Warning Signs

---

Life has a funny way of derailing us from our initial course. When we’re young, we’re ambitious, driven, health conscious, and well read. But, as time passes and responsibilities pile up one after the next, we find ourselves somewhere in life without really even knowing how we got there.

This often happens because life overwhelms us and we forget to keep ourselves accountable for the choices we make, and our choices are what shape our lives. Sometimes we just go with what’s in front of us, without really questioning decisions in the context of our overall goals, values, and priorities.

We tend to neglect our nutrition, sleep, social activities, and overall happiness in the pursuit of something seemingly more important (that, ironically, we call happiness or success). But in that pursuit, we can easily forget what matters most: how are our choices shaping our lives? In other words, if we keep living the way we currently are, where would we be 5, 10, 20 years from now?

The warning signs you need to watch out for:

1. There’s no enjoyment in your life

This one is a biggie, but we often put it on the backburner for years, even decades while pursuing ‘more important things’, and to a point, this is admirable. Sometimes we have no choice but to push through difficult periods and build something for ourselves. However, the fallacy of this approach is that we often let life slip by and one day, we wake up and realise that we hate almost every aspect of our lives. This could be a big contributor to the midlife crisis.

Ask yourself: “Am I enjoying my life?” If the question is no, why not take action to change that? For example:

• Spend more time with loved ones
• Go for a walk with your spouse
• Take the kids to see something
• Go for a family bike ride
• Take a trip to a foreign country and explore

Set aside time each week for at least one enjoyable activity such as going to the beach, the cinema, a theatre, a concert, or something else. Or take up a hobby, be it crafting, painting, writing, collecting, or reading.

2. You are in social isolation

Humans are social creatures; it’s in our DNA. Up until a century or two ago, if you didn’t play well with others, your chances of surviving were much slimmer as hunting, building, planting and harvesting crops were all group activities. If you tried to live in isolation, you’d have a very difficult time. However, in today’s world, we have it easy. Think about it: you can probably spend a good chunk of your waking hours not talking to anyone at all and you would be completely fine.

All you really need to do is earn enough money and you can set your life up quite well. It’s important, however, to socialize with other people on a daily basis. Social isolation can lead to loneliness, depression, fear of others, low self-esteem, and anxiety (1, 2, 3).

3. You are not sleeping well

Getting good quality sleep is just as important as everything else that you do. In fact, sleep deprivation directly impacts your performance, brain function, and hormones (1, 2, 3, 4), as well as contributing to a range of other health problems (1, 2, 3). Even if you didn’t check these references, you know this to be true. You know just how bad you feel after just one night of poor sleep. String together enough of these nights and health complications inevitably come.

Getting enough sleep has been shown to improve cognitive function, help us eat less, feel more energized for exercise, and be healthier overall (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

The general recommendation for adults is to sleep between 7 and 9 hours. Some people can cope just fine with 7 or fewer, where others need a minimum of 8 to feel good. You need to find your functional range and stick by it.