The Four Cornerstones of a Healthy Life

There's an endless curriculum of information out there on leading a healthy life, something we have been giving advice to each other on since humanity first evolved, no doubt. However, I believe this whole business can be boiled down into Four Cornerstones to a fit and healthy life:

• Sleep.

• Diet.

• Exercise.

• Spirituality.

(Healthy in this case means staying both physically and mentally healthy.)

If you can even semi-consistenty hit all four of these habits successfully, you'll be doing better than 99% of the population. Let's explore the Cornerstones individually.

Sleep

I think this is the most underappreciated part of staying healthy. Most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per day, but this amount can vary significantly between individuals. Most people have a good idea of how much sleep they need - but we lead busy lives and a lot of people (especially parents with full-time jobs) find it very difficult to get enough sleep.

When you have a period of time off work, you'll find out how much sleep you really need if you sleep without an alarm for several nights. In normal life (outside of a holiday), the only way to consistently get the sleep you need is to be disciplined (a skill that you'll need to conquer the other Cornerstones of a healthy life). Don't get distracted by TV, social media or by doomscrolling on your phone. Cut out all screens in the 90 minutes before bed, and learn to unwind by reading before bed. And go to bed early enough so you can get the hours of sleep you need. If you follow this, your sleep quality will profoundly improve - and you'll feel like you've got superpowers in the morning.

Diet

There is a a huge amount of information available on dieting and the 'healthiest' diet. I'm not going to pretend to offer a 'one diet fits all' solution. I'm not sure there is one - we all have different taste preferences, different cultural cuisine preferences, different allergies. However, I can offer some general advice.

Learn to cook delicious, resturant quality food at home. Anyone can cook, it just requires investing time in the recipe - anyone can follow a recipe - and a bit of money making sure your kitchen has good quality cookware (but not necessarily anything fancy). Do this consistently and you'll find yourself eating much tastier food and saving a ton of money by not eating out. Just make sure you include a good amount of fruits and vegetables in your diet, with occasional 'luxuary' foods like fish and meat. I'm an omnivore but I'm not a strong advocate of filling your diet with meat - the NHS suggests that eating too much red meat can increase your risk of bowl cancer. They suggest cutting daily intake of meat down to 70g per day (which really isn't very much), while eating two potions of fish (and one of oily fish) per week.

I wouldn't worry too much about what you eat if you cook all of your own meals. As long as it's a varied diet, it will probably contain most of the foods you need to stay healthy. Remove as much processed food as possible - both savoury and sweet (personally I struggle with sweet foods like chocolate and biscuits), but if you're exercising reasonably too, then I think it's okay to have some 'cheat foods' like chocolate or pizza occasionally.

Exercise

We all know it's health benefits but few people have the discipline to exercise regularly. You should aim to exercise vigorously 3-5 times per week, with roughly an equal split between cardio and strength training (more on the ideal exercise ratio in a future blog). The amount of 'intentional' exercise you do should depend on your general lifestyle - if you're an office-based worker then you should aim for the upper end (five sessions per week). If you have an active profession then you can get away with fewer intentional exercise sessions.

'Vigorous exercise' to me means exercise where you can feel your heart beating in your chest and are having to draw deep breaths for an extended period. It doesn't really matter what you do, so long as your body can get some form of cardio and weight exercise every week. And as much as possible, this should be combined with an active lifestyle outside of the gym - walking, cycling, hiking etc. Whatever floats your boat. Once again, exercising consistently and vigorously requires discipline and planning - make it a priorty in your day and turn it into a habit.

Spirituality

This Cornerstone builds your mental health. Find something that grounds you spirituality - something that calms the mind and settles the nerves - and practise it regularly. There are many different forms of finding your inner peace - it could be listening to calming music, reading before bed each night (which I'd recommend anyway(!)), doing breathing exercises, going for walks in nature, or nurturing your religious spirit by going to a place of worship once a week.

Whatever you do to practise spirituality, if you do it regularly it will work synergistically with your physcial being. You will provide yourself with the inner drive to be a productive and successful person, who can be a badass - like leading a healthy lifestyle while being a good parent and holding down a job.

The Four Cornerstones positively imact one another. The more you practise them, the greater your skills will be (through discipline and planning), to continue practising them with greater intent. They will enhance your positivity, while turning you into a muscular and toned everyday athlete who feels stronger and fitter than ever before. Because you're sleeping better and have a healthier body, you'll be more productive and get so much more stuff done - both in and outside of work. Your work performance and self-confidence will improve dramatically, and you'll find yourself earning more money while spending less time doing it.

Ultimately, it's a win-win-win in every possible way. There are no negative benefits. You just have to find the time and discipline to do it.