The 9 Pillars of Vitality for Men

Happy Saturday,

I'm just a regular guy who wants to live a long, and healthy life.

Over the last few years I've grown increasingly obsessed with looking and feeling my best.

I've spend thousands of hours reading, watching videos, listening to podcasts, and most importantly, experimenting on myself.

What I've learned and implemented has had an enormous impact on my quality of life and now all I want to do is share that with others.

So much so that next month I'm launching a holistic health coaching program, and wanted to give you a taster of what will be covered.

I hope that the information I provide to you in this newsletter has a similar, transformative effect on your life and leads you to spread the word too.

Now here are the 9 "pillars" that are fundamental to your overall health and wellbeing.

Exercise

Move your body every day.

Exercise makes you look better, feel better, and perform better at everything from work to the bedroom.

You don't have to run for hours or do vomit-inducing high intensity workouts (not at first anyway).

Start by making a habit of intentionally moving your body. Walking has the lowest barrier to entry so I'd start there.

Make your way up to 8k-10k steps minimum each day and you'll start feeling fitter within a couple of weeks.

From here it's a case of finding a form of higher intensity exercise you enjoy.

It doesn't matter if it's Pickleball, Kickboxing, or Zumba.

Experiment until you find something you can stick to.

Sleep

There is no habit more fundamental for your health than sleep.

It regulates your hormones, improves your mental health, allows your body to recover from exercise, and much more.

The two primary issues people experience with getting high quality sleep are

1. Not being able to get to sleep

2. Struggling to stay asleep once they do drift off

Nothing has helped me sleep better at night more than Andrew Huberman's Non-Sleep Deep Rest protocols (NSDR).

You can find them for free on YouTube and Spotify.

They also work great for if you wake up in the night and struggle to get back to sleep.

Light

The importance of intentional light exposure has gained popularity over the last couple of years.

Our biology is inextricably linked to light and our modern environments send confusing, and often times damaging, signals to our bodies.

Before artificial lights, our only sources of illumination were the sun and fire.

Now we stare at our screens late into the night and our brains can't tell the difference.

The best place to start is by spending more time outdoors, which ties nicely into walking more. And avoiding bright lights past 10pm.

The darker you can make your environment at night the better, as it reflects how our ancient ancestors lived once the sun went down.

You can look into blue-light blocking glasses and other tech but I wouldn't worry about the details until you're nailing the basics.

Diet

Cleaning up your diet cures the many issues you've had over the years that you had no idea how to fix (fatigue, anxiety, libido etc).

Unfortunately this is the topic that has caused me the most headache over the years.

Low carb, keto, carnivore, vegetarian, vegan, Mediterranean etc.

Everyone is preaching their own approach and refusing the acknowledge any other options as feasible.

My conclusion?

The "best" diet is one that is made from at least 90% whole foods, has a fairly even balance of macronutrients (carbs, protein, fat), and avoids processed food as much as possible.

There are simple, healthy, easy-to-cook recipes out there that you would find delicious.

Make as many as it takes until you find the ones you can stick to and you'll never struggle with nutrition again.

Hydration

Staying properly hydrated keeps your mind sharp and your body functioning properly.

Most people don't drink enough, hence why they walk around like zombies, complaining about their brain fog and lack of energy.

The quality of the source of your fluid intake matters more than you think.

Drinking tap water and beverages from plastic bottles exposes you to hormone-disrupting, and potentially carcinogenic, chemicals.

The best place to start is to buy a water filter and a stainless steel bottle from Amazon and drink exclusively from them.

If you don't like drinking water - it's time to get over it. You can drink cordial instead but the artificial flavouring in there isn't great for you.

I'd try a variety of herbal teas and infusions first.

Supplementation

It's highly likely that there are gaps in your nutrition.

They will exist due to season, the physical and mental demands you put on yourself, and the unique way your body works.

Deficiencies lead to a variety of issues like reduced physical performance, hormonal imbalances, and impaired cognitive function.

Now unless you want to live your life feeling low energy, never wanting sex, and not being able to think clearly, you need to start filling the gaps.

Go get a blood test done at your local clinic. They're not cheap but will highlight exactly what areas you need to work on.

From here it's just a case of adjusting your diet and buying a few bottles of vitamins and minerals from big Jeff at Amazon.

Stress

Too much stress fogs your mind, kills your libido, and ruins your physical and mental health.

Most people "deal with it" by drinking alcohol, smoking, watching TV, or playing video games.

These issues only mask the symptoms and do nothing to improve the root cause.

Meditation is the cure. I used to hate the esoteric health stuff and thought that it was a load of rubbish, and most of it is, but meditation is different.

10-20 minutes every day will have the immediate effect of calming you down.

The long-term effects help you deal with stressful situations and reframe things in a way so they don't stress you out as much.

I highly recommend a YouTube channel called "Declutter The Mind" - they have a variety of 10-60 minute meditations.

I like the mindfulness and focus ones best.

Detoxification

What if I told you that many of the things we do and use in our daily lives were detrimental to your health.

Hormone disruptors, carcinogens, toxins, pollutants etc.

You don't realise what you're doing until you learn the impact that these things have on your health and wellbeing.

Dealing with them all can feel like a full-time job.

I would recommend doing your own research into this but the main things to avoid are:

• Plastics

• Pesticides

• Canned food

• Non-stick cookware

• Heavy metals (and I don't mean Metallica)

It's complex, and honesty disturbing topic that requires your attention if you want to avoid all the damage it causes to you.

Technology

We all know that excessive tech use is detrimental to our minds.

Using your phone or computer too much has been linked to lower mental health, reduced drive, and worse sleep. And much more.

Our minds search for the fastest route to reward.

So when there's work to be done and your phone is right next to you, it makes sense that we scroll for hours instead of getting shit done.

You don't have to avoid using tech completely. It's actually one of the most productive things you can do if you harness it instead of letting it exert it's influence over you.

Get off social media, stop watching endless TV shows on Netflix, and binging hours of YouTube.

Overexposure to information fries your brain and leaves you feeling dull and stupid.

There's a time and a place for tech, just avoid spending 49 consecutive days on your phone very year like the average person.

Conclusion

It has taken me years to learn what I know now.

My aim is to help you get from where you are now to becoming the best version of yourself in as little time possible, without spending hundreds of hours listening to boring podcasts and going through as much trial and error as I have.

I hope you enjoyed reading this today and feel free to reach out to me with any questions you have as always.

Cheers,

Oliver.