My daily routine As I'm reaching my 40s, I'm starting to become more conscious about my health and quality of life, making tiny but impactful long term improvements.

As I’m reaching my 40s, I’m starting to become more conscious about my health and quality of life, making tiny but impactful long term improvements.

Specially as a dad and considering that people that I love are getting old and start having chronic health problems. I don’t want this to happen to me so I’ve developed a tiny framework of improvements that need to be so easy to accomplish, that I can’t say No.

The pillars of major impact I can target that will provide me with the most bang for buck are:

1. 🍏 Nutrition
2. 💪 Fitness
3. 🧠 Sleep

To each one I’ve made just tiny changes and slightly adapted my daily routine and lifestyle, I do not want to change too much or put too much effort into it so that I can easily accomplish all of them and, more importantly, keep them up in the long run. Consistency is key. I’d rather have some tiny improvement for years than a couple perfect weeks and end up giving up.

Please always consult your doctor, I’ve done my own research for my current situation. Adapt quantities to your weight, age, etc.

🍏 Nutrition

Supplements

I’ve researched quite a bit on the hundreds of supplements that are available nowadays and narrowed it down to these (with daily amounts for myself, please do your research):

🌞 Morning

1. Omega 3
   Heart and brain health, inflamation (1,000–2,000 mg).
2. Rhodiola Rosea
   Improves stress resilience and reduces fatigue (200-400mg).
3. L-Theanine
   Promotes calm focus without sedation (100-200mg).
4. Creatine
   Increases strength, muscle performance, and cognitive energy (3-5g).
   (As a powder I add to my shake)
5. Vitamin D3
   Supports immunity, mood, hormone health, and calcium regulation (1,000-2,000 IU).
6. Multi-vitamin
   Covers nutritional gaps and prevents minor deficiencies.
   (with Vitamin K2 in MK-7 form)
   

🌚 Night

1. Magnesium
   Improves sleep quality, reduces stress, and supports muscle/nerve function (300-400mg).
   

If I need to recover I’ll add:

• Collagen (morning)
  Supports skin elasticity, joint health, and connective tissue repair (10-15g).
  Some people don’t recommend it due to it being broken down when digested. I will probably not buy any more once I run out of it.
• Glutamine (morning)
  For faster recovery after an injury or hard training (2.5g).
• Ashwagandha (night)
  For stressful periods, but no more than 2-month straight (300-600mg).

Breakfast

I’ve also replaced my ham & cheese sandwich breakfast with a shake.

Here’s my shake recipe, in order of how I add the ingredients so that it mixes correctly and nothing gets stuck on the glass. Use a good big blender, not a bullet-like type. It ends up being around 1-1.1 liters (about three glasses) which sounds like a lot but it’s drinkable with a thick straw as I prepare breakfast for the family and do the morning chores, hydrates a lot and keeps my hunger away for the full morning.

• 🥛 400-500ml Water
  • or Oat milk or Cow milk, sometimes a Yogurt too
• 🫒 tbsp Olive oil
  • or 🥑 1/2 Avocado
• 🍶 tbsp Apple vinegar
  • or 🍋 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 🍫 tsp Cocoa powder
• 🥜 tbsp Chia seeds
• 🥜 tbsp Flax seeds
• 🌰 Handful Walnuts
• 🌰 Handful Almonds
• 🌰 Handful Hazelnuts
  • sometimes other seeds too (pumpkin, sunflower…)
• 🍏 1 Apple
• 🍓 1 or 2 extra pieces of Seasonal fruit
• 🥒 1/3 Cucumber
• 🥕 1/2 Carrot
• 🥬 block of Spinach (I buy frozen Spinach blocks so a bag lasts for weeks)
• 💪 cup of Protein powder
• 🥣 4g Creatine monohydrate

Use a powerful blender (something like this) and let it blend for a nice 1-2 minutes so that all chunks disappear and it’s enjoyable to drink, it sucks to encounter bits and pieces while chugging 3 glasses of this.

Also, wash all fruits and veggies but do not peel them, eat the whole fruit except for Apples, remove the seeds as they contain trace cyanogenic compounds.

I usually prepare these “dry packs” on Sundays so every morning I just need to drop it into the glass, chop some veggies/fruits and get going.

Macronutrient Breakdown

Benefits for each ingredient

• 💧 Water: Hydration (around 500ml which may sound a lot but it’s always a good excuse to drink more water).
  If I want a creamier/sweeter shake I’ll sometimes replace it with
  • 🥛 Oat milk: Hydration with some fiber, low fat. Fortified versions add B12, D, calcium.
  • 🐮 Yogurt: Good protein, probiotics, calcium. Adds a nice texture, will add it if I haven’t had cheese or dairy for a few days, so my gut biome keeps digesting lactose.
• 🍋 Lemon Juice: Vitamin C, supports iron absorption, antioxidant effects.
• 🍶 Apple Vinegar: based on the research of Jessi Inchauspé, it helps reduce glucose and insulin spikes by ~30% while also helps reduce visceral fat and cholesterol. I personally choose Apple vinegar for taste, since other types of vinegars are stronger and pair worse with the fruits/veggies.
• 🍫 Cocoa Powder: High in polyphenols (antioxidants), may improve blood flow, mood-boosting compounds (e.g. theobromine).
• 🥜 Chia Seeds: High in omega-3s, fiber, protein, and antioxidants. Supports heart and digestive health.
• 🥜 Flax Seeds: Excellent ALA (omega-3), lignans (antioxidants), fiber. May help reduce cholesterol.
• 🌰 Walnuts: Very high in omega-3s (plant-based), anti-inflammatory, may support brain health.
• 🌰 Almonds: Rich in vitamin E, magnesium, healthy fats, and fiber.
• 🌰 Hazelnuts: High in vitamin E, folate, heart-healthy fats, and antioxidants.
• 🍏 Green Apple: Good fiber (especially with skin), vitamin C, polyphenols.
• 🍓 Seasonal Fruit: Adds natural sugars, fiber, vitamin C, and antioxidants (varies by fruit).
• 🥑 Avocado: Rich in monounsaturated fats, potassium, fiber, lutein (eye health).
• 🥒 Cucumber: Hydrating, mild antioxidants, supports digestion.
• 🥕 Carrot: Rich in beta-carotene (vitamin A precursor), fiber, antioxidants.
• 🥬 Spinach: High in iron, magnesium, folate, and phytonutrients like lutein.
• 🥣 Creatine: Supports muscle energy (ATP), strength gains, and cognition.
• 🥣 Glutamine: An amino acid that supports gut health, muscle recovery, and immune function.

Lunch and Dinner

I just enjoy life with a few rules that I can break at any time, no pressure:

• Avoid carb-heavy dinner (pasta and pizza better for lunch)
• Avoid carb-heavy foods two days in a row
• No sugar-heavy foods two days in a row (chocolate croissant, cookies, etc)
• No heavily processed foods (hot dogs, etc)
• High quality ingredients (i.e. I can eat burgers but they must be good quality)
• Avoid getting stuffed every meal (once in a while is fine)
• Skip a meal every now and then to let my body rest and digest waste (intermittent fasting)

This allows me to eat burgers, pizza, yummy salads, etc. As long as they are high quality and not processed, I don’t stress too much since I take enough fiber, have an active life and don’t overdo on calorie intake.

💪 Fitness

When I was in my 20s I used to train a lot, as in 1-2 hours per day. But nowadays I don’t have the time and don’t want to look like a bodybuilder. I just want to be healthy, strong and look decently good.

“I want to be able to carry my kids in my arms for as many years as they want me to—not because I’m not strong enough.”

Duration: 5-15 minutes per day

My workout lasts between 5 and 15 minutes every day, I’ve made a promise to myself to not skip more than one day in a row, so if I’m feeling sick or very tired I’ll commit to just 5 minutes. If I’m motivated I’ll extend it to 15 or whatever, the key here is to do something every day so as to not lose the routine.

Exercises: push + pull + legs + stretching

I do 1-2 sets, adding weight to fail at max 5-7 reps each exercise. So as intense as I can while also adding some variation to them every day:

• Pull ups with a 20-25kg weight on my hip.
• Dumbbell incline press at a 30° angle to target Chest+Shoulders+Triceps.
• Squats with a weight.
• During the day I’ll get any excuse to do some passive cardio and extra strength exercises such as parking away from my destination to walk 10 minutes, use the stairs instead of the elevator, carry shopping bags instead of using the cart, etc.
• Some stretching every now and then.

It doesn’t look like much, but the key here is being consistent and not have any excuse to skip it. So I’ve kept it super attainable. I usually don’t have rest days, I know it’s not ideal but I do them whenever my body tells me to, otherwise I prioritize keeping my promise and following the routine.

When I travel, I bring with me a light elastic band and tailor my workout to do some calisthenics and pull/pushes with the band.

🧠 Sleep

This one is the toughest one to adapt but there’s been simple tiny little tweaks:

• Drink only one cup of coffee between 8-9am (2-3 hours after waking up to wait for adenosine to lower and cortisol levels to rise), which helps a lot in falling asleep. If I really need an afternoon coffee I’ll just take a decaf.
• Installed some smart home appliances that dim lights to a red hue 2 hours before sleep time, same for the TV which is connected to a Linux PC that enables a red filter and lowers brightness gradually.
• Monitor my sleep with a smartwatch which helps me understand how I sleep and how can I improve it, specially my REM.
• Monitor room temperature to make improvements and keep it cool during the whole night.

---

References

Some of my references and people that I follow for advice are Bryan Johnson and Andrew Huberman, they made me value, prioritize and enjoy a healthy lifestyle and I can’t thank them enough. Check out their podcasts and videos, and specially Bryan’s Blueprint Protocol and Andrew Huberman’s morning protocol for some inspiration. The information above and my daily routine is inspired by it, but adapted to be easier to follow and not so strict.