Four Quick De-Stress Tips for Your Body

Why do we continue to treat the symptoms of illness and dis-ease rather than the cause? Stanford Medical School and the World Health Organization agree that 90-95% of illness and dis-ease is caused by – “Stress”.

What is Stress? Hans Selye coined the terms stess, and general adaptation syndrome (GAS), a complex of reactions to prolonged unrelieved stress, in 1936. Briefly, we have primitive fight and flight responses which are designed to effectively help us deal with immediate threats to survival. When these responses are engaged for long periods without rest deterioration of the body ensues. Chronic stress keeps the immune system shut down resulting in chronic illness.

Unfortunately, a lot of us are on “red alert” for long periods in this high-pressure culture. It is important to give your body some much needed rest and supplies to combat the fatigue of long-term stress.

Here are some quick and easy tips for de-stressing your body. They take very little time to do and pay off greatly in not only reducing stress, but also in building more energy and stamina.

These tips are simple and practical to incorporate into your busy schedule. Yet, I think you will agree that in our hectic days we often ignore these basic human needs.

Tip 1~ Breathe

Take a moment before going on to the next task in your day for this simple act: take a deep breath, center yourself and smile. What a difference that moment will make toward relaxing and restoring your body and mind for the next situation.

Why it works~

When the body stresses, breathing becomes shallow. You may even notice that you hold your breath. Consciously taking a deep breath gives your cells the oxygen they need, so the body begins to relax and the mind is sharper. When you take that breath deep into the pelvic floor, you will find you stand up straighter and feel more centered and balanced. Standing strong and in charge of your next step feels great, so smile. When you smile, you actually feel better. Your body takes that physical cue as an indication that you are happy, so endorphins start to flow. A genuine smile cues everyone around you too. You may find that others respond better to you as well. Take this simple action several times today. Feel the difference it makes in your outlook at the end of the day. Teach it to others and see the difference it can make in the whole group!

Tip 2~ Eat

Taking just a few moments for you, before giving to others is time well spent. Now, you are giving from your abundance rather than from an empty basket. Think about your nutritionally empty cells for a moment. Pack a piece of fruit, some nuts, raisins or other quick snacks to have on hand when you feel the need to work beyond meal breaks. Something you can grab fast instead of donuts, candy or fast food from the vending machine. This does not require elaborate preparation, or time. Grab a zip lock bag, throw in a few unsalted nuts, dried berries, raisins, or other dried fruits, or natural foods you like in it, and put it in your pocket, purse or desk. I also have supplements in my energy pack. Take a handful or two whenever you feel a hunger pang or drop in energy.

Why it works~

A small change in eating can create a huge increase in energy levels immediately and in health over time. Your cells need nutrients to produce energy for work and to regenerate when they are under stress. Fast food, sugar and salt actually have a deteriorating effect on the body. Sugar can provide a temporary high, but to balance that high the body will rebound with an equal or greater low. You actually have less energy in the end. Eating a little bit of nutritious food every couple of hours not only feeds the cells what they need, it also has side benefits. When your body knows you are going to feed it regularly, it stops packing on fat to prevent you from starving. You won’t get so famished you would eat anything in sight as long as it is fast (donuts, chips, fast food). As a bonus, your body may also release a few unneeded pounds, which can make everything feel lighter.

Tip 3 ~ Drink Water

Most of us have gotten into the habit of drinking many things our body cannot use (caffeine, sugar, carbonation). Replace one beverage a week with pure water and feel the rejuvenation in your cells. Ease into this change by replacing just one soda or cup of coffee with a glass water each week. Over a few weeks, your body will actually desire more water, and the transition becomes easy. You will find that your body prefers water once you get started. Keep a mug of water on your desk, or strap on one of those water bottles, so you always have some with you. Sip it all day long. Yes, you will need to take precious time to pee more often at first. This is time well spent. Once your body gets used to the idea that you will be giving it the valuable water it needs regularly, it will stop retaining water. Your drinking and peeing ratio will level out in a couple of days. As your cells re-hydrate, you will look and feel younger and more vibrant.

Why it works~

Our cells are predominantly water. We need to replace the water lost from sweating, tears and the body’s heating and cooling system on a continuous basis. Dehydration is associated with decreased energy, increased hunger, tiredness, and aging wrinkled skin. In addition to actually drinking water, you can eat more water-based foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables for hydration. Another good reason for replacing carbonated beverages with water is that carbonation leaches minerals from your body.

Tip 4 ~ Rest

Take a break every couple of hours or whenever possible. There have been many studies proving that workers who take a break increase their productivity. While you are taking that break, stretch your arms, back and legs. Most animals stretch regularly. Watch a cat or dog sometime, and notice how often they stretch.

Why it works~

Stretching improves the elasticity and mobility of the body, which allows for more relaxed movement and less tension. Resting the body and the mind to a state of quiet opens the senses and the mind for more presence in the moment, creativity and peace. When you create some spaces in your day, you can experience more of what is present and come up with creative solutions to stressful situations.

Putting the pieces together~

While you are taking that stretch break for 5-10 minutes, have a glass of water, pop some of those nutritional snacks, take a deep, deep breath into the floor of your pelvis, let it out and smile. Feel the return of energy and relaxation to your body, clarity to your mind, and caring to your heart.

When you feel stressed and depleted, try these simple tips for incorporating the basic needs of your body ~ breathing, eating, drinking water and rest ~ into your hectic day. Experience for yourself how taking care of YOU, provides the precious resources you need to do what needs to be done from a place of strength and abundance.

Copyright (c) 2008 Aila Accad

With over 30 years of education and experience in personal and interpersonal growth, Aila Accad is an RN, Speaker, Trainer, Author, Certified Well-Being & Life Coach and founder of LifeQuest International, LLC. She has been tagged the ‘De-Stress Maven’

Slowing Down Can Help You Lose Weight Faster

Running For Weight Loss…….Slow DownYou may be out running your fat burning hormones

So you’ve loved running since your track days of high school. It’s simple, you can do it anywhere and all you need is some good running shoes and pair of comfy cotton footies. But now it’s taken on a sub-purpose. Age has allowed those extra pounds you use to leave choking on your dust to catch up with you and hit you right in the gut, literally. There are a billion reasons (or excuses) that justify your 10 or even 20 pounds that keep you company.

You are busier now, so you don’t run as often, or as fast, or as long as you use to. You’re getting older and your body can’t take the as much. Or maybe it was the curse of the evil eye of all those non-runners over the years. (you know they were really jealous they can’t run and sweat and look as good doing it

Whatever your justification, the bottom line is it’s time to lace up the old running shoes a little more often. For the last few weeks you’ve hit the ground running. Enjoying the days of old. Marveling at your new found dedication to your workout schedule. But as you get on the scale once again the numbers barely budge. The problem may be your love for running. The pure exhilaration for the sport. If you consider your self a runner then your gut instinct will tell you to run faster. Try to shave another 2 minutes off your course time.

This time however DO NOT follow your gut feeling or you will be left with your gut to feel. As runner you are use to trying to run faster, cut your course time, beat your personal best or at least don’t get any slower than you already have. But if you want to drop those pounds you have to slow down and work at a lower intensity. Using a heart rate monitor is the best way to determine if you are exercising at the proper intensity to reach your weight loss goal. Heart rate monitors due exactly as the name implies. They monitor the rate in which your heart is beating. (By the way, Heart Rate monitors are an invaluable tool for any serious or even semi-serious runner, no matter what your goal is. )

Knowing your personal heart rate percentage numbers can mean the difference in reaching your goal and trying to reach your goal. For weight loss you want to work at 60% to 70% of your heart rate max (HRM). Your hear rate max is the maximum amount of times your heart can beat in a minutes. To determine that number use the standard formula of subtracting your age from 220. Then take that number and multiply it by .60 and you have 60% of your heart rate max. Follow the same steps except replace .60 with .70 and you will come us with 70% of your heart rate max. Stay between these two numbers on your heart rate monitor and you are on the straight and narrow path to weight loss. (For example someone who is 30 years old. 220-30=190 190 x .60= 114 190 x .70 = 133. A 30 year old must stay between 114 and 133 HRM for a weight loss workout)

Over these percentages of your HRM your body tells your fat burning hormones (epinephrine, nor epinephrine and growth hormones) to shut down so it can use their energy, along with all other available energy, to your respiratory system to maintain your pace.

Working above 70% of your heart rate max over an extended period of time, like your whole 45 minute run, may allow you to burn more calories but less of those calories will be from fat. In the end you don’t just want to burn calories, you want to burn fat calories for lasting weight loss. When your body can’t use your fat stores to burn the next place it turns is to lean muscle stores, which is the last thing you want. Lean muscle is what keeps your metabolism up and running allowing you to keep off the extra pounds. For efficient and effective weight loss we want our calories to come from our fat stores not our lean muscle store. Working over 70% HRM may be beneficial speed training but it’s just not an efficient way to loose weight. Despite popular opinion of “more is better” and “faster is the best”, slowing down is a faster route to loosing weight. Don’t misquote me you will burn calories no matter how fast or slow you run but for weight loss you want to burn as many calories from fat as you can.

Lastly and probably most importantly when trying to loose weight weather it’s 5 pounds or 50 pounds. Now isn’t the time to multi-task. Pick one goal and stick to it. Don’t practice for a 5K to loose weight. You’d do yourself and your recorded time a favor if you loose the weight first then start a race prep running schedule. ( To be detailed in the next article) At 60% to 70% of your HRM you may not be running at your fastest pace or pushing your personal best time. In fact you may even have to slow down to a speed walking pace. And that’s okay because you will arrive at your weight loss goal a lot faster if you slowed down.

Mubarakah Ibrahim is an AFAA certified personal trainer and owner of BALANCE fitness, a personal training service for women in CT that offers in-home personal training, on-line personal training, outdoor boot camps, and hiking clubs for women. She also lectures, promotes and conducts workshops on health and fitness through out the northeast. She can be contacted by visiting her website http://www.balanceCT.com or e-mailed at balanceCT@hotmail.com© BALANCE fitness.