s e m o n i a n

Yes! More techniques to try to aide our sleep. I have battled heridatary insomenia since childhood: nights I couldnt fall asleep, stay asleep, or attain restful sleep. Over the years I have tried many behavioral changes to my bedtime routines, eating habits, and even sleeping environments to better my chances of a long restful night of sleep.

Science tells us that sleep serves 3 major functions: energy restoration from daytime activities, protects our body while our sensor systems are down and recharging, allows the brain to store data and experiences allowing for learning to take place. Here are the sleep hygiene tips from the University of California, Berkeley, Wellness Letter (2008):

-Cut back on caffeine after 2pm

-Nicotine keeps you awake, no smoking

-least amount of noise, the better

-create a comfy place to sleep, linens, dark colored shades, replace worn-out mattress and bedroom temp should be cool

-Drink less fluids after dinner, to avoid sleep disruption for bathroom trips

-Put stressful situations from the day to bed before you put on your pjs

-Have a consistant bed-time and wake-up time

-No work projects or paper work in bed, bed is for sleep

-No food in bed, bed is for sleep

-Keep naps to 30 minutes and earlier in the day

Adding just one of these suggestions can prove to be the key for better sleep for you. Loosing sleep regularly is a risk factor for weight gain and obesity, and is an important piece to any weight-loss regime.

Enjoy Your Exercise. Enjoy Your Day.

Did you know, exercising during pregnancy isn’t just good for you, its good for your baby too? A study out of Auckland New Zealand says that expectant mothers who exercise regularly help to ensure a healthy birthweight for their baby, which sets the child up for a healthy life.

A study was done of first-time normal-weight mothers who participated in a maximum of five 40 minute sessions per week.  Their exercise consisted of MODERATE intensity non-impact cardio, like riding a stationary bike. These women exercised into their 36th week and gave birth to healthy weight babies that weighed 5oz less than those born to non-exercising mothers.   The mothers themselves gained an average of 16lbs during their pregnancy. 

“Findings show that regular aerobic exercise alters maternal environment in some way that has an impact on nutrient stimulation of fetal growth, resulting in a reduction in offspring birth weight. Given that large birthe size is associated with an increased risk of obesity, a modest reduction in birth weight may have long-term health benefits for offspring by lowering this risk later in life.”-Paul Hofman, MD, University of Auckland New Zealand.

While the change in birth weight may be minimal, it can go a long way to starting our youngsters off on the right health path. Not only will regular low-intensity exercise allow for a healthier pregnancy, your body will be able to handle the stressors of labor more effectively while reducing the size of your baby.

Enjoy Your Exercise. Enjoy Your Day.

Diets come and go, the adage says. To lose weight more effectively, we are told to change our eating habits. Understanding how the body responds to urges to eat and the pleasures of food, plus what we as individuals know about nutrition (e.g. where we get our nutrition/eating information) can help us analyze our weight gain/loss. Getting an honest assessment of our eating habits is a healthy start towards changing them.

When I think of eating habits, I think of how much I eat, when I eat, where I eat, and who I eat with. Recently, many studies have been conducted analyzing eating, including how much our eating partners eat, room temperature and lighting, the variety of foods available at the meal, pace, recognizing hunger intensity, and even how big our plates are.

A recent group of graduate students and staff at the Universiy of Illinois held a buffet-style ice cream social. Some group members were given a small bowl, and some were given a large bowl. When surveyed, all participants felt they served themselves the same amount of ice cream - but it turned out those with the larger bowls consumed 57% more.

New book Eat, Drink, and Be Mindful by psychologist Susan Albers gives these additional tips to bring mindfulness to our eating habits:

-Enjoy Your Eating: Take the time to smell your food, feel the texture and the temperature of it, how it really tastes, and if it satisfies your taste buds.

-Change Your Pace: Add chopsticks, take your food outdoors, try a new food, or put your fork down at least 3 times during a meal to take a pause.

-Concentrate: While it is easy and tempting to eat as you work, talk on the phone or answer emails, avoid distractions to focus on your food. Give your snack its deserved attention.

-Know Your Hunger: Pay attention to the cues your body is sending when hunger arrives. What is the first sign? Rate your hunger on a scale of 1-10 before deciding if/what to eat. If your hunger is emotionally driven, set a timer of two minutes and keep busy to see if the urge passes.

Paying attention to the ways and reasons why we eat can help form healthier eating habits. Who would have thought that slowing down and tasting our food is an enjoyable and healthy way to lose weight? Minor adjustments now, will over time lead to healthy weight loss and weight management.

Enjoy Your Exercise. Enjoy Your Day.

In 2009, the British Journal of Psychiatry compared five years’ worth of diet information from over 3,400 people. The study found that those who consumed processed meat, chocolate, sweetened desserts, refined cereals, and high-fat dairy and fried foods were more vulnerable to depression over time. But alternately, “those with the highest intake of whole foods, such as fruits, veggies and fish, had a significantly lower incidences of clinical depression.”

Eating healthy omega-3 fatty acids in fish, antioxidants in produce, and folates in legumes and leafy vegetables over time proved to have a cumulative positive effect on mood. The study went on to say, “even after adjusting for factors such as smoking and fitness level, a processed food dietary pattern is a risk for…depression 5 years later, whereas a whole food pattern is protective.”

Even if you are “fit,” you still must feed the human machine the proper fuels for optimal performance long into your life, both physically and emotionally. Adding nutrient-dense foods and whole grains, and eliminating refined sugars, are simple ways to keep the blues away.

Enjoy Your Exercise. Enjoy Your Day.

It is well-documented that a sedentary lifestyle leads to a plethora of health problems. But in the past 30 years, we have turned our leisure and our work into seated activities. We were made to walk; our ancestors walked on average 12 miles per day. All of this sitting also wreaks havoc on our posture. Postural corrections and impairments lead to aches and pains in joints, usually the lower back. Yes, we have evolved from Upright Walking Apes to Seated Hunched-Over Animals.

You might spend plenty of time in the gym, trying to balance the time you sit with the time you are active. But a new study shows this may not be enough. According to a study by medical journal “Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise,” your risk of dying increases with the amount of time you are seated, even if you engage in other physical activity.

The 12-year study of over 17,000 participants age 18-90 monitored sitting time, leisure time physical activity, smoking status, and alcohol consumption at baseline. The results showed “a progressively higher risk of mortality across higher levels of sitting time,” regardless of “leisure-time physical activity” (working out). “In addition to the promotion of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and a healthy weight, physicians should discourage sitting for extended periods,” it concluded.

Limiting the amount of time we sit reaps obvious benefits. Shaving off a few hours each week will add up quickly. Get creative, whether it’s joining an after-work sports league, throwing a frisbee in the park, or walking around the block during lunch. Find a handful of activities to have in your arsenal to fight the urge to sit.

Enjoy Your Exercise. Enjoy Your Day.

A new Kansas State University study says that people who think in the long-term develop and implement healthier behaviors.

The study compared undergraduate’s perceptions of time with their behavior as it related to things like smoking, exercise and nutrition. The results: “Those who understood the future benefits or perils of present decisions were more likely to participate in healthier behaviors. Conversely, short-term thinkers preferred instant grativication and engaged in less-healthy behaviors.”

Mary Bratcher, co-owner of San Diego-based physical therapy and training facility The BioMechanics, sees this as a practical connection of cause and effect, both in the short- and long-term. “[Longer-term thinkers] clearly see the links between eating unhealthy foods and the risk of becoming overweight, the same way they see an open bottle of bleach on the washing machine as a potential risk that could ruin their favorite jeans,” she says.

Want to use this mindset to modify your own habits? Here are some higher-level thinking questions to get you started:

• Do I really want/need to eat this right now?
• Will I feel good tomorrow if I choose to have another drink?
• What habits do the people I surround myself with have?
• Can I wait 10 minutes to allow a craving to pass?
• Would a great piece of fruit be a substitute?

Regular practice of healthy choices leads to great gains towards your fitness goals. Delaying gratification is an easy and quick way to step back and effectively evaluate its possible influence on our future health and overall fitness goals.

Enjoy Your Exercise. Enjoy Your Day.