Routines
Habits stick when they are attached to something that already happens
Motivation is a poor scaffold. Attaching a new habit to an existing routine does most of the work for you.
Priya Menon
Contributing writer, Care Pebble
Priya writes on connection, loneliness and the small social habits that hold a week together.
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20 articles
Moving Gently
Walking is underrated because it is not impressive
The evidence for regular walking is unusually strong, and it keeps being ignored because it does not look like training.
Moving Gently
Stretching does not do what most people think it does
The evidence on stretching is messier than the advice. Knowing what it actually achieves changes when it is worth doing.
Routines
Weekly planning that takes fifteen minutes and prevents most of the mess
Most of the friction in an ordinary week comes from decisions that could have been made once, in advance.
Moving Gently
Balance is trainable and almost nobody trains it
Balance declines with age unless it is challenged, and challenging it takes about two minutes a day.
Moving Gently
Sitting is not the new smoking, and the actual finding is more useful
The research is about prolonged uninterrupted sitting, and the intervention is interruption rather than a standing desk.
Moving Gently
Movement that is not exercise still counts
Everyday activity accounts for a large share of total energy expenditure, and it is easier to increase than training is.
Routines
Meal timing and the afternoon collapse
The post-lunch dip is partly circadian and partly what you ate, and both parts are adjustable.
Moving Gently
Walking with someone changes what the walk is for
Side-by-side conversation is easier than face-to-face, and that is why walking works for difficult subjects.
Moving Gently
Gardening is exercise that does not feel like it
Digging, carrying and squatting produce genuine physical loading, and the activity is sustained by something other than discipline.
Moving Gently
Getting up off the floor, and why it is a health measure
The ability to rise from the floor unaided predicts a great deal, and it is trainable at any age.
Routines
Streaks are motivating until the day you break one
Unbroken chains are a powerful mechanism with a specific failure mode, and there is a version that survives it.
Routines
Doing the same kind of work at the same time of day
Grouping similar tasks removes the cost of switching between different modes of thinking. The gain is largest for the tasks people…
Routines
Personal admin expands when it has nowhere to live
Renewals, forms, appointments and unopened post do not take long individually. They take over because there is no point in the week…
Routines
Getting dressed when nobody is going to see you
Clothes are a poor measure of productivity and a surprisingly good marker of transition. That distinction matters for anyone whose…
Moving Gently
Stairs are the cheapest training in the building
A flight of stairs demands more effort per minute than almost anything else in an ordinary day, and it is already there. The…
Moving Gently
Posture is a set of positions, not a shape you hold
The advice to sit up straight assumes there is one correct alignment and that holding it is the goal. Both assumptions are shakier…
Moving Gently
Yoga classes vary far more than the word suggests
Two classes with the same name can be a gentle hour on the floor or a sustained physical effort. Choosing badly is the most common…
Moving Gently
What shoes do, and the claims that outrun the evidence
Footwear is sold on injury prevention and support, and the research behind those claims is thinner than the confidence of the…
Moving Gently
Starting to run when you have never been a runner
The first weeks are limited by tendons and joints rather than by lungs, which is why enthusiasm is the most common cause of a…