The Problem with Over Achievers (& what we can learn from them).

Wow.

Did you ever listen to a podcast and instead of being motivated to crush the f*ck out of your day, end up feeling like a worthless, soggy tea bag of a human?

This morning I stumbled upon a guy called Ben Greenfield, author of the book ‘Boundless’ who pays his bills by being one of the top fitness, health and bio-hacking coaches in the world. The type of guy who does triathlons for fun, coffee enemas for breakfast and is currently ‘unschooling’ his two boys in the forested wilderness he calls home.

These type of super-optimal humans can be a lot for us regular folk and whilst not all their teachings will blend seamlessly with our own lives (he says bone broth 3 x times a day? I say – Pass!), I’ve tried to scrape out the stuff you might find useful from this morning’s podcast.*

Get Your Zzz’s – Like every expert on the planet, Ben agrees that improving your sleep function is numero uno when it comes to brain health. And whilst there are lots of ways we can upgrade our sleep hygiene (regulating temperature, light, evening routines, white noise machines, a better mattress) there are other things – like neurotransmitter issues and something to do with our brain/blood barrier (?!)- that might also be preventing us from having a good nights kip.

Ben’s Take-aways? Make sure you are getting enough essential amino acids -which you can do so by including adequate protein in your diet (steak, salmon, lentils etc). Talking of diet – get thee to the Mediterranean my friend – all that olive oil, whole grain, legume business is the GO. Check if you are deficient in Vitamin B (a lot of people are) and supplement accordingly. Ditto for magnesium. Cold showers (akin to ‘a full body cup of coffee’) have a whole heap of benefits from improving circulation to speeding up muscle recovery. Do sh*t that activates your vegus nerve (like meditation, humming, chanting and singing). And, it helps if you find out what your chronotype is and act accordingly – take this test to find out yours.

Get Your Gut in Order – The brain/gut connection has been on the radar for a while and whilst I’d rather not dwell on the 300-500 species of bacteria swimming around in my digestive tract, Ben seems pretty adamant that I should.

Ben’s Take-aways? Chuck in some of that fermented goodness (kimchi, miso, yoghurt), consider supplementing with Colostrum (helps heal the gut lining) and including more Glutamine rich foods (super nourishing for the gut). If in doubt – you bone broth avoiding pussy – you can just take a well-formulated probiotic.

Take Care of Your Mitochondria: These ‘little powerhouses of a cell’ help charge your body back UP. They get out of whack because of stuff like pollution, stress, alcohol and wifi – you know, the stuff that pretty much fuels our 9-5 and beyond.

Ben’s Takeaways: Get outside in nature – ideally with your shoes OFF (it’s called grounding darling, and it is an actual thing). Sunshine is GOOD but if you can’t get your ‘photons of light’ outside, infrared saunas can come a pretty close second. Swim in the ocean, lay on your back in the grass and drink good, clean water with pinches of Himalayan sea salt (for all the electrolytes and trace minerals -obviously!).

So, yes, my friend. Whilst we may not be cross-fitting ourselves into a coconut oil frenzy, there is stuff even us regular, grid-living folk can weave into our day-to-day.

But, let us also remember on our less motivated and considerably soggier days that not being extraordinary may, in fact, be a modest gift in itself. Because, even if Ben might not agree with us, The School of Life offers us a charming reminder that ‘the paradoxical fact about happiness is how often it collects in some unprestigious places: a quiet evening in, supper with an old friend, doing the washing up with a child... This may be the true meaning of life. Before chasing an ideal future, we should be sure to be fully attuned to, and amply to celebrate, the modest, beautiful, ordinary moments and things that are available to us already.’

Like, you know – cold showers and a daily magnesium supplement.

This GET HEALTHIER post was brought to you by someone who will not be competing in a spartan race anytime soon.

*Not my podcast….yet! #watchthisspace