The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
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Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.
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Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
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Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Echoing a thread from /r/slatestarcodex:
https://old.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/y1b4wj/how_are_you_optimizing_your_home_for_health_and/
How are you optimizing your home for health and wellness? What initiatives constitute the best bang for your buck?
I particularly feel curious about peoples' thoughts on HEPA air filters and water filters: do you think the current research supports the purchase and continued operation of a HEPA filter at home? Does a HEPA filter's operation become more viable with infants or small children in the house?
Not much, really, because I focus my well-being energy on eating, sleeping, and exercising.
But the few things I'm optimizing for specifically are:
Bright lights. I got high-CR Cree LED bulbs and put the equivalent of 100-260W in each room (these are very small rooms btw). I'm not sure of the effects, but it's more comfortable for me to do anything in those rooms. On the flip side, whenever I go to others' house, I'm surprised by how dark it is.
Keeping my bedroom cold before sleep.
Keeping my bedroom free from electronic devices. It's mainly a reading, sleeping, and exercise room. With carpets and blankets, it feels very safe and cozy.
Keep myself from buying snacks. If snacks aren't home, then I can't have them, so I will force myself to make a proper meal. Even a shitty sandwich is better than most wheat-and-salt snacks, which are already on the healthier side of the spectrum. (I'm trying to limit sugar intake and increase protein, fat, and fruit/veggie intake).
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I try to arrange my surroundings thoughtfully, like I'm making an enclosure for an animal I want to keep healthy and happy.
Decorations everywhere. An easy trick I found is that costco and walmart will print any damn JPEG you want, and most craft stores have a 40% single-item coupon for a basic black picture frame. The wall behind me includes: The God-Emperor (Of TTSD fame) Enthroned, a map of Middle Earth, some Arvalis Realistic Pokemon Reconstructions, and that scene from the Twitter Hearings with Jack Dorsey, Alex Jones, and Google Glass Guy, touched up with filters to look slightly Rembrandt-y.
Separate sleeping room. I've previously put my bed inside (ventilated) walk-in closets, so I have the entire room to myself, as it were. The bed is ideally in a small dark room with your clothes and valuables and nothing else functional, just a few soft decorations. No TV. The bedroom for sleeping, dressing, and fucking. Your actual room is more like a study; desk, computer, books, small couch/loveseat, hobby stuff.
Water availability. For whatever reason, you need water accessible in a way that feels "special." Just a pitcher of tapwater in the fridge will do the trick; it's more important to drink lots of water than to drink filtered water (unless there's lead in it).
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My priors tell me all of this is worth nothing if your health is otherwise not in pristine condition from eating,sleeping and exercising well.
A lot of these are putting the cart before the horse.
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Placing things for accessibility, whether vitamins or a laundry bin or cut veggies or a notebook or etc, has always worked well for me.
I bought straws for my coffee (which I have room temperature) and place them near my mug to minimize future oral complications from daily black coffee.
I always make sure my room is dark and cold before sleeping.
Made a makeshift white noise machine with a box fan and a towel.
A smoothie maker is cheap and useful.
Just teeth enamel harm afaik, as it is acidic
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On this note, I keep a blanket ladder in the hall/spare bedroom (depending on where we were living), with my workout clothing hung on it. So when I get out of bed between 4:30 and 5:00, I go out in the hall (so as not wake the wife) and get dressed for my workout. Just one more thing to get moving.
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/RELODECOR-Leaning-Blanket-Laminate-Construction/dp/B07XNQB6VT/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2SPKHDQO4GHJQ&keywords=decorative%2Bladder&qid=1665594988&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI2Ljg4IiwicXNhIjoiNi42OSIsInFzcCI6IjUuOTgifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=decorative%2Bla%2Caps%2C416&sr=8-1-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExS0lKNkRETlkzOUU5JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDg4Nzg1MUtVN0lSR1dHSlZWMCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTA5MzI5Mk1GT1hSUDNNTjFIMSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1
But I just use an old barn ladder. All depends on your/your spouse's aesthetics.
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