HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU. I genuinely appreciate that you take time out of your day to read my musings. Today, I want to focus on my three pillars of health and wellness for 2022. My wellness goals for 2022 revolve around:
- Movement
- Nourishment
- Rest
First, let me share why I am not making any New Year’s resolutions. The COVID19 pandemic has me a bit less energetic. The idea of making specific asks of myself doesn’t have great appeal. Listen to Dr. Sophie Lazarus, a psychologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (USA):
“We might be better off without [resolutions]. After a difficult year, the last thing we need to do is put more pressure on ourselves or set a goal that might not be realistic during a global pandemic.”
I don’t think making a New Year’s resolution is necessarily bad. It can be an issue when you create it from a position of obligation or pressure. For those who want to ake a resolution, aim for reasonable, rather than a large and sweeping goal.
Instead of creating many New Year’s resolutions, here is what I am doing — I am focusing on my pillars of health and wellness, including movement, nourishment, and rest.
Wellness GOALS FOR 2022: Movement
I put movement first, as it is my favorite. You know the drill: Aim for 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise. As a reminder:https://drive.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https%3A//health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-10/PAG_ExecutiveSummary.pdf&embedded=true
Here’s the problem: Only one in four adults (and one in five adolescents) in the United States meet physical activity guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.
While I will continue to encourage you to meet the guideline standards, I will focus more on movement rather than exercise this year. Doctors, computer programmers, architects, accountants, and administrative assistants. We all spend significant time sitting.
But we humans are designed to move throughout the day. Sitting all day as a computer programmer and then running half an hour? Not ideal. One study showed:
Trade sitting for light intensity activities for two minutes each hour, and there appears to be a one-third lower risk of dying early.
WELLNess GOALS FOR 2022: Nourishment
It is the most consistent message we give to our bodies when we eat. It is a signal to our bodies. An army of microorganisms in organs such as our guts awaits this signal.
Ditch the restricted diet (while all diets are restrictive in some sense, I intentionally use the term for emphasis) and send better signals through a balanced diet. Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to improve a healthier microbiome? Do it, and you may optimize your health. The best microbiome? A diverse one. I am going to try to eat a wide variety of foods.Diet and Weight Loss: How Calorie Restriction Affects Your Weight and GutDIET IS IMPORTANT in shaping our gut microbiome. Today we look at microbiome basics before pivoting to new research…medium.com
This year, I look forward to providing you with the latest science about our microbiome and about inflammation.
WELLNess GOALS FOR 2022: Rest
Short sleepers have a higher risk of going from pre-diabetic to a person with diabetes. I have tried to inform you of what you should do, but I will focus more on the why this year. Sleep well, and you imprint the day’s memories into long-term memory.
In addition, we use sleep to rid our brains of metabolic waste. We clean out waste all of the time, but mainly at night as we sleep. Last year I wrote this piece:5 Things You Need to Do to Get Better Sleep, Backed by ScienceSLEEP IS STRONGLY regulated by biological drive, but the ability to fall asleep at your preferred time and to maintain…medium.com
I look forward to exploring the benefits of sleep in more detail this year. Of course, I want to provide more tips about how you can optimize sleep.
Thank you for joining me. While I am not making any New Year’s resolutions, I look forward to focusing (with you) on these three pillars of wellness: Movement, nourishment, and rest. I include mindfulness practices under the category of rest.
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The information I provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this blog.
