Photo: Jeremy Avnet.

You want to create something amazing. Have an impact. Make a difference. One beautiful day at a time. You want to bring the right people into your life, but they seem to leave as fast as they arrive. You try so hard and seem to make little perceivable progress. You beat yourself up. In public. On your blog. Repeatedly.

You are one hot mess.

Why? Your head is full of strong, healthy weeds. And you haven’t done any heavy weeding in a long time. The flowers are sparse and anemic, you have little good soil to work with, and the weeds are so familiar that you forgot they are unwelcome. Some even look like trees. They crowd out good ideas, good opportunities, and good people that want to take root in your life. Instead of people coming into your life and growing in a pruned garden, they are faced with man-eating Venus Flytraps and thick tangling weeds. The soil is so toxic, they cannot grow and quickly leave.

My hope is to paint a picture of some of the nasty weeds that can grow in one’s life in order to jump start the weeding process. If you identify with any, and God knows I am speaking from experience, I want to encourage you and remind myself to be diligent in keeping our mental gardens hospitable to all who visit. To guard our gates wisely.

In doing so, we will not only have the freedom to create a beautiful life, inspiring art, and meaningful relationships, we will reduce the pain, stress, and sin in the world that is perpetuated by those without restraint or self-discipline.

Ridiculous Expectations

This weed tends to grow taller and taller over time. Nothing is ever good enough. Not even the latest cell phone that beams images across the globe in high-resolution color. Not even the multimillion dollar film that hundreds of talented people spent the greater part of a year producing so you could be entertained for two hours. Not even your significant other who despite putting up with your flaws never seems to be helpful enough, pretty enough, fast enough, clean enough, or tough enough.

We let our expectations grow unchecked for so long that things that should blow us away with gratitude only upset and frustrate us. “How dare these things not live up to my standard of excellence,” we say to our puffed up selves. Many times this weed can grow into the more insidious anger or pride.

Thankfully, this weed can be pulled by being mindful of it. Offended hearts can be replaced by thankful ones. Count your blessings, understand the world is not created to serve you, and see people and things for what they are — broken and man-made.

Grudges

This weed grows deeper roots by the minute. It starts with resentment toward someone for something they did or didn’t do to you or your posse. It likes to grow next to ridiculous expectations and low-self esteem. It wishes ill will on others and can grow into hatred. Many times, you purposely do not verify the source of your information — which is usually not the person you are holding the grudge against — because this weed thrives on ignorance and lies. It can also do a number on your health.

There’s only one solution for killing this weed. Go straight to the person you want to hold the grudge against and ask for forgiveness. In person or over the phone. Yes, even if you are justified in your mind. The quicker you can do this the better. And do not take the easy way out and use email or text. But be warned. The battle that will rage in your heart and mind will be epic. Spiritual even. You will need massive shears to cut this out of your life.

Don’t worry, your gardening skills will be enormously stronger the next time a grudge starts growing. Regular grudge checks are recommended.

Untamed Ego

There’s nothing quite as suffocating as talking to someone, or rather listening to him blab, about how wonderful he is et cetera et cetera. Remember, people do not care about you until they know you care and actually ask you to share. Otherwise, silence is your friend.

I genuinely think our culture today has groomed us to stroke our own egos because every message is geared around me me me. It’s natural that this weed could grow into our mind as an extension of the conversation brands have with us. Since companies talk about how great their products will make you, you naturally want to share how acquiring these items have made you so much cooler than everyone else. You start to believe through customized advertising that the world was indeed created just for you.

And a special note to bosses. Your employees cannot walk out like everyone else. They must suffer through your embarrassing monologues. Anyone else would be taking the nearest exit.

The best way to get rid of this weed is to go into every conversation with the thought that you will let the other person talk first. Asking three or more questions about the other person helps you keep the focus off you long enough to kill any hopes you may have of dominating the conversation with your latest product, project, success, gift, experience, vacation, car, widget, book, film, CD, oh-my-dear-please-shut-up production.

Desperation

The stench of this weed can be sensed immediately. You want a relationship, or a job, or a project, or a shot. You are trying way too hard. You are in all out panic mode. You may even have all the skills and talent required but you are blinded by this opportunity as if nothing else will ever come along. The brown-nosing abounds while you are pitied by those around you. And you still end up with nothing.

The herbicide for this weed is the idea of abundance. You have to accept the fact that we live in a huge world that is better connected now than ever before in history. There are more opportunities, jobs, guys, girls, clients, gigs, or partners than you can realistically engage in your lifetime. You must relax, detach yourself from the outcomes of any particular one, and be confident others will come.

Excuses

This weed pops up everywhere something hard presents itself in your mind. Especially when you try to step out and do something creative. Steven Pressfield calls it Resistance. You attempt to create something great, only to watch this weed grow right in its place and cry for food. If you feed it with logic or justifications you will find yourself creating nothing. All of a sudden, you have plenty of gorgeous excuses and nothing of real substance.

Your mind will play tricks on you with this weed if you don’t kill it with action. So the formula to beat this one is simple yet powerful. Act.

Skeletons

Past baggage. Past hurt. Past junk. The keyword is past. These weeds should have been plucked years ago but grow as fresh as the day they were planted each time you mention them. They somehow find their way into every conversation you have. You give life to them every time you focus your thoughts on them. You empower them to grow into your present and choke you.

The antidote to kill these weeds will take you on a difficult journey. Maybe even counseling. They have thick trunks and resemble trees instead of weeds. They may have old axe markings at the bottom of them where you did some work in the past but never quite killed them.

Ignoring the fact that you need to deal with them directly, face them, and stop feeding them only prolongs the pain and poisons the soil in your life further. If you decide to do the heavy weeding in this area of your mental garden, the sunlight that will pour into your garden will give you the momentum you need to accurately see and deal with many other weeds and take you to a place of health, abundance, and clarity.

…

We’re all broken, hurt, and struggling with mental weeds in some area of our minds. But it does not have to remain that way. Feel free to add any others that I have missed and how you beat them.

Photo: Cia de Foto.

“doveriai, no proveriai” {Trust, but verify.}
—Russian proverb

We trust entirely too easily. And it’s damaging our health. Let alone our bank accounts, our children, and our lives. We are so oblivious to the depth of our trust in things undeserving that the mere thought of questioning them sends us immediately into denial. To admit our naivety or irresponsibility is unthinkable. We rest in the wisdom of the herd; let the consequences be damned. We prefer to slide through life and not rock the boat rather than have to deal with the truth. I hope if you are reading this, you’re a rocker not a roller.

Outside of our family and circle of friends, we trust complete strangers all the way up to companies, organizations, and entire industries. Our American currency even states, “In God We Trust,” which makes the most sense to me since God is perfect and not flawed by greed, fear, lobbying, ignorance, or convenience. If you are going to put your trust somewhere, God is your best bet. People, let alone groups of people, are who you have to watch.

Not everyone or everything is trustworthy. In the United States, one is innocent until proven guilty. This idea usually lends itself to one being trustworthy until proven untrustworthy. There’s just one problem with that. People at their core are sinful. They are not perfect. They make bad choices. They are not inherently trustworthy. Companies are only as honest as their top executive. People need managers for a reason. So in reality, trust those who have proven trustworthy, but verify the important things.

I want to mention a few dangerous things we have grown to believe and the people behind them we trust. They could be doctors, our family members, or the media. My hope is that when it comes to something important in your life, like what you put in or on your body, you will be careful who you trust.

Sugar Is Not That Bad

If you are serious about your health or want to take out a contender for what is ailing you, start here. We grew up with sugar being in everything, and we trust that we can continue consuming it and all its chemical cousins without much negative impact on our health. Wrong. We are suckers. And you know what they put in suckers. I don’t care if you are Suzanne Somers or Whole Foods. Organic or natural labels do not make it any more trustworthy. And yes, organic fruit still has sugar, and too much can hurt you. Need proof with the medical research to back it up? Good, that’s encouraging. Here are 76 reasons to eliminate it from your diet according to the book, Lick the Sugar Habit Sugar Counter: Discover the Hidden Sugar in Your Food by Nancy Appleton.

Avoid All Fat

True fat does not make you fat. It’s one of the most healthy foods you can eat. Your brain depends on it. I’m talking old fashioned butter, bacon, and eggs folks. The way grandma used to make them. There’s a reason she lived to a hundred eating this supposedly artery-clogging fat. Cholesterol is your friend. We have been told our entire lives to avoid fat — to our detriment. “But it’s common sense,” you say, “Everyone knows you avoid sugar and fat if you want to be healthy.” So our answer is drinking sugar substitutes and avoiding an essential food? It’s a recipe for disaster. You will want to read the entire article on fat found at The Weston A. Price Foundation’s website for the history of how we bought the lie, how to eat fat, and the various benefits of the different fats. Of course, it also tells you which fats and oils man has totally messed up that you should immediately avoid. As in, raid your refrigerator today.

You should also read two perspectives on cholesterol from Dr. Uffe Ravnskov and Dr. Ron Rosedale, as interviewed by one of my favorite doctors, Dr. Mercola, who sits on the board of The Weston A. Price Foundation and seeks out the brightest doctors in their fields of research concerning each area of health.

Medical Studies Are Trustworthy

Finally, I want to make one more point on verification. Before you trust the next media story about some medical study that proves that organic cane sugar is healthier than high-fructose corn syrup or saturated fat causes heart disease, check the study’s sponsor. If it is Willy Wonka or some pharmaceutical company sponsoring a study through a university, don’t you think they are biased? Do you really feel confident placing your trust in a study that could have easily been created to find what the company wanted to find and nothing else? I have read plenty of abstracts on these studies that do not quite sum up the research. At all. One New England Journal of Medicine study found that 24 percent of the studies they researched allowed their sponsor to insert its own statistical analyses!

If you want to do some of your own sleuthing, I wonder who was behind this recent BBC News story on the benefits of coffee? Oh wait, they failed to link to the actual studies mentioned. I wonder why.

Trust at your own risk. Verify what you believe. If the boat needs rocking, don’t be afraid to ask hard questions. You are the only one in charge of your health.

Photo: Ansel Adams.

As you reflect on the year ahead, you are bound to think about the things that matter to you above everything else. Your priorities. Sure, you may set goals or resolutions. You may even be struggling just to stay afloat. But the things that hold the most value to you will always trump these. No matter what, I hope you include your health as one of your top priorities this year. Your other priorities depend on it.

You may have nodded and said, “Got it. Losing weight is my top priority this year!” That’s great, but that’s not a priority.

When I think priorities, I am thinking about my relationships, my health, my finances, my work, my home. At any given moment, I am deciding what takes priority in my life. Do I catch this really funny show on television or call my friend to go running? I am juggling something that is entertainment, which is cool yet not even on my top five list, and my health, which comes in at number two. And if I choose wisely, I am also building a better relationship and having fun too. I believe they call that a twofer.

What happens when my priorities are out of whack? The television show wins out, and I rationalize why until I feel better. I had a long day and need a break. I’m too tired to run. I’ll run first thing tomorrow to make it up. I’ve been doing really good lately. This show is too good to pass up. Besides, comedy keeps my sanity. And that’s a top priority!

The reality is that by doing this, I just put myself — my health — lower than entertainment on my priority list. How does this play itself out in our world today? How many stimulating messages are thrown at us all day that appeal to our pleasure? Messages that promise that we will feel better permeate our minds constantly and try to win our time and money. News flash. They are short lived. Our health stays with us much much longer. If we continue to put ourselves low on the priority list, sure we’ll be smiling and having fun but we’ll be smiling all the way to the doctor. There is a time and a place for all things, and the wise will make sure first things stay first.

Losing weight is a means to an end, not the end in and of itself. While it can be a great goal, it’s a poor priority because it doesn’t last. What happens when you start damaging your body by losing too much weight? What happens when you are losing weight for the wrong reasons? What happens when you are so obsessed with losing weight that you realize it has taken over every spare thought in your mind? What happens when you lose weight only to realize you are still not healthy?

You are the priority! Your health is the priority. Losing weight naturally happens as a result of this powerful shift in your priorities. You don’t have to check the scale every day. If you are consistently making yourself a priority, you have the right attitude, and you are willing to be a student of your health, you can be confident the weight will take care of itself. You cannot think as clearly, function as well, decide as wisely, or relax as fully as when you are in total health. Your future depends on this priority being at or near the top of your list.

I laugh when I hear the phrase, “Nobody ever says at the end of his life, ‘I wish I worked more.’” Yeah. What they say is, “I wish I worked out more, because being in this bloody hospital bed bites!”

If you could meet yourself 30 years from now, while you probably wouldn’t tell yourself to work more or even work out more, you certainly would urge yourself to take care of your priorities. Love more. Forgive more. Take care of yourself. Give your all.

I didn’t hear lose more weight or watch more television. The larger mindset you must have to lose weight allows you to reach that specific goal much more efficiently and naturally. You are the only one given your body and tasked with taking care of it. Make it a priority! You are extremely worth it.

Be viciously protective of yourself. Schedule time on your calendar for yourself. Book yourself. Say no. No-o-o-o. Own no. Be friends with no. Take no out on a date. Anyone with self respect will not fault you for it. In fact, people will admire your rare commitment to yourself and your health. They may even be jealous. Why? Because average people are slaves to the next short-lived thrill. They are so stimulated and busy doing nothing, doing something truly beneficial and essential is beyond them.

Is there a specific one-size-fits-all weight that we should all strive to attain? No. So where did your magic number you are looking for every day on your scale come from? Does everyone have the same priorities? No. So why are you comparing yourself to your neighbor who constantly chooses poorly? Should you be among your top priorities? Absolutely. So get on it. I think you know the alternative.

Photo: Marina.

The first thing we do when we decide to get in shape is to start running or working out hard. The harder and longer we work out, we reason, the more weight we will lose and bam! Case closed! Eventually, we either tire out and make up excuses for why we cannot keep up such a crazy routine, or we do that routine for months and months and get no where. Let’s take a closer look at the roadblocks holding us back.

Notice we must first decide to get in shape. This is critical. Deciding is thinking. Thinking begets doing. Doing begets results. Results are what we want. But without the proper thinking, without the proper way of thinking — attitude — we will not get the kind of results we want. Sure, we burn off some of the calories we ate that day but it’s what we tell ourselves later that sabotages any of those positive steps. See if you have any of the following attitudes toward getting in shape.

1) I can’t.

Now let’s stop right there. “I never say that to myself,” you may say. But do you think it? How many times have you walked past a magazine rack, looked at all those toned-up rock-solid models and just thought, “Must be nice. I can’t look like that.”? What I am about to say next will evoke this same exact attitude I am taking about. You can!

2) Diets don’t work for me.

You may have tried more diets than you’re willing to admit. You abhor them. Some may have even worked. But you didn’t understand why they worked. You didn’t incorporate them into your lifestyle. Each one was a project: Get in shape. Check. When you decided one wasn’t working, which was probably around the time you started telling yourself, “I can’t,” you stopped and went back to … what wasn’t working. Your doing followed your attitude. The reality is, unless you determine that a positive attitude should be a part of your life, making positive progress is extremely difficult. The right diet can work for you. A “diet” works for me. I call it eating.

Staying healthy is a lifestyle. A philosophy. An approach to life. In other words, it’s sustainable over the long term. It’s not a fad. A great diet of natural food without much human processing is a small part of that lifestyle. Training your body physically in the proper way is another part of that lifestyle. Proper sleep, low stress, relational health, spiritual health, all play a part. Diet doesn’t adequately describe the sum total of the habits and thinking that get you to your best. It’s one of the reasons they so often fail.

If the word “diet” makes you uneasy (and there are a lot of diets to feel uneasy about), forget it. Change the way you think about it. “I am not going on a diet. I am making better choices about what goes into my body.” You don’t even have to tell anyone you are doing it. Just do it. It will be our little secret. If you get flack from friends and family, that’s their problem. Not yours. One useful phrase my wife uses to deflect comments about diet, since in her experience people cannot handle the idea you are actually trying to better yourself, is “I’m detoxing right now.” It has less drama tied to it and sounds less threatening to people.

The next time you are at a birthday party and someone hands you a piece of cake that you just have to eat (says who?), keep passing and smiling. If someone gives you the what for, just politely decline. No reasons. Keep smiling. Only party poopers will press you any further. Or how about this? The next time your office refills the candy jar, put it out of your view and find a buddy to hold you accountable to not chowing down on it all day. Good choices. Better eating. No diet.

3) My genetics won’t allow me.

This one is hard. What you are really telling yourself here is that being out of shape is “not my fault.” If the responsibility is not yours, you become the victim. And we all feel sorry for victims, including ourselves. Depressing thoughts lead to a downward spiral of defeated thinking. Defeated thinking leads to defeated living. Genetics is the excuse that excuses our negative attitudes and behavior. No guilt but no power.

Certainly we cannot change the way we were born, we reason. We just happen to be genetically destined for obesity. In rare cases, this is true. In your case? Highly unlikely. Some try to blame hypothyroidism, the most common form of thyroid disease. One symptom is a tendency to gain weight. There are over twelve more; you’ll know something is wrong. If you don’t have a doctor’s slip, let’s rule that out.

Another defeated thinking phrase I hear a lot is “big boned.” This is street talk for the word endomorphic, which means you are naturally round and soft. There are two things I’ll say about this. One, if you are indeed an endomorph, why not be an in-shape healthy endomorph with toned muscles? Two, does someone of shorter stature try to become shorter when they cannot become taller? Neither should an endomorph decide to get rounder and softer. Remember, being healthy is not just about looks, it’s about attitude and actually being healthy! I’ve known some very athletic endomorphs blow right past me in basketball. In other words, they didn’t let this negative attitude about their genetics stop them from being their best!

4) Big is beautiful.

This attitude takes an unhealthy extreme and turns it into something divine. With this attitude, being obese means being desirable and sexy. The fashion world has entire clothing lines for plus-sized women, and plus-sized models are a sought after group. Whether this idea was born out of a mindset of futility or out of a boardroom seeing dollar signs, I don’t know. But I can guess. What I do know is that if you are choosing this attitude to cope with or excuse your weight, I am deeply concerned about your health. We weren’t meant to tax our bodies this way, and if you threw some of that swagger and confidence behind the true beauty of your heart, you would find all the strength you need to reflect it in your body.

5) I don’t care.

By the time you get to this attitude, you know losing weight is hard. Apathy wipes its hands clean of responsibility as well. The truth is, you do care. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t take care of your body in the most basic ways. You wouldn’t eat, sleep, shower, or clothe yourself. You would neglect yourself entirely.

When something gets too difficult for us to handle, we sometimes give up. The moment we give up, however, is the moment we fail. If you never stop trying, you never fail because setbacks only make you stronger with the right attitude. They allow you to do better next time. By giving up and copping this attitude, we try to cover the fact that we even cared in the first place enough to try to change. We want to be admired for being so confident in who we are weight and all. The only problem with this is, if you ever do decide to do something about your weight, you have painted yourself into a corner. All those supposed admirers out there who applauded your lack of care now realize your were a fraud the entire time. On the other hand, if you hold to not caring your whole life to save face, you may be forced to care about complications that arise from your weight. And who admires that?

You know what I admire? I admire anyone overweight or obese working out in the gym. Stepping one foot in there among all those staying in top shape is a huge feat in and of itself. Wow. Bottom line? Care. It’s more authentic.

6) I don’t have the time or money.

When people tell me they don’t have time to talk to me or money to spare on me, I get one message — I am not important. A close friend to the “I don’t care” attitude, this attitude puts other goals ahead of losing weight and building the foundation you need to become your best. Let’s put this one in perspective. We’ll start with time.

This one is true. You don’t have the time. Research shows clearly that those who are overweight do not live as long as those in shape. You better get to whatever it is with a higher priority. Fast. The only catch is, by the time you achieve it, you will most likely be suffering from the effects of being overweight, and the entire time you will have been operating at less than peak performance. That doesn’t sound like a good position to me.

Money. Really? Let’s do the math. Let’s say to eat great healthy food each week, it costs you roughly $100. And a gym membership costs $30 per month. For one year, that’s about $5,560 (52 weeks in a year times $100 + 12 months times $30). Now let’s say you tragically get diabetes from being overweight, as just one example. According to the American Diabetes Association, the annual cost of health care for people with diabetes in the United States in 2007 was $11,744. Diabetes wasn’t their only health concern apparently either, as the diabetes care alone was $6,649. This amount is still more than our figure, and it doesn’t even come close to one visit for a possible heart surgery or cancer treatment later on in life.

What you really don’t have the time or money for is to wait any longer to get in shape!

7) I am doing everything already.

“Yes, I run five miles every day. I eat salads for every meal. I lift weights three times a week,” you say, “And look at me. Nothing changes!”

These facts are so positive! When this attitude shows up, you are almost there. You are so close. You have decided in your heart to make a change. You have disciplined yourself. You have committed to doing what is hard. You have kept at it. Now you need to tweak your plan. Sometimes by a lot; sometimes by a little. To get rid of this attitude is to become a student. Once you regain a teachable spirit, you will find out why nothing is changing. You will seek to go deeper. This positive attitude will then not only serve you in attaining your goals physically, but it will also allow you to conquer other areas that are holding you back from being your best.

It is part of the cure to wish to be cured.
–Seneca

I can.

I am making better choices for my body.
I can.
I am responsible for my attitude.
I can.
I am responsible for my health.
I can.
I care about my body and all aspects of my life.
I can.
I do have the time and money.
I can.
I am doing a lot right.
I can.
I am learning.
I can.
I can be my best ever!
I forgive myself when I mess up.
I give myself permission to think beyond my small thinking into a whole new realm of possibilities.

I CAN!

Photo: lepiaf.geo.

I talk to people everyday who are concerned about their health. Maybe even worse. They are overweight, sick, and tired. And sick and tired of the misinformation that is out there in traditional western medicine and pop culture. For the last 3 years, I have been reading everything I can get my hands on about health, and the deeper I get, the more contradictory the information I find. It’s enough to make you dizzy, then very upset. After many of my friends and family saw my concern for those struggling to get in shape, or stay healthy in general, they encouraged me to write about it. Here is an excerpt from an email I received last year:

I was wondering if you had some time to give me some health and fitness pointers … I’m at a standstill in my work outs and weight loss and am so frustrated! I feel like I’m never going to get this weight off and it’s SO discouraging.

Talk about heart-wrenching! I have a heart for helping people achieve their best in life, and you certainly need a healthy body as step one. Sadly, health is easy in theory but rocket science in practice for most people. Just look around in public today. Millions strive to make more money, find their soul mate, rise in their careers, or get famous in bodies that simply hold them back.

Physiological needs – breathing, drinking, eating, and excreting – are on level one of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Food is foundational. Building a successful life on a poor foundation is foolish. Somewhere between not wanting to eat our broccoli growing up and feeling like junk today, we forgot our Nazi passion to stop all flying forks containing anything foul from landing in our mouths! Hrmph! We are simply letting too much garbage into our bodies. We need to bring back that passion from childhood to combat the unhealthy foods we eat today. The question then is, what is unhealthy?

Do doctors have the answer? I work with doctors all the time, and while some of them truly want to heal us, many just want us to feel better, which mainly means their goal is to cure the symptoms, not necessarily the root cause of the disease or ailment. Since we are very impatient people and our bodies usually take a longer period of time to heal or recover than we desire, doctors have resorted to chemicals (pills) that unnaturally speed up the process or affect the body to reduce the symptoms. It also emotionally feels better to get a magic pill and start to see results immediately. Our bodies rarely work this fast on their own.

Once you realize that doctors mainly focus on symptoms, you conclude that you are the only one in charge of finding the root causes and the true cures. You can then use doctors’ knowledge about the body and how it reacts to certain foods and environmental conditions to your advantage, for your unique body.

Now, since many times, we are fed false information and damage our bodies unknowingly over long periods of time, we may be left with doing our best to live with the results of that. We may also have been born with or predisposed to certain conditions that we must learn how to handle properly. Doctors can usually help us with these conditions amazingly. The key is to know that our habits and lifestyles are not what doctors are trained to treat. They cannot help us there. Regardless of our circumstance, we can choose to be the best we can possibly be with what we have been given. We’re not here long, so let’s make it count.

As you read articles you find online to educate yourselves, keep in mind that some may be selling something (which could be good or bad), some may be sharing experiences that pertain only to their body type or make-up, or some may be swept up in a craze and taking sides they know nothing about.

On another front, doctors who are prescribing you medication are also selling their services, they are being influenced (positively and negatively) by the medical industry, and they rarely do their own in-depth research on the drugs they give their patients. If it works for the majority of their patients, and the pharmaceutical research looks good, they use it.

One tool I use to keep my perspective and see both sides of controversial websites, people, and issues that are rampant in the area of health, especially in a country where there is a lot of money influencing the lawmakers and mainstream media a certain way, is Quackwatch. I also look for non-profits that aim to give non-biased information on health like The Weston A. Price Foundation and the Environmental Working Group.

Photo: Toni Frissell.

Why do we tout the benefits of everyone else sleeping and then burn the midnight oil? Do you ever tell yourself after the fifth time you read the same line that you really need to get more sleep? Keep re-reading this. You’ll wake up in a second.

We charge our phones. We charge our batteries. We charge our credit cards. Soon, we will charge our cars, our houses, and our boats. Then we will re-charge them. After that, we may consider charging ourselves by getting the proper amount of sleep each night, but most likely we will cut corners and go to bed late and wake up early for work. On the rare occasion it’s a non-work day, something somewhere will decide to wake us up anyway — like the guy upstairs who went on vacation and left his alarm to beep into infinity on a Saturday morning — so sleep is a precious commodity we never seem to fully grasp.

Have you ever charged your cell phone half way, and then had to use it? And later, after doing that a few times, you realize the battery quickly dies on you after you just charged it up all the way? Our bodies are the same way. Cut corners and see if your body forgets and runs like normal. Your body remembers. And it usually gets what it wants, whether you are at work or right in the middle of listening to your special someone share something really really …

I consider sleep a foundational pillar of good health. If you have no time to sleep, you will have plenty of other problems to keep you busy while you are awake. How much sleep? My recommendation is anywhere from seven to eight hours, but in reality, it’s when you can wake up without an alarm clock for one week in a row. That’s when I know I am getting the proper amount of sleep. There are plenty of articles on the Web that list all the things you can do to sleep better. The main point is to make sleep a priority if you want to get in the best shape of your life.

During sleep, your body repairs itself, heals itself, and prepares you for the next day. When you disrupt this process, it disrupts you. You start the next day half charged and run out of power faster. Skip a few nights of a full charge and you crash into the weekend. Skip a few weeks of quality sleep and you start slowing down and needing that coffee, tea, or pick-me-up to stay at the same level. Skip a few months or more, and you have a serious problem even getting good sleep in the first place. You may even forget how to sleep well. Needless to say, with all the potential pitfalls that could be adding to your physical, mental, or emotional speed bumps, sleep is usually the last thing we think to address.

“It has to be my diet,” we say. “Or maybe I am not working out enough. No, it’s all the medications I am taking.” Between the All-American lifestyle of high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, white flour, NutraSweet, grain-fed beef, coffee, high stress, relational drama, and birth-control pills, it’s no wonder our bodies choke and sputter along, just trying to survive, let alone sleep.

It takes some determination and priority setting, but if you want to start making serious progress toward health and your best, do two things:

1. Choose a time every night to go to bed. This means your head is on the pillow with the lights out. If you like to read before bed or you take an hour to prepare, adjust accordingly so that each night at the exact minute, your head is on the pillow with the lights out.
2. Start with eight hours of sleep and set your alarm clock to wake you.

Try to do this night in and night out for a month. When you finally do catch up on your sleep, you will find out how much your specific body needs. For some it may be eight hours. For others much less. For me, it’s seven and a half hours. At that amount of time, my body naturally wakes up. No alarm clock. No annoying mind-numbing beeping that starts my day off wishing I had a sledge hammer and an alarm clock that feels pain. I just peacefully wake up. It’s magical and highly recommended.

Once you can start building off this pillar of health called sleep, you can start to tackle more complex issues like what you are breathing and what’s in your water. We’ll leave that for another day. Until then, happy zzz’s.