Before we rush headfirst into the details of the Feel Better in 5 method, let’s take a quick moment to understand why it is so effective. It is based on the simple fact that it is the way we choose to live, day in and day out, that mostly defines how healthy we end up being. If we consistently make good choices, we’ll end up feeling well. If we repeatedly make bad ones, we’ll end up struggling and getting sick. This may sound so obvious it’s hardly worth saying at all. But it might surprise you to know that this is not how we currently look at health.
Imagine that you go to see your doctor, complaining of a headache. Your doctor will listen to you describe your symptoms and give you a diagnosis based upon what you’ve said. They may say you have a tension headache or a migraine. You’ll probably then be prescribed one or more medications to help you with your pain. This is how doctors are trained. It’s how I was trained, in one of the UK’s top medical schools.
Of course, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with giving you a pill to help reduce your pain. But I believe a much better approach would be to try to figure out the root cause of your headache. For example, it might have been triggered by not drinking enough water, excess stress, a food intolerance, too much screen time, a neck problem, or insufficient sleep. Sure, a pill might be helpful in the short term. But in the long term we should be aiming to understand why you got your headache in the first place.
This is the approach I've taken in Feel Better in 5. It recognizes that for most of us, the source of good health, as well as bad health, is our lifestyle. About 80 percent of the problems I see as a GP are not caused by a glitch in our system that simply needs fixing. Instead, they are usually a sign that something is wrong in my patient’s day-to-day activities. I'm not only talking about conditions like type 2 diabetes and putting on excess weight, which many of us already recognize can be related to our lifestyles. Our collective modern ways of life also play a role in many other complaints, such as gut problems, mood issues, insomnia, low sex drive, poor concentration, hormonal complaints, and high blood pressure.
Perhaps someone is making unhealthy food choices. Perhaps it’s related to stress. Perhaps there is a lack of close, nourishing relationships, or maybe there’s some depression or anxiety that needs to be dealt with, or a lack of exercise or good-quality sleep. Almost certainly it’s going to be more than one of these things and, more often than not, I find that it’s in making small adjustments to my patients’ lifestyles that the best cures can usually be found, rather than in a packet of pills.
This is the simple idea that lies at the heart of the Feel Better in 5 method. I’m going to ask you to introduce three simple and easy practices into your daily routine, five days a week. I call these practices “health snacks.” Each one of these health snacks will take no more than five minutes to complete. This is short enough for you to fit into your busy day yet long enough to ensure that you gain real benefit from doing it.
Each health snack will focus on a different aspect of your health: Mind, Body, and Heart. Often we only focus on one area when trying to improve our health, which is why the benefits are usually short-lived. For example, let’s say you’re trying to reduce your sugar or alcohol intake. You may be initially successful while your motivation is high. But usually, after a week or two, you will have slipped back into your usual patterns. The reason you ate sugary foods and drank too much alcohol in the first place might have been to help you manage and cope with the stress in your life. If you don’t deal with the stress, you’ll never change the behavior. This is why my Feel Better in 5 method helps you tackle every aspect of your health.
By completing three short health snacks a day, you’ll quickly begin to feel happier, calmer, and more energetic. You’ll become physically healthier and, if you are carrying excess weight, you will start to lose it.
ONE HEALTH SNACK WILL HELP YOUR MIND BY REDUCING LEVELS OF STRESS AND ANXIETY.
ONE HEALTH SNACK WILL HELP YOUR BODY BY GETTING YOU MOVING MORE.
ONE HEALTH SNACK WILL HELP YOUR HEART BY STRENGTHENING YOUR ESSENTIAL CONNECTIONS.
This 360-degree approach ensures that your entire system—mind, body, and heart—is being looked after.
