Five simple things you can do to stay fit and healthy this summer

From breathing more effectively to getting morning sunlight, keep it simple this summer

Pic: iStock

Wellbeing can feel complicated, from figuring out how many macronutrients you need to eat, to the many supplements that are available, to the latest fitness fads.

But the best practices are the simplest and don’t cost a thing. Here, Dr Shiv Chande, who is also a yoga and meditation teacher, shares his tips.

1. Sync with the season and get sunlight first thing

We have a natural circadian rhythm. “When we wake up in the morning and get sunlight on our face, it releases the natural rhythm of our hormones,” Chande says. “We get a cortisol release to give us that ‘ready for action’ mode, and it also releases serotonin — the hormones that make us feel good — and, in turn, as the day goes on, contributes to the amount of melatonin that’s released at night-time.

“This means we’re more likely to fall asleep with the natural rhythm of what’s going on around us,” he adds, just as our ancestors would have done. “That’s the way we were designed to live and when we cut ourselves off from that natural way of living our hormones go all over the place. It’s a huge contributor to our decline in mental wellbeing.

“It’s one of the simplest, easiest things you can do — to naturally align yourself to the rhythm of what’s going on around you.”

We need less sleep in summer, he adds. “I certainly do. I’m not advocating you completely mirror the cycle of light, but, for me, in winter I need my eight hours, whereas in summer I can get away with six and a half or seven. In summer, I start stirring at 5:30am.”

2. Focus on mindful movement 

We put a pressure on ourselves to exercise as hard as possible. “I am also one of these people,” Chande says. “I’ve grown up in this culture and system, I’m a medic, so it’s ingrained in to us to push ourselves, to hammer runs. As I’ve got older, I’ve learned to tune in to what your body needs and what it’s feeling,” he says.

If you’re already pushing yourself hard working long hours, pushing yourself during a workout is not what your body needs.

He recommends a “rounded approach” that includes some endurance, strength, and stretching. Yoga, dancing, swimming, and hiking are slower, more mindful movement.

Run, but “run for the sake of running in nature, looking around at your surroundings”, Chande says.

“Sometimes, you feel a surge of wanting to run really fast and push yourself” — just embrace it.

A key factor is consistency. “Consistency has been shown to be such an important factor in progress in any domain,” he adds. If exercise doesn’t feel like hard work, then you’re far more likely to be consistent.

“Paradoxically, trying less and being more consistent will probably get you closer to your goals.”

Pic: iStock

3. Breathe properly

“The breath is such a foundational tool in our health and our happiness,” says Chande. "The little changes in the way you breathe, cumulatively, have a huge impact on every aspect of our being.” Plus, a consequence of not living in the way our ancestors did (more sitting, time inside) “is that our core, back, spinal health and abdominal muscle health is poor, and that leads us to collapse. It leads us to breathe differently from how we should”.

When patients come into his GP practice with stress issues, he often recommends changing how they breathe.

“The idea is being able to breathe into your belly and inflate your abdomen like a balloon. The reason why that’s important is because we have three different areas of our lungs, and if we’re not using them, we’re not oxygenating effectively.”

It also means we aren’t using our diaphragm properly. “If we just breathe into our chest, it’s a very stimulating state, and, over a period of time, we get an imbalance in our nervous system. That makes us more likely to get anxiety, stress, shallow breathing, and poor oxygenation. And that has an impact, not just in the short term, but on the long term of our entire health.”

Look on YouTube for demonstrations on how to do ‘full yogic breath’: Breathing firstly into your belly, then the sides of the rib cage, and thirdly into the top of the chest. Combining all three is known as ‘full yogic breath’. Or try alternate nostril breathing.

4. Schedule stillness

Vegging in front of the television at the end of the day is not true ‘stillness’.

“When we are focusing our mind on something like scrolling through Instagram or watching lots of Netflix, we are using up our energy,” says Chande. “And so even though it feels like we might be physically still, we’re not actually relaxing in a way that our body needs.”

For people who struggle to sit still and just breathe without distractions, writing a journal is helpful, he says. “It allows you to sort of cathartically release your thoughts from the day.

“[But] the only way you will learn what’s best for you and how you tick is if you sit still and you start to cultivate self-awareness through practices like journaling, breathing techniques, and meditation. We have to find time to connect with our body, our feelings, our emotions, our ourselves.”

5. Connect meaningfully

“One deep connection can nourish you more than 10 superficial connections,” says Chande. “Deep connection comes from seeking to understand people, asking questions and appreciating others, as well as shared experiences, being listened to and listening in return.

“A key component that constantly comes up for deep, meaningful connection is vulnerability, so don’t be afraid to open up.”