These days, “optimising your health” can start to feel like a full-time job.

Scroll through social media and you’re bombarded with routines and protocols: 5 am workouts, journaling, supplement stacks, cold plunges, glucose tracking, wearable tech… It’s a firehose of information. And if you’re not doing all of it, you might feel like you’re falling behind.

But after more than a decade of helping clients to successfully transform their health and fitness, I’ve seen a different truth: better health doesn’t require perfection, complexity, or the latest biohacks. In fact, chasing those things often has a steep opportunity cost. It can make people more stressed, more confused - and no healthier.

In this article, I’m unpacking three of the most common myths about ‘optimised health’ - and showing you a simpler, more sustainable way forward.

How much do we really need to do to be well?

And what happens when the pursuit of health starts to undermine the life it’s supposed to improve?

The Myths and Realities of Optimising Your Health

Over the years, I’ve had countless conversations with people who thought they were failing because they couldn’t stick to a picture-perfect routine - or because they couldn’t afford temperature-regulating mattresses, glucose monitors, or walls of red light.

The truth is, many people are measuring themselves against a version of health that’s unrealistic, unsustainable, and ultimately unnecessary.

Let’s break down three of the most common myths I hear - and what’s actually true for most people who want to look, feel, and function at their best.

Myth 1: “The basics aren’t enough.”

Reality: The simple stuff works best — when you actually stick with it.

There’s a growing belief that getting healthy requires the latest trends - cold plunges, 5am morning routines, biohacking gadgets, and high-end supplements. These things may have a place if they support your foundation. But they won’t do much on their own.

In reality, it’s the basics that move the needle:

Regular movement
Intentional exercise
Nourishing whole foods
Quality sleep
Stress management
Social connection

These aren’t flashy, but they’re incredibly effective - when done consistently.

You don’t need an infrared sauna or a ketone meter. You need habits you can stick to. And when you’re consistently covering the essentials - even 80% of the time - you’re already 95% as “optimised” as you’ll likely ever be.

Chasing the final 5% often won’t make a noticeable difference to how you feel or function. But it will cost you time, energy, money - and often, peace of mind.

Myth 2: “If some is good, then more must be better.”

Reality: There’s a point where ‘more’ actually works against you.

It’s easy to assume that if something’s good for you, then more of it must be even better. More workouts, stricter diets, tougher routines - more, more, more.

But I’ve seen time and time again how trying to do everything at once - intense training, rigid meal plans, cutting out entire food groups, chasing multiple goals - quickly leads to overwhelm, fatigue, and failure.

There’s a law of diminishing returns when it comes to health. Pushing too hard can:

Increase your risk of injury, burnout, or disordered eating
Make healthy habits harder to sustain because the process becomes too stressful
Reduce your overall quality of life - and that’s a key part of health too

A good example? Sleep tracking. I’ve worked with clients who became so fixated on “perfecting” their sleep - checking the data, analysing every stat - that the stress of trying to sleep better actually made their sleep worse. What started as a helpful tool turned into a source of anxiety. Net loss.

Health isn’t just about how clean your food is or how often you train. It’s about how you feel, how you think, your relationships, your energy, your ability to enjoy your life. And that matters more than many people realise.

Research shows that people with high levels of happiness and life satisfaction live up to 10 years longer than those with lower well-being.

Effort matters - no question. But once you’re hitting the fundamentals with solid consistency, adding more complexity doesn’t necessarily make things better. In fact, it might do the opposite.

Myth 3: “Cutting-edge strategies offer big benefits.”

Reality: Most advanced methods are overhyped, under-tested, and often unnecessary.

Let’s say you could somehow do it all - the supplements, the trackers, the cold plunge, the 5am protocols - without burning out. Wouldn’t that guarantee better health?

Not necessarily.

Many of the strategies pushed by online “experts” sound promising, but the science behind them is often weak. Much of it is:

Based on short-term, observational studies
Tested only in animals or very small human groups
Lacking long-term, real-world evidence

That doesn’t mean it’s all bad. But it does mean you should be cautious about building your health strategy on trendy methods.

One image I often share with clients is this:

Optimising health isn’t like building a concrete structure. It’s more like walking across a sand dune. Every step - a new diet, supplement, or training method - shifts the terrain beneath you. Your body is constantly adjusting to internal and external inputs. It’s not static. It’s a dynamic, responsive system that requires careful, adaptive management.

And if you haven’t nailed the basics yet - consistent movement, nourishing foods, sleep, stress management - then chasing advanced strategies is like putting high-performance tyres on a car with no engine.

Some of these “next level” tools even backfire:

Certain supplements can interfere with medications
Intense protocols can lead to obsession or disordered thinking
Complex routines can add more stress than benefit

For some people, trying to stick to a 10-step morning routine does more damage than good - not because the tools are bad, but because they’d have just been better off getting an extra hour of sleep.

Master the fundamentals. Then, maybe explore the edges. But always ask:

“Does this enhance my life - or just add more noise?”

Taking Action: The Most Effective Health Habits

If your goal is to reduce the risk of chronic disease, maintain energy, and stay strong and capable as you age, where should you actually focus?

Start with the basics. They’re powerful - and they work.

The catch? Most people aren’t doing them consistently.

Many fall short on key habits like movement, nutrition, and sleep. And when you also consider things like managing stress, avoiding smoking, and keeping alcohol in check - very few people are actually covering all the essentials.

Let’s put that in perspective:

Fibre intake: Only 9% of UK adults eat the recommended 30g per day
Strength training: Just 24% of women and 34% of men meet NHS guidelines (2x per week minimum)
Physical activity: The average UK adult walks just 3,000–4,000 steps/day, far below the often-recommended 10,000
Sleep: The average UK adult gets under 6.5 hours/night, short of the recommended 7–9 hours
Overall movement: Only 5% of English adults meet both aerobic and strength activity guidelines

There’s massive opportunity here. Not in hacks or gadgets - but in building a lifestyle around the simple, proven things that actually work.

Final Thoughts

Health doesn’t have to be extreme to be effective.

It doesn’t have to be complicated to be powerful.

And it shouldn’t come at the cost of your time, peace of mind, or ability to enjoy life.

So the next time you feel like you’re not doing “enough,” take a step back. If you’re consistently showing up for the basics - movement, food, sleep, stress, connection - you’re already doing far more than most. And chances are, you’re already closer to your potential than you realise.

The Truth About “Optimised” Health: 3 Myths That Keep You Stuck