This is not a fitness page. It is the handful of body things that change how your head works, and the smallest version of each that still counts.
Start here
Moving
Moving
Lower the bar for the gym
On a day you'd skip, the session is ten minutes. Same time, same place, bag packed the night before.
10 minEvidence: decent
Moving
Move hard three times a week
Run, lift, cycle, a sport. Hard enough to sweat. Three sessions, any length over twenty minutes.
30 min, 3x a weekEvidence: solid
Moving
Rehearse the lift in your head
Injured, travelling, or stuck at a desk: fifteen minutes imagining the exercise, as vividly as you can, muscles included. Most days.
15 minEvidence: decent
Moving
The if-then plan
Turn a goal into a trigger and an action. "When I get home Tuesday and Thursday, I change and go to the gym before I sit down."
2 minEvidence: solid
Moving
Walk three times a week
Forty minutes, brisk enough to notice your breathing, three times a week.
40 min, 3x a weekEvidence: decent
Play
Recovery and fuel
Recovery and fuel
Cold water after a run, not after the weights
After a long run or match: ten to fifteen minutes in cold water, 11–15°C. After lifting: skip it, or leave it several hours; no trial has tested the gap.
15 minEvidence: decent
Recovery and fuel
Sauna, if you have one nearby
Fifteen to twenty minutes at around 80°C. Two or three times a week showed some of the effect, four or more the most. Water before and after. Out at the first sign of dizziness.
20 min, 2–7x a weekEvidence: decent
Recovery and fuel
Thirty different plants a week
Count types, not portions. Beans, nuts, herbs, seeds, grains, fruit, veg all count. Aim for thirty a week.
no timeEvidence: worth trying