Health: Some counter intuitive advice you should not miss
Good health often hides behind advice that sounds wrong at first. It over a decade of thinking and writing about health, the one thing that constantly surprises me is how counter intuitive advice on health sounds.
So here are some counterintuitive views on health.
When you’re tired, go for a walk. Gentle movement increases oxygen flow, clears lactic acid, and resets your energy far better than another cup of coffee.
When you can’t sleep, stop trying. The harder you chase sleep, the more your mind resists. Read something light, stretch, or breathe slowly. Sleep arrives when the body feels safe.
When you’re stressed, don’t fight it. Fighting tightens your system. Observe it. Acknowledge it. A few minutes of slow, deep breathing can bring your nervous system back to balance faster than distraction or denial.
When you feel foggy after eating, skip your next snack or even meal. Fasting clears your bloodstream of glucose spikes and gives your cells a chance to repair.
When you feel stuck mentally, change your environment. Step outside, take a cold shower, or stand in sunlight. The brain resets through sensory shifts, not willpower.
When your body aches, don’t rest too much. Gentle mobility — walking, stretching, hanging from a bar makes your muscles stronger. Resting makes stiffness worse.
When motivation drops, don’t wait for it to return. Act first. A small action creates momentum. Your brain rewards you regardless of whether the action was big or small.
When life feels overwhelming, simplify. Cut one meeting, skip one scroll, say one no. Space itself is medicine.
Finally, my greatest learning.
The body is wiser than the mind.
We tend to think of ourselves as the mind, because that is where cognition takes place. The recognition that we exist. But you exist more as a body than as a mind. Your mind is the slave of the body, not the other way around.
Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain
