Yesterday I shared some thoughts about travel… particularly air travel, and here’s an important follow-up. After flying, I stepped on the scales and saw +4 kg. Was it the creamy creamy Guinness in Europe, was it the xmas pudding, was it lack of self discipline?!?!? NO!!! Rapid weight changes are rarely “fat gain”. They’re almost always physiology doing what physiology does…especially when flying. Long periods of sitting, cabin pressure, disrupted sleep, higher sod

Returning Home After Travel: A Simple Re-entry Protocol for Leaders

Many leaders still see travel, connection, and rest as a pause from performance. Something to be “earned” after the work is done. But in reality, these moments are often what restore the very systems that allow us to lead well in the first place.

🧠I listened to an episode of The Peter Attia Drive  this week… https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peter-attia-drive/id1400828889?i=1000743770594  and I couldn’t stop thinking about the mothers and parents in my world 🌏  Not in a dramatic way, but more in a this-matters-and-we-don’t-talk-about-it-enough  way. Women’s health isn’t something that suddenly matters later in life. It’s something that’s quietly shaped across decades. Especially during the years when women a

Most leaders I work with believe recovery only happens when the diary is empty. No meetings. No emails. No noise. But this week, walking through a snow-covered Paris, the lesson felt different. Recovery isn’t the absence of life…it’s the presence of the right inputs.

Behaviour change rarely fails because people don’t care. It fails because the system makes the right behaviour too hard to sustain. What just happened  🧪💊 Novo Nordisk  has received FDA approval for the first oral GLP-1 medication for obesity . At first glance, this looks like a small pharmaceutical update, but in reality, it’s a powerful lesson in behaviour change and system design. GLP-1 receptor agonists work by influencing appetite regulation in the brain and gut. They

There’s a growing narrative online that any  movement is enough. It’s well-intentioned…but incomplete. Here’s the reframe 👇 Light movement absolutely matters. It supports mental health, glucose regulation, and basic daily function. But when we talk about cardiovascular resilience, metabolic health, and long-term risk reduction , intensity plays a unique role. 🧠 What the science actually suggests Large observational datasets show that vigorous physical activity is associated

Most leaders I work with don’t fail because they lack motivation. They fail because they aim for too much, too fast… Let’s reframe that.

Full inboxes. Big expectations. Quiet pressure to make this year count. Here’s the reframe I’m sharing with leaders this week. The best years aren’t launched with intensity, they’re built with intention. January doesn’t need grand declarations or heroic routines…it needs rhythm. What the science keeps reminding us 👇 Behaviour change research shows that small, repeatable actions are far more likely to stick than ambitious resets (Lally et al., 2010 - https://psycnet.apa.org/r

A 2025 narrative review in Sports Medicine challenged the broad claim that Zone 2 is the optimal intensity for improving mitochondrial capacity and fat oxidation in the general population (Storoschuk et al., 2025- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-025-02261-y). They argue that a big chunk of the Zone 2 hype comes from observing elite endurance athletes… who train huge volumes. For the rest of us, the evidence suggests higher intensities (above Zone 2) may be

We often assume that loneliness is the real risk to brain health…that how you feel  about connection matters most. The neuroscience is quietly saying otherwise and with Xmas nearly on us🎅it’s a great time to reach out and reconnect with people and start the change TODAY! Reframe A major misconception is that as long as someone doesn’t feel  lonely, they’re protected.But social connection isn’t just emotional… it’s behavioural. And behaviour is what the brain responds to. Wha

We often assume that better decisions come from more effort…More hours…More thinking…More grit. In reality, sustained decision quality depends far more on recovery  than effort. Here’s the reframe 👇 Your brain is a biological system, not a spreadsheet…and like any system, it degrades under continuous load. 🪫 The science is very clear. 🧪 What the research shows Decision-making draws heavily on the prefrontal cortex. This region is highly sensitive to fatigue, stress and sle

Many high performers assume recovery has to be BIG to be worth it...a day off, a holiday, a full reset. But the reality (and the opportunity) is smaller…the leaders who sustain the longest don’t just work hard. They recover more often and in deliberate ways.

I’ve always believed that one of the highest compliments in work is when someone you respect and admire doesn’t just see  your work…but actively wants to bring you in  to help their people thrive. Receiving this testimonial genuinely means a great deal to me. 🎯 From Elite Sport to Corporate Athletes Over the past two decades, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside elite performers …from Formula 1 drivers to Olympians. What has become increasingly clear is that the same

Hot off the back of running three sessions  for Innovation Bay’s Inspire 2024 , and still glowing from the energy, conversations, and genuine human connection, I wanted to share a piece of research I read while sitting in the airport on the way home. It stopped me in my tracks…not because it was radical, but because it confirmed something deeply familiar . 🎯 Looking Forward by Looking Back Throughout my keynote, I made the case that the future of health and performance is ac

That’s the question I asked during my keynote at the Drive Against Depression (DAD) Summer Drive Day  this weekend. 🚗💨 It was the perfect mix of stunning roads, great company, and meaningful conversations  about mental health, movement, and how we manage our energy day to day. 🌿☀️ What became clear very quickly is that most people don’t feel burnt out overnight … They feel quietly drained , without really knowing why. 🔋 The Energy Audit: Where Is Your Battery Going? Durin

Few things erode longevity and quality of life  as profoundly as obesity and metabolic dysfunction. It doesn’t just increase disease risk…it accelerates biological ageing , fuels nearly every chronic condition we treat, and is one of the key differences  between Australia and the world’s longest-lived populations. This is not a fringe issue. It is one of the most powerful levers we have for improving healthspan , not just lifespan. 🧠🫀 🎯 Why Obesity Matters More Than We Adm

The science says the opposite. 🧠 Relaxation is an active physiological state , not the absence of activity. Your nervous system is constantly shifting between: 🤺 sympathetic “fight or flight” 🧘🏻‍♀️ parasympathetic “rest and digest” And you don’t drift into calm by accident, you have to create the conditions for safety . 🌱 🧩 What actually helps us switch off (according to the research): 🔹 Focused calm beats stillness States of focused attention, such as meditation, are

Alzheimer’s disease remains one of the most challenging conditions of our time, affecting millions of people and putting immeasurable strain on families, health systems and communities. But new research is helping us understand the disease in far more detail, offering fresh hope for innovative treatments. 🌿🔬 Recent findings shed light on the remarkable behaviour of glial cells  — the brain’s lesser-known but deeply influential support cells. These discoveries reveal how spe

Stress, health and human connection are deeply intertwined. Loneliness isn’t just an emotion… it’s a physiological state that affects mood, immune function, cardiovascular risk and even long-term cognitive health. 🌿🧠 A recent study from Dr Jana Lieberz at the University Hospital Bonn and Prof Dirk Scheele at Ruhr University Bochum explores whether oxytocin, often called the “cuddle hormone,” can support people navigating chronic loneliness. Their findings offer a compelling