It becomes more and more clear that the mismatch to what our genes and stress systems have been programmed for during evolution, and our current modern lifestyle and environment, are at the core of our health challenges. The good news is that with the right lifestyle interventions we can ‘vaccinate’ ourselves against these harmful outcomes of our modern day life. IL is combining so called ‘hormetic triggers’ into an evidence based protocol. These are mild ancient stressors that - in the right dose and combinations - lead to favourable biological responses or in simple words: improved health.
‘What doesnt kill you makes you stronger’ is the adage and while not always comfortable, the mild triggers help recovering survival mechanisms. With hormetic triggers one can think of (short) exposure to cold, therapeutical hypercapnia, medicinal hypoxia, sauna, intermittent fasting and intermittent drinking. The concept is known to produce incredible (and well-documented) health outcomes. During the IL coach week, were going through the whole experience ourselves to be able to apply the concepts with our clients (and beloved ones).
It was a week full of waking up the cavewoman (and inner demons😉) in ourselves. We walked tons of (height)meters, did high intensity exercises and bare feet walking, took mud baths, and had many hours of water and food fasting. We got scratches (very healthy!), were laughing and crying, running, playing, ice bathing. It was all about ‘suffering together with a smile on our face’.
But it was not only about suffering. When there was food, it was incredible. We had relaxing sauna visits, beautiful conversations and there was lot of laughter. When there were teachings, it was highest state of art. And the last day we danced until the early morning. Enjoying life together with incredible people might have been the healthiest part of the whole week. And at the end of the week we all felt reset (even after a few too many wines the last evening, life should be oscillating😉).
The concept might look a bit extreme, but is actually applicable for every body and everybody. It was not a week full of professional sporters (although the concept is used now as well at professional clubs/top sporters) but by people from all backgrounds and all with their own backpack and health conditions (from depression/anxiety like mine - in the past - to many other health challenges: don’t forget we all have our story!). The scientifically proven triggers are working into universal working mechanisms that we all have and our body has strong self-healing capacity but ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’. This is what we did this week, reactivating those mechanisms so that we can enjoy modern life, while diminishing the risk of unpleasant health outcomes. The beauty is that the interventions can be adapted to any level, are relatively cheap and applicable in daily life.
Comments