It’s January, so you’ve probably been seized by the Fresh Start effect – seemingly endless motivation to become the healthiest iteration of yourself. Whether you want to work on your fitness, sort out your sleep or generally self improve there’s no shortage of suggested ways to do so.
We’re here to make sure that energy is spent well. So we’ve asked the experts to bust the health myths they’re sick of hearing, and outline what you should do instead.
Fitness
THE MYTH: You should aim for 10,000 steps a day
The 10,000 steps a day target was pure marketing hype, says personal trainer Amy Snelling. “It was used to sell a pedometer.” (The device in question was Japanese and called manpo-kei, which translated to 10,000 step meter in English). That’s not to say that 10k steps in a day is bad for you, per se, it’s just that your goals could be more effective.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Add 500-1000 more steps a day
“What we’re now seeing in these huge cohort studies is that reaching a large number may be better for health – but it’s more important people increase what they’re already doing,” says Snelling. “For example, if somebody is doing 3000 steps a day, turning that into 4000 steps consistently has a huge impact.” She cites one study that found increasing your step count by an increment of 1,000 a day saw a 15 percent reduction in all-cause mortality. The only way is up.
THE MYTH: Fitness is all about your BMI
Body Mass Index (BMI) has long been used as an approximate indicator of health. However, when it comes to fitness the research is not clear cut.
“Huge studies with lots of data have found that if you are unfit and in the normal BMI category, you are at higher risk of all-cause mortality than someone who is at the higher end of the scale but less unfit”, Snelling says.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Measure your cardiovascular fitness
Cardiovascular fitness is far more important than BMI or body size in general. This is the measurement of how well your body delivers oxygen to your muscles and organs over prolonged periods of exercise, which determines how much exercise you can manage, and for how long.
It can be measured in many different ways, but you don’t need to rely on hard data. Instead you need to identify what physical activity you find hard (whether that’s climbing the stairs at work or sprinting) and then measuring the ways it gets easier with time.
To improve your fitness, you simply need to increase the amount of cardio you’re doing: try taking the stairs; adding in a run to your day; cycling on the weekend – anything to get you moving.
Sleep
THE MYTH: Blue light is inherently bad for you
Most of us feel fairly certain that our constant use of smartphones can’t be good for our health. So when it was suggested that the blue light was disrupting our sleep, it felt true. Not so, says Russell Foster, professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford University, who discovered that humans have a third photoreceptor that is sensitive to the blue part of the light spectrum.
As a result of this discovery, several programmes and products have been developed to shield you from blue light. But data from their use suggests “that screen use is very unlikely to have much of an effect upon your circadian rhythm,” Foster explains.
He points to one study where a group compared the impact of using a phone before sleep, a phone with a programme that changes the light from blue to red, and not using a phone at all. “There was no difference between [the sleep of] the three groups.”
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Get out in daylight during the day
Russell explains that your priority should be setting your internal clock if you want to improve your sleep. “Getting out during the day and getting 500 Lux of light [equivalent to a well-lit office] will desensitise your clock in the evening.” In other words, using devices before bed will not affect your sleep, at least from a light perspective. However, Russell suggests you turn off notifications – as they are unhelpful because they delay the onset of sleep.
THE MYTH: We all need eight hours of sleep
There’s no arguing that getting enough sleep is important. During resting hours our brains are busy working on memory consolidation, processing information, and getting rid of toxins. But crucially, Russell says, “one size does not fit all.”
The healthy range for sleep, he explains, can be anywhere between six hours to 10, depending on the person. What you need to do is find the sleep that works for you.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Assess whether you’re getting enough sleep
“It’s really important to stress that sleep is not a fixed thing, it’s very dynamic and it changes as we age,” he explains. “Eight hours may be an average and it might be something to aim for, but each of us need to actually ask ourselves how much sleep do I need?”
“If you feel that you’re functioning optimally during the day,” Russell says, “and you’re not oversleeping on free days like weekends, you’re probably getting the sleep that you need during the week.” Likewise if you’re not dependent on caffeine to stay awake, and you are not behaving irritably and impulsively, “you’re probably fine”. If you’re not, consider getting more daylight during the day and reducing unnecessary distractions that could disrupt sleep in the evenings.
Nutrition
THE MYTH: You must limit yourself to 2000-2500 kcal a day AND what kind of calories doesn’t matter
The Government’s Recommended Daily Intake suggests a daily limit of 2000 calories for men and 2500 calories for women. But, says registered dietitian and microbiome scientist Emily Leeming, this misses the wood for the trees.
She explains that if you’re thinking about the quality of the food you’re eating and focusing on whole foods, rather than just calorie counting, that tends to mean you’re eating a lot of lower calorie, high nutrient dense foods intuitively.
“If we focus just on calories then you might think having a sugar-free donut is a healthier option than a big bowl of salad with more calories, when actually it would give you many more nutrients.”
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Focus on the quality of what you eat
Leeming recommends focusing on quality, diversity and nutritional density above all. “Think about the different colours of what you’re putting on your plate and pick up the mixes when you go to the supermarket – mixed beans, mixed frozen berries, mixed nuts.”
She adds that eating more one day is not the end of the world. “Our body has a homeostasis across three days where it naturally recalibrates.”
Skin
THE MYTH: You need to drink two litres of water a day for glowing skin
The target of two litres of water a day is pervasive, particularly among celebrities sharing the ‘secret’ behind their radiant skin. But Dr Bav Shergill of the British Association of Dermatologists says this betrays a misunderstanding of how the skin works.
“If you are clinically dehydrated your skin does look sallow and you look unwell. But in the normal day to day, you probably have enough water going into your body [through your normal diet]. And there’s a point where no matter what you drink, you’re not actually going to improve your skin any further.” Water gets into our skin through our bloodstream, and there is a limit to how much it can take – any excess is recycled back into the bloodstream.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Stick to moisturiser and a gentle exfoliant
A skin moisturiser doesn’t add moisture to the skin – instead it provides a barrier that helps prevent water loss. As such Dr Shergill recommends using moisturiser to protect the skin barrier after using a gentle exfoliant (like salicylic acid) to even out the skin tone. Build up gently, though: start with acids or vitamins a couple of times a week then build up to three times a week and so on.
THE MYTH: You need to wear sunscreen all year round
In a bid to protect from the physical (and aesthetic) impacts of ultraviolet radiation, there has been a lot of emphasis on the importance of sunscreen – with the assumption you should wear it all year round.
But, says Dr Shergill, “the light we have in the UK from around the end of October to mid March is not going to have enough UV to cause you to burn, unless you’ve got a pre-existing condition. So it’s just not necessary to use SPF all year round.”
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Keep it simple
Dr Shergill says that the only way to avoid any aesthetic impact from UV whatsoever would be to lock yourself away – which would result in a vitamin D deficiency. His advice is to continue to wear full spectrum sunscreen in the months when the UV index is three or above (you can check this on your weather app) and otherwise keep your skincare simple.
Teeth
THE MYTH: The whiter the teeth, the healthier
This is another instance of us confusing our aesthetic preferences for health. As Neesha Patel, clinical director at Pure Periodontics and a Consultant Periodontist at King’s College Hospital, London explains, “whether or not your teeth are stained is not really correlated with health. If you have unstained, white teeth, you could still have underlying issues.”
These could be anything from decay to receding gums, and there is no point focusing on white teeth without tackling these issues. In fact, it could make the situation worse. “Whitening on top of damage can cause pain and inflammation of the gums,” she adds. “You have to have a base of health and then think about aesthetics.”
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Focus on the colour of your gums, not your teeth
Dr Patel looks to three indicators for dental health: gum health, signs of decay, and bite. Taking care of your gums by flossing and brushing well should be the priority.
“Gums should generally be pink, they should be firm, and have no bleeding or swelling. That’s a much better indicator of oral health than tooth colour.”
