At times like these, covid19 quarantine, physical distancing, work and home blur, zoom fatigue and fear, the brain is in overdrive. This is incredibly taxing. Not only does this fatigue us in every way, it leaves us with lethargy, apathy, don't-care anyway'athy--and that is so unHEALTHY. When we use our mental energy on too many decisions with too many consequences, we make life harder than it has to be.
Swooping in--the magic of routines, habits, rewards! By creating a routine built on habits that come easily, we can stop the mental gymnastics of decision making and begin the ease of riding on what we automatically do--no questions asked.
Consider what you do without thinking every day--from folding your hands a certain way to making coffee as soon as you walk into the kitchen--these habits are often cued. When I walk into my kitchen first thing, I boil water for my pour over coffee. I don't think about whether I should do it now or later. It is the morning. I am getting up. I like a good cup of strong black coffee. Then, I get it. I like the smell of coffee, the taste, and then I settle in to my cream of wheat breakfast. I get full for few points by adding a piece of fruit. DONE. Three SmartPoints later on Blue, and I am good. This habit loop reinforces itself every day making it even stronger. So, when life gets tough, and I am not well rested and can't really think straight (it's moving week around here)--I don't have to think. I am running on the power of a good habit.
That's an easy one for me. For you, consider what habit you'd like to create to make your life feel more manageable and automatic. Is it a meal? Is it a snack time? Is it a fitness routine? Is it a water consumption plan? Whatever it may be, consider first what will cue you to do the habit. Then consider what the habit you actually want to attach to the cue is. Then appreciate what the reward for the habit is. The cue and the the reward are the GLUE that make the habit stick. Thus, saving valuable mental energy for something else, like practicing your hobbies or learning French history (that's mine) or doing a puzzle with no picture (not mine ever).
You have nothing to lose but a waste of precious mental energy, so try it and make your life more predictable, more rewarding and oh so much easier.
Monday, May 25, 2020
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Are You Thirsty
I am talking about one of the most basic things that we may take for granted--water! Of course, drinking it is crucial to good health. Hydrating the body with what it really wants--is a daily habit that we can all get behind. And, if by chance, you don't like the plain stuff straight from the tap, you can flavor with lemons, skinned cucumbers, citrus, spearmint leaves and call it spa water. You can drink seltzer water or crystal lite water. The important part of this is to drink a lot. How much is a lot? It depends on you, your activity level, your medication, your thirst. If you are thirsty, you need more hydration.
We are made of 70% water. We flock to bodies of water for their calming properties. Some take long baths in big tubs of bubbly water to get a restored, cleansed feeling in their body and their mind. In qi gong practice (also called PLAY) we move as if we were in water. It feels easy, flowy and connected to nature.
Since the covid quarantine, I noticed that I am not drinking as much water as I did before. Not just a few things have changed. My activity level is different. I am not doing my HIIT workouts at Orangetheory Fitness. On the days I go running around the lake, I notice I am thirstier, and I naturally drink more. Listening to what your body tells you is basic, but how often do we forget the basics?
This week, notice if you are feeling refreshed, clear headed and hydrated. If not, maybe a simple glass of water in a fun glass is all you need. With summer quickly approaching, this is a great habit to sip on!
We are made of 70% water. We flock to bodies of water for their calming properties. Some take long baths in big tubs of bubbly water to get a restored, cleansed feeling in their body and their mind. In qi gong practice (also called PLAY) we move as if we were in water. It feels easy, flowy and connected to nature.
Since the covid quarantine, I noticed that I am not drinking as much water as I did before. Not just a few things have changed. My activity level is different. I am not doing my HIIT workouts at Orangetheory Fitness. On the days I go running around the lake, I notice I am thirstier, and I naturally drink more. Listening to what your body tells you is basic, but how often do we forget the basics?
This week, notice if you are feeling refreshed, clear headed and hydrated. If not, maybe a simple glass of water in a fun glass is all you need. With summer quickly approaching, this is a great habit to sip on!
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Sleep--It's Good For You
Do you get enough sleep to function at your best most of the time? That means seven to nine hours per night! Long gone are the days of bragging about how little sleep you can get by on. Nowadays, it is all about setting yourself up for a good night's sleep as part of your regular healthy routine.
Good sleeping is tied to good feelings, good actions and good hormones. This is precisely why it is linked to good weight loss. When you sleep well at night, your body releases a hormone called leptin that actually helps you get satisfied with healthy foods. YEAH!! On the other hand, when you don't sleep well or enough hours, your body gets the hormone called ghrelin circulating through the system. That helps you crave junky foods. BOO!! When you wake feeling bad yet still have to perform for the day, it is less likely that you will work hard to track, cut up vegetables, prepare healthy snacks, plan dinner in advance, etc.
Set yourself up for success long before it's time to shut your eyes for the night. Break up stress throughout the day with mini fit breaks, meditation breaks, do nothing breaks. Give yourself a schedule for the evening so that no pulsating blue light can emanate from your screens and keep you wakeful. Ideally, this is two hours before you want to sleep. Dial down the commotion, decision making, activity, lights in the house so that the late evening is more peaceful, thereby giving your body the idea that sleep is coming. Some people like a bath or shower at the end of the day. This too signals to your body--get ready for peaceful sleep.
These are all ideas you may have considered before. Have you tried them? Now is an optimal time to discover just how much sleep you function best with. Is it closer to seven or nine hours per night? Now is the time to realize what kinds of decisions do you make when you wake up rested? Is the world brighter? Is the workout more likely? Are the choices healthier? Are the cravings lessened? And mostly what about how it might link with healthy eating habits? Let's get to the bottom of that too.
It's time to play detective with your sleep so that you discover what really brings you more good health when you are awake!
Good sleeping is tied to good feelings, good actions and good hormones. This is precisely why it is linked to good weight loss. When you sleep well at night, your body releases a hormone called leptin that actually helps you get satisfied with healthy foods. YEAH!! On the other hand, when you don't sleep well or enough hours, your body gets the hormone called ghrelin circulating through the system. That helps you crave junky foods. BOO!! When you wake feeling bad yet still have to perform for the day, it is less likely that you will work hard to track, cut up vegetables, prepare healthy snacks, plan dinner in advance, etc.
Set yourself up for success long before it's time to shut your eyes for the night. Break up stress throughout the day with mini fit breaks, meditation breaks, do nothing breaks. Give yourself a schedule for the evening so that no pulsating blue light can emanate from your screens and keep you wakeful. Ideally, this is two hours before you want to sleep. Dial down the commotion, decision making, activity, lights in the house so that the late evening is more peaceful, thereby giving your body the idea that sleep is coming. Some people like a bath or shower at the end of the day. This too signals to your body--get ready for peaceful sleep.
These are all ideas you may have considered before. Have you tried them? Now is an optimal time to discover just how much sleep you function best with. Is it closer to seven or nine hours per night? Now is the time to realize what kinds of decisions do you make when you wake up rested? Is the world brighter? Is the workout more likely? Are the choices healthier? Are the cravings lessened? And mostly what about how it might link with healthy eating habits? Let's get to the bottom of that too.
It's time to play detective with your sleep so that you discover what really brings you more good health when you are awake!
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Need to Feel Better Soon? Now?
If there was ever a time where we all needed a real break, it is very soon, if not right here right now. The pandemic stress is weighing heavily on us all, no matter how you look at it. Even if you are thriving, making more money, feeling needed in a good way, loving your family and enjoying home cooked meals one after another--all you need to do is step outside your door and observe people walking around in masks, distancing from friends, behaving suspiciously in the grocery store to realize--OH NO, this is not normal, yet it is here to stay for quite a while.
This kind of overarching stressor takes its toll. Therefore now, more than ever, it's time to look at what we have at our immediate disposal that is convenient, safe and always available to BUST a BAD MOOD. Exercise, my dear ones, in little spurts or big--is a fast way to get into a better mood. It increases the feel good chemicals in the brain that say all is well. Boy oh boy, we need more of that.
So, this is not a post about doing a puzzle or listening to jazzy music (unless it includes jazzy dancing). This is about moving that bod of yours enough to feel better. Get the lead out is something I have been known to say. When you do this, you feel lighter in more ways than one. LEAD... lightER..... GET IT?
Why bother? Why? Because you, me, we cannot stay stuck until a C19 vaccine is discovered. We cannot let a bad mood consume our bodies or our minds. You, me, we have to rise again, with the sun, day in and day out and face whatever it is that is coming even when you feel like saying NO WAY. Oh, wait, today is just like yesterday? This is getting old, you say? I've noticed too. And, yet, we still soldier on, in this war without guns building our resiliency skills. It's not pretty. It doesn't have to be.
Now that the weather is mostly good in Minnesota, I am jumping on my bike for a five or ten minute ride around the 'hood just to get outside and feel better. I walk Pippa a lot. I film yoga and qi gong outside for my YouTube channel. I run around Lake Harriet too. But for that immediate--get me out of this C19 world, the quickie bike ride does the trick. I am a kid again. Seratonin is UP. Dopamine is UP. Free drugs are UP. Legal drugs I mean!
Check in with yourself regularly and pause long enough to realize how you are in the moment. Respect that observation without judgment. When you start realizing you are not ok, accept it and move it. That's it. Five minutes. See what it might do to build you up to feel better not only soon, but now.
This kind of overarching stressor takes its toll. Therefore now, more than ever, it's time to look at what we have at our immediate disposal that is convenient, safe and always available to BUST a BAD MOOD. Exercise, my dear ones, in little spurts or big--is a fast way to get into a better mood. It increases the feel good chemicals in the brain that say all is well. Boy oh boy, we need more of that.
So, this is not a post about doing a puzzle or listening to jazzy music (unless it includes jazzy dancing). This is about moving that bod of yours enough to feel better. Get the lead out is something I have been known to say. When you do this, you feel lighter in more ways than one. LEAD... lightER..... GET IT?
Why bother? Why? Because you, me, we cannot stay stuck until a C19 vaccine is discovered. We cannot let a bad mood consume our bodies or our minds. You, me, we have to rise again, with the sun, day in and day out and face whatever it is that is coming even when you feel like saying NO WAY. Oh, wait, today is just like yesterday? This is getting old, you say? I've noticed too. And, yet, we still soldier on, in this war without guns building our resiliency skills. It's not pretty. It doesn't have to be.
Now that the weather is mostly good in Minnesota, I am jumping on my bike for a five or ten minute ride around the 'hood just to get outside and feel better. I walk Pippa a lot. I film yoga and qi gong outside for my YouTube channel. I run around Lake Harriet too. But for that immediate--get me out of this C19 world, the quickie bike ride does the trick. I am a kid again. Seratonin is UP. Dopamine is UP. Free drugs are UP. Legal drugs I mean!
Check in with yourself regularly and pause long enough to realize how you are in the moment. Respect that observation without judgment. When you start realizing you are not ok, accept it and move it. That's it. Five minutes. See what it might do to build you up to feel better not only soon, but now.
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