Every December, we release the best content that we've consumed over the past 12 months. 2021 has been slightly better than last year but a lot of people are still struggling to stay on the healthy lifestyle bandwagon. Hopefully the podcasts, article, and book recommended below will help light a spark or give you some understanding on how to stay consistent with change.
Book: Dopamine Nation by Anne Lembke (recommended by Kevin)
We live in a time of unprecedented 24/7 access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, shopping, gaming, texting, and social media-ing! All led by our smartphones.
This book explores why the relentless pursuit of these "pleasure" activities leads to pain, but also explains why pleasure and pain are essential to living a meaningful life (and how to find the balance between the two).
Sample Extract: "In session with [a teenage patient] I suggested she try walking to class without listening to anything and just letting her own thoughts bubble to the surface. She looked at me both incredulous and afraid. "Why would I do that?" she asked openmouthed.
"Well, it's a way of becoming familiar with yourself. Of letting your experience unfold without trying to control it or run away from it. All that distracting yourself with devices may be contributing to your depression and anxiety. It's pretty exhausting avoiding yourself all the time. I wonder if experiencing yourself in a different way might give you access to new thoughts and feelings, and help you feel more connected to yourself, to others, and the world."
She thought about that for a moment. "But that's so boring."
Boredom is not just boring. It can also be terrifying. It forces us to come face-to-face with bigger questions of meaning and purpose. But boredom is also an opportunity for discovery and invention. It creates space necessary for a new thought to form, without which we're endlessly reacting to stimuli around us, rather than allowing ourselves to be within our lived experience.
The next week, Sophie experimented with walking to class without being plugged in. "It was hard at first," she said. "But then I got used to it and even kind of liked it. I started noticing the trees."
💥 Anne also did a great podcast with Huberman Lab about this subject. P.S. Huberman Lab is a fantastic show, in general. We highly recommend you also begin right at the beginning.
Podcast: How to Change - The Next Big Idea (recommended by Julie)
“When Katy Milkman was a newly minted professor at Wharton, she came across a statistic that stopped her cold: 40 percent of premature deaths result from personal behaviors we can change. Katy decided to do something about that, and for the next decade, she conducted groundbreaking research into the science of achieving lasting behavior change.
Find out why a change in the weather can help you save money, how Harry Potter got Katy in better shape, and what an accidental breakthrough in mathematics reveals about boosting your self-confidence.”
This one is especially relevant and timely given the behavioural shifts people think about at this time of year.
💥 Check out the podcast episode here.
Article: How to Start Working Out Consistently by Nerd Fitness (recommended by Sally)
There is one piece of advice that applies to almost every question I get about health and fitness. Wanna get fit? Consistency. Trying to lose weight? Consistency. Struggling to stay motivated? Consistency. It may not be sexy, but it gets the job done. Consistency is the key. Steve over at Nerd Fitness has some really great advice (including some hard truths) on how to build that consistency for yourself.
💥 Check out the article here.
