The Mortal Mamba

One can follow countless health practices but if I were to pick some of the most basic albeit important ones which are also easy to follow I will pick the following –

Sleep

1. Aim for at least 7-8 hours of sleep. It is humanly impossible to perform well with a sleep of less than 6 hours.
2. Turn off lights while sleeping. Even closed eyes can sense photons and lead to a poor interrupted sleep.
3. Avoid using electronic gadgets 1-2 hours before bedtime for deep sleep. They emit blue light which messes up with your melatonin responsible for deep sleep. (Red light is good for melatonin).
4. Avoid coffee at least 7-8 hours before bedtime. Limit coffee to maximum 2 cups in a day for good quality sleep.
5. Do not eat for at least 3-4 hours before bed time.

Sunlight

1. 15 mins of sunlight just after waking up. Helps improve your mood and sleep.

Exercise

1. Workout 4 days a week , approx 5-8 hours in total.
2. Lift more weights. With age your body retains lesser muscles and bone density gets lighter. Lifting weights has the best reward-to-time ratio (generally speaking).
3. Do not overtrain, exercise sessions > 90 mins can have adverse effects on cardiovascular health.

Diet

1. Make sure that you consume a lot of citrus fruits. They are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. It boosts your immunity and longevity.
2. Consume leafy and coloured vegetables.
3. Avoid sugar, it messes up all your internal fluids and hormones. Avoid other rich carbohydrates too – refined flour, polished rice, etc.
4. Do not eat for at least one hour after waking up.
5. Limited intake of salt for better cardiovascular and kidney health.
6. Very limited intake of sweet fruits like : Banana, Mango, grapes, etc. Most of the fruits these days are genetically modified (GMO) and they have extremely high glycemic index which can cause high blood sugar spikes.
7. Consistent eating schedule. Almost each organ in our body has an internal clock. Eating and non-eating windows (fasting window) should be consistent everyday. Limit your meal to a maximum of 4 periods of intakes in a given day. Do not eat anything in between, not even snacking.
8. Avoid processed and packaged foods. What is meant to increase shelf life won’t increase your life!
9. Drink 2-3 litres of water, more during the day time, lesser as the night time approaches.

Supplements

1. Vitamin D is highly deficient in a large percentage of the population. Lesser vitamin D means weaker bones. One should keep an eye on vitamin D level and can opt for the supplementation (with a doctor consultation of-course).
2. Vitamin B12 is deficient in vegetarians. This should be monitored as well.