Simon Nagel

November 09, 2014

Personal Prescription (Project 1)
After taking some time to do a self assessment on the current state of my health, I have come to the
conclusion that I am relatively healthy, especially when considering my health and lifestyle choices a
year ago. However, I still have many ways that I could improve my health and make healthier lifestyle
choices. Looking at how I was living one year ago, I see many things I was doing that were not positive
for my well being. I was partying regularly and drinking a lot of alcohol, I was not eating for nutritional
value, I was eating for taste and convenience, and I was very busy and stressed out about a lot of things
which was making it so that I wasn't exercising regularly. My sleep schedule was very messed up as
well. I had insomnia and wouldn't be able to sleep until four or five a.m. many nights and then would
often sleep in late. At the time I didn't realize that proper sleep was so crucial for one's health. I was
eating out a lot as well. I find eating out, although fun and easier than cooking yourself, you run the
risk of eating foods that you have no idea what the ingredients are that are being used, whether they're
genetically modified or not, whether they use organic ingredients, etc. It wasn't until I started running
into some health concerns and I found my Naturopath, Ann Boroch, author of the book The Candida
Cure, that I opened my eyes and saw just how off track my diet and lifestyle had become. She really
helped me get my life back on track and educated me on how I should be eating and treating my body
if I want to live a long, healthy life.
As I stated previously, I am currently living a relatively healthy and positive life. I try to eat
organic foods as much as possible, stay away from genetically modified organisms, get adequate
amounts of exercise, and get proper amounts of sleep. I sometimes find myself straying from the
healthy path, but when I notice this happening I do my best to get right back on track. A lot of times I
will be out with friends or at shows and I will end up drinking or eating some unhealthy food, but if
that happens I do my best to not stress about it and just enjoy myself then make sure that afterwards I
resume my healthy ways. Some of the ways that I still need to improve my health are that I need to
continue to work on my sleep schedule and I need to make sure I include adequate amounts of time in
my schedule in order to get proper exercise. Even though compared to a year ago my sleep pattern is
much better, there are still many nights when I am up very late, often because I have deadlines and
things that I need to complete, and then I end up sleeping in the next day and I really notice that it

messes with my hormones, mood, etc. As I stated before, I was never aware of exactly how important
proper rest was to one's health and overall well being until I began working with my Naturopath, Ann,
and she said that quality rest is one of the most important aspects of improving and maintaining one's
health. She taught me that people should be winding down and getting ready to sleep when the sun
starts to set and they should rise with the sun. This is very important for balancing one's hormones,
having energy throughout the day, etc. Since I am a musician that performs in bars and clubs a lot of
the time, my lifestyle regularly demands that I stay up late. This is okay to do on occasion, and of
course many times staying up late and getting little sleep in unavoidable, but my issue is that I form a
habit of staying up late. I am naturally a night person, I enjoy being awake at night, so for me it's
difficult a lot of the time to maintain my healthy sleep schedule. The other aspect of my life which I
must keep improving is making sure that I get regular exercise. Lately I have been doing a good job at
this. I have been hiking Runyon almost everyday and I try to dedicate one day of the week so that I can
go out to Malibu and swim in the ocean. Swimming in the ocean is my new favorite thing to do. I find
it's beneficial to my physical and spiritual dimensions. I've lived on the west coast my whole life so
have always been somewhat close to the ocean, but it hasn't been until recently that I've taken
advantage of that and actually started swimming. I find that swimming in the ocean is great exercise for
me and it really is a great way to get out of the city for a little bit, get back into nature, and just clear
my head. Ann said that I need to find activities that I enjoy, such as swimming in the ocean, and I need
to make time to do them. She explained to me that in today's world most people live stressful lives,
because of work, school, etc., and most people neglect making time to do things that they love and
activities that help them reconnect with nature and relieve some of the stress that they have building up.
She educated me that stress is worse for the body than anything else and when we don't learn to
manage stress it will eventually build up and manifest into something that could potentially be
devastating to one's health. I will be the first to admit that I am not good with dealing with stress. I
often let stress build up in my life and I will regulary dwell on things. I am trying nowadays to not
sweat the little things that I have no control over and take part in activities that will help me alleviate
stress and negativity. I understand that everyone has stress in their lives, and that stress is not
necessarily a bad thing all the time, I believe people need a certain amount of stress in their lives,
however I want to continue to learn different ways to deal with stress and how to keep it from having a
negative impact on my life. Aside from these two things, getting adequate sleep and exercise and
dealing with stress, I need to continue to strive to eat healthy, organic foods, stay away from products
which contain GMO's, not go overboard with drinking alcohol. Sustaining a healthy lifestyle is very
important to me because without one's health they have nothing. I understand that many times there are

circumstances which are out of one's control and many people get diseases and health issues which
they couldn't have prevented, but I believe that many of today's leading health issues can be prevented
and resolved with a healthy positive lifestyle, eating the right nourishing foods, and getting the right
amount of exercise.
Next I will talk about three goals I have for myself in regards to bettering my health and well
being. First off, I mentioned before that one of my favorite things to do is to go to Malibu and swim
because it helps me relieve stress and get good exercise. Currently I am managing to do this about once
every two weeks sometimes once a week for a period of time if I'm lucky and am able to really
manage my time well. My goal in the near future is to be able to go out to Malibu twice a week and
swim for a minimum of four hours each time. Once I am at the beach I usually end up swimming for
five or six hours, so that isn't an issue for me, the only issue is managing my time and schedule so that I
am able to fit trips to the beach in. Since I notice myself feeling less stressed and healthier when I go to
the ocean and swim, I need to make it a priority and treat it as important as any other aspect of my life.
I realize that once we get more into winter the weather may get a little less ideal for swimming as well,
so that's something I'll have to take into consideration. If I am unable to make it out to the beach one
week I will make sure I maintain a good hiking schedule at Runyon. The next goal I have is to keep my
alcohol consumption reduced. I don't want to quite drinking completely but I am going to attempt to
keep my drinking to a minimum and only when I am out with friends and on special occasions. A lot of
times it's difficult for me to keep my drinking down because when I am out on tour I am in the bar and
club scene regularly and it's really common to get free drinks, etc. I don't consider alcohol a problem in
my life, but just something I have to make sure I maintain and keep in a healthy range. Lastly, the third
aspect I want to improve upon, is I want to quit eating out as much and start cooking the majority of my
meals on my own. There are a few reasons why this is one of my goals. One, is it's cheaper than eating
out and will help me save some money, and two, when I eat out I do not know what the restaurants add
into their food. Even if it seems healthy they very well may use GMO products, add unhealthy
additives, etc.
Overall, my conclusion is that I currently live a healthy lifestyle compared to a lot of people, but
there are still many areas for improvement. Luckily, I feel I have a good understanding of the areas of
my life that need improvement and this will enable me to make necessary adjustments and changes to
those particular areas.