Semi-skimmed Guinness / Eat, sleep, repeat / Nasal 5km / Cold play
February 2025
Semi-skimmed Guinness
If you love Guinness but are keen to moderate your alcohol intake, then this is for you.
I had my first "semi-skimmed" Guinness last week - a 50/50 split between full strength Guinness and Guinness 0.0, so about 2% ABV in total. It tasted delicious and was barely distinguishable from the full fat version. And for those who like to track biometrics, one pint had no adverse impact on my sleep or heart rate at all.
Thanks to Luke Hemsley for telling me about it and also to my eldest son Fergus (probably destined to be a Guinness drinker with a name like that) whose Nitro Surge device pours a great pint at home! Details here: https://nitrosurge.guinness.com/en-gb/. Will leave splitting the G to him and his mates...
(Over to Diageo now to make this an actual product..)
Eat, sleep, repeat
There are loads of adverts & articles these days promoting supplements or food products that "may" help your sleep. The truth of the science to date is that there is plenty of strong evidence about which foods & drinks to avoid as they can disrupt your sleep, but very little to suggest there is a "magic bullet" food or tablet that can guarantee you a good night's rest. This article from The Times last week is more balanced and sceptical than most.
In terms of things that have decent scientific & practical evidence to support them, focus on the following:
WHAT TO AVOID:
⚠️ Ultra-processed foods
⚠️ Sugar & refined carbs, so late-night snacks in front of the TV not great!
⚠️ Alcohol
⚠️ Caffeine too close to bedtime
⚠️ Eating too late - give yourself a good 3 hours to digest your food before bedtime.
⚠️ Too much liquid - a purely practical point of reducing need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night and then struggling to go back to sleep.
WHAT MAY HELP SLEEP
✳️ Balanced, healthy mix of predominantly whole foods
✳️ Warm milk before bed
✳️ Magnesium (glycinate) - check with your nutritionist first or speak to Caroline Davies
✳️ Cherry juice
The article mentions a whole load of other things - such as Valerian, Camomile, kiwi fruits and turkey - but rightly points out that the evidence to support them is pretty sketchy. They are either broadly linked to melatonin production (the hormone that regulates our sleepiness) or associated with general relaxation or reduced anxiety that might promote sleep. All fairly safe to try and you may get a placebo effect, but don't expect miracles...
(I am going to try the cherry juice shots as there are various studies suggesting they can aid recovery after exercise too.)
Tough at the top
Thank you to Kristjan Lepik of Arbonics for sharing his thoughts on our coaching work together and the challenges of being a Founder:
❓"Being a startup founder can be incredibly lonely. You have a vision that you are building towards, but usually you need to be early (which means that almost everyone else thinks you are wrong!). And maybe you are wrong? You are constantly fighting against time - quite often your financial runway is shorter than the time when your vision becomes a viable commercial reality.
Questions pile up: How much pressure should you put on your team? How do you balance a relentless sense of urgency with building a healthy culture? How do you show up as a great co-Founder while managing to wind yourself down amidst the chaos?
🗣There is always a right path, but I do not think you can reach that alone. You need outsiders who can sense-check your thoughts. Your co-founder and team can help to a degree, but there’s only a small circle of people you can really share your darkest worries with.
⚖️ For me, Steve has been a phenomenal balancer. I can bring him challenges of any depth, and he always offers a perspective or angle I hadn’t considered. After our catchups, I almost always feel a sense of peacefulness. The path becomes clearer, and it’s exciting to push forward with renewed focus."
Kristjan is based in Estonia, so we do all our sessions remotely. He puts his AirPods in and goes for a walk - often a very cold one! - while we talk through what is on his mind.
When I first started working with international clients, I wasn't sure how this would compare to a face-to-face coaching walk, but all the feedback from Kristjan and many others is that it works extremely well for them.
Nasal 5k
A little challenge for all you runners & joggers...can you run 5k while breathing solely through your nose? 🏃🏻♂️😤
I am just completing my training with Oxygen Advantage to add a Functional Breathing qualification to my coaching armoury (more on that next time) and they have recently launched a "Nasal 5K Challenge". It's a structured programme designed to help runners transition to nasal breathing while improving endurance, efficiency, and breathing control. The challenge gradually introduces nasal breathing across different training zones, following a step-by-step progression over 8 weeks.
Each week includes:
✔️ Running workouts (walk-run intervals, steady-state runs, and endurance sessions).
✔️ Breathing drills to improve CO₂ tolerance and control air hunger.
✔️ Progress tracking using the BOLT score to measure breathing efficiency.
You can sign up here to receive a weekly training guide and email with workout instructions, breathing drills, and progress tips. The program is self-paced, so you can adjust things based on how your body adapts to nasal breathing.
And if you want to find out more about the benefits of nose breathing for runners, Patrick McKeown (the founder of Oxygen Advantage) has done a deep-dive here: (https://oxygenadvantage.com/science/how-to-breathe-while-running/).
James Nestor's book "Breath" is also a great general read for anyone interested in this whole topic.
I can now do a decent 10k while nose breathing - it is more doable than you might think. Two other small insights from me:
1️⃣ If you get a dry or sore throat from running in cold weather, then definitely give this a try as the nose does a much better job of warming & moistening the air coming in than mouth breathing.
2️⃣ Many of you will be familiar with Zone 2 training, a relatively moderate level of exercise but a very powerful one and also the zone where you will generally burn more fat if that is one of your training goals. Nose breathing is a very simple measure for moderating your running intensity and helping you to stay within Zone 2 - most runners end up in higher zones almost without noticing.
Let me know how you get on...
Cold play
I was pleasantly surprised to discover this article on cold water immersion in last week's Economist (link for subscribers: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2025/01/31/are-ice-baths-good-for-you).
It rightly points out that there are very few clinical studies on the benefits of cold water and most of them are small in scale. Yet anyone I have come across who "dips" regularly tends to be pretty evangelical about the benefits they get from it, whether physical, psychological or just the satisfaction of having done a hard thing. And yes, that definitely includes me…
So if you are curious and want to find out more, here are a few good starting points:
🥶Susanna Søberg, PhD: https://soeberginstitute.com/pages/about
🥶Monk (makers of ice baths): https://discovermonk.com/blogs/blog/the-101-on-cold-water-therapy-benefits
🥶And, of course, Wim Hof: https://www.wimhofmethod.com/science. Not everyone's cup of tea, but the man who really brought this whole topic to more widespread attention.
And if you want to give it a try...
There are some cool new places like Arc which has recently opened in Canary Wharf (https://www.arc-community.com/canary-wharf) and combines ice baths with sauna. Let me know if you have been as I am planning to visit in the next couple of weeks.
Or we can incorporate it into one of my new "Personal Offsites" out in the Cotswolds, alongside two coaching sessions and a full physical & mental recharge. Full details here: https://stevedavies.coach/personal-offsite. Selected dates currently available in March, April & May.
Play at the home of cricket
Bring your team, showcase your skills, and battle for the Chance to Shine Street Cricket Championship at Lords. 🏏
🔥 Fast-paced and fun Street cricket format
🏆 Fantastic prizes & exclusive Gray-Nicolls kit
🍽️ Lord’s cricket tea in the iconic Media Centre
🏏 Play alongside legends Tymal Mills & Steven Finn
💎 Charity auction with incredible cricket experiences
Enjoy a unique opportunity and all in support of Chance to Shine’s mission to inspire young people through cricket.
📅 Date: 23rd April
📍 Venue: Lord’s Indoor School
⏳ Limited spaces available! Secure your team’s spot today.
👉 Email me on info@stevedavies.coach or Ellie.edwards@chancetoshine.org to book a spot for your corporate team. I would suggest booking early so that you get Tymal Mills on your team rather than having to face him…
Have a good weekend
Steve