Here is my top 10 from current medical and brain studies…find out what might work for you
1. The growth of personalised medicine and the ability to biohack your own body
– if you are in the driver’s seat you need to know the rules!
If you cannot track it you cannot change it. There has been a huge growth in measuring body functions including movement and sleep trackers eg Fit Bit, the measurement of heart rate variability
(which tracks the function of the autonomic nervous system)and a growing range of functional blood tests measuring biochemistry, hormomes and genetics. The ability to measure and manipulate the gut microbiome is now available.
Over 2016 choose one or more biomarkers you would like to change. eg blood pressure readings. Explore and track them with your health practitioner to find ways to enhance these numbers.
2. How to keep calm during stressful times – Meditation
Mindfulness practices are associated with 43% reduction in medical services utilization
A group at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine found that a time-tested mindfulness-focused mixed modality protocol developed originally by Prof Herbert Benson,produced a whopping 43 percent reduction in service utilization. The group courageously and correctly called for a vaccination-type public health approach to spread these skill-building services population-wide.
Visit www.daniellewis.com.au for detials of the next Meditation course.
3. Neuroscience and how to measure brain function
This last year has seen an increase in scientific and lay publications about brain health and importantly the link between the gut and the brain. The biggest fitness takeaway from 2015 is the surprising link between fitness and brain health http://nyti.ms/1RHWPJE .
4. Sitting and not moving is the new smoking.
I have now used a standing desk for 12 months. I have more energy at work and am fitter and leaner.
I will not revert back to sitting and the science supports this decision. >>>>
What’s really happening to your body when you sit too much:
http://diply.com/what-the-facts/article/sitting-too-much … pic.twitter.com/TfA0a4GVcC
5. Time to get serious about weight, diabetes, hypertension and metabolic syndrome.
The pathway towards illness or to health are defined by well researched lifestyle factors and further confirmed in 2015. Uncontrolled stress, poor nutrition, lack of exercise and insufficient sleep top the list of the many factors that adversly effect gut and brain functions. Pathways2 Wellbeing is the way to create health.
6. The food messages are becoming more unified.
Lots of vegetables, varying sources of proteins and an increase in omega 3 and health fats are consistent messages. I predict 2016 will see the rise of probiotics and prebiotics and fermented foods (
This graphic on the left includes a glass of Kambucha tea one of the many ways to have fermeted foods). The use of fermented foods was under researched in 2015).
I predict that in 2016 there will be clarity around the use of saturated fats and coconut oils. Vegetable oils ( omega 6 ) are definitely off the menu. Omega 3 oils and olive oils are priority sources of good fat.
2016 will see more clarity around blood cholesterol levels. I suspect that the total cholesterol level will be bypassed by the assessment of high density lipoproteins and low density liopoproteins.
Knowing your triclyceride levels is a key to understanding how your body handles sugar. It is likely to be confirmed that many are taking statin drugs for no good reason. However, each person needs to discuss their personal circumstances with their prescriber.
There is increasing focus on how you eat as being as important as what you eat. There are huge health benefits to eating mindfully and chewing slowly. You can learn more about this in the March 2016 More Than Meditation Course.
7. Sleep as a health tool is here to stay.
In a recent lecture this was the Hot Tip that most of the audience liked. Set your alarm at night to prepare for sleep. 7 hours is a minimum.
8. Fasting
The message to eat 3 meals a day every day has changed in 2015. There are various fasting routines from the popular 5:2 diet to a host of others. Every regime has shown health benefits. 2016 is the year of further experimenting with this. Expect a lot of research to flow.
9. Dr Google is often wrong or wrongly interpreted by the lay person. All of us require a trusted health advisor.
10. CelebraCelebreate the amazingte the moments and be reminded of the wonderful aspects of your life.
My ah ha Jar
Our brains are wired to focus on the negative aspects of life and these are the ones we remember easily. This is our survival mechanism and it cannot be changed. In addition we forget about 40%
of everything that happend to us yesterday. But we do know that celebrating the good things in life, the events, relationships, the wow and ah ha moments contribute to the joy of living. This year I created an ” ah ah jar”. Everytime I have an experience of “wow” I post myself a note. This way I am reminded of the joy of life and I can revisit the joys anytime I please.
