The Genius Life

That’s from Chapter #1 called “Don’t Fork Around” in which we learn about the importance of nutrition to living a genius life.

As Max says: “You might not get to choose your genes, but what you put past your lips is a decision that falls largely under your control. For that reason, food is a frontline defense against the conditions of aging and the foundation to living a Genius Life.”

It’s funny because our last Note was on Dave Asprey’s Super Human—which is all about “The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever.”

You know where Dave starts? With your fork. His first practical-tool chapter is called “Food Is an Anti-Aging Drug.” He tells us that “high-performing people know that getting their food right is the number one human upgrade, even though different people found that different foods work best for their individual biology. Nutrition is essential not only for Super Human biology but also for Super Human success.”

And, not too long ago, we featured the only textbook on Positive Psychology and the Body. The author of that book cites similar research on the power of our forks in a chapter called “Positive Nutrition.”

Long story short: If you or someone you love suffers from depression, don’t underestimate just how powerful your nutrition is.

I know I repeat this theme A LOT. There’s a reason. It’s SUPER POWERFUL.

Know this: “If there’s one food category that typifies the Standard American Diet, it’s processed foods. Born of refined grains, bizarro oils, and stripped of essential nutrients, these foods zap your energy, undermine brain function, and cause you to gain weight. Cutting out this type of food, which includes most breads, pastas, granola bars, sugary snacks and beverages, and cereals, may be the single most effective step you can take for a slimmer waistline.” <- And, I’ll add: for a more Zesty-Energized MIND!

Quick check in: You feeding your inner Genius the fuel it needs to shine? What’s ONE tiny little thing (or potentially big thing!) you KNOW you could do to Optimize? LET’S. DO. THIS!!!

P.S. You know how I’m constantly (!) telling us that the ultimate game is to high five our inner soul? Eudaimonia via arete for the win! Well, get this. Daimon is the Greek word for soul or inner spirit. You know what the Romans called that best part of ourselves? Genius.

Here’s to fueling the Genius/Eudaimon Life one bite at a time!!

Welcome to chapter 2: “Timing Is Everything.”

Let’s take a peak inside that beautiful brain of yours. We’re looking for one of the most powerful (and most ancient!) parts of your brain stem. It’s only about the size of half a chocolate chip.

It’s so powerful that a similar structure will be found in ALL mammals. In fact, circadian rhythms are found in almost ALL organisms, including bacteria, fungi, plants and insects.

I wonder why? Probably because daily rhythms have been essential to life on Earth since, well, the beginning of time!

You know what happens when we start messing with our internal clocks? We don’t just mess up our sleeping and waking rhythms, we mess up pretty much ALL of our rhythms—from the timing of hormone release, metabolism, and a bunch of other processes.

Which is why “Timing Is Everything” is the second chapter in a book about living a Genius Life.

So… What do we need to know? We need to know that most of us are compromising our rhythms. That’s probably not a surprise. And, you’re probably not going to be surprised when I tell you that artificial BLUE LIGHT is the primary nemesis here.

Let’s go back to Super Human where Dave Asprey puts it brilliantly. He tells us: “A hundred years ago there was simply no way any human could encounter a light brighter than fire after the sun had set.”

Plus: “Most modern light sources contain unhealthy amounts of blue light and far too little of the beneficial spectrums to help balance it out. This is what I call junk light. Shining these junk light sources into your eyes close to bedtime is like Superman taking a little soak in a kryptonite salt bath to prepare for sleep.”

Let’s be nice to our clock neurons and quit soaking our SCN in kryptonite.

TURN OFF YOUR ELECTRONICS EARLY TONIGHT, WILL YA?! (Hah.) (Seriously)

Other tips to carpe circa diems: “Limit afternoon caffeine consumption. Caffeine affects the brain in the way bright light does.” Cut the caffeine earlier in the day. “Make 4 p.m. your absolute cutoff.” Plus: “Wear blue-light blocking glasses before bed.” And: “Avoid late-night exercise.”

P.S. Did you know that the average American spends 93% of their life indoors? Yep. That’s not helping the cause. Get outside and get some nice, early day light will ya! :)

P.P.S. Circadian rhythms aren’t the only rhythms we want to pay attention to. As we discuss in our Mastery Series session Carpe Diem: Energy, we also want to pay attention to Ultradian Rhythms and even what we call “Micradian” Rhythms that are worth paying attention to.

Check our Notes on The Power of Rest and The Power of Full Engagement for more rhythm goodness. For now… Carpe Rhythms!!!

That’s another idea from the “Timing Is Everything” chapter.

Quick recap. Mice naturally eat at night. Give them access to food all day every day and what happens? Well, we can give them the EXACT same number of calories as another group that’s fed the same thing in their normal hours and EEK. They get obese and unhealthy.

<- Isn’t that staggering?

Humans aren’t mice but we see similar findings when we disrupt OUR natural eating rhythms.

As Max says, “While more research is needed to clarify who will benefit most from time-restricted eating, it’s encouraging to think that those with limited access to healthy food may be able to improve their health simply by honoring their bodies’ innate rhythms. Nonetheless, round-the-clock eating is a new phenomenon for all of us, driven by an abundance of food that would have been inconceivable to our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Thankfully, the solution is simple: if you can help it, avoid eating for two to three hours before bed.”

Quick questions. What time do YOU usually eat your last meal relative to when you go to bed? Is it AT LEAST two hours before bedtime? And, how long of a fasting window do you typically have? Is it AT LEAST thirteen hours?

Do the math!! And… Remember: Timing Is Everything.

P.S. We talked about the power of intermittent fasting/time-restricted eating in our Notes on Super Human as well. Dave tells us: “Intermittent fasting is incredibly useful in aiding fat loss, preventing cancer, building muscle, and increasing resilience. Done correctly, it’s one of the most painless high-impact ways to live longer.”

He also tells us: “There is no doubt that strategies like ketosis, intermittent fasting, and the maintenance of a healthy circadian rhythm play a critical role in our longevity.”

His simplest rule of fork? “Don’t eat after dark.”

That’s from the fourth chapter called “Get Off Yo’ A**.”

First: My heart sinks when I read that stat from the World Health Organization that three hundred million people around the world now suffer from depression.

As we discuss in Conquering Depression 101 (and Conquering Anxiety 101) I know what it feels like to feel terrible.

And… I know what it feels like to feel great—which is why we keep on coming back to the science that shows us how to get our minds and moods right by getting our bodies right.

As we’ve discussed countless times, John Ratey tells us that exercise is like taking a little bit of Ritalin and a little bit of Prozac. Tal Ben-Shahar tells us that NOT exercising is like popping a depressant.

Sonja Lyubomirsky goes so far as to GUARANTEE us that exercise will make us happier. She tells us: “No one in our society needs to be told that exercise is good for us. Whether you are overweight or have a chronic illness or are a slim couch potato, you’ve probably heard or read this dictum countless times throughout your life. But has anyone told you— indeed, guaranteed you—that regular physical activity will make you happier? I swear by it.”

Then there’s Kelly McGonigal. Her book The Joy of Movement is THE book to read on the subject. It’s AMAZING. She tells us that exercise releases what scientists call “hope molecules” and she even gives us a step count threshold that we want to pay attention to.

Get this: “Other experiments in the U.S. and UK have forced moderately active adults to become sedentary for a period of time, only to watch their well-being wither. Regular exercisers who replace physical activity with a sedentary activity for two weeks become more anxious, tired, and hostile. When adults are randomly assigned to reduce their daily step count, 88 percent become more depressed. Within one week of becoming more sedentary, they report a 31 percent decline in life satisfaction. The average daily step count required to induce feelings of anxiety and depression and decrease satisfaction with life is 5,649. The typical American takes 4,774 steps per day. Across the globe, the average is 4,961.”

So… Are YOU (and your loved ones!) exercising? How many steps are you taking and how many drops of sweat are you dripping a day? MOVE YOUR BODY to get your mind genius-ified.

P.S. Midway through this Idea, my 1,000-second timer went off. I joyfully got up, banged out my fifth set of 11 burpees for the morning then got back at it. Max calls this having an “exercise snack.” He tells us: “The take-home message is this: ‘snack-sized’ bursts of intense, sugar-burning (i.e., anaerobic) exercise may help manage your blood sugar better than longer bouts of moderate intensity aerobic exercise. No time? No excuse! Even a quick few sets of push-ups or air squats before a big meal can help your body better manage the ensuing flood of energy.”

Depression and our bodies AGAIN? Yep. Have you noticed that the two go together? And that we’re hitting on our Big 3 Fundies yet AGAIN? Yep. Eat! Move! Sleep!

Remember: “The gateway to healing your brain is your body.”

Max references Matthew Walker and his brilliant book Why We Sleep (which remains our #1 recommended book for Heroic Coaches!).

He also tells us: “An overly sensitive amygdala interprets even minor events as major stressors, so it’s not surprising that these structures tend to be more active in people with depression. What may surprise you, however, is that even one night of poor sleep will make anyone’s amygdala about 60 percent more reactive. This explains why we get testy without enough sleep, and why our impulses become more difficult to control. An underslept brain is stuck on high alert, and the best remedy is simply a good night’s sleep.” <- Wow.

One more set of questions: How much sleep are YOU getting these days? Are you hitting the recommended 7 to 8 hours of ACTUAL sleep per night?

Know this: Although the basic fundamentals may not be that exciting to you, your inner Genius REALLY REALLY REALLY appreciates it when you rock them. So, I say, let’s do that as we heal our minds, strengthen our bodies, and become extraordinary!