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From the archive: Michael Mosley's favourite health hacks
In one of his last interviews with RT, Michael Mosley shared his seven favourite health hacks – so you can change your life in a week.
© Mark Harrison
- Ed Grenby
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This interview was originally printed in RT in April 2021.
Doctor, weight-loss guru, broadcaster… and now, apparently, prophet. Michael Mosley is a man of many talents, but today he’s proudly telling RT how he predicted the Covid vaccine rollout. “I said way back last March that there would be a vaccine before the end of the year, and I was very pleased to see I was right. Sadly, I didn’t place a bet on it; but I have now had the AstraZeneca jab myself, so I’m pretty happy anyway.” And, now that we’ve established his clairvoyant credentials, the good news: “I think our lives will be back to normal by June.” Breathe a sigh of relief, by all means – but make sure it’s precisely four seconds long. “In my new programme, we look at ten little health habits you can adopt that will change your life. Not big challenges, but simple achievable tweaks that anyone can incorporate into their lives – like breathing out for a count of four. “There are so many crank claims out there, and part of my job is to sift the nonsense from the reality. The anti-vaxxers make me want to tear my hair out, with their crazy ideas about Bill Gates trying to control people by injecting us with microchips. But there’s also the soft, PR stuff dressed up as science – like if you hear on social media that apples cure cancer and then the research turns out to have been funded by the Apple Growers Association of California or something.” So for the new series, the 64-year-old consults true experts – and road-tests their advice on himself. Here are his favourite seven health hacks, one for every day of the week. No shirking!
Monday: Have a cold shower
“The idea for this came from one of my sons. He’s super-enthusiastic about cold showers. Now the biology behind it is this: cold-water immersion is what scientists call a ‘stressor’ — a shock to the system. And if you keep doing it, every morning, your body adapts to that stress; and in learning to adapt to that and reduce the stress, your body also learns to adapt to and reduce the other stresses in your life. I found it really effective. And, as the science shows, it does much more than simply wake you up in the morning.”
Tuesday: Stand on one leg while brushing your teeth
“This could save your life, simply by improving your balance. The biggest cause of accidental death worldwide, after car crashes, is falls — which are basically failures of balance. And there is evidence that we — younger people especially — now have worse balance than previous generations because we’re sitting around more and not using our balance. It’s actually a really vital form of exercise, which is largely ignored, and so easy to do while you’re doing other things, like brushing your teeth. As a result of doing the show, I’ve embraced it myself, as I want to carry on surfing into my 70s, and balance is important for that.”
Wednesday: Squat. But longer
“I’ve been doing squats every morning for years — but it turns out I’ve been doing them wrong. The important bit is what’s known as the ‘eccentric’ part of the muscle contraction, which happens if you go down, hold the pose for 15 seconds, go up a bit, hold it for another 15 seconds, and repeat for a couple of minutes. That’s not just good for your muscles, but for your mind, too: it improves something called shearing blood flow to your brain, which can lead to the growth of new brain cells. Amazing!”
Thursday: Breathe four-two-four
“The body’s ‘sympathetic system’ makes your heart rate faster and your blood pressure shoot up, preparing you for fight or flight, while the ‘parasympathetic system’ dampens everything down and relaxes you. Every time you breathe out, you’re blowing off carbon dioxide, which is detected by sensors in the brain that activate the parasympathetic system — so it’s a very good way of reducing stress. The way to do it in practice is to breathe in through your nose for four seconds, hold it for two seconds, then breathe out through your mouth for another four. I’ve found it an excellent way of calming my brain when I’m awake at three in the morning!”
Friday: Bath time!
“I’ve suffered with intermittent insomnia for years, so was very happy to try this tip of taking a warm bath before bedtime. The thinking here is that it’s the cooling after the bath that helps: the hot water makes your capillaries expand and brings your blood supply to the skin’s surface, which means you exude quite a lot of heat — and a lower temperature is one of the cues your body uses to decide it’s night and time for sleep. A shower won’t help, incidentally: we don’t spend enough time in there for it to work.”
Saturday: Take your afternoon stroll in the morning
“Well of course walking is good for you — but you can really multiply the benefits by doing it early in the morning. Take a brisk stroll within two hours of waking up, and the exposure to sunlight will suppress production of melatonin, the body’s ‘sleepy’ hormone, and reset your body clock. Your internal clock actually runs a bit longer than 24 hours — so if you don’t re-synchronise it every day you end up with problems trying to sleep at night. Daylight triggers the release of seratonin in your brain (that’s the natural mood-boosting chemical you find synthesised in antidepressants). So an early morning walk will actually make you feel happier, too.”
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Sunday: Eat for 100 trillion
“I’m really interested in the microbiome, the 100 trillion microbes that live in your gut, and the impact they have on your brain. There there are new findings that suggest they produce anti-inflammatory agents that can travel through the blood to the brain and help to reduce inflammation there — great, because brain inflammation is associated with depression and anxiety. I ferment my own sauerkraut now. You may want to start gently with this stuff, though, because if you suddenly start consuming lots, your gut will not enjoy it and can produce a lot of gas…”
Authors
Ed GrenbyAssociate Editor, Radio Times
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