Jonathan & Joané: (00:02)
Hi, I’m Joané Hart, and I am Jonathan Hart. This is The Hart of Health. A show where we focus mainly on health and self-optimization. Here, we like to talk about our experiences and knowledge when it comes to health and biohacking. We hope you enjoy the show.
Jonathan: (00:02)
Hey everyone. So on today’s podcast, we’re going to be talking about what you can do while you’re stuck at home in quarantine.
Joané: (00:44)
Yeah. So we’ve been stuck at home for how many days now?
Jonathan: (00:53)
Four.
Joané: (00:53)
Only four out of 21, because we live in South Africa and they decided that we have to stay home for 21 days.
Jonathan: (01:03)
Yeah. So yeah, we are really doing quite well. Basically maximising our time and trying to take breaks but also get things done.
Joané: (01:18)
Yeah, we’ve been getting so much done. If you’re staying at home, don’t just spend the entire time watching Netflix, although that’s fun too. But try and get some of the things done that you haven’t been able to do. You know, all those things where you’ve said: “Oh, one day when I have time I’ll do this. One day when I have time, I’ll sort out my clothes.” Well, if you’re at home because of the Coronavirus, then now, you have time.
Jonathan: (01:54)
Yeah. It’s also now in the times that are going to follow quarantines like with businesses having to be more strict, getting your life in order is probably going to be an advantage as far as being organized, making less mistakes, your employer being very happy with how your performance is and all that. It’s going to be more important now. So, if you can look really well put together by being well put together, it’s probably going to help.
Joané: (02:27)
Oh yeah. I didn’t even think of that. Yeah. If you sort out all the mental clutter and the physical clutter in your life and the digital clutter, then you know, you’ll have a lot more mental space to work with. Well, I heard this quote this morning: “outer clutter, inner chaos”, or it was something like that. I’m paraphrasing, but it’s like, if your house is a mess, if your finances are a mess, if your files are a mess, then you might not perform that well.
Jonathan: (03:05)
Yeah. And, and even for the people who… their businesses closed or went down and you don’t have a job, getting your life in order is probably one of the first steps to trying to become like self sufficient or trying to find a new career path. You know, because if you just sit at home depressed and do nothing you are probably going to spiral even further.
Joané: (03:30)
This is where you need Jordan Peterson.
Jonathan: (03:32)
Yes, definitely recommend watching Jordan Peterson motivational videos on YouTube.
Joané: (03:37)
Yeah. If you’ve been feeling stressed, if you maybe lost your job or lost a lot of money. Jordan Peterson gives a lot of good advice like; just make your bed every morning. And one thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is where he said that if you just fix things around you that announce themselves as being out of order, then if you fix a hundred little things, then your life could be completely different. And then you get into the habit of turning chaos into order. And that’s been pretty cool. So, you know, one task at a time. We’ve been doing things around the house, like sorting out our cupboard, sorting out files, getting projects done that we’ve been meaning to get done for a while.
Jonathan: (04:39)
Yeah. So get the things that are obviously nagging you the most out of the way first. Because we are talking about health. So mental clarity and less stress is obviously going to be good for your health. But now to talk about other healthy endeavors; you can start trying to get a very basic exercise programme and maybe even a stretch routine.
Joané: (05:08)
Oh yeah.
Jonathan: (05:09)
Doesn’t have to be long. Even if you just literally do something for five minutes, three times a day, you could start
Joané: (05:16)
Or while you’re watching Netflix, do some squats, do some push-ups in front of the TV. I used to do these workouts where I would put on an episode of The Big Bang Theory because they’re about 20 minutes long and I had to work out for the entire 20 minutes and when the episode was finished, then I knew that I worked out as long as I’m going to, and there’s something about watching The Big Bang Theory while exercising that relieves some of the suffering and that’s still kind of my go to. Although I do exercises throughout the day, like in the morning I’ll stretch a little, then I’ll do some work. Then later I’ll do some training exercises. Yeah, just spread it out, you know?
Jonathan: (06:01)
Yeah, I definitely think it’s more ancestrally appropriate to spread your exercise out throughout the day because normally we’d be doing something regularly and not just once a day. Normally, when you’re working and you’re busy, you might go to the gym at a specific time, because that’s how it fits into your schedule. But now that you have the time, you can try spreading out your workouts and you might actually get a better benefit from spreading it out a little bit. Even if you normally go to the gym and do a very intense session, um, obviously it’s a lot harder to do that at home. So spreading it out might also be more effective in that perspective.
Joané: (06:48)
Definitely. And it’s just about movement, just moving around more like walking. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a workout workout, like an intense workout. Still do exercises throughout the day, but move. Clean your house, do some gardening if you have a garden. But yeah, just find ways to move throughout the day. You’d be surprised how much you actually move, just tidying up your house or organising things and maybe then some squats in between, like while you’re folding laundry, do some squats.
Jonathan: (07:30)
Yeah. And also now I’d say the third thing I’d want to bring up is sleep. Like I think a lot of people in these stressful times sort of end up staying up awake for longer than is healthy because there’s a lot of things going on in the news and then you get into these traps of going down rabbit holes on YouTube and whatever thing you’re doing late into the night, which is not actually really serving you. Get the sleep; that’s actually going to help you feel a lot better the next day and it can actually start the ball rolling on a really big change.
Joané: (08:12)
Yeah. Most people I know have complained that they don’t get enough sleep while you have the time now, get some sleep, take a nap if you can. Well, what I’ve started doing is I stopped setting an alarm and I just let my body wake up when it is done sleeping and then I start my day and I’ve been feeling so much better since I started doing that. So while we’ve been at home and there’s no pressure to be anywhere, although I work from home, it’s usually not that pressure anymore, but it’s only been a few months, so I’m getting used to it. But yeah, not setting an alarm like at last not now. A few nights ago, I had 10 hours of sleep. Last night, it was about nine and that was pretty cool.
Jonathan: (09:05)
Yeah. So sleep is probably one of the most important things to get right. And I’d say if you’re looking to take the first step towards getting better sleep, I’d say from even before nine, like nothing before eight o’clock and don’t have any exposure to blue light. So if you switch the TV off, switch the computer screens off. If you have a phone, switch it into like a night mode with only emitting like a reddish orange light.
Joané: (09:41)
And add a blue light blocking app.
Jonathan: (09:43)
Yeah, you can get a blue light blocking app and all of those things will definitely help you get to sleep because you’re not very productive to just lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. But yes, those blue locking apps on the phones are quite effective and yes, if so now after eight o’clock you say, okay, no more TV. I’ll just be on my phone in bed, basically trying to wind down and you can spend even two hours on your phone, but at least you’ll be in sort of like a much darker, dimmer light, only looking at orange light instead of sitting in front of the TV from eight to 10 30 being exposed to all the blue lights or on the computer. And so, I think it’s a good sort of strategy to try and maybe get that darkness to actually try to get your body in a cycle of going to sleep at the right time and waking up at a time when the sun actually rises instead of going to bed at one o’clock and waking up at 10 o’clock
Joané: (10:53)
Yeah. That’s not that great.
Jonathan: (10:54)
Well try and get your body in sync with what’s actually going on outside.
Joané: (10:59)
Yeah, a little bit more. Yeah. Like I know if I want to wake up early, I just go to bed earlier then I had before. You know, I know that if I go to bed around nine, I’m probably not going to sleep until nine o’clock the next morning. It can happen, but it probably won’t.
Jonathan: (11:19)
Yeah. That’s the thing is like obviously depending on where you stay, the sun sets at different times, but try and notice those times and you know, maybe you can even Google it if you don’t feel like waking up that early. For some people, depending on where you live, the sun rises really early, but try and get more in time with the actual rhythm of where you are staying can definitely help. And yeah, I was just thinking about so many different memes coming out with this whole situation and some of them are like, Oh, you know, you’re going crazy and you are super bored. Some of them are like: “Oh, you ate all the foods so quickly because you were bored. And there’s like the more negative sort of memes that are coming out that are sort of making fun of the negative side. And then there’s also some of the more positive memes where like, you come back from quarantine, like super fit and healthy and…
Joané: (12:20)
Oh yeah.
Jonathan: (12:21)
Fully recharged and full of energy and yeah, I think you almost need to decide which memes do you want to sort of exhibit: do you want like this to be like a cocoon or like a cave where you go to die?
Joané: (12:39)
Yeah. I love that you describe it as a cocoon where you know you can emerge as a better version of yourself and emerge as a butterfly. You know what, I’ve been finding more time for? Cold shock therapy. Before this quarantine thing. I was always like: “Oh, I want to do it.” But you know, I would run out of time and now that we have some more time, I’ve been actually doing it every day at least once most days, twice a day, but at least once a day taking like a cold bath or a cold shower. It’s been challenging but good.
Jonathan: (13:24)
Yeah, that’s a good one. And it’s quite easy to do no matter where you are. Like even if you’re in a fairly warm country or part of the country, you turn on the cold tap and it’s decently cold enough to get sort of a reaction. Yeah, you can always get sunlight,
Joané: (13:44)
Sunlight! We’ve been trying to get enough sunlight. Don’t just stay trapped in your house for three weeks. If you can, try and get some sunlight exposure on your skin to help you with vitamin D. If you can, maybe order vitamin D supplements if you live in a cloudy place where it’s winter and you can’t go outside a lot
Jonathan: (14:10)
And you don’t feel like spending the real expensive money on light light therapy lights like red lights and the Joove light and those things.
Joané: (14:16)
Oh, if you can do right red light therapy or some sort of light therapy that will help during this time, that is a really good recommendation if you can. Otherwise, vitamin D3 supplements might help or eat a lot of eggs.
Jonathan: (14:33)
Yeah. If you don’t get any kind of sun exposure, it’s definitely a good idea. And things are definitely going more online now. So yeah, order it and then it’ll get delivered.
Joané: (14:48)
Yeah, a lot of companies and gyms have started, putting online classes on their websites or wherever to try and also make money during this time. So now it’s even easier to find online workouts, even though it was already super easy. But if there are instructors that you prefer, maybe they are teaching online now.
Jonathan: (15:16)
Yes. And I think then the last thing I’d want to try and advise people to do is don’t get socially isolated.
Joané: (15:26)
No. Do what you can to connect with people.
Jonathan: (15:30)
Yeah. You, you want to, even if it’s Skype or FaceTime or whatever app you use, do, try and get the best sort of communication you can. Because social interactions are super important for human beings and getting isolated and lonely is probably not good for your health.
Joané: (15:54)
Yeah. It’s terrible. Loneliness can kill you, I believe.
Jonathan: (16:02)
Yeah. Staying up late and being lonely…
Joané: (16:05)
and eating an unhealthy diet that causes brain inflammation and that can make you also feel the pressure. And if you watch the news the whole time and you’re already anxiously wired, that can even put a damper on your mood. And if you’ve maybe lost your job, you’re stressed about money, try and make your mental health a priority. I’ve been trying to make self-care a priority, like doing things that helped me relax to try and balance out some of the stress of the current virus pandemic. Like, breathing exercises are really good. Breathing exercises are very good, yoga is very good. Cooking helps me relax.
Joané: (16:51)
So yeah.
Jonathan: (16:53)
Yeah. Finding little things that you can do that maybe require a bit of skill or whatever might help.
Joané: (17:01)
Yeah. I’ve been trying to use this time to help me improve my cooking skills. Like any skill you want to improve if you can practice it at home.
Jonathan: (17:11)
Woodworking.
Jonathan: (17:14)
Even maybe some kind of table tennis sport or motor or something that’s slightly smaller scale.
Joané: (17:22)
If you’re into arts and crafts, you can do that. If you’ve been trying to write a book or meaning to write a book, now is the time. No excuses. Yeah. So, yeah, those are tips on how to survive staying at home during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Jonathan: (17:43)
It’s a lot of tips, but you have time.
Joané: (17:46)
Yeah, you have time. You don’t have to do all of them. You don’t have to all of them at once. You can pick and choose, but just try and make the best of this situation. Yeah. After listening to this, you can’t say that you’re bored. There’s something you can do. There’s something you can try. I don’t think you’ve tried all the things. Maybe there’s something you’ve been putting off. Okay, until next week, see you later.
Jonathan: (18:16)
See you later.
