– 7 minute read –
Staying healthy is probably the most important aspect of our lives, so how can we make it permanent, fun even? By the way, I understand why you don’t feel like going to the gym. It is boring! Doing the same thing over & over again. You get on to the next exercise, someone is working out on that station. You can’t really see any real progress over the last couple of months.
So you start asking yourself, what am I even doing here? Lets see:
- this year I am sticking to my goals
- they say it is good for my wellbeing
- constructing a better physique
- moving around with less pain
- constructing a functional body
Definition of persistence is doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. But it does not have to feel like this. I believe in making progress with each new training session. Learning gives us instant feedback on our efforts, plus it is great for developing new cognitive connections. Once you learn the basic movement patterns, it is not about repeating them over and over again. That is only the beginning. Discovering and building new ones, challenging yourself daily. This is my idea of functional training.
Being healthy
Becoming and/or staying healthy can be exciting. Within every week you feel your core getting stronger, your balance is improving. You are gaining awareness of your body. You are no longer stiff because mobility training is smoothening your joints. You can no longer sit still at work for an entire day. You get up from your chair every once in a while to move. If you start losing focus you take a few deep breaths & stretch, even while sitting at your desk, to clear your mind.
Nothing feels as good, as looking good
Heard this pretentious quote in a movie once, does not make it less true though. Also, if you wait until the summer is around the corner, motivation to rise, or an injury to wake you up. Guess what, you are already too late. As I keep on repeating myself – It is a way of life. Maintaining a healthy body is something we do three hundred and sixty five days a year. It is the little things, the everyday habits that make the difference. Like an infinite puzzle that keeps on growing, becoming bigger as we improve, in every single aspect of our lives.
Challenge yourself
In one of my previous articles –The easy way out– I talked about looking at the big picture. Once we create a baseline, the potential for growth is infinite. Learning new movement patterns becomes a weekly endeavour. We start thinking about nutrition, cutting down on some bad habits we picked up over the years. Take a few deep breaths every once in a while, exhale longer, and relax. Feeling good in the long run becomes more important than the daily impulses we get for instant gratification.
Building blocks of this puzzle called life start coming together, supporting each other on our way up.
Creating our new way of Being. Becoming a better version of ourselves through a variety of different elements. Movement and nutrition are the basics, but how many of you think about quality sleep? Winding down after a long day is just as important as waking up in the morning.
Avoiding screens that scream with blue light before sleep, is a big step toward a good night’s rest. Instead of watching the new series, or scrolling through your phone before getting sleepy, try reflecting on your day. Ask yourself what you could have done better, different.
Insomnia
I’ve had trouble falling asleep for more than a decade. The mind races through bad decisions, embarrassing moments of the past, fears of the future. I used to try to silence the noises in my head with all kinds of different distractions. Most of them were less healthy than I would like to admit to.
But some of these sleepless nights gave me new ideas! That moment before falling asleep, when our alpha brain waves turn into delta, we sometimes transform into a genius. I solved some of my deep questions while not being able to fall asleep. As for insomnia it took me a while to figure out how to battle it.
A couple ideas on how to quiet the mind are:
- A good workout throughout the day, exhausting the body
- Making as much of my day as productive as possible
- Practicing gratitude before falling asleep
- Avoiding screens in the evening
Try giving your mind more reasons to feel good about yourself. Let the mind go through some of your troubles and doubts before going to sleep. Stop distracting yourself constantly, try staying in the moment. One key to being productive is taking boring breaks. Instead of picking up your phone go on a short walk outside, stretch your body, or just take a few conscious deep breaths.
Time
Do you ever feel like time is running out, are you often in a hurry? Is time passing by more quickly, or are we all just getting “more programmed” while the years pass by? Doing the same things, with the same people, at the same time and the same place. Routine is important for consistency, but I believe it is important to spice things up a bit every once in a while. Slightly changing and upgrading your routine will not only make your days eventful, it stimulates hormones in a good way and upgrades connections in the brain.
Scientists claim that our mood is significantly dictated by the hormone called dopamine. We can dose it drip by drip with constant distractions, or use to to push us forward. You know that feeling after you learn something new, achieve a new milestone, or simply clean up your desk. That is dopamine, when we use it and not let it use us.
Focus
My favourite phone setting is Focus mode. I have different ones for each part of the day. Morning option (with a gift icon) that only lets calls and text messages through stays on until one in the afternoon, sometimes longer. A sleep option activates in the evening making the screen dark, turning off everything except calls from favourites. And the Do Not Disturb option for parts of my day reserved for creative, focused work.
I know everyone has different levels of responsibilities throughout the day. For some it is important to be available most of their day. But! I believe it is essential for all of us, to set a part of our day, just for ourselves. Back when I was working nine to five for those two years, I loved waking up early. Few people are awake to disturb you at five a.m. in the morning.
Therefore I got to do my morning breath work and meditation. Wake up with some movement after my cold shower, reflect on my thoughts and feelings with some writing. By the time I got to work my mind was at ease. Every time I went through my entire morning routine, the entire day just felt better.
Routines and habits
Morning routine became an essential part of my day. Creating some structure from the chaos that this fast paced world is constantly pushing us into. Try taking a couple minutes to just sit with yourself in silence, focus on your breath. Set an intention for the day, before tasks start piling up. We are so different, all of us, so the trick is for you to find your routine.
Benefits of physical activity are boundless. Being able to move freely in a world where that is no longer required. Building your muscle mass by lifting weights twice, maybe three times per week, will help you maintain a strong physique. Work on mobility to keep your joints healthy and buttery. Incorporate some exercises to elevate your heartbeat for better heart rate variability. A strong, healthy heart will keep you calm in stressful situations.
Not easy, very simple. Be consistent for a month, and you will start noticing the increase of your energy levels.
Take more walks to ease the mind, breathe consciously for better focus. Try ending your shower with cold water, then stretch & move for five or ten minutes to warm up. Avoid snacks, sugar and everything fried with oil. Once you start practicing movement, you won’t even feel like eating unhealthy food anymore. Combine that with some mindfulness, see which additional healthy habits work for you, and you will become unstoppable.
Less distraction, more intention. Being healthy starts with the right state of mind.
