Last week both Lent and Ramadan started. While they come from very different backgrounds and mean different things to the people who observe them, there is something within both that links strongly to health and fitness. That is the act of deliberately changing something for a set period of time. I have various clients who give something up every Lent and others who observe Ramadan fully. I have tried both over the years.
The power of changing something, even short term, is bigger than most people realise. When you voluntarily remove something, or add something structured into your life, you interrupt your autopilot. Most of our habits run without thought, for example, you wake up then immediately you check your phone. You get stressed so automatically grab something to eat. Perhaps the moment you sit down at night you start scrolling your phone. These loops run quietly in the background.
When you deliberately change one of them, even for a few days, let alone 30 or 40, you can create a real opportunity for change. The brain loves repetition, it wires itself through repeated actions. When you remove a normal behaviour, those neural pathways get a shock, while they will not disappear overnight, they significantly weaken. When you add something positive, they strengthen. Over a few weeks you can genuinely alter how automatic certain behaviours feel. That is why these periods can be powerful.
This year I am focusing on my phone and social media. My rule is simple. I will not watch anything under 10 minutes in length. That wipes out most of Instagram, TikTok, daily stories and endless short clips. I can still watch long form content, podcasts, documentaries, but no quick hits.
There was a good article on this in the Telegraph this week and on the Diary of a CEO podcast. It does not sound like a fitness topic on the surface, but it absolutely is. This links directly into dopamine, which I wrote about in my book as being one of the key areas around getting results.
Dopamine is often described as the pleasure chemical, but it is more a reward feeling given when you go after a goal. Genetically it was designed to get us to look for food and build shelter. This day and age in a healthy system, you can align it with working towards meaningful goals, education, fitness training and elements behind health such as cooking properly or sticking to your plan.
However, the problem is we now have many ways to trigger dopamine cheaply and without effort. Almost everything to do with your phone will trigger cheap dopamine, as will junk food. We live in a constant world of cheap stimulation. Over time the brain adapts and starts expecting a constant supply. This means the slower rewards of dopamine from more worthwhile behaviours feel less interesting. As a result, you will have less focus on your goals, find it harder to stick to any health & fitness plan and constantly be heavily distracted.
That is where it links to health and fitness. If your brain is used to getting quick hits, it becomes harder to tolerate mild hunger, delayed gratification or repetitive training. By reducing those small constant spikes, you make it easier to focus on the behaviours that actually move you forward. This is why I am cutting out short videos for lent. Whenever I have done this kind of dopamine detox I have always felt more focused and clearer mentally.
What Does This Means For You
This period is a good excuse to change something. You can create set your own rules and adjust them as you like. I have already missed the first week of lent but not a problem. I shall start today and do it until the end of March.
You could give something up like sugar, alcohol, snacking after dinner or scrolling in bed. Alternatively, you could add something, such as ten minutes of walking after meals, cooking from scratch twice a week, stretching before bed, or reading instead of watching TV.
There is no harm in trying something, even if it goes wrong, you will learn from it, action is always better than inaction. What could you change for the next few weeks, and why?
Photo – The overly dramatic Diary of a CEO title on phone addiction and article in the Telegraph on the same topic :
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