Hello and welcome to 4-Minute Friday where I share, in four minutes or less, the latest things I’m doing to enhance my health, develop a better mindset, make day-to-day life easier, and other shenanigans.
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Most Underrated Sleep Hack:
Many of us struggle to get a quality night of rest whether that be intermittently or a nightly tossing and turning battle.
Consequently, there have been mounds of information and insights considered in the last several years to help people get those necessary and ultimately life-changing 7+ hours of slumber.
Which is great.
A regular sleep schedule, cool and quiet bedroom environment, avoiding afternoon caffeine, tapering liquid and food consumption in the back half of the day, avoiding alcohol, and certain supplementation strategies all are incredibly valuable.
Yet with that being said, there’s one cost-free strategy that I don’t think is discussed enough.
Interestingly, it’s also the most basic and tangibly obvious.
Get tired during the day.
We’ve all experienced the heavy eyelids and near inability to stay awake on the couch after a long day working in the yard, fighting the ocean waves on vacation, or competing in a weekend sports event.
We’ve wore ourselves out to the point where the body is demanding that we rest and recover.
This doesn’t mean you should go out and work yourself to absolute exhaustion on a consistent basis, that isn’t feasible.
But it does highlight the idea that doing both physically and mentally challenging tasks during the day puts us in a demand for sleep that can counteract those times of insomnia which arise for a variety of reasons.
TLDR: Earn the right to sleep like a baby.
Be in the 2%:
I stumbled upon a statistic last week that seemed like fake news on the surface but after a week of closer observation, I co-sign that it’s dead accurate.
It typically takes an overwhelming amount of effort (and sometimes luck) to reside in the top percentile of most categories. Consider yearly earnings, marathon times, and Taylor Swift listener minutes on Spotify – these all are hard feats to crack into the top 2%.
But this new statistic reveals the bar is actually quite low when it comes to residing in the upper echelon of one health-promoting habit.
Taking the stairs.
Want to automatically solidify yourself as a top 2-percenter? Opt to take the stairs rather than hop on the elevator or escalator.
Sure, it might seem trivial but let’s maintain a long-term outlook.
Say you take 3 flights of stairs each day at work rather than using the elevator.
That’s roughly 260 stair steps per week.
Over 10,000 each year.
And more than 300,000 stair steps over the course of a 30-year career.
One would be fool to think this doesn’t move the needle.
Subtle Hack to Reach That Protein Goal:
Circling back on the latest and greatest health craze of the 2020s.
Protein intake.
All the people are taking about logging a certain number of grams of protein per day (putting it into their calorie tracker, of course) and the meals in which this is made easy.
The one shortcoming I’ve observed is that many have a hard time consuming 4-8 ounces of lean meat per meal.
Which is when subtle protein add-ons can be so useful.
There are three I personally find helpful.
Include a side of cottage cheese. Pair with a glass of milk. Add an egg or two.
I understand it may sound crazy.
But a side-dish of cottage cheese boasts more than 10 grams of protein, a glass of milk is super easy to consume and offers 8+ grams and in my opinion, eggs go with everything (just ask my roommates) and provide 6 grams each.
Just offering my 2 cents.
What else?
Summer is ever on the doorstep! If you, a friend, or family member is looking to get started on a personal training program prior to dusting off the bathing suit, shoot me an email for a free consult!
Free and 100% reliable sleep supplement: exhaustion.
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DISCLAIMER
This is NOT Medical advice. Consult your medical professional before starting any supplement, diet regimen, or workout program.
Great tips! Thanks, Zach!