I spend a lot of time talking about blood tests, gut health, supplements and trying to work out why someone doesn’t feel well.
But some of the things I do most consistently for my own health cost absolutely nothing.
And honestly, they’re not exciting.
This week I shared some of the weird things I do to help regulate my nervous system.
So I wanted to explain why I actually bother doing them.
Because there is physiology behind a lot of this stuff.
1. I get outside as soon as I wake up
Before supplements. Before trying to optimise anything.
I want light in my eyes.
Your body has an internal clock that runs roughly every 24 hours, and light is one of the strongest signals helping to keep that clock aligned with the outside world.
Getting bright light during the morning helps reinforce that it is daytime, supporting alertness during the day and helping set the timing for sleep later on.
And this is one of those things where outside is generally much brighter than inside, even when it doesn’t feel particularly sunny.
So I try to physically go outside rather than just opening the blinds.
Coffee outside counts.
2. I walk after meals
Not for calorie burning.
Not because every meal needs to be “earned.”
I do it because your muscles are incredibly useful places for glucose to go.
When you move after eating, contracting skeletal muscle can increase glucose uptake. Even relatively short bouts of walking after meals can help blunt the post-meal glucose rise.
It doesn’t need to be a 45-minute power walk.
Sometimes I literally mean:
Eat lunch → shoes on → walk for 10 minutes.
Simple.
3. I actually chew my food
This sounds ridiculous until you realise how many of us eat while:
working,
scrolling,
driving,
standing at the kitchen bench,
or thinking about the seventeen things we need to do next.
Digestion doesn’t begin when food hits your stomach.
It begins before that.
Seeing, smelling, tasting and chewing food are part of the cephalic phase of digestion essentially your body beginning to prepare for the food that’s coming.
Chewing also physically breaks food down before your stomach and small intestine have to deal with it.
So sometimes my “gut health intervention” is incredibly sophisticated:
Sit down. Put my phone away. And actually chew my bloody food.
This is almost better than using digestive enzymes, it is also way less expensive then digestive enzymes.
4. I do weird little things to change my physiological state
This was the Reel that probably looked the strangest.
Shaking my body out.
Humming.
Splashing cool water on my face.
Cuddling the dog.
Putting my feet up.
Getting outside.
None of these are magic switches that suddenly “heal your nervous system.”
But your nervous system is constantly responding to information coming from your body and your environment.
Breathing patterns, facial cooling, vocalisation, movement, social connection and changes in environment can all influence aspects of autonomic activity and how we experience stress.
And I think that’s a much more useful way of looking at nervous-system regulation.
You’re not trying to be calm 24/7.
You’re building ways to shift state and recover after stress.
5. I eat outside whenever I can
This one isn’t some secret functional-medicine protocol.
I just think humans spend a ridiculous amount of time indoors now.
Eating outside gives me daylight, fresh air, a change in environment and usually fewer screens.
It also tends to make me slow down.
And sometimes that’s the point.
Not every health intervention needs to manipulate a biomarker.
Some things simply create an environment where healthier behaviours happen more naturally.
6. I get into bed early
This may be the most boring health advice I give. I also have a 8 month old baby so the more sleep I get the better, I am still waking up with bub 2-3x a night.
But I don’t think we give sleep enough respect.
Sleep affects virtually every system we’re interested in when we’re talking about health from cognition and mood to glucose regulation, immune function and recovery.
And there is no supplement I can take at 7am that completely compensates for repeatedly giving myself five hours in bed.
Sometimes improving sleep isn’t about finding another sleep hack.
It’s:
Get into bed earlier.
Which brings me to the bigger point.
We’ve made health feel like something we have to buy
Another supplement.
Another wearable.
Another powder.
Another test.
Another protocol.
And obviously, there is a place for those things.
I use testing in practice. I recommend supplements when they’re appropriate. And sometimes symptoms absolutely need further investigation rather than another lifestyle tip.
But I don’t want that to distract from the foundations.
Light.
Movement.
Food.
Sleep.
Connection.
Recovery.
They’re not sexy. In the slightest, BUT a little tweak of how much food, sleep, connection you are getting can make the BIGGEST change in your health.
These things are also not optional just because we’ve found more complicated things to talk about.
And maybe that’s the reminder for this week:
Before adding another thing to your health routine, ask yourself whether there’s something simple you could do more consistently first.
Cheers
Georgia x
Responses