Everyone has heard about the physical benefits of exercise: weight loss, improved stamina, increased lifespan, and much more. But did you know that it can have as much benefit to your mental health as well? Not only does exercise make your body work better, it makes you feel better too. These are just a few ways exercise can help you live a happier life.
Boosts your energy. A sedentary lifestyle can make you feel fatigued. When you work your muscles with regular exercise, you feel more energized and ready to face the day. Exercising also helps you have a more restful sleep and fall asleep faster. This will leave you feeling rested when you wake up in the morning. Regularly working your muscles also makes them less likely to fatigue with normal activity.
Helps relieve stress. Many people know the endorphins from exercise make you feel better and have a better outlook on life, but exercise can also provide a time for reflection; further easing a stressful life. Many of us don’t have time alone without thoughts to contemplate our problems. Some types of exercise, such as running, can provide time to think about the day and sort out problems.
Improves self esteem. After a workout, most people feel that they’ve accomplished something. This makes you feel that you’re worth something and improves how you feel about yourself. In return, feeling like you can accomplish things makes you more likely to work out again, this is one great cycle to get into.
Increased social interaction. Being social and having friends is an important part of leading a happy life. Exercise can be used to stay in touch with old friends by scheduling regular walks or runs. It can be also used to meet new friends at the gym or through sports. These kinds of activities can make you feel accepted and loved; making you feel much better.
If you’re wondering if the effects of exercise will change the way you feel, consider this: many doctors and therapists recommend exercise as part of their treatment for anxiety or depression. If exercise is powerful enough to combat depression, think what it can do to improve your life.
Filed under Exercise by on Sep 5th, 2009. 
Are late night snacks keeping you from losing weight? Some studies have shown that healthy and overweight individuals tend to eat the same number of calories during the day. At night, however, overweight individuals tend to eat a lot more calories. Eating at night is just easier to do; we feel less inhibited because we tend to be alone. We are also less busy than other times of day. If you want to lose weight, you need to find ways to curb late night hunger. Here are a few suggestions.
Do something else. Unless you’re starving, you probably eat at night because you’re bored. If you feel the need to snack, try doing something else to occupy your mind. Go for a walk or read a book; you’ll soon forget that you were ever hungry
Eat more calories during the day. Even if you’re trying to cut calories, eating too little during the day will make you more likely to binge at night. Eating 1500 calories during the day and being satisfied at night is better than eating 1300 calories during the day and munching down on a 500 calorie snack at night. Try to eat the bulk of your calories earlier in the day and have a light dinner and maybe a fruit for an evening snack.
Go to bed. If you get the urge to eat shortly before you go to bed, just go to bed early. Not only will this keep you from snacking; people who get enough sleep at night tend to eat less calories during the day.
Eat at a table. No matter what you eat during the day, treat all eating events like meals. We tend to eat while we’re doing other things like watching TV or sitting at the computer. Eat all your food sitting at your kitchen or dining room table and don’t distract yourself. You’ll likely eat less.
Snack healthy. If you must snack late at night, think about what you eat. Instead of grabbing a bag of chips, get out some carrots or yogurt. Go for high fiber and protein which take longer to digest and keep you feeling full longer. It’s also important to eat portioned snacks. This way you probably won’t eat several portions at a time.
These are just a few tips to get you started. Just remember if you make a decision to eat less at night and stick to it you will see results.
Filed under Healthy Eating by on Apr 21st, 2008.
There are a lot of fad exercise programs out there. They show up, get really popular, and then you never hear about them again. But one plan that keeps showing up over and over again is walking. The reason? It’s easy to do and it actually works. The key is knowing how to do it right.
The first step is to walk long enough; about an hour a day, 5 to 6 days a week. If this is too much for you, start walking less and work your way up. If you can only make it 15 minutes, then walk 15 minutes. If you stick with it, you’ll soon find that you can walk 30 or 40 minutes. Just walk every day and you’ll reach that hour mark in no time
The second step to getting a good workout from walking is to get walk fast enough to keep your heart rate up. Once you’ve hit your goal of walking an hour, try increasing how far you walk. Aim to walk a little farther than you did the day before, while still walking for only an hour. Another great way to keep up your heart rate is to alter how fast you go within your walk. For example, start at a normal pace for a minute or two; then walk as fast as you can for a minute. After that minute just repeat the process for your whole walk. This will maintain a good heart rate without wearing you out.
The last step is to build muscle mass so you keep burning calories even when you’re not working out. If you’re just starting out, you will probably build muscles just by walking. Once you’re more accomplished, you can do this by adding hills or steep slopes to your route. You can also build muscles by having a proper walking posture, holding in your stomach, and flexing your leg muscles as you walk. If you’re a serious walker, you can learn to race walk to further build muscle mass.
Now that you’ve gotten started on your walking workout, remember to keep going. If you start to get bored, listen to your favorite tunes on an ipod or invite a friend to come along. Try altering your route and explore a new area. Just don’t give up and you’ll do great!
Filed under Weight Loss by on Feb 25th, 2008. 1 Comment.
Sure, exercise is important for losing weight. In fact, weight loss without increased activity is impossible for many people. But the kind of exercise you do can make your weight loss even more significant. While cardio workouts are great for getting the heart pumping and the calories burning, you need to build muscle mass if you want those calories to keep flying off while you’re sitting around doing nothing. That’s why it’s important to do exercises that tone your body while you exercise.
Adding a pound of muscle mass will cause you to burn up to 50 extra calories per day, even when you’re just sitting down. Imagine how much faster you could lose weight if you replaced 10 lbs of fat with muscle? Plus, on a normal diet, you lose muscle mass along with the fat. This slows your metabolism and causes you to gain weight when you eat normally again. If you add muscle mass instead, you keep burning more calories and are more likely to keep the weight off.
Exercises like running, biking, and swimming can burn hundreds of calories per hour, but have much less benefit after the exercising is done. While they can increase muscle mass, the increase is not nearly significant as lifting weights. Weight lifting burns fat while you work out, and continues to burn after you stop. And the more weight you can lift, the more calories you’ll burn each time. This means the stronger you get; the faster you’ll burn through your fat reserves.
With many exercise programs, doing too much too quickly can be dangerous. This is especially true with weight training. Using too much weight can not only stress your muscles, it can also cause permanent damage to tendons and ligaments. Not to mention the dangers of being crushed or trapped by extreme weight. When using weight training, always start slow and build your way up. And remember to use a spotter when lifting significant amounts of weight.
Remember that weight training should not replace a cardio workout. For best results you should alternate between aerobic exercise and weight training. This gives you the benefits of both to power maximum weight loss.
Filed under Exercise, Strength Training by on Jan 21st, 2008. 3 Comments.
While not dangerous, cellulite is an annoying and unsightly problem for many women. Cellulite is bumpy skin usually found on the butt and thighs. While there are many theories on what causes it, it’s usually considered to be fat cells bulging out through tight, inflexible connective tissue.
If you turn on infomercials or the home shopping channels, you’ll probably see tons of different products to help get rid of it. The truth is: you can’t get rid of cellulite without expensive surgeries, but there are ways to reduce its appearance. Here are just a few suggestions to bring back your smooth, supple skin.
Get Healthy. While you can’t get rid of the cells that cause cellulite without surgery, you can shrink them down by losing weight and building muscle. While being overweight doesn’t cause cellulite, getting rid of excess pounds usually helps reduce its appearance.
Increase circulation. To loosen tight connective tissue and give your skin a smoother appearance, you should take steps to improve circulation in the area. While there are many products out there that are designed to help (even cellulite reducing pantyhose), the best way to do this is with daily massage. Plus, this can be a nice way to relax at the end of the day.
Use aloe vera. There are many “miracle” cellulite creams on the market, but you probably already know that it’s best to avoid them. Instead, get a good aloe vera cream. This will help loosen up the connective tissue and reduce the appearance of cellulite. Regular use of an exfoliating scrub may help as well.
Get rid of toxins in the body. One theory suggests that cellulite is caused by excess toxins in the body. Having well hydrated cells washes away the toxins and keeps them from building up; so drink plenty of water. Some people have found improvement after wraps and other treatments designed to remove toxins from the skin. You should also avoid adding new toxins to your system; cut back on caffeine, additives, preservatives, artificial colorings, and unnecessary medications.
While none of these suggestions can totally get rid of cellulite, with a few changes and patience, you can have smoother, less lumpy skin.
Filed under Cellulite by on Jan 10th, 2008.