E019: 5 Fundamental Principles for Better Health in 2025 - The Optimised Health Show

🧠 Episode Overview:
In this packed and entertaining episode of The Optimised Health Show, Ben and Sarah Law are back to kick off 2025 with their signature blend of science, real talk, and humour. Recording from a kitchen filled with red wine, roast chicken, and technical chaos, the duo dive into the five essential pillars of optimal health—and how you can apply them to feel and function at your best this year.

🔑 What You’ll Learn:

1. Sleep – The Foundation of Everything
Why sleep isn't just "nice to have," it's non-negotiable for energy, mood, hormones, and brain function.
✔ How sleep affects blood sugar, detoxification, and brain health
✔ Practical tips for deeper, higher quality sleep (blackout blinds, room temp, blue light hacks)
✔ The surprising link between natural daylight and your circadian rhythm

2. Stress – The Silent Saboteur
Stress can sabotage even the most perfect diet and workout plan.
✔ How chronic stress affects gut health, hormones, and weight
✔ Understanding your “stress bucket” and why too many stressors overflow it
✔ Techniques to manage stress: breathwork, mindset shifts, movement, and nature exposure

3. Movement – More Than Just Exercise
It’s not just about workouts—daily movement is a game-changer.
✔ Why walking is underrated (especially post-meal walks and “exercise snacks”)
✔ How to train smart: strength, cardio, zone 2, and HIIT
✔ Why less can be more—especially if you’re in a healing phase

4. Diet – It’s Not About Perfection
Stop chasing the perfect diet—focus on nutrient-dense, real food.
✔ The truth about diet “camps” (keto, low-carb, vegan, etc.)
✔ Why variety matters: protein rotation, plant diversity, and avoiding food intolerances
✔ How to personalise your nutrition based on your life stage, stress levels, and goals

5. Mental Health – The Missing Piece of the Puzzle
Your brain and gut are deeply connected—and both need care.
✔ Why gut health is essential for mental well-being
✔ The role of community, connection, and positive environments
✔ Gratitude, journaling, meditation, and believing in something bigger than yourself

👥 Who This Episode is For:

• Anyone looking to feel better, think clearer, and live more fully in 2025
• Biohackers, entrepreneurs, health enthusiasts, and everyday people wanting real advice
• Those struggling with sleep, stress, energy, or general overwhelm

🛠 Bonus:
Ben and Sarah share personal tools, hacks, and daily rituals they use to stay grounded and energised—even while moving house for the 12th time in 10 years!

Thanks to Our Sponsor:
Want supplements that *actually* work? Check out Love Life Supplements and use code BEN10 for 10% off your order.

Book a Consultation with Sarah: Free Wellness Discovery Call

Let’s Stay Connected:  

• Ben: @benlawprimal
• Sarah: @sarahlawuk

Thanks for Tuning In!  
Enjoyed this episode? Drop us a 5-star review and share it with your health-loving crew. Stay tuned for our next episode — we promise we won’t ghost you again!

Transcript

Sarah 0:08

Hello and welcome back to the Optimised Health Show with your hosts Ben and Sarah Law. Happy New Year.

Ben 0:15

Hello. Happy New Year.

Sarah 0:18

It is 2025, and we're off to a good start.

Ben 0:22

Are we?

Sarah 0:23

With our consistency with the podcast. What did you just say?

Ben 0:28

Consistency. You can't call it consistent if it's the first one, can you? Well, it's not the first one.

Sarah 0:32

We've already released one. We recorded another one, and this is number three in the new consistent era. I wouldn't say it's consistent though, because you have like a three-week gap again. Well, uh there were reasons for the three-week gap. Christmas, hospital visit.

Ben 0:44

That's a podcast for another day. We won't go into that now because that's a long story. We want to get into it. It's quite smoky in this kitchen.

Sarah 0:51

We're just roasting a chicken right now.

Ben 0:53

We're roasting a chicken.

Sarah 0:54

An organic riverford beauty. So if you hear any popping, it's because it's a bat basically It's an exploding chicken.

Ben 1:02

I've got an exploding oven next to us. I'm looking forward to it, though. I'm really looking forward to it. Brown and crispy. It does, and you love a bit of crispy skin. I do. This is far later than we should have been doing it because technical issues.

Sarah 1:15

Yeah, we couldn't get the so the that bloody logo behind us.

Ben 1:19

It looks quite simple on that TB.

Sarah 1:21

But it's not, apparently according to get it to appear. And Benjamin Laura is Mr. Technical.

Ben 1:26

So if you can't do it, nobody can do it. But now it's appearing and we're recording on two cameras simultaneously to two different microphones. It's all a lot. It's a lot, Peeps. I'm drinking a red wine.

Sarah 1:37

He is because he's been stressed about this setup. But excitingly, we are moving house very soon. So Again. Yeah, again.

Ben 1:45

We're trying to do it every 12 months.

Sarah 1:48

How many times have we moved in the last how many years did we just war? Did we discover? It was It was more than once a year, wasn't it?

Ben 1:56

Yeah. It was literally ten times, wasn't it? No, it was more than that. It was 12 times in like 10 years or something.

Sarah 2:03

Yeah, ridiculous. I mean, is there something wrong with us? Yes. Tell us, people. Is there something wrong with it?

Ben 2:10

Apparently we move house every 10 months or so. We can't we just can't sell me, basically. So we have to keep moving on.

Sarah 2:17

Like I think it's something to do with dopamine. It's like a dopamine hit every time we move house.

Ben 2:21

Well we just get born quickly. Partly and the fact that landlords kick us out, countries kick us out.

Sarah 2:27

That makes us sound like scumbags. They don't kick us out because we're scummy. They kick us out because they decide they want to sell the property or happy with the location. Um yes, the point of that was when we move, we are going to have a dedicated filming studio room, aren't we?

Ben 2:48

Which is very exciting. Because the house is pretty damn mega as well. Gaganel fridge. It's got all the stuff.

Sarah 2:56

And a sub-zero fridge.

Ben 2:58

But it's importantly, it's got a lot of rooms.

Sarah 3:02

Yes.

Ben 3:02

And so we can have dedicated like content room, like a podcast room, can't we? So it's all set up, ready to go. No stress. We just have to switch it on. Bash it out. Talk our magic.

Sarah 3:15

Wow. But you can't wait for this episode because there's going to be some real magic. The Optimized Health Show is brought to you by Love Life Supplements. If you're looking for clean, effective, high-quality supplements that are thoroughly tested and GMP certified, head over to lovelifsupplements.co.uk and use the code BEN10 for 10% off your entire order.

Ben 3:36

So what are we talking about today?

Sarah 3:37

We are talking about the five fundamentals of health. Hmm.

Ben 3:42

We've got to work on the title.

Sarah 3:44

I can't remember Fundamentals of Health for 2025 or something. What did I write as the title?

Ben 3:49

Five fundamentals of health. Five fundamental principles. Principles. Principles.

Sarah 3:59

Five fundamental principles for better health in 2025. For better health in 2025. So let's go. Number one, we decided.

Ben 4:10

We've spoken about it before. We're going to speak about it again. Because it's so fundamental, and this is the fundamentals.

Sarah 4:16

Principle.

Ben 4:17

Principles.

Sarah 4:19

Sleep. So sleep, I think, is something that is so underrated. And especially I think for people who run businesses, you know, or maybe have side gigs and then kids, and you're working the side gig at night, and everyone's like, oh, you know, in order to make your dreams a reality, you have to work more and sleep less. And I'm like, no. I get it when you're busy and you've got a lot of stuff going on, but if you don't sleep, you're going to really bugger yourself up, basically. And your brain doesn't work if you don't sleep. No.

Ben 4:53

So you impacts everything, doesn't it?

Sarah 4:55

You get less done in more time. So if you sleep better, you're going to get more done in less time.

Ben 5:00

Yes, is the foundation for everything. It really is. Feeling good during the day. It is. And I think optimizing everything health-wise.

Sarah 5:09

Yeah, people don't realise actually what sleep does. So if you have a lack of sleep, it massively impacts your blood sugar regulation. Why can't I speak today?

Ben 5:20

Stop highlighting it and just speak.

Sarah 5:22

Wow. I would I'm trying. Yeah, it massively impacts your blood sugar regulation. So if you were to test your blood glucose and you'd had a really poor night's sleep, I can guarantee you it will be higher. So it's really important, like really affects insulin sensitivity. And also when we sleep, our brain detoxes.

Ben 5:41

Yeah. And everyone knows on a basic term, you feel like shit when you don't sleep well. This is true. That's yeah, it's quite obvious when you don't sleep well, you can't function as pro as well, your brain doesn't work as well.

Sarah 5:53

No, no, but this this brain detoxing is super important because we have what is called a gymphatic system. So we have a lymphatic system in our body, which helps move toxins around and out. Um, but we have a gymphatic system in the brain. And the gympastic oh my god. The gymphatic system is basically there to detox your brain at night. That's when it works. So if you are scrimping, is that word scrimping? Skimping?

Ben 6:23

Skimping. Skimping. I wouldn't say scrimping. Scrimping is a word, but I think it's skimping.

Sarah 6:27

What does scrimping mean though?

Ben 6:28

Don't worry, move on.

Sarah 6:30

Okay. If you're skimping, scrimping, skimping on sleep, you're missing out on that brain detox. And that's probably why your brain doesn't work particularly well the next day, but the long-term impacts of that as well are not good, are they? You don't want a load of toxins floating around in your brain. They're not really going to be.

Ben 6:47

So tips are getting better sleep.

Sarah 6:49

Wow, he's on one today.

Ben 6:50

Well, we've got to be here all day.

Sarah 6:54

Cooking away. Better sleep. Okay.

Ben 6:56

Dark room, completely dark, blackout blinds, if possible.

Sarah 7:00

Yes.

Ben 7:00

Literally no light. Like, because light can really impact sleep.

Sarah 7:04

Um Yeah, and this is one of the criteria, actually, when we moved into the new house, there was no curtains. Uh, and we said to the landlord, we're not moving in unless you put blackout blinds in, basically. Well, literally no curtains at all, so the option is blackouts, or we're not moving in. And in this house that we're in at the moment, it's really annoying because they're like patio doors, aren't they? So basically, you can't really have blackouts, so we've got these like sticky shit blackout things.

Ben 7:29

From Amazon, just a blackout sheet that we have to velcro to the window.

Sarah 7:34

But there's a tip for you, you know, if you're like, oh, I can't fit blackout curtains, they were super cheap. They velcro to the frame, and there you are with blackouts, basically.

Ben 7:44

Yeah.

Sarah 7:45

Um, cold, cold room, benchmarking light.

Ben 7:49

Sorry, something like that so any lights at all, you can get like little sticky black dots again from Amazon. You can stick over any little like little lights on like um fire alarms, fire alarms and TVs and stuff like that. And then a blackout mask. Masks is a bit of a game changer, isn't it? Just a simple eye mask.

Sarah 8:11

Yeah, what are our Z sleep? Oh, mine is, yours isn't. You've got a different one now, haven't you?

Ben 8:16

Yeah, they're really good, and they're just something about putting it on your eyes. I don't know. It feels comforting. Yeah, I just definitely sleep better with it.

Sarah 8:24

It's weird because now I'm so used to it. If I don't have one, I can't sleep. It feels wrong. It feels a bit like I'm nicky.

Ben 8:29

Yeah, I'm obviously eye mask. I mean you can get ear well moving on. Earplugs.

Sarah 8:35

Earplugs, uh I guess that depends though, doesn't it? If you've got someone who snores, and luckily, most of the time, well, I never snore. I do talk though, sometimes.

Ben 8:44

You talk in your sleep, yeah.

Sarah 8:46

Do you want to tell people some of the random things that have come out of my mouth? You really want me to say you were obviously scaring me in my sleep. I was shouting get out basically then.

Ben 9:00

There's been a lot of different things.

Sarah 9:02

I've done that one twice, haven't I? Get out.

Ben 9:04

Several. Yeah, and some just I don't know what's going on in your head.

Sarah 9:07

I don't sometimes either. Um, but yeah, if someone snores, a partner, then probably earplugs would be a good idea.

Ben 9:14

I do snore from time to time.

Sarah 9:16

Occasionally. I d I can't really figure out when. Definitely when you've been drinking, which you don't do that often anyway, so that's good. But ran rand well, he says with a red wine in his hand, but not excessively. But randomly, just sometimes you will. I don't know why.

Ben 9:29

But I think I don't do it personally, but I think earplugs in just in general.

Sarah 9:33

But you meant I don't do it personally snoring. I was like, well, yes, you do. I don't do earplugs either because we're both quite silent.

Ben 9:40

Yeah, it's better if we lived in a noisy place than earplugs, just the cheap foam ones.

Sarah 9:46

Yeah. And then a cold room.

Ben 9:48

Um freezing cold.

Sarah 9:50

Yeah, Benjamin loves it to be so cold. I actually hate getting in bed because I'm I have to literally wear dressing gowns in bed until it will I warm up under the duo because it's so cold. And I don't think that's healthy.

Ben 10:02

Never put the radiator on in the bedroom, do we? To keep it cool. No. I like it.

Sarah 10:09

You love it. What is the optimal temperature, do you know?

Ben 10:11

No.

Sarah 10:12

I don't either. I think it's just I j I think it's just but below your body's core temperature is about right. Um it makes such a difference. Now, obviously, females going through menopause, this is one of the biggest struggles, is the old hot flushes, flashes that then wake up in pools of sweat. So you definitely, if you are going through menopause, do not want your radiator on in your bedroom because it's not going to help.

Ben 10:37

Yeah, and you have the temperature fluctuates during the night, doesn't it? It kind of raises in the middle of the night, doesn't it? It's kind of when you like during the night you can like wake up really hot. Then in the morning you can be really cool because your body temperature changes.

Sarah 10:52

Yeah, and and females as well, again, depending on where they are in their cycle, their body temperature can change quite a lot as well. Like so after ovulation, their body temperature, basal body temperature will rise and then they'll be hotter, basically, the second half of the cycle.

Ben 11:07

You can get things allow like temperature-controlled mattress covers, like the eight sleep.

Sarah 11:12

Yeah, and you can do different side uh sides, can't you?

Ben 11:14

So one size different temperature to the other.

Sarah 11:17

If you're an ice queen like myself, you can have it a little bit warmer.

Ben 11:21

That'll adapt to temperature during the night as well. I mean, we really need one. The next on the list.

Sarah 11:26

Um and then other things for sleep. So something that's actually really important that people don't actually think about is like daytime. So the quality of your sleep is dictated by the quality of the light that you actually get in the day. And the problem, especially in the UK, is that we often live in darkness. I mean, especially in winter. Quarter to four. I mean, that's fun. Um, and because it's cold and snowy right now, people just don't leave the house. And I'm definitely, you know, I find that happens to us sometimes as yeah, definitely. You don't leave the house, basically. Or in the dark all day. Yeah, and you don't get out into natural daylight. And so your entire body is regulated by daylight, um, by light and dark cycles. So we have these little clocks, basically, in each of our cells, clock genes in each of our cells, and they regulate things like hormones being released. And those clock genes are um controlled by light and dark. So if you are not getting that natural daylight, then your body doesn't really know what time it is, and then it's not going to release the right hormones when it should release them. And that can mess with everything. So that's going to mess with you releasing sleep hormones at night, melatonin. It's going to mess with you actually releasing enough cortisol in the morning at the right amount to give you the energy and the wake-up that you need. So one of the like easiest tips that you can do is first thing in the morning, get daylight in your eyes.

Ben 12:59

Yeah, as soon as possible.

Sarah 13:00

Yeah, before looking at phones.

Ben 13:02

Wake up, get the light in your face. Um, and that's obviously not easy. No, if it's dark when you get up. Well, when it's dark when you get up, we're gonna be in the UK. I mean, it's literally dark all day. But we do have like a a red light, don't we? A very powerful red light. Red light panel. Panel. I mean, they are quite pricey.

Sarah 13:19

Um they are, but they're worth it if you live in the UK. I think it's a non-negotiable, to be honest. Yeah. In the winter.

Ben 13:26

So we'll often spend like 20 minutes in front of one in the morning, won't we?

Sarah 13:29

Yeah, doing a morning routine. So doing a bit of reading, a bit of meditation, breath work, gratitude in front of the red light, and it's absolutely wonderful. I've actually got a discount code for Bon Charge where they do red light. So if anyone, I'll put it in the show notes. Uh so you can get a little discount on your own red light. They actually do a small travel one as well, which is better, you know, it's not big, obviously, it's small. But it's wow. Go Wednesday. Um, it is better than nothing, and it's actually quite good for travel as well. So I I often take it when I travel. So that's a really good one. And also at night time blocking blue light from sundown. So people think we're nutters because we both wear glasses, and then in the evening, when we're in bed, you'll see us basically in a pair of glasses with a pair of blue light blocking glasses over the top. Double glasses.

Ben 14:17

Yeah.

Sarah 14:18

And I remember I was at a conference and I stayed with one of my really good friends for the night, and she was just like, I actually can't cope with you. I was laying in bed with my double glasses on, she was just like, Wow. I know this is my life. You get some funny looks. We do, yeah. They're big in the biohacking world, aren't they? Yes. Everyone wears them. They are.

Ben 14:35

So after sundown, put them on, especially if you work in or working late or watching TV. Yeah, working on laptops. It helps with melatonin production, doesn't it?

Sarah 14:45

Yeah, it basically the blue light which is emitted from phones, TVs, lights in our houses. Blue light is is emitted from basically everything, it's artificial light. And so that stops melatonin.

Ben 14:59

It's not necessarily artificial, is it? You can get blue light from the sun.

Sarah 15:02

Well, yeah, but that's kind of the real blue light, not the big blue light. Um, so yeah, we the blue light blocking glasses do what they say on the tin. They block that blue light, which then means your melatonin production can actually happen because that blue light just stops melatonin production.

Ben 15:18

Yeah.

Sarah 15:18

So you want to make sure you're getting melatonin. And especially as we age, you know, we're in our 40s, unfortunately. Um and as you age, you naturally produce less melatonin anyway. So you don't really want to be blocking your own production. And all hormones work together. So I think people forget that. Like harm hormones are like a symphony, they all work together. So when one goes off, they all go off. So you really need to balance them all. And so many people miss these fundamentals and just go straight to, you know, I always think like hormones, like obviously, this is a hormone, but people go to like the main hormones that they think of and try and rectify those when they actually don't look at what are the what are the actual roots. Um, and it is the diet and lifestyle things that are the roots most of the time.

Ben 16:08

Yes, it's 15 minutes, and we're still on the first one. We're gonna be here all day. Okay, number two. Well, just quickly on sleep, just to wrap it up. Go on, then wrap it up, not eating too close to bedtime, which is we're bad at. We're really bad at that.

Sarah 16:23

Um, I'm really good when I do like a six-hour eating window because I don't have long to eat, so I'm gonna do it.

Ben 16:28

At least for at least 90 minutes before we go to bed, let's finish eating. Ideally, like two to three hours though, for a lot of people. At least 90 minutes. At least.

Sarah 16:37

But yeah, um, but again, depending on the person, some people genetically um But as a general rule. Yeah, as a general rule, but some people might actually find that if they have a little snack before bed, yeah, it actually has. Few carbs and tryptophan rich foods. Um, because tryptocan tryptan. Um tryptocan, tryptophan. Tryptophan gets converted into uh 5 HTP and 5 HTTP. Serotonin. Oh my god, I'm getting confused now. Tryptophan gets converted into serotonin and serotonin. No, no, no, you were right. Tryptophan to 5 HTP to serotonin. Yeah, to melatonin.

Ben 17:12

Yes.

Sarah 17:13

So basically, no one would have understood a word of that. So basically, tryptophan, tryptophan rich foods are things like turkey. That gets converted into 5 HTP, 5 HTP gets converted into serotonin, and serotonin then gets converted into melatonin, your sleep hormone.

Ben 17:28

We don't need to go into such detail.

Sarah 17:29

People might want to know these things.

Ben 17:30

Because we'll be here all night. Well, you people get bored.

Sarah 17:34

You um well, number two then, stress management.

Ben 17:41

Yes.

Sarah 17:42

So I always say to people, you can do all the good things like the right diet, the right supplements, exercise, but if you don't manage stress, none of it will work. None of it will. Your body, basically, your body is so clever. So whenever you're in that sympathetic dominant state chronically, it messes with everything in your body because your body basically thinks you're in danger. So if your body thinks you're in danger, it's going to prioritize the things that are important to help you survive. So the things that aren't important at that point, digestion, your body's like, well, you don't need to be eating food right now, you need to be running. So I'm gonna take all the energy that would go to digestion and shunt it to your muscles. Stomach acid production lowers, digestive enzyme production lowers, so you're not gonna digest very well, then things are gonna ferment in your gut. You then end up with leaky gut as well because stress, too much cortisol will cause the cells of the gut lining to pull apart and also makes the cells permeable so things can get through. That stimulates the immune system, the immune system gets pissed off, then you have food intolerances, then you have all this inflammation because inflammation mainly comes from the immune system, and basically it's all a bit of a shit joke. So you could be putting all the right foods in, but if you're stressed to the high heavens, none of them are going to absorb properly, you're not gonna break them down properly, and you're probably going to end up with a leaky gut no matter what. So you need to manage stress properly. It's also going to m mess up your sleep.

Ben 19:12

Yeah. But it's a it is a tough one, isn't it? Because it's easy just to say manage stress.

Sarah 19:17

I know.

Ben 19:18

But people have stressful events and things happen in their life.

Sarah 19:23

They do, absolutely. And this is the thing to think about. Like, stress comes in many forms. So you've obviously got like mental and emotional stress, but you've also got physical stress. So physical stress can come from an overload of toxins in your body, poor gut health, um, not moving, moving too much, undereating. Yeah, undereating is a big one that I see a lot of people under eating and overexercising, done it myself. Um, and it really stresses your body out. So you might be thinking, well, I'm not stressed, and mentally I'm absolutely fine, but your body is absolutely stressed. So it comes in many shapes and forms. So it's really assessing where the stresses are in your life. And I always like to think of it a bit like having a bucket. So you've got a stress bucket, and stress is really important. We need stress, like our bodies, if we didn't stress our bodies, they would never change. So that's not good either. You need a stressor. Yeah, you need stresses, but it's about how full is the bucket. So if you think like you've got a bucket and if you have too many stresses going in, it will eventually overflow and that will mess with everything. So you have to assess how many stresses are in your bucket, and that's why some things that are good for some people are not necessarily going to be really good for someone else, because if their stress stress bucket is already too full, let's take um, for example, fasting. Fasting is incredible and has so many benefits. But if your body, if you're stressed to the high heavens, you've got a crazy work schedule, you've got five kids, you are, you know, you've already been under-eating for three years and over-training. If you then just go and fast, you're never going to get the actual uh medicinal benefits of fasting because your body is too stressed and it will go into this cell danger response, it won't work, and so it will actually be so counterproductive. So is knowing when to implement things. So, what can we do to mitigate stress? Um, firstly, I would say it's all about like how you perceive situations. So, of course, there are things in life that happen that can be traumatic or stressful, but we have to think about like how we how we see those situations because two people could go through exactly the same event, and one person is fine and the other person is not because of the way they perceive it. We all have like our own set of glasses that we wear in this world. I always think about this story about um a plane, and it was a really bumpy journey, a bit like the one for us to Atlanta, which was I thought I was gonna die, it was not fun. Um, and everyone on the plane was like screaming, crying. And there was a little boy on the plane, and he was like, woo, like it was the best day of his life. He was just like, it was like a roller coaster to him. And he was actually the son's pilot. A son's pilot? Oh my god. The pilot's son. But it's two different perceptions of a situation. And I think a lot of the time, by by the time we become adults, we have so many past experiences that then determine how we see life and see situations. And we've got programming from what people have told us when we're little and all of that stuff that then leads to Ben's going to check the chicken. Oh, we've got to turn the chicken off. Just check those suede as well. Sorry about this. The roasted suede, just make sure it's not burning. Whoa! I don't think you'll be able to see us in a second. Because of the smoke. Holy moly. Have we got a smoke detector in here? Am I turning on what? Just see if they're done or not, the suede.

Ben 22:54

Does this go in the buttons?

Sarah 22:55

Yep.

Ben 22:58

Chicken's pretty stressed right now.

Sarah 22:59

Um, yeah, I'm sure it is.

Ben 23:01

It looks like they're just are they hard or soft.

Sarah 23:06

Let me try one.

Ben 23:07

It's off, completely soft.

Sarah 23:08

Completely soft. Okay, we're good then. We're good. Chicken done. Now you can just hear a bubbling chicken in the background. Um, so wow. You really can hear that probably. Things you can do to manage stress is think about how you see situations is number one. Like, I and I think this comes from awareness because sometimes we're not even aware of the way we think um and how we perceive things. And I can honestly say, like, I used to be someone who used to worry about a lot of things, like I was quite down on myself. I would worry, I would stress about situations, and my my self-talk was quite negative, and I did a lot of work on myself, like a lot of reading, a lot of personal development to shift that and a lot of rewiring my brain. Yeah, you can rewire your brain. Um, so reprogramming, you know, and it started with awareness. Like, as soon as I heard that little voice in my head, go, Oh my god, but what if this happens, or what if that happens, or this is not good, then I would like notice it and be like, change that to the positive of that. So that would be my first step. What else can be done to manage stress?

Ben 24:17

Um, things like breath work, breath work, so meditation, yeah. Just movement, I guess, just getting outside, going for a walk.

Sarah 24:27

Going for a walk in nature is actually one of the best things you can do to lower cortisol. It's it's been studied and proven that walking in nature can dramatically reduce cortisol. So that's such a good one.

Ben 24:40

Yeah.

Sarah 24:41

Get out and hug a tree, basically.

Ben 24:44

Breath work is a big one. Just slow breathing, like it's so simple to do. But people probably don't do it like you like the box breath, four in, half a four, four out. Especially extending the exhale, which is a big um, big stress reducer, so you can instantly feel calmer if you're like four in, like eight out. Yeah, and also making sure you don't just breathe from your chest, yeah, but uh belly breathing, belly breathing, get the belly then chest.

Sarah 25:13

Yeah, because if you think when you panic, you breathe from up here all the time, it's like and really shallow. So the more you can like breathe down past your diaphragm, yeah.

Ben 25:21

Mindful mindful, mindfulness, mindfulness meditation, it's quite a hard one to master. I can't say I've mastered it, but kind of when you try and clear the mind and not really think of anything.

Sarah 25:34

Um the thing you have to think about as well with something like meditation is it's a practice. Yes, people often go, Oh, I can't meditate, my brain's too busy, I think of all these things. And I'm like, Yeah, we all do, we've all got busy brains. But the more you do it, the better you get at it. And there's a quote as well, I can't remember who said this, when people are like, Oh, I don't have time to meditate. And it's like, if you don't have time to meditate, you're the person that needs to meditate. Sure.

Ben 25:58

Yeah.

Sarah 25:59

So even if it's five minutes and you can use guided apps and things like that. Like, there's an amazing app that we love called Othership for breath work, isn't there? Which is incredible.

Ben 26:08

Um, yeah, it's great, absolutely great for breath work.

Sarah 26:10

And it's got lots of like visualizations and so many different breath works for energy or sleep. I mean, it's just got so much on there, really and really deep guided ones as well. So, this is the great thing with breath work, like our nervous system regulates everything. And this goes back to kind of what I said earlier about I can give you all the diet plans, etc., in the world, but if you don't manage stress, they're never going to work. And it's because of the nervous system. So the nervous system regulates everything. So if your nervous system is just like on the edge 24-7, then that's going to impact any kind of health journey and stop you from getting to where you want to be. Um, so you have to work on the nervous system. All the somatic work really helps, and it's like a double whammy coming in, coming at it from a nutrition and diet perspective, and then from a somatic work perspective, nervous system regulation perspective, those two coming together is what changes everything. Um, anything else for stress management? Dance. I think dance and sing. Actually, singing, singing is a great one because it actually stimulates your vagus nerve. So your vagus nerve runs from your gut to your brain and it controls things like digestion, but it also controls like um stress. So stimulating your vagus nerve helps you calm your nervous system down.

Ben 27:30

The omming in in meditation.

Sarah 27:34

That's why it's there, isn't it? To stimulate the vagus nerve.

Ben 27:36

It definitely, I mean, you sound like an idiot.

Sarah 27:38

Um I mean, I love listening to you in the morning when you're oming very loud sometimes.

Ben 27:43

Have you heard you? You haven't heard you. I think someone's being uh attacked upstairs. It's not even at all.

Sarah 27:58

I'm just letting loose. I'm letting that I'm letting that aggression out.

Ben 28:01

My nervous system is becoming regulated. Yeah, you've got to be very comfortable with the people you live and know them for a while if you're gonna be omning.

Sarah 28:07

Yeah, but it's just um It definitely helps. It really does. It stimulates that vagus nerve, and that's gonna help your digestion as well. If you are fed up with going it alone on your health journey and you are struggling, you're generally not feeling your best self, but are ready to get optimised. Why not book a free wellness discovery call with me, a naturopathic nutritionist and functional health coach, where I'll help you understand the root causes of your issues and guide you in the right direction of which of my programs would be best suited for you, whether that be a group programme or one-to-one coaching. The link to book your free call is in the show notes. What are you looking at?

Ben 28:41

We're half an hour in now, we're only on two. So let's go. Like we said, walking. Walking's so underrated, I think.

Sarah 28:48

So underrated. And I like it's so interesting because I just assume that everyone does about 10,000 steps a day. However, most people don't.

Ben 28:56

No.

Sarah 28:57

Um, and I I get it, like when you've got an office job or whatever and you're sitting at a laptop a lot indoors, it can be very easy to not move. Um, and then you feel tired because you've been sitting at a laptop all day, so then you're like, Oh, I can't bother to do anything. But it's so important, like it's so again, like you said, so underrated for regulating blood sugar. Um, it I mean, it does so it's just important.

Ben 29:20

Yeah, I mean, you just feel more energized. Yeah. Like we both have walking treadmill desks, which is becoming more and more common now and I guess less expensive. You probably still like 200, maybe.

Sarah 29:34

I think you can get them for about 150 on good old Amazonia.

Ben 29:37

But it's just an absolute game changer. If you work at a desk, yeah, um, yeah, it's a massive game changer. I can get like easily get 15,000 steps in in a day without leaving the house. That's a good thing. Um, but I can find I can work actually workloads better. Once you get used to it, it's quite hard to begin with. Once you get used to it, I just feel like my brain actually works a lot better. Yeah. And I'm getting that movement in, like keeping blood sugar down.

Sarah 30:07

Yeah. But I would say as well, like, even if you just go, do you know what? I'm just uh gonna do 10-minute walks as well after meals, just get outside. So you're doing if you've got a walking treadmill desk, great, and then 10-minute walks outside after meals, again, that's going to really help blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity. There was actually a study done that came out recently as well that showed that uh they call it like exercise snacks. So if you do, I think it's like 20 air squats every 45 minutes, it actually lowers your blood sugar more than going for a 30-minute walk. So even things like that.

Ben 30:41

Yes, we love a bit of Joel Green. That's like every hour, something like just one minute all out, like as hard as you can. Yeah, air squats or push-ups or plank for eight hours a day. It sounds not like nothing.

Sarah 30:57

But that's the great thing, isn't it? It feels like nothing.

Ben 30:59

One minute every hour. Yeah, but it's super simple. It comes around quite quick. It's actually quite hard.

Sarah 31:04

That's our little trick on a plane as well, isn't it? Long haul flights, every time you go to the loo, you have to do 20 air squats.

Ben 31:09

At least 20.

Sarah 31:10

At least 20.

Ben 31:10

50 sometimes.

Sarah 31:11

It's quite small in there. And people are probably like, what the hell are they doing in there? Um because they're probably queuing for the loo, but that's what we do. So if you ever think if you're ever on a plane with us, basically, and we're in the toilet for some time, it's because we're air squatting. So now you know.

Ben 31:28

So yeah, so that's obviously just kind of low-level movement movement, and then it's obviously running or lifting weights.

Sarah 31:39

Cardio just hit lifting weights, they're the things. And again, this is so person-dependent on where you're at in your life, whether you're male or female, how stressed your body is. For the average human, I would say like three to four strength training sessions a week is vital.

Ben 31:56

Minimum of well, even two.

Sarah 31:59

Yeah, two to four.

Ben 32:02

Um, two strength sessions a week at a minimum, I would say, lifting weights.

Sarah 32:08

Lifting proper weights, especially for females.

Ben 32:11

So many people still don't lift weights. No, and bang about on about it all the time. Me too.

Sarah 32:16

Especially females, because they just assume that I don't know, it's this thing about like burning calories. So obviously, when you do cardio, you like burnt loads of calories, or when you do like a class, you feel like you burnt loads of calories, or you can see it on a machine, which is never accurate, by the way. Um, but it's not about the calories burnt in the session, it's about what happens to your body after the session that matters. Yeah. Especially for females when you're aging. Well, in general, everyone when they're aging, you need to do everything you can to hold onto muscle mass.

Ben 32:45

And that's not going to happen by doing Barry's boot camp, unfortunately, or yeah, you know, Les Mills and And also women think they're gonna get bulky, don't you? That's the that's the big one. I'm gonna get massive bulk.

Sarah 32:56

Trust me. Being a bikini competitor, the amount of time I've spent doing hip thrusts to try and build a butt, I can prom and how heavy, I can promise you, you're not going to get bulky.

Ben 33:08

It's impossible. It takes yeah, it takes a massive amount of food and exercise for a woman to get even remotely bulky.

Sarah 33:17

And probably some PEDs as well along the way for a lot. So movement, I would just say, yeah, two to four strength training sessions a week, low-level activity like walking, absolutely crucial.

Ben 33:29

And then low level, yeah, and zone two. Zone two could be great. Getting your heart rate up a little bit more, but not crazy high. Like simple method is 180 for a heart rate, 180 minus your age. Yeah. If you have a heart rate monitor, um, but just being able to move and still kind of hold a conversation, I guess.

Sarah 33:54

Yeah, yeah. Um, and then there's things like hit, obviously, and again, this is so person-dependent. Um, I do think hit definitely has a time and a place, but not overdoing it, like one to two sessions a week, and it should be short.

Ben 34:08

Yeah. I mean, at least even just one session a week of all out sprinting as hard as you can on anything like what you could be sprinting on a bike, a rower, yeah, running, obviously. Um, and it only has to be like 10 minutes.

Sarah 34:25

Yeah. Yeah. Um not full out for 10 minutes. You do like 20 seconds full out. Sorry. Rest. 20 seconds pull out, rest for about a minute and go again. Now, again, this is so dependent. Like, if you're you're someone who's on a healing journey, I have been there myself. Um, hit is probably not the thing you want to be doing. And again, this is what I see many women doing is loads of HIT in a bid to lose weight, and then they can't lose any weight, and it's because their cortisol is a freaking roof.

Ben 34:55

Yeah. Because they're doing it every day.

Sarah 34:56

Yeah. Too much of it, not in the right context, not fueling their bodies properly, not resting. And then if you've got anything, like if you're naturally more prone to switching on inflammation, like me, um, you need to be more mindful about things like that because your body doesn't cope with it as well. And a lot of it depends on things like your dieting history and your um your your stress load. So if you're you know super stressed, you've got a lot going on, I wouldn't recommend doing the hit. Um, it's not gonna probably benefit you at that point. And sometimes what you have to think about with movement is depending again, depending on where you are in a healing journey, sometimes less is better. So, you know, when I work with clients on a one-to-one basis, in the first phase when I work with them, I actually pull back on most exercise. I'm like walking great, yoga great, mobility, great. But everything else I want you to stop actually right now, because most of the people I work with have been over-training, and I'm like, and we want to get their body into a nice rest and digest state to actually start things moving. And the funny thing is, pretty much every single one of my clients has lost weight by doing less and eating more. Go figure.

Ben 36:03

Yeah, it's a big well, for some people it's a big problem, isn't it? Just over-training in general. Yeah, they don't even realise this, think that you need to do more, more, more.

Sarah 36:11

Yeah, yeah.

Ben 36:12

And uh actually backing off can make a big difference. Helps them lose weight.

Sarah 36:17

Yeah. Number four, we ready? I mean, this is your topic for finic diet, obviously.

Ben 36:24

So what you put in your gob makes a difference to your health, apparently.

Sarah 36:29

Go figure. Um, I think people are often looking for the perfect supplement routine. What supplement can I take for this?

Ben 36:37

What supplement can I take for the perfect and the perfect diet, right? Like the perfect way to eat.

Sarah 36:42

Well, yeah, but what I was gonna say about that is that you can't out-supplement a bad diet. You you know, you can't just supplement your way to health. You can't they supplements are that, they're supplements, they're supposed to supplement a good quality diet. So, yeah.

Ben 36:57

Yeah, but the basics, I guess you wanted to cover the basics of diet is to eat. Real food. Real food, I know. And a balanced, balanced, real meals.

Sarah 37:08

Whole foods. 80 to 90 percent of the time. Nutrient dense whole foods. Foods. Bread is not whole food, I'm afraid to tell you.

Ben 37:17

Although um good quality sourdough. Sourdough.

Sarah 37:23

Um You're a bit of a fan, aren't you?

Ben 37:26

Yeah, it's not gonna kill you.

Sarah 37:28

No.

Ben 37:29

There's because there's that's the thing, isn't it? There's levels to processing. That's when there's like ultra-processed when it's like 50 ingredients, and then there's processed like good quality sourdough when it's like three ingredients.

Sarah 37:42

Yeah, or like a high quality protein powder with full. Yeah, that's processed, but it's not bad for you. Obviously, you're not gonna eat it for four meals a day, but having some good quality protein powder, even though it's a processed food, it's not the same as an ultra-processed food. So is this, you know, my mentor Vince always talks about this. There's camps, camps for everything, and I think there's such a debate in the in the diet world of like, you know, the keto camp or the carnivore camp or the vegan camp or the low-carb camp or the high protein camp. And it's like they all have a time and a place, but anything you do for too long will backfire. Yeah. So it's like, you know, they all they're tools. They're all all diets are tools, essentially. I use keto with my clients, but you don't want to do it all the time. I use fasting with my clients, but you don't want to do it all the time. You know, it's all yeah.

Ben 38:31

It's like Joel Green says it's everything works until it doesn't. Oh, sorry, thought the microphone's gone. I can't remember how he puts it now. Everything works. At what point in time? That's what we always say. At what point in time?

Sarah 38:45

Yeah.

Ben 38:46

Like, because everything can work for a period.

Sarah 38:49

Yeah.

Ben 38:49

Um quantity and duration is a very important thing. And I certainly experienced that with low carb. Yeah, you were you were the the carb you, I mean carb Nazi. Yeah, you hated carbs. For a couple of years.

Sarah 39:00

Yeah.

Ben 39:01

Um, I was like low carb is the way forever. Um this is the only way to eat.

Sarah 39:06

And then you basically face anyone that ate carbs.

Ben 39:09

I mean, you can you can work for a good few years, that's the thing. So people think, yes, this is the way. And then all of a sudden it stops working as well as it did, because you're just doing one way of eating forever, like cutting out carbs forever. So then your insulin sensitivity sensitivity is goes down great. And then you actually increase your um insulin and your blood sugar, even on low carb.

Sarah 39:33

Yeah, this is it, it's all about variety when it comes to diet. Doing the same thing, and and I know this is not what people want here because as humans we want the one thing that's gonna fix everything and the one way to eat to make it simple, but there isn't one, there isn't one way to eat. The the Mediterranean, like whole food diet, is kind of like the the fundamental diet, and then all of the other things are tools that you add in and you take out, and you add in and you take out.

Ben 40:00

And the but the big uh underlying principle that I've come to is just the whole foods as close to nature as possible and nutrient dense.

Sarah 40:10

Yes.

Ben 40:12

And within that, then you can just eat a big variety of foods, not concentrating on macros as much, maybe obviously hitting enough protein, because I think protein is the most important macro.

Sarah 40:23

It is, but even saying that, there's times to go low protein. You know, I think in the in the world that we live in today, everyone's talking about the importance of protein, and I do a lot to be fair, because it is important, but there are periods where you might need to go low protein because that is a short intervention, right?

Ben 40:39

Where you need to, if you're in a healing phase, yeah. But long term, definitely not.

Sarah 40:45

No, no, definitely not long term, but again, it's a tool. And even, you know, when people fast, etc., that's obviously going low protein. That's how you create autophagy, which clears out old unhealthy cells and recycles parts of cells that are damaged and not working. So, you know, going low protein for periods can be super helpful, especially when you have been high protein for a really long time. Um, so doing things like that can be really, really helpful. Uh and we'll go into more depth about these things in another podcast.

Ben 41:12

What are whole foods?

Sarah 41:13

Things that are grown from the ground or have come from a high quality animal or from a tree.

Ben 41:19

Just in their un in their natural state, I guess.

Sarah 41:22

Yeah, so quality.

Ben 41:24

Yeah, vegetables, fruits, um meat, fish, eggs. Like buying single ingredient things.

Sarah 41:32

Yeah.

Ben 41:33

Yeah. Nuts sounds basically seeds, oils, olive oil. Olive oil's kind of process, but limited that's another thing that's you could call that process, but it's very good for you. Because it's minimally processed. It's normally like cold pressed.

Sarah 41:49

Yeah. Um So I always think to myself, like, if you were to look like Mediterranean, so grains, legumes, healthy fats like avocado, coconut oil, nuts and seeds, bit of butter and ghee, um, olive oil, avocado, then what is that? What have I missed here? Grains, legumes, fats, proteins, real protein sources, and no grenade bars are not a real protein source. Um so meats, fish, eggs, bit of dairy, protein source, and then your carbs.

Ben 42:24

Obviously, you've got your grains and your legumes, but you'd have your root veggies, your veggies, a variety, just a variety of meats, fish, and vegetables. I mean it does get more complex, I guess, based on your genetics. Like some people do better on red meats. Yeah. Some people do better on higher fat, lower fat, higher carbs. So it does actually get a little complicated.

Sarah 42:46

Yeah, absolutely. And that's where working one-to-one with a coach like me. Um, you can do it.

Ben 42:52

I have to work with server if you want to be healthy.

Sarah 42:54

Absolutely. Um, helps you know how to personalize your diet to you. And also, I think to know when to implement the tools. Um, because it's really hard trying to figure it out for yourself when you know when to maybe do fasting or when to go low carb and when to have more carbs and all things like that. So I have a coach, as a coach, I have a coach because it's so hard to be subjective with yourself.

Ben 43:18

I think yeah.

Sarah 43:19

You think yeah?

Ben 43:20

I think yeah. As a general, like we said, general principle, whole foods trying to vary because people eat this a lot of people eat the same things every day.

Sarah 43:31

Don't eat the same five foods on rotation, on repetition, even.

Ben 43:35

You know, we uh you can we can be definitely guilty of that because it's easy, isn't it? A lot of people eat the same breakfast and the same lunch. Yeah, yeah.

Sarah 43:43

Um but what I would say what I would say in regards to that is just think like if I had, let's say, chicken on a Monday, I'm not gonna have chicken until Wednesday. Yeah. And then go, right, I'm gonna have a different protein source tomorrow. And and the same with plants. Like you want to get 30 plant points in a week, which is like different herbs, spices, vegetables, leaves, all things like that. Just vary as much as it's.

Ben 44:07

Oh, very rarely have the same protein in consecutive days, within the same carbohydrate in consecutive days.

Sarah 44:14

Yeah. They all have different nutrients, different polyphenols, different fibres, and also your immune system gets peed off if you keep seeing the same things all the time. Gut microbiome needs the diversity of all the different foods. So if you want a nice diverse microbiome, which we all do because that is the fundamental of health, then you absolutely need to be having variety in your diet. What I actually love to do personally is do like I'll do a bit of a rotation throughout the week where I have two low carb days, then I'll have three medium carb days, and then how many days is that? Two high carb days. And on the two low carb days, I do a six-hour eating window. So I'm getting a bit of fasting, a bit of autophagy, low carb, then I'm going to medium carb, and then I train more on the medium and the high carb days, and that's a really nice way to actually create diet variation.

Ben 45:05

Yeah, and I guess for myself on non-training days or rest days, I've tried to go lower carb.

Sarah 45:12

Yeah, exactly.

Ben 45:13

Because I don't need them as much at my lower on my rest days. And higher carb on my training days, more around training, I guess, to help fuel the workout.

Sarah 45:23

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a really good tip. Um, carbs around training, and again, something I see many women do is go to the gym at 6 30 in the morning with no food in their system. And I'm like, firstly, that's gonna jack your cortisol through the roof, most likely. And secondly, you're not gonna get the best from your workout, and thirdly, you're not gonna build the muscle that you want to build because you need the insulin spike to drive amino acids into your muscles. But some people have to train at 6 a.m. I know, but I'm like, just eat something.

Ben 45:52

Have a banana and a protein cake. Do these high-intensity workouts with no food? No, never. I mean, I've been guilty of that as well.

Sarah 46:00

I've done it before and I messed myself up, so don't learn from my mistakes. Um, but yeah, I just think if you want to grow muscle, you need fuel. You need fuel to do that. You need carbs and you need amino acids. So the carbs help drive the amino acids into your cells. So right, we need to eat this chicken. Oh my god. We've got what number five to do. Last one. Mental health. Mental health. I guess that kind of falls into what we were talking about with stress.

Ben 46:23

Yeah.

Sarah 46:24

So mental health, I mean, it's everything, isn't it? And we have to think about what affects mental health. Firstly, gut health massively affects mental health. Like the connection between your gut and your brain is unbelievable. And unfortunately, like in in the world that we live in, people look at systems of the body as solo systems. So it's like, oh, I'm depressed, it must be my brain. Oh, I'm this, it must be this. And it's like, well, no, you have to look at the things that affect that. So your your brain is so connected to your gut. So you make you know most of your serotonin and your dopamine in your gut. If you're not looking after your gut, you're going to feel depressed. You're going to have anxiety. So you have to start with the gut. That has to be, you know, fundamental when you've got anything mental health-wise going on.

Ben 47:11

Yes, but a lot of people don't link diet to mental health, do they? No, no. Gut to mental health. No. But it plays a massive role, right?

Sarah 47:18

Yeah, huge, huge. And then obviously stress plays a massive role as well. Because if your cortisol is all over the place, if you've got high cortisol, and I I can say this from experience. I've had high cortis and I've had low cortisol. When I had high cortisol, I felt anxious, edgy, like just like it when you have high cortisol, it's like you're on red alert. So it's like your brain is hyper, you know, hyper-reactive, it's looking for danger. So it makes your senses really overreactive. So it's like, you know, you feel jumpy and edgy and like everything is a danger, a threat. It's a horrible feeling. So if there's anything like that going on, you have to look back to what is your cortisol doing as well. And when you've got a low cortisol, you feel low, you've got no energy, you you know, you just don't feel good. You feel depressed and flat and just a bit meh. So cortisol will have a huge impact on that.

Ben 48:10

Yeah. And then you are just iron up that chicken. I am this in my line of sight. Um and like community, weren't we? In relationships, yeah, which is huge.

Sarah 48:23

It really is again. There's been so many studies done on like community and how it impacts like longevity. Um I wish we could cite some of the studies, but we never do. Maybe maybe one time. Um, but yeah, it you know, being a part of a positive, uplifting community, and just think about it like when you're around people who are negative, they're like hoovers, they drain your energy. You leave feeling flat or tired or miserable and not good about life. But when you're around people who are fun and positive and driven and have you know purpose, you leave feeling like a completely different person.

Ben 49:00

Just being around people and having coming from the hermit. Exactly. I need to work on this in 2025.

Sarah 49:05

This is your yeah, um, no more hermit then.

Ben 49:08

He I have no friends and don't.

Sarah 49:10

Well, you do have friends, you just don't talk to them, basically.

Ben 49:13

You're circles. I work, you know, at home, which is another thing. You know, a lot of people working at home now don't have that community. Yeah. Everyone's working in the house. Uh Zoom calls are okay, but they're not great, the same people. So anything you can do to I guess meet up with friends um and find a positive community. Or just uh yeah, try and find a community in your local town. I know not everyone does CrossFit, but CrossFit is great for that.

Sarah 49:44

Yeah, it is. Or once upon a time, yeah, going for classes, yeah. But also be mindful about who you choose to spend time with. I think that's really important because people who want to raise you up, right? Yeah, if you've got people who are just draining your energy and your soul and you walk away just feeling like that's not good, or like people who are, you know, negative about other people or moaning about people and stuff like that. That just rubs off onto you, and you it's just not I was in that environment as a performer a lot of the time, and I just was like, I it made me feel horrible. I was like, I don't like this environment, and then I was so fortunate to then be part of Arbon and be part of a community of like really positive, driven, uplifted humans who want to help each other on our time.

Ben 50:28

But you know you you know you get a buzz, don't you, when you're with people that you connect with and like and have you know a good time with.

Sarah 50:37

Yeah, and if you are an introvert, which we are both actually naturally introverts, then I know it can feel quite a challenge, something like quite a chore to go and actually make yourself get out of the house and meet people. But whenever you like I there's so many times when I've been like, you know, I've gone to a networking event or I've gone something, and I'm like, oh I don't want to go. But as soon as I've gone, I'm like, I'm so glad I made myself.

Ben 51:00

I'm like that, you know, me, I'm like that all the time. I get social anxiety like constantly. Yeah. Like I said, I don't want to do it, but then when you do want to do it all the time. I really enjoy it.

Sarah 51:12

That's it. So it's like again, it's like changing that label that you've put on yourself about having social anxiety and being and I think what helped me was uh when I started to realise that humans were actually really nice. Well, people are most people are actually really nice and they actually want to have conversations, and it's just you sometimes have to be the person that instigates the conversation, and that for me it was just like people are nice, people actually want to chat. It's it's just what stories I've made up in my head again, and uh, and some of it came down to self-worth of like feeling like I was gonna say something that would make me look stupid. Yeah, what would I look like?

Ben 51:50

Obviously, some people, you know, I guess don't have families or are isolated, so I don't know what just came into my head.

Sarah 51:59

What's looped it's at the window.

Ben 52:04

That's not relevant for anyone.

Sarah 52:06

It is because you can't.

Ben 52:07

Can you explain that? I can explain it. No, you can't talk about that. You can't, you can't. Got to now. What if she's listening?

Sarah 52:13

I don't think she's going to be listening. So, when when lockdown happened in the UK, and obviously that I think that shows actually how much community and being around people matters to health because how many people's health declined dramatically after COVID because they were locked up on their own. Yeah. So, anyway, we used to do what we called the Lumber's Loop. So we lived at a place called Lumley. I'm not gonna actually say where it is. We lived somewhere, and we used to call it the Lumber's Loop where we lived. So we used to do the loop around the kind of block every day, it was so boring. And it was always the same thing. We'd walk past the windows, and there was one old lady sitting in the dark watching TV, there was another lady laying on the sofa, and there was one lady who basically every time we went past the window, we were like, She's down in wine. First it was a glass. She was literally down in it, then it was out of the bottle.

Ben 53:01

But one time No, no, no. You can't go though.

Sarah 53:04

Got to. Why? One time, I mean, because it was so funny. One time we walked past, and and you know, this was the highlight of our lockdown. The curtains or the blind was down past her face, but you could still see her from the body down, couldn't you? From her head down. And she obviously didn't realise, but she had no top on. Why is that relevant? Why are you talking about this? And so we walked past and we were literally like and she was just like tits at the window. So that's what we're doing.

Ben 53:37

Why is that relevant to our discussion?

Sarah 53:39

Because I because she was on her own. That's where it was So she had to take her top off. No, but I we used to feel bad because I was like, she's on her own and she's got no friends and it's lockdown, and we were lucky we had each other.

Ben 53:52

Logistics seeming this. Well, we are like loads of friends.

Sarah 53:54

She might be really social, but didn't seem like it. Um where we go on this? Mental health, we were talking about tits at the window.

Ben 54:01

But I what I was gonna say. Fucking hell. Completely derailed me.

Sarah 54:06

I'm sorry.

Ben 54:07

There are things like what we found about recently, what was it, Bumble Bumble BFF?

Sarah 54:15

Bumble BFF, yeah.

Ben 54:16

Shout out to Naomi.

Sarah 54:17

Yeah, Naomi Wilkinson told me about this. So Bumble, if you've got no friends, you can make friends.

Ben 54:22

You can actually literally down an app and make friends, like a dating app for friends.

Sarah 54:26

It's like Bumble, but for friends, which I think's amazing. And you can the great thing is you can match with like-minded people. So I've made some great friends who are into nutrition and you know, so it's it's there's so much we can do nowadays, but it does take you being proactive, that's the thing. And I get it because it's scary. I've definitely been that person who's just like, you know, it's just easier to stay in my house and not talk to humans. I'm always like that. You are, apart from talking to me. Um, but it's so worth it because it will change your life dramatically. So community, and then in terms of like mental health, I think gratitude is a huge, huge thing as well.

Ben 55:02

Yeah.

Sarah 55:02

Um I mean, there's numerous studies showing the power of gratitude, and it's so easy when you're in a dark place to just see all the negative and feel all the things that aren't working for you. And um, I've again definitely been there myself. But it's like there's always, always something to be grateful for. Always. And it's just that reminder to yourself, and just in that day, just think just one thing that I can be grateful for today.

Ben 55:29

So every morning now in my m morning routine, I write down a list of things that I'm grateful for.

Sarah 55:35

Yeah, I do mine at night time.

Ben 55:38

You can get loads of apps now, just literally a pen and paper, and just you, pen and paper. I'm not saying me, I don't do that. Wow, yeah. I do it on my phone, on an app on right. On an app, obviously. Um yeah, literally like five things you're grateful for grateful for.

Sarah 55:54

But really feel it as well. I think that's the important because a lot of the time you'll just be like, I am grateful for my family, I am grateful for my home, I am grateful for and it's like actually just sit and take a moment to actually think about that because a lot of people and think about the people that don't necessarily have that. Like what I when I'm doing mine at night and I'm always like, I'm really grateful, especially now when it's snowing, I'm grateful I've got a warm home. And it just makes me think, God, think of all those people like who are homeless and don't and are now on the street, like trying to survive in this.

Ben 56:20

It's great, yeah, for the simplest things, can't it? Yeah. Having some food to eat.

Sarah 56:25

Yeah, a good roasty chicken that's bubbling. Yeah, and I and I also think another thing in terms of like mental health that dramatically helped me as well, like reading books is huge, like personal development books, things like that really helped, but also believing in something bigger than yourself, and I know that sounds a little bit woo-woo, but like feeling like you're being guided and looked after. So for me, when I went through like all of the health shenanigans that I went through, and you know, it was a a really tough three years, wasn't it? Really tough. And the thing that got me through more than anything was praying, really, to like not as yeah, it doesn't have to be God or no, to whatever I you know, universe, higher power, God, whatever your belief system is for help, praying for guidance and and trusting that there was something or someone that was going to pull me through, and lo and behold, that random person popped up on Instagram. The person that saved my life and then became my mentor.

Ben 57:39

Yeah.

Sarah 57:40

So there is always something guiding you, but you have to trust. I'm actually reading in a really good book at the moment called Awakening. So read awakening if you want to go more into that.

Ben 57:49

So they are the five things. Wow, he is so wanting this chicken. Well, it's gonna be a quick one, it's now an hour. Damn. And I'm starving. He's hungry. We're done. Chicken is waiting.

Sarah 58:02

So sleep, stress, movement, diet, mental health, boom.

Ben 58:05

There's a lot to take in there.

Sarah 58:06

Just pick one thing from each category that you can implement in January of 2025. That's what I would say. So one thing that we mentioned for sleep, one thing we mentioned for stress, one thing we mentioned for movement, one for diet, and one for mental health.

Ben 58:19

There you go. Boom.

Sarah 58:21

Done. Thanks for listening. And we will be back again next week in our new home. We won't have the studio done by then, obviously. We need some time to make it look pretty, but we will do our best. Cool. If anyone wants to help us um get some cladding for the wall, um, we would gr gratefully accept donations. Um, and if someone would like to make us an optimised design, we would gratefully accept that. Um, yeah, thanks.

Ben 58:47

Cheers. Bye, everyone.