#278 How to Transform Your Lifestyle for Optimum Health, Happiness and Vitality with Tony Riddle

<p>What does it mean to be a thriving human in the 21st century? The way we currently live is very different from the way humans have lived for the bulk of our evolution. As humanity has evolved and developed technologies to make us more comfortable, many of us have lost our instinctive connection to nature and this has had profound consequences on our physical and mental well-being. So what can we do about this? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot. My guest today is Tony Riddle. Tony is an ultra-endurance athlete and goes by the name of the natural lifestylist. He has spent the last decade developing and refining a robust way of life based upon the principles of a natural lifestyle. He's hosted retreats and workshops, where he has taught thousands of people around the world to live more naturally.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Tony has now written his very first book, <a href="https://amzn.to/3agBNTS" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Be More Human: How to Transform your Lifestyle for Optimum Health, Happiness and Vitality</em></a><em>.</em> The beauty of Tony's natural lifestyle philosophy is its simplicity, rather than a long list of things to incorporate into your busy life, it's actually all about stripping back and simplifying; removing what's not serving us in order to get back to a natural state of well-being. A good way to start is to learn how to ‘down-regulate’ – to calm the fight-or-flight system that’s switched on when we’re under chronic stress. It can be as easy as a minute or two of breathing, exhaling for longer than you inhale. Or a few moments spent in nature.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>But he also wants us to experiment with discomfort and inconvenience, antidotes to modern life that will keep our muscles and mind from atrophy. We talk about the benefits of cold immersion and some simple ways in which we can start to bring this into our lives.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We chat about the importance of good quality sleep and why we all may not need the mythical eight hours. Tony describes some posture-enhancin