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Weight-bearing
exercise. Once the body is warmed up (and you've taken time to stretch out and drink fluid), weight or resistance training (weightlifting or yoga, for instance) is useful to increase muscle strength and endurance, as well as to promote healthy bones, joints and connective tissues. Such exercise is important in preventing osteoporosis and arthritis. Because of the added forces involved in weight-bearing exercise, use of proper technique is essential. Poor technique, along with excessive weight or repetition, can cause physical damage. Smooth, controlled movements are necessary, as is steady breathing (which helps with strength and control). The basic weightlifting guideline: three sets of weightlifting exercises per muscle group, resting briefly between sets, and lifting ten to twenty times per set. Be careful not to “jerk” or force exercises, especially if you are tired; otherwise you benefit little and are at greater risk for injury.
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Stretching and flexibility.
Before, during and particularly after exercise, stretching is important. Rigid, tight tissues tend be more susceptible to injury, and such tightness also interferes with smooth and efficient joint movements. For these reasons, stretching can help make other aspects of a workout easier and more comfortable. If part of your exercise routine seems unusually challenging or painful, try a brief stretch, which may help you to move with more freedom and comfort. Stretching (again, using steady movements and controlled breathing) makes tissues stronger, healthier and more mobile. This critical aspect of every workout should not be rushed or overlooked.
Determine the specifics of your exercise plan by tailoring it to your own body, and do what you enjoy. Even if you get no other exercise, at least go for a walk each day. Going for a walk (or a hike) can be very pleasurable, and it is good for you. Walking can even provide a good aerobic workout, just by walking faster. The average person strolls along at about three miles per hour. Increasing your walking speed to a brisk stride (about four miles per hour) does a good job working your heart and lungs. Better still, speed walking (about five miles per hour) warms up the body, exercises major muscle groups and actually burns more calories than a slow run of the same speed. For a more complete body workout, consider yoga. Certain types of yoga combine aerobic, weight-bearing and stretching exercises into one complete workout. Many excellent books on yoga are available, and there may be instructional classes available in your local area.
Remember that exercise is supposed to make the body feel
better, not worse. The goal is to promote the health of your
cells, not to place undue stress on your body.
The intensity of all types of exercise must be moderated. In warmup and aerobics, an extended workout of moderate intensity is preferable to a brief, heart-pounding, sweat-pouring one. Just as a frying pan needs to be warm to cook food, your body needs to be warm for good performanceâwarm enough to do the job, without “burning.” During weight-bearing exercise, build strength and endurance without excessive resistance or repetition. Try holding a weight-bearing pose until the muscles begin to fatigue, then perform the weight-lifting repetitions. Holding prior to repetitions maximizes strength and endurance while minimizing wear and tear.
Your exercise routine should be challenging, but reasonable for individual limits. Avoid approaches such as, “I had better make this a good workout, since I haven't been exercising lately,” or “the more strenuously I exercise, the better it will be.” During your workout, moderate your intensity by keeping in mind how you will feel afterward. You want to feel like you accomplished a good workout but did not beat yourself up. Consistency, rather than extreme intensity, produces the benefits of exercise. Challenge yourself, but be realistic.
Even for people who hate exercise or think they don't have time to exercise, a simple solution, which I use, is rebounding. Bouncing up and down on a minitrampoline has almost magical effects. The activity is simple, surprisingly easy to do, a lot of fun, safe and can be done by almost anyone regardless of age or physical condition. Rebounding sounds like a panacea, which is what it is! Rebounding tones, conditions, strengthens and heals the entire body, in as little as fifteen minutes per day.
Rebounding is so good for you because it exercises and moves every cell in your entire body. We have always known that exercise is good for health but have never understood why until now: Research presented in 2000 at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society found that physically stretching cells has a profound impact on their biochemistry and behavior. Moving and stretching a cellâas rebounding doesâhelps to supply essential nutrients and to eliminate toxic waste products. When you bounce on a rebounder, your entire body (internal organs, bones, connective tissue and skin) becomes stronger, more flexible and healthier. Both blood circulation and lymphatic drainage are vastly improved.
James White, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego, says that rebounding exercise is “the closest thing to the Fountain of Youth that science has discovered.”
Visualize a balloon filled with water. Hold the balloon by its stem and observe how gravity pulls on the water, slightly stretching the balloon. Now, move your hand rapidly up and down and observe how the extra gravitational force causes the balloon to stretch and distort. When you bounce up and down on a rebounder, this effect happens to every cell in your body. Rebounding alternately puts pressure on and takes pressure off body cells, like squeezing a sponge. This moving and stretching of the cells facilitates nutrient delivery and toxin removal, which is exactly what you need to be healthyâwithout having to go to the gym, work up a sweat, or end up with sore muscles and possible injuries. Rebounding is so efficient because it applies weight and movement to every cell. The extra force of gravity caused by the bouncing strengthens bones and joints, yet without the jarring and potential damage of most impact activities. (For more information on what I selected for my own use, see appendix C.)
Another physical technique is skin brushing. Simply take a natural-bristle bath brush and move it along your skin, up the arms and legs and toward the chest. Doing this activity for a few minutes before taking a bath or shower helps circulate lymphatic fluid and is especially important for people who do not get enough regular exercise.
Good physical fitness is much more than a fashion statement and much more than a way to burn calories and sculpt muscles. Exercise is a fundamental physical need, and you need it every day. What if your job requires sitting at a desk? Sitting for extended periods causes physical health to deteriorate. When sitting for extended periods, take time to stand up and stretch the body (along with relaxing your eyes). Even standing up for a minute or two each hour can make a big difference. Remember, your body is a living, breathing, moving organism; when you sit motionless for hours on end, metaphorically speaking, you begin to die.
Sleep: The Antidrug
Adequate sleep is also a deep physical need and a biological necessity. Adequate sleep is critical for building new cells, repairing damaged ones and replenishing cellular energy levels. Our lives have become so busy that sometimes we forget what it feels like to be fully rested and awake. We have forgotten what a good night's rest really is. Busy with the constant call of life's duties, sleep is often pushed aside for more “pressing” needs. A study by the National Sleep Foundation found that 64 percent of the adult population does not sleep the recommended eight hours per night, and 32 percent sleep less than six hours. To compensate, people use coffee, sugar and other stimulants, which worsens a bad situation. For some people, better health can be achieved simply by sleeping more. Needs are different for each person, some requiring less sleep than others, and much depends on the quality of the sleep: whether the sleep is deep and refreshing or fitful and nonenergizing.
For our biological ancestors, sleeping enough was much less of a challenge. The sun's rising and setting determined sleep habits. In centuries past, sleeping was about all you could do once the sun went down. Only in recent years has the simple flick of a switch given us light whenever we wanted it.
Now, we live in cities that never sleep. Modern technology excites and stimulates our lives, and often we find ourselves awake at all hours of the night. One hundred years ago, people in developed countries slept nine hours each night. Now, the average American sleeps about seven, which is insufficient for most people. Sometimes, people think they can “accomplish more” if they sleep less. Not so. Being deprived of sleep actually makes people less productive. Furthermore, because the body repairs and rejuvenates itself during sleep, lack of sleep invites sickness and injury.
Being deprived of adequate sleep for even a few nights dulls the brain, lowers energy levels, increases irritability and depression, and makes people more accident-prone. A Louis Harris and Associates poll found that people who sleep less than eight hours each night often experience problems on the job. Sleep deprivation is a major factor in an estimated one hundred thousand automobile accidents per year. In the short term, sleep deprivation produces unpleasant side effects; long-term, it contributes to cellular malfunction and disease.
Lack of adequate sleep also causes hormone imbalances and interferes with other body functions. A study reported in the October 1999 issue of
Lancet
found that just one week of getting too few hours of sleep per night significantly altered hormone levels and compromised the body's ability to metabolize carbohydrates properly. Chronic disruption of the body's hormone balance invites disease. For example, a potentially harmful hormone called cortisol increases in the brain of an under-rested person. High cortisol levels can damage cells in the brain that control learning and memory. If you are overtired, take that “spaced-out,” forgetful feeling seriously; you may be suffering brain damage. Two other hormones (beneficial ones) normally are produced during sleep and decrease if you are under-rested. One is human growth hormone or HGH, which helps to rebuild tissue. Lack of HGH accelerates the aging process. The other beneficial hormone produced during sleep is prolactin, which governs the immune system. A lack of prolactin can impair immunity.
Sleeping enough and normalizing
your sleep patterns help to keep these critical hormones
balanced properly.
Sleep also serves to replenish energy. While asleep, the body creates large amounts of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), a high-energy compound that our cells need, much like a car needs gasoline. If you are tired and cannot sleep enough at night, take a napâperhaps right after lunch or when you get home from work. Sometimes people avoid napping, because they feel like they are “being lazy.” If you lack the energy necessary to do the task at hand, get some rest.
If you have boundless natural energy, consider it a very good sign. How energetic or tired we feel is a good general indicator of how well our bodies are functioning. If you are tired all the time, listen to your body's cry for help. Resting is important, but so is considering how diet, toxic exposure, lack of exercise and other factors affect your overall energy levels. Fatigue is often a symptom of diseaseâphysical, psychological or both. As health improves, fatigue goes away.
Consuming coffee and other stimulants to compensate for fatigue interferes with health and productivity. Even if you do function well on “minimum sleep” (and probably maximum caffeine), long-term damage is still being inflicted, the aging process is being accelerated and probably you are not achieving your optimum potential.
Also, be sure to normalize your sleep pattern. Go to bed and wake up at approximately the same time each day, even on weekends. The body prefers regularity. Before going to bed, avoid caffeine, alcohol and any drugs that may interfere with (or induce) sleep. This practice enables you to sleep naturally and healthilyâgiving your body the ability to build and repair cells, regulate hormonal balances, and produce the energy you need to do the things you want to do.
Breathing the Right Way
Do not take the breathing process for granted. The body can survive weeks without food and days without water, but only minutes without oxygen. Oxygen is our most vital nutrient, and we obtain it with every breath. The way you breathe can substantially affect how you look and feel, your resistance to disease, and even how long you live. We have control over our breathing; proper breathing technique is an important part of optimizing the physical pathway.
In our society, many people breathe incorrectlyâeither breathing too much or not enough. Either way, oxygen shortages are produced at the cellular level. Underbreathing (one does not breathe in enough air) is uncommon and usually is the result of serious physical compromiseâsuch as when the lungs are failing. Much more common is overbreathing, called hyperventilation (one breathes too much), which also results in an oxygen shortage at the cellular level. How many people are affected by overbreathing? Almost everyone on occasion, and many people breathe this way chronically.
Overbreathing often is the result of a stressful situation; the stress causes us to breathe too deeply or too quickly, an automatic response preparing us for emergency action. You may recognize this as “panic breathing”âgasping, chest breathing, shallow breathing (panting), irregular breathing, rapid breathing or holding of the breath. On occasion, overbreathing is not a problem, yet the stress of life causes many of us to over-breathe chronically. Numerous side effects are produced, including heart palpitations, irregular heart beat, dizziness, muscle spasms, muscle fatigue, high blood pressure, poor memory, asthma attacks, poor concentration, anxiety, among other symptoms. Overbreathing also causes constriction of the blood vessels to the brain (and heart and elsewhere), resulting in up to a 50 percent reduction of oxygen and glucose to the brainâimmediately affecting one's ability to learn, think, remember and perform physically. Little wonder we feel dizzy or lightheaded when stressed.