The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson,

and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

My seven favorite practices for engineering the good life.

I've never strayed from my basic assertion that the primal blueprint is about attaining hedonism congruent with good health.

So when I talk about engineering the good life, I'm not sacrificing health or wellness or fitness.

I reject the assumption that enjoying one's self implies degrading one's health. That's

often true, but it doesn't have to be. That said, engineering the good life often requires that you

sacrifice immediate pleasures for lasting ones. Engineering the good life is about removing

negative inputs as much as it is about adding positive ones.

If a negative input confers momentary pleasure, removing it will remove some pleasure, but add more.

Let's dig right into my seven favorite ways to engineer the good life.

Number one, I honor my circadian rhythm.

Everyone and everything is vying to extend the hours we spend a week.

And I mean that literally, Netflix's founder recently named Sleep as their prime competition.

It's tempting to check your email one last time,

watch one more episode of the latest streaming sensation, or weighed into a futile

online argument before bed. I know how important sleep is, yet I'm still drawn to sacrifice it

for a little momentary pleasure. The pleasure I get from consistently sleeping well trumps anything

that would disrupt it.

Sleeping well boosts memory, helps you retain new skills, and keeps the brain healthy.

When you go to bed at the right time, you're more likely to wake up without needing an alarm,

so your day doesn't start with the jarring blast of cortisol.

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