Vitality Advocates

Category: Fitness

  • Exercise Improves Sleep, Preserves Mental Fitness

    Exercise Improves Sleep, Preserves Mental Fitness

    Bike riding
    Me, returning from my first bike ride this year

    You may have been a couch potato for most of your life, but now, if you’re middle-aged and envisioning a healthy retirement, you’d better change your ways.

    Moderate-to-vigorous exercise can mitigate some effects of aging, including poor sleep quality and cognitive decline. Research generally supports this claim, so especially if you’re prone to insomnia, you’ll want to check this out.

    Age-Related Sleep Problems and Exercise

    Sleep tends to be less robust as we age. Middle-aged and older adults get less deep sleep (the restorative stuff) than younger people. Our sleep is less efficient, too, peppered with wake-ups during the night. In the morning, we wake up feeling less rested, with fewer resources to meet the demands of the day.

    Investigators are now looking at lifestyle factors that might alleviate aged-related sleep problems. A majority of studies suggest that both male and female exercisers tend to experience better sleep quality and fall asleep more quickly than people who don’t exercise.

    Newer Data From Objective Tests

    The majority of such studies are based on reports from participants rather than objective tests. In two more recent studies, investigators used objective measures to assess the relationship between participants’ level of physical activity and their sleep.

    The SWAN Sleep Study was an observational study involving 339 middle-aged women. Over 6 years, investigators collected data on their activity level in three domains: (1) Active Living (activities like watching TV and walking to work), (2) Household/Caregiving (housework and childcare), and (3) Sports/Exercise (recreational activities and sports).

    Toward the end of the 6-year period, the women underwent in-home polysomnography (a sleep study) every night during one entire menstrual cycle or 35 days, whichever was shorter. They also kept sleep diaries and filled out sleep-related questionnaires.

    Altogether this made for a lot of data on a lot of women. The findings reported here are both significant and clinically important:

    • Activities in the Active Living and Household/Caregiving categories had little impact on women’s sleep. Women typically spend a lot of time doing these activities, yet they may not be vigorous enough to affect our sleep.
    • Women with high Sports/Exercise activity over the 6-year period experienced better sleep, especially on measures of sleep quality and sleep continuity.
    • Greater recent Sports/Exercise activity was associated with better sleep quality and better sleep continuity—and more deep sleep (insomnia sufferers, take note!).

    What About Men?

    Routine exercise has similar benefits for men, a small exercise intervention study showed. Via polysomnography, the sleep of 13 men aged 60 to 67 was assessed 3 nights before and 3 nights after they participated in a 16-week exercise program. The program consisted of regular 60-minute workouts on the treadmill. The workouts were fairly rigorous and the results, impressive. Compared with their sleep before starting the exercise program, by the end of the program the men’s sleep

    • had significantly greater continuity. Acute exercise reduced their nighttime wakefulness by 30%.
    • was significantly deeper. On nights following exercise, they experienced a 71% increase in slow-wave (deep) sleep. (That 71% is not a typo, by the way!)

    Exercise Protects Mental Fitness

    If the sleep benefits of exercise don’t move you to action, maybe the high cost of inactivity to your brain will. Regular exercise helps improve cognitive function and protects against cognitive decline. How it does so has yet to be worked out, but one theory holds that exercise has a beneficial effect on the brain due to its positive effect on cerebral blood flow. For optimal functioning the brain has to have adequate blood flow. Moderate-intensity exercise increases blood flow to the brain in healthy adults.

    But blood vessels may lose their ability to respond normally in the brain and elsewhere, a situation called vascular dysfunction, which is associated with cardiovascular disease. Systemic vascular dysfunction will likely reduce blood flow to the brain and manifest as cognitive impairment.

    “Vascular dysfunction and altered blood flow regulation may be a key link between cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline,” writes Jill N. Barnes in a paper titled Exercise, Cognitive Function, and Aging.

    Protecting vascular health—which typically declines with age—may also protect against cognitive decline. Barnes cites a few studies that suggest that exercise is the key to protecting vascular functioning. A few other human studies show that both aerobic exercise and strength training help maintain cognitive fitness. In addition, animal studies have shown that sustained aerobic exercise promotes the growth of new nerve cells in the hippocampus, a part of the brain associated with memory.

    So particularly if you’re middle aged or older and prone to inactivity, check into starting an exercise program now. It will improve your physical and mental health and—perhaps more relevant if you’re looking for help with insomnia—it will likely improve your sleep.

  • The Compassionate Way to Health & Fitness

    The Compassionate Way to Health & Fitness

    Lots of us would like a better body, an amazing workout habit, and a diet that celebrities would die for.

    OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but most of us definitely have an ideal when it comes to fitness. We want to be super healthy, and we strive for it. Maybe we strive and then fail and feel bad about it, but we strive.

    What would it be like to not strive for these fitness goals?

    What would it be like if we removed the striving, and found compassion instead?

    The Problem with Striving

    When we strive for a fitness ideal (which is usually what we do), there are a few fundamental problems to be aware of:

    1. The ideal is one we will never meet. Even if we do great at our goal, it won’t be what we pictured. For example, I ran several marathons and an ultramarathon because of ideals I had in my head, and completed them … and they weren’t at all what I pictured. They were still worthwhile, but not at all what my fantasy was.
    2. You have a good likelihood of failing at some point, not meeting your ideal, and then feeling bad about yourself for failing.
    3. You don’t hit the ideal right away — most ideals are several months, if not years, in the future. So for the first few days, first few weeks … you will just do the activity but not hit any ideal. This is likely not fun. You might set ideals for each day (“go for a run today!”) but even then, you’ll go for the run and it won’t be what you fantasized it would be.
    4. Once you reach the goal you’re striving for, you’re not content. You just find another goal to strive for. And another. Until you’re dead, having never been satisfied.

    What we don’t realize is that there’s nothing to strive for. We’re already in the perfect place: a moment that is filled with beauty and wonder, a life that is filled with untapped love and compassion, a goodness in ourselves underlying everything we do. We’re already in the ideal moment, but we take it for granted and fantasize about something else instead.

    We can just stop striving. Just find joy in this present moment, without needing the crutch of our fantasies.

    The Compassionate Way

    So if we stop striving for health and fitness ideals, does that mean we just lie on the couch, stuffing our faces with potato chips and slurping soda all day? Umm, yuck. And no.

    What we can do is 1) realize joy in who we are, where we are, and our intricate connection to the wonderful people all around us, and find contentment right now; and 2) in that moment of joy and contentment, we can act out of love.

    What are some acts of love that we can do, in this moment of joy and appreciation for what is right here in front of us?

    1. Appreciating the gift of our bodies, we take care of them. The bodies we have are incredible, wonders of nature, and we take them for granted. We abuse them by being sedentary, taking drugs, eating junk food, not taking care of them. Instead, an act of appreciation for our bodies is to care for them. Exercise, walk, eat well, floss, meditate.
    2. Appreciating the gift of life, we explore the outdoors. There is so much to notice and explore, to behold with absolute wonder, that it’s a waste to be online or on our phones all day. Instead, it’s an act of love to get outside and move our beautiful bodies.
    3. Appreciating the gift of food, we nourish our bodies. Instead of abusing ourselves by putting junk in our bodies (just to satisfy cravings of comfort), we can find joy in the nourishment of our bodies with gorgeous, healthy, delicious food. And appreciate that the fresh food we’re feeding ourselves with is a gift, grown from the earth by people we don’t know who support our lives, a miracle not to be taken for granted.
    4. Appreciating this moment, we meditate. This moment is filled with brilliance, and yet we often ignore it. Instead, we can sit and meditate, to practice paying full and loving attention. We can do yoga, moving while we meditate. We can meditate as we go for a run, lift a barbell, ride a bike, swim in the ocean, walk in a sunny park.

    There is no need for striving for fitness and health ideals. Instead, we can let go of those ideals and appreciate what’s right in front of us. And in gratitude, act with love and compassion to take care of ourselves and pay attention to the moment we’re in.

     

    Originally posted at Zen Habits

  • Around the World With the Toughest Woman on Two Wheels

    Around the World With the Toughest Woman on Two Wheels

    This post was originally published by Outside Magazine

    Fastest WomanIn December 2012, Juliana Buhring became the fastest (and first) woman to circumnavigate the world by bicycle, a 152-day feat that spanned some 18,000 miles, four continents, 19 countries, and 29 tire punctures. It earned her a Guinness World Record and fans all over the globe.

    Buhring’s adventure—which was even more impressive considering her lack of prior cycling experience—served as compelling inspiration for her second book, This Road I Ride: Sometimes It Takes Losing Everything to Find Yourself (W.W. Norton), which will be released in the U.S. on May 24. (Her bestselling 2007 memoir, Not Without My Sister, chronicled her tumultuous childhood in a religious cult.) Buhring, who lives in Sorrento, Italy, describes the triumphs and tribulations of her round-the-world journey—among them, the kindness of road angels, a gastrointestinal disaster in India, and teaching herself how to repair her trusty bike, Pegasus.

    Buhring, 34, took a break from a promo tour in Europe to speak with Outside about the writing process, give an update on Pegasus, and preview her next adventure: the Race Across America, her first supported event, this June.

    OUTSIDE: Writing a book is a journey much like a long-distance ride. What was this one like for you?

    BUHRING: During the ride, I had to keep a logbook for the record, and it was like a diary, with feelings I would jot down and things that would happen along the way. So when I got back, I had this book basically written. I started putting it in a better format, then I lost the desire for a couple of years. Then I got a book deal and I had to write it. The logbook triggered a lot of stories and emotions I’d forgotten about. Because I wrote the diary as it was happening, it gives you the impression that you’re on the journey with me.

    The original title was supposed to be Falling Off Bicycles, which is the theme of my cycling career. But the publisher wanted something more dramatic and less comical. I think [the original] is pretty brilliant, and it’s still my first choice.

    Pegasus himself was a central character. What happened to him?

    It’s a sad story. I lost Pegasus. The bike manufacturer who gave him to me took him back at the end, which rather broke my heart, since by the end I had changed everything on the bike with my own money—all the parts and the tires and everything. The only thing that was theirs was the frame. And he was covered in all these bumps, scratches, and stickers.

    It broke my heart to leave him. But that was the deal. They said they wanted him for their museum, but they don’t even have a museum, so he’s actually sitting in their warehouse. Poor thing, gone to pasture.

    What are you most looking forward to about your first supported race? 

    Riding with good food, or at least readily available food. And I’m looking forward to having my particular crew behind me. They’re all long-distance cyclists and all hysterical comedians. I’m going to laugh across America.

    What’s up next after that?

    I’m planning a ride in November across Burma and Laos—not a race, but a ride. Some people want me to race more than ride, and I will eventually. But what I really want to do is ride from the tip of Alaska to the tip of South America. I have a list, and it’s growing ever larger. I have no plans of stopping.

    This post was originally published by Outside Magazine

  • 5 Tips To Beat The Summer Workout Slump

    5 Tips To Beat The Summer Workout Slump

    school is outThe date is circled on the family calendar. Everyone in the house is patiently waiting for it, anticipating the freedom of the last day of school and the kick off to summer.

    Everyone except you.

    You enjoy the pool and evenings on the patio just as much as the next person but when the kids don’t go to school your schedule goes from simply hectic to hair on fire crazy. With camps, tournaments, birthday parties and the cries of “can’t we do SOMETHING?” you’re summer is anything but a break.

    Which is why you’re worried about your workouts. Your time for sweat therapy is after the kids are safely at school and before you hit the grocery store or sit down to review the invoices and do payroll. You feel like you’ve only just gotten your groove back after the holidays and you’re desperate to hold on to the good thing you’ve got going.

    How do you keep a summer workout routine when the kids are out of school?

    How do you keep a workout routine when the kids are out of school? Beat the summer slump!…
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    Beat the Summer Slump

    When their schedule shifts yours will too. There is no doubt that things will be different. However, you still need to claim some space that is yours to maintain your progress and keep your sanity. The key avoiding to a summer workout slump is to focus on one or two non-negotiable parts of your routine (three days of strength training for example). Allow yourself some wiggle room for shorter workouts and creative cardio but hold on to your foundational habits.

    Here are five strategies to help you stay on track with your workouts and beat the summer workout slump.

    1. Join the Y or local family center. They have so many summer programs that the kids would enjoy or that you could even participate in together. While they play basketball you can try new workouts with equipment you don’t have in your home gym.
    2. Find an online program or personal trainer to help you find workouts that fit your new schedule.  DailyBurn is a great source of fresh workouts that take as little as 15 minutes. You can sign up for a specific program (like Inferno) that gives you a plan for the week or select what works for just that day. There are also plenty of personal trainers who provide online or virtual training. (Myself included.) Find one who will design workouts to meet your hectic summer schedule and coach you through when motivation wanes.
    3. Take advantage of the early start (and late sleepers). Chances are your kids sleep in a little later in the summer. If that is the case, set your alarm 15 minutes earlier. You can use the time for a quick workout or meditation if you need it. You don’t have to do it every day but you might find you need it more days than not.
    4. Find childcare. Do you have a high school or college student in the neighborhood who would like to earn a little extra cash? Have them take the kids to the pool or a movie while you get your workout in. Or have them come to your house and stay with the kids while you go to your usual hot yoga class.
    5. Say no. Sometimes you have to say no to one thing to say yes to something more important. Summers should have some unstructured down time. Every weekend should not be a tournament or a sleep over. Try to make at least one weekend during the summer a family outing – like time at the lake to swim or a hike at a state park. It doesn’t have to be both days but it’s a great way to be active and perhaps challenge everyone with something new.

    Bonus food tip! Since you’re always on the go keep a picnic basket or cooler constantly packed with portable snacks. Load it with things like GoPicnic meals, protein bars, dry roasted edamame, jerky, raw almonds and dried peas. Restock it every week so you are never caught without a supply of healthy food.

    five strategies to help you stay on track with your workouts and beat the summer workout slump!…
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    A healthy lifestyle is a 365-day commitment. Yet summer should be and feel different. I know I long for “lazy” summers of youth and I don’t even have kids! Enjoy some freedom but find ways to hang on to the things all year long that make you YOU. You don’t want to not feel worn down and back at square one when Labor Day rolls around.

    What are you non-negotiable habits?

    How do you manage workouts when the kids are out of school?

    The post 5 Tips To Beat The Summer Workout Slump appeared first on Thrive Personal Fitness.