1. Sleep

Sleep 7-9 hours per day - no less, no more.

2. Follow a PLANT-BASED diet (this doesn't mean only plants)

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables (duh).

3. Reduce your meat consumption.

Reduce it to what is necessary. It's not often people are protein deficient. Go for lean cuts, exclude processed stuff.

4. Don't overdo it with the water.

8 glasses per day is a MYTH if you're eating whole foods as a large majority unless you do some sort of strenuous exercise). Judge it based on urine colour.

5. Eat FISH.

DHA and EPA are key for our health.

We know that countries with higher fish consumption tend to have lower rates of depression, compared to others with similar or even greater socio-economic status (e.g Japan vs New Zealand).

Yes, I understand population studies aren't always perfect for the variables we have to control for.

6. FAST.

You don't have to fast every day. 2 days per week (e.g Wednesday, Friday) skip breakfast and eat from 12- 8 pm.

This will allow you to firstly gain psychological control over your food as well as increase your insulin sensitivity and now as research develops further most likely increases the length of your life.

7. Exercise, yeah this is just common sense.

Get a mix of aerobic and anaerobic, they both have their pros and cons and one shouldn't be prioritised over the other if general health is the goal in mind.

8. Practice some form of mindfulness.

Whether this is through meditation, other spiritual practices like yoga. Find a way to be mindful for at least 20 minutes per day.

Meditation lITERALLY changes the shape of your brain.

We know experienced meditators have more grey matter in the various part of the brain (such as the connective tissue between the left and right hemisphere), a reduction in a size of the amygdala (stress centre), etc...

9. Spend time with friends and family.

Health isn't exclusive to what you eat, or how you move, true health is reflective of your lifestyle.

We're social creatures and this reminder becomes so important as we ironically through the use of the medium I'm using to type this message, become more disconnected than ever.

Video

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805706/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9415946

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4045293/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22414/

Do you guys disagree with anything in particular and why? I’ve found this to be optimal for myself.