Nutrition
- Eliminate consumption of processed foods and simple carbs
- Eat seasonal, local, and organic foods when possible
- Try to reduce your meat consumption, and increase your vegetable consumption
- Drink as much water (in ounces) as half your body weight (in pounds) each day (e.g. 100 lb person should drink 50 oz of water)
- After each coffee/soda/alcoholic beverage, drink the same amount of water (since these beverages remove water from the body)
- Take a bioavailable multivitamin (with nutrients derived from food sources)
- When stressed or injured, take B-complex vitamins to support your healing and stress pathways
Exercise
- Make sure to fully mobilize your body every day
- Do moderate weight-bearing or resistance exercise three times per week
- Include stretching as an integral part of your exercise regimen
- Do spinal stretches every day to keep your spine in motion
- Take regular walks to improve joint motion, bowel function, and restful sleep
Rest
- Take a ten minute break away from your current activity every few hours
- Do something you enjoy every day
- Go to bed before 11 p.m. — this timing optimizes hormonal balance and tissue repair
- Sleep on your side with your head/neck level with the rest of your spine
- Change sleeping positions throughout the night
- Try sleeping with a pillow between your knees
- Stop drinking liquids two hours before bedtime to avoid waking up for the bathroom
- Keep a regular sleep schedule to achieve the deepest rest
- Recognize that resting is doing something — without rest your body cannot recover from daily demands
Environment
- Cleanse the air in your home and office (keep ducts free of dust, replace A/C filters, grow indoor plants)
- Minimize your time in noisy environments
- Change your bed linens once a week
- Change your mattress every 10 years
- Work to minimize physical “clutter” in your life spaces
Balance
- Focus on changing one bad habit at a time, and forgive yourself for lapsing occasionally
- Make time to work and play, to produce and create, to spend with others and with yourself.
- Take a time management class to learn how to schedule time for all aspects of your life (including play and rest)
Purpose
- Consider meditation or other forms of personal reflection, to identify and strengthen your relationship to your inner goals
- Make sure to allocate some of your time to doing what makes you feel truly satisfied
- Choose a direction and set your intention in motion, even if only in small increments
