Mosley’s (mostly) invaluable health tips

The untimely death of British fitness and diet guru Dr. Michael Mosley at the age of 67 while hiking in Greece in June, apparently from heat stroke, robs us of a science-based authority on what makes us healthy and happy.

Dr. Mosley was a science-based authority on health and happiness

I never met him but often read his columns and Dr Mosley's health tips were, in my humble opinion, right on the money nearly all the time. The only issue I had with his advice was on the eternally fraught issue of diet because he advocated an intake of so few calories for overweight people that it was surely unsustainable. I mean, how many people can get through the day on less than 1000 calories without feeling deprived, unhappy and tired?

But nobody’s right all the time so let’s start with a list of where Dr. Mosley was correct. Britain’s Daily Telegraph listed 11 of his top tips.

• Brush your teeth while standing on one leg: It’s great advice but I keep on forgetting. But why do it in the first place? The answer is that this simple action activates a whole lot of balancing muscles that are widely neglected. You don’t have to wait to clean your teeth though – this can be done on and off during the day.

  
  

• Take your time over food: If you watch overweight people’s eating habits, as I’m afraid I do, they usually throw the food down almost in desperation. Quantity over quality -- they can’t possibly be enjoying it. Mosley said slow eating helps reduce weight because it triggers hormones in the brain that help you feel full.

  
  

• Exercise intermittently in five to ten-minute bursts during the day: Dr. Mosley believed the health benefits are as good as 30 minutes non-stop. This regime may be fine for people who just want to stay healthy, such as short stings of walking on toes or heels or climbing stairs two at a time. But intermittent exercises don’t cut it for competitive athletes and especially not for triathletes who need longer steady-paced sessions as well. However intermittent work-outs are superb for the office-bound. My daughter, for instance, never takes the lift.

• Stress is good: Well, Dr. Mosley didn’t quite say that – I did. But he does say that public speaking or mental arithmetic under pressure “enhances cognitive and physical performance with wide-ranging effects on the brain, body, cardio and immune systems”. It’s like bench-pressing the brain.

  
  

• Sing a lot, even if you’ve got a voice like a steam engine: Dr. Mosley maintained singing boosts the endocannabinoids in the brain, whatever they are, and reduces the stress hormone cortisol. You can apparently get a similar effect from reading a poem. As a regular reader of poetry, I am convinced this is correct. And although I can’t sing, I get a high from playing the piano.

  
  

• Eat dark chocolate: I particularly like this one. Two squares a day are good for blood pressure and the heart.

  
  

• Volunteering makes you live longer: Dr. Mosley didn’t quite go that far, but I do. He says volunteering boosts self-esteem and a sense of well-being. It’s all part of “being nice”, which is surely another invaluable nugget of advice. Here we’re straying into ethics which is indivisible from considerations of lifestyle.

  
  

• Take a cold shower: No thanks, but I know it’s good for blood pressure, inflammations, muscle recovery and general well-being. I have unhappy memories of freezing swims in triathlons held in Scotland’s lochs. Having said that, I will occasionally walk into ice-cold rivers to heal the legs after a particularly long run.