Optimize Your Day: Top Healthiest 24-Hour Routines Tailored to Your Values

On May 8, 2024

Understanding the Goldilocks Day for Optimal Cardiometabolic Health

The term “Goldilocks Day” refers to the ideal allocation of time for various activities to promote optimal health. This concept has been explored through a recent study that investigated how much daily sitting, standing, sleep, and exercise most benefits cardiometabolic health.

Existing Guidelines for Physical Activity

Current guidelines already provide recommendations on how much physical activity adults should get each week. However, the question remains: how much time per day should we allocate for standing, sitting, or sleeping to reduce the risk of cardiometabolic diseases?

Recent Findings from Australian Research

The Swinburne University and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia conducted a detailed study that analyzed the daily activities of more than 2,000 people in the Netherlands. The researchers examined measures such as waist circumference, blood glucose and insulin levels, cholesterol, blood pressure, and triglycerides in the participants, 684 of whom had type 2 diabetes.

The study concluded with a detailed hour-by-hour breakdown of daily activities, contributing to an optimal day for cardiometabolic health. The lead researcher, Christian Brakenridge, considers this activity plan as a “North Star”, serving as a guide to aim towards for better health.

Average Physical Activity in Australia

The average Australian sits for about eight hours a day, and office workers can spend up to 10 hours seated. Most Australians get about two hours of combined light and moderate physical activity each day, which is half of what the study recommends for optimal health.

Light physical activities include slow walking or doing chores, while moderate to vigorous activities encompass brisk walking, jogging, or strenuous tasks such as shovelling.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All: The Importance of Personalized Schedules

Dot Dumuid, a time-use epidemiologist at the University of South Australia, argues that one size rarely fits all in population health. Therefore, she has developed an online tool which allows users to rank their priorities and get a more personalized 24-hour breakdown.

Multiple “Best Days” for Different Health Purposes

No two people have the same priorities and ways of spending their day. Therefore, it’s possible that there will be multiple “best days” with different purposes in the future. For example, one might prioritize mental health one day, physical health the next, and so on. This flexibility enables a balanced, healthy week overall.

The researchers hope that their findings will be used to update current health guidelines to better reflect the full spectrum of human behavior. They suggest looking to Canada’s 24-hour movement guidelines, the world’s first health guidelines that outline how much time adults should spend on aerobic activities, muscle strengthening, sleeping, sitting, and using a screen.