#54: Maya Kotomori
"If my current lifestyle had a title, it would be 'Outer Borough Cheap Hedonia ft. Pilates.'"
Maya (@utilitiesnotincluded) is a writer, editor & cultural critic. Alongside contributing to publications like i-D, Document, and Artnet, like many Health Gossip guests (past, pending, future), she also runs a fabulous blog. At the end of her latest post, a word of advice: “Say no, and do something even more daring; mean it.”
Health Gossip with Maya Kotomori
Responses logged May 4, 2025
New York, NY
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
The pinnacle of health and well-being for me revolves around both the depth and duration of your sleep, as well as pooping twice a day. I learned very recently that a large part of “I’m just a girl” ED-associated online discourse centers having poor gut health as if it somehow comes with the territory of being a girl. Cannot relate. I feel my least healthy during my first couple days of traveling when my bowels are adjusting to a new timezone, and I’ll have to void them at, like, 3pm in the middle of fashion week. That will actually put me in a cosmically bad mood, same with not feeling like I’ve slept properly. While I know a full eight to 10 hours (depending on depression, seasonal or otherwise, and/or general illness like the common cold) is very important, some of the days I’ve felt my strongest/most virile have come after a coma-like five hours of sleep. I will say though, there’s nothing better than the morning after defeating a fever or hangover with the most deep and restful dreamless 10-hour sleep. As long as I am sleeping and sh*tting, I am healthy and happy.
What was your upbringing like? What are some of your earliest associations and memories of health?
I used to be a nationally-ranked synchronized swimmer from the ages of nine to 13, so my image of health was being fed enough to contort my body in increasingly punishing yet cool ways, but not full to the extent that I would aspirate on my own vomit while twirling upside down and underwater. Health was being able to do that and not feel like I was going to drown or die. Around pre-teens I really started to feel the need for sleep because not only was I growing, but my involvement in synchro was getting more intense; that’s when I started drinking coffee on occasion and really paying attention to my sleep schedule. My dad once read that as a kid, Obama would wake up early to do his homework rather than stay up late, so whenever I was exhausted after swim practice he and my mom would encourage me to enjoy dinner and family time, go to sleep, and wake up at 4am to do my homework before school. Honestly, it worked.
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
As a freelance writer, I can do “whatever I want” in theory, but in practice I really just read, write (both for work and pleasure), think, amble, and watch copious amounts of TV. If my current lifestyle had a title, it would be “Outer Borough Cheap Hedonia ft. Pilates.”