Health is a Spectrum

By
Lillian Khanna
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0
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By Lillian Khanna

November 1st kicked off the launch of a brand new summit here in Palm Beach County, Eudēmonia, a 3-day program that exists to help individuals create their own personal approaches to health and wellness by acknowledging the complexities of that pursuit and equipping attendees with the science-based tools needed to create a lifestyle best fit for them.

Eudēmonia’s curators had understood that “we exist in a complex, interdependent web of our individual behavior, relationships, and our environment” and it was evident by the heavy hitting lineup of speakers ranging from functional medicine specialists to renowned yoga instructors to neuroscientists.

Event headliner, Andrew Huberman Ph.D., is a decorated neuroscientist tenured professor in the department of neurobiology, and by courtesy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which earned him the titles of McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation Fellow and the Cogan Award, given to the scientist making the most significant discoveries in the study of vision, in 2017.

In case you missed Huberman’s incredibly palatable and well-rounded rundown on all things health and wellness, here are the new facts of science:

Look At Lifestyle Changes Through Three Lenses:

  1. Autonomic System Mastery:
  2. Optimize your sleep/wake cycle to enhance motivation.
  3. Ideal decision-making and cognitive function occur between 6-10 am.
  4. Circadian Biology:
  5. Support your circadian rhythm with exposure to natural light and regular exercise.
  6. Gut Health:
  7. A healthy gut is crucial for overall well-being. There is a direct relationship between your brain and your gut through your vagus nerve

Motivation Insights:

  • Motivation is a decision, not just a feeling.
  • Fear-based motivation is quick but unsustainable.
  • Love-based motivation is generative and long-lasting.

Exercise Recommendations:

  • Implement cardiovascular HIIT 2-3 times a week.
  • Include 3 short sprints per week (10-30 seconds each, 10 cycles total).
  • Combining with resistance training builds a better capacity for learning and improves mitochondrial function

Mind and Body Techniques:

  • Wim Hof Breathing:
    • Scientifically backed for enhancing well-being.
  • Maintaining Cognition as You Age (Super Agers):
    • Physical and mental challenges (doing things that take real motivation for you to do) help maintain or even grow the anterior mid cingulate cortex as you age
    • Engage in new activities annually, especially those that really challenge you to enjoy doing

Energy and Motivation:

  • Movement generates energy—don’t wait for it.
  • Manage dopamine levels primarily through sleep, gut health, caffeine (within reason)
  • Understand dopamine’s wave-like nature and manage the inevitable post-high dip. Think of dopamine circuitry as a wave pool, it’s depletable but renewable
  • Increased dopamine is always followed by a trough of domaine which you need to ride out
    • When you cannot ride it out, that is the behavioral sign of addiction.

Setting Stakes and Standards:

  • Setting higher stakes for yourself to engage more neurons but avoid setting them too high to prevent paralysis of your motor neurons.
  • You choke when you fixate on high rewards because you strain your nervous system to a point of analysis paralysis.
  • Set stakes high enough that it’s motivating but not so much that it’s paralyzing. When you set high standards (not goals) and you set them too high, you can’t even engage the motor neurons needed to complete the task.
  • Reduce the stakes, then increase your standards.
  • Consider trading 1-2 hours of sleep per week for exercise if necessary.

Supplement Suggestions:

  • If you had to take supplements, let these be the trifecta
    • Omega-3 (1.5g EPA per day)
    • Creatine (5-10g per day)
    • Probiotic

Light Management:

  • Dim lights at night and expose yourself to bright blue/yellow light in the morning.

Additional Insights:

  • Pregnancy induces brain changes in women, with lasting plasticity benefits.
  • Gut health can be prioritized by consuming fiber and 1-4 servings of low sugar fermented foods a day

Health is a spectrum. Implement what benefits you and avoid stress-inducing practices. The ideal lifestyle is the attainable one you have set for yourself that you wake up excited to implement every day.