Sleep, food, exercise, stress—working on one improves all

Editor's Note

This April 24 report from Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London explains how giving a little extra attention to any one of four components of good health—sleeping enough, eating well, exercising, and coping with stress—can improve the others.

It all begins in the brain with stress. If the brain is in a stress state, physical needs are relegated to second place, says Safia Debar, MBBS, an expert in tailored medical exams. Similarly, she says, sleeping, eating, and exercising can affect how one handles stress.

Key questions a person should ask are:

• How is my sleep routine?
• Do I have digestive problems?
• How is my social support?
• Do certain parts of my daily routine make me feel stressed?
• What kind of exercise am I doing?

Improving just one of these components can have a huge impact and make one feel empowering, says Dr Debar. It will change one’s thought process from, my doctor says I have “to lose weight and sleep and reduce my stress,” to how do I take what I have in my life and “embed these practices in it?”