Ten small changes in your lifestyle that will bring great benefits to your health in 2024

Fast for 14 hours

In the last decade, nutritionists, endocrinologists and other doctors specializing in nutrition have argued ad nauseam about the convenience of practicing intermittent fasting: is it really beneficial? For everyone equally? In 2023 the largest community scientific study of its kind was carried out in the UK. It was carried out by researchers from King’s College London and almost 40,000 people participated.
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The conclusions were that fasting for 14 hours regulates hunger and improves mood and sleep. The idea is to concentrate food intake in a ten-hour period: for example, between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Have early breakfast and dinner

Related to the previous point, a large study led by a team from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) published in December of last year studied the associations between eating patterns and cardiovascular diseases in a sample of more than 100,000 people. The main conclusion drawn by the researchers is that eating breakfast and early dinner can reduce cardiovascular risk.
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Specifically, scientists associated eating food after 9 p.m. with a 28% greater risk of stroke or cerebrovascular diseases. The study abounds in recommendations to narrow the time slot for food intake: what matters most is the time at which the daily eating window begins and ends (the sooner, the better) and the fasting period until the next one, and not so much the time at which we eat at noon.

Add a little milk to the coffee

Most people eat the same thing for breakfast every day: carbohydrates and foods rich in fiber. It is not the healthiest option, according to experts, but it is the most common. And in any case, better than the typical ‘British breakfast’, which usually includes unhealthy ingredients such as sausages, bacon or beans. Ideally, according to nutritionists, our morning menu includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains (unprocessed), proteins and healthy fats.
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What is almost never missing in the morning is some caffeine. According to a study by the University of Copenhagen published last year, the best way to drink coffee is to add a little milk. The reason is that the combination of proteins and antioxidants in this drink doubles the anti-inflammatory properties in human immune cells, which researchers say helps reduce inflammation and oxidative stress.

If you want to follow a diet, make it one of these

Continuing with the question of nutrition, a panel of experts last year analyzed and rated the 38 most popular meal plans in the world. According to this ranking, prepared annually by the magazine US News & World Report, the three best options are the Mediterranean diet, the DASH and the flexitarian diet.
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We already knew that our country’s eating model is one of the best in the world, although last year we learned about some variations: vegetables, fruits, legumes and olive oil, daily and with every meal. Less known is the dietary plan known as DASH, devised by the American National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to prevent and treat hypertension. The keys are to reduce salt to a minimum and eat skimmed dairy products.

Take these dietary supplements

Not everyone, however, can follow any diet. Older people and those with certain medical conditions often follow restricted diets with significant nutritional gaps. Those who have high cholesterol should moderate their fat consumption; and diabetics should avoid glucose. For these people with nutrient deficiencies, it is necessary to resort to supplements.

Several reports published in recent months classify and order which of these supplements are the best for your brain. They are magnesium, creatine, omega-3, choline and vitamins B and D.