Here’s Just One Thing to help improve your health and wellbeing

By Michael Mosley

We all want some quick and easy ways to improve our health, but when it comes to diet, fitness and wellbeing it can be hard to sift the fads from the facts. Harder still is finding things that actually fit into your day.

So to help, I’m back with a second series of Just One Thing in which I delve into the science of one simple thing each episode that you can do to boost your health and wellbeing. I chat to experts, road test tips and even enlist the help of a couple of special guests to help you find Just One Thing that really could make a difference.

Listen to series two of Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley

Ten new tips to boost your health

I’ve loved finding out about the latest research and sifting through the science to choose my ten top tips for this series of Just One Thing. To make it on to my list, each tip had to be simple to do, have solid scientific evidence that doing it was worthwhile, and had to deliver more than one benefit. You can read about some of these new tips below.

Going out for very short periods in the middle of the day can actually be beneficial – that’s when you make the most vitamin D.

The one thing worth doing straight away

For years, I’ve avoided going out in the sun in the middle of the day but in my first episode of this series, Get Some Sun, I investigate all the benefits of the sun – on mood, blood pressure, and Vitamin D levels. It turns out that going out for very short periods in the middle of the day can actually be beneficial – in fact, that’s when you make the most vitamin D for least skin cancer risk. And you don’t need to stay out for long. Around ten minutes is good for me as I tend to burn if I stay out too long.

In the UK, between October and March, the rays simply aren’t strong enough to make appreciable changes to our Vitamin D. But I’ll be keeping my shorts and T-shirts out for the time being, so I can make the most of any September sunshine.

How sunshine can make you happier

Michael Mosley explains the mental and physical benefits of vitamin D.

The one thing I found most surprising

My son was excited to teach me how to play one of his video games, and I was indeed very surprised by the strength of the research pointing to benefits on our spatial skills, cognition and even our vision. But to be honest I don’t see myself becoming a regular gamer!

The one thing I most enjoyed

My favourite Just One Thing this series is definitely eating chocolate. I was amazed and delighted to discover that eating just two squares of dark chocolate every day can have clinically significant effects on my blood pressure and heart health and that it can even boost blood flow to my brain. It’s all down to compounds called flavonoids in the cocoa. So swapping your normal sugary sweet treat for a couple of pieces of dark chocolate is definitely Just One Thing I’d recommend!

Did you know that breaking exercise up into short 5-10 minute chunks across the day is more beneficial than doing it in one 30-minute burst? Or that houseplants can reduce indoor pollution and boost your productivity? Or that you can lose weight and improve your metabolism by simply changing when you eat, rather than what you eat? Or that singing can increase the levels of endocannabinoids in your brain, to give you a genuine high? I’ll be covering all that and more in entertaining, 15-minute chunks in my weekly podcast.

The things I’ll stick with

I’ll definitely be sticking to “exercise snacking”. I’ll keep going for brisk walks and doing some squats or a little workout on the stairs in three, 10-minute bouts throughout my day. I’m pleased to hear it gives me the same, possibly even greater, fitness and health benefits than doing a full 30 minutes – time which on long working days, can be a little hard to find.

Dr. Mosley makes sure to drink a glass of water with each meal

Restricting the food you eat to a 12-hour window could improve your sleep and help with weight loss.

I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed changing my mealtimes. I’ve been following the research that suggests restricting the food you eat to a 12-hour window could improve your sleep, blood pressure, cholesterol and help with weight loss, without limiting your calories. The results are impressive and it’s certainly one I’ll be sticking with.

The one thing I liked doing the least

I’m genuinely not very good at singing so I can’t say I enjoyed recording myself singing in the shower – but it certainly did lift my mood!

The one thing I couldn’t do without

Call me old-fashioned but if I’m not having water with my meals, I notice the effects of dehydration straight away. It baffles me that some people don’t ever drink water. When I don’t, my productivity noticeably slows and I feel uncomfortably thirsty.

I always make an effort to have a glass of water with each meal every day. This way, with the occasional help of a cup of tea or coffee (which count towards your daily fluid intake too), I can guarantee that I can stay hydrated. I also try not to have more than four or five cups of tea and coffee per day, as too much caffeine is known to have a diuretic effect: it will make you need to pee, which isn’t good for your hydration levels!

Finding your one thing

So if you’re curious about science and want to see what simple changes could improve your lifestyle, do subscribe to my Just One Thing podcast. Each week I’ll put to the test a new simple tip, with surprising evidence behind it. And hopefully, one of them might be just the thing for you.

Listen to Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley