This year has been the year of sitting on our butts, locked down, locked up, zoomed in. Nature beckons and it's time to get outside as much as you can.

exercise

breathing

nature

This year has been the year

Day 04 - Nature calls.

CAUTION: This article contains an unpopular argument that some bandwagon politicians may find disturbing. <h1>In 2020, Australian death statistics show that men died 6 years younger than women <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/life-expectancy-death/deaths-in-australia/contents/age-at-death" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">(AIHW 2022)</a>.</h1> <h2>That's funerals, coffins, undertakers, crying families, kids, partners, parents, grandparents, colleagues, friends.</h2> Popular conversation today is underpinned by a message of equality...but death rates are a glaring disparity between men and women that never gets a mention, If modern culture is so great for men, if men have this incredibly charmed life...why do they get 7.5% less? That's a discount that no-one wants. For men under 65, heart disease and suicide remain the biggest killers. Two things that can be largely prevented. I've spent a large portion of my life dancing across a mix of healthcare, tourism, pharmaceuticals, charity, corporate stress, small business, global giants, farming, modern ageing. I've seen struggle street and the ego show at the top... Men die early at all levels of society...period. <h1>The problem is not men.</h1> <h2>The problem is the pressure on men to live up to societal expectations and 200,000 years of genetic conditioning.</h2> If we can't figure out how to change the: what it takes to be a man 'male narrative', then we're screwed. More men will die in greater numbers, faster than before... ...and unless the status pressure on individuals and families shifts towards health and wellbeing...women and children will step into the same breach too. History and DNA are not simply taps that can turned off on request...they take time...and affirmative action. If we're serious about equality in life, start with the problems, not behaviours. If we seek to put all men in the same bucket, then toxic, moronic, influential, motivational, counter-culture heroes like Andrew Tate will fill the void. Sadly, while we're all out tearing down Will Smith for screwing up publicly, Tate is driving his own narrative, one that's far more deadly, purposeful and profitable. Let's push for a new culture, a culture that supports a healthier, kinder, fitter, calmer, clearer, stronger, more confident, less stressed man...woman and child. Let's be patient, let's use kindness and compassion that we so espouse as the virtues we seek in men...men brought up on a diet of toughness and independence. Let's seriously change the game. The Wellteam Global Challenge is at your service. We're calling on leaders, companies, organisations, politicians, CEO's, people and culture leaders and all those out there who give a shit about men dying too early. Take care out there and go well. TroyWellteam Founder. P.S. Commit to personal change and <a href="https://www.wellteam.me/survey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">do Wellteam's Scorecard Tool today</a> - it's FREE, you'll get a personal online instant report and join a custom program with a 14 day FREE trial. Don't just talk about change - live it.

corporate wellbeing

mortality

challenge

goals

mindset

program

optimisation

purpose

Mind

If life is so great for men, why do they die six years younger than women? What can you do about it?

It's time to change the game for Men's Health.

UNFAIR. MEN GET A 7.5% DISCOUNT.

When you start a new business like&nbsp;Wellteam&nbsp;you have to make a lot of sacrifices, it's tough. It requires stepping away from a regular paycheck, any immediate income, it requires drawing down into savings or chewing back into your homeloan, selling stuff to free up cash so you can keep your vision alive. If you do it in your 20's you're a hero, but if you do it when you have a partner and kids...you're selfish, foolish, driven by ego. Now I've been criticised personally for doing what some in society see as 'the wrong thing by my family'. But what those people don't get is the buy in from my family. Should success in life be solely based on how much money you can deliver to your partner and kids? Should your success be in raising spoilt kids, who want for nothing in life? I guess that's your call.&nbsp; Sonia and I started Wellteam because we've experienced how life can be cut short, really early. We lost Sonia's parents in their 60's, one due to cancer, the other due to an unrelenting darkness. It was completely devastating...and still is. We felt powerless in both cases. We lost my mother two years ago from COPD brought on by smoking and when I was younger my father stepped very very close to the dark light after a failed business venture. In my 20's I returned to my family home one weekend to find a loaded gun in our garage. Dad only spoke about his pain, frustration, isolation and sadness almost 30 years later...after we started Wellteam.&nbsp; <h2>Life is tough, whatever your story. We all have them.</h2> It seems every corner I turn now there's a negative new story about a 40-60 year old man who's done something wrong. We tear them down, like they're villains. Maybe some are, but maybe some are just worn down, lost, frustrated, tired, exhausted and stuck. Stuck. Maybe it's just hard to know what role to play in society today. Maybe we've ticked all the status boxes; car, house, job title, partner, kids, passport stamps, income and realised that there's still something fundamental that's missing. We're still not happy, not necessarily unhappy either but can't put our finger on what's missing. We're stuck between being raised as a 'historical man' by grandparents, parents, partners, doctors, lawyers, politicians, teachers, partners, kids and society and now... ...now we're expected to be a 'neutral gendered person' with no bias, masculine drive or traditional 'male' tendencies. We should all pay for the sins of a minority of questionable individuals...who happen to also be men. We have to completely rewire ourselves at an age when the pressures mount to be great providers for our families. To be tough, strong, resilient...and yet soft, gentle and vulnerable. Wellteam is out to provide a space in the middle, a place of trust, with camaraderie and men out to reboot themselves with more energy, drive and purpose. Good men. Men who know that the best way to look after their families is by living their own life healthier and happier. To, as they say on the plane, 'fit their own oxygen mask first'. Living healthier is not a choice of the modern man...it is an imperative. We must regain or perhaps reinvent what it is to feel in control. Men must seek out ways to explore what's possible without the 'toxic masculinity' that pervades so many traditional male 'packs'. We are Wellteam. We're starting a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=healthrevolution&amp;highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7027111016006111232" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(15, 248, 7);">#healthrevolution</a>. It's happening already. Here's what some of our members have to say...and we're just warming up. In fact, we haven't even publicly launched Wellteam yet. <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ye51m68Vvpc?showinfo=0"></iframe> Get on board now, join Wellteam. <a href="https://www.wellteam.me/survey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(15, 248, 7);">Get started today</a>. It's all up to you now. It's your life. I'm here for you. TroyWellteam Founder, husband, father, son, brother, friend.

relationships

Starting a business is hard, starting a revolution is next level! Here's the why behind Wellteam.

Why Troy and Sonia sacrifice so much for Wellteam. 

The joy, pain and sacrifice of starting Wellteam

<h2>Devices of doom or tech saviours?</h2> Devices and screens provide an effective mechanism to distract us from life as we hurtle rapidly towards death. Dramatic opening sentence but sadly realistic and a multiple billion dollar industry hell-bent on driving it and stealing time and lives. Todays tech companies compete seriously for way to capture our attention for longer...something they are expert at and they're just warming up as artificial intelligence and augmented reality hit mainstream. Companies that capture the most time, win the most revenue or value and reward the richest people on the planet for investing in them. This scenario is creating a 'brain drain race', where companies win, and ultimately, users lose. As we get sucked into the vortex of the online world, we're spending more time, wasting it more accurately, for the sole purpose of being distracted...from the day-to-day boredom of living. The companies gaining the greatest profits are typically distracting more people from living life fully. <h2>What place for wellbeing?</h2> So how does a wellbeing company today combat the impact of technology, while using it at the same time. That's the challenge the team at Wellteam have been grappling with since 2020. Ultimately when it comes to wellbeing, the options to improve personal wellbeing seem endless...if you have the time. There's over 80,000 self improvement books published in the US alone. That's a lot of researching. When it comes to specialist practitioners, the options are vast too; sleep specialists, positive psychologists, exercise physiologists, general practitioners, personal trainers, relationship counsellors, life coaches, meditation guru's, mindfulness experts, nutritionalists, dieticians, hypnotherapists, chakra guides, mung-bean peelers and everyone's favourite...your neighbour who just lost 5 kilograms on the anchovy and marmalade diet. Now any one of these people could help one or maybe more components of your life...but they're bound to "stay in their lane" (a term often used when a practitioner wants to protect their patch). If you want to seriously lose weight, you should go see a sleep therapist first, then an exercise physiologist, then a dietitian and in between see your doctor who may need to write a referral letter first...but only if you've got an established medical condition...which is hard to determine in the 7 minute consult you have with them. While the industry of health and wellbeing is segregated into 'lane ways or specialisations'...humans are not. We are whole, not separated into systems based on university degrees. We're all different, experiencing different things at different times. Our needs change with the seasons and when it comes to health and wellbeing the team at Wellteam believe there's a natural order to get things done. <h2>Where technology can add value.</h2> Technology is great at gathering and filtering information. We should harness it to identify areas of need and then help sort through solutions. Those 80,000 self help books have probably 800 words in each worth reading and the rest is padding to justify the cost of the book. So which 800 words in which book do you start with? That's what the team at Wellteam have done. They've built a tool (Wellteam Scorecard) to enable individuals to explore their current experience across a breadth of wellbeing topics. <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/d4b311138b3eacc64ba169c52f237a7c9ec275ad.png"> The Wellteam Scorecard balances current states and associated actions and uses an internationally renowned Life Satisfaction Survey for global comparison. It produces a personal report so the user can visually see their performance across 6 core themes and 23 individual wellbeing modules. Data from the Wellteam Scorecard tool is then mapped across a database of over 80 separate mind and body hacks (short, practical activities or exercises - about 800 words each). A complex algorithm (named NEO, as a 'nod' to The Matrix) then uses both sets of data to build a program for the individual and assembles it in the precise order to enable a compounding effect to occur. Wellteam call their process Micro-Habit CompoundingTM. All that comes together instantly to ensure an individual has a personalised program of activities giving them the best chance of optimising their wellbeing. <h2>But...a program is one thing, taking action is another.</h2> Technology can help there too. There's often little benefit perceived daily from small, healthy habits. It's the longer term impact that can have serious benefits and improve or prolong lives. A concept they refer to as Lead (short term actions) and Lag (longer term outcomes) Indicators Because each small daily habit has a compounding effect, it's important to incentivise daily action and provide short-term, immediate feedback. To incentive short term habits Wellteam built the Wellteam Global Challlenge. <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/bc6d10f4ef0b5607dbf91d6b1be2b788eca2ba44.png"> This global competition enables members to record daily actions via the website. As they record actions they earn points toward Wellteam Merchandise and other prizes and compete across the globe, in their workplaces or with a group of friends or family members. On top of that that tech can bring together communities of people from across the globe with a special interest in using mind and body hacks to optimise their lives. Again, this is a place where Wellteam see the role of technology to enable that engagement. <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/bf88d9ae8428ff9b0fba2750d8e9d4fc700be545.png"> Ultimately technology is a great tool for narrowing down options, personalising programs, sequencing them to maximise gains and providing an engaging mechanism to maintain behaviours and grow communities. Technology can sit above 'lane-way' ego's and enable instant, timely, personalised solutions that can accelerate people into improved wellbeing across the breadth of wellbeing topics...when they need it. This has to be the way of the future where tech enables wellbeing, rather than distracts us from it. That's the revolution Wellteam are driving. Check out Wellteam, the smartest, fastest, most efficient way to achieve optimal wellbeing. Do the scorecard tool, get your report and start a custom program with a 14 day free trial.

Micro-habit Compounding

doctors

What role should technology play in optimising wellbeing? In short...it should make is personal. 

How to use technology to reach more personalised wellbeing solutions. 

Devices of doom or tech saviours?

<h1>When was the last time you learned a new skill?&nbsp;</h1> <h3>I’m teaching my daughter to drive a car right now…more aptly put…I’m giving myself an education in self-control, stress-management and patience…while my daughter sits excitedly next to me holding the steering wheel.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>It’s one wild ride…certainly the first few were!</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Anyone who’s put themselves through this process understands the seriousness of the activity. A mistake can cost lives, while not making mistakes inhibits learning and growth. It’s a balancing act.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Driving a car is a skill, the process of operating the steering system, switches, foot pedals, lights and even simple things like operating the radio while you’re driving, they’re all skill based.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Driving correctly on a road, that’s another set of skills. Appreciating road position, responding to signage, changing road conditions in changing weather with unpredictable drivers, animals and here in Australia…crazy kangaroos.</h3> <h2>The key to success is micro-habit compounding.&nbsp;</h2> <h3>Start by building the right skills in the right order. Get to know the feel of the accelerator and brake in a carpark, learn to move the car around using the steering wheel, well before hitting the freeway.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Build each micro-skill until it’s intuitive (habitual), then progress.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>When it comes to your wellbeing, it’s similar, except with a big difference...</h3><h3> </h3><h3>...you’re already driving!&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>When I was 40 I was gifted a ‘Learn to Rally Drive’ course. Instructors took me around a dirt track and coached me in how to handle a performance rally car on a dirt course.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>I thought I was pretty shit-hot behind the wheel, after all, I’d raced motorbikes and go-karts when I was a kid, worked as an international tour guide and driver, driving trucks, buses and Unimog’s on some of the worst, most unpredictable roads in the world.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Wrong! It took about 14 laps for me to get out of a simple road-driving habit.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>When it comes to driving an all-wheel drive rally car on a dirt road, you have to build the driving process differently. You don’t steer into a corner, you shift the weight forward by touching the brake, holding the wheel straight while the car's rear slides around, then accelerate. You brake in a corner to adjust the direction, while accelerating!&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Wellbeing, as it happens for most of us more ‘mature’ types, is something we have to re-build.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>There’s many habits that find their way into our lives over many years that prevent us from living with greater wellbeing. The classic is the ‘get up early and exercise’ story.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Exercising first thing in the day is a powerful way to start your day…but most people struggle to start as they’re often too tired to get up and seek to maximise their sleep.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>In order to get up early, consistently, the process actually starts a week before.&nbsp;</h3> <h2>A micro-habit compounding process to get up early to exercise.&nbsp;</h2> <h3>1. Schedule a regular bedtime and be consistent for the week prior</h3><h3> </h3><h3>2. Switch your devices off one hour before bed each night and use the ‘do not disturb’ feature so they won’t interrupt your sleep</h3><h3> </h3><h3>3. Spend 3 - 7 minutes outside in nature, in daylight in the mornings as soon as you wake</h3><h3> </h3><h3>4. Finish with caffeine no later that midday the day before</h3><h3> </h3><h3>5. Commit to get up the next morning and go outside earlier than usual</h3><h3> </h3><h3>6. Set your alarm at the time you want to get up and remove the snooze option</h3><h3> </h3><h3>7. Put your alarm in a place with the exercise gear you will wear in the morning</h3><h3> </h3><h3>8. Get up and put your gear on when the alarm goes off</h3><h3> </h3><h3>9. While you’re up, then get out in nature with your gear on</h3><h3> </h3><h3>10. Do some exercise while you’re outside</h3> <h3>The steps aren’t difficult, but…if you remove one, it makes the outcome harder to achieve habitually.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>This is the reason many try but fail at exercise classes. Despite their intention, they're doomed before they get to the class.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3> <h2>Why does no-one teach you this stuff?</h2><h3> </h3><h3>Simple. Because it’s all free. No profit to be made.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Wellteam has 80+ individual mind and body hacks that we assemble into sequential programs that cover: mind, body, movement, purpose, relationships and nutrition.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Follow an ordered process of small steps daily. Build up your process and ‘stack’ habits together.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Just like learning to drive a rally car as an adult, sometimes we have to unlearn before we progress to the next level.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Micro-habit compounding, combined with mind and body hacks, can enable busy people to build new systems, driving greater wellbeing, fast.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Do the right things for you, in the right order, at the right time.</h3><h3> </h3> <h2>Need a hand with that?&nbsp;</h2> <h3>Use the <a href="https://www.wellteam.me/survey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wellteam Scorecard tool</a> to get your online Optimisation Scorecard Report.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Click the Custom Program button and NEO, our AI Wellbeing Robot will build a full custom program…just for you…using micro-habit compounding.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>You can even start today with a 14 day free trial.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Step 1. <a href="https://www.wellteam.me/survey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Prioritise 8 minutes now and complete the scorecard tool</a></h3> <h3>Have an exceptional day and...</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Go well.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Troy.</h3>

sports performance

How do you get to optimal wellbeing when starting is hard? Take small steps, in the right order.

Get to optimal wellbeing faster with sequential mind and body hacks.

What is Micro-Habit Compounding?

<h2>Are you prepared for when things turn to shit globally?&nbsp;</h2> Regularly I sit down with a good friend who's building a business trading a commodity on the futures exchange. It blows my mind from a risk perspective and is a subject well outside my area of expertise. The variables that impact the buying and selling of commodities like&nbsp;oil, gas, wheat, rice, cocoa, corn, uranium and celebrities are vast.&nbsp; Ultimately they're impacted by supply and demand pressures driven largely by geopolitical factors. We’re certainly experiencing a few of those with political uncertainty, rogue leaders, covid policies, population changes and worrying news of an impending global environmental catastrophe.&nbsp; Our ability assess risk and know the critical information on any one global subject is low. News sources are dodgy at best and we can't know who to rely on for accurate information. We’re in the midst of something unusual for most of us…a&nbsp;future that doesn’t look stable or predictable and we don't know who to trust.&nbsp; With that in mind, how can you retain a 'good life' when the mental models we’ve lived in are eroding, change is upon us and the future is uncertain?&nbsp; <h2>First things first.&nbsp;</h2> Human Beings (home sapiens) have roamed the earth for 200,000 years in our current biological state. We survived without the luxuries we have in life today.&nbsp; Remember, in 1984, the <a href="https://oneoftwelve.com/the-pintupi-nine/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pintupi Nine</a> (9 Australian Aboriginals), walked out of the Great Sandy Desert into ‘Australia’. They had no previous contact with white man or our version of ‘modern life’. They survived a hunter and gatherer lifestyle and for 40,000 years their ancestors survived in some of the harshest conditions on the planet with none of our modern luxuries (note the clothes in the image were provided after they entered a camp).&nbsp; <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/a6aadcff87f50f49ab7a25f83490d73d30fce48b.jpeg"> Trust me…you will survive - no question. Be confident in that. The question is... how do you thrive? <h2>Preparing your mind is the key.</h2><h2> </h2>…so let’s get to work on that now.&nbsp; Here’s five key mind and body hacks you can build into your daily routine to set yourself up to thrive in uncertain times.&nbsp; <h2>1. Embrace cold-water showers (cold start, finish or whole shower).&nbsp;</h2>This simple hack helps build mental toughness, wires the brain for dealing with stress, is affordable and can be done everywhere that running water exists. Done regularly it will build self-confidence so you can endure, overcome and ultimately enjoy something that was once unfathomable. It's also shown to improve immunity and overall health with a 30% reduction in absenteeism.&nbsp; <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/a034258b005fb4bae62622296d67a47847aeb440.png"> <h2>2. Start building physical strength and endurance.&nbsp;</h2>Similar to cold showers, strength training builds in us a feeling of self-confidence. Don’t build strength for body image, that’s not healthy and image-based action won’t help with survival! Build strength to be stronger, mentally and physically. Do push-ups, sit-ups, chair dips, lunges, chins ups, walk more stairs and move more in general. Building physical capability builds confidence and when things go to shit, having confidence helps.&nbsp; <h2>3. Quit Caffeine (tea or coffee) and&nbsp;drink only water for a week.&nbsp;</h2>These two may sound radical, but they're very valuable. What they will do is build your confidence for change. These will highlight for you, how you can absolutely reduce and eliminate habitual things that you think are critical in your life. By embracing small changes like these (and they are small), you’ll build your ‘change-muscle’. You’ll gain an understanding of how you’ve sucked yourself into thinking you can’t function without these things. There's also some other far reaching benefits of these two mind and body hacks but that's for another time. <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/fb311f71fb7f1dbe49ab15bc63e93a138964cd8c.jpeg">&nbsp;<h2>4. Flip your psychology with the exceptional challenge.&nbsp;</h2>At Wellteam we love this challenge. For the next two weeks, when someone asks you how you are…answer that you’re ‘exceptional' (or similar, over-the-top positive answer). Just as the key to dragging yourself down is to surround yourself with people who are similarly down, lifting yourself up, requires influencing and lifting those around you. When you start a conversation in a very positive way, you change your psychology and that of the person you’re interacting with. When you’re confronting change, this is the key. Embrace it, look for the positive in it and show confidence to those around you…you’ll influence them too.&nbsp; <h2>5. Find a forward thinking, positive focused tribe.</h2>Enduring and thriving is not a solo sport. We are a social species, we thrive when we are with others, when we share ideas, concerns and fears. We are intrinsically conditions to support each other (something evolutionary psychologists refer to as reciprocity). We know that helping each other is good for us. The more 'us' you have around you the better, it's why finding a tribe is and always has been a key criteria for thriving. <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/97a29f722ffe86e1b0a7592c1b8d95c8476f415c.jpeg"> These five things will do nothing to influence factors outside your control (most geopolitical factors). What they will do is prepare you to endure, respond, adapt and ultimately, thrive, when factors outside your control start to impact you directly. <h2>Wellteam's Ancient Man Challenge.</h2>To get yourself in mental and physical shape to survive geopolitical chaos or a zombie apocalypse, check out <a href="https://www.wellteam.me/challenges/available/224" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wellteam’s Ancient Man Challenge</a>. Six weeks of micro-challenges and the tools to help you embrace changes and embed new, healthy habits. Compete with others or your mates on global leaderboards and earn points toward a coveted Wellteam t-shirt.&nbsp; Ultimately, the key to thriving is to take action and be prepared mentally for change. Take care out there and go well. TroyWellteam Founder.

attitude

strong

Wellteam's founder Troy Flower shares five mind-hacks to prepare for change in turbulent times.

Are you prepared for when things in your life take a turn for the worst?

Five mind-hacks for thriving amidst geopolitical meltdowns.

<h2>It's hard to believe that one day you will die.</h2> If you're a male in your 40's or 50's, you've already made a significant dent in your life bucket. Our analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Deaths in Australia web report 2021 data showed that in 2019: <ul><li>15% of all male adults died before their 60th birthday</li><li>29% died before their 70th birthday</li><li>53% were pushing up daisies before they turned 80</li></ul> That's not the average age of death, it's reality. We think we'll live forever. We plan to 'live it up' after we retire but in 2019 almost 1 in every 3 men were dead before they hit 70. Sobering? Do you ever question your purpose in life? It's worth considering how you'll be remembered. When people raise a glass in your name, what will they say? On the 1st April last year, I said goodbye to my mum at 74, after a brave fight. For me, she is a reminder of never quitting, never giving up while there's still life in your body. She was a warrior, she was stoic and she was a champion of those in need of love and support. <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/d66b6b7021e5025bbb9f97b2aeb42a786f158545.png"> How will you be remembered and for how long? I hate to break it to you but in reality, you won't be remembered for very long. It's important to appreciate that what you have in life and even the memories of you after death, are not permanent. Not convinced? Stop and recall what you know of any relative of yours that died over 100 years ago. What do you remember? What was their job? Did they routinely work over-time? What were they known for? What was said at their funeral? Life is short and the recall of your heroic deeds in the office will likely be even shorter. If your sole purpose in life is your work, then perhaps you're in for a rude shock when you leave. I spoke with someone recently who had worked for a significant time in a big bank. They fought their way up to the lofty heights. They had a real passion for their employees, their team, the company. They put in the long hours, the big days. They were proud of their efforts and rightly so. But... ...within weeks of leaving, their history was erased. Someone new was changing the game they created. Their hard work forgotten. Their purpose, for most of their career evaporated. It turns out their legacy wasn't written in gold leaf but invisible ink. Is your current plan to focus hard on work and wait for retirement before you travel, explore hobbies, get fit and healthy again? Sadly, for many, it just doesn't play out that way. When we lose our purpose and our status we slip into a hole that can be hard to fight our way out of. For some those retirement years will be short, sad and lonely. <h2>Start 'living life' now. Look for purpose outside of work, whatever that is. If finding your purpose is hard, here's a suggestion: Get fit and healthy and you'll have more time to work it out. Make Wellteam's purpose, your purpose.</h2> Right now, the world needs leaders for a healthier way of living. By healthier, I'm not just talking exercise, I'm talking mental calm, clarity, kindness, friendships, relationships, better food. The world is crying out for people brave enough to put wellbeing first. Got kids or grandkids? Childhood obesity is at an all-time high. Depression is skyrocketing. Suicide rates are up and rising. Almost 50% of men will develop at least one chronic disease in their life. 50% of men in the US reported being lonely always or sometimes and 33% reported having no close friendships. No-one to turn to when they need it. There's real work to be done! Would you live better knowing those around you are happier and healthier because you made a decision to step up?&nbsp; Whether you like it or not, you're a role model in your workplace, your family and your community. Step up to the challenge now.<h3> </h3><h2>Ready?</h2><ol><li>Get your <a href="https://www.wellteam.me/survey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">baseline report</a>.</li><li>Join a <a href="https://www.wellteam.me/challenges" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Guided, Self-Guided or Custom Program</a></li><li>Log your daily healthy habits on your <a href="https://www.wellteam.me/auth/login" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wellteam Dashboard</a> and work your way up the global leaderboards.</li></ol> Participating in Wellteam’s Global Revolution is a great way to build healthier habits and also encourages others. Join a growing global team united to inspire others for a happier, healthier world. Go well. TroyWellteam Instigator

making time

How will you be remembered after your death? Will it be your work, your spirit, attitude or nothing?

Live your life with purpose.

Raise a Glass to a Kind and Generous Man.

<h2>Remember a time when you did things because they were fun?</h2> As we 'grow up' we choose things for financial reasons and the things we do for fun become a lower priority. This image is of the Murray Bridge Pedal Prix, taken at 6am after 18 hours of racing in the Australian Human Powered Vehicle Super Series run by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: var(--color-text); background-color: var(--artdeco-reset-link-background-color-transparent);">Australian International Pedal Prix</a> Kids and adults pedal enclosed recumbent bikes or 'trikes' (lightweight racing machines with carbon fibre shells) for 24 hours in relay teams. Driving one of these high performance machines is awesome. It's exhausting and exciting weaving in and out of traffic and trying not to roll over (it happens a lot). It requires teamwork, skills, training, maintenance, planning, nutrition and builds camaraderie within and amongst teams. Take a look inside a high performance trike and the set up. <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i6dQ81i9XDk?showinfo=0"></iframe> This sport is very cool but there's something that's sad about it. It's not a professional sport, so some parents won't permit their kids to participate as they can't go onto a career in it. How freakin sad is that? What happened to building life skills and exploring new experiences while having fun? As we age, how many of us have lost our way, choosing financial security over living our best life. I catch myself instilling the capitalist mantra of 'get a good, high paying job and set yourself up for life' with my kids. But really, what do you remember in life? Is it experiences, or possessions that you gain the most satisfaction from? How much do the things you love cost? Pedal Prix is exciting, it's healthy, it's competitive, requires multiple skill sets and is raced as a team. If you get a chance to try it, do it. You will however have to prioritise it over something else. <h2>LIFE TIP: Find things in your life that you do for joy, not money and not because you have to.</h2> Do this simple exercise, write on a piece of paper all the things that bring you true joy (not the stuff you think you should enjoy, but the stuff that makes you go 'YEAH'). Write them down then circle the ones you do regularly. Most men over 40 struggle to identify five and likely only circle one or two. Do this exercise to take stock on whether you're living your best life. When you lie on your death bed (and you will), what will you recall with a smile? Your bank balance? All the days you worked late to satisfy your company? The sacrifices you made for your financial security? Get balance in your life. Get your smile back. Find what makes you happy again. Do more of that. NOTE: This is not a call out to resign or quit your job or even embrace the 'Quit Quietly' concept, it's just a reminder. You have one life, get some balance in it, find more YEAH moments in each and every day or week. Schedule them in as they are the most important things for living your best life. You've got this. Check out this video by the GTrikes team, just in case you prioritise some time for healthy fun. If you're interested we'd love to put together a Wellteam Racing Team...just for fun of course, we wouldn't try to win...too often! <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6G2eBogK6Zg?showinfo=0"></iframe>

When was the last time you smiled and laughed uncontrollably? 

Schedule more 'living' into your life.

Do you have your priorities right?

The older we get, the faster time passes. That's rather unsettling news, particularly if ill health is looking to rob you of any of it. If you're sitting back waiting for the magic pill, then current trends suggests things may not play out well for you. If, on the other hand, you're in the 40 - 60's bracket and you're re-prioritising your wellbeing, then you're well positioned. Taking action in this age bracket is critical. Get on the front foot now and hopefully the below quote will make you smile, not shudder: There are three types of people in the world: 1. Those who watch things happen2. Those who make things happen3. Those who wonder what the hell happened. When it comes to health and wellbeing, Wellteam provides programs for those who are prepared to make things happen. As more men take on our programs, we're seeing something interesting... ...men join for the challenge, they stay for the community. The camaraderie built by going through a series of wellbeing experiments is strong...and healthy. In the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddy Mercury (Rami Malek) said that Queen didn't play to the mainstream audience, they played "to those in the back of the room". That line really resonated with me because I think... ...Wellteam plays to the men in the back of the room. We're attracting diverse and interesting men, thinkers, learners, hard workers, those willing to challenge themselves, try something new, push the status quo, they're humble, they get outside their comfort zones, they push back against the pull of toxic masculinity and live their best lives wherever they are, with whatever they've got. They're good men. That's what we're growing...a movement of good men, open to improving our lives by challenging our own behaviours and habits. It's still early days for Wellteam, and while we've been quietly active since October 2020 we haven't technically launched yet. <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/5cca74259d7e1b0d86cc0f922de476415b64bf43.jpeg"> <h2>Why size really matters </h2> While growth is strong and critical to enable Wellteam to expand services to members, it's more important for other reason entirely: <ul><li>46% of men will develop at least one chronic disease in their life (many of which are preventable).</li><li>72% of men won't seek help for mental health issues when they need it</li><li>50% of men reporting feeling lonely 'sometimes' or 'always'</li><li>32% of men report having no close friends</li></ul> This is why Wellteam exists and I suspect why we're growing fast. These stats are often invisible to all but the person experiencing them. We may not tell our closest friends or family, and... none of us are immune. While the health care system is busy patching up the unwell, Wellteam is focused on optimising lives, health and wellbeing. When we (and others) succeed, fewer people will need patching up early in their lives, we will free up the healthcare system by living lives in a "well-care" system. We will live healthier, happier, more fulfilling lives for longer. At present we're growing based on 100% referrals from members...no paid advertising, and that's important. Men 40 - 60+ have great bullshit filters. We've seen and heard all the ads before. We're immune to the crap. But we'll listen intently to others we trust and respect. This is the way we change what is a very real gender gap in wellbeing outcomes across the world. Men die earlier than women, generally in poorer health because they traditionally focus on financial security (the provider role) and put their health and wellbeing last. While those traditional roles are changing for younger people, there's plenty of men still trapped in between the conservative, post-war paradigm of our parents and the radical new world of our kids. Regardless of age, in the world right now, we need more focus on wellbeing, not money, not status objects. For men in particular, that's a big shift. A very necessary, big shift. <img src="https://dl2vy1zx2qtgi.cloudfront.net/public_image/55c7c6b301311a42dabbe565e6d11075b74ab17e.jpeg"> <h3>Never underestimate the impact you have on the lives of others.</h3> Wellteam members are leaders, whether they chose that or not. Taking on a challenge for a healthier life is having a broader impact than they might imagine. Every healthy photo they're in, every conversation about every wellbeing experiment, every comment, every like, every share, every email, is sending a message to others that prioritising health and wellbeing is the right thing to do...right now. On top of that, Wellteam'ers are setting a new standard for those around them. Seeing positive male role models focusing actively on their wellbeing is something that can have a profound effect on them for the rest of their lives. Health aficionados' tell us that the best age to implement wellbeing programs is in our kids. The reality is that most boys see their fathers as their primary role models. If dad's sitting on the couch, downing a dozen stubbies after work with a bag of Mc Chucks on his lap then his son's moving that way, like it or not. The buck stops with Dad to role model healthier options. Every life matters, and Wellteam members are making a positive impact. So this is a very personal and warm thank you to all our members and future members. Thank you. We're building...this, as always...is just the beginning.

The world needs men to take a positive stand for their health and wellbeing. We need role-models. 

Why Wellteam membership is so important.

Your action matters now more than ever.

Life really is crazy right now. We find ourselves spending more time in front of a computer screen and not enough time interacting socially with people, even just for fun. We're also consuming more information outside of our control and then waste precious time trying to process it all (awake and asleep). Our connection with technology in the last two years has now normalised the amount of time we now spend on it. In a 20 minute break from work we can check out the latest war update from Ukraine, watch live images of flooding/bushfires, car crashes, spectacular stunts (usually the ones that go wrong) and dive into the latest conspiracy theory on vaccines, world domination, 'the great cull' and more. If you spent that 20 minutes refreshing your mind with some meditation, walking out in nature, doing some simple strength or stretching exercises, journalling, calling a friend, sitting sharing a drink with family or listening to an inspiring piece of music, you'd be much better off. The challenge is, that as humans, we're wired to focus on danger and threats. Our natural bias toward external threats has kept us alive. It's the reason that conspiracy theories flourish in times of uncertainty. Most people don't have the energy, focus, desire, drive or knowledge to scratch deeper and do the balanced research or thinking. It's much easier to skim the surface. When uncertainty grows, (and there's plenty to be uncertain about now) it's easy to become confused and then overwhelmed. When we're in this state, we get tired, we lack energy, we seek energy and comfort in caffeine, dull the pain with drugs, dismiss the world with Netflix (a show about conspiracy theories perhaps) or hide at home with a bottle of red and a bucket of KFC. It's easy to do, it's attractive, gives instant gratification and no-one would think any the worse of you if you did. There is another option though....yeah, yeah, I hear you saying...exercise, diet, meditation - we know! Well, those activities will help, no doubt, but perhaps another approach right now is to do a simple exercise. Take out a piece of blank paper - use a book if you have one. <h2>A point in time</h2><h2> </h2>Write on the top of the paper "A point in time". On that piece of paper, write about where you are right now, all the stuff that's going on in your life and in your head. Write about what worries you and what excites you. Importantly write about what you know to be true in your life. Not what you think could be true. Our minds are generally over-active and we love to prepare for the worst scenarios (of which there are plenty). But you can't accurately predict the future better than anyone else. What you can do is understand your now. Sometimes we have to take stock, consider what we have, what we know to be true and switch off to the mass of stories now at our disposal. Don't let others people's priorities over-ride yours. Typically if you're reading something on social media, someone is likely to be benefiting from you reading it (whether that's financially, politically or their ego/status). For me, one of my favourite times is now catching up with fellow Wellteam members via zoom on a Monday or on Saturday's 7am social exercise sessions. It's refreshing to sit around with healthy conversation and a group of blokes from all walks of life. Take some time out today, write 'A point in time' and get all the stuff that's going on in your head, out on paper - you'll feel better, trust me. While you're at it, make sure you run your own bullshit filter over what you've written. Be sure to fact check it for stories versus truth. If you haven't do so already, join a Wellteam program. It's a great way to build mental and physical resilience. We're out to build a healthier world, one good man at a time. Take care and go well. TroyWellteam Instigator.

There's a lot we can spend our time on now. Make sure you're adding value to life, not stealing it.

Eliminate mind-wasting activities.

Maintain your focus

If you're an Indiana Jones fan like me, you might remember that line. It's in a crucial scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Walter Donovan is about to drink from what he believes to be the Holy Grail. <img src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6c8d7e_140ce779cc3a457b8d510de1a5b08d49~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_540,h_281,al_c,q_90/6c8d7e_140ce779cc3a457b8d510de1a5b08d49~mv2.webp">Walter Donovan prepares to drink from the 'Holy Grail' The Grail chosen was the most beautiful and expensive looking among a range of options. For the rather unsavoury Donovan, it carries the promise of eternal life. The Grail Knight, played by actor Robert Eddison sets forth the challenge of the grail. <blockquote>You must choose. But choose wisely. For as the true Grail will bring you life, a false Grail will take it from you.</blockquote> Isn't this so true for life today. Marketers have become expert at convincing us to drink from "False Grails" every day. It's quite challenging to sort fact from fiction and make good choices, not only for ourselves but for those we care about. It's easy to be bedazzled by the promise of looking fitter, younger, healthier, wealthier, smarter etc just by buying something else. All too often it's another 'false grail'. The true key to a healthier and happier life often rests in choosing an option that works, without the false promise. Just as Indiana Jones chose, a simple, well-used cup without all the dazzle. <img src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6c8d7e_0509fd59e3294617a6ea3173d23a1c82~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_362,h_271,al_c,q_90/6c8d7e_0509fd59e3294617a6ea3173d23a1c82~mv2.webp">Indiana Jones drinks from the true 'Holy Grail' Wellteam is designed for men 40 - 60+ with programs constructed around simple and achievable ways to get happier and healthier. We hear a lot from members going through our current Accelerate and Launch programs that one simple thing made a big difference. That's quite a common thing. It's the true 'Grail'. We need to get the simple stuff right. To do that often doesn't cost money, it often saves money and can put healthier years back on our lives. Understanding what gives you that feeling of happiness and energy is critical for life. If we don't have it clear in our minds what brings us happiness (where our passion is) then what hope do we have of achieving more of it? While it seems like such a simple hack, it's very important, as... ...spending time on a true passion will give you life...a false passion will take life from you. If you haven't yet jumped into a Wellteam Program yet there's new program open right now. If you're not sure where to start, use the Scorecard tool and get a custom program built for your needs. We'll even throw in a 14 day trial to get you started. Where ever you are and what ever you're doing with your time.... ...choose wisely. Choose well. TroyWellteam Instigator

Marketing companies are expert at driving our wants. Don't be sucked in. 

Your time is short. Choose how you spend it wisely.

The power of choice

Let me first start by saying that I love my coffee. From the moment the beans go through my grinder at home my body starts it's little internal dance, the smell is delicious, the black water always inviting. I warm the cup, then use a stove top percolator or a french press (depending on how I feel). It's a wonderful little ritualistic act. Coffee has been my friend only recently, prior to that it was my adversary, I just didn't know it. Drinking roasted and crushed coffee beans is not a modern day phenomena. Its history dates back to North Africa over 400 years ago. The extensive distribution, availability and cultural drive however is resulting in a growing problem that the majority of us are unaware of. Coffee today is seen as the perfect panacea for a busy modern life. Our early hit of coffee wakes us up, gets us ready for the busy day ahead. By mid-morning we crave our second dose, to boost concentration and for many, a third hit in the afternoon keeps us buzzing along. By evening, there's the obligatory coffee for some just to comfort or relax us. It's never seen as a problem because most of us, have no trouble falling asleep, completely exhausted. By morning, we wake up bleary eyed, still feeling tired and our best mate (coffee) wakes us up again and gives us life. We're off, another day ahead. If we get a bit flat during the day, we whistle up another cup and off we go, back into maximum productivity again. So where's the problem you ask? Most of us won't see a problem with this formula or the busy life at all. In fact, for many the notion of coffee as a biohack is spot on. It's the drug that keeps on giving... ...but what it giveth with one cup, it taketh with another. We don't often think of coffee as a drug. It's crushed up beans from a coffee plant that's all. Coffee however, like many drugs has two key components that effect us differently: the half-life and the therapeutic threshold. The therapeutic threshold is the amount, or concentration of a particular drug that is present in our system before our body responds to that drug. A small amount of caffeine might have no noticeable effect on someone, while it might be very noticeable on someone else. My wife claims to feel jittery with shaking hands on a single cup of milky coffee, while for me, I could have a double shot of espresso and have no noticeable effect. Interestingly and not widely known, is that between 10-14 grams of caffeine (not coffee, but caffeine) is considered a fatal dose in humans. The standard shot of espresso contains around 63mg of caffeine so, make no mistake, this stuff can kill you. However if you do the math, you'd need to drink 159 shots of it. I imagine your barista would see the warning signs! The other side of equation, the half-life, refers to how long the drug remains within our system before 50% of its initial concentration is excreted by the body. For coffee, the half-life is around five hours and that can loosely range from 1.5 - 9.5 hours. If you have one cup of coffee in the morning at say 7am, then another at 10am, you could have the effect of two cups of coffee still in your body at midday. With your afternoon shot at 3pm, that's another accumulation of coffee. An evening shot and you've been running on almost 2 cups of coffee in your system for most of the day. It's not surprising you need a few glasses of wine/beer/spirits to help you relax at the end of the day! What you're needing there is something to counter the stimulatory effects on your central nervous system in order to relax. You're running a mix of uppers and downers to balance your energy. To this point, it sounds like a brilliant strategy of biohacking your body with socially acceptable substances. But...once you fall asleep that's when the evil hand of caffeine starts to take over. The half-life of caffeine could be up to 9.5 hours but that doesn't mean the amount still in your system isn't having an effect. You could have a low therapeutic threshold to caffeine. Your exhaustion (and wine) might get you to sleep but the quality of your sleep will be low. You simply won't fall into deep (restorative sleep). Without good quality of sleep and full recovery overnight, you'll wake up feeling tired. Guess who's always there waiting for you when you feel tired? Your best friend... I know this coffee dance well. This was exactly my pattern for years. The effect of poor restorative sleep had a very painful impact. Teeth grinding! My dentist told me I was grinding and recommended a mouthguard to be worn at night. I don't know about you, but my nocturnal activities aren't hardcore enough to warrant a mouth guard! Two years later, while at another stressful workplace, I had two teeth fracture (likely due to the grinding) and both had to be removed. I finally got the message - I needed to work out the cause, as I was running out of teeth! I did my research and tried a couple of weeks off the brown stuff. The result was immediate. I woke up feeling more rested. So I cut down, permanently. One shot per day and only before midday. It's now rare that I wake up with a sore mouth/jaw. While I'd love a coffee in the afternoon, I now have a peppermint tea instead. I wake up feeling more energetic and am able to relax much better during the day and don't need wine in the evening. To ensure I don't 'need' coffee, I worked through a number of sleep hacks to get myself having a consistently better quality of sleep. It's also much easier for me now to get up early and start each day with some exercise. So if you 'need' a coffee hit after midday I'd suggest you explore our simple sleep hacks and then cut coffee out altogether for a couple of weeks. See what happens, then ease back in. It will be tough, you might get headaches and slight withdrawal-like symptoms and yeah life's short, I get it. But poor sleep is highly correlated with an increase in multiple chronic diseases...and in my case, two lost teeth (which, I'll need to sell a bloody kidney on the black market to afford to replace). Coffee is now my friend, it's part of my morning ritual, a pattern of behaviour that brings me comfort and stabilises the start of my day. Start each day with maximum energy and vitality and you'll improve your quality of life immeasurably. There's a bunch of biohacks on the Wellteam site to help with that and make sure coffee remains your friend...not your enemy. Take care and go well. TroyWellteam Instigator P.S. Engage in the Wellteam community. Follow us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/wellteam.me" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: var(--ricos-custom-link-color,var(--ricos-action-color,#0261ff));">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/wellteam-me" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: var(--ricos-custom-link-color,var(--ricos-action-color,#0261ff));">LinkedIn</a>. Sign up now for a <a href="https://www.wellteam.me/auth/login" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent;">FREE 14 day trial</a>, join the community, get on a Custom Program, Launch Program or join our Monthly Missions. Take action.

energy

coffee

machine

sleep

Caffeine is a drug. It's effect can be both positive in small doses and negative in high doses.

Use caffeine to boost performance not rob you of it. 

The coffee formula that could save your life. 

It seems that everything old is new again and that's the case when it comes to subjecting yourself to cold water therapy. Cold water bathing has been around since we started our evolutionary process. So why are cold water showers undergoing a resurgence? Imagine you're stark naked in your shower and with your hand poised... warm or cold? Where does instinct take you? Unless you're a cold immersion convert, you'll go warm every time, even in hot weather. Our body finds cold water a shock to the system and we instinctively avoid discomfort, but... ...for the majority of the last 200,000 years of evolution, cold water was reality - perhaps not a shower but certainly a dip or splash in a stream, ocean, lake, pond or puddle. Modern life has softened us considerably. So, has all this softening deprived us of natural responses that boosted immunity, calmed our minds, stimulated our nervous system and ultimately aided in our survival? <img src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6c8d7e_fff11a67eea544c9ac5febaeeb5773c7~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_540,h_304,al_c,q_95/6c8d7e_fff11a67eea544c9ac5febaeeb5773c7~mv2.webp"> It's this resurgence in evolutionary resilience training that's coming back in favour. Before we brace for the cold water, where's the evidence behind this resurgence? Is a cold shower good for you? Well, the evidence file for daily cold showers is skinny, but before dismissing this, it's important to ask yourself why? You could draw the conclusion that the evidence is thin because there's no proven benefits. While that might be right, the reality is likely different. First, let's look at the list of scientifically plausible benefits for cold water therapy, also known as cold immersion therapy: - Boosted Immunity (some evidence - ie. reduces absenteeism by 30% at work)- Improved recovery from muscular injury (lots of evidence for cold therapy post exercise)- Reducing symptoms of depression- Improved circulation- Speed up metabolism leading to possible weight loss- Improved scalp condition (less drying out due to oil loss)- Reduced stress levels- Higher state of alertness- Increased personal willpower and resilience Now if a cold shower could achieve some of these things for you, would it worth trying? If it could achieve this for the majority of the population, there should be plenty of research already, right? It makes sense that if simply adjusting the temperature of your shower or bath could improve lives, save lives, and reduce the cost of the pharmaceutical consumption globally, that would warrant the research. So why hasn't the research been done? Likely, this is due to two key factors which impact this and many other non-pharmaceutical interventions. <img src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6c8d7e_414777146f4f47408a14d035a3ff3a5a~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_540,h_304,al_c,q_95/6c8d7e_414777146f4f47408a14d035a3ff3a5a~mv2.webp"> Firstly, scientists like to identify something very specific and control all the variables, we want to make sure it's the one thing that changes something, not something else. That's hard to do in this situation. Most people who start and maintain cold showers do so to jolt themselves into action...which works. It's hard to slump down in a chair feeling flat after you've just subjected your body to the 'fight or flight' response. That blast of 'holly shiiiiiiiit that's f'king cold' is likely to trigger a whole range of different emotions and thinking. Are you more likely to move faster afterwards? Make healthier choices? Lift your mood generally? Feel more alive and more powerful and behave differently? Absolutely. Stick with it and you'll learn that nasal breathing into your belly results in less perceived pain and shock. You can manage and control the stress response and it can feel good as your body calms down. So how do you do research to measure those things? In short, it's very difficult. It's impossible to isolate the cold shower itself to any changes in health in any meaningful way. Secondly and perhaps more importantly, strong and valid scientific research into health outcomes is expensive, very expensive. To prove or disprove the benefits of cold showers on overall health would take years and likely cost tens of millions of dollars and multiple studies to satisfy our health system's 'evidence based' framework. There's a significant "elephant in the room" here when it comes to research into health treatments that are free. If no-one can profit from the treatment, who funds the research? Research very typically follows profit, or conversely companies only invest in research in order to profit from it. That's a key reason why simple, free life-hacks like this are seldom prescribed, promoted or researched comprehensively. No-one profits from it even if you benefit. Go through the list of plausible benefits again. Who would win and who would lose if there was research to support cold showers over any current alternatives to achieve those benefits? Given the lack of evidence and the perceived discomfort of undertaking the treatment, I'm 100% confident that cold shower therapy will not become mainstream in developed countries... even if it was a wonder treatment. Why? There are too many vested interests, ensuring more 'convenient' and profitable remedies will be promoted (marketing, sales, distribution, incentives, inducements) first. So when it comes to cold showers, morning dips in the pool, lake, river, ocean, dam, you might be best to do some research and give it a try yourself. Do your own personalised trial. Think about how you really feel afterwards. How does it impact your day overall. <img src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6c8d7e_ee6f3538d8a94f23889401a34af392c8~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_540,h_304,al_c,q_95/6c8d7e_ee6f3538d8a94f23889401a34af392c8~mv2.webp"> Overcome your reaction to fight or flight and control your initial response. You'll learn the power of breathing through your nose into your belly when confronting stress. You'll be boosting your resilience to life's discomforts. You'll likely feel more energized and more alive during and after. You'll learn to appreciate the tingling in the scalp and the calming effect of cooler water. The feeling of overcoming a discomfort will likely build inner strength. All of the above benefits are of course unproven but not unexpected. The only proof that matters in this context is whether it makes a difference to you. When it comes to non-profitable therapies it's important to experiment - weight up the evidence, ask yourself whether it's plausible or not. Do some research and don't assume that because there's no evidence that something is not helpful. Society is currently taking a closer look at how profit and power impacts our decision making. When it comes to your health, don't discount your evolutionary makeup in favour of a profitable choice. Homo Sapiens (current humans) survived continuously and largely unchanged in our biological structure for 200,000 years. We're definitely surviving longer now due to science, medicine, water treatment, sewerage treatment and our understanding and treatment of disease. It is however important we consider the relationship between science and profit. Funding the type of evidence needed to support non-pharmaceutical treatments for many of today's lifestyle diseases is unlikely. It's important to follow the ever questioning nature of scientists: do research, find what's plausible and conduct your own experiments, safely. Wellteam is here to help you with those experiments. Our 6-week mind and body Launch Challenge has over 20 life-hack experiments for you to try in a supported program. Join our next cohort and have some fun over 6 weeks with a cohort of men out to live life fully. Find what works for you. Take control. Optimise your life. Wellteam's optimisation community is on the hunt for science based experiments to share with members to boost health, overall wellbeing and happiness. When it comes to life. We're all in it together. Define your life by action...not intention. Try a cold shower today.

Cold water exposure is coming back in vogue. There's a growing body of evidence to support it. 

Day 04 - Nature calls.

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