Dr. Oz’s 7-Minute Challenge: Taking Time For Your Wellbeing

At this year’s Global Spa & Wellness Summit, guests and delegates had the added bonus of getting to view an exclusive interview on the future of wellness with none other than Dr. Mehmet Oz. Dr. Oz, a true trailblazer and thought leader in the world of wellness, shared the importance of sleep, daily movement, and eating well for a balanced, healthy life. But what stuck with me most watching the interview back in our New York City offices was the challenge Dr. Oz proposed to the audience and one I think we should all propose to ourselves. He asked, “Are you willing to admit your life is so out of control, so crazy, that you can’t even make 7 minutes for yourself?”

Now, we can all agree, the holiday season is easily the most wonderful time of the year, and by wonderful I mean busy, hectic, stressful, and tiring. It’s a time we tend to put others before ourselves, we put sales over sleep, heft over health, and excess over exercise. But what if this year we all took the challenge? What if this year we made a pact to take 7 minutes, just 7 minutes, each day to focus on ourselves, on our wellness.

To give a great example, Dr. Oz told the audience about his 7 minute workout, one he does each morning without fail. “I get up in the morning,” he shared. “I touch my toes, I loosen my hips and my knees as I do it. Stretch my lower back out and then I do sun salutations – a series of very simple yoga poses and in between them I do push ups and sit ups. It only takes me 7 minutes.”

Another great way to incorporate 7 minutes of wellness into your daily routine is through meditation. Our Mindset expert Dr. Nina Smiley gave us 5 tips for finding time to meditate earlier this year which included the fact that anything can become an opportunity for mindfulness (hello, bedtime routine!) and even sent us a 60-second brief meditation to start our practice towards building mental muscle today!

Whether it’s a 7 minute phone call with an old friend or simply taking 7 minutes and not 7 seconds to sit down and have a healthy breakfast in the morning, I think we can all agree that we can take out 7 minutes each day during this hectic holiday season and focus on our wellness.

What can you do in 7 minutes to change your life for the better? Share your ideas in the comments!