If you’re just joining the Bare Minimum Mondays posts, here’s the premise…
Action always gets more results than ideas. (Related to this: the thing you do is better than the thing you don’t do, progress is better than perfection, consistency, even with something small, is more effective than occasional bursts of excellence).
Every Monday, we send out things to try in four areas: movement (exercise), nutrition, sleep, and stress management. These are, without question, the four most powerful tools available for tackling a massive number of maladies. The goal isn’t for you to do all of them forever. It’s not even for you to do all of them this week. The goal is to give you enough things to try that you can find a couple that stick, and then for you to have some intentionality in each of those areas that you can stick with for the rest of your life.
Take what you need, discard the rest.
Let’s get into it.
Move
Do 30 seconds of calf-raises while your coffee brews. Strengthening lower-leg muscles improves balance and functional mobility.
Eat
Swap one snack this week from processed to whole-foods (e.g., baked potato instead of french fries). Whole-food snack substitution improves nutrient density and supports long-term health.
Sleep
Keep the bedroom temperature slightly cool (~65-68°F). Cooler sleep environments have been shown to improve sleep efficiency. Read more HERE.
Manage
Take a 5-minute guided breathing break when you start to feel overwhelmed. (Lots of options HERE). Deep breathing and short mindfulness breaks reduce physiological stress response.