Late last year, my wife and I decided to move to Los Angeles. We’d both lived there prior to the pandemic and, when we finally visited again, we found ourselves yearning for the city — and the people in it.
This got me thinking about the influence of friends and family on my life. After all, here I was, making a pretty big life decision based on a desire to reunite with people I had missed over the last several years. How else am I being influenced? And how am I influencing others?
Reciprocal Influence
The easiest place to see social influence in my life is probably also the most obvious: my relationship with my wife. Her support of my health journey has made it far easier for me to maintain my health habits, like fasting through breakfast and eating dinner on the early side. In fact, my habits ultimately helped my wife to improve her own health and well-being. She discovered that by eating dinner earlier, she’s able to sleep better at night (a finding that I’ve been delighted to learn is not just anecdotal but backed by research).
As my wife focused more on getting better sleep, I did, too. I’m a data guy, so I dutifully checked my Oura ring every morning to see how my previous night of sleep had gone. I’d try to make tweaks, but I wasn’t seeing a big difference.
Then, our team started developing new features for Zero, and I got to test them out. Suddenly, I wasn’t just looking at the nuances of one night of sleep; with the Loop, I could zoom out and see my sleep patterns across days, weeks, even months. Why weren’t my micro adjustments making a difference? Because in the past ten days, I’d only gotten a full 7 hours of sleep three times. I needed more sleep. Period.
The New Zero
This is what the new Zero does: It helps you see macro trends in your health habits — namely Nutrition, Activity, Sleep, and Restoration. And then, once you’ve evaluated your starting points, Zero helps you set goals and achieve them.
With Zero, I’m thinking about sleep totally differently than I did before. My goal now is straightforward: to get 7 hours of sleep as many nights in a row as I can. I know this will make me feel better — our science team has written about this before, and, as I’ve tracked my mood in Zero, I can see the trend. More sleep means a happier me.
We’re All Connnected
Of course, I don’t live in a vacuum; health habits like my bedtime aren’t always entirely up to me. That’s why my wife’s support is so crucial. It’s why the culture at Zero, where we respect work-life balance and practice what we preach, is so important. It’s why, when I click “Start Fasting” on my Timer, knowing there are millions of others doing the same helps me stay strong.
Who we’re surrounded by matters. These people influence our choices. They influence our health. And we influence theirs, too.
As we get this year underway, I encourage you to share Zero with a friend. (It can be as simple as sharing this article!) Help them get started on their health journey and let them keep you company on yours. Community-building is a big reason why we’ve kept so many of Zero’s features free: we want you to be able to bring friends, loved ones, coworkers, and anyone else in your life along for the ride. We’re better together.
- Tom’s January 2024 Update - January 8, 2024
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- Tom’s October Update - October 9, 2023
