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07 DecStay Fit This Winter!

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I don’t know about you, but when winter starts sneaking up on me, and the sky starts darkening just about the time I’m leaving work, well,
I just want to go home, get my pj’s on and cozy up underneath a blanket.  In other words, hibernating like a big old bear sounds pretty good to old Bea!  And that cold, cold winter wind makes me want to gather up comfort foods and fill my belly with ‘em.

 

Wake up, sleepyhead!

Truth is, though, I know I can’t let the siren call of hibernation woo me.  I don’t want to wake up from a long winter’s nap, only to find I’ve somehow gained five (or more) pounds and that I have a serious lack of motivation to rev up my exercise habits for spring.

If you have the same concerns I do, here are some options to keep you motivated to maintain your fitness levels this winter, and avoid that
holiday weight gain, compliments of the American Council of Exercise (ACE) website.

A few ideas I would add to ACE’s list:

  • On those days when it’s not too bitterly cold, take a brisk walk outside.  If you have a dog, bring him or her along for some company. Or if you can drag your spouse or significant other off the couch, drag him or her along!
  • Ask for a Nintendo Wii with a Wii Fit package for Christmas!  It’ll help you work off those holiday treats.
  • Are you a senior?  Find out if your community has a SeniorCenter – the one in my city offers a walking track and a variety of group activities,
    such as pickle ball, which is extremely popular.

For Further Reading:

  1. Exercise and Cold Weather: Tips to Stay Safe Outdoors
  2. Winter Workouts and Exercises

 

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31 Aug9 Natural Ways To Lower Your Blood Pressure

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Main complications of persistent high blood pr...

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know that high blood pressure (hypertension) is the common factor in people that have their first heart attack or a stroke? That’s a frightening fact, considering that around 65 million of Americans have it!*

If you’re one of those millions, and you want to avoid taking medication for high blood pressure, there are some natural options you may want to try.  You may be able to lower your blood pressure by tweaking your lifestyle.

Here are 9 lifestyle “tweaks” that can help you:

  • Are you carrying around extra weight?  According to the Mayo Clinic, even if you lose just 10 pounds, you can significantly lower your blood pressure.**

 

  • Make a choice to exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes (even better? 45 to 60 minutes) at least 5 days each week.  Not only will you see a drop in your blood pressure, but your body will thank you.  By the way, resistance training is as good as aerobic exercise for reducing blood pressure!***

 

  • If you’re a fast food lover, make a commitment to eating a healthier diet.  The DASH diet, which concentrates on whole grains, fruits, veggies, and low-fat dairy, as well as cutting back on bad fats, as well as reducing salt,  is a great option for people with hypertension.

 

  • Watch out for sodium in your diet! Start by not salting your foods – if that’s difficult, substitute one of those herb-blend seasonings on the market, such as Mrs. Dash or one of McCormick’s Perfect Pinch blends.  Avoid processed foods, (Yikes, no more potato chips for me!) which are high in sodium, or look for low-sodium products.

 

  • Be sure to schedule down time for yourself.  If you’re tense or anxious, your stress levels increase; this raises blood pressure. Try deep-breathing exercises  or yoga. Practicing meditation can lower your stress levels, heart rate and BP***

 

  • Try drinking herbal tea with hibiscus, which, according to research, can lower systolic blood pressure.

 

  • If you smoke, quit – and try to avoid secondhand smoke.  Along with all the other bad stuff that smoking does, the nicotine in the tobacco raises blood pressure. Other chemicals in cigarettes can hurt your arteries and cause you to retain fluid, which also keep your BP higher.**

 

  • Visit your doc regularly. If you have high blood pressure, ask your doctor about self-monitoring, which may keep you motivated to lowering that BP.  According to the Mayo Clinic, if your blood pressure isn’t very well controlled or if you have other medical concerns, you may need to see your physician once a month.  If you’ve managed to control your BP effectively, you may need only a bi-annual or annual visit.

 

  • Get friend and family support!  Studies have shown that having a support system can help you maintain good health and live longer.**** Friends and family can encourage you to keep up with your health care, drive you to your appointments, exercise with you . . .

For FurtherReading:

 

Sources:

*WebMD. 2009.  High Blood Pressure in Men

** Mayo Clinic Staff. 2011. 10 ways to control high blood pressure without medication.

***Ince, Susan. (Feb 2011). Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally. Good Housekeeping Magazine.

****Rowe, J. & Kahn, R. (1998) Successful Aging.

 

 

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11 AugGot GPS, Will Travel

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Don’t even bother, Mr. B.

 

Bea’s husband is “navigationally challenged.”  A fancy way of saying he gets lost simply trying to drive through our neighborhood.  So he bought a GPS, and now he can drive to our local McDonald’s without a problem.  Bea warned him that he’s “dumbing himself down” by using that GPS (who, by the way, has an annoying voice) but, being a typical man, he never listens to his wife.

It actually appears that getting lost is a genetic trait in his family. A few of his siblings can’t find their way around town, either. Who’da thunk that DNA, along with giving a person blue eyes, brown hair, and skinny legs, would also pass along a “just get lost” gene?

Luckily for Mr. Boomer, if the GPS has a nervous breakdown from trying to direct him all the time, both Mrs. B. and the Boomer offspring, Ms. B., have a great sense of direction.  (Especially when it comes to finding shopping malls and their favorite Mexican restaurants – Go figure).

Bea can actually read a paper map! *Gasp.* And daughter Boomer only has to drive somewhere once, and she can get back to that spot blindfolded.  I kid you not.

WebMD says it’s all in our brains.  Navigational skills, that is. It’s got something to do with our hippocampus, the memory part of our brains. Some of us simply have better recognition and spatial memory in that old hippocampus of ours.  Read more in WebMD’s article,  Why Do You Always Get Lost? .

The article also says that we can improve our sense of direction; Mr. Boomer may have to look into that . . .

 

For Further Reading:

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10 AugAre Your Ears Ringing?

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One of my friends often suffers from ringing in her ears at night, and as a consequence, doesn’t get enough sleep.  Lack of sleep in itself can be bad enough, but when phantom noises are what’s keeping you awake, it must be horrible! My friend thinks it’s from those loud rock concerts she went to as a twenty-something, and she could be right – MedicineNet points out loud noise exposure is one of the primary causes of this hearing condition.  Other causes can be found here.

Tinnitus is what’s keeping my friend awake at night, and it’s more common than you may think. It affects up to 50,000,000 people in the U.S. alone, and hundreds of millions worldwide, according to the American Tinnitus Association (ATA).  That’s a lot of people suffering from a hearing condition that has no cure.

I referred to the noises my friend hears as phantom noises, because they’re noises no one else can hear. According to Dr. Neil Bauman, Director for the Center for Hearing Loss Help, the noises differ among people suffering with tinnitus – my friend has that awful ringing; other people may hear hissing, buzzing, humming, chirping, and a variety of other sounds.  Dr. Bauman also pointed out that the noises may constantly act up  or  may appear intermittently.  Either way, it doesn’t sound fun.

 

 

According to the ATA, some of the treatment options are:

  • Medications, such as anti-convulsant drugs or sedatives, as well as anti-depressant or anti-anxiety drugs.
  • Sound therapy –  One option is called a “tinnitus masker,” an electronic appliance that fits into a person’s ear and makes “white noise” to mask the sounds of tinnitus.*
  • Biofeedback
  • Cognitive Therapy

You can find more treatments at the ATA website, or at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

For Further Reading:

 

Source:

*Moore, Donnica, M.D. (2009) Women’s Health for Life.

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07 AugYo-Yo Dieting and your Health

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Avoiding the ups and downs of weight loss – for your good health!

http://www.regardinghealth.com/BCBSM/WHU/2011/07/Article.aspx?bmkEMC=67524

 

For FurtherReading:

Weight Cycling: Facts about Yo-Yo Dieting

 

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01 AugWhy I Read “Success Consciousness”

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The Success Consciousness website,  created by Remez Sasson, is the home of one of my favorite personal development blogs.  At the Success Conscious site, readers who are interested in personal development can buy one of Remez’s many books which include topics such as: Self-improvement, motivation, inner peace, spiritual growth, and more. What I like is that you can download free chapters/excerpts from some of his books, to review before purchasing.

Stressed out today? Or just want to relax before bed? Watch one of Remez’s meditation videos. If you’re interested in connecting with others and talking about personal and spiritual development, you can check out the site’s forums.

My favorite part of the site, however, is Remez’s blog, found here.

I recently read a post that described me in my younger years.  Titled, A Few Questions to Ask Yourself, it talked about asking yourself how you react to things that happen in your day. Do you get angry and upset at the little irritations that pop up?  Do you dwell on problems, personal criticism, and such?  Remez points out that how we respond to life’s obstacles has a lot to do with our peace of mind.  And he provides ideas about how to rid ourselves of our automatic negative reactions.

This post also reminded me about something I had learned from Don Miguel Ruiz’s book, The Four Agreements, and that is: Don’t take things personally!

Don’t know about you, readers, but developing my own peace of mind has been a continuous journey.  It’s worth the trip, though, because at least for myself, serenity has led to a greater sense of self-acceptance and happiness.

A few other posts that I enjoyed:

(1) How to avoid negative thinking

(2) When One Door Closes Another Opens

http://www.successconsciousness.com/blog/success/when-one-door-closes-another-door-opens/

(3) How to calm your mind

And one post that reminds me not to give up on my dream to write a book, and may convince you not to give up on your dreams either:

50 Famously Successful People Who Failed At First

 

 

 

 

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25 JulBea’s 3 Favorite Strength Training DVDs

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Bea loves strength training and finds it does great things for both her body and mind.  Heck, what’s not to love about an exercise that strengthens your bones, builds muscle and ramps up your metabolism?

Here are a few of her current favorite DVDs:

  • Star Trainers –  5 fitness experts, 5 twenty minute weight workouts.  The routines are easy to follow. The workouts may be short, but they definitely make you sweat.

 

  • Denise Austin 3-Week Boot Camp – 2 twenty minute workouts and a bonus 6 minute “ab fat blaster.” After all these years, Denise’s voice still annoys Bea. But once she learned the routine, she just muted the audio!

 

  •  Chris Freytag’s Walk and Sculpt – a combination of cardio and strength training. Bea enjoys interval training and Chris makes her work! Ahh, but it feels so good when it’s over.  (This routine is from her Walking Cardio Shape Up Max DVD)

 

All three of these DVDs are available at Amazon.

Hey readers!  Bea’s always on the lookout for new strength training DVDs.  Got any suggestions?

 

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20 JulIs Your Thyroid Underactive?

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Went to the doctor earlier this year. Got blood tests, as usual.  Found out my thyroid levels were low.  Doc prescribed thyroid medication, Levothyroxine.  Added it to my other prescription medications, Lipitor and Actonel.

What the heck do I know about my thyroid?  Not much.   So I googled it.  How in the heck did I ever survive without Google?

So here’s what I knew before I sought Google knowledge:

  • Our thyroid is located somewhere in our neck, and can be over- or under-active.
  • We can get thyroid cancer. This I knew because one of my close friends had it, and the doctor took out her thyroid surgically.

That’s pretty much it.  My knowledge of the thyroid, in a (small) nutshell.

What I found out about the thyroid after my search:

  • It’s shaped like a butterfly and is located just below the Adam’s apple, wrapped around our windpipe.*

 

  • For a little thing, it’s pretty important.  The thyroid makes a hormone that affects our metabolism and  “influences every organ, tissue and cell in the body.” **  Now that’s a powerful gland.

 

  • Millions of people in our country have an underactive thyroid, or hypothyroidism,** many of them women. It often affects those of us who are over the big 5-0.

 

  • Hypothyroidism may be a contributor to high cholesterol! ***

 

Some of the common symptoms of hypothyroidism:

(1) Fatigue

(2) Weight gain

(3) Intolerance to cold (And I thought I just had an intolerance to Michigan’s long winters!)

(4) Muscle and joiht pain

(5) Depression

(6) Dry, thinning hair

(7) Slowed heart rate

(8) Difficulty swallowing

(9) Constipation

After reading that an underactive thyroid affects more women  than men, I wondered about the reasons behind this, other than the fact that women seem to suffer with more burdens in life than men do. **Sigh.** But then again, we are the stronger sex, so we can take on more burdens.

Unfortunately, several Google searches didn’t turn up much of an answer to my question. In fact, in an article at the Women to Women website, OB/GYN NP Marcelle Pick pointed out that no one really knows why women have a tendency to suffer from hypothyroidism.  She does say that there could be a connection between our thyroid hormones and our reproductive hormones.

I do know that my thyroid function is back on track, now that I’m taking medication.  If you suffer from any of the symptoms listed above, you just may want to get your doc to check out your thyroid levels.

Sources:

*WiseGeek – http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-thyroid-gland.htm

**Rodale Press. Prevention’s Ultimate Guide to Women’s Health and Wellness. 2002.

***National Institute of Diabetes and Digestiveand Kidney Diseases. Hypothyroidism.  http://www.endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/Hypothyroidism/#symptoms

 

 

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13 Jul5 Fitness Motivators

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  • Keep a journal of your fitness progress. Seeing how far you’ve come will keep you pushing on to further progress!

 

  • Read fitness books and magazines. These are wonderful resources to help keep your fitness routines fresh.  Variety is the spice of exercise that helps change your body.

 

  • Join a fitness club with a friend. Can’t afford a club?  Ask a friend to take some fitness classes with you through your local community education program.

 

  • Join an online diet/fitness community, such as SparkPeople.

  • Give yourself a reward when you reach a milestone. Have you lost that last five pounds?  Treat yourself to an afternoon at a spa, buy yourself a new outfit in that smaller size.

What are your motivators?  I’d love to hear about what keeps you “fitnessing” your way to good health and well-being.

 

For Further Reading:

Instant Motivation from Prevention
Fitness Programs: 7 Tips for Staying Motivated

 

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28 JunNeed an Energy Boost?

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Instead of drinking energy drinks such as Red Bull or 5 Hour Energy, try boosting your energy the natural, healthy way: Through good food choices such as whole grains, nuts, fiber, and others, as shown in this slideshow from WebMD. 

Note that while the slideshow does mention energy drinks (in slide 18), it also notes that they’re high in calories and are more suited for athletes who need a quick burst of energy.

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