There is not time to get healthy. I heard this a lot a few years ago. Health is not something that can be attained in a few weeks or even months. You can't rush your fitness or health, but are there things that can actually make you healthier instantly? More specifically, are there things that can be done today, that will make you healthier today or tomorrow?
"The best time to plant was 20 years ago. The second best time is today."
If you walk for 30 min at a comfortable pace outside your Natural Killer cells and your T-Cells go up. Simply put, your immune system is raised up and has shown to have less overall sick days and respiratory illness over a winter. Several studies support this. This is immediate. Can you imagine if this was a pill, how many people would be clamoring to take it!
Staying with walking, as little as a 10 min walk after eating, has been shown to keep your glucose levels down. Regulating blood glucose levels is how we can go from pre-diabetic state to a healthy range. This is regardless of what you eat. It's not even saying, change what you are eating, just walk a bit afterwards! (Side note: The words comorbidity has been thrown a lot around recently, pre-diabetic blood sugar levels, is a comorbidity, you may look and feel great, but your body is essentially rusting.)
Speaking of dietary changes. You can change your gut biome in as little as 4 days. A fast food diet of burger and fries were compared to a Mediterranean diet for 4 days. There was 4 days in between each diet. Fast food diet showed an increase in the bad bacteria in the gut and Med. Diet showed an increase in the good bacteria. This was after 4 days! Imagine what a month could do. A few more fruits, vegetables, olive oil and quality protein. Dump the fried foods.
Vitamin D levels is a very important parameter for overall human health. Immune system, muscular recovery and mood are just a few but important areas it impacts. 10 min in the sunlight on your skin is about the equivalent of 10,000 IU of vitamin D. Supplementing with Vit D can serve as a great adjunct on days there is no sun or you are stuck inside.
Sleep is a big deal. A good nights sleep drives a healthier innate immune system. It enhances recovery. Your biomarkers that fight infection are improved. Your inflammation goes down (or up if you sleep poor). The response to vaccines is improved after good nights sleep! (what do you think this means if you sleep pretty poor consistently?). A lot of what we know on how to attain a good nights sleep drives from understanding the circadian rhythm of our bodies. Here is the easiest guidelines. Let your eyes see the sun in the morning. It basically is the physiological wake up signal. Light on the retina. Eat something. Have some movement in your day. Stop caffeine before noon (for most people). Cut out your phone and blue light 2 hours before bed. Blue light stops the melatonin hormone. Yea, you say you can fall asleep but your sleep is disrupted, which means you wake up! Your sleep was disturbed. Take Magnesium an hour before bed. This has been a game changer for so many patients of mine. Go to bed at the same time, yes even on the weekends.
Breath deep for a few minutes. Inhale through the nose, hold for a few second. Exhale for a few seconds. Hold for a few seconds. This is called box breathing. Repeat for a few minutes. This will literally drive you into a parasympathetic state. Less cortisol, which means less inflammatory response to stress. Breathing is like the remote control to your nervous system. It works that quickly.
Drink water with some electrolytes. We are water. We are electrical beings. Better hydration is better function.
Socialize with people you like. This I found quite ironic. Social isolation or a perceived social threat produced more inflammation and decreased anti viral qualities. While the opposite was also true. Positive social interactions showed decrease inflammation, and bolstered anti viral responses.
There is time, there was time. Today can be that day. Acute can become chronic. Your body will change, wether you do something or not. You can decide how. Health can be improved today. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.
