5 Things For Optimal Health

Fun February Facts: Feb 26th is National Pistachio Day, the day Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba in 1815, when Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, was first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London 1909, the day the HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, was launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast in 1914, the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act of the U.S. Congress establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park in 1919, Robert Watson-Watt carried out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom in 1935 and is the 1829 birthday of Levi Strauss, German-American fashion designer and founder Levi Strauss & Co.

Ok, on to optimal health...

It's fun to take in all the health information out there. The millions of articles on the Internet, the hundreds of thousands of philosophies, books, movies and videos all talking about health and its intricacies. What I tried to do with the Bare 5 blog and approach was distill it down to some basic starting principles that give the broadest approach to reconnecting with optimal health. The Bare 5 Elements are just that (which were summarized recently in Back To Basics). However, simple categories like these sometimes end up being too general for most people so, after continually getting the demand for "just the very basics," I started wondering if I could come up with a few specific behaviors and practices that would change people's health. In essence, if I had to pick just a few things people can focus on and get the biggest bang for their buck, what would I choose? After a little contemplation I was able to narrow it down to about 7 things but since I like the number 5, I decided to keep with my blog's theme:

5 Things For Optimal Health

Do these 5 things and you'll be in a pretty good place. There's a million ways out there to optimize health and I agree with many of them. I just think we get lost in the details.

This is keeping it basic. K.I.S.S.

1. Sleep - don't skimp on it and get to bed early, for sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together

2. Sun - get the sun into your life, for following the sun is the quickest way to reset your circadian and body rhythms

3. Seafood - eat things from the sea as often as you can, for fish, seafood and sea vegetables enrich and nourish every part of health

4. Water - drink water, more than anything else, for water is our base and lifeblood

5. Walk - just walk- up, down, around, short, long - it doesn't really matter for walking is one of the oldest and easiest ways to improve your health

That's it. Don't overthink it. Groove your basics first and don't worry too much about the rest. There'll be plenty of time for that... :)

Hint: Want to combine them? At lunchtime, go for a barefoot walk on the grass at a park, bring some sardines for lunch and then take a quick nap. All 5 things covered at once!

Thanks for reading, have a great day!

P.S. The runners up:

Breathe - relax and breathe deep, for oxygen is life and and bit of stress relief helps

Laugh - have fun whenever you can, for what is health without enjoying your time