I don't know about you, but I'm tired.
Not necessarily in a you should get your iron checked way. More in a there seem to be an awful lot of things I'm supposed to be doing to feel less tired way.
Get eight hours of sleep. But not just eight hours - good-quality eight hours. Get outside within ten minutes of waking. Don't look at your phone. Delay your coffee. Eat 30 plants a week. Get enough protein. And fibre. Walk 10,000 steps. Strength train. Stretch. Meditate. Journal. Breathe properly.
And whatever you do, don't stress about it all, cause unfortunately that's also terrible for you too.
So I was rather delighted to discover that the internet has come up with a new wellness philosophy: lazymaxxing.
Yes, we have apparently reached the stage where doing less requires its own name.
Lazymaxxing is essentially a backlash to “humanmaxxing” - the relentless pursuit of becoming the most optimised version of yourself. The thinking is simple: if there’s an easier way to do something that’s good for you, take it.
Less 5am ice bath. More finding the easiest way to do something that's actually good for you.
And I have to say, they may be onto something.
When did being healthy become so much admin?
You can't just go to sleep anymore. You need a sleep score, mouth tape, and loop earplugs.
You can't go for a walk without a watch congratulating you that you've hit your step goal.
Coffee now requires a working knowledge of cortisol.
Breakfast now comes with an agenda.
And then there's nutrition. Protein targets. Fibre targets. Thirty plants. Hydration. Electrolytes. Vitamins. Minerals. The ever-growing collection of bottles in the kitchen cupboard that you bought because somebody, somewhere, said you absolutely needed them.
Before you know it, looking after yourself starts to feel like a part-time job.
The problem isn't wanting to be healthy. It's the idea that we need to do everything, perfectly, all at once.
Which is why lazymaxxing might actually have a point.
What if we just made healthy easier?
Lazymaxxing isn't about giving up and spending the next six months horizontal eating biscuits. Although an afternoon is probably fine.
It's about asking a much more useful question:
What's the easiest version of this that I can actually stick to?
Buy the pre-chopped vegetables if it means you'll eat them.
Take the 20-minute walk instead of waiting for the magical day when you suddenly become someone who loves 6am HIIT.
Have the same breakfast three days in a row if it works.
And maybe stop feeling as though every healthy choice needs to be the perfect healthy choice.
Because the best habit on paper isn't necessarily the best one for your actual life.
Consistency beats complexity surprisingly often.
Maybe easier is better
There is an important distinction here. Lazymaxxing isn't about caring less about your health. It's about removing unnecessary effort from things that are already good for you.
Which, now that we think about it, has made us realise that combining the nutrients you'd otherwise be getting from a line-up of different supplements into just two personalised capsules might actually be peak lazymaxxing.
Who knew? Apparently we've been ahead of the curve this whole time.
Because really, why open seven bottles when you could open one?
And that's perhaps the bit of lazymaxxing worth keeping after the internet inevitably moves onto something else: make the good choice the easy choice.
There's something freeing about replacing optimal with realistic.
Frozen vegetables you actually eat have a distinct advantage over the beautiful fresh produce currently decomposing in your crisper drawer.
A 20-minute walk you enjoy beats the perfect workout you've been meaning to start since February.
Two capsules you're actually going to take beat an elaborate supplement routine you need a pill organiser and calendar reminder to maintain.
And sometimes going to bed because you're tired is a perfectly adequate sleep routine.
Are we done with optimisation?
Probably not.
There is something deeply funny about turning not optimising ourselves into another form of optimisation.
Give it six months and someone will inevitably launch a 12-week Lazymaxxing Method, complete with an app, a podcast and a waiting list.
We'll be told the optimal amount of laziness. Someone will create a Lazy Score. There'll be a wearable.
But perhaps the reason this slightly ridiculous trend has struck a chord is that a lot of us are craving the same thing: a little less pressure to do wellness perfectly.
You don't need to win at sleeping.
Your lunch doesn't need to be nutritionally flawless.
Missing your step count isn't a moral failing.
And you probably don't need to start your day opening seven different supplement bottles.
Sometimes looking after yourself can just be - easy!
Which, as it turns out, might be something we've been lazymaxxing all along.
Less faff. More living.
Ready to lazymaxx your supplement routine?
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Garcia, L., Pearce, M., Abbas, A., Mok, A., Strain, T., Ali, S., Crippa, A., Dempsey, P.C., Golubic, R., Kelly, P., Laird, Y., McNamara, E., Moore, S., de Sa, T.H., Smith, A.D., Wijndaele, K., Woodcock, J. and Brage, S. (2023) ‘Non-occupational physical activity and risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and mortality outcomes: a dose-response meta-analysis of large prospective studies’, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 57(15), pp. 979–989. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-105669.
Li, L., Pegg, R.B., Eitenmiller, R.R., Chun, J.Y. and Kerrihard, A.L. (2017) ‘Selected nutrient analyses of fresh, fresh-stored, and frozen fruits and vegetables’, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 59, pp. 8–17. doi: 10.1016/j.jfca.2017.02.002.
