By Will Rogers-Coltman
I like being up before everyone else. I put the kettle on, go in the plunge pool, and by the time the kettle鈥檚 boiled, I鈥檓 out. I have a cup of tea before anyone disturbs my peace. And by that, I mean my kids.
I try and keep my diet to an 80/20 thing. As long as 80 per cent of the time I鈥檓 eating well and looking after myself, then the other 20 per cent I allow myself to do as I please. I鈥檓 very healthy during the week, always three meals a day, always a good breakfast 鈥 eggs, avocado or protein.
I take a lot of supplements in the morning, probably about 20 a day. I take a mixture of functional mushrooms and food-state supplements because their bioavailability is very strong. I eat well, but I kind of feel like it鈥檚 my job to be healthy and well, and I can鈥檛 afford to get ill.
I do Pilates twice a week. It doesn鈥檛 feel like exercise, it鈥檚 more like a treatment. In my forties, it鈥檚 become more about posture, alignment and muscle strength.
I don鈥檛 wear any health tech throughout the day. I love an old-fashioned watch. I try to keep as much tech out of the room as possible. The more tech people have, the more analysis it promotes, which can rid patients of peace. We take Whoops off, 鈥渋Watches鈥 off 鈥 anything like that. Diagnostics have their place, but they can cause more analysis and anxiety. People can develop analysis paralysis from them.
During the week, the basics go a long way. I don鈥檛 drink coffee, I don鈥檛 drink alcohol and I get to bed early. Doing my job has made me value sleep too much to stay up late now. The mild look of terror on my wife鈥檚 face when she realises we鈥檝e stayed up past 11pm on a school night is pure comedy.
Meditation is the first thing that goes out the window when life gets busy. My ways of finding peace are more 1990s coded 鈥 watching a film with no distractions, reading fiction, putting records on, going for media that鈥檚 tangible. I鈥檓 a huge Stevie Wonder fan and was brought up in the golden age of hip-hop.
Fiction is really necessary in modern life. Self-help books can cause further analysis and comparison. Fiction whisks you off somewhere else and calms your endocrine system down. The more analysis we have, the more adrenaline we produce. Fiction helps with that. I like post-apocalyptic books 鈥 The Road by Cormac McCarthy 鈥 books that are about hope and beauty.
When I get home in the evening, I leave my phone in my briefcase for an hour. That鈥檚 really helped because when my kids are talking to me, I鈥檓 fully there.
I like a good non-alcoholic beer. There鈥檚 one called Impossibrew that has ashwagandha and L-theanine in it.
I get into bed about half an hour before I want to sleep. I put our clinic鈥檚 sleep patches on my temples. There鈥檚 an acupuncture point there that鈥檚 really good for calming and helping the cognitive side of things shut down. I recently bought an old-fashioned alarm clock and now my wife and I charge our phones downstairs. I think that helps.
I love podcasts. My friend Elizabeth Day has a lovely one called How to Fail. I鈥檝e recently been listening to The Telepathy Tapes 鈥 it鈥檚 fascinating, mind-bending.
The thing we usually leave until last in our health routine 鈥 the thing we find hardest to do 鈥 is often the thing we most need to do. Whether it鈥檚 giving up coffee, going to bed early, or letting go of addictive habits, that鈥檚 usually where the real change happens.
Ross J Barr has partnered with Sea Containers London to enhance guest wellbeing through his award-winning herbal wellness patches, now available at the hotel鈥檚 Agua spa and in-room minibars