2006

December 2006: Reducing Holiday Stress

Holiday preparations, socializing and trying to keep up with the demands of your job can leave you feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. While the holidays are a time to enjoy family and friends, it is also important that you take care of yourself. Here are some ideas on taking good care of yourself, so you can make the most of this special time of year.

Create time alone: schedule time to take a walk in nature, curl up with a movie, meditate, or just do nothing. Set boundaries, say no & don’t overbook: if there are time conflicts, pick the invitations you will enjoy the most. Put a plan in place for the number of social engagements you really want to take part in. Think about what best meets your needs and those of your partner or children.

Don’t overspend: set a budget and stick to it. You may feel good making others happy now, but stress will set in when you get the bills in January. Remember that the holidays aren’t all about shopping.

Pleasure & pamper yourself: enjoy the season without abusing your body. Over indulging in food or alcohol won’t make you feel good about yourself or your body. Treat your body with love and respect and pamper it in small ways like having a massage, taking a bath, or getting outdoors for some fresh air. If you’re not already active, getting active could be your gift to yourself for this holiday season.

Make couple time: if you have a partner, find time to relax and be together, just the two of you. Family and friends are important and fun, and the holidays are a terrific opportunity to spend some romantic time together. Try a little holiday get-away if you can.

Remember that it’s not your responsibility to ensure that everyone is having a good time during the holidays; but, if you are able to peacefully enjoy the pleasures of the season, your joy just might become contagious.

Adapted from CanadianLiving.com

November 2006: Breathing for better health & relaxation

Breathing is something that most of us don’t need to remember to do. Thankfully, our body automatically takes care of it for us. Because of this, we are often not aware of the way in which we are breathing or of ways to breathe that can rejuvenate, reenergize and relax.

Take a moment right now and focus on your breathing. Look down at your torso…see anything moving? Probably not. That’s because most people typically take short, shallow breaths — the kind that come from your chest. For you to really improve your lung function, you need to practice taking deep, whole breaths. It should take about 5 seconds to inhale and 7 seconds to exhale. And your belly should get big, then small. Try it out! Do you feel the difference?

Your diaphragm is the muscle that pulls your lungs down when you inhale so that they can expand and really circulate oxygen throughout the whole lung. As your diaphragm pulls your chest cavity down and you inhale filling your lungs, your belly button should be moving away from your spine. Your chest also will widen, and maybe even rise a bit. When your lungs feel really full, exhale slowly and pull your belly button toward your spine to expel the last bit of air from your lungs.

Now that you know how to breathe deeply, what are the benefits? There are many: your lungs and blood vessels function better; more oxygen is circulated throughout your body; more toxins are removed from your body; and, deep breaths relieve stress. Try a daily practice of taking 10 deep breaths in the morning and 10 at night — and 10 any other time you feel the need for a refreshing pause — and watch the effect on your energy and mood.

Adapted from Real Age

October 2006: Soothing music to heal your mind & body

When you listen to a soothing piece of music your pulse and breathing will generally slow down. This relaxation effect has several potential health benefits:

* Reduced blood pressure and heart rate
* Better and more satisfying sleep
* Reduced feelings of stress
* Less short-term and chronic pain
* Easing of Alzheimer’s symptoms.

To make the most out of the potential healing effects of music:

* Choose music that you find relaxing
* Consider getting ear-cupping headphones to block out disruptive sounds
* Get comfortable and take your time.

Adapted from Consumer Reports on Health

September 2006: Timing your exercise

When’s the best time of day to exercise? Let your body’s thermostat decide.

In hot weather, it’s smart to schedule workouts around your body’s core temperature, which rises and falls over a 24-hour period. You’re less likely to feel the heat in the morning, when your core is coolest, making it the ideal time to bike, run, or do other aerobic exercise. Be sure to warm up first with 5 minutes of brisk walking or biking in a low gear. A cool core temperature counteracts hot, sweaty endurance work, but it also makes muscles stiffer at the beginning of a workout, so start slowly and give your system time to warm up.

Plan strength training for the afternoon, when your core temperature is warmer, making your muscles and joints more supple. Strength training involves short, intense bursts of activity, so it’s better suited to the afternoon when your core body temp is higher. That inner warmth makes joints and muscles supple and enhances nerve, muscle, and metabolic function, all of which help make your workout more productive.

References: RealAge.com

August 2006: Top 5 Health Factors

The top five health factors that age your body are smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and inactivity. These are all integrated factors that are driven by the lifestyle choices you make. Luckily, regular exercise can help take care of four of these. And if you don’t smoke, you’ll be better able to exercise. The payoff for investing in healthy lifestyle choices is huge and it’s never too late to begin.

Adapted from www.RealAge.com

July 2006: Conscious Eating

We all know that we need to eat to live: and we all know that sometimes we live to eat. Conscious eating habits can make eating a truly enjoyable and fully satisfying experience. And, mindfully eating can help you with your weight management goals. Here are some tips for practicing conscious eating.

*Eat when you are hungry: learn to recognize true hunger signals as opposed to eating from boredom, stress, or emotional upset.

*Relax briefly before eating: take a few moments to breath deeply and eliminate any tension you may be feeling.

*Eat while sitting, in a calm, pleasant environment. Don’t do other things while you are eating like driving, watching TV, talking on the phone, or reading.

*Pay attention to, and enjoy, your food: notice the taste, texture and aroma. Chew your food purposefully to get the most satisfaction from every bite.

*Stop eating when you are full: learn to recognize when you have eaten enough to satisfy true hunger signals.

*Accept lapses in conscious eating: at times we all eat too much, too quickly or too absentmindedly. Don’t make it a big deal. Simply notice it, learn from it, and return to your commitment to eat mindfully.

Adapted from The Kripalu Cookbook: Gourmet Vegetarian Recipes

June 2006: Back Care

Back problems can not only cause short and long term pain, but they can interfere with your best intentions for living an active lifestyle, to say nothing of your ability to get around in a day. Here are 10 tips for health back care.

1. Stop Smoking: smoking can damage spinal disks, weakens ligaments and thin bones.
2. Lose Weight: shedding excess pounds reduces the load on your spine.
3. Choose the right mattress: it should exert pressure evenly on your body – not too hard and not too soft.
4. Sleep right: when on your side, put a pillow between your legs; when on your back, use only a small pillow under your head and another pillow or rolled blanket under your knees.
5. Learn to lift: keep the object you are lifting close to your body; lift with your legs without bending, twisting or turning.
6. Stay balanced: when carrying two or more objects, try to hold roughly the dame weight in each hand.
7. Don’t overreach: stand on a stool or step ladder to get objects above shoulder level.
8. Push, don’t pull: move heavy objects by pushing rather than pulling.
9. Stand and sit right: when standing, your head should be centered directly above your neck with shoulders level and chest up. When sitting, keep your head upright, spine against the chair back, forearms on chair arms, knees level with or slightly higher than your hips and feet flat on the floor. Place a small cushion between the small of your back & the chair.
10. Move naturally: consider an activity that emphasizes fluid coordinated motions such as tai chi or yoga.

Adapted from Consumer reports on Health

May 2006: Muscle Madness

If you think that muscle building (strength or weight training) is only for the bulging biceps crowd, think again: building muscles is one of your best allies in the battle against fat. Here’s why.

Both fat and muscle tissue burn calories just to maintain themselves. A pound of fat burns two calories a day – but a pound of muscle burns a whopping 30 to 50 calories a day. The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn each day, even if the day’s most strenuous exercise is channel surfing!

Muscle mass and peak performance in strength and endurance activities decrease by about 1% to 2% per year, starting between ages 20 and 35. Middle age also tends to be a time when people begin to slow down and become less active, which itself depletes muscle tissue. When muscle tissue shrinks, a vicious cycle begins: your ability to burn calories plummets and your fat deposits grow.

Trying to reverse this process with a crash diet alone may just make matters worse. Crash diets can rob the body of muscle as well as fat. For example, in a quick 30 pound weight loss, 4.5 pounds of muscle could vanish and that lost muscle means that you will burn calories more slowly than you did before. The obvious solution is that you need to build, or at least maintain, muscle while loosing weight.

For shedding pounds and keeping them off, for maintaining your health and extending your life, for improving your looks and your outlook – for all of these things, exercise needs to be a regular part of your life.

Adapted from www.pdrhealth.com

April 2006: Mental Fitness

What is mental fitness? The characteristics of good mental health include:

* Realistic attitude: life can sometimes be disappointing, but try to also look on the bright side.
* Self-actualization: remember what is important to you in life.
* Emotional support: building close ties with family, friends and support services is important.
* Flexibility: feel your feelings and talk about them openly.
* Resilience: handle stress, anger and anxiety the best you can; try not to let negative emotions bring your down for too long.

Did you know that exercise builds mental fitness? Regular exercise has been shown to:

* reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression and panic disorder
* ease tension and stress
* improve mood and instil a positive outlook
* enhance self-esteem and positive attitude.

Pick an activity you like and try to make it a habit. The regularity of the activity makes a difference in building mental fitness and enjoying it will increase the regularity.

Adapted from the Canadian Health Network

March 2006: National Nutrition Month

Healthy eating may be a bit bewildering at times.  And the amount of complicated and sometimes conflicting information can seem overwhelming.  Here’s a simple way to help you decide how much of what types of food are recommended to promote healthy eating and maintain healthy body weight.

If you’re not physically active, or you need to lose weight, eating the number of servings at the low end of the scale is recommended.  If you get 30 – 60 minutes of moderate physical activity daily, you can increase the number of servings up to the maximum.   

References: Canada Food Guide. Heart and Stroke Foundation.

February 2006: Steps Count

The average person takes between 2,000 and 5,000 steps daily just in the course of performing typical activities of daily life, such as moving about the house or doing errands. According to a new set of physical activity guidelines, this level of activity is considered to be sedentary. Here is how current physical activity guidelines rate the number of steps you take in a day.

* 2,000 – 5,000 steps/day = sedentary
* 5,000 – 7,499 steps/day = low activity
* 7,500 – 9,999 steps/day = somewhat active
* 10,000 – 12,499 steps/day = active
* 12,500 steps/day = highly active

If you’re new to exercise but would like to increase your physical activity level, start by taking a daily 15-minute walk around the block after dinner to accumulate more steps. Increase this amount gradually until you reach your 10,000-step goal.

References: “How many steps/day are enough? Preliminary pedometer indicies for public health”. Tudor-Locke, C., Bassett, D. R. Jr., Sports Medicine 2004;34(1):1-8; www.thewalkingsite.com

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