Hi all
Please find your weekly dose of good Vibes.
This week I loved reading these
Hey friends,
Welcome to the first issue of the newsletter Good vibes with Sandeep Mall where we will share about tools for deep health, balancing life and money matters.
Imagine yourself in your old age – twenty, thirty or forty years from now. What do you see? You may not be very happy with what you visualize. A weaker you. An older you with grey hair, using a stick and perhaps finding it difficult to get up from a chair or lift your bag.
Now visualize yourself sharper, stronger and full of energy, possibly more than what you have today. You may have less hair and a few wrinkles but no wheel chairs. You can still do everything for yourself. You may be mentoring people with amazing energy. Or doing whatever you like. If you love to run, you may still be running marathons or if you love to play tennis, you may be playing. Simply put, you would still be doing whatever you love with the energy and strength of people half your age.
Don’t believe this? Think it’s a fiction and not possible? Let me tell you this is possible. You can be in your best shape at any age. If you want to turn back the clock, my present is a proof. I am a proof that it is possible. At fifty-five I am in the best shape of my life. Measurably fitter than ever before. My metabolic age is of a thirty-eight-year-old. My health reports are all normal.
Ten years ago, I had high cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid and hypertension among other things. Insurance companies didn’t want to do Key man insurance for me which my company needed me to have. At fifty-six – I am in my best shape – both physically and mentally and a Grandfather! Going by the comments that people on Twitter and Instagram give me – I have a body that’s ageing in reverse.
Don’t be defined by age. Reclaim your life. Start today. Whatever maybe your age. You don’t need much effort but please understand there is no shortcut. In the last decade or so I have read thousands of blogs, journals and books on nutrition, healthy eating and fitness. Studying ad absorbing this information have helped me design the life I live today. This newsletter will have everything that I have learnt and that have or have not worked for me.
It is my desire to provide people zero cost resources and tools on deep health,balancing life & money matters based on science & experience.
In the subsequent issues we will have Guest Experts who will share their knowledge and experience.
The idea is to provide simple doable tool kits which will be very helpful to attain deep health.
If you find the newsletter enriching, please share with your friends and family. Also we will have a readers column and your suggestions are most welcome. If you want any specific topic to be covered please e-mail to me.
I Wish you and your family a very HAPPY DIWALI AND NEW YEAR
God Bless. Let’s Get Fit together.
@SandeepMall
me@Sandeepmall.com
Let me share a story of successful businessman who worked long days and also on weekends, almost 80-90 hours a week for most of his working life. That’s me.
I always used to think am doing it for my family and boys. Someday I will make enough money to give them great comfort and enjoy the future. We Will spend lot of time together; go for holidays and do things we have never done.
God has been kind. Now I have money and time. But Will I get back those years? Will I get back opportunity to attend their PTMs. Will I get to tell them bedtime stories now? Will I get to participate in their sports day?
Do you think you can cut deal with God that time stands still for you holding off anything important until you are ready to participate again? Even if I won on what I was doing but I have to live with what I have lost. Guilty and in pain lifelong.
My work demanded me to completely focus on it. And the problem is when you focus on something truly important, something will always be underserved. Leaving somethings undone is a tradeoff for extra ordinary results.
My question to you this Sunday is what you are doing different. Or would have done different from what I did? Or what I did was the way it should be. Let’s converse. Mail me at me@sandeepmall.com
Eye sight and movement are the two most important blessings we have that not taken care of can make us dependent on others. Some of us have started doing things that will help in better movement but we are getting worse and worse towards eye care. There is no replacement for spending most of our wake up time looking at screen now. But if we can do our visual behaviour right we can handle it properly. Taking care of eye is of utmost importance for anything we do. Here are some protocols that can help.
1. Morning Walk – Spend 15 minutes outdoor in early part of the day when sun is still low in the sky. Don’t look directly in the sun. If you can’t see sunlight if there is a cloud cover spend some more time. If you can do it again during sunset that’s bonus.
2. Spend time outdoors – Give 2 hours every day outdoors getting that sunlight even if you are doing something else. This has a significant effect on reducing the probability that you will get myopia. This includes children also. Remember we have evolved spending time outdoors more than indoors.
3. View the Horizon – f you are someone who spends a lot of time on screen, which most of us these days do, after every 90 minutes of your zoom calls, open the window or get into the balcony and view the horizon for 20 minutes. Let your vision expand. You want the lens mechanism to be elastic and not stuck in looking up things up close. This will also help you maintain your mental system and stress also. Take a few physiological sighs. This relaxation of the lens is the best thing you can do for the musculature of the inner eye. Let your eyes relax.
4. Generate optic flow. Means you are moving and the visual image around you are passing by your eyes is good for the visual system. It’s also very good for the mood system. That’s why we go for long drives when mood is not right.
5. Look Up -When you feel tired looking at screen, it can be beneficial to your system, to actually look up towards the ceiling , pulling those pupils up, and looking 10-15 seconds. This will make you alert and wakeful. So eyes up will increase alertness. Positioning screen at eye level or keeping your cell phone up while using instead of chin down can substantially help you alter your work efficiency and alertness.
6. Sleep in dark room – Children who sleep with lights on, even dim lights are more likely to develop myopia. Conversely children who sleep in very dark room they have significantly lower probability of developing myopia. Try to sleep in complete dark atmosphere.
Last year read an interesting book Exercised by Daniel Lieberman. Fascinating book and highly recommend. Our ancestors never exercised but were physically more active than we are today. Through physically active tasks like hunting, foraging and other tasks for survival, they were reasonably strong and had great endurance. If u look at their health span graph graphs vs modern day and assuming they did die of infection or as an infant for killed by wild animal, our ancestors lived a long life with high functional capacity.
They lived many more years as active, functional & physically capable humans than we do today. While the modern world is not set up to replicate that lifestyles, we can substitute similar activity with exercise. The right kind & in the right dose will set us up for a long active life.
Lifespan
Three strength workouts a week, few moderate intensity cardio and small dose of HIIT( for those who are capable, not everyone). The writer does not mention this but I will add mobility one day to it. Many scientific research and my own experience also recognise this as best method.
HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING
Coming to HIIT, body weight few jumps and burpees is not HIIT. HIIT is “repeated bouts of high intensity work interspersed with periods of passive or active rest.” In the context of HIIT and the science that underpins it, high intensity means “above 90% VO2 max.” To qualify as an effective HIIT session, you need to accumulate around 10 minutes of work at VO2 Max. That doesn’t mean the workout needs to only be 10 minutes long, it’s more like 20-30 to accumulate 10 minutes of true ‘red zone’ VO2 maximum intensity work.
Bodyweight exercises, no matter how “hard” they feel and how out of breath they may leave you, will not hit this intensity of effort. Not even close. The best way to do HIIT can be by running, spinning, rowing etc. Your heart graph will be something like this:
Circadian rhythms are biological processes or ‘clocks’ that exist in each one of our cells. Programmed to turn genes on or off at different times of the day or night, they influence every aspect of our health from weight and energy levels through to resistance to disease and infection, and how well we sleep. Now, in The Circadian Code, these fascinating findings are revealed, showing that the timings of our day (when we eat, sleep, exercise, work) are crucial. Dr Panda introduces specific easy-to-action advice for all ages and lifestyles, providing concrete plans to enhance weight loss, improve sleep, optimise exercise, manage technology and even prevent or reverse diseases such as diabetes and dementia. Whether you are a shift worker, a frustrated dieter, someone suffering from sleep problems or chronic illness, whatever your health concern, The Circadian Code is the key to unlocking your health.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Panda is the leading expert in the field of circadian rhythm research. He is Associate Professor in the Regulatory Lab at the SalkInstitute, a Pew Scholar and a recipient of the Dana Foundation Award in Brain and Immune System Imaging.
