One can achieve health only if one achieves mental and emotional health first.
It is important to acknowledge first that the mind's impact on the body has been studied for years and shows the impact of repressed and stuck emotions (such as resentment, fear, anger, anxiety, ...) on the physical body.
A great starting point to achieving mental health is decluttering most aspects of our life, especially the environment we spend most of our time in.
Speaking healthy our Truth with close friends, inside a safe men's circle, with a counsellor, a therapist or a trusted coach are avenues to achieve mental and emotional health.
According to Ayurveda, a period of 24 hours will follow multiple rhythms exacerbating different types of energy, passive, active and variable.
Here is a template to base our day on:
- awakening should be ideally at or before sunrise
- taking care of any physical elimination,
- drink water, do dental hygiene, splash your eyes with water, shower, bath
- get outside and have a look at the morning sunlight for at least 5 minutes (it will trigger some specific area of your brain to put you in an optimal state to start the day and improve your sleep at the same time, for more info on the science behind this you can check Andrew Huberman)
- self-massage with oils before showering to warm up and release eventual tensions in the body
- morning routines, pranayama / yoga / mobility work / meditation / prayer / journaling / chanting
- breakfast before 8am if you are not doing any sort of Interval Fasting
- go into your day at work or activities during the weekend
- lunch can be the biggest meal of the day and should be consumed ideally before 1pm and never after 2pm (because the digestive system becomes erratic and can even turn off at that time) If you eat after 2pm, eat something very light but not a complete meal.
- take 5 minutes minimum walk after lunch
- go back to your day
- take a 5-10 minutes pause at 2pm to re-centre yourself
- take a 5-10 minutes pause at 4pm to re-centre yourself
- any physical exercise would be best between 5pm and 7pm
- diner should be consumed before 7 pm. A light dinner will favourite your sleep quality. You don't need food to sleep.
- post-dinner until bedtime, you can take a peaceful walk, read, stretch, self-care, and conversation with loved ones. This is not a good time for computer work, chores, bills, housekeeping, etc.
- pre-bedtime practice if any such as journaling, reflecting on the day, meditation
- you should be in bed by 10pm