Why it matters
Sleep, exercise, and nutrition are the most important things to stay healthy. But because they are so important, all the other things you can do with relatively little effort often get overlooked.
This guide is your 80/20 list: simple, low-friction actions that significantly improve your health and wellbeing when layered on top of the basics.
Top things to do
Oral health
Your mouth is the main gateway to your body. Poor oral hygiene allows bacteria to enter the bloodstream, increases systemic inflammation, and raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and more.
Brush your teeth: Use an electric toothbrush, Morning and evening for 2 minutes. See Joey’s blog for an in-depth review.
Gum: Cleans your mouth after lunch.
Gargle: You can reduce your risk of catching the flu by 30% by simply gargling three times a day.
Don’t get infected
Next to gargling, you can reduce your risk of infections by following basic hygiene protocols. Y’all have learnt those during covid, but it’s good to remember
Get your flu shot: Gives you a 40-60% of risk reduction. Probably the easiest thing you can do from a cost-benefit perspective. No need to build a habit.
Wash your hands: Gives you another 10% reduction in risks. Try to build the habit to simply always do this upon arriving home.
Use masks: Especially in spaces with low air circulation like public transport. They work if you wear them correctly.
Dress warm: Sounds pretty basic, yet somehow some people feel like they need to “be tough.
Take zinc, not Vitamin C, when you get sick: Zinc has been shown to reduce symptoms by two days, Vit C doesn’t do much - maybe a tiny bit of prevention, but you probably have enough of it already anyway.
I had the flu for five days this year and it was probably the lowest-quality week of my last three years. Would’ve done lots of things to prevent this. I just put a reminder in my calendar to get my flu shot next winter and am stocking up on zinc. Will also build a gargling habit - 30% risk reduction and so easy to stack on brushing your teeth.
Christoph
Go to your doctor
We’re not medical professionals; they are. Make sure you
Get regular checkups: Most countries have guidelines for which checkups to get when, make sure to follow them.
Get your vaccinations: Again, just follow the guidelines of your country, plus get the necessary ones when traveling. New vaccines you might not be aware of now exist also for Dengue, Malaria, and a much improved Shingles vaccine - this one might actually be worth paying out of pocket for.
Be honest with your doctor: Your doctor can only help you when they know how you live, what you consume, and how you feel.
Your story here. Our next topic will be about staying safe - all those tradeoffs between fun and your health. Have a hack or story you’d like to share? Just hit reply on this email or email us at christoph@euzoia.org.
Take the basic supplements
This is a conservative, broadly useful stack that works for most people.
Omega 3 (from algae): Supports brain and heart health.
Creatine: One of the most researched supplements. Benefits strength, energy, and possibly cognition.
Vitamin D3: Especially important if you get little sun.
Magnesium: Taken before bed. Supports sleep and muscle function.
Vitamin B12: Essential if you are mostly or fully vegan.
Use hot-cold exposure
The intuition here is that putting limited stress on your body makes it more immune to the day-to-day stress.
Sauna: If you trust Brian Johnson it’s probably good for you. Except for your semen - use ice down there if you are a male while sauanering.
Brief cold showers: Have been shown to reduce sick rates at work by 30% and is less risky than doing cold plunges.
There is strong evidence that sauna use is one of the most promising interventions for long-term health and longevity. Regular sauna bathing is associated with significant reductions in all-cause mortality and cardiovascular risk, with additional benefits linked to dementia, depression, and overall mental well-being.
The strongest evidence points to dry sauna use at very high temperatures, around 93 °C, ideally 4 to 7 times per week for sessions of roughly 20 minutes.
While cheaper home saunas, such as those available on Amazon, may not reach these temperatures or deliver the same level of benefit, they are still likely to provide meaningful health gains. I personally use a steam-based sauna at home and have found it to be a valuable addition to my routine.
Cameron
Do something now
Ok, this was a long bucket list. The good news: Most things on here don’t take much time. The bad news: You can’t possibly do all of this at once. So why don’t you
Schedule some of these in your calendar, like checking your vaccinations.
Order some masks, zinc, and the basic supplements.
Put a visual cue next to your toothbrush to remind you to gargle.
Give cold-finish showers a try.
Put a reminder in your calendar to get your flu shot.
Ask your doctor if you should get vaccinated for shingles.
Block some time in your calendar to apply our guide on behaviuor change to this.
Commit to us that you will do the idea you selected from these.
PSA: Now is a good time to schedule your flu shot if you live in the northern hemisphere
The claim about gargling seems to have omitted some citations that found null results, which makes me question the analysis and the conclusion.
In this RCT, the garglers actually got sick more:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749379705002588
And in this RCT, the results were not significant, though the sample size is small.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/internalmedicine/46/18/46_18_1623/_article/-char/ja/