Can the Mediterranean diet help protect your vision? Is weekend-only exercise enough to prevent chronic disease? And can just ten minutes outside really improve your mental health?

In this “Science You Can Use” episode of 1,000 Waking Minutes, Dr. Wendy Bazilian unpacks three studies that offer real-world, science-backed guidance. You'll learn how to support long-term eye health, reduce your disease risk with weekend workouts, and improve focus and mood with quick doses of nature. Three fresh studies that connect directly to how we spend our 1,000 waking minutes each day—through what we eat, how we move, and how we restore.

Whether you're a health enthusiast, a professional, or simply curious about living better (without doing everything perfectly), this episode offers useful insight, grounded science, and inspiration to build a well-lived day.

WE DISCUSS:

(4:20) Study 1: Mediterranean Diet & Vision — How eating for your eyes may help reduce the risk and slow the progression of macular degeneration

(12:15) Study 2: Weekend Warrior Wins — Why weekend-only workouts can still lower disease risk 

(16:58) Study 3: Nature’s Mental Boost — Just 10 minutes outdoors may improve mood, focus, and stress

(22:10) 3 Simple Shifts — What to try this week from the science we covered

(24:05) An invitation to share with others

CONNECT WITH WENDY:

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Visit the website: wendybazilian.com

Email me: 1KWM@wendybazilian.com

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Thank you for tuning in to 1,000 Waking Minutes and being part of this journey—together. A huge thank you to our amazing collaborators including our production and marketing teams, and Gabriela Escalante in particular. To the ultra-talented Beza for my theme music, my lifelong friend and artist Pearl Preis Photography and Design, to Danielle Ballantyne, Jen Nguyen, Joanna Powell, and of course, my family and everyone working tirelessly behind the scenes.

HEALTH DISCLAIMER:

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be considered individual medical or health advice. Always consult with your trusted healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or medical treatment.

REFERENCES:

Ahmadi, M. N., et al. (2024). Weekend Warrior Physical Activity Patterns and Risk of 200+ Diseases. Circulation, 151(15), 1063–1075. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.124.068669

Bettmann, J. E., et al. (2024). Nature Exposure, Even as Little as 10 Minutes, is Likely to Yield Short-Term Benefits for Adults with Mental Illness: A Meta Analysis. Ecopsychology. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2023.0063 

Merle, B. M. J., et al. (2025). The Mediterranean Diet and Age-Related Macular Degeneration Risk. Nutrients, 17(6), 1037. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/6/1037

Today, we're talking about how

the food on your plate

could help protect your eyesight,

why your weekend workouts may

be more powerful than you

thought, and how the beauty

and impact of just 10

minutes outside can shift your

mood and mindset.

This episode brings the science

and the strategy to your

waking minutes.

We experience 1,000 waking minutes

on average every day.

How are you spending yours?

I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian, and

you're listening to 1,000 Waking

Minutes.

I can't wait to connect

with you here with practical

ways to eat well, move

daily, and be healthy, to

optimize every waking minute you

live for a happier, healthier

life.

Thank you for sharing some

of your waking minutes with

me today.

Let's get started.

♪ I'm saying yes to

better days, yes ♪ ♪

I'm on my way, yes,

it's gonna be okay, yeah

♪ Welcome back to 1,000

Waking Minutes.

I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian, and

I'm grateful that we can

share some of our waking

minutes together today.

This is one of our

'Science You Can Use' episodes,

where we take a few

meaningful studies and explore what

they actually mean for your

real life.

Because science isn't just about

the headlines and the hype,

or for health professionals.

It can really live in

our own kitchens, in our

own calendars, in our mindset

and our mood, and within

our habits.

And it's even better if

it's something we can actually

do something with, the science

that is.

And I've been reading quite

a few studies lately, as

always, and there's a few

that have really piqued my

interest.

So I hope you'll find

them interesting too.

These episodes are where I

talk about a few studies

that I've sort of bumbled

into.

And it's designed to bring

the research to life and

within your reach, our reach

together.

So it's science to strategy

I like to think about.

And hopefully you can see

how science does evolve and

it's not all hype and

headlines.

And hopefully there's a little

humanity within it too.

And I always want to put

it into practice.

So I want you to

leave saying like, I could

see myself doing that in

a few moments of my

waking minutes of a day.

So today we're going to

explore three recent studies that

caught my attention.

And they might shape how

you spend a few of

your 1,000 waking minutes a

little more intentionally.

So first we'll take a

look at what we eat,

sort of the EAT WELL

theme, and how something as

simple and delicious as the

Mediterranean way of eating, you

don't have to live in

the Mediterranean as I've said

before, in order to do

that, something as simple as

delicious could support your vision.

We're talking eyesight today over

the longterm.

Then we'll move into movement.

So our move daily and

how being a Weekend Warrior,

a weekend bursts of exercise

can actually offer surprising protection

against chronic disease.

And it sort of goes

not against, but in contrast

to some other thinking previously.

So I wanted to bring

that to you.

And our third pillar, be

healthy. Eat well, move daily,

be healthy.

We're going to step outside.

And I mean, literally, just

10 minutes in nature might

offer big mental health benefits,

including reduced stress and improved

focus.

Who couldn't benefit from that?

Three studies, three ways to

make our minutes in our

day work for us.

And this isn't about pressure,

but more about being thoughtful

and in a get curious

kind of way.

So let's move into our

studies.

First is the Mediterranean diet

and eye health.

So this one surprised me

a little bit.

Not surprising that there's even

more research that keeps building

around the Mediterranean diet, but

a recent study, a 2025,

just this year's study published

in Nutrients found that people

who followed a Mediterranean style

eating pattern had a 34%

lower odds of developing

macular degeneration.

That's age-related vision loss.

And that's the kind that

affects our central vision where

people can't see the things

as well or at all,

eventually, the things that are

directly in front of them

and that we start to

see around the periphery.

My grandfather, my maternal grandfather,

Doc Rader, had macular degeneration

called AMD, that's the acronym

for it.

And it really does start

to compromise one's quality of

life, especially if they've lived

a life relying on their

sight for so many things

as so many of us

do.

I remember so many impacts

that came from it and

there's so many accommodations today,

but we may have some

clues at how to further

reduce the risk as this

study is showing.

This is not a small

number I'm talking, that's the

surprising part.

It means that our food

choices can quite literally help

us see the future.

I mean that poetically, but

also literally, more clearly.

So we can see the

future and live in the

future, seeing more clearly, potentially.

Studies have shown that people

who stick on a Mediterranean

style diet, this was a

systematic review and meta-analysis,

so this is many studies

compiled and analyzed, but these

studies have shown that following

this type of diet, they

have a lower chance of

their macular degeneration getting worse.

So this is about progression

as well.

So in this review of

reviews, which in effect helps

synthesize and analyze the existing

science and evidence on a

topic, in this case, the

relationship and potential link between

the Mediterranean diet style eating

patterns and the development of

macular degeneration or the progression

of it.

What the researchers looked at

were the case control studies

and perspective studies where they

saw, they ended up seeing

and reporting significant differences and

risk and odds ratios related

to this.

They looked back at the

habits and they looked at

the habits over time.

And this comes from tracking

cohorts of people over time

and they found these significant

findings.

The review of both types,

so case studies look back

and perspective studies sort of

follow people over time, both

showed significant benefits.

There was a 23%

lower risk from the studies

that were tracking people over

time moving forward and even

a greater 34% lower

odds from the case controlled

studies.

No matter what, even if

that sounds confusing to you,

like what's the difference?

It's significant, statistically significant, scientifically

significant, and it's a big

relationship from something that we

can do through diet and

nutrition and certainly worth trying.

So why does this all

matter?

Well, my grandfather had macular

degeneration, but it's one of

the most common causes and

it's likely that you may

know someone who also suffers

from this diagnosis and to

slow its progression means big

improvements, big staving off and

maintaining quality of life over

time.

And it's one of the

most common causes of vision

loss as we age.

And while many of us

do think of eating for

energy or skin or mood,

digestion, heart health, all those,

we might not always be

thinking about eating for our

eye health.

And just to frame this

up statistics for you, there

are about 20 million individuals

in America, 40 and older,

living with some form of

age-related macular degeneration.

I'm going to use the acronym

AMD, but macular degeneration today.

So, you know, nearly 20

million by the most recent

statistics I could find.

And about 1.5 million

of these individuals have advanced

vision threatening from this condition.

So it does progress.

And what's interesting too is

that the progression with age

is so stark.

In the age range between

40 and 44 years old,

it's only about 2%

that have AMD.

But by the time individuals

are 85 and older, about

46% is the statistic.

And to frame it up

yet another way just to

understand the impact, by age

75, about one in three

people in the US will

have some form of AMD.

And one in four, so

about 25% will have

sort of the vision threatening

late stage form.

So this is really important.

What are some of the

risk factors?

Well, some of them are,

you know, the uncontrollable, like

age, when you're over 50,

it's a risk factor.

There is family history.

So genetics do play a

significant role.

So it's good to be

aware if you do have

family members who have diagnosis

of AMD or who had

AMD.

Smoking, smoking actually triples the

risk of AMD.

That is something you can

control and have so many

benefits that go beyond eye

health.

Being overweight or obese and

having hypertension, high blood pressure,

puts us at increased risk.

And then there's poor diet.

So especially ones that are

low in antioxidants, think rainbow,

think our produce, and low

in omega-3s put us

at increased risk.

So what helped in this

review of reviews?

It wasn't just one food

or super food.

It was a pattern.

It was really about more

fruits and vegetables, more of

those good fats, the healthy

fats, like olive oil, nuts

and seeds, fish, and fewer

ultra, ultra processed foods.

So let's think about that

incorporating more idea for our

eye health.

Roasted vegetables drizzled with olive

oil.

Think of a handful of

walnuts or almonds.

Having that chia seed pudding,

maybe incorporating more colorful salads

and soups that are abundant

in the produce.

Maybe some grilled salmon with

lemon and herbs.

Our herbs, our spices, dried

and fresh are abundant sources

of antioxidants.

These foods actually support the

retina in our eye and

they reduce inflammation.

They're both important for eye

health.

So we're thinking about the

antioxidant rich and the anti

-inflammatory foods.

So yes, that Mediterranean style

plate that you might love

already, it's helping more than

your heart and more than

your gut.

It's also supporting your sight.

Moving on to study number

two, we're going to be

talking about the Weekend Warrior

approach to working out.

And amazingly, and I was

a little surprised at this,

it can still work wonders.

Now I know that any

kind of exercise works, but

there have been some concerns

in the past on joint

health, on recovery, on muscles

when you go all out

on the weekend or trying

to get all your exercise

in on the weekend.

For example, if you're someone

who counts your steps and

maybe you set that

10,000 step goal, and we

can talk about how relevant

that really is in terms

of the actual number, but

it's almost impossible to capture

70,000 steps just on

the weekend and forget about

the rest of the week.

That's why we always talk

about move daily and getting

movement in and the recommendations

to move your body throughout

the week.

But this study actually made

me smile a little bit

because real life is busy.

And sometimes we need permission

to let go of the

all or nothing mentality or

recognize that just some weeks

it's not going to happen during

our work time or our

school week with our children

or our own lives because

of travel or other things.

So a recent study that

was published in circulation from

the American Heart Association followed

over 100,000 adults and

found that people who only

worked out on weekends, so

Weekend Warriors, I like to

think of them, still had

but had significantly lower risk

of over 200 chronic diseases,

including heart disease, diabetes, and

even some types of cancer.

So I want to repeat that

again.

People who just squeezed in

their movement just on Saturday

or Sunday, just once or

twice a week, still reaped

major benefits.

So this really matters.

Many people feel like they

can't do it every day

and if they can't do

it every day, it doesn't

count.

And I'm all about giving

you credit for everything that

you do.

But this study actually said

otherwise.

It does all count.

It said just what I

like to know and believe

and that the research is

building on, everything counts.

It validates those of us

who do have irregular schedules

or caregiving duties that come

up, travel, just life.

And it also shows us

that being healthy isn't reserved

for the perfectly organized individual.

So whether it's like a

Saturday hike or a long

bike ride or a couple

hours of gardening, it counts.

So in the recommendation to

get 150 minutes or more

of exercise a week, it

could be done over the

course of just a couple

days.

So this is about disease

risk reduction.

This isn't going to train you

well for a marathon or

give you new skills in

performance per se, but it

definitely counts towards reducing the

risks of chronic disease.

So what are some things

that you can try on

the weekends or on those

two days that you are

reserving on a busy week?

You might try scheduling a

movement date once a weekend.

So sort of like an

appointment that you protect with

a friend, with a spouse,

with a child, but a

movement date, something you do.

You might plan on doing

something you really love that's

moving, whether it's active gardening,

dancing, swimming, playing at a

playground with the kids.

And if the weekdays just

don't allow it this time,

don't sweat it, just let

it be okay.

Because when you're on purpose

toward moving daily, it doesn't

always have to be about

structured exercise as we've discussed

before.

And you can still protect

your health.

And it's not just ticking

a box and saying, I

got it done, but building

it in meaningfully and purposefully

in a way that's a

little more gentle.

So I really loved that

study and wanted to share

it with you today.

The final study of today,

study number three, is another

one that I've sort of

been so excited to share.

And it's about nature and

how just 10 minutes in

nature, more is welcome, but

just 10 minutes in nature

can boost our mental health.

That may sound obvious, but

hear me out here and

listen to this one.

It's powerful, I think it's

like poetic.

In a 2024 meta-analysis,

they showed that just 10

minutes in a natural setting,

so think a walk in

the park, it could be

just outdoors walking somewhere to

get to somewhere else, sitting

under a tree, even just

being by an open window

and maybe hearing the birds

chirp, which I'm going to

encourage you to do if

you have birds around.

This led to measurable improvements

in mood, in stress levels,

in focus and attention, and

a lot more.

10 minutes, this was accidental

exposure to nature, incidental exposure

to nature, intentional exposure to

nature, and they all matter.

So let's do more of

this on purpose.

The researchers looked at studies

that were water-based, that

were outdoor wilderness activities, urban

outdoors, so you can be

in a city, at farms,

at camps, when gardening, at

walking, you name it.

They all showed to be

impactful.

In fact, I want to

read a quote from the

paper.

Analysis of all studies showed

that affect, anxiety, cognition, depression,

mental health, mood, negative emotions,

quality of life, and stress

all showed evidence significant effect

size indicating the positive effect

of nature exposure on these

domains, end quote.

That quote, analysis of all

studies about affect, anxiety, cognition,

depression, mental health, mood, negative

emotions, quality of life, and

stress all showed positive effect

of nature on these domains.

Wow, wow, wow, wow.

And in as little as

just 10 minutes.

That's incredible.

So why does this matter?

Well, I mean the obvious

reasons, but I want to

set it for real for

you today.

In a world where we

feel like everything has to

be optimized or scheduled or

ideal, it's nature that invites

us to just simply be.

Think about it, nature, being

outdoors, the air, the breath,

the birds, the trees, anything

around you.

This really isn't about logging

in the steps and your

exercise.

It's not about planning your

meals and getting it exactly

right.

It's not about tracking stats

and seeing how you're doing.

It's really about restoration.

Some have described this sort

of as 'sips of nature',

and I'm definitely among them

now.

And I love that idea

because I've said this about

movement also, like sips are

a great way to think

about small but purposeful ways

to build moments into your

day.

Think about sips of water

toward hydration, toward your goal,

sips.

Just like we might sip

our tea or our water,

we can sip stillness, green

leaves, sunlight.

So think about opening your

window and trying to listen

for those birds as I

told you we would be

thinking about.

Think about stepping outside barefoot,

do you dare, you know,

in your yard for a

few minutes.

Some people love it.

Some people haven't been barefoot

in a long time unless

they're at the beach or

something like that.

Maybe take a call while

you're outside.

You could be walking among

trees or on the street

or even just sitting outside.

And even a 10 minute

stroll without headphones and just

being with the outdoors counts.

So this is simple and

sometimes simple can be really

profound.

So those are the three

studies.

They each offer hopefully insights

into how we might spend

our waking minutes a little

more intentionally.

And of course we can't

fully generalize the findings beyond

the study participants or what

the researchers showed but these

practices are generally safe and

worth considering.

Plus they really add to

the growing body of research.

Think of the Mediterranean diet.

There's hundreds and hundreds of

studies on the benefits to

overall health.

We've challenged the previous notion

about Weekend Warrior exercise patterns

and we're highlighting what I

think is inherently known but

"I love when science shows

what Mother Nature knows," the

restorative power of nature.

So three small science-backed

practices and ideas you can

try.

Think about coloring your plate

up.

So the rainbow, the Mediterranean

style, the olive oil, the

leafy greens, the colorful avocado

and tomatoes and carrots and

watermelon as it comes in

season and corn on the

cob, all the good stuff.

Think of beans and nuts

and seeds.

Eat with your eyes, in

other words, and eat for

your eyes.

Remember to let your weekend

workouts count.

So stop disqualifying that or

feeling bad about not getting

in a workout during the

week, a long walk or

a family bike ride or

just being active on the

weekend.

It all matters.

And then take a 10

minute - or more - but take

a 10 minute nature break.

Find your version.

Maybe it's laying on your

back on the green grass

and looking at the clouds

go by.

Have you done that lately?

Oh, I have such memories

of that in the summertime.

Enjoying breathing in the air,

going by a water source

like a lake or a

river or the ocean and

enjoy that and sip it

in almost like a sip

of fresh water.

So as always, thank you

for sharing some of your

1,000 waking minutes with me

today.

I hope this episode gave

you something useful, not an

overhaul by any means but

to inspire a few small,

meaningful shifts.

These moments, how we eat,

how we move and how

we connect to nature, they're

more than tasks.

They're more than ticking off

something on a to-do

list.

They're the ways we can

build a well-lived day.

One minute, one choice, one

breath at a time and

they become cumulative over time.

So if you found this

episode helpful, I'd truly be

grateful if you'd share it

with someone who you care

about.

I'd love it if you'd

share a kind review and

subscribe if you haven't so

you won't miss any future

episodes.

You can always connect with

me at wendybazilian.com or

write me an email at

1KWM@wendybazilian.com.

I love hearing from you.

I'm Wendy Bazilian, your host

of 1,000 Waking Minutes.

Eat well, move daily, be

healthy. And until next time,

be well.

Thank you for tuning in

to 1,000 Waking Minutes.

A huge thank you to

our amazing collaborators including our

production and marketing teams and

Gabriela Escalante in particular.

To the ultra talented Beza

for my theme music, my

lifelong friend and artist, Pearl

Preis Photography and Design.

To Danielle Ballantyne, Jen Nguyen,

Joanna Powell and of course

my family and everyone working

tirelessly behind the scenes.

And to you, our valued

listeners, I so appreciate your

support.

If you enjoyed today's episode,

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Until next time, find some

simple opportunities to optimize those

1,000 Waking Minutes each day.

♪ I'm saying yes to

better days, yes ♪ ♪

I'm on my way, yes,

it's gonna be okay, yeah

♪ ♪ I'm saying yes

to better days, yes ♪

♪ I'm on my way,

yes, it's gonna be okay,

yeah ♪