Your October Monthly Dose
Health comes in many forms. By understanding what matters most and engaging in your health I believe you can live a full life.
Exercise: youth burnout is a common topic in sports medicine. The desire to see the best in our children can come at a cost. More of something is not necessarily better. A constant game of one-upmanship makes it difficult for parents and children to temper their desire to succeed. We all want to see our children do well in sport but at what cost. It is important to ask questions like: are our children intrinsically motivated to play? Do we have to intervene and help foster enjoyment of other sports and activities? Are we creating good humans, not just great athletes? Read the NYT article for more details on this topic.
Mental health: the stop doing list...what did you take out of the schedule over the past month? My twitter forays are decreasing but I am having even greater success dropping the news. Take the time to read Ryan Holiday's article and rethink how much news you consume. Did following the Kavanagh trials make you happier? More productive? Smarter? I know I was much more content reading my books as the circus went on. Give it a try and report back.
Grub: intermittent fasting. Yet another hot topic diet. Not surprisingly many of the same findings for this diet. There may be positive long lasting effects, but most diets impart positive change in some area. I do appreciate the mental fortitude the diet requires. Without religion guiding us most of us never restrict ourselves from anything and some restriction probably isn't a bad thing (the stoics would agree). It offers an easy solution to calorie deficit (good for weight loss) and if you are skipping breakfast it is probably the easiest meal to skip, so keeping to the diet isn’t too hard. Yet like all diets, it isn’t magic and doesn’t work for everyone. You have to ask: can I maintain this diet 7 days a week? Would I want my kids to do it? Do I feel good? Can I still perform at the same level? If you are trying to lose and keep weight off this diet may be for you, it may not. Its grey and that is ok. If you do give it a whirl, keep it to yourself...check out this TED on why keeping things to yourself is probably the way to go.
Sleep: how has your progress been? Have you implemented a stop doing list to give you more time? I want to revisit the idea of sleep as a recovery tool. We all love to do more but as we layer on more physical and mental stress it often requires we give the brain and body time to recover. Sleep is still our best recovery tool so if you are doing more work or adding more exercise please consider how to create more space for sleep. If you can do this successfully, instead of burning out, you will reap the benefits of greater mental and physical stimulation.
Thanks as alway for reading.
Dave
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