When I started to write things down, the Pillars of Health was one the first and main ones that I started. I started collecting information from many sources over the years and decided to compile it in a document to make it easy to follow.

Despite being sourced from many places, the main ones were the Huberman Lab podcast and the book Outlive. Check the Sources section for more details.

But what is the goal of the Pillars of Health? For me, it is a list of ideal things that I should be doing in order to increase my healthspan and lifespan, or in other words, it is a central place with the best practices for me that if I follow, I will live more and better.

These pillars were designed in a way that I can follow for years or decades and not something to do for a while. They work as a guideline and I am always striving to accomplish them but I’m a fallible human. I try to do them as much as possible.

When I started applying this I was relatively in good health but according to my bioimpedance scale* I was bordering obesity, 3 years older than I really was (metabolic age), with high subcutaneous fat and on the limit of the acceptable visceral fat (acceptable, but not good). I know that this kind of measurement device is not very precise, but I didn’t need precision to tell me that I was not on a good path.

Pillars of Health

My Pillars of Health are divided into 6 parts, they are Sleep, Sunlight, Movement, Nutrition, Stress control, and Social connections. Let’s see all of them in detail below.

Sleep

I never paid attention to my sleep that much and sometimes in my life, I tried to not sleep much to be more awake producing things and doing. I sometimes even said: “I will sleep a lot when I die”.

Hopefully, I changed my mind about that, and in the last 2 to 3 years, I have made sleep my priority.

Today, my guidelines to sleep are:

  • Give myself 9 hours of sleep opportunity.
  • Last meal at least 3 hours before bed
  • Go to bed at the same time every day (including weekends)
  • Don’t read or do other activities in bed (we don’t have TV in the bedroom)
  • Avoid caffeine after 12 PM

Sunlight

Having sunlight at the beginning of the day and it is absence during sleep are essential to adjust our circadian rhythm and also for me, it helps in the mood.

These are my guidelines

  • See sunlight in the morning as early as possible when we wake up. 10 minutes of when sunny and 20 when cloudy
  • Dark room to sleep (with no electronic lights)

Movement

This is a very important pillar but for this one, I don’t have a very strict guideline. I have some general ideas and I change them according to what I am doing on that week/month.

As VO₂ Max is one of the most potent predictors of length of life and the more muscle mass we have when we are getting old, the lower the risk of death. I try to focus on both cardio and strength exercises.

Cardio (50%)

I try to dedicate 50% of my time to cardio activities. I try:

Walk as much as possible

At least 10 thousand steps on average per day. I like walks after work as it helps me switch my mind off from work and also relax from the stress of the day.

240 minutes (4 hours) of Zone 2 per week

I don’t achieve this one every week, but I strive for it. I like hikes in nature as my primary source but I also complement it with a treadmill with elevation or a stationary bike.

1 day of max VO2 max per week

For this, I usually run 5k or do a 4 min run, 4 walk for 4 to 6 times.

Strength (50%)

I started strength exercises 3 to 4 months ago after years without going to a gym so I still figuring out what I like to do but in general, I do exercise to build general strength and tone the muscles but not be a bodybuilder.

I am doing strength exercises 3 to 4 times a week for around an hour now.

I try to pay attention to:

  • Concentric and eccentric loading for all movements (we need to be able to lift the weight up and put it back down, slowly and with control.)
  • Grip strength, how hard you can grip with your hands
  • Hip-hinging movements (Bend at the hips — not the spine — to harness your body’s largest muscles, the gluteus maximus and the hamstrings)

Flexibility and stability

I started doing yoga 4 years ago at home following an app and I still do it. I still don’t have the flexibility I wished but I keep doing yoga 3 times a week.

Nutrition

I don’t subscribe to any “diet” or “eating style” and I eat everything but I have some guidelines I try to follow when eating that are pretty healthy compared to the average of people.

What is most important for me is not what type of food I am eating, but how many calories I am consuming. I have paid a lot of attention to the calories in the last few months and it has been eye-opening for me and also helped me get good results.

I mostly eat food cooked at home (we rarely go to restaurants) and most of our food is not processed. We don’t have much-processed food at home and we are big on salad and vegetables. I say we because my wife and I try to take very good care of our food.

In general, these are the guidelines:

  • Focus on quality nutrition. Get most of the calories from minimally processed foods. (No junk food)
  • Don’t overeat. (pay attention to the body)
  • Prefer food that your great-grandmother would recognize as food.
  • Avoid food with added sugars
  • Prefer organic
  • Prefer Mediterranean-style diet, relying on more monounsaturated fats and fewer refined carbohydrates, in addition to regular consumption of fatty fish (Salmon, mostly).
  • Drink water: When you think you are hungry, maybe you just need water.
  • Targeting 160 grams of protein per day (around 2.1g/kg)
  • Pay attention to the calories of things
  • Reduce alcohol consumption

Mental health

In the last few years, I have been paying more and more attention to my mental health. I tried to simplify my life a lot and only worry about things that are under my control or things I cannot outsource.

Access to nature

I grew up and a farm and I love nature. Where we live now we have some beautiful nature with mountains, sea, etc.

So I try to be more with nature. try to connect with and let my mind wander. Many studies show that being more with nature decreases stress levels and increases life satisfaction.

Reduce information gathering

In a way, I’m addicted to learning. I read a lot of books and listen to a lot of podcasts (16,789 minutes last year alone) but I am selective on what information I get.

I for example don’t follow news or things that are happening with other people.

But I also trying to reduce the books and podcasts that I listen to. I’m trying to pick the best only and not just do it because I’m bored or something.

Good social connections

Having good social connections is essential for a healthy and happy life but we want social connections that are positive, that help us, and not social connections that take you down. Focus on connections with people that give us energy.

Avoid social media

I deleted my Instagram account around a year ago and I have been loving not having the desire to share everything and also to check what others are doing. Also, I don’t have the obligation to reply to messages for very shallow connections. I now prefer a few deep connections to many shallow ones.

I’m not totally free of social media as I have LinkedIn (but I rarely access it) and WhatsApp which for me is more like a fast communication tool than social media as I just use the message and calls features.

Sources

As I mentioned above, I didn’t create this from scratch but based on a few sources that are based on science and studies. I have also adapted to what works for me and what I like or not.

Here is a complete list of the sources: