Last week, one of my professors mentioned something about America that I’d like to elaborate on. As wealthy and prosperous as we are, the United States is one of the worst countries in the world at adhering to the “three pillars” of health — nutrition, exercise, and sleep. I believe it was Mike Huckabee (Disclaimer: I don’t support him for the presidency) who recently said that we have not a health care crisis, but a health crisis. For an interesting read specifically about obesity, look at this 2003 testimony by Surgeon General Richard Carmona.

You can say all you want about what the government should do to improve the situation, where our money should be spent, yadda, yadda, yadda — but we all know that when it comes to the government, nothing happens quickly (unless it’s related to anti-terrorism). That’s why, here at Don’tASQ, we believe in the power of the people to fix — or much better, to prevent — their own bloody health problems.

Nutrition

There’s no shortage of “science” out there giving us all sorts of conflicting information about what we should be eating… so I’ll spare you and let you do your own research if you’re intrigued. All I can offer are a few tips that I’ve learned from experience:

• The best type of diet, unfortunately, varies from person to person and is best discovered through trial and error. Don’t be afraid to try something new!
• Take small steps when changing your diet. Don’t try to go from SAD to veganism overnight. Do some careful planning and make substitutes one by one. For example, eat fast food twice per week instead of three times; or try a veggie burger in place of a hamburger for dinner.
• Don’t buy the hype! Remember that America is a corporatocracy (if you think otherwise, you’re only deceiving yourself). Marketers will say anything to get you to buy their product… mostly because it’s legal to do so. Research by federal committees can’t be guaranteed bias-free, either.
• Try out a new diet. How does it make you feel? If you’re better off than you were before, keep it for awhile. Run it by other people you trust and learn from their experiences.
• When all else fails, ask the question, “Would a caveman have eaten this?” It sounds silly, but think about it for a moment. Ancient peoples didn’t have nearly the food processing technology that we do today, yet they made it along just fine (save the occasional plague). What makes you think that the preservatives and other junk in processed food is beneficial to our bodies?

Exercise

Do it. Put down that remote. Get out of bed, off the couch, or away from your office. If it’s been longer than 72 hours since you did any sort of intense cardiovascular or muscular exercise (barring injuries), I want you to stop reading this and go for a jog, lift weights, play Dance Dance Revolution, join in a pickup game of basketball… anything! But do it right now!

… Have you done it yet? Good.

Because, believe me, as much as I like to think that Don’tASQ is a great and inspiring read, this article is no substitute for taking real action. And that goes for any article on any website you’ll ever visit; you can spend your entire life reading about changing the world without actually accomplishing anything. Is that what you’re trying to achieve? Is that what you’re trying to achieve with your body? Do you want to spend the rest of your life thinking about becoming healthier?

There are half a gazillion activities you can do to improve just about any physical attribute; again, you can do your own research. You wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t capable of that. No matter what the exercise, I like to follow one simple principle — Do it until the “do” is gone. In other words, exhaust yourself completely, but not to the point of physical harm. Do those bicycles until your belly hurts. Lift that barbell until you literally cannot. Dance your heart out, swing style. But whatever you do… no more movie marathons!

Sleep

If you’ve been a regular reader for any length of time, you probably know my opinion on sleep — that modern sleep science is bunk and that the only reason we need to waste eight hours in La-La Land is because we insist on doing it all at once. Well, this time around, I’m going to assume that you’re “normal” and ignore any urges to slip into a rant about polyphasic sleep vs. the evils of hibernation.

For starters, there was an excellent article about sleep on Delicious this morning. I’m linking this only because it contains several tips that I’d never seen before, and I’ve found that the content hitting Delicious is usually of very high quality compared to some of the other social news aggregators.

What’s interesting about the almighty Eight-Hour Rule is that, as with everything medical, it varies from person to person. My professor (the same one mentioned in the opening paragraph) runs a sleep laboratory here in St. Louis, and he claims to have seen both patients who require as much as twelve hours per night and those who require as little as four hours per night. Personally, I’ve needed about six since I started waking up early, although the exercise and vegan diet may also be influencing that.

Stay healthy!

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