Smile!

We’re serious!  Your physical and mental health are NOT two separate things!  Sure, having a cold can steal your natural thunder, but feeling down can also make you more likely to catch that cold that’s going around!  No lie!  Studies have proven that even pushing up the corners of your mouth, or just looking at another person smiling can drastically improve your mood!  They’ve even got a scientific name for studying the effects of laughter on your health: gelotology! They have found that laughter produces endorphins, which are one of the body’s natural mood enhancers – in other words, laughter makes you naturally high!  It also protects your heart, can help lower blood sugar naturally after a meal (important for diabetes patients!), helps your blood flow more freely through your body, strengthens your immune system, it lowers anxiety levels, leads to better sleep, and one minute of laughter has the same fitness effect as 10 minutes on a rowing machine!  (People with asthma should be careful of laughing, as it can trigger an attack.  Talk to your doctor about it.)  Laughing can make you heal quicker, it always makes you feel better, and the more you smile and laugh, the more likely it’ll be that you’ll enjoy more of life!  Practice makes perfect, so get your smile on!

(photo: pr photo)

Watch What You Eat

News just in: They've deconstructed the Twinkie!  In order to make it last longer on the shelves, Hostess made a few changes to the original shortcake and cream recipe: mainly chemicals. 

Eggs are replaced with emulsifiers, or chemicals that help ingredients bind together, just like the eggs do in normal recipes. 

Butter is replaced by different gums, that give you that fatty moist mouth feel, without the necessary freshness. 

And weirdest of all, the yellow color that the egg yolk would impart is reproduced by food coloring, which is actually a petro-chemical.  Yep!  You read that right!  It's made from crude oil!  In large quantities it is poisonous!  But in small quantities it's... less poisonous?!?  The FDA has deemed it edible at these amounts, but do you really want to be putting poison in you in any amounts?!? That's just crazy!

We hope this helps you pick up that apple instead!

Stretching

Why stretch?  After all, you’re young and flexible and can put your nose on the ground when you bend over!  Even if these things are true, they’re not true for everybody all the time.  Stretching feels good, and is actually something your body kinda does on it’s own when it knows you need to re-balance your body tension.  As we sit in school, then college, and later at work, we train ourselves not to indulge in this natural balancer like we should.  My brother once poked his thumb into a nun’s stomach while stretching in school, so we get why we’ve got to hold ourselves back sometimes! 

Stretching should involve relaxation of a muscle, not the contraction of it.  Though there are training styles that involved opposite muscle contraction to release a muscle, that’s advanced sport medicine.  For our purposes, stretching is relaxing, and shouldn’t raise your heart-rate.  If it does, you’re probably going too far!

Each person has their own personal flexibility.  Not everyone can put their nose to their knees.  There may be an ideal you want to achieve, but you are where your body says you are, and if you push it too hard, you’ll break it.  That would be bad, because in an ideal case, you might want your body for another 70 or 80 years. J  The important thing in a stretch, is to feel it working, without pain, and go no further.  It may take a while, but with patience and diligence, you will achieve the flexibility you desire!

What stretching is:

We call it “checking in with your body”.   Don’t laugh!  An easy overall stretching and yawning each morning will let you know if you slept funny in the night, or did something new and strenuous the day before, and where you might want to be careful during the day.  Careful stretching can also help deal with leg cramps, headaches, and all sorts of things that come from not keeping your body in balance.

If there are areas of your own personal flexibility that are not up to your liking, you can change it by stretching regularly.  Daily, or at least every other day, you can find a spot to stretch the parts of you that are holding you back.  Keeping at it, and being patient will always pay off, unless you’re trying to stretch an ‘unstretchy’ part of you!  Sadly, bone doesn’t stretch, so this won’t help if you’re just trying to get longer legs!  Legs that let you stride farther and walk longer, that we can do!

As a warm up, it’s just like the morning check-in: seeing if there are any parts of your body that are tight and need some extra attention before you start to exercise.  This is a great habit if you want to avoid sitting out of games due to injuries!  As a warm down, stretching is fun and rewarding.  It gives you a chance to let your heart rate get back down to normal, and your newly warmed muscles respond better at this time to stretching than at any other time during the day!  It’ll be easier to stretch more, and you get a feeling of achievement!  Not to mention, it’s another chance to check in with your body, and see if it needs a little re-balancing!

That is right!  A short muscle, all cramped and tight, has a short ‘contraction’ (when you use or tense a muscle).  Because of this, it can’t generate very much power.  A long, flexible muscle can contract over a longer space, and is able to use many more of it’s fibers for greater overall strength.  This is why athletes always stretch, and people with tight muscles get so out of breath:  They’re trying to do the same task, with waaay less muscle working for them!

1. Make sure you, and your stretching space are relatively warm.  Getting chilled will automatically tighten your muscles and make stretching more difficult.
2. Decide which muscle or muscle group you want to stretch.

You can look at an anatomical muscle chart for a technical look at things, but most muscles cross joints (your bendy points) on the side they pull body parts together, and on the opposite side for pulling apart.

1. Find a pose that helps you lengthen that muscle as much as possible, while      the rest of your body remains relatively relaxed. 
2. Increase the stretch until you feel a pull on the muscles, but without causing ANY PAIN.  Stop before you feel pain, or lessen the stretch until there is no more pain.
3. After a slow count of at least 20, you may be able to go a little deeper into the stretch.  Technically, the muscle has re-set its length sensors, and will let a deeper stretch take place. You can repeat this a few times, but let the muscle tell you when enough is enough.
4. Stretch evenly.  That means, stretch both sides of a limb, and both sides of your body.  Not just the front of one leg.  The front of that leg may need it more, but your whole body can help re-adjust that one leg – after all, they are attached!

The Sun Salute

This one is from yoga, and covers all the major muscle groups in one flow through the exercise.  If you feel tightness in any of the areas, each part of the salute is also a good stretching position that you can go back to and work on individually.  You can add the breathing as you get the hang of it.

1. Stand tall and upright with both feet together (you can face the direction of the sun if you like). Bring your hands together, palm-to-palm, at your heart.
2. Inhale and raise the arms upward. Slowly reach high and back, stretching your arms high above your head (without falling over).
3. Exhale slowly and bend forward, touching the ground if you can.  If you can’t, slowly bend your knees until your hands are in line with your feet, and your head touches knees.  (Later, you will be able to do this with your knees straight.)
4. Inhale and move your right leg back in a wide backward step, keeping your hands and feet firmly on the ground, with the left foot between your hands. Raise your head if it’s comfortable.
5. While exhaling, bring the left foot back even with the right foot. Keep arms long and straight, raise your hips, and your head in line with your arms, forming an upward ‘vee’.  (this position is sometimes known as “downward dog”)
6. Exhale and lower your body to the floor so that your feet, knees, hands, chest, and forehead are touching the ground, like a very low push-up.
7. Inhale and slowly push through your hands and arms to raise your head, gently bending backward as far as you can comfortably go.
8. While exhaling, keep your arms straight, and raise your hips again into the “downward dog” position in number 5 above.
9. Inhale and move your right leg forward in a long forward step, keeping your hands and feet firmly on the ground, with your right foot between your hands. Raise the head if it’s comfortable. (this is the mirror image of number 4 above)
10. Exhale slowly and bring your left foot forward and even with your right foot, so that you are again in a forward bend, with your hands on the ground and your nose touching your knees.
11. Inhale and slowly raise your arms upward and back, stretching your arms above your head.
12. Bring your hands down together, palm-to-palm, at the heart.
13. Repeat at least three times, or as many as you like – just don’t rush!

So, there’s a good start!  Get stretching!

Walking/Hiking

Anyone can walk, right?  Well, almost anyone, and the fact is, a lot of people don’t give it enough credit as a form of exercise!  Done right, you can keep yourself healthy without needing to run or jump or anything extreme like that.  You will need to push yourself a little though, to get more than a “Hey!  I’m moving” kind of effect. 

Here are a few quick ideas to make walking or hiking a good fitness exercise for you and your friends:

1. Wear good walking shoes.  Not all tennis shoes are made alike.  Some are intended for fashion only, and don’t have enough support to cushion your feet during exercise.  A good cushion between you and the ground, plus some arch support are a good start.  And make sure they are lace-ups!  That way, if they get looser with time, you can still make them fit your feet snugly.
2. Choose a safe route, and always take a buddy.  Wherever you live, be smart about where you take your walks.  Make sure it’s a safe neighborhood, or you can even use the track at school.  Nature walks are great, but always be sure that if adults can’t be with you, they know where you are, and that you have a friend (and maybe a cellphone) with you.  Nobody ‘plans’ to sprain an ankle, but it can happen, and if you’re alone, it could be a long cold dark night before another hiker finds you.  Hikers call it the buddy system, and smart ones always use it, no matter their age.
3. If you want some fitness use out of your walk, instead of just taking a leisurely stroll, you’ll want to be moving briskly for at least 30 minutes straight, and it should be enough of an effort that carrying on a conversation becomes a little difficult – but not impossible!  If you find yourself panting and not able to talk, slow down!  With time, you’ll find that your pace will get quicker as your breathing eases – a sign that your fitness is improving!
4. When you’re done, you’ll want to do some light stretching.  Your muscles will be warm after your walk, and you’ll be able to stretch more easily than when they are cold.  Make sure to stretch your legs, and your upper body as well!  Walking affects your whole body, not just your legs and feet!

Positive effects:

Good for beginning a fitness routine if you’ve never had one

Increases cardio-vascular fitness (blood gets pumping)

Improves lung function (you can breath better – get more air)

Improves muscle’s aerobic funtions (system works better to get oxygen rich blood to your muscles)

Gets you out and about and looking at the world outside your room! (Improves psychological well being!)

As always, if you have special health issues, consult your family doctor before beginning any exercise routine.