When you decide to get healthy, the plan tends to be big. Sign up for a gym membership, overhaul your diet, commit to a strict new routine. Big changes can work. They also feel overwhelming, especially when life is busy, and overwhelming plans get dropped. Hence the gym membership that gets paid for and not used.
Here is how small a change can be and still count. Among 25,241 middle-aged and older adults in Britain who did no exercise at all, wrist trackers picked up short bursts of vigorous activity in ordinary life, the kind that leaves you puffing, such as stairs taken quickly or a hurried walk. Those who had about three bursts a day, of a minute or two each, were 38–40% less likely to die over the next seven years than those who had none, and about half as likely to die of heart disease or stroke.
People who move in bursts may differ in other ways, so this is a link, not proof. It is a big one, and it costs a few minutes a day, with no gym and no kit.
Small changes are easier to start and easier to keep, and they add up. Industry learned this in a hurry. During the Second World War, American factories had neither the time nor the materials for big changes, so a training programme taught small improvements instead, ideally ones that could be made the same day. The idea is best known now by its Japanese name, kaizen, which simply means "improvement", or "change for the good".
Here are seven, each with something that may surprise you, and where to go for the full story.
1. Make water your main drink
You are about 60% water by weight. Water carries heat out of you, keeps digestion moving and keeps your blood flowing. It is the plainest drink there is, and the best one to drink most.
It is not a fat burner, though. In 2003, fourteen people who drank half a litre of water burned 30% more energy afterwards, and "water boosts your metabolism" went round the world. When the test was repeated, room-temperature water raised energy use by nothing at all, and ice-cold water by 4.5%, well below the cost of warming it to body heat. A later check found no more of a rise than a pretend drink gave. "Flush out toxins" never had a test to fail. Your liver and kidneys do the flushing. Water just keeps them supplied.
What water does do is take the place of the drinks that do harm. Have a glass with every meal and keep a bottle where you can see it. A on the desk reminds you without nagging. Among dieters aged 55 to 75, those who drank water before each meal lost about 2 kg more over twelve weeks: Why People Fail at Weight Loss (And How to Succeed) has it. 7 Fun and Tasty Ways to Stay Hydrated Without the Boredom has how much you need, and why thirst becomes a poor alarm as you get older.
2. Move in short bursts, and walk more
The bursts in the intro are the easiest exercise there is, because they are not exercise. Take the stairs, and take them briskly. Walk to the shop as if you are late. Park at the far end of the car park and stride. There is always a space there anyway. A minute or two of getting out of breath, three times a day, is what that finding was about.
It has been put to a controlled test, too. How to Start Taking Care of Yourself Today, linked below, has the inactive young adults who climbed three flights of stairs briskly, three times a day, a few days a week, and were fitter six weeks later than a group who did not.
Add a little strength while you are at it. Among 1,104 male firefighters, average age about 40, followed for ten years, the men who could do more than 40 push-ups had 96% fewer heart and circulation problems than the men who managed fewer than 10. There were only 37 such problems in the whole group, and these were active men, so treat the figure as rough. Start with push-ups against the kitchen counter and work your way down to the floor.
Then add the steps. Walking is one of the simplest ways to look after your heart, your mood and your weight, and you do not need 10,000 steps. Among older women, the benefit kept growing up to about 7,500 a day and then levelled off. The Harsh Truth About Aging: Decline or Longevity? has the numbers. A keeps count without a phone.
If you only add one walk, make it after a meal. How to Fix Blood Sugar Spikes Naturally has what ten minutes on your feet after eating does to blood sugar.
And if you sit for long stretches, break them up. How to Start Taking Care of Yourself Today, linked below, has the overweight adults whose rise in blood sugar after a sugary, fatty drink fell by about a quarter or more when they got up every twenty minutes for two minutes of walking.
3. Put meat, fish or eggs at the centre of each meal
Build each plate around protein. Protein is the most filling part of a meal. Three eggs fill you up. Three slices of toast leave room for three more. A does seven at once, so the next few breakfasts are ready in the fridge.
Why People Fail at Weight Loss, linked above, has why protein comes first. 7 Healthier Snack Swaps to Beat the Mid-Day Slump Without Sugar Crashes has the thirty women who ate eggs instead of a bagel for breakfast and went on eating less for the next day and a half. And How to Outsmart Cravings and Make Healthier Choices Without Relying on Willpower has the appetite for protein that keeps you eating until you have had enough of it.
4. Eat slowly, away from the screen
Fast food is one problem. Food eaten fast is another. Among 59,717 adults in Japan with type 2 diabetes, followed for up to six years through their yearly health checks, the slow eaters' odds of being obese were about 40% lower than the fast eaters'. And the people who slowed down over those years saw their weight and their waist come down.
So put the phone away and turn the television off. Chew properly. Your stomach is slower than your fork. Notice when you start to feel full, and stop there rather than at the bottom of the plate. The cravings article above has what eating in front of a screen does to the next meal, and The Hidden Ingredient That Changes Every Meal You Cook has what eating the same meal slowly did.
5. Cut sugar, drinks first
Sugar is in almost everything, and too much of it goes with weight gain, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
History ran the test. Britain rationed sugar from January 1940 until September 1953. When rationing ended, the amount eaten nearly doubled almost at once. Adults conceived just before it ended had spent their time in the womb, and sometimes their first months, under rationing. They turned out to have about 35% lower risk of type 2 diabetes and 20% lower risk of high blood pressure than those conceived just after. When the diseases did come, they came four and two years later. Wartime Britain did not mean to run a health experiment. It ran a good one anyway.
Start with the drinks: fizzy drinks, juice, energy drinks, sweetened anything. Swap them for water. Then the snacks: the snack swaps article above has boiled eggs, cold meat and a tin of fish. Cut back step by step if that is easier. The Hidden Science of Sugar Cravings has why it gets easier: after three months on 40% less sugar, the same pudding tasted about 40% sweeter. The Hidden Cost of Your Daily Sugary Drink has what one drink a day does.
6. Guard your sleep
Sleep is the foundation. It is when the body repairs, the brain sorts the day and stress settles. The US National Sleep Foundation's panel put the amount at 7 to 9 hours a night for adults, and 7 to 8 after 65.
Build a wind-down. Screens off an hour before bed, a book instead, the lights low. Keep the same hours at the weekend too. Your body clock does not do weekends. Why You're Still Exhausted Despite Doing Everything Right has why regular hours may count for more than long ones, and what an afternoon coffee does to the night: a strong one six hours before bed still cut sleep by more than an hour. End Your Day Right: How Gratitude Before Sleep Can Help You Rest has what reading on a tablet did to bedtime that a printed book did not.
7. Say thank you
Health is not only physical. Take a moment each day for what you are grateful for, big or small: the people around you, a sunny walk, a job finished. The bedtime article above has the evening version.
Then go one step further and say it to someone. People who wrote thank-you letters were asked to guess how the recipient would feel. They underestimated how surprised and how pleased the recipient would be, and overestimated how awkward it would be. The awkwardness you are bracing for is smaller than you think. Send the message. It takes a minute, and it may make someone's week.
It does the writer good as well. Among 219 people, those who wrote three letters of thanks over three weeks grew happier and more satisfied with life, and had fewer signs of depression, than people who wrote none.
Start with one
Go back to the stairs. A minute or two of puffing, three times a day, with no gym and no plan. That is the size of change this list is about. Small enough to start today, and too small to make excuses for.
Which one first? Pick the one that fits the problem you have. Tired all day: start with sleep. Weight creeping up: the drinks and the plate. Sitting from morning to night: the bursts. Feeling flat: the thank-you. If nothing stands out, start with the stairs, because you will meet some today.
Think of it like planting a garden. Small seeds grow into something big if you water them regularly. Begin with one new habit, and add the next once the first runs on its own. Hang it on something you already do: "after I park the car, I walk from the far end." Why Motivation Fails — and What Keeps Habits Going After It Does has why plans in that form work. How to Reach Your Health Goals Without Losing Your Sanity, linked below, has how to make it stick, and How to Start Taking Care of Yourself Today, linked below, has why today beats next week.
Even the word agrees. "Health" comes from the Old English hǣlþ, from the same root as whole, hale and heal. It was never about one big fix. It is about all of you, a little at a time.
So, what small change will you start with today?
Take the next flight of stairs you meet, and take it fast.
Want the change to stick? How to Reach Your Health Goals Without Losing Your Sanity — the 16 kilos that felt like failure, why flexible rules beat strict ones, and what to track instead of the scale.
Still waiting for the right moment to start? How to Start Taking Care of Yourself Today: Why Your Body Can't Wait — what one short night and two weeks on the sofa do to the body, and why the first win should be small.
Know someone who keeps meaning to get healthy, starting next month? Send them this, and race them up the stairs.
Disclaimer: This article is general information. For advice about your own health, talk to a qualified health professional. If you have a heart condition or have not been active for a long time, build up to the faster bursts gradually.
Affiliate Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, All For Life earns from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. We only link to products we would recommend without the commission.
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