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High intensity interval training workout

How Much High Intensity Exercise is Too Much?

/28 November 2018/ All MFN blog/

Are you doing too much high intensity exercise? High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) has been the holy grail of fitness trends for the past several years. Is it the Holy Grail for YOU? Here’s what a recent study says and how to interpret that if you’re a woman flipping (or wanting to) her second half with flare.

Exercise is stress. High intensity exercise is greater stress. Stress causes cortisol.

Cortisol plays two roles in our lives. It’s both the stress hormone and the energy hormone. The perfect amount of stress makes you feel alive and thrive. Too little or too much cortisol each causes problems.

When you’re exercising with the right amount of “overload” or stress you create a positive, not negative, stress response. That’s not to say (because I hear you saying that’s how you negate stress) that exercise doesn’t relieve stress. It can. But we sometimes don’t give ourselves the right dose, frequency or intensity to optimally relieve stress without having it come back to bite us you-know-where.

Better Stress

The key is to find your personal optimal exercise. I’m an advocate for the right exercise for you right now. Women in midlife are more susceptible to the negative effects of stress as they go through other major hormone changes. What worked once – even as recently as months ago or last week – may not be your ideal exercise this week.

That doesn’t mean you’re going to suffer, gain weight, get moody or any of the above. If you adjust your exercise according to what’s going on, respond to it even if you can’t predict what changes will be, you’ll sail through those years from peri-menopause to beyond menopause better. That sets you up for a full Flipping 50 (49-99) feeling as young as your habits will allow you. It’s habits that determine how your genetics express or suppress (epigenetics).

What’s the best exercise?  The answer is not the same for you and for every other woman over 50. We’ve got common denominators but your details are unique to you. If you’re deconditioned, conditioned, or an athlete it changes your exercise prescription. If you’re in adrenal fatigue, you’re estrogen dominant, or have low testosterone will change what I suggest you do. If you have osteoporosis, are trying to prevent it, or you have 20 or more pounds to lose, each of these (and more) will change the exercise plan that’s best for you.

A recent study of weight training performed as high intensity interval training (HIIT) was created to determine if HIIT weight training was better than traditional weight training. Researchers asked, is heavy weight training better than the moderate-to-light weight training recommended for decades?

A side note here: the fear of “bulk” from strength training is legit. The three sets of 10-to-12 repetitions taught for decades, as some kind of gold standard actually IS a bulk-building protocol. Ten or fewer repetitions is the optimal strength, bone building, and fat reducing/lean increasing protocol while higher repetition ranges are best for performance enhancement and influencing smaller muscle activation.

Your personal exercise protocol is also influenced by whether you’re a mesomorph, endomorph, or ectomorph. Each body type can respond differently to a protocol.

ACE Research

According to the study performed by the American Council on Exercise, a leading authority in fitness, moderate or average exercise should occur between 70 to 80 percent heart rate intensity, HIIT training requires at least 85 percent heart rate intensity, the study says. Les Mills’ researchers (creators of Body Pump) wanted to determine how to best achieve a healthy balance between one’s HIIT volume (minutes of HIIT per week) and one’s positive stress response. Their hypothesis was that more than 30 or 40 minutes of weekly HIIT volume would prompt a reduced positive stress response.

“A positive stress response to exercise is a critical part of creating the bio-chemical changes in the body that help build new muscle and improve fitness,” the study says. “The stress response can be measured effectively by examining cortisol and testosterone concentrations in saliva.”

Not to repeat myself but as mentioned earlier, this is really what we refer to as the principle of overload in fitness. The stimulus of exercise must be adequate to provide overload such that the body responds after (when between sessions fitness occurs IF you have adequate rest, food, and sleep).

Remember Your Hormones

It’s key for YOU to remember, Flipping 50 friend, that you have another thing to consider. The status of your hormones, not just of your mind’s desire to lose fat, or get in shape needs to be considered when designing your exercise program. Pushing through … following lame social media memes suggesting that “sweat is fat crying” can backfire on you and increase fat storage when stress goes the wrong way. When you read “move more” interpret it as walking down the hall to deliver a message as opposed to going to boot camp 6 days a week or doing two-a-days.

Let me take a step back here and describe what it feels like to lift at a level defined as HIIT. There’s a lot of confusion about HIIT. Anything that gets you breathing slightly harder is NOT HIIT. Lifting with a weight that causes fatigue at 10 repetitions correlates with 80% intensity. So in order to lift and a HIIT level of 90% as per the study, you’d be lifting a weight closer to 5 repetitions.

Don’t panic. You definitely progress to this point. You also can reduce the weight slightly and use power, increasing speed on the lift but always controlling the lowering (eccentric) phase of exercise to achieve this overload without a heavy weight. You do this in daily life… the wind grabs the car door, the door to a store is heavy, or you heft the garbage bag out to the curb… so if you’re worried about injury (valid) do consider whether your daily activity warrants the work so you’re prepared.

Fatigue vs Tired

Moving fast to get breathless is not necessarily overloading the muscles in a way that muscle changes and creates lean muscle tissue that assists in fat burning.

THIS is a key distinction most program creators and attendees fail to make. Going to a boot camp where you’re moving fast from a strength exercise to a cardio exercise to a core exercise will likely tire you. Tired is not muscle fatigue. Muscle fatigue must be reached so your body changes.

Will it burn calories right now? Yes. Will it change your body, your body composition, and set you up for years of a stronger leaner body? No.

The study used strength training as the mode of high intensity exercise. Researchers compared one set of 5 repetitions for each of 10 exercises to 1 or 2 sets of 10 repetitions for 10-12 exercises. The subjects were both male and female and ages up to 59.

The results showed body fat decreased significantly for both groups. Blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol decreased only for the HIIT group.

“When it comes to HIIT, adding volume doesn’t deliver better results,” the report says.

“It actually hinders. To get the full benefits of HIIT and prevent overreaching, our recommendation is to…

Do a maximum weekly HIIT sessions that are above 90 percent maximum heart rate for 30-40 minutes…

…and balance them with other less demanding workouts.”

“It’s also imperative that you let your body recover properly after a HIIT session. This way, you’re likely to perform better when you do your HIIT workouts and benefit from the positive results,” researchers added.

The key exercise flips:

  1. More is not better when it comes to High Intensity exercise
  2. An understanding of what constitutes high intensity interval training is key if you’re to reap benefits
  3. The more health markers (blood pressure and cholesterol) you’re trying to target with your exercise, the more HIIT could benefit you done with adequate progression
  4. A low volume of HIIT (no more than 40 minutes a week) is far better for results (and reduction of injury) than more volume (frequency, or duration)
  5. If you’re doing high intensity exercise that is also high impact cardio or high intensity strength training every day you may be inhibiting your recovery and results.

This distinction of when to work hard and when to recovery is so important. It’s not intuitive for a generation that witnessed the work harder, get better results discipline of our parents.

Article reprinted with permission from Debra Atkinson. Originally printed on flippingfifty.com.

Debra Atkinson is the #youstillgotitgirl who is flipping 50 and changing the way thousands of women think about their second half. She’s the host of the Flipping 50 TV Show and the Flipping 50 podcast. As a master personal trainer, strength and wellness coach with over 30 years fitness industry experience, she works with women who are pro-aging with vitality and energy. She is an international fitness presenter, author of hundreds of articles and multiple books. Visit her website, flippingfifty.com

computer elearning

How Sharp is Your Saw: Using eLearning to Get More Coaching Clients

/15 November 2018/ All MFN blog/

One of the most powerful tools in any coach’s arsenal is his or her knowledge of which coaching techniques to apply to a given situation and how to apply them to best meet clients’ needs. “Sharpening the saw,” or continually honing one’s skills, ensures coaches are on top of the most effective practices.

Learning new skills and coaching techniques is easier than ever through eLearning–educational programs delivered online. Online courses are more accessible, less expensive and faster to master than traditional educational programs. And best of all, they can be taken at the learner’s convenience, 24/7/365.

So how does eLearning help coaches sharpen their saw? In his mega-bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Franklin Covey describes “sharpening the saw” as a way of “preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have–you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.”

By engaging in eLearning to expand their knowledge of proven, effective practices, coaches can treat clients with a wider variety of issues. These same practices also work on the coach! Taking online training gives coaches the opportunity to see their own issues, in each of the four areas mentioned by Covey, from a fresh perspective, making them better practitioners and better people in general.

Approaching eLearning not only as a tool to gain skills as a coach, but also as a way to live to one’s full potential provides extra motivation when taking online courses and makes “sharpening the saw” more fun!

Reprinted with permission from the SoleLife Blog.

Nichole Lowe is a board certified Health Coach, Educator and Presenter. She is the Founder and CEO of SOLELIFE™. SOLELIFE™ is an online training platform that offers proven advanced training for coaches and health practitioners in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) to improve its customers’ client results and grow their referral business. It’s an all-in-one solution for professional coaches where they can learn new skills, connect with peers, and gain valuable industry knowledge in a first-ever fully social eLearning platform.

If you’re interested in learning more about DBT, SOLELIFE offers a free course, Understanding DBT.

Woman Holding Her Father's Hand

There Are More Than 5 Million U.S. Teachers…

/14 November 2018/ All MFN blog/

You are having dinner with a friend and notice a softball-sized protrusion on the left side of your friend’s head. Do you inquire about your observation? Maybe you make jokes? Or, perhaps you choose to remain silent.

When we experience or witness cognitive declines, we meet them with resistance and say: “Dang it. Where the heck are my keys?” Or, “Idiot. I hate when I can’t remember.” Or, “Geez, how many times do we have to have this conversation?”

Sometimes, we say nothing.

Silence speaks unkindly.

Despite popular beliefs about cognitive decline being a natural concomitant of the aging process, the National Institute of Health on Aging reminds us that “age-related changes in cognition are not uniform across all cognitive domains or even across all [people ages 65 and greater.]” There is tremendous variability in cognitive functioning among people who comprise this heterogenous group – humans who’s ages are 65 and greater.

And when cognitive shifts do present, often as an inability to remember recently learned information, important dates or repeating questions – we, yet again, opt for silence.

Or, we ignore, deny, hide and humor.

It is estimated that 60% of female and 70% of male Americans will live dementia free lives.

In a fear-based culture, one that favors an us vs. them mindset, these sorts of comforting statistics do not readily capture our attention. Instead, we glom onto facts such as: “There are 5.4 million Alzheimer’s patients in the United States.” For these millions of Americans, their existence is described as “terrible,” “they’ve been robbed of their memories,” and “this is just devastating.” These stories are of loss, wrapped in loss, and suspended by more loss.

Yes. It has been suggested that in the brains of people affected by Alzheimer’s (as determined by autopsy), there is evidence of diminished neural connections, brain atrophy or surface area decreases, neurofibrillary tangles and cellular death. This is just to name a few of the potential losses evidenced in the brain.

However, these changes are often foreshadowed by present-day behaviors and interactions presented by people affected by Alzheimer’s. When we talk about how terrible Alzheimer’s is, this has the potential to inform and shape people’s experiences. How different would our experiences be if we used language of strength and resilience and gratitude to frame the story of cognitive transformations?

What if we begin the story from a different vantage point? A story that begins by us listening rather than narrating. One that holds as the hero of the story the one who is directly affected by Alzheimer’s.

When I read statistics on the number of people in the U.S. affected by Alzheimer’s, I interpret this as the number of possible teachers waiting for class to begin. Yes. People affected by Alzheimer’s have much to teach.

We have much to learn. We know so very little. We could equate our knowledge with the measurement of animals from largest to smallest. Our knowledge is equivalent to that of a tiny crustacean, a Stygotantulus, that measures a tenth of a millimeter in length.

When we stop fearing them and start seeing them as us, maybe then we will be ready for class to begin. Maybe then we will begin to learn.

These teachers hold valuable gifts in the realm of practicing present moment awareness. We could only hope to be so lucky to be chosen to be a teacher.

When we show up for class, with a mindset of not-knowing, perhaps then we can begin to meet cognitive transformations with curiosity, rather than resistance, and begin saying: “Deep breath in, my keys are temporarily out of sight?” Or “Gosh, I wonder how long this will last?” Or “Curious. It appears to me that for you this is the first time we are having this conversation?”

If you’re not ready for class to begin, this is perfectly fine.

Please though, say something to your friend when you notice a softball-sized protrusion that presents as forgetting important dates.

Be brave.

Choose to speak kinder than silence. These are gifts.

Adrienne Ione is a dynamic, mindful, high-fiving, cognitive behavioral therapist, certified dementia specialist and senior personal trainer. Founder of Silver Linings Integrative Health, a company with an aim of promoting health, fitness and wellbeing opportunities for people to thrive across the lifespan.

apple-world

Waste Not, Want Not

/12 November 2018/ All MFN blog/

In 32 years (2050), we will be dealing with major food issues. By then, the global population will have grown from today’s 7.6 billion people to 10 billion people (not due to lots of new babies, due mainly to longer lifespans related to better health care and nutrition). We will need 60% more food than is available today. To do so, farmers will need to increase crop yield, use water more effectively, and feed animals more efficiently. The agricultural industry is working hard on that—and climate change complicates it all.

As athletes, we like having plenty of food to eat and clean water to drink. Hence, we want to think about how we can invest in a sustainable future with our food and lifestyle practices. While we may suffer less from food shortages than will the people and athletes in less developed countries, we won’t be able to escape these environmental problems:

  • oppressive heat that not only damages crops but also drains the fun from playing outdoor sports, like soccer and tennis;
  • storms that disrupt plane travel for sports teams, as well as the flights of thousands of recreational athletes going to, let’s say, New York City for a marathon;
  • floods that ruin farms and crops, as well as playing fields;
  • droughts that kill crops, golf courses, and gardens.

The timely topic of sustainable diets and animal agriculture was prominent at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Food & Nutrition Convention & Expo (#FNCE). The message was clear: We are facing the urgent need to curb greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) to reduce our carbon footprint and invest in our future well-being. Here’s some of what I learned from speakers Frank Mitloehner PhD, professor and air quality specialist at the University of California-Davis, and Amy Myrdal Miller RD of Farmer’s Daughter Consulting. Perhaps this information will nudge you to think more about how your food and lifestyle choices impact the climate—and inspire you to make some changes.

Waste less food.

Up to 40% of the food we produce gets wasted. About 16% of that happens at the farm (e.g., sick animals not treated with antibiotics, unharvested crops due to labor shortages or “ugly” produce); 40% happens in food service and restaurants, and 43% in our homes. Who among us hasn’t tossed out “ugly” apples, over-ripe bananas, and perfectly good leftovers?  A huge contributor to food waste is the “best used by” date on food packages. Please note: the “best used by” date is not a “don’t eat this” expiration date, but rather a marker for quality and freshness.

Wasted food required energy to be produced and then transported to your supermarket (and landfill). Wasted food takes up 21% of precious (and limited) landfill space; this represents the largest percentage of all waste in US landfills. As it rots, creates the greenhouse gas methane.

To reduce food waste, you want to shop carefully, use leftovers, and compost food scraps. Restaurants, colleges, and other quantity food producers need to figure out how to find a meaningful home for leftovers, such as by donating to food pantries, if permitted.

Eat less animal protein.

Farm animals produce methane, so reducing the demand for meat is another way to help the environment. Yet it is not the biggest way to help. That’s because meat/food production is not the leading cause of GHGE, despite what you might have read repeatedly in the recent past. Hence, you do not need to become vegan unless you truly want to do so. If everyone were to eat a vegan diet every day, GHGE might drop only 2.6%. But you do want to eat meat less often and in smaller portions. If all Americans honored Meatless Mondays, the drop in GHGE in the US would be 0.5%. While not the cure-all for carbon emissions, every little bit helps!

Instead of blaming farm animals for being methane producers, the far bigger sources of GHGE are from the burning of oil, coal, and natural gas (fossil fuels). The environmental benefits of eating less animal protein of any type pales in comparison to the benefits from reducing fossil fuel use. Using fossil fuels to create electricity accounts for 30% of all GHGE. Transportation accounts for 26%, and industry, 21%. Agriculture contributes to only 9%, and animal agriculture alone, about 4% of all GHGE in America. (This number includes the carbon footprint of animals from birth to being consumed.) To put this in perspective, a recent study showed that switching from a meat-based to a vegan diet for one year equates to the GHGE of one trans-Atlantic flight from the US to Europe.

Educate yourself about the pros and cons of grass-fed beef.

With conventional agriculture, corn-finished cattle are generally raised on pastureland first for about 10 to 12 months, and then finished on a corn-based diet for the last 4 months to optimize marbling. Grass-finished cattle spend a total of 26 to 30 months on pastureland before they are slaughtered. All of that time, they are making manure, belching from the high fiber grass diet, and releasing methane. Corn-fed cattle produce far less methane and are content to eat the corn when well-balanced into their diet. (Yes, I know there are other reasons you might want to choose grass-fed cattle. I’m just talking sustainability here.)

Another way to reduce GHGE might be to start considering the possibility of eating protein-rich insects. I admit, I’m not there yet—but they are a sustainable source of protein. We just need more research to learn about the digestibility and bioavailability of insect protein—and how to make it yummy.

Solving the world’s impending food (and water) crisis is a huge global issue. We need governments around the world to look holistically at the complex interplay between the environment and food production systems. While we need to work together globally, each of us can act locally. How about biking more, driving less and wasting less food, as well as eating less meat? The next generation will thank us.

Nancy Clark, MS, RD counsels both casual and competitive athletes at her office in the Boston-area (Newton; 617-795-1875). Her best selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook and food guides for cyclists, marathoners, and soccer players offer additional information. They are available at www.NancyClarkRD.com. For her popular online workshop, see www.NutritionSportsExerciseCEUs.com.

seniors-exercising

Healthy Aging: A Paradigm Shift to Prevention

/9 November 2018/ All MFN blog/

In a previous article about A Paradigm Shift to Personal Responsibility, I set up the premise that the healthcare system is technologically driven and derives its results through partnerships with the insurance industry, government, pharmaceutical industry, medical profession and the hospitals that deliver services to patients.

Given the complexity of the system, patients have have to learn to navigate it to get the proper guidance, access and information from the right people at the right time for the right results. Moreover, the system is laden with traps in the form of its many “hidden” extra costs which means that going down the wrong route can turn into an expensive mistakes. Therefore, I believe that people need to become educated on the value of prevention by living a life that represents the core values of “wellness” and all that this word has come to mean over the past two decades.

A Definition of Wellness

In 1993, I prepared a presentation for the Association of Human Resource Professionals entitled “Improving Health in The Workplace”. I designed it as a proposal to encourage corporate managers to see the value and importance of prevention through the eyes of the employee in partnership with the company. My intention was to develop a “win-win” model whereby the company enhanced employees’ lives by investing in programs that would help create a “workplace health consciousness”. This would assist people in making healthier choices thereby improving productivity and performance. The company would benefit in the form of fewer days of work missed and the cost of healthcare would decline as well.

Needless to say, the presentation did not net me any new corporate clients but it did yield a couple of wonderful personal training clients. My thought process was focused on personal health and fitness services delivered on site, but being a single fitness provider the idea was probably too impractical to pursue. My presentation focused on the individual and its takeaway messages was:

We are what we eat, we are what we think, we are what we do, we are what we feel, and finally we are what we believe.

My idea was that if we become healthy in our thinking and expression first, then our bodies will follow suit: our new thought patterns will foster the adoption of new attitudes and behaviors. This model is just as true today as it was back in 1993 because wellness is not fitness – it is a consciousness of health that is ingrained in what we value most about our life and what that means to us.

The Values of Wellness and Prevention

I think it only fair to share with you my vision statement because it goes to the heart of why I am a proponent of healthy aging and believe prevention comes from “within” us as we focus on our choices while living in the present.

Healthy aging is a consciousness issue. It is not merely the death of our cells but is a complex and dynamic process that is grounded in CHANGE as life unfolds for each of us. The challenge, as I see it, is in discovering the potential that lies within us to become all we were meant to be – mentally, physically, and spiritually. This potential can carry us to living a life of fulfillment, peace, and prosperity if we remain PRESENT during each moment of our life – living consciously. Learning about who we are from the “inside-out” while acting upon our choices in the present, enables and empowers us to live a life of great accomplishment. This is my vision of a world that is possible.

I see now that what I envisioned for healthy aging will disappear in the world of the iPhone and other technologies if we do not become active players in the awareness of our own body and other sources that can control our thoughts and other processes. The goal of prevention is to “catch” the stressors BEFORE they create “dis-ease” in the body causing chronic conditions such as cancer. The problem is that the tests and the other “preventative” measures being used today only catch problems AFTER they have started to take hold in our bodies.

The Power of Five

1. The Power of Thought: Thinking is life. What we think we become. Everything in life evolves from thought. From this power comes our imagination, affirmations and ability to visualize outcomes. Dreams come from our thoughts. Disneyland was once a thought in Walt Disney’s mind. If we are staring at our phones over 200 times a day (which has been tested), we are missing out on our life and the changes that are occurring right before our eyes.

2. The Power of Change: “Change is the only constant in the natural order” as one of my favorite teachers taught me back in 1982. How we deal with change and address the challenges that change brings, plays a key role in whether we can go with the flow – or remain stuck where we are. Comfort zones keep us trapped in the place where change becomes almost impossible to embrace, but if we learn to let go of the past and embrace who we are in the present, life becomes so much more rewarding. “Go with the flow” is the best advice I can give when dealing with ALL change – it makes life so much easier and rewarding.

3. The Power of Choice: Choice is the real point of power in life. We “choose” every day of our life: whether we to go to work, go to the store, play with our kids or plan our futures. The point of making choices in the present is to create what you want from your life – and in your life. If you choose your health you will become active without excuses. You will eat well. You will entertain uplifting and loving thoughts. You will express yourself gently to those you love. You will not demand but forgive. You will value your every experience and be grateful for your gifts. This is to choose life in all its wonder and potential happiness.

4. The Power of Belief: Believing in yourself is always the place to begin. Believing in your potential to accomplish great things and to make a difference in the world takes work but it is possible with proper reflection and thought. “If you can conceive and believe, you can achieve”. This is true in all areas of life. Take responsibility for your beliefs and if they need to be altered or replaced – do so. Don’t wait until you are sick and tired and finally unable to believe at all in something more than your own life. Affirmations, meditation and reflection in quiet moments are ways to check in on your current beliefs. If you believe in yourself, anything is possible.

5. The Power of Consciousness: “The mind of man is unlimited in its potential and responds to specific demands made upon it”. This is another statement of belief I hold. I believe in opening my mind to new ideas and thoughts. I can create new and exciting ideas and some of these become realities in the world. This very piece of writing was an idea that is now materialised in the world to inspire others. My consciousness is one of hope and faith that I am being guided to create programs that will help people of all ages grow in consciousness so that they too can benefit from the ideas that others shared with me over the past 40 years.

Living in the present is challenging given the world we live in and all the demands that are placed upon us. We are on call 24/7 if we choose to let ourselves be taken in that direction. I refuse to let myself get taken into the world as Steve Jobs envisioned it. His world is not my world. I believe in the freedom to create my life by making the choices that are appropriate for me at any given time. Make your choices consciously and respond to your life and the changes it brings you by not resisting them. Be open and receptive to them. Thinking is the key. Think “through” your life. Do NOT react to outside pressures. Only then you will be able to enjoy the journey. This is true prevention.

Originally printed on HealthyNewAge.com. Reprinted with permission from Nicholas Prukop.

Nicholas Prukop is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer & a Health Coach, a fitness professional with over 25 years of experience whose passion for health and fitness comes from his boyhood in Hawaii where he grew up a swimmer on Maui. He found his calling in writing his first book “Healthy Aging & You: Your Journey to Becoming Happy, Healthy & Fit” and since then he has dedicated himself to empowering, inspiring and enabling people of all ages to reach for the best that is within them and become who they are meant to be – happy, healthy and fit – and be a part of a world where each person can contribute their own unique gifts to life.

If you need help in designing a fitness plan, you can contact Nicholas Prukop via email at runningnick@sbcglobal.net or read his inspiring book Healthy Aging & YOU

woman sleeping

Sleep: An Essential Component to Maintaining Health

/7 November 2018/ All MFN blog/

I have the answer to making you feel calmer, more energized, with no side effects, help with depression, lose weight, improve your for focus and productivity at work, regulate your hormones and boost your immune system. Sleep does all of this and more. 

Sufficient sleep is an essential to maintain health.

Getting enough sleep improves:

  • motivation
  • supports brain health
  • recovery of muscle strength
  • speed
  • muscle glycogen (stored energy in the muscles)
  • cortisol (stress) regulation
  • memory

Two thirds of adults in developed nations do not get enough sleep!

Less than six hours of sleep compromises the immune system and doubles cancer risk.

A tired brain isn’t able to communicate its needs properly, which can lead to imbalance and unhealthy habits.

Those who are sleep deprived also have a slower reaction time than to those who are rested. You can take all the vitamins and drink all the caffeine you want, sleep deprivation is sleep deprivation. Sleep enables the body to heal itself. Sleep actually is not passive, but studies show during some sleep phases, parts of the brain are more active then they are when you are awake.

The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life span. For athletes, insufficient sleep can be the reason for decreased performance and increased injury risk.

Adults should sleep 7 or more hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health. Less than five or six hours of sleep can negatively impact human performance, metabolic health, mental health, cardiovascular health, immune function, mortality, pain, general health. More than 8 hours a night can improve all of the above.

As you age, you sleep less and you spend less time in slow wave sleep. Amyloid beta is cleared from the brain during sleep and more slowly from the aging brain. Worsening amyloid deposition is seen in people with shorter sleep durations, or worsening sleep quality. Don’t count on recovery methods to contract little sleep and a poor diet. Sleep and nutrition are not recovery. Modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease is not enough sleep!

As you rest, your body and brain are preparing and rebuilding themselves. Growth hormones, which promotes cell reproduction and regeneration, is released into the bloodstream and the production of certain types of immune cells peaks. Sleep also helps to regulate hormones associated with weight gain. A study on sleep deprived men found that when they got less sleep, levels of gherkin (the hormone that increases appetite) rose. Lack of sleep can result in weight gain. Woman who sleep five hours a night were 15 percent more likely to be obese than those who slept seven hours. Being sleep deprived contributes to weight gain and makes weight loss difficult.

Good nutrition is amazing. Meditation is amazing. But nothing makes up for lack of sleep, nothing.

Sleep slows your heart rate and breathing and causes your blood pressure to drop. It also changes the frequency of your brainwaves. Delta waves (the slowest frequency brainwaves), which are linked to deep healing, only occur during the deep part of your sleep cycle. These are the same brainwaves experienced in a meditative state. Production of delta waves is associated with a drop in the production of the stress hormone cortisol. Lack of sleep have an aging impact on the brain and skin.

Some tips to create a sleep friendly bedroom:

  1. Black out curtains, the darker the room the better.
  2. Keep your bedroom decor simple and calm, clutter free, work papers out of sight.
  3. Blue walls perhaps or blue in your room.  Gentle blue tones are widely believed to have a calming effect.
  4. Keep a notepad by your bed so you don’t have to worry about staying awake because you don’t want to forget something, just write it down and go back to sleep.
  5. Pre sleep meditation and calming music.

Some tips for quality sleep:

  1. Institute a tech curfew. The light radiating from TV, phones, computers, iPads can disrupt the circadian rhythm. A study at Harvard University Medical School found particular frequencies of light disrupted the sleep inducing hormone melatonin. Turn off all devices at least an hour before bedtime. If you must read on your laptop or iPad before bed, download the blue light filter app. The more amount of screen time used, the less sleep. The circadian clock regulates our sleep; using technology near bed time interrupts the natural circadian rhythm clock and negatively impacts sleep. The top 25% of social media users were 2-3 times more likely to have disturbed sleep than those in the bottom 25%.
  2. Alcohol. You fall asleep more quickly, but the quality of sleep is poor, and REM sleep is decreased.
  3. Exercise regularly. Just not right before bed — that can have the opposite affect.
  4. 65 degrees is the optimum temperature for a good night sleep. If you are too hot, you are more likely to feel restless.
  5. Try herbal tea with chamomile and or valerian root.
  6. Imagine a tranquil natural scene, this visualization could make you relax. Studies at Oxford University showed that those who used this technique would fall asleep twenty minutes sooner than those who did not picture the tranquil scene. Avoid counting sheep — the study showed it took people longer to fall asleep!

Restful sleep is key ingredient to living a miraculous life. Real sleep!

“Lack of sleep is another way we block our power, creativity, and intuition.”
–Huffington Post President and Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington.

We often measure how productive we are based on how hard we work and how little sleep we get. This mentality is negatively affecting our health and overall well-being!

Charleene O’Connor is a a biomechanics specialist, TPI Level 3 Golf Fitness Trainer, Egoscue Postural alignment therapist, Meditation teacher and SUP instructor. Visit her website, charleenesfitness.com

Human Brain Health with ECG

Getting Fit Expands Your Mind

/2 November 2018/ All MFN blog/

Getting fit expands your mind.

When you start a program to develop better habits, get out of pain, or whatever the case may be, one thing you probably don’t expect is how your mind transforms.

Health and fitness are elusive, multi-failure and hard to reach topics for the majority of people. You may have even thought at one point that it’s just not possible for YOU to achieve your goals right?

My first piece of advice is just take the first step. Then the next step and then the next. If you keep taking a step forward, you eventually arrive at your destination. It’s simple when you look at it like that, isn’t it?

It comes down to making the right choices at each meal, to exercise daily, to go to sleep on time, to drink water is how getting fit expands your mind.

When you start to build your confidence and see results around something you may have previously believed to be impossible, it’s incredible what areas of your life open up.

People grow courageous and start businesses because of their fitness results. From the confidence they build through fitness, women choose to do certain fitness adventures or events. Even previously un-athletic seniors pursue fitness careers because of their results and desires to pass that on to others.

So, whether you’re deep into your fitness journey or just thinking about getting started, know that if you keep your mind open, success in fitness shows you that anything is possible.

Fitness is empowerment to the core. you’ll see the possibilities by believing getting fit expands your mind.

Originally printed on Move Well Fitness blog. Reprinted with permission.

Maurice D. Williams is a personal trainer and owner of Move Well Fitness in Bethesda, MD. With almost two decades in the industry, he’s worked with a wide range of clients, including those with health challenges like diabetes, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, coronary artery disease, lower back pain, pulmonary issues, and pregnancy. Maurice is also a fitness educator with Move Well Fit Academy and NASM.