3 Traits That Have a Small Yet Powerful Impact on Your Health

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Start off small with big improvements in mind

Simple changes often compound into larger gains.

Improving by 1% every day will accumulate to 37% over the course of a year.

The habits that facilitate this have a large return on investment and are required for those looking for long-term, sustainable growth.

1. Prioritize your sleep

Sleep is the most underrated variable in controlling your health.

Sadly, human beings are in fact the only species that will deliberately deprive themselves of sleep without legitimate gain — Matthew Walker

How to actually improve your sleep? (This is a link to my Medium profile - go here to save on a membership with a cut going to myself. There's loads of other amazing writers on sharing their stuff too!).

The most important habit is this.

Put your phone and screens away before bed.

Roughly 30–60 minutes before sleep time gives your eyes a break. Your brain will also have the chance to relax and prepare itself for sleepy time.

With a relaxed brain, you can increase the quantity and quality of your sleep.

Stay consistent

Having set times you go to bed and wake up every day (including weekends) is going to allow your body clock to be set.

It’ll know when bedtime is coming and when it's time to wake up.

You may have already experienced this if you’ve been in a routine and woke up slightly before your alarm.

2. Have a set morning routine

What is going to be most effective for you?

It doesn’t have to be getting up super early to cram it as much as possible before starting your workday.

What is going to have the biggest impact on your health?

Exercising in the morning has been found to improve cognitive performance across the day in older adults. The study had participants sit for prolonged periods with a 30-minute treadmill walk in the morning.

Meditating shortly after waking up allows us to become full awake and present before we go on with our day.

Mindfulness can be practiced anywhere. In our bed, on the commute or as we drink a cup of coffee.

We’re more likely to make health-related decisions in the morning.

3. Lift

Everyone should be doing some form of resistance training.

Whether that be through the use of resistance bands, free weights or machines.

Creating physical goals such as doing your first full pushup or pullup adds a gamified element to the experience, giving you a sense of accomplishment when you complete it.

Training and building your full skeletal system helps improve longevity by making the gene expression pattern of ageing mitochondria appear significantly younger.

Resistance training can also:

I switched up my routine and began working out before work.

Guess what?

I felt energized going into work and could fall into the flow state more easily.

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