We can have more blood tests conducted on us than there are windmills in the Netherlands, but while they provide a good overview of our biological health, there’s a simpler way to see if you’re healthy.
According to fitness and nutrition coach Ryan Carter, there are three words we need to live by, and they’re not ‘live, laugh, love’.
Ryan tells us healthy people should wake up “happy, horny and hungry.” If we can tick each box, he says, then we by and large have a good picture of health. Taking to Instagram to convey his message, Ryan straight away admits this is “by no means absolute.”
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But he adds it “holds up reasonably well when you have honest self-reflection/awareness skills.”
“Health is based on our self subjective experience/state.”
He relates them to the circadian rhythm, the 24-hour biological process (or clock, if you will) that your body cycles through every single day. Having a healthy circadian rhythm is crucial to maintaining a healthy wellbeing.
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Ryan says it is “vital for optimal health with everything being influenced by it. The morning is a crucial time of the day. Human are morning risers and set the tone for the rest of the day.”
Speaking of his ‘happy, horny, hungry’ message, he surmises that their value will be different to each individual. “Our value of these and what they mean to us needs to be considered.”
“For a male waking up… ‘pitching a tent’ is essential. This doesn’t mean we have to have sex now or that we can’t have it later – it’s just a sign of good health,” he relates.
“Maybe you noticed when you are stressed or have a night of poor sleep, which gets affected?”
“Same thing with hunger. We don’t need to be ‘starving’ but have a sense of desire to eat – a big sign the brain, gut and liver are working in sync. When we’re stressed and running on oxidative/sympathetic pathways, this hunger signal gets inhibited – it’s also connected to melatonin and cortisol.”
“Being happy is also vital. And not the happiness that people tell you to pretend.”
“The sense of happiness feeling you have from being alive, and seize the day.”
He concludes,
“Start asking yourself these questions upon rising and noticing what affects them positively or negatively.”
Indeed, there is much to say for taking the time for yourself and to ask yourself how you’re actually doing, especially given the current global situation taking a mental toll on virtually everyone.
Other than asking yourself Ryan’s suggested three questions each morning, you could take the advice of Chris Hemsworth himself and recite some positive affirmations to yourself. Getting yourself into a meditative state and focusing on your inner thoughts and beliefs, to become present, can have a monumental effect on your overall happiness.
Asking questions of yourself may be a new practice, but commit to and stick with it and you should start feeling far happier in yourself.