MIND POWER
What do you recommend for some-
one who exercises and eats pretty
well but wants to boost her baseline
health? Start a meditation practice.
Really? Yes, because most of us are stressed out.
Meditation teaches us to relax the nervous system.
It lowers blood pressure, improves focus, and
helps us be less reactive to stress.
Meditation can be somewhat intimidating,
though. And it still feels a little woo-woo.
That’s why it’s important to tell people that meditation
is not about sitting on a cushion and chanting.
It’s about improving the performance of the mind. Just as
we exercise our bodies to perform better, meditation
exercises our brains to train them to be more
focused and sharper. Find what works best for
you: breathing exercises, a mindfulness practice,
a mantra-type practice, or yoga.
Q
L etÕs
TALK
Renowned integrative
doctor FRANK LIPMAN
mixes traditional and new
practices to help his patients
improve their health.
He shares with us his top
three strategies for
BOOSTING YOUR
WELL-BEING.
By Mirel Zaman
Illustration by Damien Cuypers
JULY/AUGUST 2019 52 SHAPE.COM
bestrong+well
STAY IN SYNC
You’ve written a lot about tuning in to your
body’s natural rhythms. Can you explain
what those are? We are all aware of the rhythm to
our hearts and our breathing, but all of our organs
have a tempo. The more you work with your innate
rhythms, the better you feel. It’s like swimming with
the current instead of against it.
How can you make sure you’re in sync?
The most important thing is to go to
sleep and wake up at the same times
every day, including weekends.
And why is that essential? The primary rhythm
is sleep and wakefulness—keeping it stable means you’ll
feel more energetic in the morning and less wired at night.
People don’t take sleep seriously enough. There’s
something called the glymphatic system, a housecleaning
process in your brain that works only when you sleep.
If you don’t rest properly, toxic substances build up. You
can’t think clearly, and over time that can lead to all
sorts of neurological problems, like Alzheimer’s disease.
Sleep is crucial.
MEALTIME TRICK
After sleep, what’s the best thing a woman
can do to improve her health and stay in tune
with her body? Try to eat dinner earlier and break-
fast later two or three days a week. It helps regulate
insulin, metabolism, and weight. Our bodies are meant
to have a cycle of feasting and fasting. Training them not
to snack all the time is a good idea.
Interesting. So should we be moving
away from the idea of eating six small
meals a day? Yes. I don’t agree with that at
all anymore, though I used to suggest it.
Now I’m more focused on trying to leave 14 to 16 hours
between dinner and breakfast a couple of times a week.
That strategy is really working for my patients.
I do it myself, and I fi nd it makes a big diff erence in my
energy level and mood.
Frank Lipman,
M.D., an integrative
and functional medi-
cine pioneer, is the
founder and director
of Eleven Eleven
Wellness Center in
New York City and a
best-selling author.
