The Cycle of Change?

There is a lot written about Prochaska and DiClemente’s cycle of change, to explain why some people aren’t ready to drop an unhealthy habit, or to take on a healthy change in their lives. Pre-contemplation, contemplation and preparation are the often drawn-out periods which eventually lead to, but also delay, the action and maintenance phases. The relapse phase of the cycle looms pessimistically and undermines self confidence to make lasting progress.

Rilke challenges us to change our perspective on this in:

Go to the limits of your longing

Let everything happen to you

Beauty and Terror

Just keep going

No feeling is final

We can encourage ourselves to become aware of the corkscrew of change, the forwards spiral which follows a natural rhythm across the contours of everyday life. This leads us from the calm flow of peak experience through the inevitable periods of turbulent loss, decay and adversity, into time for recovery and learning, before renewed creativity and intention propel us back to resonant flowing living.

To maintain forwards momentum we have to re-frame obstacles as opportunities to learn. This sounds glib and over-simplistic, but it underpins the understanding of this forwards spiral. The downhill part may instinctively feel like permanent descent or irredeemable loss, and this pessimism then can dominate your psychology. But connecting the descent with the recovery plateau and the ascent beyond as an integrated part of the whole, changes your outlook and reshapes your approach. It lets the spiral move forwards more naturally, unrestrained by the stagnation of negativity or the heaviness of depression.

Finding the rhythm of this corkscrew sets expectations and creates inner preparations to apply positive strategies at each stage. It oils the flow around the spiral and keeps your energy resonant with your surroundings.

From Jamon to Japan

This August I was lucky enough to spend some time in Cantabria- both in the mountains and at the coast. It is an incredibly beautiful part of Spain and I can thoroughly recommend the Picos de Europa. The climbing was a particular highlight.

However, I was expecting to see a healthy diet ; full of Spanish olive oil and local produce.

What became clear was the high proportion of cured meats consumed - Iberian ham, parma ham and an array of more processed cured pork products feature highly!

High fat dairy (cheese) and high alcohol consumption (which is as cheap or cheaper than soft drinks) were also apparent.

The outdoor lifestyle in Northern Spain however is flourishing; be it climbing, canyoning ,hiking or cycling.

Could it therefore be that this population is improving its longevity with regular outdoor exercise , whilst reducing it with unhealthy dietary practices by consuming a large amount of cured meat which is known to increase diabetes, heart disease and cancer?

Compare this with Japan , where there has been a great focus on dietary health since the Second World War:

Japanese people have one of the longest life expectancy worldwide. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41430-020-0677-5

The Japanese government have for a long time installed strict rules on healthy food to be served in schools,  and also more recently guidance for businesses on healthy living and reducing BMI. ( with penalties if they do not conform).

In Japan, men live to be eighty-one on average, and women reach eighty-six. Even more importantly, they remain healthy for much longer. The average British person is in poor health for between sixteen and nineteen years before they die. In Japan, it’s five to six years.

In my view there is a strong argument for greater government controls on diet within the UK and EU: They should ensure likely carcinogens a clearly labelled as such, whilst healthy foods are subsidised .

Andrew Fisher

August 2024

Live to Move and Move to Live

So here’s a challenge for you: can you reset your normal state from sitting to moving?

Particularly in the last one to two hundred years, we have tended to treat sitting down as the baseline state for our bodies, without really questioning it. As our minds dominate our attention, we tend to prefer to sit in order to focus on cognitive activities such as reading, writing, or using screens. This tendency has accelerated in recent years as we focus more on handheld devices or computers, both for work and leisure.

What if you turn that assumption upside down? What if, instead of sitting for the majority of your waking hours, you switch to moving for this time? What if you bring your body back into your attention as well as your mind?

Here’s the challenge: to move for 12 hours in 24. It sounds excessive, compulsive and impossible, but it is achievable!

The first big change you might need is a standing desk. Friends and colleagues  eye roll when they hear me wax lyrical about the joys of standing up to work at a screen or take telephone calls, but I cannot underestimate how different I feel in the two years so far that I have changed to this type of desk. It is a foundation stone for being able to be more active at other times of the day as well, because rather than feeling more tired, your body feels readier and more energised to take on other types of activity. Your concentration improves, your back feels straighter and more relaxed, and your neck and head feel free.

So here’s an example of how your working day might go:

• Wake up and step outside to watch the morning sky

• Yoga stretches and mindfulness meditation

• Sit for breakfast (SITTING 30 minutes)

• Sit to commute to work (SITTING 30 minutes)

• Stand at desk at work, gentle movements, steps, paces with Bluetooth headset when not actively needing to look at the screen

• Walk or run or cycle outdoors in your lunch break

• Sit to eat lunch (SITTING 30 minutes)

• Return to stand at desk for work

• Sit to commute back home (SITTING 30 minutes)

• Sit to eat dinner (SITTING 30 minutes)

• Wash up and other domestic tasks

• Gentle walk after dinner

• Sit to relax infront of a book or the TV (SITTING 60 minutes)

• Sleep 7-8 hours

Note I have highlighted any SITTING time as the exception, amounting to 3 hours 30 minutes across the whole waking day (which typically lasts 16-17 hours.)  This means that the rest of the time, you are standing, gently moving or exercising for 16 minus 3.5, equalling 12.5 hours.

What sounds like an impossible proportion of time moving can be broken down in this way to a manageable level.  

Thinking, reading, conducting meetings or conversations, or driving creativity while standing or gently moving increases your concentration especially through the previous mid-morning or  mid-afternoon slump of a sedentary day. What you had assumed to be normal levels of tiredness or distraction are transformed into productivity and focus because the body is more aligned with itself and able to support the mind to do its job better as a result. Moving becomes the new normal. Your energy levels, supported by good nutritional and fluid intake, as well as better sleep because of this level of activity, improve day on day.