Daily habits: they can make or break you

It just occurred to me that there may be a simple way to explain why daily habits play an important role in determining overall health and daily health.

I want to record these thoughts at a basic level while they’re fresh in my mind. Most people understand that how they lead their lives determines its quality and length, but most don’t feel they have much control over it for various reasons.

To help, it’s important to start from a basic principle that can be built on. This principle, for me, is that our bodies are in a process of constant change. The reason we’ve been so effective in dominating the earth and thriving so well on this planet is, as far as I can see, that we’re able to adapt so well to the conditions of all types of land environments. From the hottest and driest to the coldest and wettest parts of our planet, humans have gone there and conquered. Even before this technological age.

What made it possible?

From what I can see, it’s because our bodies are continually preparing for the next challenge, be it famine, feast, or a massive trek to find food. Our bodies are considering what we’re about to face.

The difference these days is that we don’t face the challenges on a day-to-day basis that we used to. So, our bodies don’t get the signals they’re designed for. That means they’re preparing for different things; thus, all these Western diseases are a by-product.

The essence goes back to understanding what environment(s) our bodies are designed to thrive in and how to achieve it today. I don’t want to live like a caveman, even if that’s what my body is designed for. I want to figure out how to achieve nirvana in the here and now by understanding what makes us tick and referring to all this history and our place in it.

Right now, I feel children can teach us the most. Time after time I feel that as adults we’re overloaded with information about our bodies and how to work with them but much of it is like a joke with no punch line.  I feel we don’t know enough to put it all together correctly. So, all these diets and strict regimes are generally too reductionist because they forget that humans survive in all climates and live varied lifestyles with different types of food, yet some live past 100 in all cultures. That implies that humans can thrive anywhere and on plenty of different diets.

It makes more sense to me that our bodies have a well-developed system of dealing with the bad consequences of our lives and that those who thrive the most—the ones who live the longest with the highest quality of life—simply follow lifestyles that work in their environment.

Okay, I’ve not said anything groundbreaking so far. Well, I don’t think I have, but I feel the research reduces everything down to calories and vitamins, so we think the answer is there. I’m not sure it’s all there. I think plenty of other things must be considered.

Talking about children, they just run around, play, and eat what they want. Sure, they often eat things they shouldn’t, but they soon learn. The point is that They don’t spend their lives worrying about what they eat. They do lead active lives. They don’t live strict lives.

They work well with their bodies because if they have an urge for food, they have it. I generally find that when you’re active regularly, it’s quite hard to eat so much that you put on too much weight. You need a bunch of food. Yet you don’t feel like you do that much because your body is used to it.

The point is that you do what your body is designed for when you’re a kid without all the burdens of adulthood. When you become an adult, you often stop. Maybe not everything, but I bet we can all make a short list of some of the activities we did as kids that were probably good for us that we don’t do anymore. I wonder how many of these activities should be in a recipe for a healthy, happy, and productive life.

• Laughing regularly
• jumping around
• playing for the heck of it
• just doing nothing and enjoying it
• Not worrying about big things that might happen
• Just give your best. If it’s not good enough, figure out why and try again, not seeing it as a failure.
• Enjoying food, eating without guilt

You can probably see. I feel like life is for living, and most kids have it down. So it’s about what they can teach us. I’ve drifted from the point of this post. That is, every day, our bodies monitor our activity and the challenges we face as a clue to what to prepare for. And every day, our bodies are remodelling to help us face these expected challenges. Activity in all its forms is an important way of telling our bodies what challenges we need to prepare for. In this way, we replicate our ancestors’ challenges and help our bodies do what they’re designed for. So what challenges are these, and how can they help us? The list I’m going to write is not exhaustive and not something I’ve researched in depth. I’m just putting my thoughts down so I can take a step back and see if this fits the wider puzzle

• exercise(physical activity) involves limiting key energy sources through increased demand for them. It forces the body to be efficient with each nutrient. The same goes for water and other nutrients. Exercise, especially intense exercise, is the main time our bodies learn to deal with a huge demand for all the body’s resources simultaneously. It also exposes our organs, such as muscles, to conditions similar to famine compared to the feast they normally have because the resources must be shared among a large muscle mass; organs like the liver, kidney, lungs, and heart all have to do a lot with very little. This ensures they reach the top of their game and become strong and able to withstand life’s rigours
• intermittent fasting. I’m intrigued by this concept because I feel it represents another way of exposing the body to conditions of scarcity, triggering processes innate in us to deal with this. I wonder if it may force us to better protect our vitamin and nutrient stores and be more efficient with what we have. So, much like exercise, could it be a way of maintaining the challenges that our bodies are designed to thrive on, and may even expect, in order to thrive?
• highs and lows (emotional exercise): We’re not just machines. I play sports because it gives me joy and frustration. I feel I need both to thrive. In the West, we have such easy lives compared to those in the first world.  Yet, we often seem to be more stressed. I’ve noticed how my approach and attitude to events in my life change dramatically as I experience more profound stress and distress than I had previously. These tough times often make me stronger and give me a different perspective. Much like physical exercise does on my body. It gives it a different perspective on the same challenge. I learn new coping techniques that are better than the old ones, so I find my life generally feels easier and happier than before. So, in some ways, this is like an emotional workout. And to be honest, I need to keep it up otherwise my skills, like any other, will fade into neglect.
• dreams and reality: (spiritual exercise): I can see where this list is going now :-). Again, I love to have dreams, but reality keeps returning and ruining things. I grew up as a dreamer, and as I’ve grown, I’ve learnt how to make dreams become reality. The constant shift between dreams and reality is good as long as you keep working on turning your dreams into reality. Again, it’s exercise. It’s about developing skills and experience and then maintaining it. 

I may need to add to and adjust the list, but I think it captured the essence. In many areas, we change on a daily basis. It’s both a chance to improve and a chance to wither. A chance to get rid of dead wood but also to lose amazing skills.

Our minds and bodies have been designed for this, so they know how to keep hold of the good and eliminate the bad. Our challenge is to learn how to work with this, too, so we can get the best out of ourselves.