It’s a rare occasion when Dr. Laura and I have a day without our kids.
We love our kids dearly, but when the week came where all 3 of our kids were away at camps – at the same time (first time ever!), we took full advantage!
Our goal for the week was establishing a healthy routine. Ideally a routine we could maintain regardless of kids schedules and meals. So here is our take on starting the perfect day. We hope to continue a version of this throughout the year, even if it means doing it solo.
1. Sleep!
Sleep is the number one thing you can directly hack to affect your general health. Getting a good 7-9 hours of solid, uninterrupted sleep is critical for optimal health and functioning. Study after study shows how important sleep is, and the ill effects from less than 8 hours.
For example, a recent study looked at the effects of reducing the amount of sleep in college students to just 4 hours per night, as measured in blood-work. In just one week, the majority became pre-diabetic!! That means their bodies were having trouble regulating insulin and glucose levels, which is directly linked to many diseases including diabetes. The good news is that the blood work returned to healthy levels after just one good night of sleep.
First order of business with kids away, is getting sound sleep! Now we have to work on extending that throughout the year!
2. Re-hydrate
It is no secret that many of us are walking around dehydrated. Even in the best of times, we can lose so much water just through respiration while we sleep. Add to that an incredibly hot and humid summer, lots of intense workouts, and we need to up our water intake!
A small tip we have learned lately is adding a bit of Himalayan Sea Salt to our water. This will help replenish the sodium, magnesium, potassium and other key minerals lost in perspiration.
Did you know that the Himalayan Sea Salt is pink because of the iron it contains? Another bonus!
3. Get our body moving
It feels great to get your body moving in the morning. Not only for the physical effects, but more importantly for the mental effects. Just 15 minutes of very light movement, stretching the body and getting into a “flow”.
Not an intense workout, but just enough to wake ourselves up.
I’ll give a good simple and effective way to warm-up and get your body activated very soon.
4. Cold plunge
Look up Wim Hoff, the godfather of cold-water immersion. This is some of what we have been doing recently. It is not as bad or hard as it seems, and the benefits and feelings are like no other!
Here is Laura and I getting into our 55 Fahrenheit tub. Laura may sound like she is going into labour, but it really wasn’t that bad.
5. Bullet-proof coffee and Supplements
We try and get the vast majority of our nutrition from real whole food. But there are a few things that we have to supplement with, for various reasons. One thing we can’t live without is coffee (we try to say we don’t have a coffee addiction, just a coffee “preference”). But one thing we have been doing, Laura on a daily level for the last few years, myself off and on, is having “Bullet-proof” coffee.
This is coffee mixed with medium chain fatty acids, the healthy fat that is good for reducing inflammation, regulating blood sugar etc, while balancing out your energy for the morning. You can use butter or coconut oil, but MCT oil is the purest form.
The supplements we take help us reduce inflammation, and hopefully slow the effects of ageing. They are Omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, and a mitochondrial support. View more from Myolibria Here. We’ll write a more extensive piece on why these supplements are so vital very soon.
What are your go-to ways to start a healthy day?
September is the best time of year to start a healthy routine, with kids back at school, normal work schedule etc. Tell us, maybe there is a way we can support you! At the very least, tell others to help them be inspired. We can all help each other make the right health choices and truly age well!