Your Health is Your #1 Priority
“You can’t pour from an empty cup” is a strong part of the self-love vernacular today, yet most busy people I know try damn hard to, I’ve been guilty of this too. We’re too quick to compromise sleep, food, hydration, exercise and even our own mobility, all at the expense of “just getting this last thing done.”
But what anyone who does this learns time and time again, is that taking your body for granted will catch up to you — it might come in the form of a pinched nerve (relatively minor on the scale of bodily dysfunctions), or in the form of a heart attack (relatively major), or something in between. One thing I know for sure is this: neglecting the needs of your physical vessel will catch up to you.
This is exactly why I tell anyone who comes to me for life or career advice that your health is your #1 priority. Without your health, nothing else matters. You are a soul living a physical experience in a human body. And as a result, there is no bigger priority in life than to tend to your own physical health. If you’ve ever had an ailment that brings you to your knees (food poisoning anyone?), you know this in your bones.
But where to start? Having unlimited access to information about the latest diet (keto, paleo, carnivore, intermittent fasting), latest fitness craze (classical pilates, hot yoga, cross fit, bootcamp) and wellness hacks (cold plunge, contrast therapy, meditation), can make something that is quite simple, feel unnecessarily complex.
So here’s my recommendation, it’s a simple, straightforward recipe for success. It has exactly five ingredients, and it’s a pretty simple one to follow.
What you’ll need: Sleep, Hydration, Nourishment, Mobility, and Strength.
Sleep —
Why is sleep important? Sleep is mission critical for your physical health. It’s the time of the day that your body gets to repair itself, restore energy, consolidate memories, regulate hormones, and manage your immune system.
What is a good rule of thumb to keep in mind? Aim to get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Sleeping too much, and sleeping too little can knock your body out of its natural rhythm, so more often than not, try to achieve this range.
Why is 7-9 hours the magical amount of sleep? Throughout the night you achieve different levels of restfulness (you’ve probably heard of REM sleep), as an adult, when you’re aiming to achieve 3-5 REM cycles in a night’s sleep, you require a good amount of time in bed. So shooting for 7-9 hours in bed, ideally helps you get close to those markers.
My favorite sleep hack: Your body keeps a natural clock (circadian rhythm) and about 2 hours before bed, your body temperature starts to go down. At it’s lowest, your temperature sinks to about 2°F lower than normal, when this drop happens, you hit deep sleep. Taking a hot bath (or hot shower) before bed artificially raises your body temperature, then it rapidly drops when you get out. This drop in core temperature signals to your body that it's time to sleep. And in my experience, because you started with a higher than usual temperature, you get this double drop effect, first when you drop post-bath, and then again when your body naturally does it, that you get this incredible and delightful quality sleep.
Hydration —
Why is hydration important? Hydration is also mission critical for your physical health as it essential for functions like regulating your blood volume and body temperature, lubricating joints, transporting nutrients to cells, and removing waste.
What is a good rule of thumb? Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces, so if you weigh 200 lbs, you drink 100 ounces of water per day.
Why is half my body weight in ounces the magical amount of water? Your body is around 60% water, you are constantly losing water throughout the day, and so you must replenish it at or close to the rate you’re losing it.
My favorite hydration hack: I try to knock out 3/4 of my hydration goal in the first few hours of the day. I have a 25 ounce water bottle that sits on my nightstand, if I wake up throughout the night I take a sip. If I don’t, first thing in the morning I drink this before having my coffee. I workout in the morning, so I refill the water bottle once for my workout, and then again after I’ve completed my workout, making it my goal to finish the third water bottle full by the time I am sitting down to begin my work day. I find myself naturally craving at least one more bottle of water over the course of the workday, so with three down and one to go, I often achieve my hydration target.
Nourishment —
Why is nourishing your body important? Providing your body with nutritious foods help fuel your core functions, protect against disease, support your immune system, and contribute to healthy skin, bones, muscles, and brain function by providing essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from the foods you eat.
What is a good rule of thumb? A persons body weight is determined by calories consumed, less calories burned. Every person needs a certain amount of calories per day to maintain, lose, or gain weight. Foods which are stores of calories, contain three macro nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. A typical breakdown of macronutrients needed to nourish your body would be: 40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat. Put differently, for someone on a 2,000 calorie diet, 200 grams of carbohydrates, 150 grams of protein, and 67 grams of fat, is what they would aim for.
Why is 40%/30%/30% the aim? Carbs, proteins, and fats all play different roles in helping your body stay healthy. Carbs are great sources of energy for your brain, muscles and nervous system; proteins help with strength and repair across your bones, muscles, cartilage, and tissues; and fats help build cells, protect organs, manage hormones, and support brain health .
My favorite nourishment hack: Foods that come straight from mother earth will always be better for you than foods manufactured in a factory. When given the choice between a peach, or peaches in a can, eat the peach. Consistently choose “the peach” more often than not, for an entire lifetime, and your body will thank you.
Mobility —
Why is mobility important? Mobility is the foundation for a healthy and active lifestyle, especially as you age, its what allows you to move freely and perform everyday activities without pain or strain, impacting your ability to be live independently, and perform basic tasks like getting out of bed, grooming yourself, standing up from a chair, and climbing stairs. Feeling restricted in any area of your body can help determine where a focus on enhancing your mobility could be especially impactful.
What’s a good rule of thumb for mobility? You can do a lot of good with just 5-10 minutes daily to targeted mobility exercises, focusing on the areas that feel most restricted, and loosening them up a little. This can come in the form of yoga or stretching. No it doesn’t require a yoga mat, any special bands, or anything like that. Just you, your awareness directed at an area of your body that feels restricted, and whatever feels good when you move or stretch in that area.
Why is mobility the aim? You don’t need to be a gymnast to have good mobility. Having solid mobility is the aim because the more you can move freely, the longer you get to live with the highest quality of life.
My favorite mobility hack: Spend 15 minutes a day doing sun salutations a, b, and c, and you will change your life. These movement patterns have been around for ages, and are time-tested to improve mobility and enhance quality of life. Bonus points, they can also help improve your strength, so this is a two-for hack.
Strength —
Why is strength important? Being strong is important for a variety of reasons, strong muscles help you perform daily activities with ease, reduces the risk of injuries, supports healthy bones, enhances balance, increases longevity and overall improves your quality of life by allowing you to move freely without fatigue.
What’s a good rule of thumb for building strength? Muscles grow by experiencing controlled damage and then repairing themselves, making them stronger and bigger in the process. Similar to how scar tissue grows over an injury, growing muscles requires you to create "micro tears" within the muscle fibers, when your body repairs those tears, your muscles get bigger. As a rule of thumb, you can initiate these micro tears through many forms of exercise — from lifting heavy things in your house, to doing pushups and lunges, to holding tough yoga poses, to getting into the gym and lifting dumbbells. Even just 15 minutes a day of intentional strength-building can have huge health benefits when compounded over time.
Why is strength the aim? You don’t need to be a body-builder to be strong. Being strong is the aim because the stronger you are the longer you get to live with the highest quality of life. Being strong allows you to say yes to the things you want to do in life that require your physical presence. When you have your strength, you have the ability to say “yes” to walking a few blocks to get the best view, when you have your strength, you have the ability to say “yes” to new experiences.
My favorite strength hack: Mindset is everything when it comes to exercise and building strength, because it is uncomfortable to put your body through the challenges that create those micro-tears that build strength. For me, I have always found it more motivating to think of what I will be able to do because I am strong, rather than how I will look or what the process of building strength will require (sweat, breathlessness, and repetitions of challenging exercises). I love to snowboard, snowboarding requires good cardiovascular health, strong legs, and a strong core. The stronger I make my body for snowboarding season, the more fun I get to have on the mountain. I also love giving my daughter a bath every night. At the end of bath time, when I lift her up, I have to use my lower back, leg, and arm muscles. The stronger I make my body for daily tasks like lifting my daughter up out of the bath, her crib, or her car seat, the better quality of life I get to enjoy.
Your health is your #1 priority. You are a soul having a physical experience, and your body is the only vessel you get to move through this world in, giving it what it needs to keep you moving is of the utmost importance. Nothing else matters if you don’t have your health. If you never take another lesson from me and my writings, as long as you took these five things with you for the rest of your life, I’d be okay with it.
Treating your body like it’s the only one you get is the foundational recipe for success that a good life and career can be built upon. Without this foundation built strong and well, everything else is at the peril of it.
