by Michael Plank
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 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
Take a 5-minute walk after lunch. A study in Diabetes Care found that short walks after meals can help control blood sugar levels and improve overall cardiovascular health.
Eat
Drink a glass of water before each meal. Probably the most common nutrition-related challenge relates to overeating certain foods, or food in general. Drinking a glass of water takes some space in your stomach and will send fullness cues to your brain a little bit sooner, decreasing the likelihood of overeating.
Sleep
Create a simple pre-bedtime routine. A consistent routine improves sleep quality by signaling to the brain that it’s time to wind down. This might look like reading a book, stretching, journaling, or nearly anything else that you do consistently. Pick something easy and enjoyable and give it at least 3 nights in a row.
Manage
Spend 5 Minutes Doing a Gratitude Practice. A study in The Journal of Positive Psychology found that practicing gratitude can significantly reduce stress and improve overall well-being.