Although 2023 was a huge year of growth for me, I do believe there’s always room for improvement. Last year’s priorities was to use habits to build a solid foundation in areas of health, education and finances (which is what I touched on in my previous post). Now that I’m happy with where I’m at in those areas, there’s smaller habits that I believe can build on top of these.
No. 1 Reading
I’ve always been a big fan of reading ever since I was young, although as I got older I began to drift away from it. During my senior years of high school and my first year of university, I usually found myself unbothered to do voluntary reading as I was already doing so much whilst studying. The difference is that the stuff I read whilst studying is only ever in relation to my degree, which long term will become my career. The powerful thing about voluntary reading is that it’s such an accessible way to learn things outside of my career path that expands my knowledge into different areas I’m unfamiliar with. For example, I lacked knowledge of financial education since I didn’t learn it in high school, and my career path doesn’t align with it either. Therefore, what helped me most was researching a couple renowned books and taking notes on what I want to implement, this way, I’m setting myself up for other sources of income aside from the career path i’m studying or my current casual job. Reading also familiarises you with so many new words, and sharpens up the way you speak to others, which sets you apart.
No. 2 Decreased Phone Usage Before Bed
Before bed I enjoy going on my phone and relaxing before I sleep, although the more I looked into it, the more I realised that this actually does the opposite of “relaxing” your body. Phone usage, especially engagement with emotionally charged media content, is directly associated with higher likelihood of sleep difficulty, latency and displacement. The time between laying in bed, and actually closing your eyes to sleep, is referred to as ‘shuteye latency’. People are 9.3 times more likely to be rated as poor sleepers when they’re consistently going on their phone before bed for over an hour, and prolonging their shuteye latency. (Exelmans & Van den Bulck, 2017).
The cell phone blue light exposure replicates daylight, and right before bed can disrupt the body’s circadian rhythm, which “regulates cycles of alertness and sleepiness by responding to light changes in our environment” (Reddy et al., 2020). Subsequently reducing the body’s production of melatonin, which is the hormone in charge of your sleep-wake cycle. In turn, neurobiologically disrupting the homeostatic drive for sleep and human performance. Further, sleep deprivation and chronic sleep restriction coinsides sleepiness, cognitive speed, memory and metabolic regulation throughout the day (Goel et al., 2013).
I always thought the hype of “no phone an hour before bed” was more of a surface level issue, and was more for people that already struggle with sleeping, but the more i research about the topic the more I understand that it’s so beneficial to people even if they don’t struggle falling asleep. It is the active usage that disrupts your sleep due to brain stimulation, although passive usage such as listening to music is deemed okay. I find it useful to play calming music both before I sleep whilst reading, as well as once I put down the book.
No. 3 Meditating
This is another one that I simply was not bothered to do. I preferred going on my phone prior to bed as it gives instant gratification, although as we just established, it has a long term negative impact on your sleep cycle, and functioning throughout the day. I’ve implemented meditating into my pre-bedtime routine. Meditating triggers your body’s relaxation response.
Psychological stressors such as work, home and personal circumstances can activate the body’s stress response, which is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS consists of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) which initiates your “fight or flight” response. Contrastingly, also included in the ANS is your parasympathetic nervous system, which initiates your “rest and digest” response in the body. When the body is under a constant state of stress, your sympathetic nervous system is activated, which causes physiological affects on your body including the release of norepinephrine (or “adrenaline”), in turn, increasing your cortisol levels. Prolonged levels of cortisol in the body can lead to high blood pressure, inflammation, headaches, fatigue and weight gain.
This is why bringing your body to a state of relaxation is crucial, it activates your parasympathetic nervous system right before bed, reducing your heart rate, blood pressure, and promoting digestion. Meditation is one of the most effective ways to activate your PNS. It increases self-compassion, mindfulness, meta-cognition and activates the regions of your brain that regulate negative emotions (Pascoe et al., 2021b).
Therefore, my new bedtime ritual is taking magnesium, reading a few pages, and going into meditation right before I sleep.
No. 4 Mouth Taping
Breathing through your mouth when you sleep is often used as a second resort when there’s congestion such as sinus infections, tonsillitis, inflamed adenoids or a deviated septum. Although, for people like myself, I tend to breathe through my mouth even though I don’t suffer any of these conditions. The side effects of this include dry mouth, sore throats and even bad breath. Mid-way through 2023 I had to get my tonsils removed as I had chronic tonsillitis and was consistently waking up with a dry throat, which negatively affected the pliability of my throat and tonsils. The doctor told me that mouth breathing is linked to these affects, leading to tonsillectomy, alongside fixing my deviated septum to encourage nose breathing.
Unfortunately, even after recovery I was still mouth breathing, which led me to taping. I now wake up feeling so much more refreshed since nose breathing humidifies the air that you breathe in during the night, thus moisturising your throat. It also regulates the temperature of your breath and your nose hairs filter out any allergens (Cleveland Clinic, 2022).
No. 5 Pilates
I’ve noticed a current debate on whether pilates or weight training is better, although, I think that a combination of both is key. I’ve always been into weight lifting ever since I was 14, but in saying that, I did have a period of time last year that I was simply bored of it and needed a change. I experimented with reformer pilates for a couple months, but I felt like it didn’t quite satisfy me as much as weights did, it left me feeling like i could do more. I also lost a lot of my muscle mass, in turn decreasing my basal metabolic rate. I ditched pilates and began weight training alongside boxing, and I loved the combination as my training was less repetitive.
As this debate arose, I began looking into the effect of chronic inflammation from weights. Linking back to earlier, weight training can put your body into a state of stress from the sympathetic nervous system. This isn’t harmful to the body, in fact weight training is extremely beneficial. Although overtraining is what can cause chronic inflammation in the body, which is associated with weight gain, constant fatigue, gastrointestinal upset and frequent infections (Pahwa & Jialal, 2019). To avoid this, I’ve now replaced boxing with pilates. I believe weight lifting is essential as it builds the body’s main muscle groups, which in turn improves glucose metabolism, lowers blood pressure and increases bone density (just to name a few), so I still incorporate it into my weekly split three times a week. Alongside this, i’ve now substituted boxing for at-home mat pilates once a week. My main priority at the moment is being comfortable with the movements and building on my technique and flexibility. Once I’ve progressed with that I plan to do pilates twice a week.
Overall, I think that utilising weights for my main muscle groups has allowed me to boost my metabolism and basal metabolic rate (BMR), allowing me to enjoy a healthy and satiating diet, whilst also building my physique to how I desire. So far I’ve also loved doing pilates to incorporate variety, as well as building the deeper stabilising muscles of the body, and improving flexibility and posture.
No. 6 Quality Over Quantity – Ingredients Over Calories
Ever since I was young it’s always been a struggle for me to gain weight because of a fast metabolism, which is originally what got me into lifting weights. As I got older, I learnt how calories work for the body, and it put me into a poor relationship with food. This is a challenge i’m still in the process of overcoming, although I will say that this year I’ve really taken a shift away from viewing food as a number, but rather the ingredients inside them and how they’re going to have a positive impact on my body. Rather than always opting for the ‘lowest calorie option’ I prioritise foods that are less processed, and are more nutrient-dense.
No. 7 Writing More
Really the main purpose of this blog was to get me to continue writing more. I’ve tried getting into journalling, but I’d much rather write about stuff that also encourages me to learn new things. I use this to share my thoughts on certain topics, alongside researching the deeper meaning behind them. It’s just like a personal diary, where I log the stuff I get up to on a daily basis, and can use it to see how far I’ve come.
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