I used to think a good mood just happened—and if it didn’t, I was stuck. I’d wake up, scan my internal state, and let that decide my day. Good mood? Lace up for a run, make a nice breakfast, text a friend. Low mood? Skip the workout, dive straight into email, postpone plans “until I feel like it.” It took a lot of trial and error to realize I had the sequence backwards. Moving my body, proper food, a catch-up with a friend—those are the levers that create the good mood. Now, I try make this my default cycle: Eat well → feel better → have energy to work Move my body → mood rises → relationships feel easier See friends → serotonin spikes → motivation returns Doesn’t mean it’s easy though. I fall back into the old cycle regularly. “I don’t have time to go for lunch today.” Or “I wasted too much time today so now I need to cancel dinner so I can catch up tonight.” Yet every single time I go for lunch and see a friend, even if it feels uncomfortable to step away from work, I come back feeling reset and refreshed. The molecule at the center of that loop is serotonin—our brain’s built-in signal for calm, contentment,...

In this article, we’re exploring a hugely underrated feature of our brain—our imagination—and how we can train ourselves to use it to get better at pretty much anything we want. One of the most remarkable features of our brain is that we can imagine things that aren’t real. It’s a wonderful capacity, one that comes with a price: Most of what we imagine is negatively skewed. Because of our brain’s negativity bias, we spend most of our time ruminating and catastrophising. We’re hardwired to be pessimistic. But instead of mindlessly sticking to these default settings, we can learn how to use our imagination in a way that’s intentional and productive, and works for us instead of against us. We do this through a practice called mental rehearsal, mental imagery or visualization, and it's one of the most valuable skills you can develop. As sports psychologist Jason Skelk says, “If you’re not visualizing on a regular basis, there’s no way you’re living up to your full potential.” A practice of visualization and simulation Mental rehearsal is the cognitive process of purposefully creating and simulating experiences in your mind. So sitting down with your eyes closed, you’re creating a vivid mental video where you’re engaging all of your senses...

My brain doesn’t do so well with chaos and uncertainty, and so it doesn’t help that I have an itch to move to a new country every few years. A couple of years in New York, a longer stint in Singapore and then, feeling the pull to be closer to home (Belgium), over to London. Just as we were settled in (Apartment - check! Billing address changed for all my online subscriptions - check!), my partner and I realize it’s not the right place for us. This felt incredibly disorientating. We just went through an entire moving process. So then where is the “right” place for us? Is there even such a thing? After a few months of inner turmoil and long walks talking about what matters to us, we decided to move to Lisbon. We have no social network here, no family. We don’t speak the language and can’t say we know much about the country. But something about the place just felt right, and we decided to trust that gut feeling this time. The months it took us to make the decision and pack up and move again were riddled with uncertainty and overwhelm. There’s so much admin to figure...

There’s a direct relationship between how much and how quickly we breathe, and the state of our nervous system and thus our physiological and mental health. We assume our body reflexively knows how much air it needs at all times, but seems like that is not the case. Our bodies have adapted to our modern lifestyles, which often involve chronic stress, sedentary habits, unhealthy diets, overheated homes, and lack of fitness. All of that has led to a culture of dysfunctional over-breathing, for some people up to 2 and 3 times the required amount. We breathe too much, too fast and often through the wrong hole. (An incredible book to read is Breath by James Nestor, a journalist who travelled the world to explore what went wrong with our breathing and how to fix it.) Studies that have explored breathing patterns have shown that most people breathe anywhere between 15-30 breaths per minute. These numbers probably don’t mean much until you know that the healthiest and most efficient way of breathing is only 5.5 breath cycles per minute. You can easily measure your own respiration rate if you’d like. Just set a timer for one minute and count the number of breath cycles. One breath cycle...

I feel my back pressed against the chair and the warmth of my feet on the hardwood floor. I focus on the slow rise and fall of my belly, controlling the movement of my diaphragm. Up...

Our bodies send us clear signals when we need a break. Fidgetiness, hunger, drowsiness, loss of focus. Mostly, we override them. We find artificial ways to pump up our energy: caffeine, sugary foods, and our body’s own stress hormones — adrenalin, norepinephrine, and cortisol. A much smarter way would be to work with something we all have at our disposal: Our ultradian rhythms. These rhythms exist in all of us, and we can leverage them as a way to engage in focused bouts of deep work. This is not just another productivity fad. It is a biological fact that we are optimized for focus and attention within these 90–120 minutes cycles. In his first Premium AMA, Stanford professor Andrew Huberman spoke at length about how he uses ultradian cycles to manage his day and best capture neuroplasticity (even on the weekends!). In this post, I describe everything I’ve learned about ultradian cycles, how they work and how I personally plan on applying this to my life (definitely not on the weekends!). The Science Behind Ultradian Rhythms Most of our body’s essential processes run on a 24-hour cycle called a ‘circadian rhythm’. Circadian = “about a day” On a coarse level, the circadian rhythm manages the transition between wakefulness and sleep. In addition, it...

Is there anything you wish you had learned more about in school? For me, without a doubt: Neuroplasticity. The incredible feature that allows our nervous system to change in response to experience. I’m convinced I would have approached studying and learning very differently (and appreciated my young, plastic brain a lot more!).     We’re Designed To Change Neuroplasticity is one of the most amazing yet underrated aspects of our biology. It's the biological equivalent of having a Growth Mindset: with hard work and good strategies, you can change the physical circuitry of your brain. Because here's the thing: All of us are born with a nervous system that isn’t just capable of change but is designed to change. This allows us to think differently, learn new things, forget painful experiences, and adapt to practically anything life throws at us. For a long time, it was assumed that only the young brain is plastic and can change. (Something about an old dog and new tricks?) But scientific research is now very clear: the adult brain is plastic. And that is the essence of the incredible breakthrough of neuroplasticity: your brain is not fixed. Instead, your brain can change in response to your experiences, thoughts, and actions. You can rewire your brain so new motor, cognitive and...

All of us are born with a nervous system that isn’t just capable of change but is designed to change. That is the essence of the incredible breakthrough of neuroplasticity: Your brain is not fixed. Instead, it changes in response to your experiences, thoughts, and actions. This allows you to think differently. Learn new skills. Forget painful experiences. And adapt to practically anything life throws at you. For a long time, it was assumed that only the young brain is plastic. (Something about an old dog and new tricks?) But scientific research is now undeniable: No matter how old you are, you can rewire your brain so new motor, cognitive and emotional skills are burned into the neural circuitry. The most widely accepted conclusion of current research in neuroscience is that of neuroplasticity: Our brains grow, change and adapt at all times in our lives. “Virtually everyone who studies the brain is astounded at how plastic it is.” (Kurt Fischer, Harvard Medical School)   The most underrated feature of your nervous system First, a quick note on how this works on a neurological level. Research has shown that consistently repeating an action leads to clear physical changes in the brain. Within our brains are billions upon billions of neurons, interconnected to form a complex set of...

Most sleep advice focuses on what you do at night. Sleep Systems focuses on what you do during the day—because that's where quality sleep is actually made or broken. Five weeks of live coaching, science-backed techniques, real data, and a small group to keep you accountable. Starting on May 4 until June 5, 2026: Private onboarding call before the program starts to discuss your sleep challenges, goals, and schedule. 5 weeks, two live sessions per week: Teaching on Tuesdays (60 min), breathwork practice + troubleshooting on Fridays (60 min). All sessions recorded. Breath and body-based practices throughout: breathwork, nervous system regulation, movement practices, nasal breathing, light and temperature inputs, and non-sleep deep rest. Practised live in sessions, with guided audio recordings from me for your daily practice (15–20 min/day) Your own progress tracker to log daily practices and see your improvement week by week. You'll leave with your personalised Sleep Systems Manual: your morning, daytime, and evening routines built around what actually works for your life. Small group for real-time coaching, personal feedback, and the kind of accountability that actually works. Early bird pricing: £400 / €470 / $550 Book a discovery call Who is this for? You’ve been working for 10–20 years. You've built...

If you've been beating yourself up lately because you can't focus “like you used to”… read this: Deep focus isn’t something you force. It’s something you protect. Now, what do I mean by that? It means prioritising sleep, building recovery into the day, and learning how to down-regulate your system instead of running it in high gear all the time. Especially as we get older… As we age, the brain doesn’t lose its ability to focus, but it does become less energetically efficient at doing so. Cognitive control tends to peak earlier in adulthood (between 27 and 36 years) and then decline. Over time, the brain becomes more conservative with how it spends its resources. So if you’re like me and you’re past that peak, don’t panic! This doesn’t mean a loss of intelligence, creativity, or depth. In fact, many higher-order skills improve with age. (I do genuinely feel wiser with a richer internal life than I did in my 20s 😉) It simply means that brute-force strategies that used to work (long hours, constant pressure, pushing through fatigue) now come with a much higher energy cost. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="407"] Image source: [Authors], “Li, Z., Petersen, I. T., Wang, L., Radua, J., Yang, G., & Liu, X. (2025). The...

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