I came across this simple concept in Brooke McAlary’s book Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World.
I’m a big believer in preventive medicine. I also equally love a clever quote that plays on health:
For fast-acting relief, try slowing down. — Lily Tomlin
What people eat can be medicine or poison. — Dr. Brenda Rea
Are you taking your MEDS? (Meditation, Exercise, Diet, Sleep)
In her book, Brooke attributes this simple concept to behavioral consultant, Nicholas Bate.¹ Bate says we should be “giving consideration to M-E-D-S or meditation-exercise-diet-sleep” on a daily basis.
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?
Personally, I’m doing really well on exercise and sleep. I exercise 6-7 days/week and sleep 7-8 hours most nights. Sometimes I even throw in a 20 minute nap.
My next best subject would be 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, order pizza, and eat out every once in awhile.
Where I’m currently failing is meditation. I’m all-in on slow living, but I honestly haven’t yet explored meditation other than reading about the benefits and listening to a guided mediation a couple times.
How about you? Please share in the comments!
Source:
- http://blog.strategicedge.co.uk/superwellness/
Jenny K. Kelly
February 28, 2019 at 8:59 PMThanks 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.
Kyle Kowalski
May 9, 2019 at 11:52 AMSure thing, Jenny!
Aishwarya Tapadar
December 27, 2019 at 7:54 PMWell written article.
Kyle Kowalski
January 6, 2020 at 9:51 AMI appreciate it, Aishwarya.
leah
August 8, 2019 at 9:42 AMCool! 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.
Kyle Kowalski
August 14, 2019 at 10:26 AMThanks, 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.
Romita Sur Roy
December 19, 2019 at 11:05 PMThanks & love it really.
Kyle Kowalski
January 6, 2020 at 10:08 AMThanks, Romita!
Chenrezig
January 13, 2020 at 11:02 AMPerfect article. For meditation try Rupert Spira.
Kyle Kowalski
January 14, 2020 at 9:56 AMThanks for the recommendation, Chenrezig. Rupert Spira is on my “people to check out” list!
Ankit Kiraula
March 2, 2020 at 7:12 PMI 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
Kyle Kowalski
March 23, 2020 at 11:08 AMNice 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.
Tanya Tokash
March 24, 2020 at 6:14 PMAfter reading, I am going to incorporate M.E.D.S into my daily routine.
MD DANISH ANJUM
April 2, 2020 at 9:43 PMNice