5 last minute gifts
This year was what could be called the sequel to a unique year, for the reasons we all know. After having faced a historic pandemic in 2020, with the need to adapt very quickly to the unknown and the uncertainty of what the "bug" could cause and how it could affect us, 2021 came to reinforce an idea that should be reinforced: our health is our best guarantee of defence.
Regardless of the context, the healthier we are, the more able we will be to protect and defend ourselves against whatever the World throws at us, be it a pandemic, a new professional challenge or a new test of personal overcoming.
The beginning of a new year always marks the setting of goals and resolutions and there is one that is on everyone's mind: to be healthier. We promise to do more exercise, eat better or have better habits because we know, deep down, that it's the way to be the best version of ourselves.
So why not use Christmas presents to stimulate that desire and provide more tools for those who want to change?
If it sounds like a good idea, I leave you with 5 suggestions:
It is rightly said that we can only improve what we can measure. That's the reason for the number of gadgets, apps and wearables that have been launched in recent years, a trend that is no longer going back. The information and data we collect from these little wonders of health tech allow us to know ourselves better, to spot changes in our balance before they become problems and to adopt better habits and behaviours, suited to us.
There are few areas as important to our health as sleep. It is rare that we do not discuss this issue with our patients and develop some kind of strategy to optimise it. Not only is it during sleep that we "cleanse" the body of the "waste" created during a day of physical or mental activity, but it is also when we create greater and better neuronal connections, recover hormonal balance and optimise physical recovery. It cannot be stressed enough that the best strategy to reach a new level of performance and health.
The Oura Ring is a window into how we really sleep in the shape of a ring. Through wearing it over the past 3+ years I have been able to better understand my sleep physiology and how what I do during the day positively or negatively influences my recovery. In my case, I've found that intense exercise after 1pm, drinking coffee after 3pm, dinner after 8:30pm or a simple glass of wine impair my deep, REM sleep, resulting in poor attention and energy levels the next day.
It's a great option for those who like technology and don't shy away from interpreting data and graphs.
2. Health Levels
If sleep is fundamental for physical recovery, stable blood sugar levels are vital to maintain cellular health stable physical and mental energy levels while optimising weight management and cognitive function.
Everyone knows that high blood sugar levels are not the best "thing" for health. The negative impact on health and longevity of developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, resulting from chronically high blood sugar levels, is well known. But it goes far beyond this: the origin of obesity and the difficulty in losing weight can be in these same levels as well as alterations in cognitive capacity (some people call Alzheimer's disease "type 3 diabetes" because of the relationship that seems to exist between the two), not to mention the impact it can also have on oncological diseases.
On the other hand, the instability of the level of glycaemia can be responsible for breaks in cognitive capacity and mood stability.This happens when a meal causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels, which leads our body to react by releasing insulin, which causes the sugar concentration to drop sharply, making us feel hungry and need to eat carbohydrate-rich foods, which raise blood sugar levels again, perpetuating the cycle (this is, in fact, the reason why it is a myth that we should eat every 3 hours to lose weight).
Levels Health is a continuousglucose monitor, a device that is implanted in the arm and allows the blood sugar level to be measured 24/7, making it possible to know how and what to eat to optimise energy stability and, with that, a better level of physical, cognitive and emotional performance.
3. Boundless, by Ben Greenfield
There is no other way to put it:
This book is a health bible, a must-read (and re-read) for anyone looking to break their physical and mental limits.
Ben Greenfield is one of the world's leading sports physiologists and athletic coaches, having been a bodybuilder himself and completed the most extreme endurance races such as the Ironman and Spartan Race. He is also one of my references in the area of health and performance optimisation, nutrition and biohacking. This is his latest book, written as almost like an encyclopedia that deserves to be read, studied and applied.
There are over 600 pages in which Ben covers topics such as brain optimisation through nutrition, breathing techniques or nootropics, improving sleep and the immune system or how to develop healthy routines. The book is already available in Portuguese, although it will only be released in 2021 in Portugal.
It's a gift that any reader avid for practical knowledge will love, without any doubt!
4. Vitamin D
It is difficult to explain in a few words how much vitamin D is missing and the impact it can have on the body. In fact, it would also be difficult to do so in so many words!
I would say that it is extremely likely that you have read or heard that vitamin D helps this disease or that a lack of vitamin D is associated with that condition. The scope is so wide that it seems impossible that just one compound can do so much good. It sounds like it, but it's not: optimal vitamin D levels are fundamental to optimal health!
The reason why its effect is so far-reaching is in the way it acts in the body: vitamin D optimises the reading of a considerable part of our DNA. When it is not present in sufficient quantity, the information recorded in the genetic code may not be read and translated with optimal force, negatively influencing the function of the cell. And, considering that virtually all cells have receptors for this vitamin (which is a hormone, in fact), it is easy to understand the extent of its effect.
I emphasise the effect on optimising immune function (reason for use in autoimmune diseases according to the Protocol Coimbra), of cognitive ability and physical performance.
Unfortunately, it seems clear that vitamin D is lacking in the world population, something that has been demonstrated in global population studies as we see it every day in our consultations: it is extremely rare to find someone who has optimal levels of this vitamin when we do the initial assessment (it is part of the baseline analytical study of everyone who comes to us, regardless of the reason).
Why not offer vitamin D? Just pay attention that, to be absorbed effectively, vitamin D should be taken an oily substrate, the most practical being in gelatinous capsules such as these.
5. Consultation
And why not? 🙂 .
There is of course a certain amount of humour in this suggestion but there is a fundamental reason at the base: our health is our best guarantee. Improving health and performance is a goal that should be present in all our choices (even the "less healthy" ones from a physical point of view but highly healthy in emotional and social terms, and that is also health!).
There are many variables and even more opinions and indications about health: "we all have a bit of a doctor and a bit of madman", as the saying goes.
I am sure you have heard that diet X is better than Y for improving health only to read immediately afterwards that Y is far better than X but is no match for what Z can do. You may also have commented to yourself that "I don't feel well" but when you share your concerns you are told "That's normal, it's age related. The tests are all fine" (an argument that, let's be practical, is very flimsy and should leave us wondering when we came to accept it as an unshakeable truth). Normal is not great!
We are increasingly sought after by people who do not want to wait to be ill in order to treat themselves. They want to do exactly the opposite: do everything in their power to avoid becoming ill, ageing too early or losing abilities. That is our vision and our mission.
We strongly believe that our body should never limit what we can achieve. That's what we try to do every day, using all the knowledge we have and will have in the fields of medicine, nutrition, physiology, psychology, health tech, sports science or any other that demonstrates effective scientific results.
Our team is always willing to be the partner of those who seek us out, to translate science into clinical practice and, ultimately, to help dreams and goals to be fulfilled and achieved.