Category: Health

Reviewed by Helen Kollias, PhD and Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD

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At some point in my mid-40s, the scale started climbing.

A pound or two turned into five, then 10, then 20.

It seemed as if I was doing all the right things: Eating less, moving more, rinse, repeat. Yet, the harder I worked, the less the scale seemed to respond.

Had perimenopause destroyed my metabolism?

It sure felt like it.

However, after asking my doctor to run a series of tests, I learned that my metabolism was, in fact, fine. Instead, like the vast majority of midlife women, the true causes of my weight gain stemmed from several subtle issues that I would have sworn, at the time, didn’t apply to me.

If, like me, you or your client are currently stuck in what feels like an eat less, gain more cycle, this article is here to help.

In this story, you’ll discover:

• Several reasons women gain weight at midlife that have nothing to do with a “slower metabolism”
• Why intense exercise and strict diets can backfire after menopause
• 11 crafty ways to get a handle on midlife weight gain

First, what is menopause?

Many women refer to midlife hot flashes and inconsistent menstruation as “being in menopause” or “menopausal.”

However, menopause isn’t a phase as much as a transitional moment that separates menstruation from non-menstruation.

Once you’ve gone 12 consecutive months without a period, you’ve reached menopause. For most people, that moment arrives somewhere between ages 46 and 56.

The hot-and-dewy months and years leading up to that 12th missed period are technically known as “perimenopause.” 

Perimenopause means “around menopause.”

Some people refer to this time as the menopause transition. This is when estrogen levels fluctuate. Menstrual cycles lengthen and shorten and, at times, disappear, only to return a few months later. For many people, this marks the beginning of symptoms like hot flashes, sleep issues, vaginal dryness, mood changes, and, yes, creeping weight gain.

(For a thorough overview of the many changes that can happen during this time, read: ‘What’s happening to my body!?’ 6 lifestyle strategies to try after menopause)

How much weight do women gain during menopause?

Many women think of menopause and weight gain the same way many young parents think of two-year-olds and tantrums: Inevitable.

However, not all women gain weight during the menopause transition, explains Helen Kollias, PhD, who is an expert on physiology and molecular biology, and a science advisor at Precision Nutrition and Girls Gone Strong.

On average, in the West, women gain four to six pounds during the three-and-a-half years of perimenopause, or about one to two pounds a year.^{1 2}

That’s double the rate of weight gain in pre-menopausal women, though it’s roughly the same amount men gain at midlife, notes Dr. Kollias.

In other words, the menopause transition may not be solely to blame for those extra pounds on the scale. Aging may play a significant role, as we explore below.

The real reasons the scale climbs

Several factors conspire to add pounds to your frame during the menopause transition.

✅ You’re not sleeping as well.

Maybe this sounds familiar: You wake repeatedly with sweat pooling under your breasts and sheets that are uncomfortably damp (or soaked).

Even if you don’t have night sweats, plenty of other issues might keep you awake.

First, there’s worry—over aging parents, teenagers with car keys, money needed to replace that leaking roof, some strange bodily sensation you’re worried might be cancer, the colonoscopy or mammogram you don’t want to schedule but also don’t not want to schedule, the sex you’re not having, and so many others.

Plus, if you’re like me and you have osteoarthritis in multiple joints, your body hurts. Or your skin might itch. Or your legs are restless. Or you’re bloated.^{3 4 5 6}

My point: Problems that make sleep uncomfortable can multiply with age.

Because of this, I’ll sometimes wake four or more times a night, as the red sections of this readout from my smartwatch show.

These bad nights often set up a vicious cycle:

The following day, I feel as if I’m two inhales away from death. So, I keep myself going with caffeine, which makes the next night just as bad or worse.

Lack of sleep indirectly adds pounds to your frame in several ways:

• When you’re sleep-deprived, it’s harder to cope with negative emotions, which may mean you turn to food for solace.
• In addition, your decision-making gets compromised, so it’s harder to choose an apple when a chocolate chip cookie is also available.
• Plus, sleep deprivation intensify both appetite and cravings (which we’ll discuss more in the next section)

(Want to get a handle on some of the sleep challenges unique to this transition? Check out: How menopause affects sleep, and what you can do about it)

✅ You’re hungry, and not for celery.

True story: When I was in my early 30s, someone once told me about her intense cravings, and I thought, “Cravings? What are those exactly?”

(Don’t hate me.)

Those days now feel foreign to me. Post-menopause, I spend most of my morning wondering how soon I can eat lunch, what I might have for lunch, whether it’s okay to have a snack now, and, if so, what it should be.

After lunch, I go on to spend the afternoon thinking about dinner.

It’s as if my appetite never flips off.

For the longest time, I thought something was wrong with my brain or metabolism.

It didn’t occur to me that the increased hunger, appetite, and cravings likely stemmed from my repeated awakenings each night.

Until I checked out the research.

In one study, people who were sleep-deprived reported higher levels of hunger and a stronger desire to eat. When provided access to snacks, they consumed twice as much fat compared to days when they weren’t sleep-deprived.⁷

In another study, when healthy, young study participants slept four hours a night, they consumed 350 more calories the following day.⁸

✅ You’re moving less.

As humans age, we develop chronic low-grade inflammation and weakened immune function. When combined with the crummy sleep we mentioned earlier, along with other biological changes, this can interfere with the body’s ability to recover from intense exercise.

The result: If you do too many vigorous workouts too close together, you’ll start to feel run down, sore, and unmotivated.^{12 13 14}

Other issues that crop up around midlife can also interfere with movement, like chronic injuries or joint pain.

(A personal example: Due to osteoarthritis in my feet and spine, I switched from running to walking. This is easier on my body, but isn’t as efficient at burning calories.)

Finally, due to those pesky time-sucks known as full-time jobs and caregiving responsibilities, you might not be as active in your 40s and 50s as you were during your 20s. Plus, over the past few decades, multiple inventions (hello, binge-watching) have conspired to keep people on the couch and off our feet.

So, can you blame your hormones for anything?

Other than messing with your sleep which, in turn, messes with your appetite and energy levels, fluctuating estrogen and progesterone likely aren’t behind your extra pounds—at least, not directly.

If they were, menopause hormone therapy would help people stop or reverse weight gain. (It doesn’t.¹⁵⁾

However, shifting hormonal levels are responsible for where those extra pounds appear on your body. As estrogen levels drop, body fat tends to migrate away from the thighs and hips and toward the abdomen, even if you don’t gain weight

Old tactics may stop working after menopause

The “Rocky” weight loss method was my go-to when I was younger.

Whenever I wanted to drop a few pounds, I imagined I was a character in one of those “couch potato gets super fit” movies.

In addition to walking and running, I embraced the sweat-til-you-vomit workout du jour. (Remember Tae Bo?) I also cut out foods, food groups, or entire macronutrients. A couple of times a week, I skipped lunch or dinner.

It worked.

Until, of course, it didn’t.

Now, whenever I push too hard in the gym, I either get injured or feel so unbelievably tired that I must take four days off from all forms of movement. If I try to do anything extreme with my diet, I eventually eat every crunchy or sweet thing I can find, including stale crackers.

For these reasons, after midlife and beyond, the countermeasures for weight gain aren’t strict diets (looking at you, intermittent fasting) or barfy workouts.

Instead, to limit weight gain after menopause, you need to get wise about finding ways to tip calorie balance in your favor without triggering overpowering hunger, cravings, and fatigue.

Regardless of age or stage, fundamental nutrition and fitness strategies still apply—and work.

What changes after menopause is how you tackle these fundamentals.

Experiment your way to better results

The best menopause plan will look different for each person.

That’s why experiments are so important.

Precision Nutrition coaches often use experiments to help clients discover essential clues about what they need (and don’t need) to reach their goals. Based on the results you get from each experiment, you can make tiny tweaks, test them, and decide whether they work for you—until you find something that does work for you.

How to run an experiment

Health experiments are no different from the scientific method you learned about in middle school.

• Choose a question to answer, such as, “Would I feel less munchy at night if I ate a protein-rich snack every afternoon?”
• Run an experiment to test your question. In the above example, you’d track your hunger and cravings before adding the snack—to get a baseline—and then continue to track them for a couple weeks after adding the snack.
• Assess what you learned. Did your ratings of hunger and cravings drop? Remain the same? Go up? What about your actual nighttime food consumption? This information can help you determine your next steps.

Below are 11 experiments worth trying during and after menopause. We’ve separated them into three categories: sleep, hunger, and energy.

(And if those 11 options aren’t enough, we’ve got more ideas here: Three diet experiments that can change your eating habits)

Experiments for improved sleep

Below, you’ll find a mere smidge of the many sleep tweaks you can try and test. For more ideas on potential sleep experiments, check out our 14-day-sleep plan and story about cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia.

Experiment #1: Reset your body’s circadian clock

As you age, your body starts to behave like an old clock that continually runs slow.

Even if you used to be a morning person, you might wake groggy, as if your body doesn’t know it’s morning. Or, your body might tell you “time for bed” at weird times, like the middle of the afternoon. Then, after spending several hours fighting the urge to nod off during work meetings, you find that, when it actually is bedtime, you’re staring at the ceiling in the dark.

This is why it’s helpful to experiment with zeitgebers, which are environmental and behavioral time cues that help to set your body’s internal circadian clock.

These experiments might include the following:

• Get up at the same time every day, regardless of how you slept the night before.
• Spend 10-20 minutes in the sunlight as soon as possible after you wake.
• Take a cold shower at the same time each morning or a hot shower or bath at the same time each evening.
• Get outside frequently during the day, especially whenever you feel sleepy.
• Exercise at the same time daily. Try first thing in the morning or 4 to 6 hours before bed. Bonus points if you do it outdoors.
• Eat meals, especially breakfast, at the same time every day.

Experiment #2: Remove “I’m uncomfortable” from your sleep vocabulary

How you run this experiment will depend on what’s causing discomfort. We’ve listed a few possibilities below.

• If you tend to wake feeling uncomfortably hot: Experiment with cooling technology. This might range from the very affordable, such as turning the thermostat a degree or two cooler or using a fan, to the more expensive, such as cooling electric mattress pads.
• If you wake feeling bloated: If you’re constipated, try some prunes, a small daily serving of beans, a little psyllium fiber, or just extra water to get things moving. Or, you might try consuming a smaller meal or avoiding fatty foods in the evening.
• If an uncomfortable “I need to move” sensation creeps into your legs at night: Talk to your doctor about restless legs syndrome, a condition that tends to worsen with age and/or iron deficiency. A physician may also give you ideas to cope if itchy skin or joint pain is keeping you up.

Experiment #3: Time caffeine strategically

We know we’re almost picking a fight with this suggestion. However, it’s worth investigating, especially if you consume caffeine in the afternoon or evening.

If you’re like most people, it will take your body about five hours to clear half the caffeine from your system. That means about half of your 4 p.m. latte is still energizing your system at 9 p.m.

But here’s the thing: Some people metabolize caffeine much more slowly than others, taking roughly twice as long to clear it from their bloodstream.¹⁶

Interestingly, even if you had no issues with caffeine when you were younger, you might have issues now, as caffeine clearance tends to slow over time.¹⁷

To see if caffeine is a problem, you’ve got a couple of options.

• Try slowly shifting your consumption earlier by 30 to 60 minutes. (If you usually have your last coffee at 4 p.m., cut yourself off at 3 p.m., then 2 p.m., then 1 p.m., then noon.)
• Switch to a lower caffeine source. (Try a bean blend that’s half decaffeinated. Or, you could switch to a lower-caffeine beverage such as green tea or maté.)

(Yet more solutions to common problems: The five top reasons you can’t sleep)

Experiments to reign in hunger

The tactics below likely won’t surprise you. After all, they form the bedrock for solid nutrition and good overall health.

However, before you disregard them with a “been there, done that!” consider: How many of the below are you actually doing consistently?

Experiment #1: Add a protein serving

It may seem counterintuitive to add a serving of food to your meals when you’re trying to eat less.

However, this one tactic may help reign in appetite and hunger.

Protein takes longer to digest than does carbohydrate or fat, so it helps you feel full and satisfied for longer.

In addition, you may find, as I did, that you’re not consuming anywhere near as much protein as you think. (Find out how much you need here: ‘How much protein should I eat?’ Choose the right amount for fat loss, muscle, and health)

Try one or both of the following:

• Consume at least 1 to 2 portions of lean protein at every single meal
• Prioritize snacks that contain protein—hard-boiled eggs, turkey sausage links, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese—instead sweets or chips.

Experiment #2: Choose high-fiber carbohydrates over lower-fiber ones

Fibrous plant foods can help fill you up with fewer calories.

To see the difference, you might monitor how you feel after consuming a near-zero-fiber food, such as your favorite assortment of snack chips. The following day, when it’s time for the same snack or side dish, opt for something with more fiber, such as roasted nuts, a side of beans, a salad, or a piece of fruit. Notice how the fiber-rich option affects your appetite and hunger for the next few hours.

Another experiment worth trying: Include one to two portions of produce with every meal you consume. Track your sensations of hunger to see if they make a dent.

Experiment #3: Log between-meal indulgences

You may be reaching for more snacky foods and beverages than you realize.

These foods don’t need to be 100 percent off-limits; you just want to be intentional about your consumption and portion sizes.

For a couple of weeks, keep track of alcohol, sweets, and treats that you eat between intentional meals and snacks.

Review your notes at the end of each day to see if these more impulsive or less mindful eating episodes align with your memory of what and how much you consumed.

Experiment #4: Move after meals

Increased inflammation coupled with decreased muscle mass, among other factors, leads many people to become more insulin-resistant with age.¹⁸ Cells don’t respond as readily to the hormone, which means more glucose stays in the bloodstream rather than entering cells that can use it for energy.

Through a complex set of mechanisms, this can drive up hunger and overall appetite.

Consuming protein- and fiber-rich meals will help, as we mentioned earlier.

So will movement. Walking for as little as two minutes after meals can help your body process the carbohydrates you consumed, improving blood sugar levels, finds research.^{19 20}

In addition, by removing yourself from your kitchen, you create a habit that helps to psychologically shift you away from “eating” and over to “the kitchen is closed.”

Experiments for more energy

To address midlife brain fog and fatigue, you’ll want to do all you can to encourage good sleep. In addition, see if the below suggestions make a difference.

Experiment #1: Prioritize strength training over intense cardio

This was a hard lesson for me because I love intense cardio.

However, now in my 50s, if I try to fit in two weekly strength training sessions and two weekly spin sessions, I feel drugged—as if someone spiked my coffee with tranquilizers.

When my Precision Nutrition health coach suggested I dial back on the cardio for a couple of weeks, I won’t lie. I thought about firing her.

But then I took her advice and rediscovered what it felt like to be alert.

Don’t get me wrong: I still do cardio. But I’m smart about it. I now know that I can’t do everything, at peak intensity, and expect to feel rested and alert daily. There’s a balance.

Strength training is increasingly important at midlife to protect bone strength and maintain muscle mass. Aim for at least two weekly sessions. Then, fit in cardio around those sessions.

If you feel worn out, experiment with doing low- or moderate-intensity cardio (like brisk walking, slow cycling, or swimming) over higher-intensity cardio (like an hour-long spin class).

Or, if you love higher intensities, keep doing them, but shorten your duration.

Or, just save those vigorous sessions for when you got great sleep the night before.

Experiment #2: Try active recovery

Active recovery can help increase blood circulation and the removal of waste products that may have built up in your muscles during intense exercise sessions.²¹

This can include light activities such as walking, swimming, yoga, or stretching. You can also try massage, foam rolling, or a long, hot bath.

Experiment #3: Consider creatine

Lots of folks think of creatine monohydrate as something people take to get jacked.

However, more and more evidence points to creatine’s benefits for people in midlife and beyond.

The supplement may be especially helpful for muscle recovery.

In research that pooled the data from 23 studies, study participants who took creatine experienced fewer indicators of muscle damage 48 to 90 hours after intense training than participants who didn’t supplement.²²

The supplement may also help you to think clearly, especially after a bad night of sleep, finds other research.²³

Finally, by promoting cellular energy throughout the body (including the brain), creatine may help to blunt fatigue and boost mood.^{24 25}

A daily dose of three to five grams works for most people.

The winning midlife mindset

There’s one final experiment that I want to tell you about.

It has to do with embracing a mindset of acceptance.

Think back to other difficult phases of your life. For me, parenting an infant with colic comes to mind. Gosh, I was so tired back then that I likely would have forked over my entire 401k in exchange for one solid night of sleep.

However, I knew that the stage was temporary. That knowledge helped to keep me going.

Midlife can be similar.

You likely won’t weigh at 55 what you did at 25. That’s okay. However, the night sweats, brain fog, and fatigue are all fleeting. You will eventually establish a new normal.

In the meantime, see if you can accept that your body may look and feel different now. Shift your focus away from trying to look and feel like your younger self and toward consistently embracing new behaviors that will help you age with strength, vitality, and contentment.

After all, you have much more control over your behavior than the number on the scale.

References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

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If you’d like to learn more, consider the PN Level 1 Nutrition Coaching Certification. (You can enroll now at a big discount.)

Cortisol, often referred to as the “stress hormone,” is one of the most powerful hormones in the body. While cortisol’s primary function is to help manage stress, it also plays a crucial role in a wide range of bodily processes, from metabolism to immune function, and even brain activity. When cortisol levels are out of balance, they can cause a variety of health problems, including chronic stress, fatigue, weight gain, and poor sleep.

It’s gotten a lot of attention lately and has been trending on social media, with many people claiming that just “fixing” their cortisol drastically improved their health and helped them lose weight. This points to just how important cortisol is, but before we jump into believing that a stack of herbs is a miracle cure, it’s important to understand some background context. 

The Low Down on Balancing Cortisol

Specifically, “cortisol cocktails” including ingredients like orange juice, coconut water, and salt are trending as miracle cures. Personally, I’ve found some other (no-cost) factors to be more effective. Even though I did create my own version of the cortisol cocktail drink!

In this article, I’ll break down my understanding of cortisol and what’s worked for me. As always, this is my opinion, shared only for inspiration and general information and is never for comparison or advice!

So, how can we manage and optimize our cortisol levels to feel our best? The answer lies in understanding how cortisol works and supporting its natural rhythm with simple lifestyle habits. These habits include things like light exposure, supplements, and sleep practices. 

In this post, we’ll take a deep dive into the science of cortisol, explain how light impacts cortisol levels, explore the top supplements for supporting healthy cortisol patterns, and show you how sleep can be a game-changer for hormone balance. Plus, I’ll share what I do to keep my cortisol levels in check.

What Does Cortisol Do?

Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands, which are found on top of your kidneys. It’s primarily known for its role in the “fight or flight” response, helping the body respond to stress by increasing blood sugar, enhancing brain function, and suppressing non-essential functions like digestion and reproduction. While cortisol is essential for survival in stressful situations, chronic cortisol imbalance (too high or too low) can lead to serious health problems.

Our cortisol levels follow a natural circadian rhythm, peaking in the morning shortly after waking and gradually declining throughout the day. This daily pattern is essential for maintaining energy levels, sleep quality, and emotional balance. When cortisol levels are chronically elevated or suppressed, this rhythm is disrupted, leading to feelings of fatigue, difficulty focusing, and mood swings. 

In the past, there was a point when my cortisol patterns were exactly opposite of the ideal natural pattern. My deep dive into helping my body find balance taught me a lot about cortisol, light, sleep, and other factors that can help. 

The Impact of Light on Cortisol

One of the most powerful and often overlooked influences on cortisol patterns is light exposure. In fact, I’d dare say this was the most important factor for me in finding balance, and the good news is that it’s free. Light has a direct effect on cortisol production, helping regulate the body’s internal clock or circadian rhythm. Exposure to natural light, especially in the morning, plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy cortisol patterns.

1. Morning Light to Balance Cortisol

Getting natural sunlight in the morning is critical for resetting your circadian rhythm and ensuring cortisol levels peak at the right time. When you wake up and are exposed to sunlight, it triggers the release of cortisol to help you feel alert and energized. This cortisol surge is designed to support your wakefulness and focus throughout the day.

Research shows that morning light exposure, preferably within the first 30 minutes of waking, has a significant impact on the timing and intensity of your cortisol release. Studies suggest that people who receive adequate morning light exposure tend to have better sleep quality, improved mood, and a more stable cortisol rhythm.

A study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that morning light exposure increases cortisol production. This in turn improves alertness and reduces sleep inertia (the grogginess many people experience after waking). The timing of light exposure matters though. Blue light exposure at night can interfere with your ability to fall asleep and disrupt cortisol patterns.

2. Natural Light Throughout the Day

Not just the morning light, but consistent exposure to natural light throughout the day helps to maintain healthy cortisol rhythms. When you’re indoors all day, especially under artificial lighting, your body doesn’t receive the necessary signals to effectively regulate its circadian rhythm. This can result in disrupted cortisol patterns, leading to fatigue and increased stress.

Spending time outdoors during daylight hours helps synchronize your body’s internal clock. This can improve sleep, reduce stress, and enhance overall well-being. If you’re working from home or spend most of your day indoors, try to step outside every few hours for a short walk or simply sit by a window with natural light.

I love Dr. Courtney Hunt’s recommendation of: sunrise, sunlight, sunset, repeat. 

3. The Effect of Artificial Light

Artificial lighting (especially blue light from screens) can throw off your cortisol patterns. Exposure to blue light late at night suppresses melatonin (the sleep hormone). It also delays the natural decline of cortisol in the evening, making it harder for you to unwind and get restful sleep. To minimize the negative effects of artificial light, consider using blue light filters on your devices in the evening. You can also limit screen time at least an hour before bed.

In my house, we try to avoid screens after the sun goes down and I have red and amber bulbs in lamps that we use after dark. I don’t go as far as just using candles, though some people have tried this as well. If I’m going to be in a car, airport or store after dark, I’ll often wear blue light blocking glasses. 

Top Supplements to Support Healthy Cortisol Levels

While light exposure and sleep play foundational roles in managing cortisol, certain supplements also help. They support healthy cortisol levels and alleviate the negative effects of chronic stress. Here are some of the most effective, evidence-backed supplements to consider.

1. Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha, an adaptogenic herb, helps the body adapt to stress and regulate cortisol levels. Several studies show ashwagandha supplementation can reduce cortisol levels and improve the body’s stress response. Cherry rose moon milk is a great way to get some ashwagandha before bed!

In one study published in The Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, participants who took ashwagandha showed a significant reduction in cortisol levels and reported less stress and anxiety. Ashwagandha has also been shown to support improved sleep and better physical performance.

2. Rhodiola Rosea

Rhodiola rosea is another adaptogen that can help the body manage stress and balance cortisol rhythms. Studies suggest rhodiola can reduce fatigue, improve mood, and decrease cortisol levels during times of stress.

A review published in Phytomedicine found that rhodiola supplementation helped reduce cortisol secretion and improved mental performance in individuals exposed to stress. This herb is particularly helpful for people who experience energy crashes during the day, as it helps maintain balanced cortisol levels throughout the day.

3. Phosphatidylserine

Phosphatidylserine is a phospholipid found in the brain that plays a critical role in cognitive function and cell signaling. Research has shown that phosphatidylserine supplementation can help reduce cortisol levels in response to exercise and stress.

A study published in The Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition showed that participants who took phosphatidylserine experienced lower cortisol levels after intense physical activity. This supplement is beneficial for managing cortisol spikes after exercise or stressful events.

Taking choline supplements in the morning was also helpful for my energy and focus. I rotate between this choline supplement, this one, and this one. I did this while also taking these cortisol supplements. 

4. Magnesium

Magnesium is a vital mineral that plays a crucial role in over 600 biochemical reactions in the body. It’s also known for its ability to help regulate the stress response. Studies have shown that magnesium supplementation can help reduce cortisol levels, especially in people experiencing chronic stress.

A study in The Journal of Research in Medical Sciences found that magnesium supplementation helped lower cortisol levels in individuals under stress, improving both mood and relaxation. Magnesium-rich foods like leafy greens, nuts, and seeds can also support healthy cortisol rhythms. I also like to supplement with Magnesium Breakthrough which has 7 different types of magnesium 

5. Omega-3s

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats that play a crucial role in supporting overall health, and they’ve been shown to help regulate cortisol levels. Research indicates that omega-3s, found in fatty fish like sardines, can reduce inflammation and lower cortisol levels in response to stress. They also help improve brain function and mood, further supporting your body’s ability to manage stress effectively. 

There are Omega-3 supplements and I occasionally take these but some people worry about oxidation in these supplements. Whenever possible I try to get Omega’s from food sources like seafood. 

Adding sardines to your diet a few times a week is an excellent way to boost your omega-3 intake. Sardines are not only rich in omega-3s, but they’re also an affordable and sustainable option for enhancing your overall nutrition, helping to maintain balanced cortisol levels and improve your stress resilience.

6. Magnolia Bark

Magnolia bark is an ancient herb that has gained attention for its potential to support cortisol balance and promote relaxation. The active compounds in magnolia bark, particularly honokiol and magnolol, have been shown to help reduce cortisol levels by interacting with the body’s stress response systems. Studies suggest magnolia bark can help manage anxiety and promote a sense of calm, which is essential for keeping cortisol levels in check during stressful situations. 

Additionally, magnolia bark may help improve sleep quality by supporting the natural decline of cortisol in the evening. Incorporating magnolia bark as a supplement or in a calming tea can be a beneficial addition to your routine for managing stress and promoting balanced cortisol levels.

A supplement blend like this one has magnolia bark along with other supporting herbs for balanced cortisol. 

How to Use Sleep to Improve Cortisol Levels

Sleep is one of the most effective ways to balance cortisol levels and support overall hormone health. The relationship between sleep and cortisol is complex, but it’s essential for keeping your body’s stress response in check.

1. Prioritize Sleep Quality

Chronic sleep deprivation can elevate cortisol levels and disrupt your body’s natural rhythm. To optimize cortisol levels, focus on improving your sleep quality. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night, and ensure that your sleep environment is conducive to rest. This means a dark, quiet, and cool room.

Avoid caffeine and heavy meals close to bedtime, and incorporate relaxing activities like reading or meditation to wind down. Here’s how to create an ideal sleep environment.

2. Maintain a Consistent Sleep Schedule

Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day helps regulate your cortisol patterns. Irregular sleep schedules can confuse your body’s internal clock, leading to fluctuations in cortisol levels. Try to get up at the same time each morning, regardless of whether it’s a workday or weekend, and avoid sleeping in excessively.

3. Use Sleep to Lower Cortisol at Night

The body naturally releases cortisol in the morning to help you wake up, but cortisol should be at its lowest point at night to prepare your body for restful sleep. A consistent sleep routine, combined with reducing stress during the day, will help promote this natural decline. 

Avoid stimulating activities in the evening, like intense exercise or stressful work tasks. These can raise cortisol levels and disrupt sleep. Here’s a peek into my nighttime routine.

What I Do to Support Healthy Cortisol Patterns

For me, balancing cortisol is about creating a routine that respects my body’s natural rhythms. In my opinion, supplements alone won’t work without these other lifestyle factors as well. Here’s what I do:

• Morning sunlight: I aim to get outside within 30 minutes of waking up to soak up some natural sunlight. This helps reset my circadian rhythm and supports a natural cortisol surge to get my day started. I also try to eat breakfast and all meals outside when I can. 
• Light exposure throughout the day: I make a point of staying active during the day, taking short breaks to step outside or sit near a window with natural light. This keeps my cortisol levels balanced throughout the day. I feel best when I get enough bright light 
• Supplements: I take ashwagandha and magnesium in the evenings to support relaxation and help lower cortisol levels before bed.
• Sleep routine: I stick to a consistent bedtime, avoiding screens for at least an hour before bed, and make sure my bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet.

Action Steps

• Get outside for 20-30 minutes in the morning to get natural light.
• Consider adding supplements like ashwagandha or magnesium.
• Establish a consistent sleep schedule and create a relaxing bedtime routine.

By supporting your body’s natural rhythms with light, supplements, and sleep, you can help maintain balanced cortisol levels. This can lead to improved energy, mood, and overall health. 

What do you do to support your cortisol levels? Leave a comment and let us know!

The world is undergoing a profound transformation driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and connected technologies. This transformation also drives a major architectural shift in the networks that connect our nations and businesses. As AI reshapes our lives, it also creates faster, more dynamic, more latency-sensitive, and more complex network traffic.

This shift is creating a growing divide between organizations and nations that are prepared to lead in the digital economy and those falling behind. Yet, the newly released 2025 State of the Digital Decade report shows that the EU remains far from its digital transformation goals, particularly in critical areas like AI and semiconductors. Despite increased efforts by member states, the report underscores the urgent need for greater public and private investment to accelerate infrastructure development.

The readiness of digital infrastructure to meet AI’s demands will determine the ability of organizations and nations to innovate, compete, and thrive in the digital economy. This blog elaborates on the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ for connectivity readiness and the role of public policy.

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The Need for Resilient Networks

New Cisco research highlights the urgency of modernizing connectivity infrastructure to handle the next wave of AI-powered traffic. While 95% of IT leaders stress the importance of resilient networks, 77% have faced major outages caused by congestion, cyberattacks, and misconfigurations, costing $160 billion globally per year from just one severe disruption per business. AI could double the strain, or solve it.

Policymakers have tools to help businesses meet the challenge: they should urgently simplify the EU digital rulebooks, help further leverage market incentives to drive private investments into AI-ready digital infrastructure, and create public-private partnerships to achieve the EU digital decade targets.

Why Policymakers and Businesses Must Prioritize Network Modernization

Modernized networks form the backbone of global competitiveness. AI and digital transformation drive economic growth, improve public services and utilities, boost productivity, transform industries, and enhance quality of life, but only if supported by resilient, secure, scalable, and energy-efficient networks. The numbers don’t lie: 89% of IT leaders see modern infrastructure as a revenue driver, and 93% anticipate cost savings from smarter, more secure, and adaptive networks.

Today’s networks deliver financial value by improving customer experiences (55%), boosting efficiency (52%), and enabling innovation (51%). Yet much of this value is at risk without networks designed for AI and real-time scale. Without low-latency, high-capacity, and secure connectivity, organizations will struggle to meet the demands of AI and the exponential growth in network traffic.

In the European Union, initiatives such as the Digital Decade goals, the review of the EU telecom rulebook (Digital Networks Act) expected in December 2025 and EU Cloud and AI Act emphasize the importance of robust digital infrastructure. Modernizing networks aligns with these priorities, enabling Europe to lead in transformative technologies like AI and cloud while addressing critical gaps in cybersecurity.

The AI Revolution and Its Network Demands

AI is no longer a futuristic concept. It’s transforming industries, from healthcare, to manufacturing, and logistics. Enterprises are deploying AI-powered applications and assistants at scale to enhance efficiency and decision-making. The explosion in AI-driven workflows, coupled with the proliferation of connected devices are driving unprecedented surges in network traffic, placing immense pressure on IT infrastructures to deliver low-latency, secure, and uninterrupted connectivity.

Downtime is costly, disrupting critical operations and eroding trust. While AI is reshaping computing infrastructure, data centers are not yet ready for its demands. Organizations that fail to modernize risk falling behind competitors that harness AI to innovate and optimize operations.

To meet AI’s demands, we need forward-thinking regulatory frameworks and market incentives that accelerate advanced digital infrastructure adoption.

Rethinking Security in a Complex Era

Cybersecurity remains central to EU digital policies, reflecting the fast-evolving threat landscape. The growing adoption of AI and connected devices also expands the attack surface. Sophisticated cyberattacks, leveraging AI and quantum computing demand a new approach to network security. Unsurprisingly, 94% of IT leaders believe secure networks are critical to enhancing cybersecurity.

Traditional measures are insufficient. Instead, networks must integrate advanced, quantum-resistant threat detection and multi-layered security. Embedding security directly into the network fabric ensures resilience against emerging threats while enabling confident innovation.

Public-Private Collaboration: A Path Forward

Achieving digital competitiveness requires close collaboration between governments, businesses, and technology providers. Policymakers play a crucial role by incentivizing the adoption of advanced network technologies and by leading by example as ‘first movers’.

With the imminent EU annual state of the Digital Decade report and a revamp of the targets coming next year, robust infrastructure and modern networks are key enablers to digitalize AI startups, SMEs, schools and public sector, providing essential computing and data capabilities for organizations to thrive. New open public-private partnerships can drive creative, cross-border business models and address broadband needs, ensuring Europe’s digital transformation is future-ready.

Digital Efficiency for Energy and Water

Public utilities face growing challenges, and both businesses and policymakers know it. But AI offers hope too: AI-powered water management and energy-efficient hardware, such as modern data centers and networking equipment can reduce resource consumption while supporting the growth of AI and cloud technologies. The digital infrastructure industry has consistently delivered faster, more energy-efficient solutions.

Connectivity for AI: Time to Act

97% of IT leaders see modernized networks as critical to deploying AI, IoT, and cloud. The new generation of high-capacity, low-latency networking technologies, and quantum-resistant security is critical to addressing exploding traffic, uptime needs, and security threats.

Nations and businesses that embrace modern, AI-ready networks will be the ones to lead in the digital era. Delaying modernization risks falling behind in an interconnected, competitive world. The question is not whether to modernize. It’s how quickly we can seize the opportunities of AI transformation.

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Find out more about how Cisco powers secure infrastructure for the AI era Cisco Powers Secure Infrastructure for the AI Era

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Abdul-Rahman Edward Koroma was supposed to be in New York last week.

For months, the disability rights activist from Sierra Leone had been looking forward to his trip to the United Nations session. He had a busy schedule of meetings and official events talking about the challenges of living with a disability in his country, including showcasing a documentary about how the disability community is especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides associated with climate change.

But on June 5, he learned he couldn’t come. Sierra Leone was one of 19 countries where President Trump had banned or restricted the ability to travel to the U.S.

“Honestly, for me, it’s quite painful, and it’s quite disappointing,” says Koroma. “I hope the U.S. government will reconsider. The world is a global village, we all need each other, one way or the other.”

Why is Sierra Leone on the list? The Trump administration cites high levels of visitors to the U.S. who’ve overstayed their visa as the reason. Other countries were selected for national security reasons.

“We will restore the travel ban, some people call it the Trump travel ban, and keep the radical Islamic terrorists out of our country that was upheld by the Supreme Court,” President Trump said in a statement.

The administration banned travelers from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela also face some restrictions.

More bans may be coming. A State Department memo first reported by the Washington Post and confirmed by NPR suggests the administration may add 36 more countries, largely in Africa, to the banned or restricted list.

Consequences of the ban

Stories like Koroma’s will likely accumulate over the coming weeks and months, as global health researchers, workers and advocates from these countries are barred from coming to the U.S. to learn — and to share their expertise. Some global health specialists say the restrictions will ultimately harm U.S. interests by reducing our engagement with the world.

“We are closing ourselves off from the active participation of potential allies,” says Judd Walson, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. “That will only lead to negative consequences in the long term.”

Closing the U.S. off could ultimately open it up more to global health threats, says Walson.

The ban follows the administration’s cancellation of foreign aid and withdrawal of U.S. membership from the World Health Organization. Walson says these decisions are upending many of the institutions designed to detect and respond to disease threats worldwide.

“As we think about the new architecture of global health and how it can respond to the many crises that emerge around the world, participation from all these countries is critical,” says Walson, and ultimately benefits Americans.

He notes that new infectious disease threats could emerge from any of the banned countries.

“Our inability to engage with partners from those places, who can serve as eyes and ears on the ground to identify threats. just hampers our ability to have a coordinated response,”

Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford University, is concerned future bans could hamper his team’s research on Marburg, a hemorrhagic fever virus. It’s normally found in bats, but can spillover into humans, sparking deadly outbreaks.

Karan and his team are trying to understand those spillover dynamics, in part by studying antibodies in people who live near past outbreaks along the Uganda-Kenya border.

“Part of the testing we’d do involves a test where there’s expertise in Uganda, at the Ugandan Viral Research Institute,” says Karan.

Uganda is among the 36 countries under consideration for future restrictions. If that happens, Karan worries his team may have restricted access to that expertise. While such restrictions wouldn’t preclude collaboration via Zoom, Karan says it’s just not the same as in-person.

“Many of the best conversations and ideas that we had happened during our drives, during meals or unplanned moments,” he says of interactions with foreign researchers in person. “Implementing these kinds of bans has a huge effect on research studies and really impedes progress.”

Scientific conferences often serve as the nexus for that kind of collaboration, where researchers gather to share research and connect with colleagues. Trump’s travel restrictions are already preventing some scientists from being able to travel to the U.S. for conferences.

“We need to have such participation and contact, but it’s now very difficult,” said a biomedical scientist from Yemen who requested anonymity because speaking out could draw negative attention that would cause her university to retaliate. The scientist was planning to travel to California this fall for a conference on cancer management but cannot because of the ban, noting:. “Such an absolute restriction for all people is not wise.”

The U.S. could also lose its global role as a key location for trainings and scientific conferences. The travel bans, coupled with broader tensions around immigration in the U.S., have already led organizers of these events to look elsewhere.

“Our research team decided to host a planning meeting in London as opposed to the U.S. due to concerns with visas and the overall climate,” says Walson. There are economic consequences if U.S. conferences are canceled, he says. And with a likely reduced U.S. presence at conferences held elsewhere, there could be more intangible impacts too.

“Diseases don’t respect borders, and infections travel faster than diplomacy,” says Walson. “Whether we want to or not, we have to understand the reality of the global community as it is today. If we don’t engage, we will suffer the consequences.”

“I just bought a new BPA-free tupperware set.”

This comment, coming from my friend Anna, caught me off guard.

Anna’s a highly competent law professional. She’s a critical thinker and she fights in the heavyweight division when it comes to cutting through BS.

But the Anna I knew was falling into some painful traps that seemed to be bypassing her inner hawk-like skeptic.

She’s wanted to lose around 15lbs for some time now and came to me to share how stuck she was feeling in this goal.

She brought up an avenue she was exploring: the new BPA-free tupperware set.

“Interesting. What inspired you to focus on that?” I asked.

“Well, I’ve been reading about how microplastics in food containers can mess up our hormones and cause weight gain,” she said.

I squinted.

To backtrack, this is right after she told me how she’d been struggling to be consistent at the gym, had been relying on takeout too often, and had been sacrificing boring old sleep for adrenaline-inducing doom scrolling.

So I asked:

“What about trying to get more consistent with your workouts, or prepping more homemade meals during the week?”

And Anna said:

“Yeah, but I’ve tried that a thousand times. If it were that simple, it would have worked already.”

We’ve all done this before.

Ignored or delayed those hard-but-worthwhile habit changes in favor of some ultra-specific, niche magic bullet that’s supposed to “change everything.”

Spent hours of research on the ultimate, most optimal workout instead of devoting those hours to just doing the basic workout you already know how to do.

Waited to feel more inspired, motivated, or just less busy.

Why do we do this?

Buying new gear or a popular supplement feels like making progress.

Consuming YouTube videos or articles about stuff you can change feels like you’re doing something.

And waiting until the “right time” feels, well, right.

Except, nothing actually changes until we take real, consistent action.

We’re clever, us humans. And we’ve come up with lots of sneaky ways to avoid the basic, unsexy, difficult actions we need to take that actually drive change.

In this article, we’ll explore how to take an honest and compassionate look at why you might be distracting yourself from taking impactful action.

You’ll learn:

• What the most impactful health habits actually are
• Three common barriers to making sustainable progress
• A 4-step process you can apply to start taking positive, productive action
• How to keep yourself consistent—and achieve your goals

The stuff you know you should do (but probably aren’t doing consistently)

We all know what those basic, fundamental health habits are:

▶ Exercising, ideally 30 minutes a day, putting in moderate-to-vigorous amounts of effort, with a mix of aerobic and resistance training.

▶ Eating mostly nutritious, minimally-processed foods. If 80 percent of your diet comes from whole or minimally-processed foods, you’re doing an excellent job. (Translation: “Perfection” isn’t required; pizza can be part of a healthy diet.)

▶ Eating enough protein to support muscle mass, appetite regulation, and body recomposition goals, if you have them. Aim for about 1.2 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (for most people, this adds up to about 4-6 palm-sized portions of lean protein per day).

▶ Prioritizing getting seven to eight hours of quality sleep. You can’t always control how well you sleep, but having some wind-down time before bed can help, as can waking up at the same time every day.

▶ Avoiding or at least reducing excessive consumption of alcohol or drugs, including cigarettes. No fun, we know. But it’s for a good cause.

Easily, we could add stuff like prioritizing positive, nurturing social relationships, managing stress, and probably others, but just the above list is uncommonly met.

In fact, only six percent of Americans perform all five of the following basic health behaviors:¹

• Meet physical activity recommendations
• Don’t smoke
• Consume alcohol in moderation (or not at all)
• Sleep at least seven hours
• Maintain a “normal” BMI

If you’re doing the math, that means close to 94 percent of Americans aren’t doing the basics.

Yet, these foundational behaviors also help us achieve a long list of common goals, whether that’s reaching a healthy weight, improving athletic ability, or just living a longer, healthier life.

So why do we struggle so much to do them?

Here are three common barriers we see among clients (and coaches!), plus potential solutions to overcome them.

Basics Barrier #1: You have ambition overload.

Maybe you’ve decided you want to be healthier. So you declare that, starting Monday, you’re going to exercise for an hour everyday and “eat clean” at every meal and sleep eight hours every night.

(Currently, you don’t have a regular exercise habit, don’t particularly like vegetables, and regularly stay up past midnight.)

Now, let’s be honest: You’re asking yourself to change a lot of stuff at once.

And the last time you created an elaborate plan for overhauling your life…

… Did it work?

Probably not.

(And that’s okay.)

When we feel frustrated or stuck in our current situation, making a plan filled with idealistic dreams can provide us temporary relief.

And our brain has several (normal) cognitive biases that prevent us from judging the future accurately.

We often think we’ll have more time, energy, attention, and motivation in the future than we really do.^{2 3 4 5}

There’s a powerful, instantaneous comfort that comes with overloading our future self. (Because after all, we won’t start the plan until Monday.)

The problem with this is:

Big, complex plans often don’t fit into our already busy, complex lives.

We under-estimate how many smaller tasks are hidden in the bigger plans.

When we (almost inevitably) are unable to execute these ambitious goals, we blame ourselves, our personality traits, our “willpower” or “discipline,” and build a pitiable story about how we “struggle with consistency.” Or how living this way is “impossible”.

Then, sadly, we fulfill that prophecy.

Basics Barrier #2: You think only hardcore, “industry-secret,” or “cutting-edge” stuff works.

This barrier comes from the following common belief:

“If getting healthy just took eating, sleeping, and exercising moderately well, then everyone would be healthy.”

Because everyone knows they should eat their vegetables, get seven to eight hours of sleep per night, and stay active, right?

(We’d agree.)

But let’s go back to the previously mentioned statistic:

Only 6 percent of Americans are consistently performing the most basic health and fitness behaviors.

If we add on slightly more advanced—but still very basic—behaviors like eating five servings of fruits and vegetables every day, optimizing protein intake, and effectively managing stress, that number would shrink significantly.

So, the first thing is to believe that these simple behaviors work. Because they do. It’s just that most people (probably close to 99 percent of us) are not doing them all simultaneously and consistently.

The second thing is to accept that these simple behaviors are a little bit boring. Because they are. Part of the reason we’re attracted to new diets or “magical” supplements is because we just want something more interesting to try.

That’s especially true if we’ve already sort of tried the “eat more vegetables” thing and it didn’t “work” for us in the way we expected.

With something new and cutting-edge, there’s also the possibility of a new outcome, a new us.

And of course, that’s incredibly appealing.

Thing is, most hardcore, “industry secret,” or “cutting edge” tools and strategies are, respectively: unsustainable, inaccessible, or ineffective (or unproven).

They’ll take your effort, your time, and often your money, but without giving you a good return on your investment—all the while distracting you from the stuff that actually works.

Basics Barrier #3: You think your efforts (and your results) have to be perfect.

Another lie in the health and fitness industry is that you have to be “perfect” to maintain great health. You know, eat only organic salads and chia seeds, be able to run a marathon, and wake up at 5 am every day to meditate and write in your gratitude journal.

The truth is, perfection definitely isn’t required.

Depending on how you look at this, this could be a relief to hear, or a disappointment.

On the one hand, it’s nice to know that you don’t have to have it “all together” to be healthy—even above-average healthy.

On the other hand, many of us pursue better health with the belief that our optimal or even “perfect” self will one day, with the right plan or routine, be attainable.

But “perfect” health is an illusion.

Humans, even exceptionally healthy ones, get sick, get weird rashes, have digestive problems, need reading glasses, get into slumps, or just otherwise have a series of bad days.

None of us are “safe” from those life events, and accepting that can feel a little… vulnerable.

It’s much more comfortable to believe that if you just take this powdered algae supplement, or follow this specific morning routine, you’ll be immune to any kind of painful human experience.

The irony is, to achieve your realistic “best self,” you probably have to accommodate your “worst self” too. You know, the one who’d rather watch another episode of Love is Blind than work out, or eat a party-size bag of Doritos and call it dinner.

Because life happens.

Work gets busy.

Or your kid goes through a “phase.”

Or it’s pie season.

Any number of obstacles, distractions, and competing demands make it impossible for perfection to be maintained with any kind of consistency.

Which is why we need to let go of the illusion that a “perfect” self exists—the one who always has the energy, will, and option to make the ideal choice—and support what our real self wants and needs.

We’ve got four steps below to help you.

4 steps to start taking effective (and realistic) action

Now that we know what’s potentially getting in the way of taking productive action, here are four steps to get unstuck.

Step #1: Explore the why before the how.

Before you (or a client) start undertaking something you want to change, it’s helpful to understand your deeper motivations first.

Do a little investigating by asking questions like:

• What about this change is important to you?
• How serious or pressing is this for you?
• Why not continue doing what you’re already doing?

You can also go through one of our favorite motivation-mining exercises, The 5 Whys.

When you know why you want to change something, and you’re clear on the consequences of not taking action, you’ll be more likely to feel that deeper, more sustaining push to keep going, even when things get tough.

Step #2: Prioritize the most effective actions.

We can do all the things!! Really!! We just can’t do all the things… all at once.

Effective change means being able to realistically:

• Identify all the tasks, trade-offs, and commitments involved
• Prioritize what matters for the results you want
• Figure out what to do first

What are the essentials in relation to your goal? Regardless of all goals, they likely include a movement practice, a nutrition practice, and/or a recovery practice.

If you want some guidance on how to select the most effective action for your goal, check out our Skills, Practices, and Daily Actions Cheat Sheet.

Here’s how to use it:

▶ Start with the domain you’re most interested in improving (such as “Nutrition” or “Stress”).

▶ Then, get specific about what skill within that domain you’d like to improve (for example, “Eat well intuitively”), plus the practice that most appeals to you within that skill (say, “Eat to satisfied”).

▶ Lastly, choose a daily action from the list of examples under your chosen practice. (For example, “Record hunger and fullness levels at the start and end of meals.”)

Once you choose your action, make it work for you by following step 3, below.

Step #3: Make sure you can take action, even on your worst day.

“I like to challenge a client to set a pathetic goal. If it’s so pathetic, then obviously you can do it, right?” says Kate Solovieva, PN Super Coach and Director of Community Engagement.

Sound inspiring?

Maybe not.

But if you’ve been struggling with consistency, it’s exactly where to start.

Ask yourself:

• What can I do on my absolutely worst day where everything goes wrong? How much time, effort, or enthusiasm will I realistically have?

Five minutes of walking? 10 push-ups? One extra portion of veggies? Three conscious deep breaths before every meal? Nothing is too small; it just has to be something.

Now you’ve got your floor.

Then ask yourself:

• What can I do on my best day, when I feel on top of the world and circumstances are on my side? How much time, effort, or enthusiasm will I realistically have?

One-hour of all-out effort at the gym? Two hours of meal prep that will feed you and your family for the next three days? A 45-minute guided meditation?

This is your ceiling.

Now that you’ve identified your “floor” and your “ceiling,” you’ve defined a flexible range of actions that can adapt to your fluctuating, unpredictable, real life.

But applying this range requires a paradigm shift:

Your health habits aren’t an “on” or “off” switch; they’re on a dial.

When life is sweet and smooth, you can turn your exercise, nutrition, and sleep dials way up—if you want. Bust through your PRs at the gym, eat all the arugula, meditate like a monk.

But if life gets nuts, you don’t have to switch off completely.

Just turn the dial down a little.

The below is a visual representation of how this might work for exercise, but you can apply this same thinking to your nutrition, sleep, stress management, or whatever you’re working on.

The important part: Even if you do your “floor” or “dial level 1” action—even if it’s for days on end—it still “counts.”

You still get the gold star.

Doing the bare minimum isn’t failing.

It’s succeeding, in the context of a real, messy, beautiful life.

Step #4: Create an ecosystem that supports you.

Health and fitness professionals often forget how different their lives are from their clients.

For example, many coaches work at gyms, enjoy being physically active, and hang out with other active people. Exercising regularly is almost easier to do than not do, because, as Coach Kate says, “they’ve built a life that makes that habit seamless.”

So if you want to make your health goals more likely, Coach Kate offers this advice:

“Build an ecosystem that makes failing nearly impossible.”

When they want to make a change, many people assume that good intentions and willpower will be enough to carry them through. (And when they fail, naturally, they blame themselves for being “bad” or “weak.”)

We often forget about the context and environment that shapes our behaviors—making certain actions more likely or less likely to occur.

A recent review from Nature Reviews Psychology ranked different behavior change strategies and found that access was the number one influencer of people’s behaviors. (People who lived in neighborhoods with affordable grocers close by ate better, just like people who had to drive a long distance to the closest gym were less likely to exercise.⁶)

Not everyone can change neighborhoods, but most people have some degree of control over their more immediate environments, and can leverage this power to shape desired behaviors.

One example is the “kitchen makeover,” where you make sure foods you want to eat are washed, prepped, and at the front of the fridge, ready to eat on a whim. Meanwhile, foods that don’t support your goals get tossed, or relegated to the highest cupboard. (When you need a stepladder from the basement to reach the cookies, you might find you eat them less.)

(If you want to try it out, check out our Kitchen Set-up Assessment worksheet.)

Think about the goal you want to achieve, and the behaviors that support it. Then, evaluate how you might make small changes to your environment by:

• Using a trigger: Sometimes called a “cue” or a “prompt,” a trigger is simply a reminder to do a desired action. For example, you might block the door of your home office with a kettlebell, reminding you that, every time you leave or enter the office, you have to do ten kettlebell swings. If you’re trying to cut down on mindless phone time, you can install an app that reminds you to shut things down after 20 minutes on social media.
• Decreasing “friction”: Supermarkets put candy next to the checkout, making it easy to slip that chocolate bar into your cart while you’re standing in line, likely bored and hungry. You can be equally sneaky about encouraging positive behaviors too, such as putting fruit on your counter, ready for a quick snack, or packing your gym bag the night before, so it’s ready to grab on your way out the door before you change your mind.
• Constraining available options: Whether it’s deleting time-sucking apps off your phone, removing foods you know you lose control around from your kitchen, or heck, creating a capsule wardrobe so you waste less time in the morning getting dressed, constraint can actually free up a lot of time, brain power, and energy.

Invest your energy building the ecosystem that nudges you to make desired actions the obvious choice. This requires a little more work on the front end, but the payoff will be greater for less overall work.

Embrace C+ effort.

If you’re a perfectionist, or a former straight-A student, that line hurt to read.

(Don’t worry. This C+ won’t result in your parents telling you that they’re disappointed.)

But what all of the above barriers and solutions have in common, is that they recognize and work with our inherent imperfection.

None of us is perfect, and expecting as much often results in failure (or at best, short bursts of success, followed by a crash).

Adopt an attitude of compassion and acceptance towards your human self—who’s most likely trying their hardest—and work with your vulnerabilities, instead of constantly expecting yourself to grit your teeth against them.

There will be times you’re getting “A’s” in fitness. That’s awesome. And you also don’t need to aim for C+. Just don’t think of yourself as a failure when you have to dial it down.

Living a healthy, meaningful life means constantly striving to do our best—while also allowing for flexibility, mistakes, and bad days (or seasons).

You’ll be surprised at how much better “good enough” is than nothing. Especially in the long run.

References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

If you’re a coach, or you want to be…

You can help people build sustainable nutrition and lifestyle habits that will significantly improve their physical and mental health—while you make a great living doing what you love. We’ll show you how.

If you’d like to learn more, consider the PN Level 1 Nutrition Coaching Certification. (You can enroll now at a big discount.)

It’s really common to have a baby shower for new parents. And while baby shower gifts and a new baby are always exciting, let’s not forget about the mom to be either! A postpartum gift basket is a great way to show a new mama (or seasoned mama) some love.

If you don’t have the time/money to do a large new mom gift basket, even just an item or two can show you care. Postpartum recovery can be tough, both physically and emotionally. And if the new mama is breastfeeding or had a C-section, those come with their own challenges. A postpartum care package is a great way for moms to get a little self-care and pampering.

Gifts like a journal to process postpartum emotions, a comfy robe, or nursing-friendly pajamas are all great ideas. Throw a water bottle or even a gift card in there too! I have lots of ideas in this postpartum essentials post.

DIY Postpartum Gift Basket Ideas

Some of the most affordable and thoughtful gifts are homemade ones. And if you’ve been a reader for very long, you know I love a good natural DIY recipe! The following DIY postpartum gift basket ideas are simple to make and make a great gift for any new mom and her little one.

Some of the recipes serve double duty and are great for other family members, not just moms.

Note: Be sure to double check before adding essential oils to any of the recipes, like lotion. For example, oils like peppermint can decrease breastmilk supply. Here’s a thorough list of which essential oils breastfeeding moms should avoid.

Soothing Postpartum Home Remedies

Pregnancy is an impressive accomplishment, but it can come with stretch marks, C-section scars, and other struggles. Here are some DIY postpartum gift ideas to help mom heal faster and soothe the aches that come with postpartum life.

• Soothing Postpartum Spray – Helps calm inflammation, relieve pain, and restore damaged tissue in the peri area.
• After Birth Sitz Bath – This soothing mix of herbs helps to make mama’s sore bottom less sore. The dry mix can be brewed as a tea and added to a sitz bath or a peri bottle.
• After Birth Bath Fizzies – These bath bombs feature nourishing herbs instead of essential oils for soothing relief.
• After Birth Tincture – As any seasoned mom knows, after birth contractions can be as painful (or more) than labor itself. Soothe the after birth pains with this homemade tincture.
• Rice Heat Packs – These reusable heating pads are a lifesaver when it comes to postpartum discomfort. Customize them with your favorite fabric and add lavender for added relaxation.
• Padsicles – These are a great way to relieve pain and inflammation in the peri area. It’s basically herbal tea frozen onto a pad.

Nourishing Foods

Building a baby takes a lot out of a mom, so it’s important to focus on good nutrition. And if they’re breastfeeding, they’re burning an extra 500-700 calories a day! Traditional cultures made sure new moms were getting plenty of nutrient dense, warming, and animal-based foods.

• Pregnancy Tea – I drank herbal tea when I was expecting, but many of the same nourishing herbs are also great for postpartum. They increase the nutritional value of breastmilk and help restore mom’s nutrient stores.
• Soups and Stews – Slip a jar of some homemade soup into their gift basket (for the freezer) or drop it off on their doorstep after baby arrives. Soups and stews can be a nourishing way to replenish vitamins and minerals.
• Sauerkraut – Keep things moving in the bathroom with some homemade sauerkraut! Great for the gut microbiome and offers a big probiotic boost.
• Bone Broth – Nourishing bone broth is a staple in our home and also great for postpartum moms.

DIY Bodycare

Making homemade skincare products is a great way to opt for clean, non-toxic ingredients. Plus, they’re fun to make! Many of these recipes use essential oils, so be sure to opt for breastfeeding safe ones or omit them.

• Homemade lotion – Soothing shea butter and coconut oil combine to make this luxurious lotion. Infuse the oils with herbs like calendula and chamomile for a gentle version.
• Whipped Body Butter – Similar to a lotion but even more moisturizing. This whipped body butter features cocoa butter, shea butter, and coconut oil.
• Lotion Bars – Another one for team lotion. These portable lotion bars have all of the benefits of homemade lotion with less mess.
• Rosehip Facial Moisturizer – Pregnancy can cause skin changes, including melasma (dark patches) on the face. A face moisturizer can be a great way to help their skin bounce back better.
• Hair Growth Oil – Postpartum hair loss can be intense. Help moms take care of their locks and support stronger hair and hair growth with this DIY hair growth oil.
• Tallow Lip Balm – Tallow closely mimics our skin’s natural oils, making it a great option for moisturizing. And this tallow lip balm is simple with only 4 ingredients!
• Homemade Lip Balm – Want a more traditional Chapstick recipe? This hydrating lip balm is a great option for parched lips.

Nursing Moms Postpartum Gift Basket Ideas

If the new mom is breastfeeding, here are a few recipes to help her out. These are great whether she’s a first-time mom or a seasoned pro.

• Nursing Balm Nipple Cream – No one prepared me for how much breastfeeding could actually hurt at first! This nipple cream is safe for baby and helps soothe sore or damaged nipples.
• Nursing Mom Tea – This blend of herbs helps provide much needed nutrition and boost breastmilk supply. Plus it tastes pretty good too! Give her a jar full of dried tea mix along with a new thermos to keep it warm!
• Lactation Cookies – While nursing tea is certainly nice, who doesn’t like cookies? These lactation cookies are delicious and are a great way to naturally increase breastmilk.

Sweet, Sweet Sleep

Any mom with a newborn knows that sleep can be elusive (and sometimes non-existent). Helping baby stay healthy and supporting their nervous system (like through pediatric chiropractic care) can go a long way towards helping baby sleep at night. While a full night’s sleep isn’t always guaranteed, the following can help mom have a little more rest and relaxation.

• Relaxing Pillow Spray – This pillow spray uses calming and stress relieving essential oils like lavender and bergamot. While all of the essential oils used here are considered safe to diffuse around babies, use caution if using directly near co-sleeping babies sleep space.
• Sleep Lotion – Help relax and calm with soothing lavender and cedarwood lotion.
• Magnesium Body Butter – Most of us are magnesium deficient, and magnesium lotion can be a great way to relax and soothe tired muscles. I like applying this on the legs and bottoms of my feet before bed.
• Buckwheat Eye Mask – Make a DIY buckwheat pillow eye mask with added herbs.

What are some of your favorite items to have on hand postpartum? Leave a comment and let us know!

The announcement we made at Cisco Live represents Cisco’s most significant networking innovation in a decade—and the biggest partner opportunity we’ve seen in just as long.

The Network Reality Customers Can’t Ignore 

Today’s enterprise networks are being pushed to their limits—not just by what’s coming, but by what’s already here. As organizations rely more heavily on bandwidth-intensive, latency-sensitive applications like real-time collaboration, ERP, and CRM, performance expectations are rising fast. At the same time, AI workloads are introducing entirely new demands: bursty, unpredictable traffic patterns and massive east-west data flows that legacy infrastructure simply wasn’t built to handle.

This dual pressure—optimizing the performance of critical business applications now while preparing for the exponential demands of AI—is creating a strategic inflection point. And with many customers nearing end-of-service on key networking components, the urgency to modernize is real.

For our partners, this moment presents a unique opportunity: to help customers evolve from infrastructure that’s struggling to keep up, to a future-ready foundation that delivers today and scales effortlessly for tomorrow.

Beyond Hardware: Complete Architecture Sales 

What makes this announcement different is architectural completeness. While competitors focus on individual components, Cisco is delivering the full solution: next-generation hardware powered by our Silicon One technology, AI-driven management, built-in quantum-ready security, and end-to-end visibility with embedded ThousandEyes.

For partners, this means you’re not just selling switches and routers anymore. You’re selling business transformation. You’re offering the foundation that enables AI initiatives while ensuring operations remain secure and resilient. That translates to larger deal sizes, deeper customer relationships, and strategic advisor status.

The Differentiated Advantage: Built for What’s Next 

What sets Cisco’s AI-Ready Secure Network Architecture apart isn’t just what we’ve built—it’s how we’ve redefined what’s possible. This launch represents the only end-to-end architecture engineered for the AI era, across three foundational pillars:

1. Operational Simplicity Powered by AI

As enterprise networks face exponential demand from AI agents, real-time analytics, and dynamic workloads, traditional IT operations can no longer keep up. Cisco’s AgenticOps model transforms operations from reactive to proactive. Our AI Assistant and AI Canvas bring natural language diagnostics and cross-domain troubleshooting into a unified experience, while our unified Meraki Dashboard gives IT teams a single view and control across switching, wireless, routing, WAN, and industrial environments. This is AI managing AI—accelerating resolution and restoring confidence.

2. Scalable Devices Ready for AI

AI workloads require a new class of infrastructure—engineered for low latency, high throughput, and edge-ready computing. Cisco delivers purpose-built hardware across every domain: Smart Switches with sub-5 microsecond latency, Wi-Fi 7 access points for dense AI-device environments, and Secure Routers with integrated SD-WAN and quantum-ready encryption. These are not upgrades—they are foundational elements built for tomorrow’s digital operations, available today.

3. Security Fused into the Network

In the age of AI, the attack surface is expanding rapidly—and bolt-on security is no longer enough. Cisco embeds protection into every layer of the architecture, from quantum-safe Secure Boot at the device level to post-quantum MACsec encryption in transit and AI-aware segmentation that detects and stops lateral threats at machine speed. This is security that’s not added after the fact—it’s built into every connection, every flow, and every interaction.

When you walk into a customer meeting with Cisco’s AI-Ready architecture, you’re not pitching isolated products. You’re offering the only truly integrated, scalable, and secure foundation built for the AI-powered enterprise. That’s what gives you—and your customers—a competitive edge.

For a deeper technical dive into how this architecture addresses the fundamental challenges of AI-driven enterprises, I encourage you to read Anurag Dhingra’s blog on the AI-Ready Secure Network Architecture.

Your Competitive Positioning 

Most enterprise networks were designed for human-driven workflows—not for the speed, scale, and unpredictability of AI. As AI becomes central to business operations, legacy infrastructure quickly turns into a constraint. The real choice facing customers today is whether to modernize proactively to support their AI strategies—or wait until performance bottlenecks force a reactive upgrade. Cisco’s new architecture empowers customers to take control of this transformation on their terms, with confidence and clarity.

With Cisco’s new architecture, you help them choose the proactive path. The unified management platform simplifies their operations, AI-powered tools help their teams scale, and built-in security gives them confidence as they expand their digital footprint.

What This Means Right Now 

This technology is available immediately through Cisco and our certified partners. Customers are actively seeking solutions to support their AI initiatives, and many are facing hardware refresh timelines that create natural selling opportunities.

The businesses that move quickly to modernize their network foundations will gain competitive advantages over those that delay. Your role is to help customers understand that this isn’t just an infrastructure upgrade—it’s an enabler of their digital transformation strategy.

The AI-driven enterprise is here. The infrastructure to support it is ready. The question is whether you’ll be positioned as the trusted advisor who helps your customers navigate this transformation successfully.

Your success in the AI era starts with the right foundation. Today, we’re giving you that foundation and the competitive edge that comes with it.

 

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Federal officials on Wednesday appear to have “revoked” the layoffs of more than 400 employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who had been abruptly dismissed months ago, which may reinstate the entire staff of a laboratory that tracks viral hepatitis and most employees in one of the CDC’s environmental health divisions.

The workers were among thousands that the Department of Health and Human Services laid off on April 1 as part of a reduction in force at the agency, most of whom are still out of work.

Employees of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention accounted for 214 of the staff “expected to receive the rescission of RIF notifications,” according to an email to the group from its acting director, Dr. Renáta Ellington, that was reviewed by NPR. The division’s two laboratories that dealt with viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases had been shuttered completely, despite the fact that some of those scientists performed disease surveillance work unlike any other labs in the world.

More than 150 people who worked for the National Center for Environmental Health were also among the reinstated workers, according to three CDC employees familiar with the cuts. The center’s Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, which includes employees based in Atlanta who work on asthma and air quality, environmental emergencies and lead poisoning prevention, may be almost entirely reinstated, two division employees told NPR.

At least 95 workers from other CDC divisions account for the rest of the employees who were notified on June 11, according to two CDC workers familiar with the cuts.

HHS notified CDC employees on Wednesday afternoon by email, copies of which were obtained by NPR. The email said the agency had “revoked” the “upcoming reduction in force” notices the workers had previously received. It did not explain the reason that HHS appeared to be reinstating hundreds of workers more than two months after it told many of them in another email that their jobs were “either unnecessary or virtually identical to duties being performed elsewhere in the agency.”

Ellington, the director of the group most affected by the HHS backtrack, told her staff that she herself did not know “what factored into the decision or why certain staff received the notification,” and advised the employees that the information might not be final.

HHS did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment regarding the reason that it revoked the employees’ notices. In April, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. acknowledged that about a fifth of the cuts at HHS were made unintentionally and some people would be offered their jobs back.

By May, Kennedy announced that 328 formerly laid off workers at another division of the CDC, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, had been reinstated.

Reactions to the news from workers at the CDC were mixed. Some scientists told NPR they would be excited to do their jobs again. Other workers said they were confused about the meaning of the emails and apprehensive about the consequences of the decision.

“I think people are very tacitly hopeful that this means they can get their jobs back and continue serving in ways that they love,” said Kathryn Sisler, a health scientist at the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice who received the email on Wednesday. “But there has been so much instability and chaos that I think a lot of people would hesitate to say it is good news.”

Before Sisler was laid off in April, she worked with communities in several states to help people affected by the results of climate change, like increased heat. The turmoil that HHS had caused by shuttering her department two months ago already disrupted those efforts, she said.

“Some states and localities decided to already start laying people off because they weren’t sure if the grants were going to continue,” Sisler said. “Really just a lot of valuable data and information that was getting lost and not being utilized, especially as we look towards the heat season right now, which starts to get pretty deadly.”

Reversing the layoffs would also bring logistical challenges for some affected employees, Sisler said. She and some other members of the division already moved away from Atlanta, where they had lived to be close to their jobs at the CDC’s headquarters, she mentioned. Other employees had taken other jobs or had been offered them.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t feel like a victory that is on solid ground,” said Sisler.

Staff at the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention confirmed that the lapse in activity while employees were not working in April and May had also caused damage in some of their labs. At least one machine would need repairs, two CDC employees told NPR, and some disease outbreaks had not been properly tracked. Since late April, without help from the CDC’s hepatitis lab, health workers in Florida had not been able to confirm any additional cases as part of an ongoing hepatitis C outbreak in that state, said another worker at the CDC. The employees asked not to be identified because they said they fear retaliation.

Public health experts echoed the mixed sentiments of the employees.

“It’s great to see that there is some recognition of the importance of these workers and that being in those positions is critical for the public health of America and that they are being reinstated in order to continue their important work,” said Carmen Marsit, an environmental health researcher and professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

But “there’s still a lot of people that are not being reinstated,” he added. “And so I think there are still concerns about what is being missed.”

Scott Becker, CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, a group that works closely with some of the labs that were previously shuttered, said he was “happily flabbergasted” to learn of the HHS emails.

“I am concerned about how many of the people have already moved on or might move on and the trauma that they really must be going through with the uncertainty,” said Beckler. “But all in all, it’s good news and I’ll take it.”

Yuki Noguchi and Selena Simmons-Duffin contributed to this report. 

If you have information about health projects that have been halted or any other story tips, you can send an email to the reporter of this article at [email protected]. You can also send an encrypted text message on signal to the reporter’s username: ceis.78.