On Cultivating One’s Own Garden First

18th century philosopher, Voltaire, famously asseverated that “one must cultivate one’s own garden”. I am not a gardener, though I do appreciate the aesthetic of a verdant landscape, but this metaphor is increasingly apt for all of us in modern society.

Largely because of technological advancements we are able to scope the affairs of any location in the world at any given time. We can swiftly gain a thorough sense of what our distant acquaintances are up to via our commonly superfluous social media networks. We can speculate on business rivals’ visions. We can compare our physiques and training regimes to ‘influencers’ on Instagram. And so on and so forth.

In short, and with our smartphones invariably tethered to our hands, we are constantly tending to the gardens of others. While our own backyard burgeons with weeds.

And our plants, perhaps symbolic of the meaningful pillars in our individual lives, wilt from neglect.

Even the most headstrong of us succumb to the ineluctable perils of modern technology. The algorithms that drive traffic to and within social media platforms are constantly being refined, and individualised based on tracked personal activity, to become even more addictive.

With greater addiction to our devices comes greater use, plunging us further into a fearful state of missing out (‘FOMO’)… At the expense of our immediate environments, our direct eco-system, our own garden. Perpetual consumption of extraneous content quickly becomes a black hole that clouds our own sense of self, our unique viewpoint of the world; stymieing the unvarnished individuality we are all born into.

Life satisfaction and fulfilment derived from that with which we engage in, is intrinsically linked to the depth of agency we wield over our lives. In other words, the greater the sense of control we perceive ourselves to have the more likely we are to be happy. We have little to no control over the affairs of others, and yet we spend perverse amounts of time scrolling through such every day.  Distracting ourselves from our own reality, and immediate sphere of influence.

Former American President Theodore Roosevelt averred that “comparison is the thief of joy”. There is profound truth to this quote, and it complements what has already been said above. However, it carries most relevance for the aspiration of success. For authentic success is an inalienable manifestation that is born from intrinsic motives, and attained on one’s own terms. However, It seems that a vast majority of us today are quantifying and qualifying markers of success on extrinsic motives, and arriving at goals that are fuelled by the approbation of others. This pervades the fitness domain, particularly; a domain typified by egocentricity and vanity – traits governed by interpersonal influences.

In this realm, if one isn’t comparing oneself with another’s profile or posts, one is often posting to elicit validation from others more so than to derive fulfilment from the workmanship itself; the process culminating in the ‘art’. When our decisions are governed by the opinions of others, we lose respect for ourselves and become hard-pressed to extract meaning from our pursuits.

Venturing too far and too frequently from one’s own garden can easily degrade one’s otherwise remarkable life, induce anxiety, stir up insanity by way of self-delusions, and rob us of the privilege it is to be a human being. On the other hand, muffling the ubiquitous noise in a distracting world, to cultivate skills and a sense of individuality that we can be proud of, is a healthy means to not only retain sanity, but also to exert a positive influence over the environment and relationships that truly matter to us. Our nuclear sphere. Not the great digital nowhere.

First, you must cultivate your own garden.

Disconnecting From Tech To Reconnect With Life

It was last year that I was on the end of a crucial reaffirmation. My brother had just introduced me to a captivating interview in which Simon Sinek, a leadership guru, was passionately illuminating the detriment of modern technology addiction. The talk was specifically delivered in the context of millennials, a cohort to which I belong.

It was my first acquaintance with Sinek and an impactful first impression it was; Sinek has this unique ability to make one feel as though he is speaking in one’s very direction and thus naturally engages the individual within a larger audience. He is the expert on leadership and behavioural psychology, after all.

I had read and listened to Eckhart Tolle’s work for many years prior and so was aware of the concepts that modern technology is generally inimical to; enlightenment, presence, state of consciousness and so on. Despite this knowledge, and a fascination with the growing research pertaining to mindfulness, I was perpetually denying a personal battle with mild addiction to modern technology.

As a small business owner operating on various social media platforms I was succumbing to the black hole that social media can very easily become and it was unquestionably retarding my productivity, mental health and ultimate sense of fulfilment.

For a manmade construct that purports to enhance life modern technology appears to paradoxically diminish it in endemic proportions. Sinek parallels modern technology addiction with other forms that include alcoholism and gambling.

The commonality in addiction is a self-cultivated dependency on a powerful hormone that we know as ‘dopamine’. This stress-numbing hormone is produced every time we imbibe ethanol; every time we trigger a pokies machine; and every time we check our phones for fresh notifications.

It is scary when considering the statistics: approximately 80% of millennials sleep in close proximity to their smartphones, more than half check for notifications at least once during the night, and one third periodically interact with it over the course of a night (Julie Albright, PhD in digital sociology).

The research supports the concern that social media addiction inhibits development of the interpersonal skills that relationships survive, let alone thrive, on. And even though our awareness of its perils is gaining ground, consumerism continues to parallel the swelling prevalence of mental health illness.

This isn’t at all surprising when we consider that identities conveyed through social media are usually beset with disparities between others’ perceptions of us and our reality. In the same vein, addiction to modern tech is distinctly associated with low self-esteem, anxiety, narcissism, envy and general life satisfaction; all of which are antagonistic to constructing authentic relationships. Indeed, a fading art amongst many a millennial and one that may very realistically be extinguished by Gen Z and Gen ‘Alpha’.

Outside of the interpersonal sphere, is our obsession with modern technology not making us less efficient in our everyday work? The ‘privilege’ of convenience that it portrays ironically masquerades as our biggest source of disruption to deep work. It isn’t necessarily our fault, either. Immersion in a society that is unconditionally one with their tech infects us with an unhealthy behaviour that is incredibly difficult to shake.

Aldous Huxley opined that “Technological progress has merely provided us with a more efficient means of going backwards”. Quite an extreme perspective but in a lot of ways it really has.

So how does one go about dissipating this pronounced addiction with modern tech and its incorporeal offspring, social media?

The reason we persistently fall prey to the bane of our own invention is that our willpower simply cannot single-handedly defeat such addiction. We set ourselves up for failure by equipping the temptation wherever we go. Having the internet readily available with the smartphone always within arm’s reach composes the perfect storm.

Removal of temptations that predispose us to perpetual negative habits is the fundamental first step in annihilating addiction. “But I need my smartphone!?” Yes, we occasionally do need to use data for practical necessities… though if one is well organised, then the ‘need’ to message or check on work-related notifications during the day drastically diminishes.

As such, outside of practical means, quarantine the smartphone wherever possible so that the temptation to mindlessly check it is nullified. Every time this seemingly insignificant act is carried out, the willpower passively strengthens and the obsessive compulsive behaviour disintegrates.

None of us are impervious to unhealthy habits and this is something I still struggle with, but have undoubtedly improved in this year. More recently, I saw my move to a new country (Japan) as a terrific opportunity to further this practice of temptation elimination. I have deliberately avoided arranging a phone plan, instead opting to utilise Wi-Fi only when practically necessary.

Yes, it may not be permanent but until that time comes (or doesn’t) it is a lifestyle decision propitious to greater fulfilment.  

I have learnt to love being disconnected from the interweb, allowing me to invest more time into the things that matter; studying a second language, building relationships with fascinating people in person, offering more value and writing. In other words, I am better extracting the essence of life that can so easily be sabotaged by our feckless use of technology.

*Of course, this technique is applicable to food choices and other habits antithetical to our health. Give the willpower an assist.

References:

Blackwell, D., Leaman, C., Tramposch, R., Osborne, C., & Liss, M. (2017). Extraversion, neuroticism, attachment style and fear of missing out as predictors of social media use and addiction. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 69-72.

Hawi, N., & Samaha, M. (2018). Identifying commonalities and differences in personality characteristics of Internet and social media addiction profiles: traits, self-esteem, and self-construal. Behaviour & Information Technology, 1-10.

Liu, C., & Ma, J. (2018). Social media addiction and burnout: The mediating roles of envy and social media use anxiety. Current Psychology, 1-9.

Turel, O., He, Q., Brevers, D., & Bechara, A. (2018). Delay discounting mediates the association between posterior insular cortex volume and social media addiction symptoms. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 1-11.

Time Restricted Eating (TRE) – Where Are We Now?

TRE or intermittent fasting (IF) has gained substantial ground in both the fitness and health spheres since the turn of the 21st century, with purported benefits initially drawing much scepticism. Fitness aficionados scoffed at the idea of skipping but one bi-hourly scheduled meal for fear of hindering muscular growth potential and stalling the metabolism. However, lower meal frequency appears to have a noticeably superior effect on diet-induced thermogenesis (i.e. what most people think of when they claim to “speed up metabolism” with smaller, more frequent meals).

Scientific research continues to cast an overwhelmingly positive light on this practice. In fact, I would go as far as deeming TRE the finest anti-ageing doctor that exists. Usually use of the word ‘panacea’ by health professionals would elicit a due sense of dubiety in me, but periodic abstinence from food is one exception I will allow. Until the research contradicts that line of thought anyway, which won’t happen but must be said given this is a body of research whose surface has barely been probed.

It is extraordinary how something as inherently passive as food abstinence can be an elixir of health.

Ironically, I first implemented fasting in 2013 for a rationale perhaps least supported by the science to date, which was to directly increase my testosterone levels. I employed a flexible 16/8 hour fasting/eating window religiously for 3 years during which time I gained ~25kg of lean weight. My testosterone improved too, but this was because I replaced daily running with progressive resistance training 3-4 days a week while eating a calorie surplus.

The science mostly demonstrates small but insignificant reductions in testosterone levels amongst male participants, but a definitive answer to IF’s effects on testosterone won’t be elucidated for some time. This question needs to be investigated in the context of strength training participants over at least a medium to longer term study method. There is a dearth of the latter at present.

Indirectly, however, my provisional understanding is that habitual TRE does improve the androgen profile of males over time by virtue of other improved markers which will be explored below.

Awareness of IF as a tool to promote diet adherence is widespread in the fitness community, pioneered by Ori Hofmekler (The Warrior Diet) and Martin Berkhan (The Leangains Method) originally. Of course, it makes sense that limiting oneself to a certain timeframe in which food can be consumed should translate to less daily calories when compared with ad-libitum feeding. In other words, a calorie deficit and thus weight loss becomes more achievable.

I don’t need to necessarily lose more weight, though. So what compels me to fast 18+ hours most days?

8 weeks into resumption of daily fasting, albeit this time for longer bouts and with a few fundamental changes, both physical and non-physical benefits have already manifested. My skin has improved, waist circumference has lessened by 2 inches, greater perceived clarity of thought and working memory, improved digestion and satiety… and most profoundly, a deep sense of Zen that grows in accordance with extent of time in the fasting state.

“Yeah, that’s great, but N = 1”.

Let’s synthesise the main findings from recent scientific literature.

Cognition and Brain-Derived Neutrophic Factor (BDNF)

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a secretory growth factor that supports the survival of existing neurons and promotes synaptogenesis and differentiation of new neurons (Park and Poo, 2013).

BDNF is crucial in the context of our mental capacity and cognition and dysregulation of BDNF is associated with the onset of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease. It is something we can never have too much of.

Mammalian food deprivation and fasting consistently demonstrates reduction in size of most organs, except the brain and the testes. Quite to the contrary, IF enhances brain function via upregulation of BDNF and its associated increase in neurogenesis (growth of new brain tissue, pathways).

Exercise has this effect too, but fasting appears to be even more powerful as a driver of BDNF. Short and intense bouts of exercise during the fasting phase appears to be highest yield.

Ad-libitum eating downregulates BDNF which is known to accelerate brain dysfunction as we age.

Other pros of elevating BDNF include:

• Neuronal resistance to brain injury and tissue damage (an area pertinent to TBI victims especially)
• May modulate depressive symptoms like anti-depressant medication (successful intervention with the latter increasing blood levels of BDNF)
• Regulation of appetite and circadian rhythm, crucial to counter overeating
• Helps with re-myelination of nerves after nerve-related injuries
• Aids in glucose metabolism
• Helps with control of the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems

Visceral Fat and Metabolic Disease

As mentioned above, IF can shrink fatty organ tissue. This phenomenon can even take place when subjects consume the same calories (‘iso-caloric’) as the control subjects and maintain overall body weight.

Visceral fat, the fat that suffuses our vital organs, is far more dangerous to our health than subcutaneous fat (beneath the skin). An individual with who is moderately overweight with the latter can be healthy, but visceral fat is never absolutely benign.

Metabolic disease such as Type II Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is at an unprecedented high in developed countries and we know that adiposity of the liver, both alcohol-induced and non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD), is a significant predisposing risk factor to such.

At this point in time there is a far greater volume of studies looking at fasting’s effect on mice with fatty liver, though human studies of this nature are still continuing to grow in number. Regardless, fasting windows of 18+ hours promote glycogenolysis and subsequent lipolysis of the diseased liver in NALFD patients.

Insulin resistance is a hallmark of NAFLD and T2DM, so improving the state of our liver with TRE may restore the efficiency with which we metabolise glucose and even reverse these diseases over time.

With the exception of a true ketogenic diet, eating ad-libitum or ‘around the clock’ as we are so socially conditioned to do induces chronically elevated blood glucose levels. This is a key mechanism in the development of insulin receptor resistance that eventually manifests as T2DM.

Anti-ageing

Many advocates of IF label it the bona fide fountain of youth for its cellular cleansing mechanism known as ‘autophagy’. Autophagy is essentially the degradation of old cells and proliferation of new cells. By preventing the toxic accumulation of damaged protein and organelles, particularly mitochondria, autophagy limits oxidative stress, chronic tissue damage, and oncogenic signaling, which suppresses cancer initiation.

Protein oxidation, on the other hand, appears to accelerate the ageing process by nullifying the autophagic compounds responsible for its life extension benefits. But we should all be acutely aware of how important protein intake AND quality is from the viewpoint of performance, anti-fragility, and muscular development.

Perhaps it is the fact that the traditional Okinawan diet comprised a mere 10% of protein that this blue zone boasts such a lofty life expectancy. Similarly, vegetarianism and veganism may be correlated with longer lifespan not by virtue of less saturated fat and cholesterol; rather, it is likely the naturally lower intake of protein.

What’s the fun in living longer if you’re skinny, weak and lack sex drive?

My advice is not to eschew protein, or consciously limit it, but to incorporate generous amount of high quality protein (in the vicinity of 2-3x bodyweight in kg) in your daily fasting regime.

In doing so, muscle retention is at least encouraged and consideration for longevity is exercised.

Improved Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

I mentioned to my friend recently how I have come to identify a perceptible state of zen the deeper I go into a fast, which at first didn’t make sense to me given cortisol (the major stress hormone) expectedly rises during this time.

So I dived into the science.

Periodic fasting reduces systolic blood pressure, heart rate; and increases HRV. HRV is a less commonly known biomarker that denotes the variation of timespan from one heart beat to the next one, i.e. from R- to R-wave in the electrocardiogram (ECG) of “normal to normal beats”. A healthy amount of HRV helps us transition between parasympathetic (‘rest and digest’) and sympathetic (‘fight or flight’) nervous states.

Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety demonstrate remarkably lower levels of HRV. Conversely, we see rises in HRV with laughter and meditative exercise like yoga.

In short, IF seems to have a powerful influence on our mood and perception of stress.

TRE > Caloric Restriction Alone

Given the limited time window one has to eat when employing an IF protocol, caloric restriction (CR) and thus weight loss is almost inevitable. However, the studies that do examine pure CR compared with IF alone suggest comparable improvements in health biomarkers.

When the  IF group isn’t in a calorie deficit, the time-contingent abstinence elicits notable gains in insulin sensitivity, cellular processing and beiging of white adipose tissue. These positive changes can elapse despite nil to minimal subcutaneous fat loss.

So even if you’re not concerned with body weight or physique changes, in which calorie counting is necessary to quantify and monitor progress, simply abbreviating your eating window will bolster your health.

Practical Application

There are many iterations of TRE and, though the 5:2 method in which only 2 days of the week sees drastic calorie reduction has gained traction in recent years, I prefer a more consistent and substantial fast.

My first implementation of IF closely resembled the 16:8 Leangains Method formulated by Berkhan, and during this time I would tend to push the eating window far into the PM.

My more recent regime differs in a few ways with the most notable changes being a shorter and earlier eating window. However, some flexibility is always necessary to foster sustainability so it is in this regard that I will simply try to eat the bulk of calories in the middle of the day.

At present, I aim to consume  1-2 big meals and perhaps a snack within a 4-7 hour window, minimising food intake within a few hours of bed time. The primary reason for the latter is that elevated insulin can interfere with melatonin production and consequently diminish sleep quality. It is still a relatively grey area of research but a plausible hypothesis that has been verified by several papers.

The ‘ideal’ eating window, in light of recent literature, seems to be in the AM but this can be impractical for social reasons. Striving to eat within the middle of the day to early evening strikes a sensible compromise. A few alcoholic drinks prior to bed won’t impact insulin significantly and can actually improve insulin sensitivity in the medium to long term, so this doesn’t pose a concern. Choose alcoholic beverages lower in sugar content (spirits ftw) where possible, of course.

Consider self-experimenting by pushing your usual breakfast back by 2 hours and eating an earlier dinner at, say, 5.30pm. Prolong breakfast by an hour each week as a means to gradually habituate.

References

Aksungar, F. B., Sarikaya, M., Coskun, A., Serteser, M., & Unsal, I. (2017). Comparison of Intermittent Fasting Versus Caloric Restriction in Obese Subjects: A Two Year Follow-Up. J Nutr Health Aging, 21(6), 681-685. doi:10.1007/s12603-016-0786-y

Anton, S. D., Moehl, K., Donahoo, W. T., Marosi, K., Lee, S. A., Mainous III, A. G., . . . Mattson, M. P. (2018). Flipping the metabolic switch: understanding and applying the health benefits of fasting. Obesity, 26(2), 254-268. 

Dolgoff-Kaspar, R., Baldwin, A., Johnson, S., Edling, N., & Sethi, G. K. (2012). Effect of laughter on mood and heart rate variability in patients awaiting organ transplantation: a pilot study. Altern Ther Health Med, 18(4), 53-58. 

Horne, B. D., Muhlestein, J. B., & Anderson, J. L. (2015). Health effects of intermittent fasting: hormesis or harm? A systematic review. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 102(2), 464-470. 

Lee, C., & Longo, V. (2016). Dietary restriction with and without caloric restriction for healthy aging. F1000Research, 5. 

Levine, M. E., Suarez, J. A., Brandhorst, S., Balasubramanian, P., Cheng, C.-W., Madia, F., . . . Wan, J. (2014). Low protein intake is associated with a major reduction in IGF-1, cancer, and overall mortality in the 65 and younger but not older population. Cell metabolism, 19(3), 407-417. 

Longo, V. D., & Mattson, M. P. (2014). Fasting: molecular mechanisms and clinical applications. Cell metabolism, 19(2), 181-192. 

Marosi, K., & Mattson, M. P. (2014). BDNF mediates adaptive brain and body responses to energetic challenges. Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism, 25(2), 89-98. 

Mattson, M. P., Longo, V. D., & Harvie, M. (2017). Impact of intermittent fasting on health and disease processes. Ageing Research Reviews, 39, 46-58. 

Nicoll, R., & Henein, M. Y. (2018). Caloric Restriction and Its Effect on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate Variability and Arterial Stiffness and Dilatation: A Review of the Evidence. International journal of molecular sciences, 19(3), 751. 

Schrieks, I. C., Heil, A. L., Hendriks, H. F., Mukamal, K. J., & Beulens, J. W. (2015). The effect of alcohol consumption on insulin sensitivity and glycemic status: a systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies. Diabetes Care, 38(4), 723-732. 

Wan, R., Weigand, L. A., Bateman, R., Griffioen, K., Mendelowitz, D., & Mattson, M. P. (2014). Evidence that BDNF regulates heart rate by a mechanism involving increased brainstem parasympathetic neuron excitability. Journal of Neurochemistry, 129(4), 573-580. doi:doi:10.1111/jnc.12656

Young, H. A., & Benton, D. (2018). Heart-rate variability: a biomarker to study the influence of nutrition on physiological and psychological health? Behavioural pharmacology, 29(2-), 140.