As we get ready to officially kick off summer in New England (which happens the July 4^th weekend) after a very long cold winter and an unusual spring, we are all ready for some summer sun and fun! Regardless of the season you are enjoying as you read this, however, it is never the wrong time to talk about safely managing our sun exposure.

While everyone agrees that getting a sunburn is not a good thing, both for your personal comfort as well as your longer term health and wellness, in our quest to avoid a sunburn we may unwittingly be doing more harm than good to our bodies. Recent studies have shown that many sunscreens contain an ingredient shown to actually cause – not prevent – skin cancer.

In addition, while many of us pay close attention to what we eat and try to avoid pesticides and other chemicals that may cause health issues over time, many sunscreens also contain other carcinogenic ingredients that are absorbed directly into the blood stream upon application, making their effect potentially greater than that of some of the residual chemicals on the food we consume.

While there is some research that ties melanoma to “blister and peel” sun burns before age 20, there is additional research that suggests the sun may not be the cause. Until we know more, the truth is: we need some sun exposure to produce vitamin D, a proven cancer-preventor. So let’s look at how we can safely get moderate sunshine exposure while avoiding sunburns and cancer-causing chemicals.

Why We Need Sun Exposure

If you read my previous article on vitamin D, you know how important I believe this group of hormones to be to our overall health. When I originally wrote about vitamin D, I said,

Those words are as true now as ever. More and more experts are lining up to tout the benefits of vitamin D to our overall health as well as for cancer prevention. While it is possible to get vitamin D from food, it is almost impossible to get all that we need on a daily basis solely from food sources. Without question, the best source of vitamin D is 20 minutes of direct sunlight (without sunscreen) daily.

In addition to vitamin D, direct sun exposure generates photoproducts that cannot be generated from food sources. When it comes to cancer prevention and overall health, vitamin D is essential and the sun is the best possible source.

But there are times when we want or need to be outside for longer periods of time than our skin can handle without burning and no one wants a sunburn. (Early childhood sunburns have been linked to skin cancer development later on.) Hence, the multi-billion dollar, largely unregulated, sunscreen business. But let’s look at why sunscreens are not the answer.

Sunscreen and Cancer

Headlines were made not long ago when a study revealed that products containing vitamin A or its derivates are shown to increase the rate at which malignant cells develop and spread skin cancer. Sadly, almost half of the most popular sunscreens available today contain these ingredients, and it was reported that the FDA has known of the potential danger for a much as a decade now.

Vitamin A is a popular sunscreen ingredient because it’s an anti-oxidant that can slow aging. However, anyone who has been given a prescription based form of vitamin A for acne or youthfulness knows that it comes with an advisory to avoid sun exposure. Vitamin A has photocarcinogenic properties, which means that it can become cancerous through exposure to light.

The FDA studied the impact of vitamin A and found that tumors and lesions developed 21% sooner in vitamin A-laced cream than in creams not formulated with vitamin A. Since 41% of sunscreens contain vitamin A or its derivatives (retinyl palmitate or retinol) this is a significant concern for the sunscreen industry.

But beyond vitamin A, there are a number of other ingredients that cause concern, especially since sunscreen is applied to skin. Then in the heat, skin pores open and rapidly absorb the chemicals directly into the bloodstream. Unfortunately, the list of these common skin care carcinogens is too lengthy for this article so I will have to share that with you in another issue. For now I will just say that should you decide to use sunscreen, please choose an organic brand that minimizes exposure to carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals such as parabens, nitrosamines, propalene glycol, and sulfates.

Given what’s inside these products, we have to ask the question: is exposure to all these chemicals really worth it? Taking the risk of exposure to all these cancer-causing chemicals might be worthwhile if doing so truly prevented potentially fatal skin cancer. Let’s put it all in perspective. Assume for a moment that using sunscreen prevents melanoma, which we will see in a moment is not the case. (If sunscreen is the answer, then why has melanoma doubled over the past 20 years despite the introduction of sunscreen in the late 1960s? And why are melanoma rates higher among sunscreen users than non-users?)

Even if sunscreen did prevent melanoma, that benefit has to be weighed against the risks derived from lack of sun exposure.

Vitamin D and its photoproducts produced through sun exposure are proven to help prevent breast, colon and prostate cancer. (Using sunscreen inhibits vitamin D production and prevents those benefits.) About 40,000 people died from breast cancer, 32,000 from prostate cancer, and 51,000 from colon cancer. All together that’s about 123,000 deaths a year from cancers that are directly connected to a lack of sun exposure. Last year, 8,700 people died from melanoma. Seeing those statistics one must wonder if our fear is unjustified and doing more harm than good.

But now on to the bigger question: does sunscreen prevent melanoma? For those with higher risks due to having fair skin or a family history of skin cancer, it may be worth exposure to all the concerns we’ve looked at thus far if using sunscreen could truly prevent melanoma.

To date, no research has proven that sunscreen can prevent melanoma. While sunscreen may help prevent some easily treatable generally non-fatal skin cancers, no ties have been made to melanoma prevention. In fact, according to the Food and Drug Administration, “The FDA is not aware of any data demonstrating that sunscreen use alone helps prevent skin cancer” of any kind. The International Agency for Research on Cancer agrees.

Experts generally take the stand of we don’t know, but meanwhile you should keep using it. (Friends of mine in the medical field say that they feel compelled to encourage sunscreen use despite lack of evidence supporting it for fear of lawsuits.) But should we keep using something that doesn’t protect us from cancer when we know it increases health concerns and risk of other forms of cancer through its use?

The Diet Connection: Melanoma and Omega 3

If sunscreen doesn’t prevent melanoma perhaps that is because it is not the sun that causes melanoma after all.

For some time it was thought that the sun was the source of the problem and that it was excess sun exposure that would lead to melanoma. That link is now being questioned. One recent study showed that people working exclusively inside had higher rates of melanoma than those whose jobs required them to be both inside and outside.

Another study indicated that melanoma occurs more often on the soles of the feet than on the hands, even though it’s clear that hands would have significantly more exposure to the sun than the bottom of the feet. And melanoma is more common in northern latitudes than in southern regions where there is greater sun exposure.

There are some researchers currently trying to make a connection to chlorine exposure and melanoma. They believe that chlorine contact with our skin due to drinking and bathing/showering in chlorine-treated water as well as swimming in chlorinated pools may be the cause. Studies in Belgium have connected fatal melanoma to the consumption of chlorinated water. It’s not a leap to me to connect cancer to contact with a chemical substance, and while research continues on this theory, so we don’t know for sure yet, it is an interesting one.

It’s not a leap to me to connect cancer to contact with a chemical substance, and while research continues on this theory, so we don’t know for sure yet, it is an interesting possibility. (It would certainly explain help explain how melanoma gets on the bottom of feet, since standing in a shower or pool repeatedly over time would enable chemical absorption directly into the blood stream. Twice as much chemical substances are absorbed through the skin than through the digestive tract.)

Though perhaps the sun may have a supporting role (in exacerbating the chlorine or other chemical impacts, for example), one thing is clear, the sun is not the sole culprit. Until we not only know, but also have an effective way to avoid the true cause, our best defense is prevention. The key to preventing melanoma, it turns out, is directly related to diet.

In 2001, the National Academy of Sciences published a study indicating that omega 3:6 ratios were the key to preventing skin cancer. As I shared in a prior article on omega 3, it is not that omega 6 is bad; we need both omega 3 and omega 6 to be healthy. The problem is that historically we have had a 1:1 balance of omega 6:3. With the advent of vegetable oils such as corn oil, canola, sunflower, sesame, and safflower oils, we’ve gone from very little vegetable fat to consuming more than 70 pounds a year.

These oils are pervasive in processed food today, and our omega 6:3 balance has shifted to more like 20 or 50 to 1; it is no longer evenly balanced. It is this imbalance that scientists believe creates the problem. A prestigious cancer journal reported that excess omega 6 can lead to the proliferation of cancerous cells, including melanoma, while long chain omega 3 fatty acids act as inhibitors to that growth.

An Australian study showed that simply by eating fish rich in omega 3, without changing anything else in the diet to reduce omega 6, resulted in a 40% reduction in melanoma.

In addition, studies have shown that people who eat more omega 3s are able to increase their burn threshold. This allows them to enjoy healthy sun exposure for longer periods of time without risk of burning or developing skin cancer. Another great reason to balance omega 3s!

Whenever my kids and I are heading outside for the day, we increase our omega 3 consumption (fish day!) and also supplement after the sun exposure. If we know in advance we are heading for a day at the beach on Saturday, for example, I start increasing our omega 3s a few days before. Doing this has enabled us to bring our sunscreen use down to a minimum and still avoid burns. And yes, when we use it, we choose organic products!

Safe and Healthy Vitamin D Exposure

Most everyone agrees that while we need moderate sun exposure, the key is to avoid burning. Burning has been connected to skin cancer and logically, burning is the natural way of letting our body knows that we have had enough sun.

To avoid burns, get your sun exposure earlier or later in the day when the UV rays are less likely to cause burning (though you may need to be outside a bit longer). Build up your sun exposure slowly over time so that gradually you can spend more time in the sunshine before you are at risk for burning.

Seek shade midday and use hats and clothing to protect you. (I am not a fan of sunscreen-laced clothing as the chemicals that are used to provide the sun barrier are present on the clothes and can be absorbed by the skin when you sweat.)

Avoid sunscreen use whenever possible. But for those times when you must go outside for longer than would be safe for you to avoid a burn, seek a natural organic sunscreen without retinol palmitate or retinol and without parabens and other carcinogens. Badger makes a good one that you can find in a health food store or on Amazon.com.

And perhaps most importantly of all, whether you choose to use sunscreen or not, examine your diet with a goal of omega 6 consumption and trying to balance the omega 3:6 ratio in your diet. Eat more fish and consider taking a high quality omega 3 supplement daily, or preferably with every meal. Try additional supplementation before a longer day in the sun.

At a minimum, it will make your body healthier overall and it may well prevent skin and other cancers. Omega 3 consumption can also improve your sun tolerance and reduce your burn risk, both short and longer-term. And with the ozone depletion in today’s environment, that’s something we can all benefit from.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal at www.IngerPols.com

 Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

So if you’re looking for an excuse to re-start your exercise plan, there are many! But did you know that if you are sedentary throughout most of your day, your risk of health concerns is much higher, even if you are a rigorous and religious exerciser?

Research shows that long periods of sitting have negative effects on our health that are not fully erased even if we demonstrate healthy habits after work. Movement, it turns out, is even more important for good health than exercise. Especially since I just read a statistic that more than 50% of men and women don’t engage in vigorous physical activity for more than 10 minutes a week which is not enough to attain any real health benefit. If you’re in that group, moving is even more important!

But even if you work out, it’s moving throughout the day that seems to make the biggest difference. USA Today recently reported the results of a study that revealed that the risk of heart failure was more than double for men who sat for five hours a day outside of work and didn’t exercise as compared to men who sat for less than two hours a day and were physically active. Men with the lowest risk were those who exercised the most and sat for less than two hours a day.

But while this may seem to highlight that men who exercise more are healthier, the study also confirmed that a regular fitness routine did NOT erase the effects of sitting for long durations. The study followed 82,000 men for 10 years and found that the increased risk correlations to sitting were true no matter how long they exercised. It wasn’t the exercise that made the difference: it was the amount of time spent sitting that played the biggest role in the men’s health risks.

Whether you are exercising regularly or not, if you want to improve your health, you should create time for movement breaks throughout the day. According to James Levine, co-director of Obesity Solutions at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, “If you’ve been sitting for an hour, you’ve been sitting too long.”  Dr. Joseph Mercola thinks even an hour is too long. He recommends that you take a movement break every 15 minutes and suggests setting a timer at work or using a phone app to remind you to get up and walk or stretch.

If you think about it, it makes total sense. As we evolved away from chasing our food (and being chased by it!) and settled down, we still lived in a state of constant movement. Cooking, weaving, gathering, building, everything we did in our day was movement. Even if we sat to mend something we would then get up to stir the pot or get more material. Even in more recent years as we built businesses that were more stationary, the business owner would check out his fleet or land or livestock, on foot or on horseback. Ladies would take long walks in the garden, as would couples after dinner, and for a special occasion, the entertainment after dinner would involve dance.

Taking frequent breaks throughout the day to get up and stretch your body will  release tightness from your muscles and keep energy (and blood and oxygen) flowing smoothly throughout your body. A stretch, some simple calisthenics or yoga poses will go a long way. If you can, take a little time to go for a walk.

While a nice long walk during lunch or after work is a great health option that can also provide a forum for social interaction or emotional reconnection with a friend or loved one, little intermittent walking breaks throughout the day can improve your health… and your creativity.

A new study from Stanford University revealed that our ability to solve problems creatively, or our divergent thinking creativity, increases during and after walking. Researchers put 176 college students into groups and asked them to generate as many possible solutions in a set time by coming up for different possible uses for an object. The scores were evaluated on their originality, whether other participants also identified that same solution, and their appropriateness, or whether the ideas were actually realistic.

The participants took the test while sitting, being pushed in a wheelchair, or walking inside or outside for a period of 5-16 minutes. They found that participants scored 60% higher when they were walking than sitting, whether it was indoors or outdoors and that their creative thinking levels remained elevated for a period of time after their walk.

So the next time you are sitting at your desk working hard to solve a problem, rushing to finish a report, or struggling to find an answer, take a few minutes to get up and go for a walk. The answer just might come to you more quickly and your health will be improved as well.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal and a free copy of Inger’s bestselling ebook at www.IngerPols.com/freegifts

Photo Source: courtesy of photostock / Free Digital Photos

Sleep is directly linked to many mental processing functions including maintaining a positive mood (and managing irritability, anxiety, anger and depression), brain activity, learning, memory, concentration and our ability to handle stress. Many experts now say sleep is as important to your health and wellness long-term as a healthy diet and exercise.

Let’s look at what happens in a typical night of sleep.

Sleep Cycles and REM

Our bodies know whether we are awake or asleep through nerve signaling chemicals called neurotransmitters, which act on nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. Some neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and norepinephrine, are produced in the brainstem, where the brain and the spinal cord connect. These keep parts of the brain active while we are awake. Other neurons located in the base of the brain appear to turn off the signals that keep us awake. A chemical known as adenosine is now shown to build up in our bodies and cause drowsiness; it then breaks down while we sleep. Healthy functioning of these neurons is required for normal sleep cycles.

There are five phases of sleep: They are known as sleep cycles 1,2,3,4 and REM (or rapid eye movement.) We pass through all five, building up from 1 to REM and then begin the cycle all over again. We spend about 50% of our total sleep time in stage 2, about 20% in REM and the remaining 30% spread out across the other sleep cycles. (Infants spend 50% of their sleep in REM.)

Stage 1 sleep is very light sleep, where we drift in and out, our eyes move slowly, our muscle activity slows down and we can be awakened easily. We may make sudden muscle contractions in this stage or remember visual image fragments. In Stage 2, eye movement stops and brain waves become slower. Stage 3 brings in very slow waves, known as delta waves, as well as some smaller faster waves. In stage 4, we are almost exclusively in a delta wave phase.

Stages 3 and 4 are considered to be deep sleep and it’s hard to awaken someone from those stages; those awakened don’t adjust immediately. It takes a few minutes for them to stop feeling groggy and disoriented. In this phase, kids may experience night terrors or bedwetting and adults and kids both may sleepwalk.

After stages 3 and 4 deep sleep, we enter REM during which, true to its name, our eyes move rapidly in many directions. Our muscles become temporarily paralyzed and our breathing becomes irregular and more rapid and shallow. During REM, we dream.

Each sleep cycle takes 90-110 minutes on average, with our first REM cycle typically occurring 70-90 minutes after we fall asleep. During the first cycle, the REM period is relatively short, with longer periods of deep sleep. But as we progress through the night, REM cycles get longer and deep sleep cycles become shorter. By the time we awaken in the morning, most of our time is spent in sleep stages 1, 2 and REM.

Caffeine, diet pills and other stimulants can cause insomnia, or an inability to fall asleep. Alcohol can help you fall asleep, but keeps you in lighter stages of sleep and limits deep sleep and REM. Antidepressants can suppress REM sleep cycles. Heavy smokers often stay in lighter sleep stages and have less REM sleep. They may also wake after three to four hours due to nicotine withdrawal. Temperature changes disrupt REM as well.

Research shows that if we miss one normal REM heavy sleep cycle, the next time we sleep, we will go quickly into REM and stay there longer, to make up for lost sleep. But after a couple nights of disrupted sleep in a row, our bodies will no longer compensate and drop into REM. They will simply adapt to the new sleep cycle, shifting the sleep balance away from the healing and restorative deep and REM sleep cycles.

Spending less time in the healing deep sleep cycles affects your immune system, as your body cannot repair, restore and rebalance as it is meant to with less time in deep and REM sleep. Research also shows a number of interesting connections between health and insufficient sleep, including metabolic function and cardiovascular disease.

Sleep and the Connection to Health

In one study, after only three nights of deep and REM sleep suppression, participants became less sensitive to insulin; they required more insulin to dispose of similar amounts of glucose, but the body did not compensate by increasing insulin levels. They had reduced glucose tolerance and an increased likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes. The study equated the decrease in insulin sensitivity to gaining 20 to 30 pounds.

Recently, a groundbreaking study showed that the body’s metabolic functions could be disrupted by only one night of inadequate sleep. In this study, participants were examined after a normal eight-hour night of sleep and also after a night of only four hours of sleep. The study revealed that “Insulin sensitivity is not fixed in healthy subjects, but depends on the duration of sleep in the preceding night,” according to Dr. Esther Donga, of the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and lead author of the study.

Another study monitored participants after two nights of regular sleep and then five nights of sleep restriction. After five nights of only getting four hours of sleep, the results indicated a statistically significant decrease in the heart rate variability, which can result in cardiological and non-cardiological diseases, according to Siobhan Banks of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

A recent study of insomniacs showed that sleep deprivation also increased the risk of hypertension. Those who slept for less than five hours had a 500% higher risk for hypertension than those who slept for six hours or more. Insomniacs with sleep cycles of five to six hours a night had a 350% higher risk of hypertension than normal sleepers.

Another study revealed that four nights of REM sleep deprivation reduced cell proliferation in the part of the forebrain that is responsible for long-term memory.

And a 16-year study revealed that women who slept for five hours a night were 32% more likely to gain weight (defined as an increase of 33 pounds or more) and 15% more likely to become obese versus women who slept for seven hours.  Six-hour-a-night sleepers fared a little better, with a 12% increase in major weight.

Even though our busy lives tempt us to put off sleep in favor of getting more things done, if you want to live a longer, healthier life, make a good night’s sleep a priority–you’ll have more energy–and feel better–tackling your tasks the next day.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal and a free copy of Inger’s bestselling ebook at www.IngerPols.com/freegifts

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

Cancer survivors were given individually tailored exercise plans including cardiovascular, endurance, strength and flexibility training. After 12 weeks, the researchers discovered that a large portion of the T cells associated with the cancer were transformed from unhealthy to healthy by virtue of the exercise regime. At the same time, it created a low sugar environment that discouraged the growth and spread of cancer cells. So let’s look at the different types of exercise and how to create an effective fitness plan incorporating all of them.

Cardiovascular Exercise

Activity to the point that we start breathing harder, heavily, or maybe even lose our breath may seem intimidating if you don’t do it regularly, but raising your heart rate, as happens during cardiovascular exercise, is important: it enables the body to burn more fat and calories, reduces inflammation, helps the body remove waste, and it enables oxygen and nutrients to be more readily delivered to body tissues. Cardiovascular activity helps manage stress by lowering cortisol levels, which can make you feel better and reduce inflammation.

Cardiovascular exercise is good for your body on many levels but people either love or hate it. For some, it’s because it feels uncomfortable and we spend most of our lives trying to avoid being uncomfortable. (Plus it’s hard not to measure effort against others — be it in the gym or on tv — and feel discouraged if we have not led an active lifestyle.) Others become addicted to the feeling, or to the challenge of setting cardio training goals such as triathalons, road races, or cycling “centuries.”

But regardless of where you begin, all that really matters is that you start. And that you continue. Gradually over time you’ll increase your efforts and see more and more results.

Strength Training

Research now confirms that strength training is not just important to slow bone loss, it can actually add bone. Strength training creates a stimulus for new bone growth that is a treatment as well as a preventive for osteoporosis.

And since we know that muscles burn more calories than fat, being leaner and more muscular can help you with your weight goals as well.

You don’t need to go to a gym or lift weights, though both can help if you don’t know where or how to start. Functional body movements, like those you would naturally do each day in the times of old, like lifts and squats and push-ups are very effective strength builders. I love using the weight of the body as resistance for increasing muscle strength; it’s more natural to me than bands, balls or dumbbells. But you can also be creative and arm wrestle your kids, pump food cans like arm weights, carry your own grocery bags, or work on your core through pilates, power yoga or ballet.

Flexibility Matters

A good stretch after a work out feels amazing: we are instantly rejuvenated and energized. It releases muscle tension, prevents contractions, and can help prevent injury. But even if the workout came earlier in the day or it was a rest day, stretching still feels great and it increases the temperature of the body’s tissues, which will increase circulation and improve the transportation of nutrients.

Eastern medicine teaches that tension prevents healing and blocks our energy and that our tension gets stored in certain spots in our bodies: just like a good massage, stretching can release that energy and unblock our muscles, our stress, and our minds.

There are number of structured programs such as yoga, chi gong or tai chi that can help you improve your flexibility and stretch open your body and your mind.

But you can also just put on comfortable clothes and lie down on the floor listening to music or your favorite tv show before bed and just relax and deeply stretch each area of your body, feeling your muscles lengthen and the oxygen and energy flowing freely.
Breathing to Improve Health
Breathing has been shown to lower your blood pressure as effectively as most medicines. Breathing regulates your autonomic nervous system, which impacts your immune system and can impact hormonal balance, kidney function, and bowel dysfunction in addition to regulating your high blood pressure.

One of the major benefits of exercise is bringing oxygen into the muscle tissues. If you breath deeply into the muscle while you are exercising, whether it is during a cardio, strength or flexibility workout, you can enhance the benefit.

If you cannot exercise because time prevents, deep breathing into the area you wish to direct oxygen is proven to have an impact. So while you are stuck in traffic or on the train, breath deeply into your key muscle areas, flexing and releasing or imagine them going through your favorite workout routine and you can still have some of the benefits you would have received had you actually exercised them.

FITTER Plans

Ok, so we know we need three kinds of exercise: something to get our heart rates up, something to build lean muscle and body strength, and something to elongate muscles and release blockages. A good exercise plan also needs to factor in the FITTER guidelines: Frequency, Intensity, Type, Time, and Rate of Progression.

Frequency simply refers to how often you will do it. Let’s say you are already fit and active, you may want to make a plan to exercise 5-6 times a week for 60 minutes at a time. If you are just beginning, your frequency may be more like 20- 30 minutes 3-4 times a week. The key is to decide this in advance and lay out your work out plan for each week in advance.

Intensity refers to how hard you will work, or how high you will raise your heart rate.

Steady state lower intensity endurance training lays a foundation for fitness that enables you to build upon it without injury. Longer exercise duration also means more calories burned overall so it is an important component to fitness training. Interval training will improve cardiovascular capabilities and is also shown to burn more fat, so integrating interval training into your cardio will maximize health (and weight loss) benefits.

You can and should vary your intensity depending on your goals and your fitness level. Some workouts should be geared more toward endurance and building strength in your activity, while others should be chosen specifically as interval sessions designed to maximize your cardiovascular output. You will want to include both endurance and interval training over time.

Type is simply what type of exercise you’ll engage in: running versus walking, outdoor vs. indoor, flexibility vs. strength vs. flexibility. Varying the type will enhance the benefits to your body by challenging your muscles in new and different ways, and will keep you from getting bored.

Time refers to how long you will exercise. Research now shows that an hour a day is necessary for mature women to maintain their weight levels due to slowing metabolism. The USDA also recommends 60 minutes of exercise a day for all. The 60 minutes does not have to be completed in one session, so you can break it into smaller workouts if that fits better into your day, but the goal should be to work your way up to an hour of rigorous exercise a day.

Rate of Progression references the fact that as you do something your body will adapt to it. So over time, you need to continually change your workout plan and make it different by incorporating new elements, making it longer, or making it more intense. If you have never lifted weights and you lift a 10-pound weight for a set of 12 repetitions 3 sets in a row, your arm will be sore the first time you do it. If you continue to do that same workout, over the coming days and weeks it will no longer be uncomfortable and eventually, it will be easy. Your body has adapted to that stress and is now able to handle it and respond. If you want to get stronger, you will need to vary the exercise you are doing, the weight you are lifting or the number of repetitions you are doing.

The same is true for cardiovascular exercise. If you are a beginning walker, it may be hard at first. But over time it will get easier, and you’ll want to walk longer or faster. If you take the same indoor cycling class over and over, your body will adapt. So you need to either ride more classes, ride longer classes, or change the way you work within the classes you are taking, making some endurance and others interval classes.

This also holds true for walking or running or playing golf or any activity: vary the intensity levels, the terrain, the duration of the workout or the frequency, or cross train and mix in other activities into your plan if you want to continue to improve your fitness.

It is easy to measure most of those changes with your watch, your calendar, or your map, but intensity level can be harder to assess. Should you go purely by how it feels? Or do you need a heart rate monitor to guide you?

Heart Rate Monitors

Heart rate monitors can be great training tools, but most people don’t use them effectively. If you have a medical condition and your doctor has told you not to go beyond a certain heart rate, they are very helpful in allowing you to monitor where you are more precisely. For most people, though, heart rate monitors are meant to be a guide for training, not an absolute.

There a number of concerns around using heart rate monitors that go back to the formula that is used to calculate optimal heart rate ranges. Some people have used the 220-your age method to establish max heart rate. This formula was never intended for use in the broad population; it was created for specific use with cardiac rehab patients.

The flaw with this is obvious as it implies that everyone at the same age has the same heart capacity, regardless of their fitness level, their weight, or their medical conditions. Lance Armstrong is no different than any other person of his age under this calculation. I don’t know about you, but even at his age, I would not have wanted to go up against his numbers! It also says that triathaletes are in the same place as beginning walkers, and we know that is simply not true.

Another popular approach is to determine your target heart rate using the Karvonen method. This formula asks you to determine your resting heart rate by taking your pulse for a minute when you awaken in the morning. They suggest doing it three times/days and averaging the three numbers together.

But your true resting heart rate is the rate when your body truly is at rest, or at sleep. Once you wake up, a surge of energy flows through your body and your heart rate will be raised a little if you awaken naturally or a lot if your alarm goes off. So the number you get is likely higher than your actual resting heart rate truly is.

Then you take your age from 220 as discussed, which leaves you with a one size fits all number that is likely off by 10-30 beats per minute. From that number, you subtract the resting heart rate you took in the morning, which is likely overstated, to get your heart rate reserve.

Then they suggest that you use 60% as a low end and 80% as a high-end number and you multiply them by your heart rate reserve to get your low and high-end heart rate ranges, which you then average to find your target. But as you can see, at each step in the process, the numbers could be flawed. So this process can give you a guide, but it can – and often is – significantly off.

Follow your Heart

I often see people working until they reach the number they think is their max and then staying there, even if it feels comfortable. It is a concern because your fitness level is constantly evolving and your goal is to continually improve your max heart rate over time. Last year’s numbers shouldn’t be your guide this year because you – and your fitness level – do not stay the same. Another problem is that the number may not be accurate and I see people simply stop when they get there regardless of how it feels because they think they should stop and not exceed that number.

If you are feeling good that day and you reach what you think is near your max (and you do not have a medical condition preventing such), that’s a time to push past and work a little harder. On the other hand, if you start working out and your mid range is feeling really hard, your body may be fighting something or you may need rest and that day, your max may be much lower and you need to honor that and listen to your body.

Instead of allowing the monitor to rule your workout, let it be your guide. If you decide to use a heart rate monitor, exercise at what feels like an easy comfortable pace and see where your numbers are. Take it up to moderate or medium and record your rate. And finally, take it up to what feels like really hard work to you and see where it leads you.

Do that three times, on different days, and you will have a good range for easy, medium and hard efforts. Let those be the numbers you shoot for in your workouts. And on days where you can get to hard and it feels good, let that be a day to push past. When your body is resisting your medium workout, dial it back and keep it at an easier pace that day.

Working out in all zones is beneficial to the body and listening to your body on each given day will make your heart rate monitor work more effectively for you than following a formula can. Using how you feel (easy, medium, and hard on any given day) can be just as effective for many people as using a monitor. So whether you use a monitor or not, don’t be ruled by numbers, follow your heart.

(And as always, please consult your doctor before beginning an exercise program!)

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal at www.IngerPols.com

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

A recent study on mature women showed that just to maintain their current weight, the women needed to exercise for an hour a day; to lose weight would require even more time. In our busy lives, finding an extra hour can be a challenge, even if we have the desire to do so and the willpower to stick with it.

The good news is that we don’t need to work out for an hour in one session: We can break it into smaller blocks. And doing something is better than nothing, so even small efforts will make a difference in your health and well-being. In this newsletter, I’m going to give you some tips that I use when coaching that can help make your workouts work better for you.

Tip #1: Set a Goal and Measure Your Progress

Knowing what you are working toward will increase your effectiveness. As in everything else, what is measured and monitored gets done. Begin by setting an overall goal for your fitness plan. Be clear on what you want, for example, losing 25 pounds, training for a 10K or building enough endurance to be able to be comfortably active with your grandkids. The more specific you can be, the better. If your goal is to get fitter, define what that means to you.

Set a mini goal before each workout. Your first time, it may be as simple as walking without stopping for 15 minutes. That becomes your baseline and you can adjust from there by adding 5 minutes to your workout each time or running a mile a few seconds faster.

Be realistic with your goals, and yourself: If you didn’t sleep well the night before or you are fighting a cold, your goal may be just to complete the same workout you did the time before. And that’s OK. But if you are feeling good that day, decide how you can push a little.

Make a log to track your progress. When I was training to cycle from Banff to Jasper in the Canadian Rockies, my first cycling vacation, I kept a log of each training ride that included how far I rode, how long I rode, the time of day, the weather conditions and how I felt. Tracking that let me see how I was improving and how my performance was impacted by wind, time of day and my mood. This let me get smarter over time about how to train and when to push.

Tip #2: Know Yourself and Leverage Your Strengths and Passions

We all have different times of day when we feel most energetic and creative: Don’t resist your natural patterns. If you are forced to adopt new body rhythm patterns, you can do so over time, but it will take a little extra effort, so it may be harder to stick with.

Follow your passions to keep exercising from feeling like a chore. Go back to things you loved as a child like bike riding or tennis, or take up a new activity you have always wanted to try like golf or rowing. If you love watching Dancing with the Stars, try a ballroom dance or Zumba class.

But don’t feel you have to take on things that don’t appeal to you just because they are effective for others. If you hate the gym, don’t join a gym! If you don’t like exercising alone, find a class, team or group. Create a program that you will look forward to, not dread.

Tip #3: A Little Help from Your Friends

Studies show that people who join the gym with a buddy stick with their fitness efforts longer. It may be the accountability factor or the social factor, or most likely, both. If you take a class or play on a basketball team, the fun and social aspect will keep you committed and motivated beyond the pure physical benefits.

If you decide to workout on your own–at a gym, in your home, or outside–try to engage a partner or friend to either join you or to hold you accountable. For example, if you join a gym, get a friend to join too; while you may not work out “together,” you can plan to go several times a week at the same time. If you decide to walk your neighborhood after work, find someone to join you.

If you are using an exercise machine in your house and there is no way for someone to participate along with you, get creative. Find someone else that’s doing the same routine, and meet once a week to compare progress. Set some goals or challenges for each other and know that on Monday when you meet for coffee she is going to ask you if you met–or exceeded–your goal.

Tip #4: Schedule Your Workout

Life gets crazy at times and often the first thing to suffer is our workout time. Sometimes we feel selfish “indulging” in time for ourselves when there is so much else to do. Other times, people demand we prioritize other things. But taking care of yourself by working out ensures you will be around a lot longer to take care of others. And after you work out, release stress and improve your mood, you will be a better partner, parent or friend. So don’t let the workout slide.

Instead, schedule your workout just as you would a meeting or a dentist appointment. Mark the time in your calendar in ink and consider it unchangeable. If you think about everything you have to do in a day, there really is very little if anything more important than taking a little time to get or stay healthy. And you’ll feel so much better! Let it be known that you are unreachable during that time; you’ll find the world will still be waiting for you when you are done.

Tip #5: Find Your Motivation

When you are working out and feeling like you want to stop, or you are avoiding beginning your exercise, try to remember your initial goal and motivation for starting your fitness program. The more you focus clearly on that outcome, see it in your mind and feel how good it will feel to achieve that and be living that life, the easier it will be to find the strength to continue. Also remembering how good you feel when you’re done can help get you going.

But there will be days when even that is not enough. When you are working out, it will be easier to push to new levels if you also draw on other motivation techniques. Find what works for you, whether it is just inspiring music, a bet with yourself or creating scenarios to encourage you to continue on.

As a spinning instructor, I see lots of competitive people in my classes. (Spinning, or indoor cycling, is a form of high-intensity exercise that involves using a stationary exercise bicycle in a classroom setting.) It is easy to inspire them with race situations where they are competing for the podium or to beat their best time. If that works for you, use your competitiveness to make some fun scenarios in your workout to make you work harder.

For non-competitive people, I use a lot of visualization to encourage increases in effort. As you accelerate and push for your interval, imagine a group of runners or riders ahead of you that you need to go around.

Or imagine you are in one of those charity rides/races and there are hundreds of people you need to pass because the road is full of riders. As you go around each one, ride for the cause that that race represents. Imagine yourself passing–or climbing that hill–to beat cancer or heart disease, for yourself or for the loved one you lost to them who cannot be here to ride.

It doesn’t have to be serious, though; sometimes motivation can be just pure fun. An elderly woman in one of my classes once confessed to me that every time she took an interval, she imagined racing her husband–the loser had to clean the bathrooms. In all her years in my classes, in her mind, she never lost.

For endurance situations, I often think of Terry Fox, the Canadian who decided to run across his home country to raise cancer awareness after his leg was amputated. He ran the equivalent of a full marathon for 143 days in a row until he had to end his journey because the cancer returned.

When I am tired after running a few miles, I think about that: A full marathon every day for 143 days, all on one leg. That inspires me to keep going. When Terry was asked how he kept going, he once said that he told himself just one more telephone pole. So think OK, just one more telephone pole, one more set, one more …

Tip #6: Pace Yourself and Be Realistic

We often get excited upon starting a new plan and take on too much too soon. You didn’t gain that weight overnight: In most cases it was small choices each day that built up over time. An extra 500 calories a day would net 3500 extra calories a week, or a gain of about 50 pounds in a year, assuming no change in exercise.

Most of us aren’t gaining 50 pounds a year, so more likely it’s the extra 100-200 calories here and there that just add up slowly over time. Generally speaking, you cannot escape the calories in/calories out equation, though it is really important to note that 500 extra calories of fiber and vegetables will not have the same impact in your body as 500 extra calories of cookies and bread.

You can’t lose more than a pound or two a week safely and keep it off long term. If you keep your food habits the same, to lose a pound a week, you’ll need to burn 500 extra calories a day. But physically, you can’t run an hour the first time out, nor can you serve and volley after your first tennis lesson.

It takes time, but that’s OK. Making the commitment and sticking with it is what matters. Creating a solid fitness foundation that you can build upon will serve you over the long haul: Trying to take on too much too soon will burn you out or result in injury and leave you on the sidelines.

Tip #7: Change is Good

We tend to find something that works and stick with it. And while that’s good, our bodies quickly adapt to what we do regularly. Intensity progression and cross training can yield great benefits. If you take a set of 10-pound weights (or whatever would be appropriate for your fitness level) and do three sets of 10-12 repetitions, the first time you do it, you’ll probably be sore.

If you continue to lift the same 10-pound weights in the same three sets over time, after awhile, it will not be hard any more. Eventually it will be easy. What burned the first time and built some muscle, no longer has any muscle growth because the body has adapted to it. When lifting, we know you need to progress and either increase sets or increase weight.

It is also true for your other workouts: Your body will quickly adapt to the same hour-long spin class or 18 holes of golf and it will not be a challenge anymore. Varying the intensity will allow you to continue to progress while doing the same thing, and cross training will force your muscles to work in different ways.

Throwing something new at your body through cross training has many benefits physically, including helping you get stronger, faster and fitter. But it’s also good for the soul. Trying new things and being a little uncomfortable challenges us; succeeding at them helps us grow and builds confidence and self-esteem.

Getting out of a training rut and mixing it up will keep you from burning out and will make your training fresh and new. And most of all, it keeps working out fun! And if it’s fun, you’ll stick with it longer.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal at www.IngerPols.com

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

As we count down to 2014, there is often so much is packed into the remaining weeks of the year. This makes it even harder to stay on track if you are trying to lose weight or simply hoping to maintain your current weight through the holiday season.

Even if weight is not a concern, it can be a challenge to eat healthy and maintain high energy levels and to avoid feeling tired or run down and vulnerable to seasonal colds and flus at this time of year. So in this newsletter, I want to share a few of my own strategies for surviving holiday stress and avoiding excess weight gain along with my favorite fat-blasting express workout. Let’s get right to that and then we’ll tackle the holiday strategies.

In last week’s newsletter, we learned about the three different kinds of exercise and why they are all important to your health. (We also talked about something you can do to get the benefit of a workout even if you can’t work out.) While a healthy fit body needs cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and flexibility training, the research shows that if time is tight or push comes to shove as they say, and you can only do one, the biggest impact can be gained through cardiovascular exercise.

Going one step further, the biggest impact to be gained if you are going to do cardiovascular exercise is through a form of exercise known as high intensity interval training, during which small bouts of work are so intense that they leave you breathless or out of air. When this happens, the body cannot get the energy it requires from oxygen and so to keep working, it must find energy elsewhere and so it goes into the fat stores in order to generate what it needs.

Many studies have shown that shorter amounts of high intensity work can yield results similar to longer more sustained exercise efforts. So when you don’t have time for an hour class or a good long run, it doesn’t mean you have to settle for half the workout benefit; you can create a 30 minute workout that does as much or more as your hour long routine.

If you have 30 minutes, start by warming up with dynamic movements. These are motions that are fluid and get the muscles to move, the best way to loosen muscles and prepare for work. For example, if you are going to run or power walk, warming up by walking gently or lightly jogging is better than doing a stretch where you hold your muscle in one position.

High knees (lifting your knees up and down in an exaggerated marching motion), going onto your toes and then rolling back onto your heels and back again or other such movements would also be appropriate. Sitting or lying down in a stretch or grabbing your foot with your hand while standing, for example, are not the best means of warming up the muscles: save that for after your workout as a cool down.

Once you are warm and ready to work, the goal of this super intense fat and calorie blasting workout is to work as hard as you can for one minute, hopefully squeezing all your air out of your lungs until you are out of breath. (You don’t need to go the whole minute; if you run out of air at 42 seconds or 53 seconds, you are done!) But continue until you lose your air or you have pushed as hard as you can for 60 seconds and then go into recovery mode and focus on deep breaths and water for 2 minutes. Repeat nine more times until you have done a set of ten: one minute of intense effort followed by two minutes of recovery for each one.

Even though you will only be working 10 minutes of the 30, research shows that this super intense workout will blast fat (assuming you are able to get to the point of breathlessness) and calories and give you comparable benefits to a longer workout at a more sustained lower intensity pace. But don’t kid yourself: this is a very intense, very difficult workout! And it is only meant for those already active and engaged in a fitness regime. (Check with your doctor to be sure.)

The challenge – and it is a big challenge — is to push yourself hard 10 times in a row, so if you are the type that likes/needs someone pushing you, pair up with a friend or ask someone to talk you through and “coach” you while you take it on. You can work out side by side even if you are on different machines or doing a different exercise and swap one-minute intervals pushing each other.

The good news is that you can do this on a treadmill, a stationary bike, an elliptical machine, a rowing machine or most any piece of gym equipment you have at home or find at a gym. You can also do it in a pool, dancing in your living room, or outside doing your favorite exercise if it’s not too cold where you live.

If you are not fit or experienced enough to take this work out on, or if you are pressed for time and only have 20 minutes, you can modify this to a slightly easier but still powerful workout by reducing the intervals to 30 seconds and following each burst with 90 seconds of recovery. A set of 10 will take you 20 minutes and still yield great rewards. It’s the intensity of the intervals that matters: they have to be all out, hard and at least some of them have to be breathless. (The more the better!)

As you do it more and more, (you can do this once a week when you are pressed on time, or make it your regular routine and do it 2-3 times a week in place of your traditional workout), you will be able to reduce the recovery time in between each push and either squeeze in a few more intervals or get your workout done a few minutes sooner. If you only have 10 minutes, do 5 intense intervals and you’ll still receive the benefits of a much longer workout: something is always better than nothing and in this case, ten minutes really gets you a lot.

If you only have 5 minutes, don’t let that be an excuse for not working out. Do a series of 8 intervals of 20 seconds each, with 10 seconds in between. It will be super hard, but it will boost your metabolism, burn calories during (and long after you work), reduce stress and give you energy. Five minutes is all it takes!

That’s tip number one for managing weight and staying healthy and full of energy this holiday season: try to squeeze a workout in, even if you are short on time. In addition to burning calories and fat, you will feel so much better, have more energy, less stress and you will boost your metabolism (and your immune system) to help compensate for any less healthy eating choices.

Now let’s focus on a few more strategies for surviving holiday celebrations. The first is something that may seem obvious but we often fail to do and that is to eat before the party. You don’t have to have a full meal, but never arrive at a gathering hungry!

Often when we know we are going to a party and that we will be tempted, we eat less during the day, thinking that by eating less we have balanced out the extra calories we’ll take in later. But actually, you will eat much more at the party because you’ll arrive hungry and all of your senses will be stimulated by the goodies; before you know it, you’ll have consumed much more than you planned.

So eat a good lunch and/or have a late afternoon snack. One woman in my indoor cycling class shared that she has a bowl of oatmeal before she goes out. Filling and satisfying, she’ll be less tempted by junk food and can then pick and choose a few indulgences that she’ll really enjoy.

Drink water before you leave and make a plan that every time you have a drink that is not water, you also get a glass of water too. Drink the water first before you enjoy your cocktail.

Don’t let anyone guilt you into eating, whether it’s because they really want you to try their dip or because they want to sabotage your eating along with theirs. Be gracious, but say you had a late lunch or smile and say you are resting in between rounds. Make your own decisions about what and when to eat.

Consider bringing a healthy treat to the party so at least you know there will be one thing there you can nosh on without guilt. (I find it’s better not to ask first: just bring it! But be kind to the host/hostess and make sure it’s plated appropriately and is ready to serve so that it causes no troubles.) Veggies and hummus, guacamole and pita crisps are good examples.

It probably needs to saying that veggies are a great party option but you need to be careful of the dips that often contain excess calories and chemicals. Think Italian when it comes to toppings: red is better than white and avoid creamy dips and dressings.

Look for protein such as shrimp, salmon or chicken to fill you up and balance out the carbs you’re taking in through food and drink.

Choose a few treats that you will really truly enjoy and enlist a friend, co-worker or your partner to help you help you pass on the rest, especially if they are being passed. It’s so easy to take one of everything that goes by: make sure it’s something you’ll really enjoy and savor and if not, decline. Consider deciding to only take one plate from the food station and choose wisely.

If possible, decide in advance on what you will splurge on and what you will pass on. Everyone has a favorite party food: allow yourself to indulge in a bit of that but pass on the other stuff. If you know in advance what that food is, you can use a trick that researchers discovered resulted in significantly less indulging: visualize yourself eating it before the party.

It may sound strange, but a study divided participants into two groups. One group was asked to visualize themselves slowly eating a popular candy. They were to take their time and imagine eating the candy one at a time until they had eaten 30+ candies. The other group did nothing.

When the researchers brought them into the room all together, they put bowls of the candy on the table and monitored the consumption of them. They found the group that visualized eating them prior ate significantly less than the other group. The brain can’t tell the difference between what is real and what is perceived, so the brain felt it had already had candy and really didn’t need any more.

So before you head out or while you’re in the car, imagine eating chips and dip or whatever it is and use all your senses to enjoy the experience. The study didn’t say why it had to be 30 something or if there is a minimum number of repetitions that is necessary, so just repeat it over and over again, at least a couple dozen times and see what happens! I tried it recently and it worked! I imagined eating my favorite indulgence slowly, savoring it for a couple minutes on my way to a gathering and when I saw it there when I arrived, I was not tempted by it.

The strategies I’ve shared are simple and easy and you probably already knew them: there are no magic bullets. It’s really about choosing the ones that will work best for you and seem the most manageable and then deciding to use them and following through.

Lastly, if you do go overboard and overindulge, don’t beat yourself up about it: let it go! Often times we feel like we already blew it so why not just keep going and deal with it in January. But tomorrow is a new day and one bad day does not a whole season make! If you are the type that has trouble letting yourself off the hook, then give yourself a “punishment” to serve. For example, 15 minutes on the treadmill or a fast walk outside when you get up the next morning and then let it go.

Every little bit helps and each small decision makes a difference. Take as many little positive steps as you can: try to get a workout in, drink more water, get some extra sleep, take whole food multivitamin supplements, and do your best to take care of yourself each and every day, during the holidays and beyond. Little choices will lead to big results over time.

To your wellness and health:  your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You.

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art