In this 2024 YouTube video, Victoria S. Dorsano shares ten health‑focused habits she wishes she had adopted in her 20s. She explains each habit, the science or reasoning behind it, and practical ways to implement it. The habits include: (1) coffee naps – a short 15‑20 minute nap taken right after drinking coffee to combine caffeine’s adenosine‑blocking effect with sleep’s adenosine‑clearing effect; (2) using a Squatty Potty for a healthier, less straining bathroom posture; (3) buying frozen fruits and vegetables because they retain nutrients better than fresh produce that has traveled long distances; (4) purchasing foreign sunscreens from Korea, Japan, or France to access newer chemical filters unavailable in the US due to regulatory constraints, with brand recommendations; (5) installing an under‑desk walking treadmill (Egofit ComfortDeck M2) to stay active while working; (6) dedicating a full mobility day, distinct from stretching or yoga, to actively move joints through their full range of motion for injury prevention and longevity; (7) tracking sleep with a wearable (preferring Whoop) to gain accurate data on sleep quantity and quality; (8) reserving the bed solely for sleep and intimate activities to strengthen sleep‑related mental associations; (9) monitoring daily fiber and protein intake to improve satiety, energy, and overall health; and (10) using monthly and weekly calendar blocking to schedule workouts, grocery trips, meal planning, and other health‑related tasks before other responsibilities crowd the schedule. Throughout, she offers product links, personal anecdotes, and a call to action to book a personalized lifestyle coaching call. The video ends with typical YouTube prompts to like, subscribe, and watch more content.
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Okay, okay, listen. I wish I would have known these 10 things so much earlier. I would have saved so much money and so much time if I had known these things earlier. So here are the 10 unique habits that I now know but wish I would have known in my 20s. First off, we're going to start the list with coffee naps. Yes, you heard that right. I said coffee naps. Basically, this involves having some coffee and then immediately taking a short, short nap right after to boost your alertness. Just like a quick 15-second rundown of how this works and why: our brains naturally produce a neurotransmitter called adenosine. Adenosine builds up in our brains throughout the day as the day goes on and kind of pushes us towards a feeling of sleepiness. Caffeine blocks the receptor for this molecule, and sleep clears the brain of adenosine. It sweeps it out. So coffee naps really work by caffeine's blocking of these adenosine receptors combined with sleep's adenosine-clearing properties to really boost your mental alertness and your mental performance. And this isn't a long nap. This is just a 15 to 20 minute nap right after you've had some coffee. Every time I do this, it works like a charm, and I feel like a million bucks afterwards. Second on the list is using a Squatty Potty. I wish I would have done that way earlier. It is so much better of a position to use the bathroom in, and it's much healthier for our colons. There's much less straining involved if you do have to go to the bathroom. Highly recommend it for anybody, especially that deals with issues of constipation or any kind of digestive issues. I think it's just a much superior position to put your body in when you're using the bathroom, and they're fairly inexpensive. I'll put the link in the description down below if you want to check one out. Number 3, buying frozen fruits and vegetables. I used to think that fresh was always better and would naturally give you more nutrients available in the produce, but then I learned about how long it takes from actually harvesting the fruits and vegetables to transport to the grocery stores, to the time that you buy it, to the time that you actually eat it. And by that point, a lot of the nutrients have been degraded over time within that piece of produce. So frozen fruits and vegetables actually retain their nutrient composition much better, and they're way cheaper. And less food waste. You don't have to worry about them going bad. It's like a win-win all around. Next up on the list would be getting foreign sunscreens, particularly from like Korea, Japan, or France. The reason is because these countries are using newer chemical filters in their sunscreens that we are not permitted to in the US because of the FDA not being able to improve these chemical filter ingredients due to a 1938 US law that requires sunscreens to be tested on animals and classified as drugs rather than cosmetics like they are classified elsewhere, which makes this a very expensive process for any company in the US that wants to include new chemical filters that have developed in recent years and that are much more superior. So as a workaround, you can buy foreign sunscreens. Some of my favorite sites to shop from to get foreign sunscreens and make sure that they're actually authentic is Beauty of Joseon, Round Lab, or Care to Beauty, I think is what it's called. I'll put them down in the description as well. All right, so number 5 on the list is getting a walking treadmill desk. There were so many times in college, even after college, in my early career, that I spent sitting at a desk and was just like beside myself because I hate sitting. I'm an active person. I need to constantly move. It helps me stay focused. So getting an under-the-desk treadmill has been such a game changer. I'm able to focus so much more. I'm able to get 10K steps plus a day easily without even really thinking about it while I'm working. It's just been such a win-win. My recent favorite that I've been trying out is the Egofit ComfortDeck M2 model, which I recently reviewed in a longer form video we can link down below as well. And it's just been such a game changer. I love the 3% incline. It's one of the most compact under the best treadmills on the market. Highly recommend that one. Again, I will link that down below if you want to check out that review. Number 6 on the list is doing a full-on mobility day. And I'm not talking about stretching, I'm not talking about yoga, I'm talking about mobility work. Now, doing some stretching and some yoga can incorporate mobility, but I'm really talking about just like purely a designated mobility day. And if you're confused that there's a difference between mobility and stretching, I'll just break it down briefly. While stretching involves lengthening the muscles to achieve a longer range of motion, mobility involves moving a joint actively through the full range of motion. So think of stretching as lengthening muscle tissue, mobility as making sure you're getting a full range of motion in the joint. Now, while both are important, and I'm not saying totally override doing stretching, mobility is something that is often less focused on conventionally, and it's really important as you age and your joints start to age. Having good mobility really allows for controlled strength through a full range of motion. The more mobile we are, the lower our risk for injury, the more we have improved performance and improved movement capacity and just improved joint health and longevity in general. So yes, now I have at least one full mobility day where that is all I do, and I feel amazing afterwards. All right, so next up on the list is using a wearable to track my sleep. Now I've said this before in other videos, I prefer the Whoop. There are tons of other ones out there, but I like this. It doesn't have a watch face, it's not distracting, and it's just really easy to use. Being able to track my sleep with something like a Whoop actually helps me stay accountable to how much sleep I'm really truly getting versus what I'm perceiving that I'm getting. There are times when I used to think, hey, I'm going to bed at 10 PM and getting up at 6, when in reality I actually wasn't falling asleep until 11 and was kind of restless and maybe only got like 6.5 hours of sleep, not 7 or 8. So wearing something like this has really just helped me understand some of my sleep inefficiencies and what I can actually do to measurably improve my sleep over time. Speaking of sleep, number 8 also has to do with sleep, and that is to not use your bed for anything other than sleeping and of course intimate partner activities, I guess, if you catch my drift. Basically, the point is you shouldn't be eating on your bed, you shouldn't be on your phone in bed, you shouldn't be reading in bed. You should be using the bed for a place to sleep and making that conscious association with your mind. Our minds are very tricky and they make very unconscious or subconscious associations why we are doing things, just as a way of efficiency. So if you start eating on your bed or doing any kind of mentally stimulating activities while in bed, it's going to start to recognize like, oh, this is the place where we do emails, this is the place where we scroll TikTok, and it's going to be harder for you to sleep. So it's a big part of sleep hygiene and sleep training as an adult to have better sleep and more efficient sleep, to just use your bed for sleeping. Getting closer to the end of the list, number 9 is tracking fiber and protein intake. I remember there would be times like 10 years ago where I'd finish meals and I would just still be starving. I would be hungry like 15, 20 minutes after, or maybe sometimes an hour after a meal, and I'd be ready for a whole nother meal. And I was like, what is going on? There's no way I can still be hungry. And this would continue on throughout the day and throughout the week and throughout the month until I found that, oh, you know what, I'm actually not getting enough protein and fiber. And that didn't happen until I tracked and actually was looking at what I was intaking on a daily basis. Once I was getting the appropriate amount of fiber and the appropriate amount of protein for my body, I felt so much better and I was much less hungry throughout the day. I didn't have to constantly snack, uh, to feel satisfied, and that's been a huge game changer. Also gave me better energy, better sleep, and well, from the fiber, better you know what. Last habit I wish I would have known in my 20s that would have helped me so much with just life in general and being able to stick to certain health habits, it would have been to have monthly and weekly blocking sessions essentially and planning ahead. When I say planning ahead, I mean planning my personal and health goals ahead and blocking them out in designated times in my calendar throughout the week and throughout the month before work and school stuff gets in the way. As life picks up throughout your 20s and into your 30s, you tend to have more and more responsibilities that get piled on, and it starts to feel like there's less and less room for you to go to the gym, for you to go to the grocery store, for you to meal prep, for you to establish really good social circles and great connections with friends. That time starts to feel like it's getting squashed. So to counter that, it's been really, really helpful for me to now preemptively once a month go in and block out all my workouts, block out the times I'm going grocery shopping, block in when I'm going to be meal planning if I plan to meal plan, you know, on a weekly basis, and all those things that are important to me. And then on a weekly basis, tweak as needed depending on what other stuff came onto my plate for the week. That way I'm prioritizing my health and my personal goals first before anybody else's starts to get added onto my plate. These are just some of the many different health habits that I've picked up and incorporated in my life over these past few years to improve my healthy lifestyle. And while these can be helpful for a lot of people, which is why I'm sharing them with you, you might want more personalized suggestions that maybe gel more specifically to your particular health needs or your lifestyle. And if that is the case, then I will drop my link down below where you can grab some time on my calendar and book a call, and we can chat and figure out what you can do to level up your lifestyle. All right guys, well, thanks so much for watching. If you like this video, go ahead and give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel. And as always, I will see you guys next time. Bye.
