The 3 keys E.S.B are the missing link for any Get-Fit programs. They almost always get over looked, that’s strange when it’s obvious when looking at these areas in more depth at how essential they are. E.S.B stands for Eating Times, Sleeping and Breaks. These 3 areas are all part of preparation. The value of preparation is not given enough attention and is sometimes overlooked completely. You have heard the saying; “prepare to plan is planning to fail”, it’s so true with anything in life but especially in health. From sleep to diet, fitness, even the way we breath and what we think all involves our total health and well-being. Preparation is paramount, without preparation you have failed before you begin. Three areas to focus your preparation on are the following:

The 3 keys to Preparation
1. Eating Times - Get outta that vicious cycle you’re in
2. Sleeping - Sleep Debt with interest!
3. Breaks - Find out the short secret

Eating times
Keep regular. You need to eat more then three main meals, small snacks are the way to go. This will maintain your metabolism rate and keep your body from going into starvation mode which leads to craving sugar hits and other bad eating habits. Lets start with Breakfast which needs to be eaten as soon as possible after you wake up. If your like me and stay up late sometimes only to sleep in and get up at 9 or 10am then think twice before you do this next time as having breakfast late will mean your not hungry at lunch and will delay your eating times throughout the rest of the day. You will have a late dinner and the cycle will repeat yourself. We all know how hard it is to break a habit and get out of a vicious cycle, think of this quote for inspiration: “it is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom - Aristotle. Prepare by taking snacks to work to beat the cravings, you might then eat a little earlier at night and in turn get to bed earlier.

Sleeping
breaks and keep of the sugar drinks. Sleep Debt is Are you getting your 8 hours? This is a constant struggle form me, computers and a late night habit don’t site well for getting your essential 8 hours of daily sleep. I found that being constantly stimulated by looking at a screen for long periods of time knocks out your natural Circadian Rhythm, this is your bodies wakefulness pattern. If your body is constantly being stimulated for long periods of time without taking a break (and lots of Redbull) then you don’t notice your natural wakefulness patterns which put your body out of whack. Try and take regularaccumulated through not taking notice of your Circadian Rhythm, you can never make up for loss of sleep, you can’t sleep for 20h straight and make up a for a few days, sleep debt accumulates throughout your life and you will pay a price, it could be a micro-sleep when driving for a long periods. Keep your debt low and manage your sleep. Prepare by taking short breaks and being conscious of your Circadian Rhythm and sleep debt.

Breaks
We can only fully concentrate for short periods at a time, your body needs breaks. My online lifestyle is not conducive to taking short breaks, reading interesting Digg posts and other online habits make me get caught in the moment and time flys. It’s only until my head feels like it’s about to snap off my neck that ii decide i better take 5. If your body is not designed to concentrate for hours on end then it’s wise to work with your body and take regular breaks, you’ll be way more productive and be more motivated when you get back, you’ll also be more aware of your natural wake fullness patterns and get to bed when you should not at 3am when your back and neck have gone numb, seized up and totally packed it in. Prepare by forcing yourself to take a 1min break every 10min. Set your computer clock to display seconds and every 10 minutes take just one minute to stretch, look away from the screen, get up and get a drink of water, think about what you got down in the last 10 minutes. Do anything! just take a minute away from the screen. I bet you that you’ll be shocked at how quickly 10 minutes comes up and how much time you waste.

Get the 3 areas of ESB down and you will only notice a huge difference your level of fitness and well-being but your approach to life in general. The positive flow on effects can’t help but to be influence the other areas of your life.