8 Simple Hacks to Improve Your Health
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the former doctor turned entrepreneur shares eight evidence-based health hacks that have improved his life, aiming to help viewers integrate these into their own routines. He discusses the importance of sleep, exercise, stress management, and proper nutrition, offering practical tips like the 321 method for better sleep, using a treadmill desk for increased steps, and automating protein intake. The video also touches on the benefits of meditation, the value of a dexa scan for body composition analysis, and the significance of flexibility and mobility. Additionally, the speaker shares his experience with consistent pill intake using a pill organizer and his effective skincare routine, all in an effort to promote a healthier lifestyle.
Takeaways
- π Health is the foundation of enjoying life's pleasures, yet it's often neglected in the hustle of daily life.
- πββοΈ The '321 method' can improve sleep quality by stopping eating 3 hours before sleep, drinking liquids 2 hours before, and cutting out screen usage 1 hour before.
- π Reading fiction before bed can help the brain relax more effectively than non-fiction, which can stimulate the mind and make it harder to fall asleep.
- π A decrease in physical activity, such as steps taken, can lead to weight gain and other health issues.
- πΆββοΈ Incorporating a treadmill under a standing desk is an effective hack to increase daily steps and improve physical health.
- π§ββοΈ Meditation can significantly reduce stress levels and has multiple health benefits, including lowering blood pressure and heart rate.
- π§ Headspace is a meditation app that offers a 60-day free trial and can help with stress reduction and mindfulness.
- π©Ί A dexa scan provides detailed information about body composition, including muscle and fat distribution, and can be a valuable tool for tracking health progress.
- πͺ Ensuring adequate protein intake is crucial for muscle maintenance and growth, and can be achieved through shakes or mindful eating.
- π§ββοΈ Flexibility and mobility are important for injury prevention and overall health, and can be improved through regular stretching routines.
- π Consistency in taking supplements and medication can be aided by using a pill organizer, making it easier to maintain a routine.
Q & A
Why is health considered the most important area of our life according to the speaker?
-Health is considered the most important because without it, one cannot enjoy other aspects of life such as wealth, career, relationships, and hobbies, even if they are excellent.
What is the '321 method' for improving sleep as mentioned by the speaker?
-The '321 method' stands for stopping eating three hours before sleeping, stopping drinking liquids two hours before sleep, and cutting out screen usage one hour before sleeping to improve sleep quality.
How does the speaker use a treadmill to increase daily steps and what is its impact?
-The speaker has a treadmill under their standing desk and uses it to walk while working, which has helped them to accumulate more steps daily, reaching up to 5,000 steps without leaving the house.
What is the correlation between the speaker's step count and their body weight as seen in the graphs?
-The graphs show a significant dip in steps and a corresponding increase in body weight when the speaker stopped their full-time job as a doctor and started sitting more, indicating a correlation between physical activity and weight.
How does the speaker address the issue of high stress markers despite not feeling stressed?
-The speaker addresses this by incorporating meditation into their routine, which is supported by studies showing its benefits in reducing blood pressure, cortisol levels, heart rate, and inflammation.
What is the significance of the dexa scan in the speaker's health routine?
-A dexa scan provides a detailed analysis of body fat, muscle mass, and their distribution, which helps the speaker track their fitness progress and make informed decisions about their health.
Why did the speaker start automating their protein intake and how did it affect their health?
-The speaker automated their protein intake to ensure they were getting enough to build muscle, which was reflected in their dexa scan results, showing an increase in muscle mass and a decrease in fat.
What are the benefits of flexibility and mobility exercises as mentioned in the script?
-Flexibility and mobility exercises help reduce the risk of injury during exercise and have been shown to improve arterial stiffness, heart rate, blood pressure, and vascular endothelial functioning.
How does the speaker ensure consistency in taking their supplements and medications?
-The speaker uses a pill organizer or dotted box to keep track of their daily supplements and medications, making it easier to maintain consistency in their routine.
What is the speaker's approach to skincare and how does it differ from common practices?
-The speaker follows an evidence-based skincare routine involving only three products, as recommended by dermatologists, which is a more streamlined and scientifically-backed approach compared to using multiple products.
Outlines
π€ Sleep Improvement Strategies
The speaker, a former doctor and productivity expert, emphasizes the importance of health and how it can be compromised by neglecting sleep, diet, and exercise due to a busy lifestyle. They introduce the '321 method' for better sleep: stop eating three hours before sleep, stop drinking liquids two hours before, and cut out screen usage one hour before. The speaker also discusses the benefits of reading fiction before bed and shares their personal step count and weight changes, highlighting the correlation between physical activity and health.
πΆββοΈ Increasing Daily Activity and Managing Stress
The speaker discusses the negative impact of a sedentary lifestyle, referencing studies that link inactivity to increased mortality risk and improved mental health with increased steps. They share personal experiences with a treadmill under their desk, walking during Zoom calls, and choosing to walk instead of driving when possible to reach a goal of 10,000 steps per day. Additionally, they reveal elevated stress markers despite not feeling stressed, highlighting the importance of recognizing and managing stress levels.
π§ββοΈ Meditation and Health Assessments
The speaker talks about the benefits of meditation, supported by scientific studies, and their personal journey of incorporating it into their morning routine using the Headspace app. They also introduce the concept of a dexa scan, a full-body X-ray that measures muscle and fat distribution, and how it has been instrumental in tracking their fitness progress and informing their health goals.
πͺ Protein Intake and Flexibility Routines
The speaker addresses the importance of protein intake for muscle building, sharing their strategy of having a protein shake in the morning to meet daily protein goals. They also discuss the benefits of flexibility and mobility for injury prevention and their methods for incorporating stretching into their routine, including YouTube routines and the Pliability app.
π Consistency in Supplement Intake and Skincare
The speaker shares a hack for staying consistent with taking supplements and medications using a pill organizer. They also briefly mention their evidence-based skincare routine, which involves three key products recommended by dermatologists, and invite viewers to watch another video for more details on this topic.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Health
π‘Productivity
π‘Sleep Quality
π‘Physical Inactivity
π‘Stress Markers
π‘Meditation
π‘DEXA Scan
π‘Protein Intake
π‘Flexibility and Mobility
π‘Consistency
π‘Skin Care Routine
Highlights
Health is the most important area of life, and without it, other aspects like wealth, career, and relationships lose their enjoyment.
The 321 method for improving sleep involves stopping eating 3 hours before sleep, stopping liquids 2 hours before, and cutting out screen usage 1 hour before.
Using a Kindle or physical book before bed instead of a phone can improve sleep quality due to reduced screen stimulation.
A significant drop in daily steps and increase in body weight was observed after transitioning from a doctor's job to a more sedentary lifestyle.
Walking 10,000 steps a day is associated with lower risk of mortality and improved mental health.
Using a treadmill under a standing desk is an effective hack to increase daily steps without leaving home.
Meditation can reduce stress markers, blood pressure, cortisol levels, and improve self-compassion, attention, and focus.
Headspace app is recommended for guided meditation, offering a variety of voices and a non-judgmental approach.
DEXA scan provides detailed information on body composition, including muscle and fat distribution, and can be a valuable health investment.
Automating protein intake with a morning shake can help meet daily protein goals essential for muscle maintenance and growth.
Flexibility and mobility are important for injury prevention and can be improved through regular stretching routines.
Using a pill organizer can help maintain consistency in taking daily supplements and medications.
An evidence-based skincare routine involving three key products is recommended for effective skin care.
Sitting for long periods is associated with increased health risks, often referred to as 'sitting is the new smoking'.
Taking Zoom calls while walking is a practical way to multitask and increase daily steps.
Walking to nearby destinations instead of driving can contribute to the 10,000 steps goal and monitor progress with a step counter.
Elevated stress markers without perceived stress can be an indicator of underlying health issues.
A consistent morning meditation routine can provide a moment of respite and improve mental well-being.
Transcripts
so health is arguably the single most
important area of our life without our
health we can have all the money in the
world the best career the best
relationships the most fun hobbies and
we won't be able to enjoy any of them
because our health is miserable but even
though we might know intellectually that
our health is important when it comes to
how we spend our time it's often the
first thing that goes work and life gets
busy and the first thing we do is we
stop sleeping properly we stop eating
well we stop exercising because who's
got time for those things now as a
former doctor turned entrepreneur and
productivity expert I've been on a
mission recently to apply the principles
of productivity to my health and fitness
and well-being so I've been reading a
bunch of books about health working with
an online health coach and interviewing
a bunch of experts on my podcast all
about physical health mental health and
even emotional health but a lot of the
stuff that I've learned can be pretty
dense and so I've been trying my best to
translate the things that I've learned
into simple actionable evidence-based
hacks that can seamlessly integrate into
my life so that the important aspects of
my health are on autopilot so I don't
have to think too hard about them and so
in the video I want to share eight of
these Health hacks that have improved my
life and I hope you'll find something to
take away from these that you can apply
to your life as well now according to
the CDC one in three adults in the US
report not getting enough sleep and not
getting enough rest in the day I suspect
the actual number is higher than this
because I very rarely meet people who
feel as if they're getting enough sleep
now one simple Hack That I Found for
improving my sleep in a very easy to
remember way is the 321 method which
comes from my online fitness coach Dan
go so the three in the method means to
stop eating three hours before sleeping
this study for example showed that
eating within three hours of your normal
bedtime was associated with nocturnal
Awakening which basically means that
you're waking up at night and so your
sleep quality is reduced so that was the
three then we have the two which is to
stop drinking liquids two hours before
sleep now you might know that drinking
caffeine in the evening is likely to
disrupt your sleep but actually drinking
any kind of fluid even water one to two
hours before sleeping has been
associated with lower Sleep Quality as
well and then the one is to cut out
screen usage one hour before sleeping
and again there's a bunch of studies
that show that if you look at a bright
screen one hour before sleeping that's
likely to affect your sleep quality and
especially when it comes to phones and
stuff the the over stimulation that we
get from our phones which is literally
what our phones are designed to do it's
something that can make falling asleep a
lot harder than it necessarily needs to
be so the way that I post only combat
this is that I try my best to just not
use my phone in bed and instead I have a
Kindle and also a physical book on my
bedside table there was a study that
showed that the backlight from a Kindle
doesn't really affect sleep very much
and I find that generally my sleep is
better if I'm reading fiction rather
than non-fiction so fiction helps my
brain switch off it helps me immerse
myself in a new sort of new fantasy land
and stuff whereas non-fiction when I'm
reading it in bed I'm always thinking
about my business I'm highlighting stuff
I feel the need to take notes and it's
stimulating my brain in a way that
fiction really doesn't all right so I've
got this graph from 2020 and this shows
how many steps on average I was taking
each month and you can see over here in
August 2020 there is a significant dip
and this was when I first took a break
from my full-time job of being a doctor
I ended up sitting on this desk all day
making YouTube videos now this is a
graph of my body weight and you can see
that there is a fantastic correlation
between when I stopped taking all these
steps and suddenly my weight absolutely
ballooned and I became really fat so if
you're watching this video you probably
have a job where you sit down all day
and you've heard this before sitting as
the new smoking and they've done so many
studies about this where basically they
show that physical inactivity is this
golden bullet that just increases your
risk of dying from all all sorts of bad
things and as you might have heard
taking 10 000 plus steps a day is
generally a very good thing this
meta-analysis of 15 studies for example
showed that taking more steps per day
was associated with a progressively
lower risk of all cause mortality this
study showed that in sedentary
overweight individuals 10 000 steps a
day significantly lowered anxiety
depression anger fatigue confusion and
total mood distress and this study for
example showed that for every 500 steps
you increase per day the risk of
cardiovascular disease decreases by
about six percent and so what I've tried
to do is add as many simple hacks to my
life to get to my 10 000 steps a day
goal so firstly the single best thing
that I found for this is actually to get
a treadmill underneath my standing desk
it was about 300 but it was totally
worth it it's the walking pad C2 I have
no relationship with them at all but
would recommend you can check it out and
I've had this treadmill under my desk
for a few months and I've used it 148
times and walked 255 kilometers in that
time in fact today according to my Apple
watch I have racked up about 5 000 steps
already and I haven't really left the
house so the treadmill has been a
surprisingly simple hack that's actually
let me get in more steps in each day
secondly wherever possible I like to
take Zoom calls while I'm walking
thirdly if I have to go somewhere for
dinner or something and it's within
about 40 minutes of where I live I'll
often choose to walk rather than drive
or take the train and usually while I'm
walking I'll listen to a podcast or
something but again it just gets the
steps in because 40 minutes there and
back basically gets me to about 10 000
steps and it's just been helpful to
monitor it with my Apple watch you can
do this like basically any phone you
don't need a smart smart watch but every
phone has a step counter in it as well
so if you have your phone in your pocket
you can see how many steps you've done
and since becoming conscious of the fact
that I'm trying to get 10 000 steps a
day I have increased my step count each
day okay so earlier this year I got a
bunch of blood tests done and then when
the doctor was kind of talking me
through the results afterwards he asked
if I have a particularly stressful job
and I said well no I don't really have a
stressful job I just sit around making
YouTube videos and then he said okay but
has anyone around you ever said that you
need to take a break and I was like yeah
everyone around me tells me I need to
take a break and he was like I thought
so because your stress markers are
elevated and that is like really bad for
some of your age I was like wait what my
stress markers are elevated I don't feel
stressed I don't feel like I have a
particularly stressful job but then I
look at my calendar and it's like back
to back one thing to another to another
to another to another and this whole
like running your own business thing I
thought it would give me more free time
than kind of working in medicine but
actually it gave me a lot less free time
than working in medicine and there is
that nice quote which is that you know
entrepreneurs work 60 hours a week to
avoid having to work 40 hours a week I
think that's very true and again chances
are if you're watching this channel I
suspect your stress levels are high as
well because you're probably busy you
like to be productive you've got lots of
things going on and what the doctor said
is that I should meditate more and I was
like meditation like who cares but then
I saw some studies and those studies
showed that if you meditate it reduces
your blood pressure it reduces your
cortisol levels which is a stress
hormone it reduces your heart rate
reduces your cytokine levels which is a
marker of inflammation it can also
increase your self-compassion and your
attention and your focus and so there's
just like a mountain of evidence saying
that meditation is good for you and so I
was like okay fine I'll do some
meditation and then I thought okay what
app should I use for meditation because
obviously I want it to be easy and
obviously the name headspace came to
mind because they basically dominate the
space and so we reached out to them and
they very kindly agree to sponsor this
video so thank you headspace for
sponsoring this video headspace is great
I've been slowly working my way through
the introductory course and it's nice
because you can choose different voices
to guide you through the meditation and
doing just a five to ten minute
meditation the first thing in the
morning before I do my journaling and
before I get my coffee I've actually
been finding is really helpful one thing
that it does is that it helps me kind of
connect to the here and now a little bit
more it's like you're closing your eyes
you're imagining like experiencing the
sounds of nature around you or whatever
that might be and it's just like a
moment of respite before the craziness
of the day starts and it's become
something I look forward to after I have
my shower I have a hot shower then I
turn into cold then I get change and I'm
like cool five or ten minutes I can
definitely find time to do five to ten
minutes of meditation and headspace the
other cool thing about headspace is that
it's very non-judgmental they basically
say that there's no right or wrong
approach to meditation or mindfulness
you can do whatever works for you and
everyone seems to have a different
routine a different frequency a
different favorite type of content and
that's totally fine now if you're
interested in trying out meditation and
you want to use headspace you can click
the link in the video description or use
the QR code on screen and that will let
you sign up for a completely free 60-day
trial so you can literally try it every
day for two months and you can see if
you Vibe with it I've been vibing with
it so much that I now pay the monthly
subscription for headspace and it's
totally worth it so if you'd like to
give it a go you can try it out you can
see if you like it and you'd also be
supporting the channel as well so thank
you so much headspace for sponsoring
this video okay this is a really cool
one this is a hack that I've been
recommending to literally all of my
friends and about half of them have done
it and they've said oh my God this was
game changing and it's gonna sound weird
but that is to do a dexa scan and a dexa
scan is basically a full body X-ray and
in hospitals we use dexa scans to
measure the bone density of patients who
might be having osteoporosis but the
really cool thing about a dexa scan is
that it can tell you how much muscle you
have and also how much fat you have and
also the distribution of the muscle and
the fat around your body first thing to
say is that they are somewhat expensive
well you know it's about 120 to get a
dexa scan depending on where you go I
personally think that it's absolutely
worth it because any amount of money you
can spend on your health if it changes
your behavior will pay dividends further
down the line but obviously your mileage
may vary depending on how much
disposable income you have but every
single person that I've recommended dexa
scan to who has done the dexa scan has
been like oh my God this is the best
money I have ever spent on my health
because within like 15 minutes the scan
will tell you where your body fat is and
you might think that you're pretty
skinny like I thought I was like in
reasonable shape but then turns out I
was actually 25 body fat and most of it
was in the abdomen it was in the
visceral adipose tissue and it's the
visceral adipose tissue that's most
highly correlated with cardiovascular
disease and strokes and like diabetes
and all of the bad things that can
happen later in life and so since doing
that first scan about a year and a half
ago I've now been doing dexa scans about
every six months and it's been an
amazing way of actually tracking my
progress in the gym tracking my progress
with weight loss and seeing how the
numbers are changing over time and yeah
you could use scales and you could use
those body fat skills you get in the gym
but those are never really accurate so
after my first exit scan I realized I
had all this adipose tissue until we
made a plan to lose some weight but then
six months later I found I did lose a
lot of weight but most of it was muscle
because I didn't have enough protein and
because I didn't work out enough and
then I was like oh my God like okay I
can literally see that I've lost about 2
kg of muscle and only one kg of fat
that's kind of annoying and then we made
a plan based on that dexa scan and then
six months later I gained one and a half
kg of muscle and lost one and a half kg
of fat which is very nice and for me
personally I love the fact that I have
access to these numbers and I love the
fact that the numbers don't lie and just
doing a dexa scan every six months has
been the single most worthwhile expense
I've ever made for my health if you're
based in the UK the company I use is
body scan they've got a bunch of
different places around London if not
just to search dexa scan your location
I'm sure and I'm sure you can find a
place but generally desert scans are
absolutely sick okay speaking of protein
intake because that first time around
for the first six months I didn't eat
enough protein and I also didn't work
out enough and I actually lost 2 kg of
muscle what I've realized is I need to
automate my protein intake now the
amount of protein you need depends
massively on who you ask where you look
at the sauce and there doesn't seem to
be much of a consensus in the scientific
literature about it the World Health
Organization for example says you need
0.83 grams of protein per kilogram of
body weight per day but most personal
trainers and fitness experts that I've
spoken to say that that is nowhere near
enough to actually build muscle if you
are trying to build muscle and so for me
I'm roughly aiming for around 1.5 to 2
grams of protein per kilogram of body
weight and this is actually annoyingly
hard to get in in my diet because I tend
to skip breakfast and then like lunch
and dinner it's like I have to actively
think about protein but one thing that I
started to do to automate my protein
intake again based on advice from
myfitnesscoach.go it's really simple
it's basically to just have a protein
shake in the morning and when I have a
protein shake in the morning I get at
least 40 grams of protein sometimes 50
depending on which product I use and now
it's way easier to hit my protein Gold
because if I just have like a 30 gram
serving of protein for lunch and then a
30 gram serving of protein for dinner
that's like 110 grams that's pretty
reasonable now the two different types
of protein shake that I use are firstly
heal I use heel black 400 calories for
40 grams of protein in the morning if I
feel like making it or if I'm on the go
and I don't feel like making it I'll use
the Optimum Nutrition pre-made protein
shake which is 50 grams of protein for
300 calories which is quite nice no
affiliate relationship or anything with
these Brands although heel do sponsor
some of the other videos on the channel
but they're not sponsoring this one so
whatever but ever since I started
automating my protein and Shake by
literally just having a shake first
thing in the morning I have actually
been hitting my protein goals broadly
and I've seen that reflected on the dexa
scan you know the scanner had a year
after my first one showed that I gained
1.5 kg of muscle and lost 1.5 kg of fat
and in those six months I made an active
effort to up my protein intake all right
next we come to the idea of flexibility
and Mobility now I am not at all very
flexible I'm not at all very mobile but
there have been some pretty reasonable
studies that show that if you do have a
baseline level of flexibility and
Mobility it helps reduce the risk of
injury when you're exercising which is
always a good thing and for example this
meta-analysis found that the benefits of
stretching in middle age to older adults
reduced arterial stiffness heart rate
and blood pressure and improved vascular
endothelial functioning and so
stretching is good for middle age to
older adults it's probably good for
younger adults as well now I've tried so
many ways to incorporating stretching
into my life but two of them have so far
worked the first one is that every now
and then I will randomly put on a
stretching routine on YouTube and my
favorite Channel for this is juice and
Toya who have like great videos with
stretch routines and things like that so
that's great in particular I love their
routines for tight hamstrings and hip
flexors which are the two areas I
struggle with most and recently I've
also started using an app called
pliability again like no relationship
with this app at all they do not know I
exist but if liability if you're
watching this let me know but basically
it's an app that every day just gives
you a stretching routine to do and it's
like a 20 minute thing that I do in the
evening and just roll out my Lululemon
yoga mat and for 20 minutes before bed I
just prop my phone up and it's like nice
because it's very static stretches it's
like you're in each pose and you're just
holding it passively for like three
minutes at a time and there's nice
relaxing music and the production value
is nice and they occasionally have dogs
and stuff that go into the frame and
it's a very nice way to wind down for
the evening and so it sort of doubles as
a bit of a meditative thing as well
because I can help switch my mind off
but then it's also helping me improve my
flexibility and Mobility through these
sort of passive stretches that don't
take much effort all right the
penultimate hack is one of these so I
used to really struggle with actually
being consistent with taking my pills I
take a couple of supplements I take the
heights small supplement which is a big
multivitamin thing that has like
blueberries and stuff I take the height
smart probiotic which is a probiotic and
I take a couple of bits of medication
like finasteride and minoxidil for my
hair loss but I would always be very
inconsistent in taking these because it
wasn't built into my routine until I
realized that you know when I was
working as a doctor we would give these
dotted boxes to our patients and it
would help them take their pills and so
I just thought one day I'm just gonna
buy one of these from Amazon and so I
bought one of these from Amazon and now
it helps me stay consistent with taking
my pills which is fantastic so if you
take any supplements or pills or
anything you're having to bring them up
manually it's such a faff it's so nice
just being able to once a week just fill
this up for the whole week and yes I
know like I forgot to take them
yesterday because even then I still
forget sometimes but today's Friday I
check them today this morning and then
the final hack is my productive and
evidence-based skin care routine and
this basically involves just three
products I've talked to a bunch of
dermatologists and this is broadly the
stuff that they recommend and I've got
all the details about that in this video
over here which is my evidence-based
skincare routine so if you're interested
then do check that video out and I
promise it will change the way you
approach your skincare routine so thank
you so much for watching and I'll see in
the next video bye
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