PART ONE
Starting tiny habits that stick
Village making is about spreading health and well-being, or helping ourselves and others to feel more alive. But without restorative sleep, aliveness isn't happening.
More than making us feel exhausted, …
Insufficient sleep has been linked to putting people at an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression and even dementia. Luckily, for most of us, sleep is a skill that can be acquired through behavior change.
And when it comes to creating change, tiny is mighty.
Without HIGH motivation, BIG resolutions don’t work. Tiny habits do better over time at changing our behavior than resolutions or will power.
BJ Fogg runs the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford. Wanting to change his own behavior, Fogg tweeted out his weight in a bid to slim down. It didn’t work and his followers hated it. But by making a series of tiny habits, he lost almost 20 lbs.
I'll bring this back to sleep in Part Two.
My goal now is laying a foundation for starting tiny habits that stick because they'll come into play for creating new behaviors to connect with our neighbors.
Tying new tiny habits to exiting habits helps us to do them consistently.
Let’s say your goal is to do 10 squats twice a day. Pick something that you already do with that frequency, like brushing your teeth. Setting up a tiny habit might look like this:
After I brush my teeth (existing habit), I will do two squats (tiny habit).
Two squats twice a day isn’t the goal, but it’s an easy place to start.
And BJ says that you should celebrate accomplishing your tiny habit.
(He suggests a happy dance but thinking Yay! is more my thing.)
Once your tiny habit becomes second nature, ramp up. For example, make two squats, four. And when that sticks, make four squats, six, and so on.
BJ has amassed tens of thousands of tiny habits from various people, like…
After I step on the scale,
I will thank God for a new day.
After I start my morning coffee,
I will tidy one item in the living room.
After I start the dishwasher,
I will take my vitamin.
After I enter my house at the end of the day,
I will kiss my wife for 10 seconds.
After my head hits the pillow,
I will think of something I am grateful for.
PART TWO
Starting sleepy, tiny habits
Our path today crosses with another dude from Stanford, namely neuroscientist and ophthalmology researcher Dr. Andrew Huberman. Before continuing,
here's my disclaimer, which is basically that following anything I share is at your own risk.
With that out of the way, Huberman advises, …
To sleep better at night, get 2-10 minutes of early-morning sun in your eyes (without wearing glasses).
This does two things:
1. Triggers the release of the “stress hormone” cortisol into our bodies, which wakes us up and promotes the ability to focus.
2. Starts a timer for the release of melatonin, a hormone that helps with sleep.
So, a new sleepy, tiny habit you can start for better slumber might be…
After I make my bed,
I will stand on my porch for two minutes.
Without getting in the weeds about different kinds of light, looking outside through a window is 50X LESS EFFECTIVE at stimulating the eyes than if the window were open. So if you don't have a porch, stick your head out of the front door :-)
To go deeper on today's topics, if you desire…
*At no extra cost to you, I'll earn a small commission if you buy the book.
Finally, friends, to feel more alive, I take December off from "newslettering."
And June too. So technically, this is my final offering for 2023.
BUT, I've decided to send you a gift next week that I hope you'll welcome: health-preserving tips for controlling glucose spikes this holiday season and beyond.
