EXERCISE NATURALLY - DENNY WAXMAN

 

Do we need to exercise? I often wonder. I watch my children play, they are having fun. Are they exercising or just making balance for what they are eating? When they eat foods outside the macrobiotic diet their play and behavior changes. When they eat macrobiotic foods they play nicely together, not much fighting. After sweets at school they fight and whine more. Maybe they are just trying to burn off the excess. Without concepts, they naturally make balance.

 

Everything is balance. When we are close to the center we are naturally attracted back to the center to create a balance. However, once we get too far off center there is a tendency to go to the extreme first before returning to a balance. I have often observed this in the way people choose food.

People who are too yang often choose more yang foods rather than the yin foods, which would return them to balance. The same is true in reverse for yin people, they like more yin foods. With exercise it is the same. Yang type people are attracted to more yang types of exercise, which make their condition increasingly more yang. Yin type people tend to choose more yin types of exercise and make themselves more yin. When they finally reach the extreme of yin or yang, they make a radical change toward the opposite to create balance.

There are three basic types of exercise:

1. Harmonious or life-related.
   Whoever does this type of exercise returns to balance. Walking is the most universal, harmonious exercise. If you are tired, walking will energize you. When anxious, walking calms you down. If you are depressed walking will pick you up. Walking clears a cloudy mind. Cleaning, housework, gardening, singing, social dancing and hobbies are other examples.
2. Ki-related exercise.
   This type of exercise develops your Ki energy. It is mentally and spiritually refining and creates greater sensitivity and awareness. Martial arts, yoga, Do-In, breathing exercises, chanting and meditations are in this category. They are generally yin but can still be divided into yin and yang. Tai-chi is a more yin type martial art, Karate is a more yang type and Aikido is balanced. In Do-In there are stretching, rubbing and pounding movements. Stretching is balanced, rubbing is yin and pounding is more yang.
3. Physically, emotionally related exercise.
   This type exercise stimulates blood circulation and muscles. It makes you warm and develops physical strength. All types of sports and calisthenics are in this category. Jogging, aerobics, tennis, golf, baseball, swimming, etc. are a few examples. Exercises you do for fun are more yin, competitive exercise or sports are more yang. Exercises you do in a group are more yang than exercise you do by yourself. This type of exercise makes you feel good physically and emotionally. It’s nature is yang. Jogging is very centering and grounding, tennis is more harmonizing and football makes you very yang.

Diet controls our need for exercise. The more we eat and the richer the foods, the more exercise we need to return to balance. Consider your diet before exercise. This will ensure the best results with the least effort. A grain and vegetable based diet such as macrobiotics is best.

 

To get the best results from your exercise program start with life-related exercise. Make your daily life more active. In addition choose exercise you truly enjoy. Exercise should be like good food, you crave it and can’t wait to enjoy it. Try to choose exercise that is appropriate for your condition.

If you are more yang and socially oriented try some Ki-related exercises. Stress is very yang. To overcome stress, harmonious and Ki-related exercise are more helpful than jogging or sports, which are also yang. If your are a more yin, mental type person and need to strengthen, try the physically oriented exercises. Here jogging, aerobics, tennis or skiing would be appropriate. Choose group type activities to become more socially oriented.

Your mental image while exercising is also very important. To become more yin keep a happy, peaceful bright image in your mind. To become more yang focus on a goal.

Also consider your surroundings when exercising. Outside is more open and yin. For alleviating stress, outdoor exercise where there is grass and trees produce the best results. Don’t push yourself to the limit though. Stop at 70-80% of your capacity. Build up gradually and try to be consistent.

Health is natural, we don’t have to work at it. First, understand your present condition, then set a direction. Review your progress, are you reaching your goals? If not, try a different exercise. And most of all have fun.

Link: http://arizonaenergy.org/Analysis/MakingSense/exercise_naturally.htm

Alzheimer’s & dementia prevention pillar #2: Healthy diet

Just like the rest of your body, your brain needs a nutritious diet to operate at its best. Focus on eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats.

Eating habits that reduce inflammation and provide a steady supply of fuel are best. These food tips will keep you protected:

• Follow a Mediterranean diet. Eating a heart-healthy Mediterranean diet rich in fish, nuts, whole grains, olive oil, and abundant fresh produce. Treat yourself to the occasional glass of red wine and square of dark chocolate.
• Avoid trans fats and saturated fats. Reduce your consumption by avoiding full-fat dairy products, red meat, fast food, fried foods, and packaged and processed foods.
• Eat a heart-healthy diet. What’s good for the heart is also good for the brain, so by reducing your risk of heart disease, you also lower your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
• Get plenty of omega-3 fats. Evidence suggests that omega-3 fatty acids may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Food sources include cold-water fish such as salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel, and sardines. You can also supplement with fish oil.
• Eat 4-6 small meals throughout the day, rather than 3 large meals. Eating at regular intervals helps to maintain consistent blood sugar levels. Also avoid refined carbohydrates high in sugar and white flour, which rapidly spike glucose levels and inflame your brain.
• Eat across the rainbow. Emphasize fruits and vegetables across the color spectrum to maximize protective antioxidants and vitamins. Daily servings of berries and green leafy vegetables should be part of your brain-protective regimen.
• Enjoy daily cups of tea. Regular consumption of green tea may enhance memory and mental alertness and slow brain aging. White and oolong teas are also particularly brain healthy. Drinking 2-4 cups daily has proven benefits. Although not as powerful as tea, coffee also confers brain benefits.

Give up smoking and drink in moderation

Smoking and heavy drinking are two of the most preventable risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. Not only does smoking increase the odds for those over 65 by nearly 79 percent, researchers at Miami’s Mt. Sinai Medical Center warn that a combination of these two behaviors reduces the age of Alzheimer’s onset by six to seven years.

When you stop smoking, the brain benefits from improved circulation almost immediately, no matter your age. However, brain changes from alcohol abuse can only be reversed in their early stages.

What about supplements?

Folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin D, magnesium, and fish oil are believed to preserve and improve brain health. Studies of vitamin E, ginkgo biloba, coenzyme Q10, and turmeric have yielded less conclusive results, but may also be beneficial in the prevention or delay of Alzheimer’s and dementia symptoms. 

Talk to your doctor about medication interactions, and review current literature to make a personal decision about the costs and benefits of dietary supplements.

Eat to protect glial cells.

Researchers believe that glial cells may help remove debris and toxins from the brain that can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. Consuming foods such as ginger, green tea, fatty fish, soy products, blueberries, and other dark berries may protect these important cells from damage.

Link: http://www.helpguide.org/elder/alzheimers_prevention_slowing_down_treatment.htm

How to Prevent Burnout from Stress: Live like a Sprinter, not a Long Distance Runner

When we expend energy, we draw down our reservoir. When we recover energy, we fill it back up. Too much energy expenditure without sufficient recovery eventually leads to burnout and breakdown (Overuse it and lose it). Too much recovery without sufficient stress leads to atrophy and weakness (Use it or lose it).
-Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, The Power of Full Engagement

There needs to be an equal balance between stress and recovery- too much of either one has negative consequences

 

Nature is constantly oscillating- think of tides moving in and out, the seasons changing, or the sun rising and setting. We as human beings naturally follow a similar rhythm with our energy levels. Our natural state is to oscillate between rest and activity, similar to a sprinter. Unfortunately, our society of technological innovation socially sanctions living like a long distance runner- we ignore rest and fail to recognize its necessity for preventing burnout and sustaining high performance.

 

Ignoring recovery for too long causes burnout- symptoms of being burned out include emotional exhaustion, loss of motivation, detachment, isolation, and irritability.

Are your addicted to living like a long distance runner?

Living in a state of stress produces an adrenaline rush, and over time, this becomes addictive, and we lose the ability to relax. Common sense would tell us we need to take breaks and rest, but instead we overindulge in work, and face the consequences. Researchers have found that self-described workaholics have a significantly higher than average incidence of stress-related illnesses, divorce, and alcohol abuse.

Are you creating artificial relaxation and alertness?

If you regularly rely on alcohol, marijuana or sleeping pills to calm down, you may be trying to create relaxation (artificially). Similarly, if you rely on stimulants such as caffeine or amphetamines, you are trying to create alertness (artificially). Both of these artificial means of oscillation are masking the bigger problem- you are still living life like a long distance runner.

Are you creating artificial importance?

Do you like the feeling of importance when you become busier? Even when it means being unavailable to your friends and family? This artificial importance will only create artificial success, as you are still living life like a long distance runner.

Are your work habits putting you at risk to karoshi?

Karoshi is the term in Japan which means “death from overwork”. This is apparently a fairly common occurrence. In fact, I just read about a Toyota engineer who worked himself to death today (he died of heart disease). Additionally, I have known several people in the workforce who have had heart attacks after working extreme long hours under high pressure.

Research shows that these five key factors contribute to karoshi:

• Extreme long hours that interferes with normal rest patterns
• Night work that interferes with normal rest patterns
• Working without holidays or breaks
• High pressure work without breaks
• Extremely demanding physical labor and continuously stressful work

Here are some tips for preventing burnout (or karoshi!), and living like a sprinter:

Tips for Preventing Burnout from Stress and Living like a Sprinter

1) Balance stress and recovery to achieve your best performance

Push yourself beyond your ordinary limits, and regularly seek recovery, and you will grow. This is similar to lifting weights at the gym. The problem with people who live like long distance runners is that they don’t allow themselves to recover, and get burned out as a consequence. This brings us to the topic of tip 2.

2) Create a ritual of disconnecting

New technologies such as Blackberries/PDA’s, and social networking tools (ex. Facebook, Twitter), make it easy for us to never truly disconnect. Several people I work with will bring their work phones/laptops with them on vacation, and check e-mail/take phone calls the entire time. This is faulty, socially-sanctioned “live life as a long distance runner” logic.

It is a very good plan every now and then to go away and have a little relaxation… When you come back to the work your judgement will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose the power of judgement.
-Leonardo Da Vinci

Da Vinci’s advice still applies to us today. To prevent work burnout, create a daily ritual (read my post on creating consistent daily habits) of completely disconnecting- have a daily stopping point. For example, if you are a business traveler, make a habit of not working during your commute, and instead, relax and read books/magazines. If you are on vacation, completely disconnect from your work- don’t bring your PDA or laptop.

Another option for preventing work burnout is to disconnect during your lunch. A lot of people fall into the habit of eating at their desk, or eating with coworkers and discussing work-related topics. To truly disconnect and use your lunch break to recover, you may need to eat by yourself.

3) Create healthy breathing, eating, sleeping, and exercising habits

Breathing: This is an easy way to relax and prevent burnout- throughout your day, make a habit of breathing in to a count of three and out to a count of six, for several minutes. This will help you relax deeply.

Eating: Eat small meals at regular intervals (five to six times a day is recommended), in amounts that are satisfying (not over or under filling). Try to eat primarily foods that are low on the glycemic index, as these will provide a steadier source of energy. And don’t forget to drink plenty of water!

Sleeping: Get 7-8 hours of sleep. If you are able to, take at catnap in the afternoon. Winston Churchill was a proponent of this, explaining that a catnap helps you get two days in one, as you wake up more alert and sustaining energy.

 

Exercising: Work out 3-5 times per week, and add some form of strength training to your routine (read my post on losing weight by gaining muscle). Strength training is just as important as cardiovascular training, especially as we age- on average, we lose one-half pound of muscle mass each year after the age of forty in absence of exercise.

Source: http://www.lifeevolver.com/prevent-stress-burnout-live-sprinter-long-distance-runner/

Sleep Tips and Advice (BBC)

Do you like to have a weekend lie-in or a nightcap before going to bed? These habits could actually be harming your sleep.

Relax your mind

• Simple breathing exercises can help. Breathe, using your abdomen not your chest, through your nose for three seconds, then breathe out for three seconds. Pause for three seconds before breathing in again. Practise this for ten minutes at night (five minutes is better than nothing).
• Some people find that lavender oil, valerian or other herbs help them to sleep.
• If you still have problems, you could try massage, aromatherapy, or even acupuncture.
• If you still find yourself tossing and turning, abandon the bedroom and find something enjoyable and absorbing to do. Jigsaws are perfect. Don't go back to bed until you begin to feel sleepy.

Exercise regularly

• Regular exercise is a great way to improve your sleep. Just be careful not to do it close to bed time as exercise produces stimulants that stop the brain from relaxing quickly.
• This being the case, exercising in the morning is an excellent way to wake up the body. Going for a run or doing some aerobics releases stimulants into the body, which perks you up.
• If you are injured or disabled, you can still benefit from exercise. Check out disability exercise tips.

Create a calm bedroom environment

• Your bedroom should be for sleep only. Avoid turning it into an entertainment centre with televisions, computers and stereos.
• Two thirds of British children have a computer, games machine or TV in their bedroom and could be losing out on sleep as a result.

Avoid alcohol

• It's fine to have a nightcap, but too much alcohol can make you restless. Alcohol is also a diuretic, which means it encourages you to urinate (never welcomed during the night).
• Drinking is also more likely to lead to snoring, which can restrict airflow into the lungs. This reduces oxygen in your blood which disturbs your sleep and contributes to your hangover.

Avoid caffeine

• Caffeine is a stimulant which can stay in your system for many hours. So avoid sources of caffeine such as coffee, chocolate, cola drinks and non-herbal teas.

Watch what you eat

• Eating a large heavy meal too close to bedtime will interfere with your sleep.
• Spicy or fatty foods may cause heartburn, which leads to difficulty in falling asleep and discomfort throughout the night.
• Foods containing tyramine (bacon, cheese, ham, aubergines, pepperoni, raspberries avocado, nuts, soy sauce, red wine) might keep you awake at night. Tyramine causes the release of norepinephrine, a brain stimulant.
• If you get the munchies close to bedtime, eat something that triggers the hormone serotonin, which makes you sleepy. Carbohydrates such as bread or cereal will do the trick.

Set a regular bedtime and wake up time

• Create a habit of going to bed and waking up at the same time each day, even on weekends. This helps anchor your body clock to these times. Resisting the urge for a lie-in can pay dividends in alertness.
• If you feel you haven't slept well, resist the urge to sleep in longer than normal; getting up on schedule keeps your body in its normal wake-up routine.
• Remember, even after only four hours, the brain has gained many of the important benefits of sleep.

It's only natural

• Most of us have a natural dip in alertness between 2 - 4pm.
• A 15 minute nap when you're tired can be a very effective way of staying alert throughout the day. Avoid napping for longer than 20 minutes, after which you will enter deep sleep and feel even worse when you wake up.

See a doctor if your problem continues

• If you have trouble falling asleep night after night, or if you always feel tired the next day, you might have a sleep disorder. It is advisable to seek more advice from your doctor. Most sleep disorders can be treated effectively.

Source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/articles/advicetips.shtml