Hi friends,

When people talk about improving their health, it typically involves something about exercise or nutrition. While these are crucial to consider when thinking about your health, they are not the be-all and end-all.

If you look at the physiological effects of exercise in the short term, it looks terrible; it increases your heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and stress hormones, and causes microscopic muscle damage.

The gains from exercise are made when you allow your body to recover. Exercise is a stimulus to the body that promotes adaptation (increased strength, lower resting heart rate, increased muscle mass, etc.), but real gains are made when you allow your body to calm down from the intensity of exercise and everyday life.

If you are constantly in a state of hypervigilance or anxiety, your body can never recover optimally. We are combating the modern world with ancient genes. The earliest homo sapiens is thought to be about 300,000 years old. If you are constantly bombarded with notifications, phone calls, and news on what’s going wrong with the world, your body interprets this as distress. Something similar to when early hominids had a conflict with another tribe or if they were the hunted and not the hunter of another animal. Read more on how long-term stress negatively affects health here.

Here are the tools that I use to help decrease the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nervous system and increase the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system to help promote recovery and relaxation.

• Meditation - Everyone knows this is something they should do but often don’t actually do. It doesn’t take a lot of time to see results. Just 5-10 minutes a day can be sufficient to improve your cognitive state and perspective. I recommend starting with the introductory courses on the Waking Up app. You can also get the app for free if you apply for a scholarship.

• Deep Breathing Exercises: Techniques such as diaphragmatic breathing or the 4-7-8 method can help calm down the nervous system. You can try a few cycles of breathing a couple of times a day.

• Journaling - There are a million different ways to journal. It doesn’t matter what you write down, just aim to get your thoughts out of your head and onto the paper. Sometimes the couple feet of space between your head and the paper can bring about a great sense of clarity. Read more on journaling here.

• Take a walk - Frequent walks are a tool that many of the greatest thinkers and leaders have used. Walking, especially if done out in nature, can have a profound effect on your ability to relax and destress.

• Do something for fun without a means to an end - Many of us think that if what we’re doing now isn’t productive or making us money, then what’s the point? Having fun isn’t just for children. It can be a great way to recharge and allow yourself to be present and relaxed. Think about things that give you energy even if they are not inherently productive. If something recharges you, it is not worthless!

Until next week,

Kevin