Three Though Thursday

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Dear Reader,

I don’t often get asked for fashion advice—that might be a tell on the caliber of my wardrobe—but one question I keep getting asked about is a certain device I wear on my wrist. I’m not much of a watch guy, either. For the last 12 months, I’ve been wearing a WHOOP band, a wearable fitness tracker that measures my exercise, sleep, and overall recovery. As of a few weeks ago, I had officially been wearing my WHOOP band for 365 days, which aligned with my newfound interest—or should I say obsessive passion—about health, fitness, and longevity. I don’t think I’m alone in this. Companies like WHOOP, Oura, Eight Sleep, Helix, and many more have skyrocketed in value as more and more people want to live longer, healthier lives. I’ve learned some pretty neat things over the last year of wearing my WHOOP band, and I want to share them.

Health—that’s the theme of this Three Thought Thursday.

Not That Type of Debt

Being raised in the Midwest, I was surrounded by life lessons and funny catchphrases, especially from my parents. My dad has taught me many things and imparted valuable life lessons. One, in particular, I'm always grateful for is his ability to instill knowledge of personal finance and money. I often remember talking about never using debt unless it’s for something extremely valuable, like education or buying a house. If you ever had to take on debt, you would work as quickly as possible to pay it off. But ideally, you would never have it at all.

My mom was equal in her lessons. When anybody was sick, she had an iconic catchphrase. In a joyful, boisterous voice, she simply said, “Drink, drink, sleep, sleep.” That meant you’re probably sick because you’re under-hydrated or under-slept. (Note: this was only for things like the common cold and illnesses that could heal without a doctor’s intervention.)

We’ve all heard that you want to get between seven and nine hours of sleep every night. But something I’ve learned over the last 12 months is that hitting your head on the pillow and falling asleep at ten, then waking up at six, does not equate to eight hours. Funny enough, on average, humans wake up between one to three times per hour of sleep at night. These wake-ups can range from 10 to 30 seconds, all the way to five, 10, or even 30 minutes.

This causes a misunderstanding of how long you’ve stayed asleep. If you’re in bed from ten to six, thinking you’ve got eight hours, you’ve likely gotten closer to seven or seven and a half hours. If you’re aiming for that minimum threshold of seven hours of sleep a night, you’re probably getting less, which causes you to accumulate something called sleep debt. Sleep debt is more or less the amount of time you’ve underslept in relation to the minimum viable threshold of seven hours per night you’re supposed to get.

So, if you’re thinking you’re getting a good amount of sleep at night by staying at that seven-hour mark, you’re probably closer to six and a half, and that will start to accumulate. But there is a solution. Combining my parents’ wisdom from growing up: “sleep, sleep” and pay off that debt—you’ll be golden. 

Tracking your sleep with a device is your best bet to understand your actual numbers for yourself. But generally, if you’re only hitting the pillow for seven hours, you’ve likely underslept and accumulated some debt. That debt will certainly affect long-term performance, and you’ll want to pay it down—just like you would with any other kind of debt—either by getting more sleep at night than usual or taking naps when you can.

When it comes to sleep, there’s a simple rule:

Over-emphasize the hours needed to pay off and stay out of debt.

It Can Be This Much Fun

It was only fitting that a conversation about health was happening while we were getting scorched and sunburned. Last week, right around the one-year mark of my health and fitness journey, I was at the Cubs game with some college friends. One friend, who I hadn’t seen in a while, had recently moved to the city to start a graduate program in physical therapy. Translation: he was studying how to be healthier. And this guy was as passionate about health as you could be. I felt like a kid in a candy store, asking him question after question after question.

The topic of exercise came up, and amidst it, he said something profound when I asked him about his routine. Regarding his exercise, he said, “It’s every single day, but it has to be fun.”

Fun? Exercise? No way that can correlate. My friend then explained how you can have fun exercising in two different ways. You can either engage in strenuous exercise or exercises you don’t like and trick your brain into it by repeating, “I’m enjoying this,” or “I like this,” out loud. The other option is to follow your curiosity—don’t get bogged down by the overwhelming number of so-called gurus telling you how much you should lift, how far you should run, or how often you should be moving your body. Instead, pursue something you find interesting, something that makes you move your body and, ideally, sweat a little.

For him, it was calisthenics, which didn’t seem like much, but in reality, it helped strengthen his core and upper body—and he did it every day (sometimes for only 5 minutes), and it showed. It may be as simple as walking your dog outside or as challenging as running an ultramarathon, but whatever it is, do something fun every day.

Make it fun and do it every day.

Food and Poison

Was it just me, or was anybody else fascinated with poison dart frogs when you went to the zoo on a school trip growing up? They were my favorite animals by far when I was a little kid. One of the main reasons why was because of their bright colors. One of my fondest early memories of science and learning about the animal kingdom was that bright colors on animals equaled danger.

Because these little amphibians didn’t have claws, big teeth, the ability to fly away, or the speed to outrun their predators, they had to have a different form of protection: poison. And the more colorful they were, the more poisonous they were, signaling to potential predators. Pretty appropriate for frogs. But, funny enough, it’s the exact opposite for food.

I recently heard a quote from the well-respected but equally controversial Scott Galloway, who said, when talking about diet, that "in general, the industrial food complex is designed to hand you over to the industrial diabetes complex." Translation: when it comes to food, the chips are stacked against us. We’re smarter than ever, with technology that’s more advanced than ever, working in industries like food and medication that try to make things taste better, addict us, and hand us over to their buddies. Food is really hard to get right.

But in general, we want to follow the poison dart frog rule: the more vibrant and colorful a food is, the less manufactured, more natural, and thus healthier it is likely to be for us. Unfortunately, these options are often more expensive, but if you treat them as an investment in your health, you can usually make them worth it.

The opposite is true for foods you should avoid. Overly manufactured things typically come in plain, beige, tan, black, or brown colors. Think bread or pasta, cookies or brownies, cakes, and pastries. Even ice cream, for the most part—unless you’re like me and go for the Superman flavor—is usually more white, brown, or black.

Eat the dart frog. The more color, the better.

Cheers to a happier, healthier, and longer life.

Grateful for you,

Tommy

P.S. Can you do me a favor if you learned something new in this edition? Forward this letter to a friend who may not know about one of these three stories.