The four pillars are relaxation, food, movement, and sleep.Many of us recognise the importance of food and movement, but sleep and relaxation are very much undervalued. A lot of people’s diet and movement aren’t too bad, and rather than trying to become perfect in those areas, or get a 5% improvement, they’re much better off if they focus on the other pillars.

Maintaining a healthy body: the four pillars

One thing all doctors can agree on with every diet is that we consume far too much sugar. You may think you’re good at avoiding sugar. Unfortunately, its normalized nature in our lives makes this hard to do. Our breakfast cereals, granola bars, sports drinks, and just about everything you love to eat is riddled with the stuff. To fight back, we each need to de-normalize sugar. This starts with knowing what’s in the foods you already eat. Check labels before you buy. Be careful to learn and watch out for the many different words that companies use to disguise sugar.

Less sugar

Most people who are having trouble with sleep are doing something in their everyday lives that’s affecting their ability to sleep.Make sure you have a period without tech  – ideally 90 minutes but as long as you can manage if not – before bed.

Sleep

There is no one-size-fits-all diet that will work for everyone. Instead, try to focus on general changes you can make, which include eating five portions of different vegetables every day and drinking eight glasses of water.

“We’re all familiar with the idea that lifestyle can be the cause of disease. What’s not common knowledge is that a change in lifestyle can also be the treatment and prevent us from getting sick in the first place.”

This is just a moment in the day when you press the pause button. Try starting with just two minutes of meditation a day. That daily practice will start to have a massive impact on your overall health.<ul><li>You can be mindfully listening to your favorite music on your phone through headphones, for example – as long as you’re not scrolling social media at the same time. </li><li>You can also try 3-4-5 breathing – you breathe in for three, hold for four, and breathe out for five. When our out-breath is longer than our in-breath, we activate the relaxation part of our nervous system.</li></ul>

A daily practice of stillness

Improving the quality of our rest is as simple as evaluating it against three standards:<ul><li>Do you feel refreshed when you wake up?</li><li>Do you wake up at around the same time each day without an alarm?</li><li>Can you fall asleep within 30 minutes of laying in the bed?</li></ul>

The quality of rest

Most people underestimate the importance of relaxing and fail to do so regularly. In fact, relaxing is essential for your health because not doing so can cause serious damage. When we’re stressed, our body produces cortisol. This is the body’s way of dealing with stress. But in today’s world, where stress is always present, we produce too much cortisol.

Relaxation

You don’t actually need to change what you eat, just when you eat. In our modern culture, we’re eating all the time. When we’re eating late in the evening, we’re generally just a bit bored. We’ve got what I call an itchy mouth. It’s just something to do.When you restrict your eating window a huge amount of benefits kick in to the body. You can get better control of your blood sugar and your weight, and your immune system functions better. Your mitochondria, which are the energy factories of your body, also work more efficiently.

The 12-hour window

Doctors should stop focusing on symptoms and start looking at the body as a whole. Doctors should also take into account how all parts of the bodywork together to maintain health. This is called progressive medicine.

A progressive approach to managing your lifestyle

A problem that many of us have is that we either exercise excessively or not enough. So most of us stress out over not having enough time to do our workouts, or we give up because we just can’t fit it in. A better way is to focus on movement each day rather than exercise. The easiest option is to incorporate more walking. Additionally, trying some simple strength-training exercises can help. These don’t have to be strenuous or time-consuming. They can be as easy as doing a few lunges, push-ups, or squats on your break at work.

Move

In The Power of Balance, Dr Rangan Chatterjee presents us with an incredibly simple framework for taking control of our health. He divides health into four pillars- diet, rest, sleep and movement. By making small, easily achievable changes in each of these key areas you can find and maintain good health - and avoid illness. You don't need to excel at any one pillar; what matters is the balance across all the things you do, from- - Having an electronic 'sabbath' once a week - Aiming for 12 hours every day without food - Exposing yourself to sunlight first thing each morning Based on cutting edge research and his own experience as a GP, and featuring fascinating case studies from real patients, The Power of Balanceis an inspiring, easy-to-follow and practical guide to good health.

food

Food

mindfulness

Mindfulness

health

Health

books

Books

"One of the most influential doctors in the UK (...) I could talk to Rangan all day (...) he's amazing" - Chris Evans. In The Four Pillar Plan, Dr Rangan Chatterjee presents us with an incredibly simple framework for taking control of our health. He divides health into four pillars- diet, rest, sleep and movement. By making small, easily achievable changes in each of these key areas you can find and maintain good health - and avoid illness. You don't need to excel at any one pillar; what matters is the balance across all the things you do, from- Having an electronic 'sabbath' once a week Aiming for 12 hours every day without food Exposing yourself to sunlight first thing each morning Based on cutting - edge research and his own experience as a GP, and featuring fascinating case studies from real patients, The Four Pillar Plan is an inspiring, easy-to-follow and practical guide to good health.

A daily practice of stillness

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