I woke up late this Monday morning (as I’m writing). I just slept through my usual waking up time of 5-5:15m, which is rare for me. Even if I need more sleep, I wake up around 5, and then fall right back asleep. But not today.
After that, as I was writing my morning pages, I was telling myself that it’s Monday, and that is the perfectly important time to give myself some Monday Grace. And what better way to do that than to sleep when my body needed it, and to not be cross about that. In fact, I think it’s something to celebrate that I had the time to “sleep in”, and I got my needed rest.
And then, in my writing I got to thinking about health, and things we need to maintain a good one.
Thus was born a basic idea of Surabhi’s Health Pyramid…what we need from most important to great to have, and finally, good to have but not a requirement.
This idea was just born this morning for me, so I may work more on it over time. But I was so excited that I just had to share. And, it’s not groundbreaking or anything- we all know this stuff. But just putting it in a pyramid of importance is what I am excited to share. So here goes:
The biggest base of the pyramid, things that provide most value for healthy living are the very basics:
Sleep, Hydration, Nutrition
Without this base, we have nothing that matters. We don’t have a solid enough body to try to improve with herbs and supplements or exercise. And if we don’t feel good, we don’t do good things in life, or have good relationships. We need rest, water and good food to build the very base that we can then use to improve things (life) further. In fact, I like to believe that half the battle of achieving good health is won in this level of my health pyramid.
The next level that would help one to become healthier after they have the basics in order are:
Stress Management and Walking
If we are stressed, things go wrong. Our brains are not into trying good things, making time for exercise, or developing good habits. Because all we are trying to do is fight the stress that never goes away. In that case, things like meditation, journaling and most importantly, eliminating the sources of stress would be things to do.
And walking…well, it’s the most basic of movements we humans are designed to do. If we are able-bodied in our lower body, I think, it’s the place we start with for movement, for stress alleviation, for brain functioning, for most important body functions like mobility of joints and blood sugar management etc. The first exercise that anyone should consider, and only when that is established, can we think of more complex movement patterns for exercising.
Which brings me to the third level of my health pyramid:
Exercise and Community
Once we have good food, sleep and enough water intake; once we are not stressed all the time and are walking regularly in our days: then we can think about taking our health further with exercising- running, swimming, lifting, yoga, Pilates, Barre…the choices are endless, and there are definitely nuances in this huge category of exercise. And more nuances mean more thinking and planning, unlike for the basics.
Community of friends, families, people we spend time with is also an essential for our good demeanor and mood and creativity. In-person is better than online. Going to regular classes, volunteering, meeting friends, joining book clubs etc are all amazing. And they all make us better social humans. And that in turn motivates us to keep good health and do good things.
And final rung of the Health Pyramid that is not important, but is good to have for those who have the resources and the knowledge to take their health that one notch further is:
Supplements
Protein supplements, vitamins, Omega-3 oils, minerals- all of these help with our health in some way or the other. But they have almost no bearing on our health if we are not sleeping enough, or if we are stressed all the time, or we are not walking, or if we are depressed and lonely. This rung of the pyramid is only useful if we have everything else in place.
And that my dear friends, is my health pyramid, as I thought of it this very morning. I may think about it differently over time, or make it more nuanced. But for now, it’s good I think.
And of course, each category has a lot of details that can go into it. But this is not the post for that.