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!
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.”
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, some mountain biking, and going on walks with our dog. 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 (along with elements from some of these 🔒timeless diets). We still eat some unhealthy stuff in moderation—snacks, chips, etc. And, we eat meals out every once in awhile. My latest win has been reducing alcohol consumption—I quit drinking liquor 18 months ago, beer 12 months ago, and just recently quit wine.
🟡 S (Sleep): Sleeping 7-8 hours most nights (with the occasional 6-7 hours). Sometimes I even throw in a short nap. However, now that I’m tracking my sleep with an Oura ring, I’ve realized there’s a big difference between time in bed and actual quality sleep. I often have restless nights of sleep according to my data. So, room for improvement here. Maybe meditation would help!
How about you? Please share your honest MEDS analysis in the comments!
You May Also Enjoy:
- The Five Balls of Life: A Very Short Story about Balance
- Mindful at Mealtime: The Zen Buddhism Five Reflections
- Blue Zones: How Ikarians Live Simply for 100+ Years
Footnotes & Sources:
- http://blog.strategicedge.co.uk/superwellness/
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.
Sure thing, Jenny!
I appreciate it, Aishwarya.
I strongly believe in M.E.D.S coz it changed my life. As 2 years before I was overwaight , stressed and had no energy to do anything. After applying MEDS in my life I’m the lady of great body which I always wished to be and more energetic. It really chenged my life and make me so happy n healthy.
Congrats on changing your life, Chetna!
MEDS
Mediation I am failing in this.
Excise only walking around 1 hour in a day
Diet haveing junk food twice in a week
Sleep only 6 hours in night
Awareness is the first step toward change, Balram!
Thanks for exhaling the types and advantages of medidation, specially for sleeping because daily I sleep 6 hours only,and about walking also that’s alot for this precious explanation
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.
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.
Yes, meditation is a very good and very simple way to keep our body healthy and stress free, I keep doing exercise in the morning time in gym that feels me very power full and strength full. And also we have to sleep at least 7-8 hrs. Properly just for our body needs that’s keeps our body fresh and well.
Thanks
Regards
Aakash
That’s great, Aakash! How is diet going?
Undoubtedly, “MEDS” is much amazing than meds :). Thanks for the article Kyle.
Agreed, Vipul! MEDS > meds
Perfect article. For meditation try Rupert Spira.
Thanks for the recommendation, Chenrezig. Rupert Spira is on my “people to check out” list!
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Hi,
Thank you very much for this article.
Regarding meditation, I recently started to follow American Academy of Mind-Body Healing on youtube. It’s EFT tapping for physical pain and emotional distress. I do it mostly at night to help me sleep, but it’s a great alternative technique to create a balance in my energy system daily.
Best regards and stay safe.
Thanks for sharing that tip, Iulia!
Thanks, Cody!
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.
Way to look on the bright side of these uncertain times, Kiran!
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.
Thanks for sharing, Radha! Yep, nothing wrong with power naps.
Thanks, Neha!
Whatever works best for you, Vijay!
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.
🙂
Thanks for sharing, SK! As you can see in the comments, we are all better at certain areas than others. There’s always somewhere to improve!
I try to take walks with my dog and family for excercise, and talk about our week for meditation,
Good work, Kishawnee!
Me and my husband mediate to gather sometimes and take walks with each other
Good work, Karla!
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
Thanks for sharing, Claudia. An honest assessment and awareness are the first steps to change!
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.
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
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
Sure thing, Lakshmi. Same here. I’ve been doing sleep tracking recently, and it’s been very eye-opening to visually see how different my sleep times are each day.
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.
Thanks for sharing, Sudip. Awareness is the first step toward change!
Its a best way to lead a healthy life. We have to adapt it as a habit.
I do meditate, nature walk, little bit of exercise and also having an healthy diet daily.
But I have to improve my sleeping habit..so I m working on it and I will definitely Work on this MEDS strategy. Thanx.
Appreciate you sharing, Jyoti! Keep it up.
Nice article. Honestly I do not make meditation.
I’m trying to do exersice 3-4 days a week and also I’m trying to eat healthy, but I need to get better.
Thanks for sharing !!
Sure thing, Sindy!
Thanks for sharing. I can make myself know more about meditation. I also begin to plan to do some meditation, and continue to do healthy things. I always work hard and refuel. It will get better and better.
Good attitude, Teng!
Hi kyle ! I did not have meditation yet but now I think I should have meditation and I do exercise when I feel tired 😊and about diet if I say so for diet I take only vegetables and chapaties sometimes I take paneer and rice when I feel weak . I sleep 6 to 7 hour in a day.🙂thanks !!
Thanks for sharing, Raja!
M – no acostumbro a meditar.
E – trato de salir a caminar de lunes a viernes, por lo menos 1 hora al día.
D – trato de tener una dieta balanceada.
S – En ocasiones logro dormir 7 horas, pero no es frecuente.
Debo mejorar en varios aspectos, mi salud está pasado la factura.
Sounds like you’re on the right track, Ivannia. Awareness is the first step toward change.
M- No acostumbro meditar
E-Trato de hacerlo dos veces ala semana
D- Trato de comer balanceado
S-Duermo de 7 horas al día
Nice job, Henry!
Thanks For Sharing This Nice Article On MEDS.
Meditation : I tried so many times but I’ll not able to do.but I know it help to make me cool and energetic.
Exercise:I try to make wake daily 10 to 15 min regularly.
Diet:As I am vegetarian and eat healthy food on time so that it can digest completely.
Sleep: I’ll take 8 hours sleep that keep me fresh and energetic.
Thanks a lot.
Good work, Sonal!
These are the good thing in our life meditation I do everyday in any thing I just do my very focusly this my meditation. I can’t sleep 6 to 7 hours this is my lack point. I do exercise everyday for fit body and glowing every day. And the last is diet part I don’t diet but I eat healthy
That’s great, Rinku. I also try to be meditative in anything I am doing. As my dad would say, “Do what you’re doing while you’re doing it. Don’t do what you’re not doing while you’re not doing it.”
this is very helpful but i have to do work in night shift and not a fix time to sleep it will be more or less by hour for everyday so could you please guide on “Sleep”, how i manage my sleep.
Thanks!
Good question, Mithlesh. I’m not a sleep expert, so I’m sure there are better resources out there on this than me. That being said, I would imagine that sticking to as much of a routine as possible would be a critical component to better sleep. If you’re able to work night shifts consistently that may help. If not, then maybe a few night shifts in a row at least. It may also be worth researching “polyphasic sleep” which breaks a normal 7-9 hour sleep into two or more segments.
Great article, made me aware of certain points to improve on… Here is my MEDS report:
M – I used to do it earlier, but stopped doing for long time now. Will start again, and yes it helps a lot.
E – I do brisk walk daily and try to complete target of at least 10,000 steps a day.
D – I’m a foodie. when I restrict things, I crave them. But still trying to develop a healthy diet lifestyle. Because, that’s the need of the hour.
S – I am a night owl, but I do most of my catch up on weekends… when I can.
So basically, I too need to improve on all fronts.
Appreciate you sharing your honest MEDS report, Nikhila!
“MEDS” is really an important part of healthy life and MEDS are:
Meditation: Nope
Exercise: Yes, I do 4 or 5 days a week and walk for about half an hour on treadmill due to lockdown so can’t enjoy nature while walking.
Diet: I try to follow healthy diet but sometime failed to do so.
Sleep: My favourite thing, I sleep for about 6 to 7 hours.
Wonderful that sleep is your favorite, Saivta. Good start on your MEDS!
“MEDS” its really most important part of life.
its very helpful to manage present stressful condition.
You’ve got that right, Rupesh!
I agree on all of these. The only challenge with sleeping nowadays is having your mobile phone still active while taking the chance to induce sleep. Hope to get out on this bad habit.
Awareness is the first step toward change, Marlon.
Hi Kyle,
I really loved the article and it is very helpful. But I’m really having trouble with setting up my routine. I’m confused how to set up my daily schedule. Currently it is so random and messed up, I can’t think of any productive thing for me.
It would be great if you can help me with that.
Thanks
Hi Ronit – I’d start with “Atomic Habits” by James Clear to figure out how to break bad habits and build good habits. That will help you build a routine and consistency. On a more tactical level, I personally use timeboxing to make sure I do all my to-dos each day.
Kyle, thanks for sharing your experience. M – I used to practice an 1 hour session of yoga 2 times a week and I went very well for 3 years, but since pandemia starts situation was not the same. E – I keep a 2~3 times a week exercise. I am doing it on line. I believe that do not stop was a great gain at this topic. D – I started a diet at 2019 and a lot of great results were good in my life. My strategy is create a healthy habit, discover the flavor of fruits, drinks and get energy to do what I like in life. S – Usually I sleep well. But I am always monitoring the time to go sleep as I like to watch soccer games and usually the games ends late night. But here I try a chamomile, or “erva cidreira” tea. A melatonin suplement helps as well. That it!!!
Very nice, good work Marcelo!
Give it a try! Come back and let me know how it goes, Mohammed.
Yes, Untrea! Key word “everyday.”
Hey, Thanks for sharing that amount of wonderful advices. I am a fond of meditation and I love the way it feels when I daily practice it. I do meditate daily for minimum of 30 minutes. I do work out for 5days a week(150 minutes each week). I do sleep for 6 to 7 hours, though I’m a night owl still I take the adequate sleep. All I want to get a healthy habit of diet. I am a foodie, and I like to explore foods.
Thanks for sharing! We all have at least one category we can work on.
This is the article I needed today, will make sure to apply this on my routine. 🙂
Isn’t it funny how the right information always seems to find you at the right time? 🙂
This is very informative , and it made me do a self-evaluation. I haven’t explored meditation, but now I will. I try to do light exercises, lately I hurt most days because I need a full left knee replacement, I use to walk in the park every other day for hours before the doctor stated I was bone on bone. Diet , I try to eat healthy from time to time even that’s a little hard when you work from home and you are the only person here, I tend to snack more of the wrong foods, and I know I don’t get enough sleep only 4 to 5 hours if that, all of this is very important, in fact extremely important to me now because I’m now older and it’s so hard just to lose 5pounds.
Awareness through an honest self-evaluation is step one and putting you on the right track, Patricia!
M – Meditate daily
E – I walk 5 miles a day
D – I try to eat healthy (work in progress)
S – Sleep 6 to 7 hours
Nicely done, Dunita 👍
Great article, Kyle. Personally, I got a lot of room for improvement in all areas except sleep 🙂
Well now you are aware of it, Taranjeet, and that’s the first step!
Nice article! While improving just one of these lifestyle factors can help people lead longer lives to improve physical and mental health.
Absolutely, Angelene!
Thank you. It helps a lot of people. Happiness lives inside of the smallest moments.
M-E-D-S : Physically and Mentally important for everyone.
Agreed, physical AND mental, kolluru!
Very useful information which we all already knew but never think about it. Thank you for letting us know the importance for meditation, exercise, diet and proper sleep. I will definitely implement it my daily life.
Great point, Yogesh: “information which we all already knew but never think about it.”
Amazing content..and a very gentle reminder to us who live the corporate life from home.Although failing on meditation..taking care of the rest of the three..Healthy eating is such bliss however we do eat out once in a while..
Once in a while is much better than once in a day, Rubiya!
Hello to you, great article! My entire life i was trying to achieve this 4 big rules but sometimes, more in the last 4 years after giving birth was harder for me to have a good wellness balance but not impossible and i did the best I’ve could. Thank you for inspired me to get better after reading this and thinking more serious to my family’s healthy life.
Glad it was an inspiration, Alina!
This article is very helpful for me because me MEDS are a mess at the moment, I do not have any time for meditation nor I know how to do it. On the Exercise part I usually jog mostly 1-2 days in a week. Diet is not looking great for the most part even if I do eat some fruits and vegetables and lastly sleep, I usually have some trouble sleeping specially during at night, better do some work about it.
Your article is very helpful for me, i will try to follow them but as of now- Meditation- nope
Diet- junk food 3-4 time in a week
Exercise- Walking 3,4 km in a day
Sleep- 8-9 hour
Thanks!
I strongly believe in M.E.D.S coz it changed my life.
Diet- junk food 3-4 time in a week
Exercise- Walking 3,4 km in a day
Sleep- 8-9 hour
Thanks!
Hi,
Meds 🙂
Meditation – i didn’t have the chance yet to meditate, but I tried and I’ll try in the future.
Exercise – not a big fan, but i’m doing some exercise in the house for at least half an hour.
Diet – i have a good diet, eating at almost same hours eveyday, healthy food (homemade), fruits and vegetables.
Sleeping – lately, i sleep 7-8 hours per night. Before 3 weeks ago, the average was 6 hours…
I feel much better now.
And I try to walk with my family because I not have a dog, before this I don’t know this much advantage of medidation,at the time of school I do the medidation,but I do the gym now I do both again Thanks for Your’s precious explanation
In today’s era everyone needs this type of information and meditation is one of the most interesting topic which we can implement in our life.
Meditation is about knowing oneself. While doing work we all are in body conscious but with the help of meditation one can be soul conscious.
I do exercise every other week and I take vitamins to boost my immune system.
i really appricate this article is very helpful for me I do not have any time for meditation nor I know how to do it. and even not able to manage my work balance because of some mental crysices but after geting treated and following M.E.D.S and applying in my life it really help me to manage things
Thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful post. I really appreciate your kind efforts. I’ve recently started to learn about meditation . I eated more healthy , sleep more and focus on my breath. That is amazing, beacuse i feel stronger and better.
For me sleeping is an issue now as I have small kids and my sleep is not long enough.
However my diet is better than it was before. I need to exercise more. And to be honest I do not like to meditate. I think that for me long walks are better than meditation.