Early to bed and early to rise makes a (person) healthy, wealthy and wise.  Founding father Benjamin Franklin popularized this saying and there is much truth to it.  But, also a lot missing.

Here, I'll share the five pillars you need to follow to thrive, and tell you how you can hack these behaviors to be healthy, wealthy and wise.

First up is sleep.  Sleep is foundational to thriving.  A lack of sleep inhibits cognition and impairs social-emotional behaviors. Just five days of impaired sleep can cut your IQ by 15 points, degrade decision-making, and turn you into a unmitigated jerk.  Chronic sleep loss is also associated with an increased risk of dementias, including Alzheimer's disease.  I'm a high energy guy and can get away with a few hours of sleep, but I'm convinced by the accumulated research showing that sleep is essential for brain health.  I now try to get 7-8 hours a night.  I'm happier and I think a nicer person because of this. 

If you sleep well, you are more likely to follow pillar number two: exercise.  Ben Franklin taught himself to swim and swam regularly at a time when few people had this skill.  He also believed in morning "air baths" in which he would do light exercise as soon as he woke up. While Franklin did both of these naked, you might want to put on clothes so the neighbors don't complain.  People who exercise in the morning are much more likely to exercise regularly.  

Here's what I do: As soon as I roll out of bed, I put 16 ounces of fresh coffee in a carafe, put on a hat and coat, and walk my neighborhood for two miles. Every morning.  Unless that is there is a really big storm.  I put on an audiobook, enjoy watching the sun rise, and get blood and oxygen into my brain.  When I return home, I am energized and ready for my day and I have also hydrated myself after an overnight fast. Just 20 minutes of daily exercise will reduce your risk of dying by 20% and the reduction is greater if you exercise more (I also lift weights every other day).  By the way, coffee does not dehydrate you, it is mostly water, so have a few cups.  In fact, a moderate amount of caffeine is good for your brain, for example, reducing the risk of dementias by about 1% every year.  Morning exercise can also affect your chronotype, shifting you towards being an early bird if you are not one already.  Research shows that morning people get more done than night owls.  

When you sleep well and exercise, you set yourself up to follow pillar number three: diet. Vigorous exercise reduces food cravings.  Franklin followed a simple rule: If you find yourself too thin, eat more; If you find yourself rotund, eat less; If you find yourself in good health, eat the same amount.  Best practice is to eat a mostly plant-based diet with 4-6 ounces of lean protein a day for adults.  Avoid caloric snacks by simply not buying them.  I also use small bowls.  I enjoy ice cream and will have a scoop after dinner but I put it into a small bowl to practice portion control.  At the same time, you have to enjoy life, so eat out, especially with friends.  Nevertheless, eating at home not only saves money (I told you the five pillars would make you wealthy!), but enables you to control portion sizes and fat content.  I recently ordered a Moroccan Salad at California Pizza Kitchen and was bragging to my children about my healthy choice compared to their pizzas until they looked up the fat content of the salad: 50 grams!  That's more than half of the US FDA daily recommend amount so I cancelled the salad and ordered a cheese pizza with 14 grams of fat.   

Let's move on to pillar four: A rich social network is necessary to thrive. At age 21, Benjamin Franklin already understood that he would be successful and happy if he had a group of friends who were doing interesting things and could challenge him intellectually.  He formed a 12-person "junto" (Latin for "to join") and they met Friday nights at a Philadelphia tavern.  Recent research from Oxford University revealed that 50% of people's happiness is due to the quality of their social network as I have discussed previously.  I formed my own "junto" by organizing a weekly happy hour at a craft brewery with a select group of friends.  I will sometimes prepare topics to discuss with them or at other times just let the conversation flow. This is fun, challenging, and strengthens social connections. 

My published research has shown that people who thrive, that is, those with consistently positive moods and high energy, get six or more neurologically-meaningful Key Moments a day. My colleagues and I at Immersion Neuroscience created the SIX app, which runs continuously all day, and identifies the time and place in which users have high-value Key Moments.  Just to be clear: SIX captures brain data every second and our published research mathematically identified what a Key Moment means for the brain.  With SIX there are no interruptions, and no weird questions.  Rather, SIX privately measures what your brain loves doing and who you love to do it with.

The data show that 80% of Key Moments are social. The science supports Franklin. If I climb the hill behind my house tomorrow during my morning my walk and watch the sun rise, that could be a Key Moment for me.  But, if I do this with a friend and we enjoy it together, the social experience is much more likely to be a Key Moment.  The human brain is anatomically unique in our need for social-emotional connections in order to thrive.  SIX's neurotechnology shows users their most valuable connections every day so they can do more of what helps them thrive.

Here's the key point: Share SIX with a friend so you have a friend joining you on the journey to thriving.  Share SIX with several friends and supercharge this effect.  Letting others see how many Key Moments you are having, and vice-versa, powerfully improves social connections by sharing an objective measure of emotional fitness with friends. This is the best and easiest way to support each other. The SIX app also allows you to send emojis to your friends so they know you care about them and will support them right when they need it.  Benjamin Franklin would approve!

I have very modest goals in life: I am working to get 1 billion people to use the free SIX app to measure and improve emotional health.  SIX's trained AI assistant shows users how to build their emotional fitness with personalized advice so that everyone can be happier, healthier, and wealthier.  

The SIX app is free, so download it today and gain the advantage you need to enjoy a longer life by sleeping well, exercising, eating well, and having a valuable set of social connections.  My latest book, The Little Book of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Living Better, was inspired by Benjamin Franklin and gives readers 150 scientifically-valid activities that will improve social relationships. Doing this while using the SIX app will prove objectively that you are thriving.  

(Did you notice I left out the fifth pillar of thriving?  That one deserves a blog all on its own, so stay tuned for that.