This is my mental model for creating the conditions for a human to thrive. Genes are expressed differently depending on what the body thinks the "loss function" should be for survival. Genes affect every part about you, so optimizing for these conditions will create a healthy, happy, high-functioning, and productive life.
Unequivocally, the four most important conditions are sleep, movement, nutrition, and mind. Nothing else really matters until these are dialed in. While this seems general and simple, the combined power of getting these right will make an exponential difference.
Good sleep will come with more movement and better nutrition, but there are still a few things that subtract from sleep to be aware of. These are personal and you have to find what works best for you. No matter what you do to improve sleep, everybody can benefit from making sleep a priority.
Similar to sleep, movement is very personal and should be prioritized. You should think about movement the way you think about food; every day you want to eat something! Don't stuff yourself, eat to a comfortable level, and eat what makes you feel good. It takes time and patience to develop the skill of listening to your body and the process of moving every day will push you to continually do this better.
Another concept for people who want to be more intentional is thinking about movement as information. The movement you do is training data for your body. Your body wants to optimize itself for what you do. This never stops, whether you're sitting, running, lifting, eating, driving, or anything else. Give your body good information and it will give you a capable way of interacting with the world.
I have so many more ideas about movement that you can see in Principles of Movement.
Food is also best thought of as information. Food is a set of instructions that tell your body how to work. A piece of bread does not contain a lot of valuable information for your body, while something like fresh blueberries or a steak contains an endless set of instructions for life. It's like watching cartoons versus having a deep conversation with a good friend. Your mind will be much healthier and full of life after the conversation as opposed to watching cartoons.
More practically, make sure you're eating good information every day. What gives you good information? You want the full set of instructions, not just one step. This means avoiding refined and processed foods in favor of whole foods that are closer to life.
The cheapest, most practical, and most enjoyable way to eat these foods is learning how to cook. Anything that you can cook at home with ingredients from the above list will give you all the instructions you need. The possibilities are really endless, read more in Principles of Nutrition.
The mind and the body are deeply connected and just like movement, the mind needs to be used. It's important to prioritize being social, passionate, creative, and seeking knowledge. This extends to fulfillment and meaning. A hunger for learning, enjoying improvement, and creating will also keep the mind sharp and lively. This contributes valuable things to the world and creates a sense of purpose, which is the keystone that holds all of this together.
After you have dialed sleep, movement, nutrition, and mind, there are some other things that can make a difference. The effects of these pale in comparison to the above four, but it is still valuable to be aware of.
We live in a world with lots of chemicals. Some of these are neutral, some are beneficial, and some are harmful. We are resilient to all of these chemicals to a point. The goal of reducing chemical load is not to eliminate all chemicals, but prioritize the ones that improve our lives. For instance, using castille soap made of natural oils reduces our chemical load and frees up more space to use deodorant, something that we shouldn't avoid. Avoiding processed foods and plastic frees up chemical load to be more resilient to harmful chemicals that we can't or don't want to avoid.
Our digestive system is the most direct portal to the inside of our body. Everything that goes in gets absorbed into our bloodstream, and everything that goes in goes through the mouth first. So, it follows that a clean and healthy mouth will have a direct impact on our bloodstream and by extension the rest of our body.
Keeping the mouth clean is the first step. Brushing teeth, rinsing after meals, and making sure there isn't any food stuck in places is more than sufficient. Not only does this prevent cavity-forming bacteria from growing, it allows our saliva to re-mineralize our teeth. In a clean and non-acidic environment, our saliva has properties that actually strengthen our teeth and can fill in some early stage cavities!
The other important step is to maintain a good microbiome. I think it's common knowledge now that our gut has an important microbiome that has a large effect on our body. If this microbiome isn't healthy, it can manifest in a host of health symptoms that can be confusing and hard to diagnose. What is less common knowledge is that we have multiple microbiomes throughout our digestive system, including in our mouth. Fortunately, eating according to this framework will ensure a healthy population of microbiomes throughout our digestive system. No extra effort is required other than minimizing the amount of antibiotics that contact your digestive system, including in the form of mouthwash.
Bad posture puts unnecessary stress on the body. It can cut off blood vessels, nerves, change breathing patterns, and create bad movement patterns. Breathing through the nose and with deep diaphramatic breaths will come as a result from truly good posture. Aside from the common posture advice, looking into PRI can incredibly level up your posture.