I told you already I like simplicity.

And great ideas.

And efficiency, productivity, health…

…

I also like to amuse myself making links between my posts – when I think of them that is.

So we had: three little words. OK, so the title of this post is actually 5 words but you get the idea – and no, it’s not a location, just a loose reference to that last (last week’s) article. Three little (though the last one is quite heavy) things.

Before that we had: Connected or Disconnected? Where I tried to prise you away from your smart phone just a little bit (just to get you back in the moment for a few minutes so you don’t miss the rustling leaves, the birds singing and the babbling of the babbling brook).

On to my first suggestion:

Buy a Cheap Alarm Clock

Before I go any further I actually haven’t done this but I also don’t spend much time on my mobile phone checking various social media sites (just not into them), responding to various notifications and basically for any other reason unable to put the thing down once I’ve picked it up. Can you say that?

No? So I’d suggest you go out and buy yourself a cute little alarm clock. Retro style. Something that looks nice.

So in case you’ve not already guessed, the point of this suggestion is to ban your mobile phone from the bedroom. Just leave it downstairs.

One of the biggest excuses we have for bringing our mobile phones to bed is — using them as an alarm clock!

The problem (for most people) with taking your phone to bed with you is that with it you are bringing all those irresistible ‘connections’/distractions I mentioned in the previous article. Bringing phones into the bedroom is potentially one of the most anti-productive things you can do.

Why not instead get an actual, old-style alarm clock. It could be really cute too.

All part of the journey to use your phone as the tool it is meant to be rather than becoming a slave to it.

That being said, if you truly are capable of using the ‘do not disturb’ function on your phone so that it effectively is just an alarm clock and nothing more, then feel free to skip this advice, you possibly don’t need it.

Get (and use) a Water Bottle

Ideally a really cool, re-usable one.

I’ve written about this before but a really simpe and effective life-hack is to have a water bottle and keep using it to help you to drink more water. Just having the goal of drinking more water isn’t enough, especially if you don’t particularly love drinking water. A bottle makes it measurable and gives yo a target (i.e. empty the bottle).

Then start taking the bottle everywhere with you wherever you can. It’s pretty common knowledge that keeping well hydrated is one of the best things you can do for your health (I’m kicking myself as I write this because for a while I had a bottle I used all the time, was doing really well with staying hydrated and it really did make a big difference, so I need to re-develop that habit and that momentum).

Using a bottle does make it easier.

You may still (as I have done), drop out of the habit of drinking more water, but splitting this into two habits (1. Drink more water, 2. Carry cool water bottle wherever you can) will make it easier. If you are winning at carrying around that bottle everywhere or at least seeing it periodically through your day, every day – then it will be easier to drink more water, stay more hydrated and be more healthy.

Drinking water all the time makes you less hungry, keeps you feeling energetic, and helps you avoid brain fog. So no more excuses (for you or for me!).

Having a bottle and keeping it with you whenever you can basically means fewer trips to go and get water (whether these are to your kitchen or tap in the house or when you are travelling/out and about) and a constant reminder to drink water and stay hydrated. You’re also obviously being eco-friendly if you but a re-usable bottle and given you hopefully are going to be using this for some time (it’s going to last, you’re only putting water in it!!) then it’s worth getting a good one.

Try (and Maybe Buy) A Kettlebell

I’ve been trying to get fit lately.

I’ve done a few things to achieve this, basically broadening out the exercise I do to try and make myself more injury-proof by doing different types of exercises other than the same repetitive movements of Table Tennis and Golf. One of these is Racketlon which I’m pretty excited about and I’d been meaning to get involved in for some time (now I have). The other is Kettlebells.

I’ve been wondering for a while what all the fuss is about.

Kettlebells seem to be the in thing.

When looking into fitness (partciularly Strength training), it’s hard not to stumble across kettlebells.

Anyway, now I know.

I’m still actually exploring this phenomenon.

What I can tell you is that for such a small object – the kettlebell – it’s an extremely versatile thing.

First of all I tried out kettlebells by going to a kettlebell class. There would obviously be no point in going any further if I absolutely hated it.

What I soon discovered though is that the class and exercises are pretty straight-forward, so with a bit of discipline, there is actually no need to pay for classes every week, so long as I can motivate myself to do the exercises the same as or better than the class I would be going to. Oh – and get myself a kettlebell.

Next I bought a kettlebell.

If you are going to do something similar then I’d say it is important to try a class first (should be very easy to find one these days they’re all the rage) to see if you like exercising with a kettlebell/kettlebells and also to determine what the right weight kettlebell is for you.

Often classes are done with two kettlebells – a light one and a heavy one as different exercises are suited to more or less weight.

I personally have bought one kettlebell to start with and am doing more of the strength exercises where you would use the heavier of the two weights but with a weight I can easily handle for now.

Kettlebells themselves are not super-cheap but I’d say inexpensive when you compare the cost of exercising at home vs the cost of going to classes every week.

Also worth mentioning that I still plan to follow a class rather than doing everything completely on my own, just following a class on Youtube rather than instructors down the gym (again there seem to be plenty of these to choose from so not difficult to find).

So I reckon the kettlebell is quite a nifty little thing. Takes very little space when compared to something like dumbbells and you can do a lot more with it (e.g. try doing a kettlebell swing with dumbbells).

Why even do this?

I’ve been looking into health and fitness a lot lately and without going into too much detail, the benefits of strength training (e.g. as opposed to endurance training or other exercise) for general health are much greater than I’d realised.

I’m not particularly strong and find it difficult to be motivated to do strength training rather than just playing sports but it’s obviously beneficial for all kinds of reasons (mainly to help avoid injury in my case) and I think the kettlebell could be a very efficient way to do sufficient strength training at home.

Final Thought(s)

Try one, all three or none of these ideas, but hopefully at least these suggestions have served as a gentle reminder of a few key principles for better health with a bit of productivity thrown in for good measure.

Often simple solutions are really good solutions, it’s good to put away distractions and allow yourself to do what you should be doing – in this case, getting rest and/or getting your body into the right state for a good night’s sleep (extremely important for good health). Staying hydrated is really important and also stupidly simple to do – so why don’t we do it? Strength training is more important than you might think for keeping your body in good condition and in good health (e.g. for starters, the more muscle you have the less chance you will have of becoming overweight, leading to less risk of weight related conditions – there’s a lot more to say on this topic but that would be a whole new article, in the meantime, you can research for yourself the benefits of strength training, particularly as we get a little older and need to fight some of the natural ageing processes which occur in our bodies).