nekojita
  • home
  • nox
  • start here
  • micros
  • macros
  • habits
  • effects on cooking
  • general food guide
  • mental health
  • gut microbiome
  • about

Habits

  • Sleep
  • Exercise
  • Sitting Job

Sleep

Sleep is probably one of the most important factors when it comes to health. Getting a good sleep is essential for your mental health as well. There are two important factors to be mentioned here.

  1. Melatonin
  2. Circadian rhythm (/sərˈkeɪdiən/)

Melatonin is a hormone that is responsible for the regulation of the sleep wake or circadian cycle. The production and release of Melatonin in the brain is connected to time of day, increasing when it's dark and decreasing when it's light.

A circadian rhythm, or circadian cycle, is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep–wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. Think of it as your body’s natural clock.

Enough with nerdy words.

A lot of things influence the circadian rhythm. Especially food and sleeping time. Without going into too much detail here is a sleep checklist you can follow:

  1. Sleep at least 7-8 hours.
  2. Night is the natural time to be asleep. Follow the natural law.
  3. Calm down and relax before bed. You did everything you could today. It’s time to sleep now.
  4. No bright lights or loud sounds.
  5. Don’t use your phone before sleeping.
  6. Eat a light and early dinner
  7. Avoid caffeine and nicotine late in the day and alcoholic drinks before bed.
  8. Add exercising into your daily schedule if you have trouble falling asleep.

Again nutrition and sleep are parts of a connected web. What you eat and when you eat will influence your sleep cycle.

Exercise

Exercise, when done right, can really promote a lot of health benefits in the body such as prevent from diseases like Stroke, High blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, Depression, Anxiety, Arthritis etc. It can also improve sleep quality.

Exercise is something that is often initiated with unrealistic expectations.

People often go too hard for a few days and then are just too tired to continue.

The key here is to take consistent small steps and aim towards forming a habit and fitting it into the daily routine.

You can start with something as simple as brisk walking or stretching or even yoga. Then slowly move to jogging. Then slowly to running, and so on. Put some good music on.

Sports is also a really good way to exercise. If your schedule and environment allow it, it can be really fun.

Also exercising right after a meal is a bad idea. Your body needs that energy to digest the food.

Sitting Job

When we sit, we use less energy than we do when we stand or move. Long term patterns of extended periods of sitting can give rise to certain health concerns.

These include obesity, increased blood pressure, high blood sugar levels.

A lot of us have desk jobs. There are a few things that you can include in your routine that can break these prolonged periods of sitting.

  1. Take a break from sitting every 30 minutes(set a timer if you want)
  2. Stand or walk while you’re talking on the phone.
  3. Walk while you’re brainstorming or thinking.
  4. Get up and stretch the muscles from time to time.
  5. Add exercise to your routine.
  6. If you can, find a comfortable chair that supports a good sitting posture.