(1) Sleep 8.5 hours each night
8.5 is the magic number of sleep you need each night. As you sleep, the body does repairs in the deep sleep cycle (REM sleep) , renewing your heart, brain, liver, kidneys and other vital organs. That is why a lack of sleep makes you feel lethargic and forgetful – your body did not have time to renew. Sleeping for 8.5 hours each night is the first pillar of good health.
(2) Stick to the same wake-sleep cycle every day of your life
I know, you want to have a different life on the weekends. Out with friends until late, watch videos and play games way past midnight, and anything else atypical of work days. Having a different sleep-cycle is unhealthy, because it means that you lose a few hours of sleep adapting back to the work day routine. By all means, enjoy your life, but do it in a way that you don’t have to change your sleep habits.
Sleeping consistently at the same time every day trains your natural circadian rhythm, which makes your sleep easy and restful.
(3) 90 mins of heart-pumping exercise per week
Maybe you have heard of doing 10,000 steps per day? That really is the minimum point for any notion of health. We need to do better if we want to have a realistically good health. To keep living healthy through a long life, your heart needs at least 30mins of moderately intense exercise 3 times a week. If you can’t do the 3 x 30, you can slog it through one of the weekends on a 90mins exercise.
It needs to have you panting and huffing by the end of it. It needs to be some heart-pumping action that makes you sweat, and perhaps even curse. Jogging, tennis, cycling, badminton, and other moderate to intense sports counts. You can pick your favourite, better yet choose one with your friends and stick to it, as long as you practice the 90mins a week.
What benefits?
The benefits of these 3 added together are immense. First, a fitter heart and healthier body, with better metabolism. Your immune system is also more “tanky”, allowing you to fight off diseases faster. Sleep will also come easy to you, which is quite something as most of the developed world complains about poor sleep. And with good sleep comes good health, better brain functions such as memory, and your organs will also thank you for it. Of course, it goes without saying that all these accompany a normal and healthy diet.
You not only add years to your life, but also life to your years. So, let’s start today.
