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A Simple Wellness Strategy: MEDS (Meditation, Exercise, Diet, Sleep)

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I came across the simple concept of MEDS in Brooke McAlary’s book Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World (Summary | Amazon).

It’s a wonderfully simple acronym for remembering a few of the most important elements of your health: Meditation, Exercise, Diet, and Sleep.

Enjoy!

 

Sloww MEDS Meditation Exercise Diet Sleep

A Simple Wellness Strategy: MEDS (Meditation, Exercise, Diet, Sleep)

In her book, Brooke attributes this simple concept to behavioral consultant, Nicholas Bate.¹

On a daily basis, Nicholas says we should be “giving consideration to M-E-D-S or meditation-exercise-diet-sleep.”

He explains it in a bit more detail:

“Wellness is about balance. M-E-D-S is a simple such strategy.

M is meditation. Take a bit of time out. Just to think.

E is exercise. Walk every day. Walk more. Take the stairs.

D is diet. Reduce the rubbish; increase the nutritious.

S is sleep. Get rid of sleep debt.”

 

Sloww MEDS Meditation Exercise Diet Sleep Infographic

 

How are you doing on your MEDS?

M (Meditation): This is where I’m currently failing. I’m all-in on slow living and do a lot of contemplation, but I honestly haven’t yet explored meditation (other than reading about the benefits and listening to a guided meditation a couple times). Lots of room for improvement here.

E (Exercise): Doing fairly well here. I exercise 3-5+ days/week (mostly strength training with some cycling here and there). Also going on more walks with the dog recently. However, exercise seems to be a constant roller coaster for me (up and down, in shape and out of shape, repeat).

D (Diet): My wife and I have taken inspiration from the Blue Zones and try to incorporate the Blue Zones longevity diets into our lives. We rarely eat meat these days, and we are pretty good about caloric restriction. But, we still eat chips, protein bars, and other unhealthy stuff (in moderation) along with meals out every once in awhile.

S (Sleep): Sleeping 7-8 hours most nights (with the occasional 6-7 hours). Sometimes I even throw in a short nap. I’ve always been a night owl, so the biggest improvement I can make here is shifting my sleep schedule up a couple hours.

 

How about you? Please share your honest MEDS analysis in the comments!

 

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Footnotes & Sources:

  1. http://blog.strategicedge.co.uk/superwellness/

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful post. I really appreciate your kind efforts. I’ve recently started to learn about meditation about 6-7 months back. It’s truly an inspiration for Beginners like me.
    Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  2. Cool! I like the MEDS term. Indeed, meditation is one of the most helpful for us to be more healthy and true there are lots of benefits we can get of it and one of the most I like is the FLOW which triggers when you are in the meditation. Flow is where you are becoming happy in dealing with things that are difficult or challenging and it makes you more productive, creative, etc. Most athletes practice it and it is an awesome one.

    Reply

    • Thanks, leah! Indeed, flow states are a wonderful part of life (with or without meditation). Everyone should check out Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s research and book on flow.

      Reply

  5. I can feel you
    My meds status is:
    Mediation- nope
    Exercise- 6 times a week sometimes 7 times.
    Diet- Diet is going great, in the morning having boiled vegetables every alternate day, new experiment haha.
    Sleep- sleep is going great too now it’s a habit of mine to pass out by 10:30pm and and get up by 4:45-5:00am.

    Thank you so much for the article.
    Regards
    Ankit

    Reply

    • Nice work, Ankit! Like you, I still need to add the meditation piece. Regarding sleep, the latest research is saying 7-8 hours of sleep is absolutely critical, so I’d try to add another hour in there if you can.

      Reply

      • Hi Kyle, your short article on M.E.D.S. is awesome and an inspirational block for me…. I am a professional… Have two kids…But I never took out few minutes to do exercise…I am 39 years old… I read articles and blocks on benefits of Meditation and Exercise… But Now onwards Out of 24 hours I will take out 15-20 minutes to do meditation and Exercise… Thanks once again… Keep posting such articles…. All the best….

        Regards

        Reply

        • That’s great to hear, Sulakshna! You’ve hit a key point. Many of these activities don’t require a ton of time. It’s amazing what just a little dedicated time each day will do.

          Reply

  8. Nicely articulated, thanks Kyle.
    M – I am doing meditation though not regularly but 3-4 times in a week.
    E – I do Yoga 2-3 times in a week.
    D – I am vegetarian and home food lover. Also I don’t eat out much, only 2-3 times in a month. And I also avoid junk food.
    S – This is my concern. I sleep 4-5 hours usually.
    But now I focus on my improvement areas.
    Thanks again.

    Reply

    • Very nice, Piyush! Good to have awareness about the lack of sleep. I seem to be getting enough sleep lately, but I tend to stay up too late. Need to shift my sleep routine up a couple hours.

      Reply

  12. I would consider this lockdown as a blessing, since it gave me enough time to self-reflect. I am exploring more, learning new things. Trying to get out of the self-built cocoons which had some norms without any facts or proofs. I am in for the MEDS concept.

    M- Tried hard to incorporate it as a part of my daily life-cycle. Still struggling to get in terms with it.
    E- do different workouts on a daily basis. 3 times running in week.
    D- My wife and i have decided to adapt healthy eating habits. Its too early to celebrate since we have started it a fort night ago.
    S- Cannot sleep more than 6 hours in the night, but would definitely adapt the powernaps during the day. This was one of the norms i considered having bad implications on my professional front. After reading the articles, i feel that its good to make it a habit.

    Reply

  15. MEDS Sounds wonderful. Just read it and I am gonna try it for sure.
    Thank you very much for writing beautifully 🙂

    Reply

  19. Thanks a lot for “The Great tips for being healthy”.
    My M-E-D-S report is
    Meditation : Good
    Exercise : 3 – 4 dsys a week
    Diet : i am very lazy in eating, eating stomach full is a dream of my family haha.
    Sleep : this is currently seems to be worse from 2:00am to 07:00 am.
    🙂

    Reply

  29. Great article, made me painfully aware of certain deficits to improve on… Here is my MEDS report:
    M – I’ve tried it, I’m inconsistent, and perhaps that’s why I can’t tell any difference. It’s been three months.
    E – I don’t
    D – Everything in moderation, of course! When I restrict things, I crave them, so what’s the point? My family has always done more cooking at home than eating out, but we enjoy both.
    S – I too am a night owl, but I do most of my catch up on weekends… when I can.
    So basically, I afford to improve on all fronts. Oy vey

    Reply

  30. Thanks for sharing the post, I really appreciate your kind efforts. I am also facing the same meditation issues. I used to see benefit of meditation videos but on the ground I failed to implement.
    Recently started to walking practice however I believe lot more pending to be achieve

    Again Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

    • You’re welcome, Aditya. I may try Naval Ravikant‘s recommended meditation:

      – Sit for 60 minutes every day for at least 60 days
      – First thing in the morning
      – Sit up with back straight
      – Whatever your mind wants to do, you just let it do

      “Eventually you will get to a mental state of inbox zero.” — Naval Ravikant

      Reply

  31. Thanks Kyle for the wonderful article on MEDS, my concern is related to sleep eventhough I sleep for 7 to 8 hours a day my sleep timings varies day by day

    Reply

  32. Great Article and I am far away from reality.
    M- Living stressful life(personal & Processional). Difficult to concentrate for Meditation
    E- Not regularly
    D- Trying to control food habits and also avoid sweets.
    S – Have at-least 7 hrs sleep from 11 PM.

    Reply

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