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3 Easy Habits that Improved My Health

2024-07-23 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 16:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health, sleep and habits · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Evidence-based framing, His medical past, Sponsor segment present

Having turned 30, Ali looks at the research behind three health habits and concludes that 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day is a good target, that sunlight, especially first thing in the morning, does more good than harm, and that you need not drink 2.5 litres of water a day but can follow your thirst.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Turning 30 and taking health more seriously; the three habits

  • ★★ Ali has recently turned 30 and decided to take his health a lot more seriously than in the past, looking for evidence-based habits to add to his life. — 00:00:00

00:00:44 — Should you walk 10,000 steps a day? Origin of the number, studies on mortality, dementia, cancer and heart disease, and his walking plan

  • ★★ The 10,000-steps target comes from a 1964 marketing campaign before the Tokyo Olympics, chosen, apparently, because the Japanese character for 10,000 looks like a person walking. (hedged) — 00:00:44
  • ★★ Left to his own devices, Ali says he gets only maybe 4,000 or 5,000 steps a day. (hedged) — 00:01:18
  • ★★ 10,000 steps is about five miles or eight kilometres and takes roughly one hour 40 minutes to walk, about 10 minutes per 1,000 steps. — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ A 2022 meta-analysis of 15 studies on daily steps and death from any cause found the optimum for under-60s at around 8,000 to 10,000 steps; over-60s cut their risk of death by about 50% with about 6,000. — 00:01:47
  • ★★ Because the step-count curves are steepest at the start, walking more helps most if you are currently inactive and do not move around much. — 00:02:16
  • ★★ Above 10,000 steps a day the curves level out, Ali says, probably because few studies look at people who walk that much, so it is not yet known whether more steps keep lowering the risk of death. (hedged) — 00:02:45
  • ★★ The same step-count pattern holds for cancer, dementia and heart disease; in a UK study of about 80,000 adults around 60, the greatest drop in dementia risk seven years later came at just under 10,000 steps a day. — 00:02:45
  • ★★ For people who sit more than 10 hours a day, like Ali, the benefit of walking 10,000 steps is greater: walking seems to offset the harm of sitting at a desk all day. (hedged) — 00:03:44
  • ★★★ Any amount of walking is good for you and you need not hit 10,000 steps to see benefits; in general the more you walk the better, and the faster, at a brisk pace, the better. — 00:03:44
  • ★★★ A great daily target for most people is around 6,000 to 8,000 steps, beyond which the benefits diminish; a 30-minute walking commute plus a half-hour walk at lunch reaches 6,000. — 00:04:13
  • ★★ Ali plans to start his day with a half-hour walk around the local park with a coffee for his first 3,000 steps, and to walk to restaurants half an hour away instead of taking an Uber or the Tube. — 00:04:42
  • ★★ Whenever Ali feels blocked on writing or anything he is working on, going for a walk clears his mind and makes him more creative. — 00:04:42
  • ★★ While researching this video, Ali added a daily walk to his ideal week; he calls the ideal week method one of the time-management techniques that has most impacted his life. — 00:05:11 · Trident calendar system

00:05:25 — Sponsor read for BetterHelp

00:06:33 — How much sun exposure you should get, and why sunlight first thing in the morning matters

  • ★ To make their skin fairer, Greeks and Romans used lead in skin-whitening make-up from about 900 BC to 500 AD, a fashion also in Europe and America from the 1500s to the early 1900s. — 00:06:36 · United States
  • ★ Australia's 1980s sun campaign Slip, Slop, Slap told people to slip on a T-shirt, slop on sun cream and slap on a sun hat. (hedged) — 00:07:05
  • ★★★ Sunlight can be both harmful and beneficial, so a balance is needed: too much sun and UV exposure causes skin damage and ageing and contributes to skin cancer. — 00:07:40
  • ★★★ There is a clear association between sun exposure and living longer: the more sun exposure people get, the lower their all-cause mortality over time. — 00:08:05
  • ★★ Researchers in 2011 concluded that the health benefit of better vitamin D status from sun exposure may outweigh the possibly higher risk of melanoma from carefully increasing UV exposure. (hedged) — 00:08:34
  • ★★ Many governments recommend vitamin D supplements, but the evidence for them is mixed; studies show sun exposure is generally better for you than a vitamin D supplement. — 00:09:03
  • ★★ UV rays make the skin release nitric oxide into the blood, which relaxes blood vessels and lowers blood pressure, which is why blood pressure falls in summer compared with winter. — 00:09:32
  • ★★ Sunlight helps protect against heart disease and strokes and lowers the risk of obesity, autoimmune conditions such as arthritis and many cancers, apparently including skin cancer. — 00:09:32
  • ★★★ Ali's takeaway is that he should probably spend more time in the sun, still using sun cream, as sun exposure is probably not as bad as we were led to believe. (hedged) — 00:10:05
  • ★★ The circadian rhythm, run by a master clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, is slightly longer than 24 hours, so it needs cues such as light to stay in sync. — 00:10:34
  • ★★ Morning sunlight raises cortisol for alertness, helps make serotonin, stops melatonin production and sets a timer so that melatonin returns 12 to 14 hours later. — 00:11:03
  • ★★★ Getting sunlight fairly early in the morning sets your body clock forward and makes it much easier to go to sleep and to wake up earlier. — 00:11:03
  • ★★ Evening light, especially blue light from devices and screens, is generally not good: it reduces melatonin release and delays the body clock, so going to bed early gets harder. — 00:11:03
  • ★★ The sleep-science professors Ali has interviewed on his podcast say mixed things about blue-light-blocking glasses, and he does not know whether they are useful. (unsure) — 00:11:32
  • ★★ Ali has worn new blue-light-blocking glasses for two nights: his sleep score was 100% on the first, never that high before, and 78% on the second, against his usual sixties; he is not sure whether the glasses are the cause. — 00:12:02
  • ★★ If you cannot go outside first thing in the morning, open all your windows to flood your room and eyes with natural light; with no sunlight, turn on lots of indoor lights or use lamps that mimic sunlight. — 00:12:41
  • ★★ The advice to drink two and a half litres of water a day comes from 1945 dietary guidelines of the US Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, which said 2,500 ml of fluid daily. — 00:13:10 · United States

00:13:17 — How much water you should drink, and a pointer to his sleep-routine video

  • ★★ Food supplies much of our water: fruit is full of water and even bread is about 40% water. — 00:13:50
  • ★★ The 1945 guideline of two and a half litres of water a day was not supported by any proper scientific study and was repeated in the 1948 revision with no reference cited. — 00:14:19
  • ★★ Dehydration can alter mood, concentration, memory and alertness, so drinking enough water to stay hydrated matters for mental performance and for endurance sports. — 00:14:48
  • ★★ Kidneys work better when we are well hydrated, so low water intake is a risk factor for urinary and kidney diseases. — 00:14:48
  • ★★ There is apparently strong evidence that mild to moderate underhydration impairs several measures of cardiovascular function. (hedged) — 00:15:17
  • ★★★ Ali's conclusion: drink water, but do not feel you must hit an arbitrary two and a half litres a day; following your thirst will probably give you the water you need. — 00:15:17
  • ★★ Ali finds a urine colour chart helpful: in zones one to three you are probably hydrated enough; zones four to eight mean drinking a little more. — 00:15:46
  • ★★ Avoid drinking a lot of water at night: an uninterrupted night's sleep is probably better for you than waking up to urinate. (hedged) — 00:16:16
  • ★★ Ali calls sleep the single best performance-enhancing drug. (overstated) — 00:16:16

In the description and comments

  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): To a viewer who gets bored while walking, the channel suggests listening to podcasts or audiobooks. — creator comment

Threads in this video

  • progress update · Ali says he is doing a fitness journey at some point soon (2022) — Ali has recently turned 30 and decided to take his health a lot more seriously than in the past, looking for evidence-based habits to add to his life. (00:00:00)
  • first on record · How many steps a day should you walk? — A great daily target for most people is around 6,000 to 8,000 steps, beyond which the benefits diminish; a 30-minute walking commute plus a half-hour walk at lunch reaches 6,000. (00:04:13)
  • refine · What morning routine should you have? — Ali plans to start his day with a half-hour walk around the local park with a coffee for his first 3,000 steps, and to walk to restaurants half an hour away instead of taking an Uber or the Tube. (00:04:42)
  • refine · How do you have more creative ideas? — Whenever Ali feels blocked on writing or anything he is working on, going for a walk clears his mind and makes him more creative. (00:04:42)
  • first on record · How much sun exposure should you get? — Ali's takeaway is that he should probably spend more time in the sun, still using sun cream, as sun exposure is probably not as bad as we were led to believe. (00:10:05)
  • restate · How do you sleep better? — Getting sunlight fairly early in the morning sets your body clock forward and makes it much easier to go to sleep and to wake up earlier. (00:11:03)
  • refine · Should you avoid blue light before bed? — Evening light, especially blue light from devices and screens, is generally not good: it reduces melatonin release and delays the body clock, so going to bed early gets harder. (00:11:03)
  • first on record · How much water should you drink? — Ali's conclusion: drink water, but do not feel you must hit an arbitrary two and a half litres a day; following your thirst will probably give you the water you need. (00:15:17)
  • restate · How should you plan your week? — While researching this video, Ali added a daily walk to his ideal week; he calls the ideal week method one of the time-management techniques that has most impacted his life. (00:05:11)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: 10,000 steps a day · circadian rhythm

Also: People: Andrew Huberman

Works: Feel-Good Productivity (book)

Organizations: BetterHelp · Uber

Concepts: blue light · cancer · cardiovascular disease · Dementia · melatonin · Trident calendar system · vitamin D

Places: Australia · Tokyo

Also centred on 10,000 steps a day: 8 Simple Hacks to Improve Your Health

Also centred on circadian rhythm: Why You're Always Tired - 7 Myths Ruining Your Sleep · My Evidence-Based Sleep Routine

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