Jean Galea

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Should You Switch to a Standing Desk?

Last updated: May 22, 20217 Comments

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For the last few years, I’ve been coming across articles extolling the benefits of standing desks. Due to being a digital nomad, however, I’ve found it difficult to actually get one and try it out. Finally, in our condo building in Chiang Mai (Thailand), I found the perfect place to experiment with standing desks.

This was the first experiment with working standing up. In Chiang Mai I got the opportunity to switch between a standing desk and a traditional seated desk in the same office.

Claimed Benefits of Standing Desks

Before I share my experience, let’s take a look at the claimed benefits of standing desks:

  • More energy
  • Improved posture
  • Reduced risk of diseases (cancer, diabetes)
  • Lower long-term mortality risk

Perhaps more worryingly is the fact that research has indicated that sitting is killing us, shortening our lifespans by up to 15 years. Sitting has also been referred to as the new smoking in terms of harmful effects.

Many people try to restore balance in their lives by sitting for six hours at work and then heading to the gym afterward, however, this does not seem to do the trick. Evidence suggests that the negative effects of extended sitting can’t be countered by brief bouts of strenuous exercise.

[Read more…]

Filed under: Health & Fitness

Foam Rolling for Myofascial Release

Last updated: November 14, 2020Leave a Comment

One of the important additions to my workout and fitness routines this year was the incorporation of a foam roller. I like to foam roll first thing in the morning after drinking my espresso and doing a 10-15 minute meditation.

Here’s a quick taster of what foam rolling can do:

  • Release trigger points and tight muscles, tendons and ligaments
  • Increase blood flow through your skin, fascia and muscles, thereby improving tissue quality and cellular function
  • Engage core muscles and build strength
  • Increase range of motion in your spine
  • Improve posture by strengthening your core

When foam rolling you are aiming for a myofascial release. The myofascial system is made up of all the muscles and fascia in your body. A fascia is a band or sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs.

For those of you who are visual learners, you can imagine your skin is like the rind of an orange. So, if your skin is the outer layer of the orange peel, the thicker, white, fibrous layer that lies almost immediately beneath the peel would be your fascia. Just as that thicker layer completely surrounds the inside of the orange, the same holds true to your fascia. We all have a layer of fascia directly beneath the skin that completely envelopes the body, giving another protective barrier between the skin and the deeper soft tissue.

For various reasons, including inactivity, repetitive motion and injuries, the fascia and underlying muscle tissue can bind together causing painful ‘knots’ or ‘trigger points’. Muscle binding will restrict movement, reduce flexibility and cause muscles to fire improperly during exercise.

Rolling out stretches muscles and tendons and releases the fascia. This increases blood flow and circulation to the soft tissues, allowing muscles to fire at peak efficiency during exercise.

When rolling or working on tight/sore muscles you will experience discomfort or pain. Think of it like the pain you get while stretching. It should be uncomfortable, but not unbearable, and when you are done it should feel better.

[Read more…]

Filed under: Health & Fitness, Padel

On Peak Performance

Last updated: April 05, 20243 Comments

This year I’ve been really challenging myself to improve at something specific: padel. This involved lots of training, practice matches and competition. Throughout this journey, I have, perhaps inevitably, become very interested in peak performance and how to achieve it.

We usually associate peak performance with top athletes, musicians or even successful business people. The first question is whether these successful people have completely different genetic makeups than the rest of the population. In short, are they uniquely gifted? Are they so different from the rest of us that we stand no chance?

As I dug into literature and observed the best athletes in padel as well as speaking to various top coaches, the surprising discovery is that in most cases, it’s not a case of superior genetics that leads to peak performance. Hence, we can all reach a state of peak performance.

Here are some of the most important realizations I’ve made this year.

The people who do extraordinary things have figured out ways to be very progressive about improvement and structure their life around getting better. No matter what the field, the most effective approaches to improving performance all follow a single set of general principles that can be termed “deliberate practice”.

Psychology is a key element in achieving success in any discipline. I had mostly been focusing on the physical, tactical and technical aspects of improving my padel game, before I realized that the way I think was perhaps a bigger factor in determining whether I win or lose any given game. Apart from being aware of the mind’s importance and training it, you need to get the right guidance from sports psychologists who can identify your blocks and point you in the right direction.

To achieve peak performance in sport you need to achieve a state of flow. Those who practice mindfulness have an increased attention and concentration, enhanced performance in hostile contexts, respond better to stress, have better parenting skills, improved sleep, enhanced mood, decrease in fatigue, and so on. These effects are all proven through various studies. The practice of mindfulness can help in achieving the laser focus needed for peak performance. The minimum effective dose is around 8 minutes a day and an optimal dose is 20 minutes a day. I’ve dabbled in meditation at various stages of my life, but I can’t say I’ve done it that rigorously on a daily basis. I’ll definitely be adding this as one of my goals for 2018.

I’ve also learned that success in any discipline is not something you can achieve alone. You need a team behind you. That might be the support of your spouse, friends and family at amateur levels, and involve a whole team (technical, physical, tactical coaches and psychologist, physio) for the elite athletes.

It is very important to write down your guiding principles or philosophy for life. What are you doing? This is a question you need to answer alone and be very clear about. This will be your guiding principle every day and will give you the right framework to be able to make short-term objectives and be able to evaluate your progress.

You also need to set aside time (15-20 minutes a day) to visualize and experience yourself performing at the highest level. You also need to split the visualization exercise in this way: 85% kicking ass and 15% of the time being in compromised positions and figuring out how to get out of that. That will help you overcome bad situations where your competitor has an upper edge in competition and you have to dig yourself out of a hole.

In padel, I’ve seen clearly that we kind of have two inner selves. One, the “I,” seems to give instructions; the other, “myself,” seems to perform the action. Then “I” returns with an evaluation of the action. For clarity let’s call the “teller” Self 1 and the “doer” Self 2. Within each player, the kind of relationship that exists between Self 1 and Self 2 is the prime factor in determining one’s ability to translate his knowledge of technique into effective action. In other words, the key to better tennis – or better anything – lies in improving the relationship between the conscious teller, Self 1, and the unconscious, automatic doer, Self 2.

Another important element that we tend to overlook is proper recovery after training or competition. It’s very important to get your sleep patterns right, have the right nutrition and top that off with a proper psychological state of mind.

These are the best resources I’ve found and totally recommend if you’re interested in learning about peak performance:

  • Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise
  • Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success
  • The Inner Game of Tennis
  • The Sports Gene
  • Finding Mastery podcast
  • Elite man podcast – Interview with Dr Michael Gervais
  • Tennis psychology podcast
  • Ultimate guide to deliberate practice

What is clear from my experience in life so far, is that we have incredible resources inside of us and it’s just a matter of accessing those resources in order to achieve the best version of ourselves. Practicing this is a life’s work and is one of the most important reasons why I wake up enthusiastic about life every morning.

Hope that helps you achieve peak performance in whatever you want to focus on. If you have any experiences or resources to share, please leave a comment below.

Filed under: Health & Fitness, Padel

My Favourite Contact Lenses

Last updated: March 21, 2023Leave a Comment

I’ve been wearing contacts for a long time, and even though I considered Lasik, I’ve stuck with lenses for now. After trying many brands and types, I’ve settled on the following three as my current favourites:

Acuvue Oasys with Hydraluxe

These are my absolute favourite lenses. They are daily lenses, so you pop them in your eyes in the morning and throw them away in the evening before you head to bed. I sometimes re-use them for an extra day or two if I only wear them for a sports event (1-2 hours), but in general I stick to the daily use and throw away cycle.

The comfort I get from these lenses is unparalleled, and I don’t even feel like I’m wearing lenses. They really shine in sporting events when I need absolute accuracy and clarity. In winter when the air is dryer I have problems with other lenses as my eyes dry up and I consequently lose clarity with my lenses. Not so with the Oasys brand.


Power Range:  +8.00 to -12.00
Base Curve:  8.5 and 9.0 in all power options
Diameter: 14.3
Material:  Silicone Hydrogel/ senofilcon A  with 121 Dk/t (oxygen transmissibility)

The ACUVUE OASYS Daily Contact Lenses with HydraLuxe Technology has a Dk/t of 121, and water content of 38%. The secret to the comfort of these lenses can be found within the HydraLuxe Technology
which is tear infused. This integrates key tear components aside from water alone, and because it is not blink released, works consistently all day long.

Dailies Total One

These are also very good daily lenses and many people report that they feel they are more comfortable than the Acuvue Oasys ones. However so far I definitely prefer the Oasys lenses (perhaps they are a better fit for my eye shape), so when I have the choice I go for those. If for some reason I can’t get them, the Dailies Total One would be the lenses I fall back to.

Alcon’s Dailies Total 1 was the first and only water gradient contact lens manufactured, with a silicone core, sandwiched between an outer and inner layer of an ultrasoft hydrophilic surface.

These contact lenses are comprised of over 80% water content and are extremely breathable with a Dk/t of 156. With these contact lenses, you get both comfort and breathability, which addresses two major concerns for all contact lens wearers; wearability, and maintaining health of the ocular surface.

Air Optic Night & Day

These are monthly extended wear lenses which means that you can wear them for a maximum of one month without the need to remove them. Most eye specialists prefer dailies as its easier to avoid infections in this way, but some people do have the need for extended wear lenses, and these are very comfortable indeed.

I’ve been using them for many years, although I like to remove them before going to bed as a precaution. Nowadays I prefer the Acuvue Oasys Dailies, but I still keep a pack of these around just in case I feel like switching to them for a while.

Other Lenses I Tried

Bausch & Lomb Biotrue

These were not a good fit for me, they felt very flimsy and my vision was not right, especially at night. Definitely can’t use these regularly.

Which are your favorite contact lenses?

Filed under: Health & Fitness

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