Are You Taking The Best Care Of Yourself? Let’s Discuss

by | Mar 19, 2019 | Fitness | 0 comments

When it comes to your health and your lifestyle, we can often leave ourselves slow on the priority list. You may have children you dedicate your time, a relationship that needs your attention, a job that requires your dedication, and a home that needs looking after. There is always something that is going to take your attentions away and have you busy, but the truth is, your body, your mind, and your health are extremely important. Without those things, the rest doesn’t exist.

Of course, it can be hard to make yourself a priority, after all, there are no further hours in the day, but there are changes in habits and things you can do that can make a big difference. So here are some of the ways that you can take better care of yourself. Let’s hope it gives you the boost you need to still be able to do everything else at 100% momentum.

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Think about your diet
One of the first things you should make a priority is what you put into your body in terms of the food and the drink your consume. There is no denying that if you nourish your body with good things, such as fruit and vegetables, a balanced diet, with plenty of water, then your body is going to function as it should and feel fantastic. There is a lot of connection to how you feel in terms of energy and mood with the food and drink you consume. So next time you don’t feel right, start with the food you have consumed and you may be able to understand why. It isn’t about staying on a diet, it is more about getting the balance right and grieving your body exactly what it needs to function. You can do this without any mega change to your lifestyle, you just make better choices.

Take more exercise
Exercise is over of those things that we all know we should do a little more of, but finding the time top head to the gym and workout can just be too overwhelming. However, you can make a choice to be more active. You could do things such as parking the car a little further away so you increase your steps in the day. Choosing to take the stairs instead of a life. Or maybe getting up a little earlier in the morning and doing a workout at home. These things can really help you when it comes to being more active, and doesn’t mean expensive gym memberships or huge sacrifices of time.

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Get those things checked out
Sometimes we can fall short when it comes to getting things checked out. We know we should keep up with regularly check ups, but then only tend to do something about it if a problem occurs. Your eyes, for example, can change over time, so while you may be using a prescription now, that might not cover you for two years down the line as your eyes can get better for deteriorate. The same can be said for your hearing, it is always worth getting checked out, but tend to only do something if yearling loss occurs or there is a blockage of wax which then means you need to see an audiologist. Lastly, a big thing as a female is to have regularly gynecology checks. These things can spot the early signs of infection and other worst case scenarios like cancer, and yet so many women don’t keep up with the checks through fear. It is time to stick with the regular appointment schedules, better to be safe than sorry.

It is all in the mind
Your mindset can play a big role in how you feel day to day, and so it might be time to try and change up some of the habits you have developed that could be more centered around negativity than anything else. Maybe it is time to be more aware of that internal voice, and start making more of what you can do to make positive changes in your life. It could be focused around positive thoughts, or gratitude for the things you have and what is going well for you. Changes in your habits can really make a big difference to your output in life day to day.

Take time out for self care
Finally, make sure you take some time out for some self care, it can make a big difference to how you feel by just having those moments for you. Whether that is a shower or a hot bath, or it might be an early night so you can read your book. It is important to recharge those batteries in any way that you like to help you feel good and rested for everything else you need to do.

Let’s hope that these tips help you to take better care of yourself.

3 Lifestyle Tips That May Protect Your Cognitive Health as You Get Older

by | Mar 18, 2019 | Fitness | 0 comments

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It’s probably fair to say, that most people are a bit wary of getting older. After all, why else would there be such a thriving industry for assorted beauty products that promise to keep us looking as young as possible, for as long as possible? And why would modern popular culture place such an emphasis on youth, whether via film, music, or advertising?

While getting more wrinkly with time may not be to everyone’s tastes, falling victim to age-related cognitive decline is a nightmare scenario that anyone would go to great lengths to avoid.

Unfortunately, it’s not always clear what causes cognitive decline, and there are many different proposed mechanisms and patterns that can increase your risk of suffering from dementia and related conditions as you age. To give a weird example – some research suggests that there may be a certain connection between age-related hearing loss, and age-related dementia.

All the same, there are certain lifestyle practices that are widely agreed to be able to do some good in helping to mitigate your risks of developing cognitive decline as you age.

Here are a few lifestyle tips that may protect you from this unwelcome condition.

Fast occasionally
Throughout human history, in all kinds of different places, and at all kinds of different times, people have practiced regular fasting either intentionally or unintentionally.

“Unintentionally,” because food has never been as abundant as it is today, and many people had to contend with extended periods of hunger throughout the ages. “Intentionally,” because a huge number of groups throughout history have seen religious or ritual value in abstaining from food deliberately for a period of time.

Modern research has shown that fasting can actually have some pretty profound health benefits, and may protect cognitive function as well.

When we fast – that is, willingly go without eating – for an extended period of time (in the region of 24 hours, for example) a process known as “autophagy” is triggered throughout the body. Autophagy, simply put, is a process where the body breaks down and “eats” damaged or redundant tissue, which is then replaced by new, healthy tissue after the fast.

Autophagy is thought to be deeply connected to good overall health, and it’s been argued that it can help to reduce the risk of certain cancers (and maybe fight certain cancers as well), improve overall immune function, and more. At least one research paper has noted that fasting induces “profound neuronal autophagy” in the brain – something that researchers are working around the clock to create a drug to accomplish.

So, fasting occasionally – maybe for one or two days a week – might be an effective way of working to protect your cognitive health. Just don’t overdo it; your body does need food, after all.

Get an intense exercise session in once a week
A lot of people, when they exercise, will go for the traditional “aerobic” workouts that we tend to think of as “cardio” exercise. In other words, jogging, cycling on a stationary exercise bike, and all that sort of thing.

According to the doctor Doug McGuff, however, in his book “Body by Science,” this type of exercise is deeply inefficient, fails to achieve many of the most important benefits of exercise, and can lead to repetitive strain injury.

According to McGuff, doing an ultra-slow, ultra-intense, short once-per-week weight training routine is the real ticket to fitness and good health. Among other things, this is because training in this manner apparently trains and stimulates all the different elements of the metabolism, which makes the body more efficient, and reduces the risk of a buildup of undesirable byproducts that can harm cognitive health as well as organ health.

If the good doctor is right, doing a once-per-week ultra-intense session, along with his guidelines, may keep your body’s machinery working properly, and help to protect your cognitive health as you age.

Stay mentally engaged, and commit to constantly learning and developing new skills

Norman Doidge, neuroscientist, and author of the book “The Brain that Changes Itself,” argues that the brain essentially responds to demand, and keeps generating new tissue and rejuvenating itself, if you have a mentally active enough lifestyle.

To a large extent, this means continually engaging in learning and developing new skills as you get older, rather than simply sticking with whatever routines or hobbies you might have learned years ago.

A good approach here could be to get involved in new hobbies, stick with each one for a year or two, and then change your main focus to something else. Just stay busy, and stay curious. Your mind may do much better because of it.

The Three Simple Health Fundamentals To Thrive Every Day

by | Jan 29, 2019 | Fitness | 0 comments

Health is such an over-discussed topic that we can analyze it until we are blue in the face! We can live one type of diet, and find that it’s completely wrong for us. And for those people that really think they’re living a healthy lifestyle, but they seem to feel terrible all the time, is it about undergoing a certain regime or is it about something completely different? Let’s try and unravel the health fundamentals we all need in which to thrive every day.

JTwisdom

Drink Your Water!
Yes, it is pretty obvious, but when we live such a busy lifestyle, we can forget to give our bodies an adequate amount of H2O. Water makes up approximately 60% of our bodies, and not only is it great for your internal organs, but it can make a big difference to your skin and you will notice the difference when you are dehydrated. For most people that feel sluggish, we need to ask themselves if they are hydrating efficiently. It’s not a very difficult thing to keep on top of, but if you are very busy, here are some of the best water drinking apps to ensure you get your minimum of 1.5 liters a day. And for those that exercise and sweat a lot, it’s even more!

Moving As Much As You Can
Depending on how much you weigh, you may need to move around more, but if you live a sedentary lifestyle, and commute to the office, before sitting down all day, don’t be surprised that when you hit 40, everything starts to hurt a little bit more! We all need to get up and move around a lot more, and this isn’t a very difficult thing to do, but we need to actively look at if we’re doing enough to get that heart pumping. If we don’t, then we have to take some extra steps, metaphorically and literally!

Looking At Your Happiness
Your health isn’t just your skin and your organs and your muscles, but it’s that grey matter in between your ears. To be healthy, it’s not just enough to go to the gym, but to thrive each and every day, especially in a busy world, we need to ensure that we are of sound mind. And of course, there is no such thing as normal, but we need to feel comfortable in our own skin so that we can enjoy every day the way it was meant to be. Stress and anxiety are so common now that we all feel that we’re thinking outside of our heads. We have numerous pressures placed on us, and it’s hardly a surprise that mental health issues are so widely discussed. Learning how to be happy isn’t an overnight fix, but by adding little changes to your life, you can feel the benefits.

We can overthink diet and exercise, but when we want to function on a basic level every single day, we have to listen to our bodies and minds, but understand the fundamentals that keep us functioning.

5 Gym Mistakes That Will Derail Your Fitness Goals In 2019

by | Jan 8, 2019 | Fitness | 0 comments

If you’ve made a promise to yourself to make healthier choices in 2019 it’s likely that you’ve done so with certain goals in mind. Maybe you want to reach a target weight or perhaps you want to look incredible in a very special white dress this year. Whatever your goals, it’s common to assume that you can achieve them through sheer willpower alone. Yet, while you should absolutely be commended for your enthusiasm, excitement and force of will, sometimes even the most disciplined of us can make mistakes that derail our fitness goals.

Despite your zeal without the right help and guidance you can find yourself doing more harm than good. Indeed, in some cases the drive that propels you forward can actually also be what trips you up. Here we’ll take a look at some common diet and exercise mistakes that see even the most disciplined of us stray from the path towards the path to health, fitness and happiness…

Looking to the internet for guidance
Don’t get me wrong, the internet is a fantastic resource with a wealth of free and useful information. However, the sheer volume of information out there can be daunting and a lot of it is utterly contradictory, especially when it comes to diet and nutrition. One decorated nutritionist will tell you that carbs are anathema if you’re trying to get into shape, while others will tell you to steer clear of fats. Some will swear up and down that a vegan diet is the best diet for weight loss while others will try to convince you that you should be eating more meat and less of everything else.

If you rely solely on online guidance you could well find yourself bamboozled. There’s really no substitute for entrusting your journey to a personal trainer. They will take the time to get to know your body and determine which exercises and meal plan will be the best for you. Moreover, they’ll be able to give you the ongoing support and guidance to keep you motivated when you start to flag.

Not having fun
If your exercise routine bores you… Change it! There’s nothing more counterproductive than slogging through an exercise routine that’s neither fun nor enjoyable. Whatever your goals, you should be able to find an exercise regimen that allows you to meet them without dreading heading to the gym. If the thought of working out fills you with dread, you’re far more likely to fall off the wagon. On the other hand if you have a varied and enjoyable exercise regimen that feels challenging while you’re doing it and rewarding when completed, you’re so much less reliant on willpower alone.

Find yourself a gym like www.clubfitness.us that has a varied selection of classes and activities. Not only will your regimen benefit from the variety, committing yourself to classes and taking part in shared exercises will help to ensure that you hit your targets.

Neglecting the weight room
If you’re trying to burn fat, it’s a common fallacy to assume that all of your time is best spent on the treadmill or the elliptical machine. Yet, while cardiovascular exercise is an undoubtedly important part of fat loss, it should also be supplemented with rigorous strength training. Strength training will help you to build lean muscle mass and tone to give your body more shape and sculpting. What’s more, strength training will increase bone density and boost your metabolism meaning that you burn more calories even when sedentary.

Many eschew strength training because they are worried about how they will look if their muscles get too big, but rarely is this something they need to seriously worry about. It is unusual for women in particular to gain heavy muscle mass because their low testosterone levels mean that they produce less Human Growth Hormone. No matter what your gender, weight, body type or personal goals, it’s highly unlikely that you will be able to achieve them if you abandon the weight room.

Assuming you can out-exercise a bad diet
It’s not uncommon, especially when we’re young and inexperienced, to assume that so long as we exercise regularly that we can afford to be lenient with our diet. The truth, however, is that you simply can’t out-exercise a bad diet. If you hit the gym 4 or 5 times a week yet subsist on fast food, ready meals and heavily processed convenience foods you will find it much, much harder to meet your goals. Yes, your body will get fitter and stronger, but because it isn’t getting the nutrients it needs it won’t get fitter and stronger at the rate that it should. Moreover, whatever gains you make will be hidden behind a veneer of fat because your body is taking in a high proportion of empty calories which it cannot put to good use and so it stores them as fat.

Starving your body of calories
That said, while you can’t achieve your fitness goals on a bad diet, you’re just as unlikely to achieve them by starving your body either. It seems as though with the coming of every new year the market becomes awash with dubious detoxes and spurious cleanses that make bold claims yet what results they are able to achieve are rarely sustainable. These “cleanses” invariably expect those who undertake them to massively reduce their caloric intake for a period of several days or even weeks.

Naturally, because the body finds itself with less energy than it needs to survive it cannibalizes the energy stored in your body as fat. Thus, these cleanses tend to produce quite dramatic results but they come as much too high a cost. Inevitably those who undertake these detoxes aren’t getting the calories they need so they find themselves feeling faint and lacking energy. They often also experience headaches and brain fog. They may become emotionally erratic and irritable. This is because the human body was simply not designed to function on the paltry 1000-1200 calories these “cleanses” insist on.

When you have so little energy that getting through day-to-day life seems impossible, you’re unlikely to have the energy to smash your workout goals.

Steer clear of these commonly made mistakes and you’ll find that you see in the next new year in the body you’ve always dreamed of!

FTC Disclaimer:
This is a collaborative post and may contain affiliate links.

Exercise and Diet: Looking At Options For A Healthier Lifestyle

by | Dec 20, 2018 | Fitness | 4 comments

Photo by stevepb from Pixabay

A healthy lifestyle is made up of different ingredients and should focus on not just your physical but also your mental wellbeing. Here we are going to look at some of the exercise and diet plans that you can consider and what their benefits might be. Bear in mind that any routine for fitness or eating that you choose should suit your needs, there is no one size fits all solution.

Diet
Any discussion about diet should include reference to the fact that you must ensure your intake of nutrients meets what your body needs. There have been a lot of fad diets over the years, and many of them leave out key food types that you need in order to live a healthy lifestyle. So with that in mind, the first thing you should ensure is that your body’s needs are being met. Some diet plans do come with guidance on how to do this while following their strategy such as experts in the Keto diet, which is a low-carb diet, who explain reasons to take Beta Hydroxybutyrate when using this plan as an assistant.

There are many different theories about what diet you should have and why. Be wary of any that offer reasons without hard evidence to back it up. You might want to first learn more about what the different food groups do for your body and explore their individual properties. We all know we should eat fruits, but ask yourself which ones and why? They all offer something different and understanding that is the first step into sorting your diet out using fact-based research.   

Photo by kkolosov from Pixabay

Exercise
It has been well documented now that changing your diet is only part of the battle for leading a healthy lifestyle. Our bodies are designed, both mentally and physically, to be active and for that reason, you should make sure you are getting plenty of exercise. The Mayo Clinic recommends that adults should aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day, but they go into more detail about what you should do. Their suggestion is to spend up to 150 minutes per week on aerobic exercise and at least two days of the week should be dedicated to strength training.

Following the recommendation of experts when it comes to exercise is a sensible approach to keeping your body fit. Once again there are other categories within these types of exercise that you might want to explore and how you go about doing them will depend on your schedule. We all know that life is busy and finding time to exercise is not easy. You might be the kind of person who enjoys going to a gym, so make sure you have one that features on your regular commute. If the gym isn’t for you, luckily we live in the age of technology so there are many apps that help you learn activities such as yoga to do in the comfort of your own home.