Neurons that fire together, wire together. A habit is formed when a neural network has consolidated around the behaviours, so that it's reflexive to perform.
Find part 1 here.
I have a morning routine that would make Patrick Bateman blush. It's slightly embarrassing to admit, but it's why I'm able to work at full capacity as a resilience keynote speaker despite having a chronic health condition. Lots of tips here to be on top form every day!
Step 6, 7 and 8 - 6:30-8:00am
Supplements, Transcranial Nerve Stimulation and Deep Work
I drink Athletic Greens, which contains every conceivable mineral, vitamin and probiotic you will need, and allows you to stay in a fasted state. I also take 1000mg NMN, and 1000mg Reservatrol, which is what the Harvard ageing expert, David Sinclair, takes to prolong lifespan by decades. Together they induce autogaphy, which clears away dying and dysfunctional cells. Then I make a pot of Yerba Mate (slow release caffeine, antioxidant green tea) and do my first 90 min session of deep work.
I will always work on the hardest thing first as my morning neurochemicals (cortisol, dopamine and norepinephrine) help overcome the inertia and resistance of procrastination. I remind myself of the productivity mantra 'Swallow The Frog'. While I work, I attach electrodes from a device called Alpha Stem to my ear lobes, which sends a wave current that helps calm the cranial nerve in my neck. Again, that sounds far out, but this is one of the few therapies for Fibromyalgia that has a decent evidence based behind it. It's also really good if you suffer from depression, anxiety or insomnia.
Step 9, 10 and 11 - 8:00-9:00am
Oxygen Exercise, Infrared Sauna and Intellectual Stimulus
It's now 8am and I'm got a good productivity high from my deep work session. Then I switch on my home oxygen system and infrared Sauna. Yes, I have a home oxygen system and infrared sauna. Acknowledging this brings a certain amount of guilt at my privilege, but these luxuries are necessities to manage my health condition and stay on top of my work as a resilience keynote speaker.
I then do 15 mins high intensity interval training on a spinning bike while breathing 85% pure oxygen, 4 times the normal (21%) amount. The increased heart pressure from the exercise pushes the oxygen deep into my blood plasma and muscle tissues, mimicking the effects of a hyperbaric chamber. I switch between hypoxic (14% oxygen) and hyperoxic (85% oxygen) as hypoxic induces a mild stressors on the body and increases the cellular demand for oxygen, which I then oversupply with oxygen rich air.
My goal here is to saturate the brain with oxygen, which induces neuroplasticity, allowing parts of my brain associated with pain that are overactive to calm. This protocol also accelerates the elimination of metabolic waste so I then go into an infrared sauna for 25 mins to eliminate the excess toxins, listening to a podcast from the London Review of Books, the FT or some intellectual stimulus that gets me thinking in expansive ways. Infrared sauna have a host of benefits from quelling inflammation, to increasing serotonin, but the thing I’m interested in is the up regulation of heat shock proteins, which help with pain modulation.
Stay tuned for part 3 coming later this week.
This piece was originally shared as a post on my LinkedIn and inspired by day-to-day insights from my own experience with burnout and my work as a resilience keynote speaker and resilience strategist.
I offer 1:1 coaching for leaders focused on good habit formation. Book a 30 min call with me today to explore this offer.
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