Exercise

One of the most common difficulties we encounter when trying to make more health promoting changes in our lives is actually getting started. I’ve always been thinking that I should write an article on this super important topic, but have never seem to be able to get started! LOL! Fortunately, I recently met a fantastic bloke – Luke McLean (not coincidentally he is a Hawk One supporter!). He has written a fantastic blog of his own on this topic. As such, I thought I would direct you to it here.

Where does Wellness Change Start?

While we always hear that 20-30 minutes of ‘continuous’ exercise, is needed for exercise (aerobic) benefits, don’t think shorter portions are a waste of time. They are still highly beneficial.

As it’s not always possible to get an hour or two to get to the gym/play a team sport etc, we look at a few tips to get more activity into your everyday life. Like the old chestnut of taking the stairs instead of the lift, there are plenty of ways to be a little more active. Pick 1-2 and make it part of your daily/weekly routine.

About three months ago I bought myself a standing desk. What’s a standing desk you might ask? It’s an electronically controlled desk, that is height adjustable. You can put it down low to work sitting down, or you can raise it up so that you can stand upright while working.

Why would you want to do this? Because it’s been shown to be one of the best things you can do for your health (and productivity). Research suggests that office workers who spend most of their day sitting down have significantly poorer health, including problems with weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, and musculoskeletal injuries due to poor posture/ergonomics.

Like to reduce your chances of suffering from any allergies, hay fever etc this spring or just want to re-energise & trim up after a heavy winter?

Spring will soon be sprung so now is the time to eliminate the causes of these imbalances.

Here’s a good little tip for knowing how much exercise/activity to do on any given day. Ideally, we should be so in tune with our body (from being ‘self-referral’ / listening to our body), that we ‘just know’ when & how much to exercise. However, a good objective way to guide you is through your ‘waking’ heart rate.

I had a pizza while out with some friends some time ago …yes, I said a pizza!!! “oh my God, the health guy eats pizza”!!!

It’s true, but don’t tell me you too have been brainwashed into thinking pizza’s are necessarily ‘bad’ or too heavy for dinner.

If you get a gourmet vegetarian pizza and take off the excess cheese (easier if you get cheese cubes not melted), what do you have??…toasted bread & vegetables.

The more expensive your runners …the more likely you are to get leg injuries!

* Even if you do not jog or run, read on.

“When you run on the earth, and run with the earth, you can run forever ”
- Tarahumara Indians

The more you pay for runners …the more likely you are to get injured!

Here are ten tips for more settled, blissful sleep:

1. Eat three meals during the day – breakfast, lunch around noon and an early dinner.
2. Do regular balanced exercise – modern research also confirms that moderate exercise can help improve sleep.
3. Try to go to bed by 10 p.m., during the drowsy (Ayurvedic Kapha) time of night, so that your mind can settle down faster.

Spring is the best time of year not only for cleaning your brick house but also for your more important house – your body.

So we have some tips for some ‘internal’ spring cleaning to help you feel great inside & out.

This is just a simple reminder for anyone looking to lose weight.The most important thing in losing weight is to…..NOT TO FOCUS ON LOSING WEIGHT.

Focusing solely on ‘what we weigh’ is a recipe for disaster and often results in compromising our health.

Everyone of us is different, and you have a healthy (ideal) weight range for your particular body type – pre-determined genetically.Some people are naturally slim – these are the people with a ‘high metabolism – commonly known in scientific/technical terminology as ………….’BASTARDS’.Others are NATURALLY of a bigger build (the ‘cuddlies’). This is perfectly normal & healthy for them.

Metabolism is one of the popular buzzwords these days. Like to make sure your metabolism – basically the process of converting food into energy and using that energy (calories) to run your body – is at its peak? If you are having trouble shifting a few kilograms, feeling a little sluggish or just want to stay energised and feeling great, try these.

Here are a few key stretching tips for keeping your muscles & joints flexible & free.

1. Stretch ‘After’ Exercise / Activity:

When aiming to increase your suppleness/flexibility, it’s always best to do so at the end of some exercise or activity session. This is when your body temperature is higher and muscles etc are naturally able to stretch more comfortably and it is actually an important part of a good cool-down anyway – to reduce post-exercise muscle tightening & waste products etc.

Do you think that there are 10 things, far more important for your health than eating the right food or exercising regularly etc?

Backed up by both modern & ancient health science research and based on the now irrefutable truth that, your ’emotional health’ is far more important long-term than physically ‘being healthy’- having the ideal diet etc (that is still good), we have devised a special list of ’10 more important things for a healthy, happy life than proper food & exercise’. We will send out one of these regularly, starting today. We hope you enjoy.

Take a minute to add up your ‘Total Activity Time’ for last week – or a typical week. Include any activity over 3 minutes in duration – do not worry about intensity – just that you are moving, e.g. any walking – to bus stop, to office, to church, to the ice-cream shop!! Any structured exercise – gym, jogging, ‘real’ sports (lawn bowls only counts for 25% – no offense!). Other activities – chasing/playing with your kids, chasing/playing with spouse!!

If exercising for weight loss/weight management, don’t make the mistake that you have to exercise at high intensity. It’s commonly prescribed that the higher intensity, the greater the calories we burn. While this is true (during exercise), the calories burned in one high intensity workout is insignificant in comparison to the calories from one decent meal.

4. Make Diet/Lifestyle Changes Gradually

In contrast to our modern Western way of wanting to go ‘cold turkey’ or change bad habits ‘overnight’, in Ayurveda, it is recommended that any behavioural change is done gradually. Doctor Raju even mentioned that this applies when wanting to give up or change some ‘unwholesome’ or ‘health compromising’ behaviour. E.g. smoking, weaning off drugs or eating yoghurt at night.

Good afternoon wisdom of health seeker.

A few people who have read my first book, which talks about the Ayurvedic (and yoga) wisdom of nasal breathing during exercise, have asked about nasal breathing while swimming. It’s a great question, so I thought I would post a quick answer here.