Doctor advised Unconventional Health Hacks for Busy Lifestyles

We all want to live long and healthy life, but we don't have time. We are busy beings. So in this video, I am going to share 5 health hacks driven from the wisdom of modern science, Ayurveda, and Chinese medicine. So listen to this video through the end and help yourself. Let's get started. So health hack number 1: a healthy, well-balanced circadian rhythm is the key player for a long, healthy, disease-free life. So what is circadian rhythm? In other words, it is our internal biological clock. It is made up of central and peripheral circadian rhythms. So the central rhythm is controlled by light and dark exposures to our eyes, whereas the peripheral circadian rhythm is controlled by when and what we eat. So what to do when our circadian rhythms are badly messed up in the modern world? So here are some tips. Establish a consistent sleep and wake cycle. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Your body clock will love it. In the evening, align yourself with the sun's changing light spectrum. So sunlight shifts from the blue spectrum to the red and orange towards the sunset. However, our devices like phones and LED screens, they emit artificial light which is rich in the blue spectrum. So adjust your device settings towards a warmer spectrum as the evening approaches. You can even set this on the automatic mode. Install apps like f.lux flux on your computers which can automatically do these changes for you. Now, in the evening, if possible, opt for candlelight or fire lamps. If this is not feasible, consider wearing blue light blocking glasses or have a couple of electric lamps with red or yellow bulbs ready for the evening use. You can find all the links to the technology and biohacks which I'm talking about in the description below. Similarly, we need to fix our meal times, and the proportion of macronutrients is equally important. Our digestive enzymes and the activity of our gut microbiome, they follow a rhythm. They get used to producing certain enzymes at specific times. So sudden changes can confuse these rhythms. For example, if you typically eat a high-protein lunch or a high-fat dinner, flipping this pattern suddenly might disrupt your body's rhythm. So maintain consistency because your body gets used to it and develops a rhythm around that pattern. Another important tip: eat during daylight hours, which means between sunrise and sunset. The concept of intermittent fasting isn't new. It's been part of the Ayurvedic tradition for centuries. By simply not eating after the sunset, you are naturally adopting an intermittent fasting routine. Now coming on to health hack number 2: alternate nostril breathing. So spend at least 5 minutes a day doing alternate nostril breathing. You can go up to 20 minutes, that will be fantastic. So this is how you do it. So start by breathing Breathe in through your left nostril, then close your left nostril, then breathe out through your right nostril. Then you breathe in through the right nostril, close it, and then you breathe out through the left nostril. Now this makes it one cycle. So you start through the left nostril and end through the left nostril. This is a very powerful ancient yoga breathing exercise. It can work wonders. It helps balance your autonomic nervous system. In Ayurveda, we call it prana vayu, which is a foundational life energy for the whole system. In Chinese medicine, we talk about chi, which is energy flow in our body. This breathing exercise works wonders for the balancing of prana vayu and chi in our body. Now coming on to health hack number 3, abdominal breathing. Have you ever watched how a child breathes? Notice how a child's abdomen moves with each breath. Now, think about how you breathe when you're stressed. We often breathe shallow and fast, using our chest, and our abdominal muscles remain tight. So, here's the tip: throughout the day, try to breathe deeply and slowly. Your chest shouldn't move much; instead, focus on your abdomen expanding and contracting. Now, this simple practice is incredibly powerful. It boosts your parasympathetic system, your body's natural calming response, and eases your sympathetic system, the one that handles stress. Now, over time, it reshapes your autonomic nervous system to a more calmer and serene, like that of a saint. And we all understand this stress contributes to so many health problems, and this practice is wonderful for balancing our system. Coming on to health hack number 4, sun salutation or Surya Namaskar in yoga. Now, if we can do the 30 to 60 minutes of full set of yoga postures every day, that's fantastic, but we don't have time, right? So just a few rounds of sun salutation, say 3 to 12 times every day, can make a big difference. It takes only few minutes. So Sun Salutation isn't just one pose, it's a sequence of multiple yoga postures. Now, it really makes me sad when I see the blatant abuse of yoga in the Western world. Heart yoga, this yoga, that yoga. It's not right. As I always tell my American friends, yoga is not an exercise, guys. It is a powerful technology for aligning our body's energy system. And if you are tight on time, this Sun Salutation is the best practice you can do. It harmonizes your body's right and left systems, your Ida and Pingala. Stick with it, you will be amazed at health transformation you will experience in matter of days. And lastly, exercise. You know, I know, we all know that exercise is important, but how much exercise? So 150 minutes of moderate strength training or 75 minutes of high-intensity training. So what is moderate intensity training? Any activity which elevates your heart rate and maintains elevated heart rate like biking, climbing stairs, running, when you are able to have a conversation but you prefer not to have. So you maintain the elevated heart rate for minimum of 10 minutes a session. So 150 minutes each week you aim for minimum. You can do more, that's fantastic. Now you also should add the strength training to this regimen. Do you know, guys, we need 6 sets of each muscle group per week just to maintain the muscle mass. Obviously now if we need to build muscle mass, we need to do more than that, but just to preserve the muscle mass, we need 6 sets of each muscle group a week. But we don't have time, so what can we do? So there are 3 exercises. One is the push-ups, second is the bodyweight squats, and third is planks. So you do 15 to 20 push-ups, and then you follow with 15 to 20 bodyweight squats, and then you hold plank for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Now this is one cycle. You can do 1, 2, 3, 4 cycles at a time, and you can repeat the cycles every hour, every 2, every 3 hours. And you can do throughout the day anywhere, whether you're working from home home or you're in the office, you can do it anywhere. This approach is also more aligned with how our body has evolved. We are not meant to go to gym 1 hour and be a couch potato for the next 23 hours. This is called exercise snacking, very much aligned to how our body has evolved over millions of years. And that's it for now. Signing off, your host Dr. Sam Singh. Please like this video, leave your comments, ask me more questions about the next health videos you want me to talk about. Stay healthy, stay informed, and remember, peak of your health is your true wealth.