I love how in the last stretch of completing something, sometimes my brain shuts down and goes 'Ehhh this is hard :(' and starts drawing a blank.

Like. Bro. We've got 90% of this done. Now I've gotta try and shove this recalcitrant piece of fatty meat across the finish line.

𝓗𝓸𝔀 𝓽𝓸 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓪 𝓗𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓽𝓱𝔂 𝓗𝓪𝓫𝓲𝓽

It’s common for many of us to procrastinate starting new health habits. There are a myriad of reasons why – it doesn’t seem like a good time (or you don’t have enough time), there’s a holiday or celebration coming up, it appears too difficult or stressful, your family or partner won’t get on board – but there are many health habits that don’t require an extreme amount of effort, time and financial resources.

Instead of looping through a cycle of punishing or restrictive diets, or detoxing after an extended period of gluttony, we’d like to throw an idea out there: what if you were able to maintain your health habits every day, all year round?

These health habits are straightforward, simple, inexpensive and don’t subscribe to any fad diet philosophy. They are attainable, which means you can start practising them after you finish reading this post and won’t get sick of them by next week.

After all, today is the day!

Water is fundamental to our health. It keeps us hydrated, aids digestion and elimination, keeps our skin and joints supple, and ferries nutrients, proteins, hormones and chemical signals around the body. Confused about the best type of water to drink? We have all of the options to consider.

We like to start the day by drinking a cup of water with a tablespoon of lemon juice to help to kickstart digestion, encourage detoxification and alkalize the body. Plus, since some of us struggle to drink water throughout the day, coming right out of the gate with a full glass of water hydrates you and will perhaps encourage you to drink more of it!

Use fresh-squeezed lemon juice (not juice from a lemon-shaped bottle, please) to receive the best health benefits. If you find it a pain to cut and squeeze your lemons every morning, juice several lemons at once and keep the juice in a jar in the fridge. It will last for about a week, and you can use the juice in other recipes like salad dressings or other condiments.

If you need help remembering to drink water during the day, fill up a bunch of water bottles or set a reminder on your phone.

Our bodies aren’t meant to sit in front of computers all day. We’re sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but using your thumbs on your smartphone doesn’t count as a workout.

While working up a sweat is great for detoxification (remember, our skin is our largest elimination organ), gentle exercise every day helps to improve circulation, bring oxygen to our tissues and lift our mood. Try walking, cycling, rebounding, dancing, or hatha yoga to get yourself moving.

Green foods – including dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, seaweeds, green herbs like parsley, mint, dill and more – are jam-packed with a plethora of nutrients that support our overall health.

Antioxidants, healthy fats, fibre, anti-cancer compounds, amino acids, anti-inflammatory phytochemicals, blood-building minerals – green-pigmented foods are like taking a multivitamin. With the wide variety of green foods to choose from, you’ll be sure to find at least a few that you can rotate throughout your meals daily.

Alright, you don’t need to rise and shine with the sun every morning, but waking up at a decent (early) hour is essential for optimal health. The human body and brain have evolved to follow a circadian rhythm that helps to regulate sleep and wake patterns that are set by our natural environment, specifically the rising and setting of the sun. This natural circadian rhythm also corresponds with the body’s natural cortisol levels: a hormone well known for its role in our metabolism, immune system, stress response and energy levels. In a balanced state, cortisol levels start to rise 2-3 hours after the onset of sleep and continue to rise into the early morning helping to wake us. Cortisol levels in the body will then peak around 8:30 am or 9:00 am and continue to gradually decline as the day continues. Therefore, following the body’s natural circadian rhythm and cortisol levels is a simple way to maximize energy levels, productivity and overall health.

Putting away your phone (tablet or computer) might seem like a simple challenge, but being connected 24/7 can have many negative side effects on our health. The average person has eight social media accounts and spends at least 2 hours and 24 minutes checking their phone every day. Just think of all the time that could be spent outside, moving, exercising, or cooking! This constant digital connection can increase perceived stress and constant exposure to blue light has been shown to suppress the production of the body’s natural melatonin production, which is integral for the body’s natural circadian rhythm and sleep patterns. So instead of cruising the web until the wee hours of the morning, turn off your phone at least one hour before bed and allow yourself to relax and unwind without the digital stress.

Creating a healthy lifestyle does not mean that you need to pull a 180 or make sweeping changes all at once. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. By focusing on small healthy daily habits and creating ones that you truly enjoy, you are more likely to maintain them for the long-term. 

Developing healthy daily habits will take time, dedication and determination, but that does not mean they can’t be done. Remember, you’re not in a race. Instead, avoid extreme solutions, take your time and work on individual healthy habits to help ensure that your health and success are long-lasting.

Santorini Review

Santorini is an incredible abstract strategy game. Yes, it rehashes the old truism ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ as its tagline, and its artstyle is rife with chibi-style Greco-Roman mythical figures, but trust me, every part of this syncretic approach works. Abstracts have a habit of punching well above their weight, and this one will twist your brain in knots. On a 5x5 grid, players take turns moving figures and placing buildings, step by step, the iconic ivory-and-azur builds of the island Santorini. It is a skillful game with a rich, cutesy presentation. 

The core ruleset is wicked simple, but also stays true to abstraction as a genre by offering a robust challenge. Santorini’s masterstroke is to offer an additional layer that gives each player a unique power which breaks the normal scheme of things. Gaia has extra pieces for example, and Artemis can move twice. The game is satisfying even in its powerless, vanilla form, so mixing in these variations makes for a truly infinite challenge. In this, it reminds me of Cosmic Encounter as much as Chess. Both are helter-skelter in its variety, regimental in core procedure. Each turn a piece must move (either adjacently or orthogonally) and then build nearby. A piece can move at most one step up but can ‘jump’ any steps down. The game ends when one player advances their piece to the third level from a lower level. It can also, more rarely, end because the other player cannot make a legal move with either of their pieces. That’s the gist of it, barring certain edge-cases and power interactions.

I had forgotten how rusty I’d become and upon firing up the app for the first time I proceeded to lose to the temptingly-named ‘novice’ AI. A few times. This game has teeth, folks, and its bots will trounce the unwary. Re-learning good play was like revisiting Chess, or perhaps Cinco Paus. Certain patterns and rules of thumb emerge. The center is vitally important, one generally seeks the upper ground to gain the upper hand, and initial placements are almost never around the periphery of the board. It’s difficult to generalize beyond this, but after just a few thoughtful short play sessions, Santorini creates something like a flow state: pure challenge, effortless concentration. Can’t say I’m a grandmaster or that these bouts of time spent were filled with earth-shattering insights, but I can vouch that the flow means it’s an inviting game to lose yourself in.

It’s also an inviting game to learn. The system and rules are so simple as to appear plain, indeed many people bounce off abstracts because they seem ‘dull’, but Santorini has plenty of spirit and style. It’s a good game for kids to pick up, because it has a low barrier to entry and some whimsy to its presentation. Said whimsy belies an absolutely ironclad, zero-variance mental slugfest. ‘For kids’ means the highest praise, cool enough to attract fickle attention but clever enough to hold up over ages. There’s a metagame and deeper level of nuance behind power matchups, but the standard ruleset is extremely refined and punishing. The game has opted for a series of short videos to illustrate bite-sized examples of the game. There’s a mother-lode one for how to play, and a bunch of spin-offs which each explain a specific character’s power. The game also has really clean-cut iconography, with suggestive visual icons for a power above the ruletext and an eminently readable board. The color saturation and architecturally distinct levels make parsing the field at a glance a breeze. So, yeah, it’s polished.

It also has a decent online multiplayer, though here some features are lacking. You find matches either through random pair-ups, or by invitation only with a code. There is an ELO-based ranking system but no official ranked mode. Last but not least, all online multiplayer uses a 45 second turn timer. Usually that’s enough to speed things along without undue pressure, but one would hope that exceptions for particularly vexing turns were possible. 

The single player ‘Odyssey’ mode is very fun, structured as a series of God-specific challenges with optional trophies to unlock. Your playstyle and strategic headspace probably has favorite gods and least favorite foes, so if nothing else, Odyssey is a nice way to sample the field. It’s kinda like Splendor’s challenge mode, creating artificial constraints the player has to solve creatively. The game isn’t drowning in content but it is dripping with replayability. Do note that more than a few of the gods are premium DLC, and that their respective parts of ‘Odyssey’ are also locked.

Here at Pocket Tactics, we’re deeply fond of our board game adaptations. Usually they’re a long time coming, and when they arrive they breathe new life into an older, august title. Well, even among these, Santorini is special. For one, its history stretches back a little further than most. It had pretty much become an obscure collector’s item, praised but unknown, from its 2004 self-published version until its 2016 Kickstarter gave it a new art style and high production values, along with widespread, cost-efficient distribution. The game has always been very good, only lately to have been given the just distinction of becoming well-known. It’s even better than most other adaptations, partially because the game is simple, so plenty of attention has been given to bells-and-whistles. There are sophisticated animations, unique effects for each god power, and a full-throated soundtrack. 

Santorini is a picturesque dream of an island, and the game with its namesake is as good as it gets. It marries perfectly two distinct brands of appeal, the wildly imaginative to the coldly analytical. Enough beauty and wit are in this one to keep Santorini on a gamer’s homepage and daily rotation for a good while. Great for abstract die-hards, excellent for those just getting their toes wet. The DLC pricing is a smidge high, and the lack of asynchronous multiplayer a little disheartening, but these are trifling drawbacks to a paragon of what abstract board games can be.

Santorini Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/