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/
Also published on Medium.
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!
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.