5-min light, 1k steps, 60-sec breath

Happy Monday my friend,

Final week of the year energy can be strange. If you’re feeling both grateful and drained, you’re not alone. Here are a few simple tools and links to help you reset your nervous system and set up a healthier start to January.

🩺 HEALTH HACK
Get outside within an hour of waking for at least 5 minutes of bright light, even if it’s cloudy. Also, keep indoor lights a little dimmer at night to support sleep timing. See the 2025 findings on morning blue-enriched light and sleep quality.

🤔 DID YOU KNOW?
A new meta-analysis suggests the mental health benefits of walking show up with surprisingly low daily totals, with as few as 1k steps linked to fewer depressive symptoms. Here’s the breakdown on what researchers saw in this UCLA Health summary.

⏰ 1-MIN SHIFT
Try “cyclic sighing” for 60 seconds: two short inhales through the nose, then a long slow exhale, repeated a few times to downshift stress fast. Stanford breaks down the method and the science in this guide to cyclic sighing.

🏡 REGENERATIVE HOME
If you use traditional nonstick pans, consider phasing them out over time and swapping to stainless, cast iron, or brands that properly reduce your exposure to PFAS “forever chemicals.” Practical steps and safer alternatives are outlined in this NRDC guide to nonstick cookware.

🏷️ LABEL DECODER
When you see “natural flavors,” it can still mean a broad, proprietary blend derived from plant or animal sources, and it doesn’t tell you much about how processed the flavor system is. It doesn’t mean it’s definitely bad for you, but it could be something sketchy. If you want more info, read this explainer on what “natural flavors” can mean on labels.

✨ MAGICAL PLACE
If you want an easy excuse to get under the night sky soon, the Quadrantid meteor shower peaks in early January and can be spectacular from a truly dark spot. Here’s a simple timing and viewing guide for how to watch the Quadrantids.

🍟 How to work WITH your body

If you’ve noticed that maintaining a healthy weight feels harder than it did 10 or 20 years ago…you’re not imagining it.

As we age, changes in hormones, muscle mass, insulin sensitivity, and digestion all affect how our bodies regulate blood sugar, appetite, and fat storage.

One hormone that plays a major role here is GLP-1, a naturally occurring hormone that helps regulate:

• Appetite and satiety

• Blood sugar response after meals

• Energy balance and metabolic health

GLP-1 levels tend to decline with age. This can make cravings stronger, fullness signals weaker, and weight management more challenging even when diet and activity haven’t changed much.

With the new year coming up, it’s a great time to start supporting GLP-1 naturally, without pharmaceuticals or injections, giving your body a fresh start and a more balanced foundation for your health goals.

I’ve been taking GLP-1 Up from Ora, a plant-based supplement designed to support your body’s own GLP-1 production. It uses four clinically studied fruit extracts, each chosen for how they support metabolic health as we age:

• Eriomin® Lemon – supports natural GLP-1 activity and a healthy inflammatory response

• Reducose® Mulberry – helps reduce post-meal glucose spikes

• Morosil® Blood Orange – supports fat metabolism and waist measurement reduction

• Feiolix® Feijoa – supports balanced blood sugar and gut health

No injections. No synthetics. No stimulants. Just targeted, research-backed ingredients that work with the body, especially as we get older.

Start the new year by supporting your body’s natural balance: 

👉 Explore GLP-1 Up here — I take it daily with lunch or dinner

👉 Earth Conscious Life readers get 25% off their first bottle

💬 Poll

⬅️ Last poll’s results

Do you travel for the holidays this year?

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes (19.3%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No, staying put! (80.7%)

To a healing future,

— Rob