In common parleance, we all have a lifestyle.  What I mean by this is that we all have a certain pattern to how we work, eat, sleep, exercise, use substances, and spend our free time.  Even people who say, “Not me, every day is different and I don’t have a pattern” are expressing a pattern of inconsistency that differentiates them from others who go about their lives in a highly routinized way.

When we think about use of the word “style” in other contexts – like in art, architecture, and design – it conveys an element of structure, planning, and choice.   It can be described by a recognizable set of features that allow categorization for purposes of discussion, and it’s in this context that I think we might each look within ourselves and examine our individual “lifestyles.”  What’s your style?  What’s your plan?  Consider this analogy:  if your life is likened to a decades-long construction project, what kind of structure are you building?  What do your blueprints look like?  If you don’t have a set of blueprints, then it’s time to get some!

A recent report from the medical literature¹ shows the benefit of having blueprints, i.e. having a plan - and I’d like to share it with you briefly.  Adults with pre- or stage 1 hypertension (average BP 135/83 mm Hg) were randomized to 3 groups:  1) general advice only, 2) specifics about planned lifestyle change for BP control (lowering sodium, weight loss, and increased physical activity), and 3) these specifics combined with instruction on the DASH-diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension - which I’ve written about before.)

Researchers found that people in group 1 didn’t do as well as those in groups 2 and 3 with regard to lowering their BP and overall cardiovascular risk, and groups 2 and 3 successfully lowered their risk for future stroke and heart attack.  In other words, they got a plan - a blueprint!

Here is what I think a blueprint should look like for most of us:

• Exercise a minimum of 150 minutes per week – and the more the better while avoiding injury.  This should include 2 sessions of strength training with the use of weights, exercise bands, or the equivalent resistance work)

• Eat 8-10 ½ cup servings of a variety of fruits & vegetables per day

• Keep saturated fat to no more than about 6% of daily caloric requirements.   This will take a 1-time calculation and some daily mindfulness by reading food labels and determining sat fat grams.  To find YOUR target amount of saturated fat go to calculatesatfat.)

•  Avoid all trans fats

• Supplement with Vitamin D3 (~1000 mg/day) and calcium (more details on this in an upcoming blog)

• Take Aspirin 81 mg/day if you are over 45 (male) or 55 (female) unless you have an allergy or underlying bleeding disorder  

• Don’t smoke

•  Drink no more than 1 alcoholic drink per day  (for women) and no more than 2 per day (for men)

• Get at least 7 hours of good sleep at night (see Jennifer’s recent blog on how to do this without the use of sleep aids)

• Build a social network that helps fill your life with meaningful, supportive relationships

• Find work or volunteer work that helps you feel fulfilled

• Be happy. This is a choice you make.  When life gives you lemons, make lemonaide. Buy a pair of rose colored glasses.  Find the silver lining in that cloud.  Feel (and spread) the love.

JAN

1.       Maruther NM, Wang NY, Appel LJ.  Lifestyle interventions reduce coronary heart disease risk: results form the PREMIER Trial.  Circulation 2009; 119*15):2026-31.