These are the 6 Hacks that improved my Life
Over the past years I’ve been collecting things that improve my energy, focus and life in general. Some people may call it ‘life hacks’ or ‘game changer’ — call it whatever you want. I want to share these things so that people can consider to implement them in their live. Note: the ordering does not necessarily implicate a prioritization.
#1: Water
This is a very obvious and well-known thing to most of the people, but water is very important.
- Up to 60% of the human adult body and 73% of the brain is water.
- About 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water.
I think these facts are enough to see how important this element is for human. If you have the ‘privilege’ of constant access to water, use it. I personally drink up to 6 liters of water per day, but 2 to 3 may be enough for most people.
In the first 30 minutes when I woke up in the morning, I drink about 1 liter of water. This really helped me to start in the day — I feel to have more focus and less to none headaches!
#2: Vitamins and Minerals
Also called ‘micronutrients’, are mostly essential for important processes in the body. Some may increase your performance directly (like magnesium against cramps), or indirectly (like Vitamin C for your immune system). Placebo effects are highly associated with some, but as long as they help you, who cares? (my opinion).
I for myself found two things very helpful in the past: Kiwis and Barley Grass. They are easy to consume every day and have a lot of micronutrients. Kiwis are an excellent source of Vitamin C, in fact they contain more than an equivalent amount of orange. I personally eat 2 Kiwis every day, and it helped me to get less sick (did not get sick since I’m doing this).
Another thing is Barley Grass, which is an excellent source of many different vitamins and minerals. For example, it contains about 5 times as much iron as there is in spinach, and ~11 times more calcium than there is in cow’s milk. In my opinion, it can definitiely be helpful if you do not eat much vegetables or fruits. Every morning I drink around 20–30g of Barley Grass powder together with juice, because the taste is really…you need to get used to it. But I know that it is good for the health as well as a potential cancer inhibitor.
#3: Cold Shower
You could relate this to tip #1, but cold showers really gave me an extra energy kick. When you wake up and don’t feel that energetic, a cold shower can definitely change that! Some people say that it can improve your immune system when practicing regularly, since you get used to the cold water. I personally take a cold shower every day, and it is fun somehow. Definitely a game changer!
#4: Intermittent Fasting (IF)
This is a really important tip in my opinion, and widely hyped in the past. The basic idea is that you eat your meals of the day only in a specific timeline. For example: You eat your last meal at 9PM and then nothing until, let’s say 1PM the next day. This makes a fasting period of 16 hours and an eating period of 8 hours. The main advantages of this diet are:
- You can eat ‘what you want’, since hard for most people to overeat in a short time. But this is not a motivation to eat crap.
- Increased focus since you have low insulin levels while fasting. Insulin is a hormone made in the pancreas and brings sugar into the cells and keeps it there. It causes us to eat more and more sweets, for example.
Besides these facts, it can help with weight loss, improving blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugars. I practice it regularly, even tough the hours of fasting can differ from time to time. My tip is coffein, which you can use as an appetite suppressant. I definitely recommend everyone to try intermittent fasting for some time.
#5: Sports and Sleep
This is also very obvious and everyone should know that, but sports and sleep are essential. You need to find a type of sport which regularly keeps you active. For example, you could just take a walk some time a day and count your steps, so that you have a measurement. If you like team sports (I don’t), there a plenty of possibilities.
In my opinion, consistency is the key. If you only do something for a short period of time, you cannot expect high results. Better care for your body now than having issues in the age. I personally recommend everyone to practice a type of weight training, since it has plenty of benefits.
Sleep is important, and every person needs a different amount every day. If you cut out sleep time, your motoric skills will decrease. I heard about this in episode 646 in the HBR IdeaCast. This means that you won’t have the same reaction time as normal, or you will have trouble finding words (which I also experienced). For better sleep quality you should have a ~18°C or ~65°F room temperature and no lights. Also, 10 minute naps at the day can really help.
#6: Flight Mode
Do the experiment: when going to sleep, put your phone into flight mode and leave it until 1–2 hours (at least) after you woke up. In this time, also don’t open Social Media. The results were interesting — I had more focus and got more things done, since the first hours of the day are the most productive for me personally.
Please let me know if I missed something important that I should add here.
My website: https://mariusreimer.com
