by silence | Jul 14, 2024 | science
Here is 3 practical tips to lose one kilogram of your weight within a week. Try it and you’ll be amazed. No artificial flavours. Just some determination and consistency.
Tip 1: Control Your Meal Portions
Weight control is simply using more calories than you consume. I first discovered this when I had finish a salad meal with my boss and I was complaining to him that I still didnt feel I was full. And he said, “Good. You should be feeling not full. When you have eaten until you felt full, that is a sign that you’ve eaten too much. This is because of the delayed response from your stomach to your brain saying that you’re full. Nothing in our body is instant expect for pain.”
That made a lot of sense to me. I know I can always get food whenever I want. So this made a lot of sense. So now I eat a little less.
Tip 2: More Fibre and Protein
Now I eat more fibre rich foods, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains into my meal. It’s a tough change but its a change for the positive as these food keep my tummy quite for a longer time.
I also include good protein portions with each meal, such as lean meats, fish, eggs, dairy products, legumes, and tofu, to support muscle retention and control hunger.
Tip 3: Water over Wine and Beer (and Red Bull)
I now consume 2 litres of water per day. It’s mainly because I dont want to end up like my uncle, hooked 3 times per week to a dialysis machine. What is life then? Wine and beer and other energy drinks contain too much sugar for my body at this point in time. As much as I love them, I will pay the price eventually. So water it is for now, with an occasional Himayalan Salt to keep up my electrolytes.
by silence | Jul 7, 2024 | science
I couldn’t believe it when I found that the first thing I had to do to accelerate my productivity and focus was to sleep more.
Sleep More
I know how you feel. I felt so angry when I first read this in Nick Littlehales, “Sleep: Redefine your rest for Success in Work, Sports and Life”. Nick is a sleep coach for elite athletes (look at me, reading techniques for elite athletes). One of the things I learned was understanding my circadian rhythms and chronotypes – about my internal body clocks and sleep patters. This, using my Apple Watch, really helped me understand how long it took me to go into REM sleep, which is needed for my memories to form and connect; and to Deep Sleep, when my muscles and tissues begin to heal (this is also when some people accidentally wake up and find that they cannot move their bodies – also known as Sleep Paralysis [Afraid to Sleep]). Nick explains about other stuff which I don’t really implement like planning my sleep around 90-minutes cycles instead of 8-hours. I am not an elite athlete, so I don’t practise this. Nevertheless, I found this book to be a good source of basic knowledge.
I am pretty sure you are aware that during sleep, your brain processes and consolidates memories, clears waste, and regulates emotions. Getting enough sleep improves your cognitive performance, boosts mood, and sharpens your focus and concentration. Basically, having adequate sleep, not overdosing on it, gives you enough energy to make your feel you can take on the world. For me, it makes me think clearer at work, and I can focus well. In the beginning, I felt lousy going to bed earlier when I had so many things to do. But after a few weeks, I found that I could do most things at work because I was sharper and calmer.
Track Your Sleep
Use an app to track your sleep. If you don’t track it, you will not know how well your sleep was or how long it took you to get into REM or Deep Sleep, your breathing rate and so forth. These are important vitals for you to check. Only then you can either learn how to improve them yourselves or speak to your doctor about this.
Use a smartwatch like Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 to help track your sleep rhythm throughout the night. This really paid off for me as I realised that I had restless leg syndrome when I slept. My Apple Watch showed that I wasn’t getting enough Deep Sleep and explained several causes, one of it being the restless leg syndrome.
Tips for Improving Mental Clarity through Better Sleep
Here’s a few things that I did to sleep better:
- Established a Consistent Sleep Schedule: I slept at the same time every night, weekdays and weekends. This helped my body to wake up at the right time feeling fresh.
- Create a Sleep-Conducive Environment: This was hard for me to do as I have a beautiful view outside my window. But I had to shut my blinds and make my room pitch black with the airconditioner set at 22 Celcius. Then I slept well. Not to mention have a comfortable mattress and pillows to promote relaxation, especially when I have back pains.
- Avoid Stimulants Before Bedtime: I used to drink tea before sleeping. I had to abandon that. Caffein was preventing me from sleeping.
- Practice Relaxation Techniques: Engage in calming activities, such as meditation, deep breathing, or reading, to help the mind and body relax before sleep.
- Monitor Sleep with some Electronics: Use an electronic gadget to track sleep patterns, identify areas for improvement, and make adjustments to the sleep routine accordingly. It makes a huge difference. You cant change what you cant track.
Sleep Apnea
I have recently been diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. I guess it comes with age and weight. If left untreated, sleep apnea can lead to brain damage due to the lack of oxygen. This is a prevalent syndrome for overweight men. Get yourself a good CPAP machine. This will save your life.
by silence | Jun 30, 2024 | life
Being half a century old makes you ponder on what you have done all these years and is it enough?
Are you happy with what you have done?
Are you able to cope with the future?
Can you make a change?
This blog is about my pursuit to making a change.
I have tried making drastic changes over the years, but it never worked. Then I read Atomic Habits by James Clear and how making small changes helps. He gave an example of the British cycling team of how it went from a nobody to world beaters.
In 2003, Dave Brailsford was appointed as the director of performance. unlike previous directors who came in and made sweeping changes, Dave implemented something called “marginal gains“. Marginal gains is tiny improvements that the cyclists could make over time.
Brailsford and his coaches began by making small adjustments to the team’s equipment and training methods. They redesigned bike seats for better comfort, used alcohol on tires for improved grip, and even tested different fabrics in a wind tunnel to optimize aerodynamics. These small improvements were not limited to the obvious areas; they also extended to overlooked details such as the type of massage gels used for muscle recovery, the best way to wash hands to prevent colds, and even the type of pillows and mattresses used by the riders to ensure better sleep.
The key to the success of this strategy lies in the compounding effect of these small improvements. By improving each aspect by just 1%, the cumulative effect led to significant gains over time. As James Clear explains, “if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.” This approach not only led to improved performance but also helped the team to sustain their success over time.
The results of this strategy were nothing short of remarkable. Within five years, the British cycling team dominated the road and track cycling events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, winning 60% of the available gold medals. They repeated this success at the 2012 London Olympics, setting nine Olympic records and seven world records. The team’s success continued, with British riders winning multiple Tour de France titles in the following years.
The British cycling team’s example serves as a powerful reminder that small, consistent improvements can lead to significant and lasting success. It highlights the importance of patience, persistence, and a focus on building systems rather than relying on single, dramatic changes. As James Clear notes, “time magnifies the margin between success and failure. It will multiply whatever you feed it. Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy.“
Hence, this is my journey. It start’s today. Everything I am doing to make myself better will be listed in these pages.
The day this blog stops, I would have breath in my last breath.
