Top 10 Habits for Better Health & Longevity in 2025

Health Longevity
19 followers
2 Video Views·Jan 2, 2025
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Hey, everyone.
Welcome to Dr. Josh Axe Show.
I am your host, Dr. Axe, and each and every week on this show, we explore the science
and principles behind how to grow in body, mind, and spirit and take your health and
your life to the next level.
Today, I'm going to be going through 10 habits you need to implement in 2025 to make this
your best year yet and become unrecognizable in six months.
Here's what I can tell you is that if you follow these 10 habits, your life will look
completely and radically different.
Before I dive into the content, though, make sure to subscribe to the channel and hit the
link in the show notes to subscribe to my weekly wellness newsletter so you get my
top tips for natural healing delivered straight to your inbox.
All right, so I'm going to walk you through 10 habits you want to implement to make your
life unrecognizable.
If you're a person like me and you want to get the end of your life and know that you
ran your best race, know that your life mattered, it had meaning, you had a big impact, well,
then you're going to want to do some of these things.
The first one is this, spend time in January in reflection and then ongoing reflection
afterwards.
You know, one of the things that happens is because of our lives today, the way society
is set up, the way that we tend to be incredibly busy constantly, we spend so much time on
social media, we have a lot of obligations.
You know, think about if we would go back a couple hundred years ago, the majority of
people lived in smaller towns or on farms.
And so life was much more simple.
You had your job, you went in, you got food, you went home, and maybe there were some extracurriculars,
but it was nothing like it is today.
I mean, think about, I mean, just throwing this out there, I was talking to a father
recently who has five daughters, all of them in sports, and he was sharing with me and
most of them were either in junior high or high school or older elementary.
And so, I mean, they are spending time going to athletic events, I mean, hours a day and
every weekend, it's all they're doing.
And if we would go back before 1900, most of those sports in that way didn't exist.
Some of these sports are newer, they didn't even exist, like the way that we play football
today, you know, if you look at basketball, a lot of these sports weren't like they are
today.
And you didn't have kids or every child doing, like, again, our daughter, she's in dance,
she's in gymnastics, she's in swimming, a lot of these things.
My point there is that we are, especially if you're a parent, incredibly busy, and then
you have social media devices, and we're driving places now rather than, you know, walking
short distances.
So we're very busy.
Because of that, most of us do not prioritize time to reflect and to set goals and to create
new habits and even spend time visualizing things or spend time in prayer and meditation.
We're not spending time doing that.
But one of the most important things you can do if you want to live your best life possible
is do this.
Think about your past year, the year of 2024, and write down these things.
Number one, what went really well?
What are your best memories?
What are those things that you feel like you want to keep doing that went really well last
year?
Maybe, you know, I'm thinking about for Chelsea and I, some things that went really well,
certain family traditions, like we want to keep those going.
And what are some other things we liked?
Well, we really liked Arwin being in gymnastics and swimming in particular.
So those were good.
We like, you know, going to church, we love doing brunch.
It's one of the things we've been doing and we love.
So those are some things we want to keep doing those times of great, you know, family connection
time, maybe time we spent with a particular couple.
We want to do more of that.
So we're aware of, hey, here's some things that we want to keep doing that are working
in our life.
So spending time in reflecting, and you can do this, you know, sitting down by yourself,
just get 30 minutes to just think about your past year.
And I always invite God into the process and say, God, would you bring to mind, into awareness,
the things that I should stop doing, the things I should start doing, and the things I should
keep doing.
And so, and so that's another thing to think about, okay, what didn't work last year?
What were some of the things that we definitely want to change about the way the past year
went?
And maybe it's, hey, you overcommitted, you had too many things on your plate.
So you didn't get to do date nights with your spouse, or you didn't get to do something
that really matters more.
Maybe you realize, I just spent way too much time watching television.
And I didn't grow spiritually like I wanted to, I should have spent more time in the Bible.
Whatever it is, what you want to do is you want to reflect, because listen, you can't
improve upon things, or it's much harder to, if you don't learn lessons from the past.
So how did your past year go?
And by the way, all of the great leaders I know, they spend time reflecting in January.
People like John Maxwell, Craig Groeschel, you know, I'm thinking about, you know, Michael
Hyatt.
These are people that I really respect, that I know every time, this time of year, they
spend time reflecting over the past year, what went well, what didn't go well.
So do that, and write down those things that didn't go well, and some of the lessons from
that, and what you want to stop doing, because you don't want to carry those things into
the next year, 2025.
Now the other thing you want to do is write down, okay, you want to stop doing, what are
some things you need to start doing that you didn't do last year, okay?
Maybe it's a morning devotional, where you just read and spend time with God for 15 minutes.
Maybe it's a gratitude practice, maybe it's a way of healthy eating.
Whatever it is, write those things down of what you want here for this next year, okay?
So write down what you need to stop doing, write down what you need to start doing, and
write down what you need to keep doing to make 2025 your best year ever.
And I just want to mention as well, along that, once you write down the stop, start,
keep, along with that, write down your goals.
Did you know only 3% of the population sets goals, and only 1% actually write their goals
down?
You are so much more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down.
And according to a survey, 35% of individuals who start New Year's resolutions abandon them
within one single week, and I think the majority of people abandon them in that first month
after the end of January.
So if you spend time reflecting, and then writing down stop, start, keep, and you write
down, hey, here's what you want to do in terms of your habits, it's powerful.
It's so, so powerful.
But don't just goal set.
You want to goal set, and you need to write them down, but you also need to reflect to
make sure you write down the right goals and have the right plan moving forward.
And so plan on some time doing that, and when you're writing goals down, remember the SMART
technique.
Make them number one.
Make them significant.
They should be things that get you excited, things that matter, they're meaningful.
You know, I'm thinking about some of my SMART goals for next year, and I have business goals
in terms of revenue and profit.
I have goals around my spiritual growth.
One thing I want to do is I want to spend more time praying for other people and taking
boldness in my praying for other people.
I had an opportunity this week where I was talking to a really prominent doctor who actually
came down with just something horrific happened to them, and they're in the middle of a health
battle, and this person is not a Christian, but I thought, you know what?
I want to be bold and ask them if I could pray for them, and I did over the phone.
And they actually started crying on the phone, and they said, thank you so much.
It was really, I could tell it was meaningful to them, and I'm glad that I took that boldness
in doing that, because that was something that I felt like in 2025, now it's 2024, or
about to be 2025, but that was something I'm really glad that I did at that time, and my
point with that is that, you know, that's something, it was significant, I felt like
that was a significant thing in my spiritual walk that I want to continue to do constantly
and live in that state.
Also, I want to encourage you to set SMART goals.
We just covered that on the last episode, so if you didn't listen, go back and listen,
but set goals, remember, that are specific.
You want to make sure they're measurable.
Also, you know, I like goals that are inspiring.
They're something you're excited about, and so make sure that you write down some of those
SMART goals there as well, and follow that, those tips, but you got to reflect as well,
okay?
Now, number two thing I want to encourage you to do, habits that are going to help you
be unrecognizable after six months, and let me say this as well, you know, I remember
looking back quite a few years ago when I was about to, when I was actually working
on my medical degree, and I actually had people tell me, because I followed a lot of these
principles I'm sharing with you, and I really also really focused on growing spiritually
and in my leadership, and I had, for six months later, I had people telling me, there's something
different about you.
Essentially, they were saying, there's something unrecognizable about you here, and that's
the goal of this.
You should want people six months from now saying, there's something different about
you.
What is that?
And if you follow these things, it's going to help that happen, okay?
But number one, again, remember, reflect, and part of this, I think, is a spiritual
practice also of meditation, right?
Reflection, meditation, doing this where we're not just rushing through life, we take time,
we pause, and we reflect and think about our past, where we are now.
I mean, goal setting and visualization, that's for the future.
Meditation, reflection is about the past.
Meditation, partly, can also be thinking about, it's a self-awareness.
You can also think about, where am I right now?
It's like, if you want to get to somewhere, you also need to know where you're at now
on the map, right?
Let's say you want to, you know, I'm in Nashville, let's say I want to get down to, I'm going
to my parents' house for Christmas around Lakeland, Florida, it's like, I need to know
where I'm at now, right?
And so, this will help you do that.
All right, number two, build deeper friendships with two to three virtuous, purpose-driven
people, okay?
Now, I looked at some studies on this, and here's some realities.
A 2018 study found that 40% of Americans feel their relationships are not meaningful.
I would estimate by today, that might be closer to 50%.
So think about that.
About half of the people out there today, half of people feel like their relationships
are not meaningful.
And that's really sad, because God literally created us for connection.
You know, there's another study that said 13% of people feel like they actually have
10 close friends and family members, so 10 people that they can kind of trust, and that
they can be close to.
Well, think about that.
Only 13% of people said that.
So 87% of people said they have less than 10 people that they can even trust and count
on that are their true friends.
12% of people say they have zero friends that are close, zero.
Now, I think the reality is this.
There's probably a lot of people that say, okay, I have one or two close friends, but
you also are earning for something more.
You want deep and meaningful relationships.
Can I tell you, when I think about the times of my life when I've been the most fulfilled
with the most meaning, it's been the times when I've felt the closest to other people.
It's not necessarily the worst times in my life, by the way, or my biggest hardships.
It's when I felt the closest to other people, or to certain people.
Like I think about Chelsea and I, you know, my life is the best when I feel the closest
to my wife.
I feel like my life can be the best when I feel the closest to certain other, you know,
just friends, true friends.
And here's the other thing I want to share about this habit.
Get in the habit of building deep, meaningful relationships, but you don't need to be friends
with 100 people.
Pick two or three people, or maybe it's a small group of people, five or six that are
in a small group, or up to eight, but something like that, that you're going to go deep in
life with.
You know, I have a men's group that I meet with once a month.
And outside of that, we typically meet another time a month and do a guy's night like a dinner.
But with this, we spend three hours together, and we read a book, and it tends to be, we
rotate books between a spiritual book, we do a book on leadership or business, and then
we might even do a book on just other topics like marriage or parenting and those sort
of things.
And we do it once a month, and we get together for three hours.
And for that first three hours, we cover, I talk for a bit, we cover what we read in
the book, our biggest takeaways.
We tend to have an exercise that we want to move forward with, and we just spend time
sharing those three hours.
And then most of the time, we do dinner afterwards or something like that.
And it's a really close-knit group.
And I think about when I'm with that group, it's iron sharpens iron.
It's deep, it's meaningful, they're purpose-driven people.
Let me ask you, do you have those people in your life that you're meeting with on a regular
basis?
I would write down two to three people, at least, two to three, they say, I want to go
and build a deep and meaningful relationship with this person.
If you don't know where to look, I would go to your church, okay?
That's the place that I found it in a lot of these meaningful relationships.
But somewhere like that, and then join a group, get involved with something, and that's going
to lead to a more meaningful life.
But I think about this, if you can start your year off with just following these first two,
reflect, and then do the exercise of stop doing certain things, start doing things,
keep doing the things that we're working, and then do some goal setting around that,
write down the goals.
And then number two, focus on building these deep, meaningful relationships.
And if you are hanging out with the right people, that will change you as well.
My biggest life lesson is this, you become like those you spend the most time with.
And if you start hanging around with two to three really amazing people that are virtuous
people, and when I say virtue, that means they're very high character, and that starts
rubbing off on you, and then you're committed to growing, and so you rub off on them in
that way, that will transform your life in such a short time.
All right, number three habit you want to get into to become unrecognizable is optimize
your sleep schedule, okay?
Here's why it matters, poor sleep increases the risk of every illness out there, diabetes,
heart disease, obesity, hypothyroidism, depression, anxiety, infertility, low testosterone, you
name it.
According to the CDC, over 35% of adults in the US sleep less than seven hours per night,
okay?
And a Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine study found that adults who improve their sleep
routines reduce stress by up to 30%.
So the reality is this, if you want to reverse a condition, if you want to optimize longevity,
if you also want to perform at the highest level possible, I mean, I can tell you this,
if I sleep less than seven hours of sleep a night consistently, I'm not as productive.
When I'm writing books, I'm not as effective, when I'm recording videos, when I'm even
connecting with my loved ones, I am not as effective, I'm not my best.
And so you really want to focus on optimizing your sleep schedule and for most of you, it's
not about what time you wake up, it's about what time you go to bed.
And so I want to encourage you, hey, set an alarm for when you go to bed, make a decision
right now.
If you're one of those people going to bed at 11 or midnight, that's too late.
I mean, listen, ideally, most of you would be going to bed closer to 9pm, okay?
But figure out what works for you, but write down what time you're going to, like, I'll
just share it for myself, I go to bed around 9pm.
Now listen, sometimes actually I've been helping my four-year-old put her to bed and making
sure she's asleep.
So sometimes for me, by the time she's asleep, well, it's, you know, sometimes it's 8.45,
so sometimes even before 9pm or 8.30.
But all that being said, try and get in bed around 9 or at the latest 10, okay?
The latest, try and make it 10pm if you can, okay?
And if you're at midnight, well then, hey, make it 11, okay?
But just whatever, improve it this next year, and then, so, and set an alarm.
And the other thing is, before you go to bed, take at least that hour before, and don't
be on your television, listen to an audio book, or read with a yellow light on rather
than one of those blue, the bright blue or white lights with a lot of the blue light
coming out.
But spend some time reading, or listening to an audio book, or a podcast, or spending
time in prayer, or meditation, or something like that, ideally, or journaling, writing
things down.
And then when you wake up in the morning, ideally, go outside, or expose yourself to
the outdoor light, okay?
So you want to wake up and start getting those melatonin and cortisol levels regulated, and
avoid blue light, ideally, after 7pm.
So what I do is, even though we have some of the house lights on even after dinner,
I put on those blue blockers, and I wear those from, you know, 7 to 8, 8.30, you know, and
we, a lot of times we're, sometimes even longer than that, but you want to do that.
Keep your room dark and cold, 62 to 70, 62 to 68 degrees, use blackout curtains, take
magnesium before you go to bed, that's helpful.
So do some of those things to optimize your sleep schedule, but for a lot of you, again,
I'm telling you the secret, go to bed a little bit earlier.
Okay, number four, plan for adequate vitamin D intake.
Vitamin D supports bone health, immune function, brain health, cell regeneration, it's a pro-hormone,
so it's critical for hormone production, and most people are deficient.
It's the number one nutrient people are deficient in, and a big reason is, is God created us
to spend a lot of time outdoors, and we're spending more than 90% of our time indoors.
I mean, since the, really since the early 1900s, we've made a major shift from having
most of our jobs that were agriculture related and spending time outside, and now most people
spend most of their time inside, so because of that we get a lot less vitamin D, and at
least 40% of Americans are vitamin D deficient, but I think in terms of, and that's very deficient,
that's not even optimal, optimal's probably, you know, less than 20%.
So for most of you, what you need to do is try and get more time outside, no matter what
you do, and even in the winter months, if it gets, you know, jumps up for a day or two
or as soon as it does, spend as much time outdoors as you can, just getting sunlight
on your arms, and then take a vitamin D supplement, 5,000 I use daily for most of you, but one
of the best things you can do is get outside first thing in the morning for 10 to 15 minutes,
and then when the sun is at its highest, if you want vitamin D, that's when you're gonna
get the most vitamin D.
Now you can also consume some foods that are rich in vitamin D, like salmon, sardines,
tuna, mushrooms, egg yolks, beef liver, cod liver oil, these are foods that do have some
vitamin D in them, and so you wanna make sure you're getting some vitamin D, taking magnesium
with it, and taking it with fat, like getting some omega-3s with it and coconut, that's
gonna increase the absorption as well, so those are some of the best things to do to
optimize your vitamin D levels, and I would say also making sure your gut microbiome's
healthy, so astragalus and probiotics also support vitamin D levels.
Here's another big one, move every day, okay?
So this habit is not me telling you to go and exercise an hour every day, it's move
every day, okay?
And most of us sit inside, we sit at a desk, we don't move much, and so be conscious of
how much you're moving, and aim for 10,000 steps a day.
A study published in the Journal of American Medical Internal Medicine Journal found that
walking at least 8,000 steps per day reduced mortality risk by 51%.
So we're talking about increasing your lifespan here, and there are a lot of different ways
to move, and write down your favorites and schedule them in.
Listen, I would like for everyone to weight train, because I think it's one of the best
things for longevity, but I'm also thrilled if you do a barre class or a Pilates class.
I'm also thrilled if you do some HIIT training on your spin bike or do a Peloton class.
I'm also thrilled if you go and walk for 45 minutes.
And write down maybe the things you know you need to do, and also the things you wanna
do.
Let me give you an example for myself.
Actually, I might not be the best example, but I'm gonna try here.
I love moving and working out, so I would do these things three, four hours a day if
it made sense in my life.
It doesn't, but I like playing pickleball, and I like cycling a lot, and I like swimming.
Those are probably the things I like doing the most, but yet I know I do need to weight
train, so I do it as well.
But think about for yourself.
You may say to yourself, you know what?
I could really like playing pickleball, and I could really like getting on the Peloton
bike, because that's maybe simple and easy for you, or getting on a spin bike or something
like that.
Or walking.
Maybe you just say, okay, walking's easiest.
Okay, well, walk three days a week, but also then incorporate two days of weight training,
okay?
Because you know, okay, I need that.
But at least move every day.
So if you're not gonna lift weights that day or get on a spin bike or swim or do something
that's physically more using a greater level of energy and exertion, then at the very least,
walk 10,000 steps that day.
And be aware then, you can get these trackers, right, that tell you how many steps you're
doing a day, and so you have some sort of idea.
But move every day.
Number six, build your own dopamine menu.
Here's the reality.
Most of us, because of our social media devices, we are bombarded with dopamine.
You've probably heard of doing a dopamine detox.
Because we have so much of this hormone we're getting hit from over and over and over again.
However, there are other hormones you need to be getting, like oxytocin, like serotonin,
and different types of activities and lifestyle tend to drive more of those hormones being
produced.
So again, dopamine is released when you're gambling, like a slot machine with certain
addictions, like I mentioned, with social media devices.
And that really wears out your body over time, versus oxytocin, as you're high-fiving, you're
hugging, you're connecting with your spouse, you're hugging your kids, you're just doing
something where there's real bonding taking place, okay?
You need to make sure you're getting some of that.
Serotonin, you're doing something that, and endorphins, like exercise, so you want to
make sure you're getting multiple of these hormones and not just dopamine.
So here's how to create a dopamine menu.
Number one, as a starter, take a deep breath, okay?
And I'd recommend doing that a few more times, okay?
And then, as an entree, read a book or go for a walk, okay?
As a side, listen to a podcast.
As an occasional dessert, maybe you do scroll social media in moderation for a short period
of time, but again, you limit yourself on the time per day.
Maybe you say, hey, I can do social media one hour a day, and that's it, and then you
draw the line.
And the other times, maybe you find something else, like reading your Bible, or listening
to a great podcast, or actually connecting with the person that's beside you.
There was a study published in the Nature of Neuroscience Journal, and it shows that
sustained activities like exercise or learning create long-term dopamine stability, unlike
quick fixes like social media.
And so the reality is, too much dopamine is very bad for your health.
It's a bad habit, the habit that you have of spending way too much time on social media,
so you're much, much better off on learning platforms like YouTube, watching actual educational
videos there, or again, listening to a book, reading an actual book, having a podcast,
going for a walk, exercise, all of these things.
So be aware, and I'd say the best habit to get into is limiting your social media time.
And my wife has an app on her phone where, I think it's after one hour, it just shuts
off.
She can't get in the app, okay?
So that's a great sort of thing to do there.
Number seven habit to become unrecognizable is focus on eating foods in season.
Go to your local farmer's market.
On a weekly basis, show up to your local farmer's market, and you'll be able to eat the fruits
and vegetables that are in season.
Did you know there was a medical study published?
This was published in the journal Food Composition and Analysis, and the study found that produce
harvested in season had two to five times more nutrients than out-of-season options.
Think about that.
You could be getting, in some cases, five times more nutrients of eating the vegetables
that are in season, like the beets, carrots, radishes, green beans, okra, bok choy, squash,
and zucchini, whatever it is.
Buying those in season versus buying them at your regular grocery store.
This is why just showing up once a week to your local farmer's market and buying your
produce, you're going to get so many more nutrients that way than if you were buying
those foods at your conventional grocery store that are out of season.
Make that a habit.
We do this at our house.
We are more like every other week, probably, when it's not the summer.
The summer, we pretty much go every week to the Franklin Farmer's Market just south of
Nashville.
Again, we go to the farmer's market regularly.
We get our local honey, our bee pollen, our fruits, our vegetables, and we actually get
our meat, our eggs.
We get everything there.
But do that, and the food is fresher.
It's better for you.
I'm going to walk you through here seasonal eating per season and the foods you want to
focus on each season.
In the spring, you want to focus on getting more fresh foods and sour foods.
If you're going to eat salads or do a detox, this is the best time of year to do it.
Some of the vegetables include asparagus, artichokes, peas, radishes, spinach, arugula,
watercress, leeks, and fennel.
Fruits like strawberries, rhubarb, and apricots, and herbs like mint, parsley, and dill.
You'll see a lot of green there that we mentioned.
Those are some things that can be of great benefit to you in the spring.
And in summer, it's going to be more things like zucchinis, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn,
eggplant, bell peppers, green beans.
Fruits like watermelon, berries, peaches, nectarines, cherries, mangoes, and melons.
Also herbs like basil, cilantro, and dill.
In the fall, vegetables like squash, butternut squash, acorn and spaghetti, pumpkins, sweet
potato, carrots, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and kale.
And then fruits like apples, pears, cranberries, figs, persimmons, and pomegranates, and then
sage, thyme, and rosemary.
And you'll see how a lot of these foods line up with season.
Again, a lot of those foods I just mentioned, those are eaten around Thanksgiving and in
the fall.
So, sometimes it does align, but oftentimes it doesn't.
So we want to do our best.
And in the winter, you want to focus on more of the foods that are white in color, like
potatoes, and turnips, and parsnips, and cabbage, and leeks, and onions.
Also beets, carrots, and kale.
Fruit like oranges, grapefruit, lemons, tangerines, and kiwi.
And then thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves.
So these are some of the best foods to incorporate in the different seasons.
And by the way, if you want to get some of this, you can sign up for my weekly wellness
newsletter and you'll get lists like this and information in the future.
If you want just a printout of it or you want to have that full list of seasonal eating
guide, make sure you can find it in my show notes, a link to signing up for the weekly
newsletter.
All right, number eight here is incorporate more anti-inflammatory foods.
If you want to make 2025 your best year ever, eat more anti-inflammatory foods, and that's
going to include more organic meat, more foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, more foods rich
in fatty acids like olives, and coconuts, and walnuts, and then fruits and vegetables.
So really it's organic meat like grass-fed beef, and then omega-3 foods like wild-caught
salmon and walnuts, and then again, healthy fat foods like avocado and extra virgin olive
oil, and then lots of fruits and some vegetables.
If you can do that, it's going to reduce inflammation and you're going to feel amazing.
And when you do that as well, get rid of the ultra-processed food, okay?
So get rid of the ultra-processed foods like the seed oils and the sugar.
Those are the two things, by the way.
You just want to exchange and get out of your life.
If you have any sunflower oil, safflower oil, canola oil, get it out and replace it with
coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil, and then the same.
Get rid of the sugar, find natural replacements, eat anti-inflammatory foods.
And there are so many studies on this that anti-inflammatory foods reverse chronic heart
disease, autoimmune disease, promote longevity.
In fact, there was a study published in the British Medical Journal that showed a 10%
increase in ultra-processed food consumption was associated with a 14% higher risk of all-cause
mortality.
So again, it's adding years to your life, but also life to your years when you can make
these simple food swaps.
And so again, you shouldn't be overwhelmed by this, knowing that, hey, you still get
to have oil.
Just pick the right types of oil, right?
You still can have things that are sweet.
Just pick the things that are less harmful, like the honey and the stevia and the monk
fruit and the allulose, and there's all natural options today.
Don't use the white flour.
Use the einkorn wheat flour instead of the regular wheat, right?
So make some of these simple swaps, it'll go such a long way.
Number nine, practice some biohacking.
That can be a good habit for you.
Now, listen, there's lots of options here.
Maybe for you, it's cold plunge.
Maybe for you, it's infrared sauna, something like that.
Maybe you join one of those wellness clinics and you start to get a regular nutrient IV
or red light therapy or something like that, but figure out, okay, what is your biggest
health goal or health goals?
And then what is maybe a type of a longevity or regenerative treatment or practice you
can do in order to support your body in that way?
For me, again, I really like doing a combination of infrared sauna, doing some cold plunge,
doing some red light therapy are some things I really like to do myself.
Maybe for you, it's a mini trampoline or rebounder.
I don't know, but there are so many options out there today.
I do want to mention there's a study here on cold showers.
This was published in the PLOS One Journal, and they found that those who regularly took
a cold shower reported a 29% reduction in sickness absences.
So somebody who's not getting sick from work.
And the way to do this is you simply start off with a warm shower, you turn it down cold
for one minute to three minutes, and then you turn it back up to warm, and then you
get out of the shower.
It's that simple with just allowing your body to adapt to cooler temperatures.
Or again, sauna use is another great one to do.
But again, this doesn't cost you anything, by the way, the cold shower.
In fact, cold water probably costs a little bit less most of the year than using your
water heater.
It's going to be negligible.
It's hardly going to be a difference.
But again, it's a great practice.
And the thing is, it's doing something hard.
You know, I've heard so many people do, whether it's a cold plunge or just taking a cold
shower.
They've said that they are more resilient with other things in life.
They found they started doing other harder things, and they're just more disciplined.
It makes you more disciplined, and there's sort of a mental buzz it creates when you
do that as well.
So consider doing that.
Last habit that is going to make you unrecognizable, detox your environment.
Go through your house and just swap.
So listen, if you are using conventional dishwashing detergent, next time you go and buy some,
buy the natural kind.
If you're swapping out your skincare, you're about to run out, well, now buy the natural
kind.
You know, text a friend who you know is into natural skincare.
Ask them what they use, right?
The ones that are free of parabens and phthalates and all of these other chemicals, right?
So I would encourage you to detox your home, detox your body.
Simple.
Make these swaps.
You know, just for some ideas for you, you know, natural skincare and sunscreen, things
like Araza, Neemee, Eminence, Organics, Toops & Co, One Skin.
There's so many good brands there.
So use some natural skincare.
Toothpaste.
Fig is probably my favorite brand.
That's F-Y-G-G.
There's also Risewell Pro.
There's Himalaya.
There's a lot of good brands.
Again, Fig is one of the best.
And food brands.
You know, Epic or Primal Kitchen or Lovebird Cereal, there's a lot of good options there
as well.
Fragrances.
Dime Beauty.
Cleaning.
Branch Basics.
So, you know, when you're going through and you're about to run out of something, swap
it out and get something natural.
One of the best ways to do this, by the way, is getting a good water filter is a really
good way to do this, to detox your home and body as well.
But again, I would just say at first, just do some simple swaps when you're going to
buy something new, opt for the healthier version.
And listen, if you can follow these 10 habits that we walk through, and remember, I'm just
going to run through these again one more time.
Number one, spend time in reflection.
What do you need to stop doing?
Like what went well and didn't go well last year for you?
Okay.
What were some of your best memories?
What were some of the worst?
Think about those things and think about, okay, how can I take these things that I've
learned and make 2025 my best year ever?
So reflect and then do that exercise of what you're going to stop doing, what you're going
to start doing, and what you're going to keep doing.
The next thing is, remember, build deeper relationships.
Pick two to three people you want to go deep with, deep spiritually.
You want to help them grow.
They're going to help you in some way, doing something meaningful together.
Maybe you decide you want to run a 10K race together, or you want to raise money for a
certain charity, or you just want to grow in leadership together, or whatever, or you
just want to grow spiritually together.
You want to go serve in some capacity.
Find two to three people you can do that with.
Remember, audit your sleep schedule.
Optimize your sleep.
Remember, get to bed earlier.
Vitamin D intake.
Probably you should be taking 5,000 IUs of vitamin D a day with magnesium, with vitamin
K2, because those are the two things required for optimal vitamin D absorption, along with
getting some healthy fatty acids when you take that vitamin D supplement.
That's just eat a little bit of good fat when you take the supplement.
Remember, move every day.
Even if it's just walking, move every day.
By the way, when I say that, go walk for 45 minutes or an hour a day on days you don't
exercise, but also when you're at work, get up every hour and go walk for three minutes
and stretch and move and rotate a bit.
Just do something to where you're moving more.
Build your dopamine menu.
Remember, take time on social media.
Replace some of that with things like podcasts, educational YouTube, going for a walk, reading
a good book, connecting with somebody.
Eat fruits and vegetables and foods in season.
Just show up to your local farmer's market.
Make that part of your daily habits and routine.
Get rid of the seed oils and sugar and add in more anti-inflammatory foods in your diet.
Remember number nine.
Add in some form of biohacking to help you get healthier, whether it's a cold shower
or infrared sauna or something to that nature, and detox your home and body.
If you can do these things, you're going to be unrecognizable in 2025.
It's going to promote better health and longevity and just help you have an incredible 2025.
Just know I am praying for you to be blessed in 2025.
I'm rooting for you.
And I'd love to hear from you in the comment section of which of these 10.
Are you going to do all of them?
Are you going to do some of them?
Are you going to implement in 2025?
Also, what are you going to stop doing, start doing, and keep doing in 2025 to make your
best year ever?
Let me know on YouTube.
Let me know on social media.
I would love to hear from you.
I want to say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe show, where each
and every week we explore the science and principles behind how to make you the very
best you.
Make sure to subscribe, like, and share.
And listen, millions of people don't know the truth about how to live their best year
ever.
Thank you so much for being on mission with me and sharing this information.
I can't wait to see you on the next episode.
