In this 10‑minute YouTube talk, wellness coach Victoria S. Dorsano outlines five evidence‑based habits that, when practiced consistently for a week, can dramatically improve energy, mood, and overall wellbeing. She begins by acknowledging common feelings of grogginess and brain fog, then presents each habit: (1) wake up at the same time each morning to regulate the circadian rhythm; (2) drink a plain glass of water upon waking to rehydrate, jump‑start metabolism, and promote bowel movements; (3) take a short, distraction‑free walk outdoors for sunlight‑derived vitamin D, serotonin boost, and increased circulation; (4) consume adequate dietary fiber (38 g men/25 g women under 50, 30 g/21 g over 50) to support regular bowel movements, blood‑sugar stability, satiety, and weight control; (5) meet protein needs (≈0.36 g per lb body weight, with higher intakes of 0.73‑1 g/lb for active or weight‑loss goals) to stabilize glucose, preserve muscle, and aid recovery. Dorsano explains the physiological rationale behind each habit, offers practical tips (e.g., keep water intake simple, use Metamucil if needed, walk without phone), and cites current nutrition recommendations. She concludes by challenging viewers to adopt all five habits for 5‑7 days, promising increased alertness, better sleep, stable energy, and improved body composition, and invites comments, likes, and subscriptions.
Chapters
So we've all had days where we're just not feeling our best, where we wake up, we're kind of groggy, we're not feeling 100% there. The brain fog's there, our body's not feeling great, and that's never a good feeling, right? And not saying that we can wake up at 100% every single day, but we can certainly do a few things to help control our domain and swing things in our favor a little bit, which is why I'm putting together the 5 things that are evidence-based strategies that you can implement every day to feel better as soon as a week. So the first thing that you can do that will astronomically make you feel better on a day-to-day basis and definitely help swing things in your favor over the course of a week and get things on track is waking up at a consistent time. And I know people always talk about, okay, you should go to bed at a consistent time and wake up at a consistent time, but new research in sleep has been showing that if you go to bed at various times but consistently wake up at the same time each morning, it swings things in your favor in terms of your circadian rhythm, and it gets your circadian rhythm more regulated. So really focusing on a consistent wake-up time is more important than focusing on going to sleep at a regular time. And yes, of course we want to make sure that we're getting, you know, 7 to 8 hours of sleep and all that stuff, yada yada yada. But really what happens is when you consistently wake up at the same time, our sleep drive starts to get higher, meaning the desire to physiologically and psychologically want to go to sleep at a consistent time in the evening starts to get more regulated. So that starts to actually fall in line when you wake up consistently. So start with waking up at a consistent time, and maybe that can vary at a maximum of 15 minutes in that window, but really try to stay consistent with that wake-up time, and you're gonna notice your body feeling more optimized throughout the day in terms of its energy levels, its consistency in its sleep. You're gonna be able to get deeper sleep 'cause your body's circadian rhythm is starting to adjust to that sleep cycle. Habit number 2 that will make you feel way better throughout your week is drinking a glass of water first thing upon waking up. And no, it doesn't have to be the fancy, like, chia seed lemon water, stuff that you see on TikTok and all the wellness gurus talking about. That stuff really doesn't do too much anyways. Just a glass of plain water. That's it. When we sleep, what happens is we end up getting dehydrated overnight. We haven't had any water, or at least most of us haven't had any water throughout the duration of us sleeping. You know, sometimes you'll get up and have a sip of water here and there, but for the most part, we've spent about 7 to 8 hours without having any water added into our system. So it's really important when you wake up first thing in the morning to have a glass of water before you decide to have your coffee if you're a coffee drinker. And it doesn't have to be, you know, water in place of coffee. You can have both of them, but just focusing on water first thing upon waking up is going to rehydrate your body. It's going to kickstart your metabolism again for the morning, and it's going to really help lubricate your— well, your bowels to help you have a bowel movement, to process any kind of byproducts of sleep. So when we sleep, our body is actually processing through a lot of different systems, and we can actually get a lot of byproducts of different metabolic processes that are happening while we're sleeping. And when we drink the water first thing in the morning and rehydrate our bodies, it's actually forcing a lot of those byproducts to get flushed through the kidneys into the urine, and obviously through having a bowel movement as well. So it just kind of gets everything going, and it's really great for a lot of systems of our bodies and just to rehydrate first thing. And then aside from that, it kicks off your water goal for the day, so you're already a glass in, which is great. All right, so let's move to habit number 3 that will help you to feel great on a day-to-day basis, and that is just going for a walk outside, even if it's just a few minutes. Putting on your shoes and walking outside and enjoying the fresh air and trying to do so distraction-free is going to be so great for many reasons. And number one is that you're getting sunlight on your skin, which is great for vitamin D production, which helps boost our mood and our immune system. And then reason number two is that getting outside helps to boost our body's serotonin, which is our body's natural mood stabilizer. So you're going to feel happy, a little bit more relaxed, capable of taking on the day, which is always a great thing. And then reason number 3, really, you're helping to get your blood flowing, you're getting your lungs oxygenated, you're pushing that oxygenated blood through the body into the tissues and just helping the body to wake up in the morning or throughout the day whenever you choose to do it. It's really a great way to either start your day or end your day and just incorporating that time to get outside distraction-free is a great way to also connect back to yourself and what's important. Habit number 4 that will help you to feel great on a day-to-day basis is getting enough fiber, which a lot of Americans don't unfortunately do. The current recommendations in the US for adults that are under the age of 50 is 38 grams of fiber for men and 25 grams of fiber for women per day. And if you're 51 or older, it is recommended to have 30 grams of fiber for men and 21 grams of fiber for women. So why would getting enough fiber on a day-to-day basis help you to feel great? Well, hello bowel movements! And I know I've mentioned that already before with the water thing, but I mean, if you've ever been constipated or backed up, you know what I'm talking about, how uncomfortable that can be. And even if you're not backed up, getting enough fiber is super important, not only for regular bowel movements but for our blood sugar control, which can really help to regulate our energy levels throughout the day. So if you're getting enough fiber, you're not going to feel huge energy crashes. I know a lot of people talk about having that like 3 PM slump or that 2 PM slump after they've had their lunch in the middle of the day. And a lot of that's just a blood sugar crash. And having enough fiber along with your meals really helps to ensure that you're going to have more stable blood sugar throughout the day, which is going to prevent those waves of ups and downs in energy throughout the day. And as a bonus, having enough fiber in your day really helps to control your weight too, because you're feeling more full with the more fiber that you have, and you're less likely to eat excess calories that your body doesn't necessarily need. So where do you get this extra source of fiber throughout your day? Well, just incorporating more veggies and fruits and beans and legumes and peas and whole grains can really help to get a variety of different sources of fiber. But if you find it hard to access those particular types of foods in your day-to-day diet, then you've of course can use something like a supplement like Metamucil, which is basically psyllium husk ground up into powder. You can put it into water, drink that up, or you can get psyllium husk capsules to help get your fiber intake as well. And the fifth habit that you can incorporate on a day-to-day basis to help you just feel better overall is getting enough protein. So the current recommended daily allowance for protein is about 0.36 grams per pound of weight that you have. So whatever your body weight is, multiply that times 0.36, and you'll get kind of like the minimum baseline amount of protein that you should have. But keep in mind, that's just the base minimum, and typically I like to recommend more protein than that just because a lot of the clients that I personally work with are working towards goals of either building muscle or losing weight or recomping their body in some format, and are, you know, typically trying to also be active and incorporate working out, and they need extra protein to repair muscle tissue. So I'll usually recommend 0.73 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. So why so much protein? Well, again, having protein is actually going to help to stabilize your blood sugars just like the fiber did, and it's going to help you to either lose weight, gain muscle, repair your tissues, help transport important molecules across the body. There's so many roles that protein plays in the body, and especially if you're an active individual or somebody that is trying to lose weight or gain muscle, it's important to get adequate amount of protein. It's going to help you feel feel energetic throughout the day. It's going to limit those crashes in energy, and it's just going to help your body repair quicker. Now, like I said at the beginning of this video, if you can incorporate these 5 habits for close to 7 days, you're going to be feeling so much better. Your energy levels are going to increase. You're going to feel more satisfied in terms of what you're eating. You're going to have more stable energy throughout the day. You're going to feel more awake and alert throughout the day as well. You're going to probably sleep better because you're regulating your sleep patterns. There's so many benefits that come along with 5 evidence-based habits that you can incorporate on a day-to-day basis that it is just a no-brainer to try to work on them. So I'm challenging you guys to try to incorporate these 5 habits at least for the next 5 to 7 days. Drop a comment down below, let me know how it goes. I'm so curious to see what your results are. I know you're going to feel amazing though, so keep me posted on that. And as always, if you go ahead and subscribe to my channel and like this video, I would greatly appreciate it so much. And until next time, I will see you guys later. Bye!
