What’s In it For Me?
Quietly managing a serious illness for more than 20 years, author Tom Rath has gathered a wide range of information and scientific research on the importance of how we go about eating, moving, and sleeping. Since everyone already knows the importance of eating healthy and exercising, sometimes understanding the scientific data can be the extra motivation needed to make a serious change to improve your health.
The Big Idea
Many aspects of life are inter-related, and when it comes to improving your health, this couldn’t be more true. By improving your sleep quality, you are more likely to go to the gym. Eating healthy will give you more energy throughout the day, improve the quality of your workouts, and improve your sleep quality. The important message that resonates through the book is how the small decisions we make every deal cumulatively add up over time and can create big changes in our health, for better or worse. Therefore, think twice the next time there are donuts left out in the office kitchen at work. Being disciplined does not take the fun out of life, but rather gives you more options in life as you experience the benefits of higher energy levels and the ability to enjoy more aspects of life that require mobility.
Key Concept #1
Keep Work From Killing You
In 1951, a team of researchers embarked on a 18-year study of San Francisco dock workers to examine the factors the predisposed these men to fatal coronary heart disease. When the findings were published nearly two decades later, the typical contributors to heart disease emerged: elevated blood pressure, smoking, and obesity. Yet one of the most illuminating findings was that the men with short bursts of activity as part of their routine work has a significantly lower death rate from coronary disease. These were the dock workers who loaded cargo as new ships came in and out of port. Today, less than 20 percent of jobs require any type of real activity, and not surprisingly, this transformational shift mirrors increases in obesity and diabetes.
With the technology revolution comes a decrease in human activity levels. Think of how often you spend time each day sitting. You commute to work sitting, chances are you spend a majority of your workday sitting, and you commute home sitting, just in time to sit down for dinner. Sitting is arguably the most underrated health threat of modern times. One leading diabetes researcher claims that sitting for extended periods poses a health risk as insidious as smoking or overexposure to sunlight. As soon as you sit down, electrical activity in your leg muscles shut off and the number of calories you burn drops to one per minute. Enzyme production, which aids in breaking down fat, drops by 90 percent. After just two hours of sitting, good cholesterol drops by 20 percent. Perhaps not surprisingly, employees who have desk jobs have twice the rate of cardiovascular disease compared to employees in more active jobs. Unfortunately, even two hours of exercise will not compensate for 22 hours sitting. What’s one to do? The key is to stand, stretch, and increase activity as much as possible. Many office environments have encouraged workers to get standing desks, which have been shown to increase energy levels as well. In fact, to prove he practices what he preaches, author Tom Rath wrote the entire book on a walking treadmill desk, and concluded he walked an extra 5-10 miles per day as a result.
Emerging research has concluded that in the traditional office setting, companies that provide employees with time to exercise, even during working hours, improve their productivity. At a minimum, find a few moments each day when you can walk briskly. Ask colleagues to go for walking meetings instead of sitting in an uncomfortable chair. Avoid the bad habit of eating lunch at your desk, as the book suggests it limits social engagement with co-workers, reduces physical activity, and creates burn-out.
Stress created from work is a reality of life. However, an interesting research study concluded that the way you deal with stress can be more important than the stressor itself. If you get overly worked up by daily stress and continue to dwell on stressors after the fact, your health will suffer. The ability to let go reduces the long-term damage to your health and well-being. It can be helpful to put a stressful situation in perspective. Ask yourself, “one year from now, will this really matter?” The next time you encounter a stressful situation, remember your reaction matters more than the stressful event itself.
Key Concept #2
Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Sleep
“Sleep less, achieve less. It’s really that simple.” Eat Move Sleep p.80
We live in a society where working on little sleep is somehow seen as a badge of honor or the sign of a dedicated worker. That perception needs to change. One hour or less sleep does not equal an extra hour of achievement or productivity. When you lose an hour of sleep, it decreases your well-being, health, productivity, and cognitive ability. There is a reason why pilots and surgeons have mandated periods of rest before they are allowed to fly an airplane or operate. Frustratingly, lack of sleep can change the trajectory of an entire week. If you sleep poorly, you will be more likely to miss a workout the next day, your workday will be less productive, your body will crave sweets and unhealthy foods, and by the time you get home from your long day at work you will have no energy to give to your family or friends. Science has shown that a quality night sleep increases the body’s production of the digestive hormone lepton, which keeps you from eating too much. This could explain why a poor night’s sleep causes you to crave calorie-dense high-carbohydrate foods and sweets. The next time you consider skipping sleep to accomplish something, remember it comes at cost.
Anders Ericsson, a professor that conducted one of the most influential studies on human performance, concluded that sleep significantly influenced peak performance. In fact, on average, the best performers slept 8 hours and 36 minutes. Unfortunately, the average American gets just 6 hours and 51 minutes of sleep on weeknights. Another important conclusion from the Ericsson study is top performers typically work in bursts by practicing in focused sessions lasting no longer than 90 minutes. Even if you are not striving to be a top performer, a large body of academic research has concluded the vast majority of people need 8 hours of quality sleep.
It is important to keep in mind that quality beats quantity when it comes to sleep. Time spent rolling around awake in bed does not count as sleep. Focus on setting yourself up for quality sleep first by considering your diet, activity level, and environment. Artificial light from the smartphones, laptops, or the TV before bedtime can ruin your sleep because it suppresses melatonin levels. Lower melatonin levels make it hard to fall asleep, decrease sleep quality, and may even increase the risk of high blood pressure and diabetes. A research study concluded that exposure to bright light before bedtime, particularly blue-toned light, decreased the beneficial effect of melatonin by 90 minutes compared with dim light exposure. In your bedroom, cover any artificial light from clocks or electronics, and add room darkening curtains or black-out shades. Try to avoid the bad habit of watching TV before bed and eliminate as many electronic devices (including TV) from your bedroom.
Establishing a regular routine of when you go to bed and when you wake up can also be extremely beneficial. The habit of using the snooze button on an alarm can be tempting, but studies show that when you break your final hour of sleep into small half-awake chunks, it does not benefit your deep restorative sleep. You are much better off just setting your alarm clock for the latest time possible and avoiding the snooze button. Another issue with alarm clocks can be the bright display, which you are more likely to glance at when you are having trouble sleeping. As you probably know from experience, worrying about trying to fall asleep just makes it that much more difficult.
Everyone has a natural body clock that regulates your core temperature, and fluctuations tell you when to sleep and when to wake. If your room is too warm, your body clock will think it is time to wake up, regardless of the time. Therefore, experts advise keeping your thermostat two to four degrees cooler at night.
Key Concept #3
You Are What You Eat
“The more sugar you consume, the greater the levels of inflammation in your body. This leads you to age faster, inside and out.” Eat Move Sleep p. 33
Sugar is the next nicotine. It is a toxin that fuels diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancer. Sugar accelerates inflammation in the body and aging and subsequently fuels tumor growth. Scientific studies have made it clear that if you lower your sugar intake, you reduce the odds of cancer. In short, there is simply no good reason to consume added sugars beyond what you get from whole fruits and vegetables. All this may sound negative or extreme, but keep in mind people once through of smoking a cigarette as a pleasant break. After all, it satisfied a craving, relieved stress, and provided a quick high. Sound familiar? Similar to cigarettes, sugars are addictive. Every time you eat sweets, it causes your brain to light up, produce dopamine, and crave more sugar. Your brain builds a tolerate to sugar over time, one that mirrors the way people habituate to alcohol or other drugs. As a result, once you consume sugar, your body needs larger quantities over time to mimic the pleasurable sensation.
Unfortunately, since sugar is addictive, food companies have put added sugar in just about every product, making it extremely difficult to avoid. Start by studying nutritional labels and looking at the total grams of sugar. Any packaged product with more than 10 grams of sugar is more than needed in a single serving. The American Heart Association recommends limiting daily added sugar intake to 25 grams a day for women and 38 grams a day for men. However, a better goal, according to the author, is to limit your daily intake to less than 10 grams a day. One of the most efficient ways to work towards this goal is to eliminate sugary beverages from your diet. A Harvard study estimated sugary drinks alone kill 180,000 people every year.
Everyone knows a diet rich in fruits and vegetables improves health. However, we do not have an easy way to determine what foods are the healthiest, as we receive conflicting advice from different sources. The author suggests an efficient mental shortcut is to judge a fruit or vegetable by the collar of its skin. In general, produce with dark and vibrant colors is better for you. Spinach and kale is high in nutritional value, while iceberg lettuce provides no nutritional value. If you want to get the most nutritional bang for your buck, there may be no healthier vegetable than broccoli. Emerging scientific research suggests that consuming broccoli can alter the way your genes are expressed, which can play a powerful role in preventing everything from cancer to heart disease. Of all the foods studied by researchers, no food has amassed a body of research that rivals broccoli. It is a rich source of fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins. Research suggests it has powerful anti cancer and heart benefit, could guard against arthritis and asthma, and helps protect our eyesight and boost our immune system.
Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, yet the majority of Americans are trying to lose weight. Part of the issue is many people try diets, but diets are destined to fail because the notion of a diet implies a temporary effort that assumes an endpoint. The key message the author reiterates is the quality of what you eat matters more than the overall quantity. In fact, that was the primary finding from a landmark Harvard study that tracked more than 100,000 people for more than two decades. The researchers concluded that the types of foods consumed influence your health more than your total caloric intake.
One of the more heavily debated topics among dietitians is animal protein. The author suggests the importance of prioritizing your protein, with the following hierarchy below:
Foods to Eat
Fruits and Vegetables: asparagus, avocado, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, chick peas, collard greens lentils, peas, spinach.
Nuts: almonds, cashews, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts.
Seafood: salmon, flounder, herring, scallops, shrimps, sole, tilapia, trout.
White Meat: chicken and turkey.
Foods to Avoid
Dairy: cheese, cream, milk, yogurt.
Red Meat: beef, duck, lamb, pork.
Processed Meat: bacon, lunch meat, salami, sausage
Consuming more protein from vegetables, nuts, and fish will also increase your intake of omega-3s, which are deficient in most people’s diets today.
Key Concept #4
Move More Everyday
Think back to when you were a kid and had boundless energy. You may attribute that energy to “just being a kid”, but in reality the reason you likely had so much energy is because of what you spent your time doing: riding bikes, playing basketball in the driveway, running around the neighborhood with friends. Fast forward to adult life, and if you are like most people, you probably spend more time sitting down (9.3 hours on average) than you do sleeping.
Psychological research has confirmed measuring progress leads to increased motivation. It’s not surprise that the Fitbit, a small gadget used to measure daily steps and activity, has increased in popularity. When people were assigned to wear a pedometer as part of randomized controlled trials, they walked at least one extra mile per day on average and overall activity levels went up 27 percent.
One you find a way to measure movement, the author suggests targeting 10,000 steps per day, which equates to roughly five miles. When researchers compared average number of steps per day across different countries, they discovered Americans take only 5,117 steps per day, compared to Australians, that take almost 10,000 steps per day. Not surprisingly, Australia has an obesity rate of just 16 percent, compared to 34 percent in the United States. One way to increase daily steps is to not almost optimize for convenience. Park a little further away from the office, or if you live in a city, walk to the second closest coffee shop. Try taking the stairs at work or take a brisk walk during your lunch hour. Changing up your daily routine by increasing activity levels can go a long way in improving your health over time.
Although everyone has a different schedule and internal alarm clock, the author highlights the importance of working out first thing in the morning. The advantage of working out early in the morning is the endorphins produced from workouts that contribute to a positive mood continue throughout the entire day. Studies have shown that a mere 20 minutes of moderate activity could significantly improve your mood for the next 12 hours, and brainpower and creativity may also increase. The other advantage of working out early in the morning is you cannot have excuses that inevitably creep up throughout the day that could derail your workout.
Everyone knows working out is beneficial to overall health, but far to many people incorporate activity in their daily lives. When you think about big goals such as losing weight or living longer, it can be hard to get motivated today since these are outcomes in the distant future. Instead of letting the broad long-term goals overwhelm you, pick specific reasons that personally motivate you to be more active right now. The author keeps photos of his wire and kids directly above his desk and treadmill as reminder that staying active matters as much for the people he cares about as it does for himself.
Key Concept #5
Small Choices Add Up
“A recent study suggests you do not inherit longevity as much as previously believed. Instead, the sum of your habits determines your life span.” Eat Move Sleep p. 7
Making better choices is not easy, but every choice you make each day can have an impact on your health over the long-run, for better or worse. 50% of all men and 33% of all women in America will be diagnosed with cancer. Even if you are not formally diagnosed, you probably have microscopic cancer cells in your body that never grow large enough to pose a threat, but sit dormant in the organ where they reside. This is where your diet and lifestyle can play a major role. Given the vast knowledge available on how to prevent chronic disease, why not make the right choice today? Life itself is in a sense a big game of beating the odds. When your good daily decisions outweigh your poor ones, you boost your chances of growing old in better health. Even if living to 100 is not your goal, ensuring that you have a high quality of life should be. The four largely preventable diseases of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and lung disease combined kill nearly 9 in 10 people. Researchers have estimated that 90 percent of us could live to age 90 by improving simple lifestyle choices. Recent studies have suggested you do not “inherit” longevity as much as previously believed. Instead, the cumulative effect of your daily habits determines your lifespan to a much greater degree. The author is a living testimony to this, having been diagnosed as a teenager with a rare disease that causes cancerous tumors thought his body. Yet, through lifestyle choices such as diet and exercise, Tom Rath has been able to enjoy a great quality of life.
Starting your day off with a healthy breakfast increases your odds of being active throughout the day. This helps you eat well through the day. Consuming the right foods and adding activity makes for a better night’s sleep. A good night’s sleep will make it even easier to eat well and increase activity levels the next day. Thus, the book is structured to help people work on all three elements together. In fact, new research shows that tackling multiple elements at the same time increases your odds of success compared to initiating a new diet or exercise program in isolation. Eating, moving, and sleeping well are even easier if you work on all three elements simultaneously and create an upward spiral to progressively better days. Start making decisions today like tomorrow depends on it.
Apply It
- Check out the book’s website at eatmovesleep.org. On the website, you can create a personalized Eat Move Sleep Plan based on your needs and behaviors. You can also download the First 30 Days Challenge and other tools to use with friends, groups, and teams.
- Eating healthy can take a lot of self discipline. Instead of making it harder on yourself, why not refuse to have your kitchen stocked with unhealthy food by not buying any in the first place? Over time, your healthy eating habits will create more energy and your body will likely no longer crave junk good.
- Trying asking your employer for an adjustable desk where you can both sit and stand. Set a reminder on your phone to stretch or take a brief walk throughout the day. Remember, scientific research confirms you are in fact increasing your productivity level by taking breaks and moving around through the day.
- Motivation is a key factor that prevents many people from achieving goals for their health. Think about a loved one that would be impacted by your poor health, and use that as motivation to make better choices today.