As lockdown starts to gradually unwind, how worried should we be about a second wave, and what can we be doing to help us get back to normal life as quickly as possible? That is a difficult question, so hopefully there might be a few elements of this email that might help.
Podcast I’ve Been Listening To
On 7th May, Tony Robbins put together a panel of leading scientists, epidemiologists and doctors on the front line (including a Nobel prize winner) for his latest podcast. Whilst this mostly relates to the situation in the US rather than the UK, there is a lot to be learned that relates to COVID-19; how concerned we should be, who should be concerned and the best strategies to deal with it. It is long, but definitely worth a listen. You can find it here.
Boost Your Immune System
When I decided to take my health seriously back in 2011, I started taking wheatgrass and Omega 3 pretty much every morning. For the following 6 years or so, I stuck to this strategy and in that time, I picked up just 1 cough on a flight but not one other illness. After a while, I started to wonder whether it was other healthy aspects of my life that had stopped me picking up the regular bugs I had experienced before 2011, so I decided to drop both supplements.
What I noticed, 2 years later, was that I had started to pick up the odd bug again. So last summer I decided to restart taking wheatgrass and Omega 3 around 4 mornings a week. Since then I have been through the winter bug-free. This could of course be a coincidence, but the evidence for me is starting to look more compelling.
If there was ever a time to boost your immune system, it is now. If you want to add some wheatgrass to a smoothie at breakfast time, the most palatable and effective way to do this is with frozen sachets, which I buy here. The powder alternatives are like drinking soil and also offer far less nutrients.
What I’m Reading
I am interested in how fasting can improve your health, and so recently finished reading ‘The Fast 800: How to combine rapid weight loss and intermittent fasting for long-term health’ by Dr Michael Mosely. One thing you will learn from the podcast I mentioned above is that being overweight will definitely impact the affect COVID-19 has on you, and your likely recovery.
I am not a big diet book reader and didn’t read it in order to try and lose weight – but if that was my goal, this is the approach I would take. If ever there was a good reason to get down to your flighting weight, it is to ensure you are in the best place possible to deal with an illness like COVID-19, as an example. You can buy it here.
Quote of the Week
“All the money in the world can’t buy you back good health.”
- Reba McEntire
Finance Theme I’ve Been Considering
With all this talk about health, I can’t help but think about what happens to our finances if we suffer a serious illness, or worse.
There are so many financial protection products out there, it can be horribly confusing, and some of them that just aren’t worth the paper they are written on as they probably won’t pay out in your moment of need. The most expensive insurance you’ll ever pay for is the one that doesn’t pay out! Being a simple person, I always try to think about this in its simplest form, and I think it this boils down to 2 questions:
- What capital would be needed if I died (e.g. repaying debt) or was ill (e.g. for recovery)?
- What income would be needed if I died (e.g. to support those dependent on me) or was ill (e.g. to pay the bills)?
If you give those 2 questions thought, and model through each scenario, you need to be sure that you have each base covered. If you aren’t sure whether you have or not, we are more than happy to help.