panda

Working on optimizing your circadian rhythms is one of the strongest levers for improving overall health. 

How To Use Algorithms To Reach Your Goals Without Feeling Like a Robot

Having a routine used to feel like shackles. As a free spirit, I did not see value in interrupting spontaneity for structure. I still don’t really like to be told what to do, even if it is by myself.

For these reasons for much of my life, I resisted structure and consistency. At the same time, I often didn’t feel like I was making consistent progress towards my goals. I wanted to publish a blog post more than once every few months but didn’t have a system in place for how this would happen. I wanted to get more sleep but I didn’t have a bedtime ritual that I honored.

I realized that cultivating a structured routine would likely enhance my life.

Luckily, I followed through on this instinct and the results have been somewhat revolutionary. I now sleep for 8 hours, almost every night and publish on my blog once a week. I have gained confidence as I trust myself to follow through on the things I set out to do. And yet, sometimes things start to feel too rigid. I begin to feel like my creative impulses are stunted and pleasure is traded in for the sake of the routine.

So, while creating structure has been valuable, it is a constant balance of staying consistent with the things that matter without becoming a rigid robot. Today, I’m excited to dive into the systems that keep me on track with my goals and also my top strategies for making sure it never feels too robotic.

First, let’s first dive into the strategy that has been so vital for keeping me on track with my goals. I use a checklist of implementation intentions (basically behavioral algorithms) to create a structure to my days (more specifically, the morning and evening as these are the times of day most of us have the most control over).

Below is a sneak peek of the first part of a google doc that shows the current algorithms/habits I’m running in my life.

As mentioned above, I use Implementation Intentions as they are one of the most well-validated tools in the behavior change arsenal. It’s a great way to turn your goals (aka the outcomes you want), into daily action (aka the process that will lead to your intended outcome).

It’s basically using algorithms to guide your actions. The formula is if X happens, then Y happens. What’s great about this approach is that in one simple process it ensures you’ve covered the most vital components of a successful habit plan; when you’ll do it, how you’ll do it, and what environmental cue you’ll link it to. Setting an implementation while motivation is high is also a way to pre-commit to a clear plan for your future self ( who likely won’t be as motivated).

Here are some additional examples of algorithms I run in my life

• If I wake up, then I drink a big glass of water

• If I brush my teeth, then I sit down to meditate for at least a minute.

• If it’s 10 pm, then I shut down all my devices and dim the lights.

For the above reasons, I recommend you use algorithms to reach your goals of any kind. And yet, I also think it is vital to find a balance between flexibility and rigidity.

So, here are my top suggestions for how to use algorithms without feeling like a robot:

• Make Sure It’s Pleasurable!

Ideally, with any habit that you create, there is a longterm benefit. You are often doing it for your future self. I usually don’t want to go to bed early, but I know the next day will be 1000X more enjoyable if I’m not sleep deprived.

One way to motivate yourself to stick to your algorithms is to find a way to also make it enjoyable in the moment. This adds an immediate reward and that will make it much more likely you’ll stick with the formula.

Here’s an example from my meditation habit. A while back, my meditation routine was feeling a bit dry. I didn’t want to sit down to my cushion and rushed through the whole process. To change it up, I decided to add some trancey music and burn a ton of incense. Suddenly I felt like I was in a cool ashram in the 1970s. This added a richness and sensuality to the habit that actually makes me crave it.

What are some ways you can make your habit more pleasurable in the moment.

• Have Flexible Structure!

Use the idea of floors and ceilings to ensure the habit algorithms are adaptable enough for the variance of your days. I always tell clients to create one version of the habit that you could do on your worst days (think the days that you have to catch a 5 am flight..) and then think of the ideal version of the habit. The tiny tiny version (“the floor”) is in your pocket for the busy, hectic days that you’ll be tempted to skip. The ideal (“the ceiling”) is for the best-case scenario days when you have time and energy. Float between these two versions. This allows you to be consistent even as life happens. It can also be helpful to think of a version of your routine that is possible to do when you travel (this may be the “floor version” or another mobile version of your habits).

• Update Your Algorithms To Fit Your Current Lifestyle!

Remember, your habits are there to nourish you and improve your life. If your daily routines are no longer feeding those means, it may be time to run some new “algorithm experiments”. Different life phases will need different structures and habits. When you go through a big transition, like a move, having a baby, etc. , expect that your self-care plan will also need to be revamped. I find it useful to create a list of the algorithms I’m currently using in my life so that I can review it and update it as needed.

What algorithms are you currently running in your life? How do you balance consistency and flexibility?

Tonglen: How To Turn Your News Consumption Into A Spiritual Practice

Given our current political climate, it will likely come as no surprise to you that the news can be a primary source of stress in our lives. This makes some sense. The news media cycle has quickened to an extent that if one wanted to it’s now possible to tune in all day every day. Interestingly, research also shows that secondary or vicarious trauma reactions are common as a result of reading about violent news stories. 

In the wellness community, the “news as a stressor” conversation often leads to a couple of perspectives. There are those that argue that since it is so stressful, it makes sense to ignore it and eliminate it from your life. I’ve noticed (predominantly white male bloggers) will argue that they’ve gone news free and it hasn’t impacted their lives. Blissful ignorance for the win! Alternatively, there are those that think we have to engage with the news to be a responsible citizen. 

Here’s how I’ve come down on this issue. At this moment in history, as someone in a place of enormous privilege, who is largely sheltered from the real world impacts of politics, I feel it is my responsibility to at least bear witness to what is happening and to be informed so I can take the actions that I’m able to.*

And yet, sometimes it gets really overwhelming and I have the urge to stick my head in the sand. 

To help with this, I’ve adopted some barriers around how often and in what format I consume the news. I discuss this in Tip #2 in my book review of, Make Time, and you can view the full description here. 

Today, I’m going to be focusing on another way to stay engaged with the news without it overwhelming you to the point of despair. Let’s talk about how to turn your news consumption into part of your compassion (aka heart expansion) practice. 

You can do this by using something called “Tonglen” or loving kindness meditation. It’s a meditation practice that teaches you to be able to be present with suffering (your own or others) by helping you accept and turn towards the discomfort and in turn to offer warmth and compassion to that experience. 

The philosophy is that any difficult emotion (fear, anger, disconnection..) you feel is a common human experience - one that can tether us with a broader sense of connection to humanity. 

It allows your compassion to expand in proportion to your own suffering and the pain you encounter in others. When you incorporate this practice, each encounter with something negative, is yet another opportunity to expand your heart. So, what better time to practice then during your interaction with the news. 

So now onto the actual technique. 

Here’s how I use Tonglen during my news consumption: 

Basically you use the discomfort you feel while consuming the news as an opportunity to expand your compassion muscle. 

The approach is simple. Here’s the complete Tonglen habit recipe:

Cue: feelings of fear, overwhelm, anger elicited by hearing the news. Or perhaps the feelings that you want to close yourself off from the pain of it all and never listen to the news again. 

Your New Reaction: Time To Do Tonglen!

• Simply bring your breath and attention to the felt experience of your discomfort. Notice how it feels in your body. Breathe into the emotion and feel it in your heart. 

• Realize that this emotion is a universal experience felt not only by you, but also billions of other people throughout time. 

• Exhale out a sense of warmth and compassion for yourself for feeling this emotion and to all the other people in the world who share that common pain (common humanity!) 

To close our this article, I’m going to let the queen of Tonglen herself, Pema Chodron, explain the practice. 

If you aren’t familiar with Pema (yes, I pretend we are on a first name basis), she is a radical Buddhist nun who speaks to human suffering better than anyone. I trust her deeply as she avoids the common pitfalls of the spiritual teacher, such as favoring the positive end of the emotional spectrum and using airy fairy language that feels deeply disconnected from the real world. Instead, she dives head first into the heart of human suffering and uses practical meditation techniques to break open her own loving heart and presence. 

Here are some of her words: 

Tonglen can be done for those who are ill, those who are dying or have died, those who are in pain of any kind. It can be done as a formal meditation practice or right on the spot at any time. We are out walking and we see someone in pain-right on the spot we can begin to breathe in that person’s pain and send out relief. Or we are just as likely to see someone in pain and look away. The pain brings up our fear or anger; it brings up our resistance and confusion. So on the spot we can do Tonglen for all the people just like ourselves, all those who wish to be compassionate but instead are afraid-who wish to be brave but instead are cowardly. Rather than beating ourselves up, we can use our personal stuckness as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against all over the world. Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us. Use what seems like poison as medicine. We can use our personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings. When you do tonglen on the spot, simply breathe in and breathe out, taking in pain and sending out spaciousness and relief.

For her full instructions on the practice click here. 

Do you have any techniques you use to destress after interacting with the news? 

*If you are going through a rough patch and know that your mental well-being will be negatively impacted by the stress of the news, I’m in full support of folks making the choice that feels best for you. Even if that means going cold turkey on the news for a while.

The 3 Tech Tools That Actually Support My Health

Wellness-supportive technology is exploding. Wearables and apps are targeting everything from sleep to mindfulness. For the most part, I take a minimalist approach to using tech to cultivate health. 

Ultimately, I believe the most potent wellness resources are things like nature and social relationships. Since my relationship to technology is often a barrier to me deeply connecting with these things, I try to keep it to a minimum. If I am going to leverage technology for its health benefits, it must meet a high bar for usefulness. 

Below are the 3 tech-based tools that have proved themselves to be extremely useful to my well-being and not addictive. 

1. THE APP THAT ALLOWS ME TO FOCUS - Freedom App - This app blocks distracting websites and apps from your computer and phone. I credit freedom with allowing my to write on a regular basis. When I want to focus, I set a 25 minute freedom session and block all distracting websites. This takes “self control” out of the equation and changes my computer environment into a less distracting one. You can also use this app to block you from using certain things (email, social media) until a certain time in the morning or after a designated time of night. 

2. THE APP THAT ALLOWS ME TO PRODUCE MELATONIN AND SLEEP BETTER - F.lux - I’ve been singing the praises of F.lux for years and am shocked when I come across folks who aren’t using it. F.lux will pull the blue light out of your computer after a certain time. This is a great harm reduction strategy if you are going to use screens at night. As I’ve discussed previously, melatonin is not only key for good sleep it is also an anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety hormone, so you definitely want to be producing it! 

3. THE APP THAT SKYROCKETS MY MEDITATION PRACTICE - Insight Meditation Timer  - All the cool kids are meditating. It’s become so trendy, that there are even meditation studios you can join for a hefty fee. If you have extra cash and crave the community, more power to you! But if you want access to world-renowned meditation teachers and a HUGE library of guided meditations for free at home, just download insight timer. It’s the best. Check out any of the guided meditations by Tara Brach or Sharon Salzberg to get started. 

What are some wellness apps that have improved your life?

How I Finally Cracked The Code On Batch Cooking

There are many ways to meal plan and batch cook floating around the internet. Yet I never found the ideas I came across inspiring or practical - until I recently cracked the code. 

My goals for eating are two-fold: 

1. I want my food to be delicious and pleasurable. 

2. I want my meals to provide the greatest diversity of plant fiber possible because this is the key to gut and overall health (for more details read these two posts - here and here).

Unfortunately, eating a diversity of plant based food requires A LOT of meal prep and I’m inherently a bit lazy. For example, I would often read fellow wellness bloggers or integrative doctors recommendations to eat things like“power bowls” and not understand how someone has the time to prep multiple roasted veggies, chopped raw veggies, wash lettuce, make hummus and roast beans / grains for one meal! Who are these people!? 

Previously, my batch cooking attempts consisted of making a few complicated recipes to eat for the entire week. Inevitably, I’d get really sick of eating those meals by mid-week, resulting in me giving up and going out to eat. 

Batch cooking didn’t click until I discovered how to do it in a very specific way.

Now, I see batch cooking as the keystone habit for translating nutritional theory into practice.

So now, my habit is to batch cook once a week. Once that is done, I don’t spend too much additional brain power worrying about nutrition, as this ritual ensures the majority of my meals are super nourishing.

It is what is allowing me to consistently eat a ton of veggies, beans, whole grains throughout the week in a diversity of ways, without a ton of prep. 

I’m so excited to share with you.

How to: 

The way I recommend batch cooking is making simply flavored meal parts, rather than a complete recipe. For example, instead of trying to make giant batches of fancy meals, you make a big batch of beans, roasted veggies, kale salad, and hummus. These parts can then be mixed and matched throughout the week to make different meals and flavored to taste. This allows more flexibility and ensures you won’t get tired of eating the same thing all week. 

Strategy:

(This strategy was inspired largely by Tamar Adler batch cooking veggies and the brilliant Nutrition Stripped Meal Planning Method.)

Each week, schedule grocery shopping time + 2-3 hours (you can probably do it in less time once you become a pro) of meal prep time a week. Plan what you’ll cook in your batch cooking sessions + potentially 1-2 fancier meals you’ll make for dinner during the week to keep it interesting. 

I also recommend people pick one thing they’ll eat for breakfast all week to keep it simple. Unless it’s a chia pudding or something, I’d recommend just making that the morning of rather than batching prepping it ahead of time. If you eat meat, I recommend just preparing that they night you plan to eat it as meat doesn’t keep as well as plant-based proteins. 

Below are some categories and examples of things you can batch cook. If you batch cook something in each category, you will be able to create balanced meals with the different components. 

Things to Prep

Greens: examples - wash lettuce, spinach, kale or arugula (or just buy the pre-washed stuff)

Pre-made Salads: simple massaged kale salad, or a vinegar-based coleslaw. These are perfect because they last all week and can serve as a side dish or base for lots of meals. 

Roast Veggies - cook 1-2 trays of roast veggies. Can rotate seasonally but things like cauliflower, sweet potatoes ( I usually just throw them in whole), broccoli work great. See Tamar Adler doing this method for the ultimate inspiration. 

Beans: Cook a pot of beans (OR just use canned beans -- can just rinse them and put in an accessible container to use for the week). You can freeze the excess and then skip this step in the future by just thawing out your pre-made beans. 

Grain: Cook up a batch of quinoa, rice or any other grain that you enjoy. Again, you can freeze the excess and save yourself this step in a future week. 

Protein: Cook a big batch of hard boiled eggs, tempeh, or tofu, etc. (I usually stick to eggs or a plant based protein and then cook my meat the night I’ll be eating it as meats don’t stay fresh as long). For example, I’ll eat the plant-based protein at most meals and then for a dinner or two cook up a fish or some chicken thighs to eat with my pre-made sides or a salad. This has the added benefit of making the bulk of my meals vegetarian. 

Simple Soup: my favorite easy batch cooking soup is a red lentil soup. 

Dips / Dressings: make a big batch of salad dressing, tahini dressing for power bowls, and/or some hummus. 

Breakfast: Can make a big batch of chia pudding, granola or just make sure you have everything you need for smoothies etc. ready. 

Snacks: Chop some veggies, make a big batch of trail mix, etc. 

Once you’ve done a few weeks of batch cooking, you can start to just re-use old week’s batch cooking plan and rotate through them to get a little variety

Meal Ideas to make from your pre-prepped meal components:

Power bowls: this is basically a really hearty salad. You add your pre-made roasted/steamed veggies, some greens, nuts/seeds, a protein - like eggs or tempeh, dressing, and hummus to create a super-filling salad. 

Prepped salads like: German potato salad with lentils like this one, bean salad, or a quinoa salad. 

Stir fries: heat up a bunch of your prepped veggies, grain, and protein. Top with citrus, soy sauce/coconut aminos, herbs, and some hot sauce for added flavor. 

Burritos or tacos: use your prepped beans/grain to do a taco night. 

Soup: make a simple soup using the beans and veggies as a base. 

THE KEY TO ENJOYING THESE MEALS - ADD FLAVOR!! 

Here’s how : Remember FASS (from chef and nutrition educator, Rebecca Katz). FASS stands for Fat, Acid, Salt, Sweet. If you don’t love the flavor, you are likely missing one of these. 

For this reason I always have plenty of citrus/vinegars on hand for the acid piece, some honey/maple syrup for sweet, some good olive oil, coconut milk, or avocados for fat and kosher and Himalyan salt on hand for the salt. I also always have some herbs like cilantro and parsley in my fridge for extra flavor. 

SAMPLE PLAN -

ROAST VEGGIES : sweet potatoes + cauliflower + broccoli

GRAIN: Quinoa 

PROTEIN: Sauteed Tempeh with olive oil + salt and pepper

DIP/DRESSING: Hummus + Simple Salad dressing 

GREENS: Massaged kale salad + bought some pre-washed greens - salad mix and spinach

SOUP: Red lentil soup 

BREAKFAST: Chia pudding

SNACK: put together a huge bag of trail mix - had walnuts, almond, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, and dark chocolate chips. 

BREAKFAST PLAN: chia pudding and green smoothies. 

Other meals to make during the week: will make a fish + buy a rotisserie chicken for dinner at some point during the week. 

How to Batch Cook - Sample order

• Clean your work space and put on some amazing music or a really intriguing podcast.

• Start the oven if roasting anything

• Chop and marinade veggies / proteins. 

• Put veggies in the oven. 

• While veggies roast, start cooking grains and/or beans. 

• Once grains and/or beans cooking, sautee your tofu/tempeh

• Make your hummus and salad dressing

• Mix up a chia pudding. 

• Pull everything out of the oven.

• Put in glass containers in the fridge. Mason Jars are great and I also really like these from amazon. 

Try it out and let me know how it goes!

Also, if you have any meal planning secrets that work for you, please share below :)

Don’t worry about fixing your problems, instead focus on “bright spotting”

When you decide you want to change something, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. 

Whether you are looking to improve your finances, your health, or the quality of your relationships -  the scale and complexity of the problem can lead to paralysis. 

Say you are struggling financially. It’s logical to focus on the complexity of the issue. Perhaps, our culture undervalues your industry or you sense the wage gap has something to do with your current salary. Or you are crippled by student debt or medical bills and you sense it is a political problem (I agree- it is!). These are all legitimate and important factors that may be currently influencing your financial stress. But because you can’t immediately solve the underlying causes of the problem, it can lead to a sense of hopelessness. 

Or say you are experiencing relationship troubles. Again, it is easy to focus on the childhood traumas that may be contributing to unhealthy dynamics. Or the increased stress that your partner is shouldering due to a sick parent. The thought of changing these contributing factors can feel too slow or downright impossible. 

I’m all for a structural approach, but if you are feeling this way, there is value in shifting your focus instead to the small bright spots in your current reality. 

I was introduced to this idea in the book, Switch by Chip and Dan Heath, a classic in the behavior change genre. The idea of bright spotting is that you don’t need to necessarily solve the “cause” of the problem in order to find solutions. Instead, you look for exceptions to the problem and notice what is causing these “bright spots” of relief. Then you can emulate these solutions. 

As you investigate your current situation, there are likely some things that are working better than others. Rather than focus on your failures or what isn’t working, instead try to replicate these tiny wins. 

HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOU:

(apply to any situation you feel you need to “fix”)

1. On my best days (or when the problem isn’t so bad), what is happening? What factors or behaviors are occurring?

2. What’s working and how can I do more of it?

There may be lots of room for improvement in your life. And as a deep, systems thinker you may be overwhelmed with all the perceived structural changes you need to tackle before anything can change.This may be a time to momentarily let go of thinking on a structural level and instead seek out the bright spots. You may be surprised at the shifts that are possible! 

Wellness Book Review: The Telomere Effect by Elizabeth Blackburn and Elissa Epel

This book is written by two of the most badass women in science; health psychologist, Dr. Elissa Epel, and molecular biologist, Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn.

I became aware of Elizabeth Blackburn’s work in college. As an eager biology major I wrote about her groundbreaking, Nobel Prize winning work on telomerase for a class project. Needless to say, I was extremely excited to discover that Elizabeth Blackburn had partnered with Elissa Epel to write a guide for lay people on how to protect your telomeres and build overall health. 

In the Telomere Effect, they take a holistic approach discussing various factors that impact telomeres, including socioeconomic status, psychological factors, diet, exercise, sleep, and more. This is the perfect read for holistically minded health practitioners who want a treasure-trove of practical, science-based wellness tips. 

To begin, I’ll define a few terms. Telomeres are the segments of noncoding DNA at the end of your chromosomes. Telomerase is the enzyme that can add base pairs back to your telomeres. Telomeres shorten with each cell division and are thought to be a marker for biological age. When your telomeres get short enough, they become senescent, which means they stop dividing and can create pro-inflammatory signals that contribute to the aging process. While it is, of course, slightly more complicated than this, there is some thought that the length of your telomeres is a rough proxy for biological age. Thus, there is a lot of interest in discovering interventions that either maintain or increase telomere length, and presumably also increase healthspan. 

I would recommend that everyone buy and read the whole book but as a teaser, here are two of my favorite take-aways:

1. Changing your stress response style determines whether stress is good or bad for you. 

Stress is an inevitable part of life. How we view the stress in our lives goes a long way to determine how it impacts our physiology (including our telomeres). In the book they say, “chronic stress does not inevitably damage our telomeres” and our stress response style largely determines whether stress is friend or foe. 

Our predominant response to threat is determined by a number of things (including our trauma history) but it can be changed with a few techniques.  

More specifically, in response to chronic stress, we can either have a threat or a challenge response. A threat response essentially prepares us to shut down and handle the pain of a life-threatening encounter by constricting blood flow. A challenge response helps you gather your resources for a big event. 

Which response gets initiated is largely determined by your appraisal of the stress in your life. 

Here is how to adopt a challenge response and diminish the negative impact of stress in your life: 

How to elicit a challenge response : 

• Next time you notice the physical sensations of a stress response (no matter what the stress response is initiated from), say to yourself, “this is good stress, energizing me so I can perform well!” If that is not totally appropriate phrase for the situation, you can also say, “Bring it on!” knowing your physical response is helping you rise to the challenge at hand. These mantras help you reappraise your body's signals and state of high arousal as a source of fuel that will help your brain and body work more efficiently, rather as something to be feared and avoided. 

• If the source of stress is nerves associated with performance anxiety, you can tell yourself, “I’m excited” instead of, “I’m terrified”. Telling yourself that you are calm in this situation is not a good strategy as it is much easier to switch to another high arousal state - like excitement - rather than to a low arousal state like calm. 

  2. Exercise protects against the negative impacts of chronic stress

It is true that stress in itself is not necessarily harmful. We are meant to experience small bursts of stress followed by periods of recovery. Stress becomes a threat to our health when it is chronic and unrelenting over time. 

The book talks about how chronic stress does indeed shorten telomeres, but they also offer some hopeful news.  

Even if you are experiencing chronic stress, exercise can protect you from its damaging effects. 

They show this by citing a study of stressed-out female caregivers. Generally, women who had high levels of perceived stress had shorter telomeres. But the women with high levels of stress who also exercised regularly no longer showed this pattern. It appears exercise protected against the telomere shortening impacts of stress! (for the scientific paper that shows this link here). 

It’s such a great reminder that even when we feel like it least, small amounts of exercise can be a vital tool for discharging stress (both mentally and on a cellular level)!

For more incredibly intriguing tools and the science behind why they work, I’d highly recommend buying the book.

Want to finally have confidence in your ability to be healthy? Learn this simple framework

Unlike we are programmed to believe, health is not something given to us by our healthcare providers or predestined by our genes (these things matter but aren’t the whole picture).

Instead, cultivating wellness is a result of the daily behaviors we repeat the most. 

Like the learning process for anything else, cultivating these new behaviors require a growth mindset and the acquisition of new skills. The key to developing confidence in your wellness skills is similar to developing confidence in any other area. My favorite model of what true confidence is comes from psychologist Russ Harris’ book The Confidence Gap. He describes the confidence cycle below. 

Enter…The Confidence Cycle (or how to get good at doing anything)

1. Practice the skills

2. Apply them effectively

3. Assess the results 

4. Modify as needed 

Simple, not always easy. Thus, cultivating the nutrition and lifestyle habits to maintain health requires a bunch of little skills and habits that can be developed by anyone who is willing to engage in the confidence cycle. But, we first have to realize it is a learning journey and understand the process required. 

Here’s an example from my own life. I’m currently working on shifting my cooking habits a bit. My goal is to find a way to have as much diversity of plants in my life with the least amount of effort.  I have a lot of prior skills I can build on towards this goal such as the ability to find good recipes, basic nutrition knowledge, and basic cooking skills, but there are a few new skills I need to develop --- primarily how to batch cook the components of meals to use throughout the week.  As expected, I have already had some failures in the process of change -- I’ve cooked too much in a batch cooking session and then unexpectedly went out of town and made things I didn’t love and then dreaded having to eat them. But with each” failure” there is an opportunity to access, learn, and refine my skills.

For some, they would need to start at a different place to develop a home cooking habit. Perhaps, they don’t have a well-stocked pantry and don’t have kitchen equipment. Maybe they have never really cooked and need some basic cooking skills. There are likely a handful of new skills required to meet any health goal you have. 

Most health habits require a few skills. Things like cooking, moving regularly, developing a sleep ritual and morning routine.  For any health change you’re making, the process may seem daunting simply because you are lacking a key skill that you aren’t even aware of. Simply identifying the missing skill and deliberately practicing it can unlock success that before was evasive.

Whatever place you are at, it can be extremely helpful to have a guide support you through the process of gaining confidence in your wellness skill-set. A health coach can be an amazing investment in building your wellness confidence. 

Coaches help you go through the confidence cycle by helping you identify missing skills, giving you the resources to practice and learn them, and then systematically assessing the results until you reach your goals with confidence. 

Let’s unlock your healthy living confidence. Click here to schedule a free coaching call.

3 Research-backed Relaxation Tips You Likely Haven’t Heard Before

We’ve all likely complained of feeling busy and stressed out. And yet, the concept of stress can feel amorphous. It’s a bit like the air we breath, it is all around us and yet it is difficult to grasp. Paradoxically, our primary stressors can also be the things we love the most -- our families, work, and relationships. So getting rid of our stressors is usually not a desirable or feasible option.

Additionally, stress management can often be focused on time-consuming and expensive activities such as massages, spa days and yoga classes. To an extremely stressed-out (and/or a financially strapped person) these suggestions can feel frivolous and like yet another thing to add to their to-do list.

Keeping this in mind, I sought out stress management tips from true experts beyond the baths, deep breathing, and yoga ( all valid strategies by the way!). In my search, I read two books on stress (Burnout: The Secret To Unlocking The Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski and Stress Proof: The Scientific Solution to Protect Your Brain and Body -- and Be More Resilient Every Day by Mithu Storoni, MD ).  

Here are the most useful and novel stress management concepts I found.

Complete the stress cycle, don’t worry too much about controlling the stressors. What completes the stress cycle? Physical activity.

Health educator, Emily Nagoski, discusses the stress response as a cycle. The stress cycle has to be completed in order to be resolved physiologically. Since every day will likely include some stressors, we would be wise to complete the stress cycle daily. She posits that we don’t have that much control over our stressors - the myriad things in our daily life that initiate a stress response -- but we can choose to regularly complete the stress response cycle.

She draws on our ancient past to explain why this works. Throughout evolutionary history, our stress response was leveraged in survival moments -- we either fought, or ran from the threat or died. This physical act of fighting and running is what completed the stress response cycle and brought our body back down to baseline.

In modern times, we often have the stress response activated but then don’t pair it with the physical movement that helps us resolve it. This is why exercise is so effective for stress management. This is also explains why sometimes sitting on the meditation cushion and deep breathing can feel futile. When you are in a highly aroused, stressed-out state being active and moving your body may be more appropriate and efficacious. Any physical activity, like walking, counts.

Try at home:

For those times when getting in a full workout seem unlikely, here are some work-arounds:

• Simply shake and wiggle your body for a few minutes - Most mammals shake and move their bodies following a stressful event. Shaking is an excellent way to release excess tension and stuck patterning in the body, transforms stress. This practice is particularly useful when you're in an elevated emotional state that makes it difficult to go directly into a more calm practice, like seated meditation or breathwork.

• Progressive muscle relaxation -  in progressive muscle relaxation you consciously tense your muscles (which mimics exercise) and then consciously relax your muscles. This helps resolve the stress response. You can do the full routine with a guided script like this. Or for an even simpler version, simply tense your whole body for 10 seconds and then fully relax your body.

• Regular exercise in any form!

Gaming for Stress- When Distraction is Not Escapism.

You know those moments where something stressful just occurred and you can’t stop thinking about it? You try to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and your mind just races faster. We are often told that mindfulness and other modalities that require focused attention should be the go-to techniques after stressful moments.

But in some cases the opposite - intentional distraction - may be more useful. Particularly, playing games (like Tetris and Candy Crush) that challenge either your visual-spatial parts of your brain and/or your working memory. The instructions are to play until you lose yourself in the game and momentarily forget about the stressful thing that just occurred. This has been shown to reduce emotional reactivity and is being researched as a way to prevent PTSD in the case of larger traumas. Basically, by occupying your visual centers, it prevents you from focusing on the stressful event, which can diminish how much it is encoded in your memory as a traumatic event to be ruminated on. For more information, see all the results that come up when you search PTSD + tetris in pubmed.

Try at home:

• The next time something stressful occurs and you notice you are ruminating on the issue, take a break and play a game like Tetris on your smartphone. Play long enough that you are able to momentarily forget about the stressful thing that just happened.

Establish a Strong Circadian Rhythm and Routine To Calm Your Body.

We evolved to have our daily rhythms align with the light and dark cycles of the sun. By following a circadian-informed routine each day, our body can begin to predict when we will eat, sleep, and move our bodies and prepare accordingly. For example, if our bedtime is constantly changing or eating times are erratic, this can register in your body as a stressor.

One consistent way to combat stress is to establish a rhythm to your life with your circadian biology in mind.

Try at home:

• Keep your bedtime and wake time as consistent as possible, even on the weekend.

• Try to eat all of your food in a 12 hour window, and stop eating 3 hours before you go to sleep.

• Eat meals at roughly the same time each day.

• During the day, expose yourself to lots of bright blue light (ideally outdoors), and at night reduce exposure to blue light (via electronics) and dim the lights. Sleep in total darkness.

• Exercise earlier in the day. Morning exercise was shown to increase parasympathetic activity (the relaxation response) and contribute to higher quality sleep at night. Exercising in the evening increased sympathetic tone during sleep and decreased the amount of REM sleep that occurred (aim to stop exercising at least 3 hours before bed).  (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26333783)

I’ve written about this extensively here and here, but the basic takeaway is to eat, move, and expose yourself to bright light during the day, and dim the lights, rest, and fast once the sun goes down.

Break Your Phone Addiction + Transform Your Morning Routine With One Purchase

Awhile back, a typical morning went something like this. I’d wake up and before I opened my eyes, my beloved phone was in hand. I’d open my eyes and begin the scroll. Before my first glance, there was built up anticipation because who could imagine what happened in the world of social media over the 8-hour stretch I was sleeping. My stress response was generally activated within seconds as I saw the accumulation of demands that had built up in my email inbox and the lack of meaningful validation on my social accounts.

It’s been so long since this was my routine, that it is hard to imagine that I used to consent to starting my day in such a miserable way. Around this time, I desperately wanted to have a mindful morning routine but could not stop choosing my phone instead.

The only thing that broke my “first thing in the morning phone habit “ was purchasing a non-phone alarm clock. Seriously, do it right now. Go on amazon and buy the cheapest alarm clock you can find that isn’t backlit (here’s a good one). Then, find a place to charge your phone at night that is not near your bedroom (for those of you who are worried about being available in case of emergency, keep your phone just outside your door or in the far corner of your room where you can still hear it ring but it is not in arms reach).

The beauty of smartphones is that they are multi-use. They aren’t just a phone, they are also a mini computer, a stereo, a camera, a map and your alarm. This is also the problem.

There is a automatic domino effect and habitual chain that is set off every time you pick up a device. Sure you are picking up your phone first thing in the morning simply because you want to turn off the alarm, but your brain associates your phone with so many other things that without a thought, you are suddenly checking your email, which leads to you checking your social media, etc. It’s best to realize you are helpless once your phone is in your hand, and to stop using your phone as an alarm clock.

In habit formation, one of the most profound lessons is that the end goal is not the same as th pathway there. This is especially true when you’re looking at developing a healthier relationship with technology. If the goal is to stop looking at your phone first thing in the morning, the solution is not to just use willpower to stop looking at your phone first thing in the morning. You have to be strategic and create barriers that make it more difficult to do the habit you want to break.

Thanks to my current hero, sleep researcher Matthew Walker, I also finally have some real evidence to back up this recommendation. In a recent interview, he talked about how using your phone first thing in the morning reliably produces anticipatory anxiety the night before. Basically, if you know you are going to wake up to an onslaught of emails and demands, you will experience some level of anxiety about it the night before while you are falling asleep (similar to how you may feel when you know you have any stressful event first thing, like if you have to catch an early morning flight). According to sleep research, Matthew Walker, this creates anticipatory anxiety that research has found diminishes the amount of deep sleep you’ll get. To combat this, he recommends, at least a 5 minute buffer between when you first wake up and when you check your devices. As I’ve repeatedly stated, this habit is nearly impossible to create if you are using your phone as your alarm clock.  

Once you create a buffer between waking up and picking up your phone, you can finally create a mini morning routine you feel proud of. To start simply choose 1 to 2 things you do each morning before you are allowed to check your phone or preferred device (ex. Meditation, a walk, light exercise, journaling, etc).

I promise, with this one simple change, you will feel calmer throughout your day, and sleep better at night.

Book Review: Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky

The pivot of man working in tech, to man writing a personal optimization book is a well worn path. Sometimes these books feel extremely out of touch and sometimes they work!  Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky is an example of the latter. I finally decided to get over my skepticism and read it after it was repeatedly referenced during my process of researching digital addiction (stay tuned for more on that project).

The authors, Knapp and Zeratsky, former designers at Google, use their intimate understanding of tech companies use of behavioral design and apply it to help us improve our lives. They discuss productivity, time management, health and fitness, and conscious tech use. What I love about this book is how practically useful it is. Its concepts are well researched and the authors case test the strategies in their own life to make sure they actually work.

Here are some of my favorite tips:

1. Create a distraction-free smartphone. They recommend not waiting for tech companies to help us with digital addiction and instead to take matters into our own hands. When it comes to technology, willpower doesn’t really exist and we have to create our own barriers if we want to have a healthy relationship with our devices. Seriously, read the article on how to turn your smartphone into a distraction-free phone here. If you actually do this, your life will change!

2. Disconnect from the constant news cycle by creating a once a week news ritual. I think it’s important to continue to be informed and connected to what is going on in the world. Yet, staying up to date with the ever-unfolding news cycle on an hourly basis creates unnecessary stress. The suggest unhooking from the constant news cycle by creating a deliberate once a week news ritual. Practically speaking, they recommend reading the Economist, or the Sunday Times once a week. If you prefer to get your news digitally, schedule a time on your calendar when you will check in with your favorite sources.

3. Create an email schedule instead of checking constantly, all day long. I’m sold on this idea conceptually. Email is where everyone else’s agenda for you exists and if you spend all day fielding emails it is easy to forgo your most important creative projects. I had repeatedly heard the recommendation to only check email 1-2 times a day but had no clue how anyone actually implemented this. Email is so seductive and gaining the willpower to avoid constantly checking in seemed impossible. In Make Time, they give concrete recommendations for how to follow this recommendation even if you feel like you have no email willpower. They recommend using apps like Inbox When Ready or Freedom to lock you out of email except during your designated check times. To figure out your best email schedule, they specifically recommend deciding when is the latest in the morning you could first check your email and having your first check-in then. Then, have your last check-in towards the end of the work day. Once you determine your ideal schedule, use a recurring schedule on your app blockers to force you into this habit.

There are tons of super useful tips like this in Make Time. A lot of the concepts and recommendations you have likely already heard. What is different about Make Time is that they understand behavioral design well enough to be super specific and strategic about breaking down HOW to actually implement these strategies realistically.

What are you currently reading? Any health books you'd recommend for a future review?

On Being A Minimalist in A Maximalist Wellness Marketplace

A very popular wellness blogger is well known for trying out and reviewing all the latest, high-tech wellness solutions. I won’t call him out by name, but suffice it to say, the internet LOVES him. He just got a full feature in a popular magazine. It’s a multi-page spread of him flaunting his 8-pack abs, covered in all the latest gadgets. To me, this is the perfect representation of where a lot of the wellness world is placing its value. Most of the products he recommends for well-being are in the range of hundreds to thousands of dollars each. He will tell you about some fancy supplements, run the latest lab work for you, and tell you to get an infrared sauna. Unfortunately, this stuff will never be accessible to 99% of the population.

The irony of this is that, often, the same people who are recommending or seeking out these complicated solutions have not yet mastered the basic tried and true tenets of health. They may be getting stem cell infusions or are on an extreme fasting protocol but they aren’t regularly getting solid sleep and are lacking strong, supportive relationships.

I can’t universally knock these expensive gadgets and protocols. What I can confidently say is, I would recommend a back to the basics approach before seeking the complex, understudied, and expensive routes.

Occam’s Razor is a guiding principle originating from philosophy and now heavily utilized in science. It states that the simplest explanation or hypothesis is most likely true. I think this also applies to wellness pursuits. The simplest route, is likely to be the most effective and have the least unintended consequences.

Yet, it can feel reassuring to make things complicated. It’s often assumed that if something is complex, it is intelligent and efficacious. I see this play out in the world of high tech wellness solutions and fancy functional medicine protocols.

While working on this post, I was listening to Tim Ferriss being interviewed on the Longform podcast. He discussed two perfect ideas that encapsulate the dynamics I see playing out in the wellness world: neomania, and the axom, “complicate to profit”.

Neomania is an obsession with the new. The motivation for neomania is generally, unsurprisingly, capitalism. Ferriss then goes on to discuss the concept of “complicate to profit”. Basically, if you admit that things are actually really simple and the rules haven’t changed in eons, people are less dependent on your services. On the other hand, fixating on the newest, high tech solutions and over-complicating things, tends to foster a fervent following of folks seeking illusive answers. In other words, the recommendations that may be good for someone’s wellness business, may not be the same as what is simplest, cheapest and most effective for your health journey.

Zooming out even further, the out-of-reach, luxury wellness methods seem even more absurd when you consider the reality of what truly affects population-based health outcomes. Those of us who are focused on individual solutions to health issues (me!) could do better to frequently acknowledge that individual behavior change is a very small piece of the health outcome puzzle. Research has shown that lifestyle-related health behaviors contribute to about 30% of total health outcomes, whereas socioeconomic and environmental factors contribute 50%. The remaining 20% are accounted for by clinical care (Magnan 2017).

Since my work is focused on lifestyle-related health behaviors and individual solutions, my goal is to make the behavior-change side of wellness as accessible as possible by focusing on the simple, and largely free ways to improve your well-being. I have repositioned my blog to focus on this aim in the past year. Check out the following posts for more:

Wellness is Free

How to Exercise for Free, Anywhere, Anytime

How To Start A Home Meditation Practice

It is easy to downplay the benefits of simple health recommendations. Especially, if you’ve heard the same tips a million times but have yet to experience what it’s like to consistently do them. Focusing on the basic core tenets of health (good sleep, physical movement, healthy food, and a supportive community) are often underrated because they are simple and obvious but not easy to implement. It can feel easier to seek out an expensive quick fix than do the work of changing your habits and redesigning your lifestyle.

My recommendation: Start with tiny goals, celebrate the small wins, and ignore the noise that makes you feel like the path to health is complicated and contradictory!

How I’m Becoming a Daily Exerciser with the Coffee Pot Micro-Workout Habit

The Habit Experiment Series

In my health coaching work, I encourage looking at habit formation as an experiment.  

Basically, you try inserting and deleting habits and see if your life improves. The other creative part of the experiment is designing how the specific practice is going to be most realistic in the context of your life. If you keep “failing” to make the habit stick, it isn’t some moral failure, just data that can be used to iterate on to build a better design. You identify the obstacles and tweak the habit until you find the version of it that actually works in your lifestyle.

In this series, I’m going to offer an inside look at how I work with the behavior change process, by letting you into the current habit experiments I’m running in my own life. My hope is that by letting you in on my completely imperfect and ever-changing habit design process, it will inspire you to think about running some experiments in your lifestyle as well.

Regular exercise is a habit that’s been a bit tricky for me. I’d formally walk a lot and then aim to do a more formal workout 2-3 times a week. For awhile, I tried making this more concrete by scheduling this weekly and putting my workouts on my google calendar.

My barriers: I found that more often than not, I would just ignore my calendar reminders. I would often still workout a few times a week but it was unclear how often it was happening and didn’t feel super consistent.

Daily habits are often easier to stick to than occasional habits. Daily habit commitments are nice because it is crystal clear if you skip it and you don’t have to question whether today is the day -- it always is! I realized I was resistant to forming a daily workout habit as I didn’t feel like I needed to “workout” everyday. I decided to capitalize on my belief that super small workouts and habits have value (see BJ Fogg’s tiny habit philosophy and all the research on HIIT workouts), to create a daily workout habit that I could actually get behind. I needed a daily workout, that felt realistic, not too strenuous, and adaptable for my varied daily energy levels and time commitments.

Insert: The pre-breakfast waiting for my coffee to brew micro workout routine.

I aim for 3-10 minutes and rotate between HIIT workouts, bodyweight strength training routines, yoga, or a quick walk/jog. I’ll opt for gentle yoga or the walk option if I feel like I need a rest day. This gives me options each day so I don’t get bored or burned out, but ensures I’m doing something intense at least a few times a week.

So far, I’ve noticed that on the days where I do something more high intensity, I have a marked mood increase and a sense of emotional resiliency that stays with me for the entire day. As I’ve mentioned in many blog posts, I mainly workout for the cognitive and psychological benefits, so this was particularly compelling for me.

Specific resources I utilize:

I usually use a short, full-body, HIIT workout from fitness blender (filtering for no equipment and 10 minutes or less), the Nerd Fitness Beginner’s Bodyweight Routine, or a variety of yoga videos I find online for free (or I do my own thing). Click here for my detailed article on “How To Workout For Free, Anytime, Anywhere”.

For now, it’s working for me. I love knowing that I’ve already worked out before breakfast and am enjoying the psychological benefits that stick with me for the rest of my day.

What habit experiments are you currently running?

The 2 Breathing Exercises That Instantly Change My Mood

Our breath provides communication between our conscious mind and our autonomic nervous system (which operates without our conscious control). This means that our breath is a magical tool for shifting our emotional and physiological state. This somatic connection between conscious awareness and subconscious body processing explains the historical emphasis on breath as a tool for spiritual transformation. Yes, the yogis were onto something.

So, if you need a shift in perception, change your breath.

In this article, I’m going to discuss two of the simplest, most reliable ways to change your mental/emotional state with simple breathing exercises. One of the best parts about both practices is that some science exists to explain why it works. And they are available to you for free, whenever you need a reset.

Practice #1. Simply take some slow, deep breaths.

The advice, “take a deep breath”, is so commonly employed that it almost seems trite. But like most cliches, it is grounded in some truth.

There is compelling research that you can subvert the conscious mind and influence your emotional state by consciously shifting your breathing patterns. More specifically, slow, deep, and relaxed breathing can shift you from a “negative” emotional state to a “positive” one.

Why does it work?

Studies (Philippot, Chapelle, and Blairy 2002) have shown that there are predictable breathing patterns associated with various emotional states (joy, fear, sadness, anger). Even more interestingly, they’ve shown this is a bidirectional relationship - you breathe a certain way when experiencing emotional states, and also breathing in a certain pattern can predictably induce those states. Joy was correlated with slow, deep and relaxed breathing. Conversely, sadness was associated with irregular and shallow breathing.

HOW TO:

Use this anytime you’d like a reset by taking a few consciously slow and deep breaths.

• Start by taking a full, deep inhale and release a long exhale. Do this in a way that feels conscious but not strained -- aim to keep the breathing pattern relaxed.

• Repeat until you feel a shift in your emotional state.

Practice #2. Lengthen your exhale, so it is slightly longer than your inhale.

Why does it work?

As mentioned above, our breath is the link between our conscious mind and our autonomic nervous system. One way it exerts this influence is that the inhale is controlled by the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) nervous system, while the exhalation is controlled by the parasympathetic nervous (“rest and digest”) system. When you shift to a slightly longer exhalation, you are switching yourself into a parasympathetic dominant state. This leads to feelings of calm and relaxation.

The following breathing exercise is a powerful tool to downshift into your parasympathetic nervous system. In the parasympathetic or "rest and digest" state, healing and regeneration can occur.

The simplest way to do this, is to take a big inhale, and let out an even longer, slow exhale. You can make this a formal practice by counting the breaths and making the exhale twice as long as your inhale - full instructions below.  

HOW TO:

• To begin, take a few slow, deep breaths

• Inhale for the count of 3. Pause at the end of the inhale.

• Exhale for the count of 6

• Repeat for at least 3 breaths.

• Notice how you feel!

*Adjust the count according to your own comfortable breathing rate, for example, you can breathe in for the count of 2, out for 4 (experiment with any 1:2 ratio depending on what feels best for you). The most important thing is that your exhale is longer than your inhale.  

The Magical Art of Soup Making

For wellness bloggers, smoothies are all the rage. And for good reason. They are a quick and easy way to pack a ton of nutrient density into a portable meal. And if you look past the tendency for green smoothies to spill in your car or all over your work shirt, I have no complaints.

But I am convinced that the the notion of the smoothie as a year-round breakfast solution must have come from California-based health bloggers. This morning I woke up to snow waist deep. In these frigid conditions, the last thing I want to do is drink an icy beverage. Without my go-to breakfast, though, I’m a little lost in the winter.

Here’s my latest solution -  as an alternative to the breakfast smoothie, I am turning to winter’s smoothie, a bowl of soup.

Soup offers the same benefits that smoothies do, except it is delivered in a warm package.

• Soups pack in a ton of fiber and offer a diversity of plants and spices.

• Unlike the smoothie (which appears to be a modern invention), soups have a rich culinary history. You can find delicious and nutritious soups from every culture, keeping our options endless depending on your personal taste and nutrition needs.

• Soup is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s easy to make giant batches of soup and eat it for leftovers the rest of the week. Even better is freezing half the soup, so that your freezer is suddenly full of pre-made meals that you can thaw whenever you don’t feel like cooking.

Here are some core tenets of good soup making:

1. The stock makes the soup. It’s totally fine to use water or store-bought stock in a pinch but learning to make your own homemade stock is a skill worth developing. The flavor and nutritional value of homemade stock is hard to beat. Vegetarian stock: Rebecca Katz’s Magic Mineral Broth and a more basic recipe here . Chicken stock: Here are a few basic chicken stock recipes : old-fashioned chicken stock by Rebecca Katz, Serious Eats’ basic chicken stock, and a medicinal ginger, chicken stock. Also here is an in-depth nutritionally-focused guide by Chris Kresser.

2. When in doubt start with mirepoix. Every soup begins with some kind of aromatic base, the most common being the French mirepoix (combination of 2 parts onions, 1 part celery, and 1 part carrots). If you are not sure where to begin, start with a mirepoix by sauteing onions, carrots, and celery in butter or olive oil until tender. From here, you can easily build the rest of the soup.  

3. To make your soup tasty remember FASS (credit: Rebecca Katz), which stands for Fat, Acid, Salt, Sweet. Good flavor comes from the right proportion of these elements. If you’re soup is not tasting amazing, go back to FASS and add more of the element you think may be missing. Rinse and repeat until it tastes right. For example, soup is often under-salted. If the salt is right but it still doesn’t taste great, you may need more acid. In this case, squeeze a little lemon juice or toss in some apple cider vinegar. If it’s still not right, perhaps you need a little sweet and you can pour in a tablespoon of maple syrup. For fat, coconut milk, extra olive oil are all good options.

4. Make huge batches. This makes the effort of soup-making worthwhile and ensures you’ll have healthy food for days, weeks, and months (if you’re freezing) to come.

How to make it a habit:

• In my house, my partner and I both agree to make 1 soup a week. This leads to lots of leftovers and diversity of options, without a ton of effort.

• Get your stock routine down. Start saving scraps of meat bones, and veggie scraps (onion peels, ends of celery and carrots, ends of herbs) in a stock bag in the freezer. About twice a month, make stock and freeze any that you aren’t going to use within the week.

• Keep a list of your favorite soup recipes handy. When inspiration runs dry, you can always reference your list.

• To freshen up leftover soups, garnish soups with fresh herbs, like parsley or cilantro.

My Favorite Soup Recipes to get you started:

• “Clean out the fridge soup” - great basic recipe that helps you make use of the ingredients you already have

• Lentil Soup with Delicata

• Coconut Red Lentil Soup

• Butternut Squash Coconut Curry Soup: This is the best soup I’ve ever made. Try it!

• White Bean Kale Soup

• Chicken Tortilla Soup

• New York Times list of favorite weeknight soups

Cookbooks:

• Clean Soups by Rebecca Katz - Rebecca Katz is the queen of healthy and delicious soup. She compiled an incredible book on soup making. If you want to go all in and become a soup expert, buy this book.

Teach yourself to make amazing soups with these two basic soup-making resources:

• Samin Nosrat’s NYtimes Soup Guide

• Watch Rebecca Katz’s free series “Soup Sessions” to learn the basics of soup making :

What are your favorite soups? Feel free to post below :)