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We caught up with Digital Editor, podcast-er and fitness influencer, Amy Lane (@wellness_ed) to discuss her greatest achievements, health habits and more!

 

My de-stress tool

“Pausing to put a space between me and the situation has been the biggest game changer in my career and relationship. A few big, deep breaths give me headspace, which allows me to respond rather than react to an email, request or daily life stress.”

 

My guilty pleasure

“I really enjoy getting into bed at 9 pm with a modern fiction that preferably, includes some kind of NYC love drama! I really like easy reads as they help me switch off rather than a book that asks more of my already overworked brain. I have no shame in choosing a book by its promise of love triangles and drama.

 

My desert island beauty product

“Tough one. This changes all the time. Right now it would have to be Charlotte Tilbury magic cream. I got this before my wedding and it soothes and peps up even the most stressed skin.”

 

My non-negotiable health habit

“Time off! A few years ago I held my iPhone more than I held hands with my husband and was forever “just catching up” on the work day while away. I was hustling hard to push WH forward and felt that I still needed to steer the ship even when I was at sea and the (very small) team were on land. Turns out, you don’t make a very good captain if you don’t let others take over from time to time. So these days, I give my brain and body the break it needs from a demanding job by deleting my outlook app when I go away. I’ve realised that I don’t need to know about every little thing that happens while I’m off – it’s more important that I know what’s happening now. ”

 

My evening ritual

“On Sunday afternoon we try to batch cook for the week so when we come in after work we can maximise our chill out time. This means my evenings are quite basic: come in from the office, heat up dinner, wash up the day’s Tupperware (I always seem to have so many tubs lingering around my rucksack) and then plonk myself on the sofa. Normally my SO watches the telly while I have one eye on my laptop so I can either reply to emails or scout for guests for my running podcast Well Far. I know I spend far too much time on technology (my screen reports tell me so) but it’s unavoidable when you have a digital career and digital side hustles. ”

 

My favourite workout right now

“Tough one. I’ve just come off the back of a marathon training cycle so I’m enjoying trying out a bunch of new workouts and exercising for the joy that’s in it not because a plan says so. That said, with summer coming I’m going to be embracing online at home workouts so I can do these in the shade in my garden. I’ve just subscribed to P Volve and I also use Peloton App too (these days they offer more than just spinning).

 

My biggest health hack

“Dialling down stress. Years ago, I used to wonder why I wasn’t seeing results in the gym or in my body composition and then I found out I was chronically stressed all the time. When I did some further digging it became clear that my unhealthy level of cortisol was wrecking my sleep, impacting my moods and was giving me brain fog. The result of all of this was stress eating or tiredness snacking and using caffeine as a crutch to get me through the day. I was somewhat in denial and hadn’t noticed any of these symptoms of being stressed. It took a frank conversation from a PT to explain that if I kept trying to increase the intensity of my workouts to out-train the symptoms of stress I was only going to end up more tired, stressed and injured. The same trainer schooled me in different methods of training and helped me understand how to exercise without stressing out my system more. At the same time, I put practices in place to help me better my manage day-to-day. It took around 18 months to really get myself back to a balanced place but I did it and now today when life gets stressful I know how to manage this and how to treat my body so it can cope not combust. ”

 

My greatest achievement

“A few years ago I did a sprint triathlon. Tough yes, but not that amazing considering how many people now do these. However, it was made more special to me as I only learned to swim properly the year before – as a child, I had two near-drowning experiences so from the age of 7 I wouldn’t put my face in the water. It took a 16-week adult swim course and many minutes spent blowing bubbles in a swimming pool to prove to myself that I’d be OK doing front crawl.”

 

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