Seasonal Change - How to improve your health with the seasons!

In this exciting episode of me&my health up I discuss seasonal change with respect to health. In particular Autumn for the southern hemisphere and Spring for the northern hemisphere. Autumn is a time for change - drop the habits that don't serve your health. Spring is a time for renewal - start to develop some new habits that will serve your health. So what are you going to change with the new season? 

About me&my Health Up & Host

me&my Health Up seeks to enhance and enlighten the wellbeing of others. Host Anthony Hartcher is the CEO of me&my wellness which provides holistic health solutions using food is medicine, combined with a holistic, balanced, lifestyle approach. Anthony holds three bachelor degrees in Complementary Medicine; Nutrition and Dietetic Medicine; and Chemical Engineering.

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Any information, advice, opinions or statements within it do not constitute medical, health care or other professional advice, and are provided for general information purposes only. All care is taken in the preparation of the information in this Podcast. [Connected Wellness Pty Ltd] operating under the brand of “me&my health up”..click here for more

Transcript

Anthony Hartcher 0:00
Welcome my friends to another insightful episode of Me&My Health Up. I'm your host, Anthony Hartcher, and today we're going to be talking about change, change with respect to seasons. So the southern hemisphere has just entered autumn, and the northern hemisphere spring. So we're going to be talking about what you can do with respect to health in relation to the seasons.

So let's start with the southern hemisphere is where I reside in Sydney, Australia and yes, it is cooling down a bit, and the days are getting shorter. So what is Autumn bringing us autumn is a time for a change, essentially. So the leaves or certainly the deciduous trees lose their leaves. So we also can let go of things in autumn. So autumn is a time to think about what do I want to let go of what hasn't served me in summer, what have I picked up, that's not a good habit that I'd like to drop coming into autumn and really allow that winter period to be a great time to rejuvenate and to restore, recover, and get ready for the energizing seasons come spring summer.

Let's talk about things you could adapt to change coming into autumn. For me, it's going to be dropping coffee. So yes, I'm a person that has a coffee in the morning and has done probably for the last couple of years or a few years. So now I'm going to have a break I the only reason I drink coffee, it's not to wake me up or stimulate me in the morning. It's purely just to for joy, essentially and so is there a reason other than I like it, so and I'm not quitting it for that I want to abstain from it or anything like that. What's more, I'm thinking about my sleeve, I really want to really take that to the next level.

I am quitting coffee and what I'm going to do is substitute it. So that's the other thing you want to think about doing is if you're going to lose something that you certainly like, then pick it up with something that's either equivalent or thereabouts. So for me, I'm going to pick up some green tea in the morning. So green tea certainly got more beneficial health benefits than coffee, the research shows that it's overwhelmingly in favour of green tea.

So although green tea has some caffeine, it's less than coffee and there are so many other great benefits that green tea has. It also contains a compound called L theanine and l theanine has been shown to help with sleep. So over the summer period, I immersed myself into learning and one of these learning activities was a book on sleep and I realized how much impact caffeine you know, through listening to the book, it was an audiobook has on sleep.

It really inhibits the build up of adenosine. Adenosine is our sleep pressure. So it builds up through the day and caffeine essentially inhibits the build up of adenosine. So and hence when I guess the caffeine wears off, caffeine has such a long, half life. So the half life is the breakdown composition rate of caffeine, it's long, so it lasts in our system. Certainly, you know, it's half life and anywhere between six to eight hours and that's half the original concentration that you drink. So yeah, it can really impact even if coffee at the start of the day can really impact you in the evening, particularly if you're sensitive to caffeine.

So that's me, that's what I'm letting go of and I'll keep you updated as to how my sleep improves. Certainly what I've also learned from that book on sleep was that it is essential to have the same time to bed same time to wake up. So I've been very consistent with that I've even actually wound up back another hour in terms of allowing myself more get ready to sleep time.

I was initially getting ready to go to bed at 9 pm and wanted to fall asleep at 10 pm and I've cut that back to 8 pm. So I start getting ready for bed at 8 pm and I'm actually feeling quite sleepy by 9 pm. So I'm falling asleep anywhere between nine and 9:30 pm. So yes, I've picked up an extra half an hour and some in some cases an hour of sleep per day just with you know this change in routine.

So what do I do at 8 pm? I essentially wind down the lighting so I eliminate all or basically eliminate any contact or exposure to blue light. So that's the Light from devices and screens, I cut that out entirely. Blue light really inhibits melatonin production.

Melatonin is what helps induce sleep. So I cut out the blue light, I wind down the white lights, I actually turn off all the lights, I actually find the moonlights, ample enough for me to get around their house. So make sure you do have ample lighting, I don't want you having an accident if you cut down the lighting, and then I just embark on my evening routine which consists of showering, stretching, I stretch after the shower and do some rolling with a roller, and I start to empty my mind. So I clear it out, put it on paper, anything that's outstanding, I need to do tasks for tomorrow and I start thinking of things of gratitude, what am I grateful for.

And that routine has really served me so well and my sleep has improved even without dropping the coffee. So I'm really excited about what dropping, dropping the coffee is going to do for my sleep.

So what else can you do around this season of change autumn letting go. So it might be letting go of some bad habits you picked up around eating. So if you're, for example, maybe binge eating in the evening, so you want to start thinking about some ways in which you can better regulate your stress that stress in the evening is one of the driving forces behind why you're binge eating or you haven't eaten enough throughout the day.

Our bodies certainly need its macronutrients, that being carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. If it feels it's getting inadequate amounts of either, either any of them, then hunger signals will be sent to your brain. So hunger is there to service, it's to say, look, you know, I haven't got enough of what I need and what I'm finding with my clients are coming to see me that their proteins probably inadequate, come in the evening.

So they're not eating enough protein throughout the day and same with carbohydrates, because then they go it's sort of famine during the day on carbohydrates, and then feast in the evening on carbohydrates and you really want that to be in reverse. So you want to have your carbohydrates during the day because that fuels you that gives you the energy that you need to do what you need to do to get through the day and you're going to be burning those carbohydrates.

Have your carbohydrates and have them heavily weighted towards the start of the day. The back end of the day is when you really want to be winding the back because you don't need the fuel, but certainly want to have some but not huge amounts, you don't need it but the protein you want to be equally spaced throughout the day. So that's important is making sure you're getting around 20 to 25 grams of pure protein per serve or per meal. So the breakfast, lunch and dinner and that will really serve your protein requirements and good fats. So you know, really important that you just focus on having good fats, and that's coming from really the plant-based sources of the healthy fats. So that being nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado, coconut oil, or coconut that's they're really your great sources of healthy fats.

So that's what you want to be starting to think about in terms of changes to your diet. In terms of your sleep. I've mentioned some of those recommendations around being consistent to bed a consistent wakeup time. So if you're transitioning back to work, having to go back into work, make sure that day that you need to go back into work is really setting your time to bedtime to wake up for the rest of the week. So don't just think that on the days that I'm not going into work I can sleep in, that's really going to stuff you up. So I really suggest you be consistent and tie that consistency around the days that you go into work.

In terms of exercise, well, you know, if we're going into autumn days are getting shorter, and it gets a bit cooler. So maybe you want to start thinking about a gym membership or starting to do some indoor training or maybe trying to lunchtimes when it's a bit more maths. So that's probably you know, look at some shifts around your exercise and really make sure it's maths. So even if you're returning back into the workplace, is a factor in your training around that lunchtime, block out that lunchtime, no meetings, it's going to be the time for you to exercise or it's time for you to enjoy a meal with a colleague.

So really, you know, making sure you're applying this self care and not dropping these the great habits that you picked up whilst working from home not losing them whilst going back into the office really embedding them and instilling them and keeping them as a must.

In terms of relationships, what can you do in terms of changes, or maybe it's giving a little bit more so it doesn't necessarily mean giving money or anything like that, or shouting this or shouting that it can be giving your seat up if you're traveling on public transport into your workplace. So giving a seat up for someone that's elderly or someone that needs that seat more than you, it could be just being courteous letting someone in, in front of the view, if you're driving, allowing them to merge into your lane, or giving way to that pedestrian and not trying to sneak through without giving way to them. So they're being courteous and kind, you know, if you're lining up, let someone else in the line.

Just think about others really, you know, that thought of giving improving relationships is really thinking about how can I better serve that other persona and as we know, from the law of attraction, the more we give, essentially, the more we get back and it comes back in many forms in many different ways, and it surprises us.

So I really give. And I think what helps with giving and really thinking of others is that thinking of gratitude. As I mentioned, I do that at night time when I'm doing that night time routine. If you start that constant thinking of gratitude, you start to be more aware of things you can be grateful for during the day and you start to notice the little things that people are doing for you, and you start to give recognition for that and then encourages them to do more.

It really just builds and compounds, this whole attitude of gratitude, this attitude of giving and it really helps create this better society. So the other thing you can give is to give a smile, give a smile to a stranger and say hello. Don't expect anything back but you'll be surprised the more you smile, the more smiles come back to you. I've actually smiled so much that I'm walking down the street, I get all these smiles back and I think why is that person smiling at me. That's because I've got a permanent grin on my face. So yeah, the more you smile, the happier you feel, because it changes your physiology and how can you be sad, upset or stress when you're smiling so that smile can really shift your mood.

So if you're not feeling great, just put a smile on your face right here and now as I'm talking during this podcast, and I can guarantee you will feel better. So these are some of the things you can think about in chat for change coming into autumn. For those in the northern hemisphere coming into spring, it's getting warmer. So it's time to get outdoors more, it's time to embrace the outdoors embraced outdoor activity, and well, obviously, be compliant with all the COVID regulations.

But really start immersing yourself into the warms that and that expansion of energy. So you know, you really want to get out of hibernation in spring and it's spring that springs time for renewal. So starting some new things. So it's not necessarily you know, I said autumns change. Spring is renewable.

So what are you going to introduce into your health regime? What new things is going to be around sleep or diet or exercise? So that's me wrapping up the time for a change. It's the autumn for the Southern Hemisphere, the spring for the northern hemisphere time to embrace new healthy practices.

Enjoy until the next episode. Take care, be healthy, and keep following me and liking, sharing, and giving feedback. I really enjoy it. Thank you so much and have a wonderful week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai