Basis Health

17/08/2024

Beginner’s guide to longevity planning:

1. Eat for longevity;
2. Train as if your life depends on it;
3. Treat sleep like a job (you like);
4. Get regular labs & imaging;
5. Personalize your supplement stack;
6. Build your personalized protocol.
7. Download the Basis app to streamline it all.

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14/02/2022

You roll out of bed exhausted — but there’s no way you are skipping the 60 minute Peloton ride you have planned. So, you head down to the bike and push your hardest through the workout, always chasing your PR. You finish feeling great but by 3pm you are crashing. You spend the afternoon tired, groggy and unable to focus. Luckily, your second wind kicks in after dinner and then it’s full speed ahead until you hit the pillow at midnight. You wake the next morning and do it all over again. Sound familiar?

We live in a world where pushing ourselves to the limit is the norm and rest is relegated to that one week per year we can spend on a beach somewhere. But what’s missing in this fast paced world is the pitstop for refueling our bodies so desperately need. Our bodies tell us on a regular basis what is needed to stay healthy, happy and functioning optimally. Unfortunately, many ignore the clues until they turn into symptoms that are harder to ignore.

Let’s discuss how we know that our body is stressed out and some possible ways to bring it back into homeostasis: https://www.basishealth.io/blog/when-your-body-talks-do-you-listen

You roll out of bed exhausted — but there’s no way you are skipping the 60 minute Peloton ride you have planned. So, you head down to the bike and push your hardest through the workout, always chasing your PR. You finish feeling great but by 3pm you are crashing. You spend the afternoon tired, g...

11/02/2022

Studies have found objective evidence that five health habits in particular are critical for a longer healthspan. In fact, the more of these habits people satisfied, the longer they lived:

1) a healthy diet,
2) a healthy physical activity level,
3) a healthy body weight,
4) never smoking,
5) low-risk alcohol intake,

Even having one of these health habits, contributed to two extra healthy years than those who had none. The effect was even more pronounced for those who by 50 years old regularly practiced all five; these people enjoyed over a decade of extra life!

Why healthy habits are hard to maintain?

Making healthy lifestyle changes is easier said than done. Even when we're strongly motivated, adopting a new, healthy habit — or breaking an old, bad one — is challenging. The biggest issue for anybody bringing change upon their life is the conflict between conscious desires i.e. what you know is good for you, and subconscious drives i.e., addictions, procrastination and resistance to any kind of change, no matter how good it is for you!

Health Habit Tracking

Data makes us get conscious about decisions because it requires logic (a function of the neo-cortex). By combining personal data with these biological insights you can start to override subconscious bad habits and automate conscious decisions. However, over 70% of wearable data is not utilized.

Turn your wearable data into action. Let us optimize your nutrition, fitness & sleep so you can focus on being your best self, sign up to Basis now! https://www.basishealth.io/blog/are-healthy-habits-worth-cultivating

Making healthy lifestyle changes is easier said than done. Even when we're strongly motivated, adopting a new, healthy habit — or breaking an old, bad one — is challenging. At first, small changes might not seem that effective. But when put together, dozens of tiny habits can create the framewor...

11/02/2022

Disrupted sleep schedules impacts over half the adult population. Abnormalities in sleep quality and duration quickly reduce mental and physical performance while placing significant stress on the body. Living a busy and demanding lifestyle and many more have a huge effect on our sleep quality and duration.

Discover how to synchronize your circadian sleep schedule to ensure you’re getting sufficient high quality and restorative sleep: https://www.basishealth.io/blog/sleep-cycles

Disrupted sleep schedules impacts over half the adult population. Abnormalities in sleep quality and duration quickly reduce mental and physical performance while placing significant stress on the body. Living a busy and demanding lifestyle and many more have a huge effect on our sleep quality and d...

09/02/2022

In our society, we are used to turning up the heat or putting on an extra jersey as it gets colder. We are used to this comfort and there is nothing wrong with this. However, the cold is an essential force involved in accessing the autonomic nervous system. Due to the exposure to ice, a boost in cortisol is caused, leading to a decrease in inflammatory proteins.

Exposure to cold is known to activate the sympathetic nervous system and increase the blood level of beta-endorphin and noradrenaline and to increase synaptic release of noradrenaline in the brain as well. Additionally, due to the high density of cold receptors in the skin, a cold shower is expected to send an overwhelming amount of electrical impulses from peripheral nerve endings to the brain, which could result in an anti-depressive effect.

Breathing exercises help your body reach the state required needed to tap into your autonomic nervous system and adapt to the cold. The breathing technique is essential to activate various physiological responses which will energize and strengthen the body. At the same time, they can activate or ease down the immune system. Ultimately with exposure to cold (such as ice), the physiological effects are even stronger. In simple terms, the breathing exercises help to get your body into the state required to gain access to your autonomic nervous system and to resist the cold. Breathing techniques rather than targeting neurotransmitters with medication may be a superior method to address the whole body changes that occur in stress, anxiety, and depression.

Keep reading to find out about all the mental and physical health benefits of cold exposure and breathing techniques: https://www.basishealth.io/blog/something-interesting-cold-exposure-breathing-techniques

Did you know that it was possible to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts or even run a half marathon above the Arctic Circle barefoot?

08/02/2022

Studies claim that just a few days of junk food could change your metabolism. A small study of 12 healthy young men found eating junk food for just five days led to a reduced ability of their muscles to turn glucose into energy, even though they didn’t eat more calories as part of the study. Over the long term, this change could lead to insulin resistance and eventually type 2 diabetes.

At Basis, we wanted to test this theory, so we did a 5-day Fast Food Only experiment so you don't have to! Want to see the results? (Spoiler alert: it wasn't good!) https://www.basishealth.io/blog/five-days-on-fast-food-realtime-with-basis

We did a 5-day Fast Food only experiment so you don't have to! So what does the data say about eating a steady diet of only fast food?

08/02/2022

"I like having a schedule that is easy for me to follow, just like with swimming. Go there, do 100 laps, go home. It's simple. This way I don't have to invest cognitive energy to think about the workout I have to do every time I hit the gym." - Mahir Kalra, founder of Habitual Money.

Keep reading to find out how Mahir incorporates healthy habits in his daily routine: https://www.basishealth.io/blog/my-daily-routine-mahir-kalra

How Mahir, founder of Habitual Money incorporates healthy habits in his daily routine

04/02/2022

When we think of meditation most people imagine sitting still in silence, legs crossed, eyes closed. But this is just one of the many methods to concentrate attention. Walking in nature with a mindful approach or speaking to someone with loving-kindness are also forms of meditation.

Meditation is an accessible tool available for anyone, anywhere. It dramatically enhances resilience, improves HRV and is completely free. It can be practiced any time of day, at home, on public transport, out in nature or even during a work break.

There are many more mediation styles than you might expect, giving you plenty of freedom to choose what works. If you spend all day sitting, an active movement based mediation might be best. On-going studies to verify the impact of meditation on HRV provide some simple methods to investigate for yourself:
- Non-judgemental meditation (ideal for perfectionists)
- Inward Zen meditation (quiet and still)
- Non-directive meditation (stillness is the solution)
- Quiescence meditation (take emotional control)
- Vipassana meditation (10 days of absolute silence)
- Surdashan Kriya Yoga (breathing to simulate s*x and exercise)

Keep reading to find out how you can enhance your meditation practice: https://www.basishealth.io/blog/stress-hrv-meditation

If you are feeling a little unfocused, unusually tired, or notably more irritable than usual, you are not alone. Our stress levels have reached pandemic proportions - impacting our ability to think clearly, feel motivated and enjoy life. The antidote to this excessive stress is building resilience a...

04/02/2022

In the last few months, we’ve had two tech giants, Facebook - now renamed to Meta - and Microsoft, each present their respective views of the Metaverse future and how they plan to pave the way forward.

What is “The Metaverse”?

According to both Meta and Microsoft, the Metaverse is defined as the next evolution of the internet, one where we’re not just looking at experiences (e.g. a 2D conversation with a friend, a game with friends) but we’re immersed in them, in a similar way as we would if they were in the physical world.

What could the Metaverse mean for the future of healthcare?

Developing metaverse-like experiences in healthcare could be used to address issues like access to healthcare caused by geographical or mobility limitations, a variety of mental health applications, more engaged virtual wellness applications and even play a big part in the loneliness epidemic of both elder and younger populations.

Keep reading more about the Metaverse in the future of healthcare:

https://www.basishealth.io/blog/metaverse-the-next-healthcare-frontier

Developing metaverse-like experiences in healthcare could be used to address issues like access to healthcare caused by geographical or mobility limitations, a variety of mental health applications, more engaged virtual wellness applications and even play a big part in the loneliness epidemic of bot...

02/02/2022

Health tracking is the process of collecting and analyzing your health patterns, and it can take many forms. No matter which techniques and tools people use to track their health, the intention is similar. Ultimately, it’s to gain a better understanding of the unique impact your individual health habits have on your body. It is a technique for passively identifying the impact of these health habits so we can prevent the deleterious effects of prolonged negative behaviors.

How to Track your Health

1) Identify your goal: Identifying the underlying objective will help align your process for the best results. For example, your goal will help you identify which metrics to track and which tools to use to reach your goal.

2) Key in on which metrics to track: Once your health goal is set, the next step is to decide which metrics you are interested in tracking. For example, those looking to lose weight may focus on active calories. Others looking to reduce their stress levels, many focus on HRV.

3) Identify which tools are best suited for you: Wearable health-tracking devices and health information and networking platforms are maturing, as is the technology that makes them tick, and it won’t be long before doctors are prescribing mobile health apps and devices.

At the end of the day, health tracking is not just about the tools, though they help us get there; it’s about understanding how the data can lead us to personal self-improvement. By collecting all of this personal data and using tools like Basis to apply these personalized insights into our daily life, we can start to see our life in new ways and patterns.

https://www.basishealth.io/blog/the-essential-guide-to-health-tracking

Health tracking is the process of collecting and analyzing your health patterns. Want to lose weight, feel more energized or be more productive at work? Health, focus & fitness can be improved by consistently tracking things like your sleep, activity and meals to make choices that are uniquely desig...

01/02/2022

Our inner clocks are out of sync, and our health is suffering. The misalignment of our illuminated lifestyle with plus hectic work and social schedules is contributing to chronic disease. Our temporal deregulation has become so severe that Circadian Rhythm Disruption resembles a Traumatic Brain Injury.

Creating circadian rhythms synchronicity provides a significant performance advantage and improves virtually every aspect of your physiology.

Optimizing your biological rhythms enhances physical and mental performance. Without the correct plan we become maladapted to the external environment. Continuous self-monitoring with Basis allows you to effectively plan your day around the schedule that works for your body: https://www.basishealth.io/blog/the-circadian-rhythm

Optimizing your biological rhythms enhances physical and mental performance. Without the correct plan we become maladapted to the external environment. Continuous self-monitoring with Basis allows you to effectively plan your day around the schedule that works for your body.

31/01/2022

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is one of the best widely available health metrics we have today. It provides insights into how your heartbeats change over time and is a crucial measure of overall well-being and physical fitness.

A low HRV is associated with heart disease, inflammation, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and increased risk of death in the elderly and following a heart attack.

In contrast, higher HRV indicates greater overall health, self-regulation, and psychological well-being. High HRV is also associated with greater athletic performance, recovery, and prevention of overtraining and is linked to better chances of survival in cancer patients.

HRV is a simple, non-invasive way to help you better understand your overall health, including nutrition, sleep, physical fitness, mental health, and risk of disease. Importantly, HRV monitoring is a preventative tool to motivate healthy behavioral changes.

Looking for more control over your health? Sign up for the Basis Early Access program - a 1 month discovery into your health data and discover how HRV impacts your health risk alongside one of our Health Coaches: https://www.basishealth.io/blog/what-is-hrv

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is one of the best widely available health metrics we have today. It provides insights into how your heartbeats change over time and is a crucial measure of overall well-being and physical fitness.