This article is dynamite. As we all suspected, counting calories does not work. Everyone who has done a calorie-controlled diet ends up after a while heavier than before starting. This article explains the science behind that fact. It then goes on to explain that cholestrol in food does NOT go into your blood (again, as we all suspected). It summarises basically by saying: take exercise, avoid all factory-processed oils & fats, avoid carbs (sugar, rice, bread etc), eat fresh foods such as meat and fish. It's a long article, with lots of references to relevant studies. But if you value your health, or just want to lose weight, it's worth reading all the way through. And yes, I've just ordered the book 'The Obesity Epidemic'!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/09/20/what-caused-obesity-epidemic.aspx?e_cid=20150920Z2_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20150920Z2&et_cid=DM86187&et_rid=1128685911
Sunday, 20 September 2015
Thursday, 27 August 2015
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
The Scoop on Supplement Safety and Regulations
Overview
More and more people are turning to supplements as a way to fill in the gaps in their diets. The elderly rely on nutritional supplementation to keep their bones strong and minds sharp. Bodybuilders and weightlifters have turned off the steroids and turned on to natural supplementation to increase muscle and reach training goals. There are nutritional drinks available for children to keep their recommended daily allowances at a positive level.
With so much reliance on supplementation, it’s a good idea to answer a few of the questions that are brought up on a regular basis: Are supplements safe? Are supplements regulated? What do they do?
More and more people are turning to supplements as a way to fill in the gaps in their diets. The elderly rely on nutritional supplementation to keep their bones strong and minds sharp. Bodybuilders and weightlifters have turned off the steroids and turned on to natural supplementation to increase muscle and reach training goals. There are nutritional drinks available for children to keep their recommended daily allowances at a positive level.
With so much reliance on supplementation, it’s a good idea to answer a few of the questions that are brought up on a regular basis: Are supplements safe? Are supplements regulated? What do they do?
Supplement Safety
The safety of supplements has long been in question since the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) does not actively regulate supplements. In fact, there is little interference by the FDA unless gross negligence is found to be present — and even then what items are pulled is arbitrary.
The USDA also has no say when it comes to supplements. When it comes to choosing a supplement, it is best to choose a name brand and a company that has been around for a while and deals with nothing but supplements. These companies are built on their reputation and integrity — if they lose either, they lose their company altogether. This may not seem like the greatest way to choose, but it is better than finding out your supplement is made by a company that also makes tires.
Supplement Regulation
Supplements are not required to meet the same safety and effectiveness guidelines as drugs because they are considered a “food.” FDA approval is not required in order for a dietary supplement to be sold, but there are some governing groups that do sift through the imposters and put their stamp of approval on proven supplements.
The United States Pharmacopeia (USP), NSF International and United National Products Alliance are groups that can help distinguish the good from the bad. You’ll find at least one of these seals of approval on supplements that are legitimate and pure.
A lot of supplements sold cheaply worldwide are often found to have completely worthless substances in them and usually not a speck of the supplement you are purchasing. The next step is to do some research. There’s a lot of information at your disposal online, and it’s worth your time to discover what is legitimate and what isn’t. A third option is to check with the Better Business Bureau and look at other sites to check for complaints about the company or manufacturer.
Ingredients, Side Effects and Allergies
Reading the label will sometimes give you a very good idea of what you are getting. It only takes a minute, but it can be the difference between buying a pure product and bogus one.
Not all supplements will list their ingredients — that’s a red flag. Ingredients are listed in the order of most to least. If you buy a protein powder and whey is number seven or eight (or last) on the list, you are getting powdered filler with a dash of whey protein. That’s not worth your time or money and will do nothing for your health.
In early 2015 in a crackdown on misleading labels, GNC agreed to strict testing regulations after New York’s attorney general alleged that 80 percent of herbal products sold by GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart didn’t actually contain any of the herbs listed on the product labels.
Be diligent and don’t be swayed by “deals,” because you may end up with something that will do absolutely nothing for you. You will also need to check the label for possible side effects and/or allergic reactions. If a supplement has a filler with a milk base, a person who is lactose intolerant may react to it. If you’re on prescription medications, checking with your physician is important to rule out any possible drug interactions.
What About Muscle-Building Supplements?
Weightlifting is an important part of so many people’s lives — it’s no longer just the 20-something men trying to build up their bodies. Women, teens and the over-50 crowd have all begun to seek the benefits of weightlifting. You don’t have to supplement to lift weights, but muscle mass, form, strength, agility and recovery will be greatly enhanced by using an all-natural supplement.
Pure whey protein or 100 percent creatine and amino acids are all excellent supplements that have science, years of testing and results to back them; the improvements made with these supplements is undeniable. So if weightlifting is part of your fitness routine, taking a supplement is more helpful than not taking one at all.
Considering all these issues may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Bottom line: Do your research and talk to your health care providers and you’ll be able to reap the many benefits of supplements.
source: http://www.livestrong.com/article/1011440-scoop-supplement-safety-regulations/
Thursday, 13 August 2015
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
The Common Cause of Running Injuries Most People Overlook
It may sound counterintuitive, but the best long-distance runners didn't get so good from running alone. To run harder, better, faster, stronger, they supplement their runs with other forms of exercise like cross-training, strength training, and interval running. Studies show these are all important elements in any training plan to become a better runner .
But many runners still neglect one crucial component of training: improving their balance. Research shows balance training can be used to prevent and treat acute ankle sprains, and reduce the chances of ankle injuries in the future .
After all, the last sound any runner wants to hear while running is a Rice Krispies-style snap, crackle, or pop signaling the dreaded ankle sprain. Depending on its severity, a sprained ankle can disrupt even the most carefully planned training schedules and take anywhere from four weeks to a seemingly endless 12 months to fully heal. Ain't nobody got time for that.The Source of the Sprain
But many runners still neglect one crucial component of training: improving their balance. Research shows balance training can be used to prevent and treat acute ankle sprains, and reduce the chances of ankle injuries in the future .
After all, the last sound any runner wants to hear while running is a Rice Krispies-style snap, crackle, or pop signaling the dreaded ankle sprain. Depending on its severity, a sprained ankle can disrupt even the most carefully planned training schedules and take anywhere from four weeks to a seemingly endless 12 months to fully heal. Ain't nobody got time for that.The Source of the Sprain
Unlike repetitive stress injuries—like shin splints or runner’s knee—traditional ankle sprains are acute, trauma-related injuries from rolling an ankle on uneven terrain. This stretches or tears one or more main ligaments that connect the ankle to the foot, creating swelling and bruising at the site of injury. And it's even more common than you may think: An estimated 25,000 people suffer an ankle sprain every day in the U.S.
But you don’t have to twist your ankle on a trail or an uneven sidewalk to experience a bothersome feeling in your lower leg. Moderate (rather than trauma-related) ankle or foot pain can also affect runners. "A large percentage of runners tend to overstride or pace improperly, which can lead to ankle soreness,” says Chris Johnson, a physical therapist, All-American triathlete, and triathlon coach.
Another reason why runners get the short end of the ankle-sprain stick: Running is a plyometric activity, and bounding from one leg to the next with relatively short contact times puts considerable demand on a runner’s muscles and joints, which can lead to injury, Johnson explains.
And that's where balance training comes in: “If a runner has difficulty balancing on one leg on solid ground, running will be that much more difficult due to the increased forces and dynamic nature of the sport,” Johnson says.
Need more convincing to improve your balance? Check out these four reasons:
1. You'll develop Herculean ankle strength.
"Balancing exercises can strengthen the ankle and surrounding musculature that provide stability while running," Fitzgerald says. One study found that athletes with chronic ankle instability demonstrated significant improvements in their ankle strength after completing a four-week balance training programs .
2. You'll improve your sense of awareness.
A neuromuscular component of balance known as proprioception (try saying that 10 times fast), or your sense of where your limbs are positioned in space, becomes impaired during an ankle sprain. Single-legged exercises train the brain to anticipate and coordinate movements in one’s leg muscles, making athletes less prone to recurrent ankle sprains . That's also why strength training, with a focus on improving balance and proprioception, can help runners (especially trail runners) skirt around surprise bumps and obstaces on the ground by heightening their awareness of where either foot will land, relative to other objects .
3. It helps you balance on one leg (a.k.a. run).
“When you run, there’s a period of time when you’re completely in the air—unlike walking, when one foot is always in contact with the ground,” Fitzgerald says. “In this sense, running can be considered a very coordinated series of one-legged hops.” Single-leg exercises (like the ones we highlight below) can improve running-specific strength and limit any imbalances that might occur.
4. It requires little to no equipment.
Balance training can be done literally anywhere, at any time. Most single-leg rehab exercises fit easily into any routine, allowing injured runners to multitask like a boss.
Your Action Plan
So you've twisted your ankle—now what? First, it’s important to keep pressure off of the injured leg (remember RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). Next up: See a doctor who can recommend the best course of treatment, which may or may not involve an ankle brace to maximize ankle protection and minimize swelling.
Whatever you do, don't run. Running too soon after a sprain may inflict permanent damage. In fact, people who have already had an ankle injury are five times more likely to have another ankle issue in the future . “Too often, I find that injured runners who seek physical therapy services are in denial,“ Johnson says. “They make the situation worse or prolong it by trying to run through it.” Chronic ankle instability from an incompletely rehabilitated ankle sprain can lead to further impairments and dysfunction, he adds.
A better plan of attack: Focus on low-impact activities, like swimming, cycling, or rowing, which don’t require sharp, sudden ankle motions. As athletes gradually ease themselves back into the groove of running, Johnson recommends safeguarding against injury by not increasing their mileage more than 30 percent each week. (Other pros suggest following the 10 percent rule as an even more moderate plan for increasing mileage.)
Finally, improve ankle strength and minimize the risk of re-injury with simple balancing exercises. These five moves are easy enough to do anywhere, anytime—even while brushing your teeth—to fortify injured ankles.
1. Single-Leg Balance
"Simply balancing on one leg without shoes is a great first step for most runners,” Fitzgerald says. Begin by balancing on the injured leg with a stable object nearby, such as a desk or a table. Perform the exercise without shoes, standing on a flat, stable surface. Count to 10, then rest. Eventually, work up to 60-second holds. Try to do three 60-second sets twice a day.
2. Single-Leg Balance with Additions
For an added challenge, balance on your injured leg with crossed arms, then with closed eyes. Finally, attempt to stand with the injured leg on a cushion (but build up to this slowly). Each of these additions will destabilize the body, making the single legged balance more difficult to perform. For each, count to 10, then rest. Eventually, work up to 60-second holds. Try to do three 60-second sets twice a day.
3. Single-Leg Alphabet Drawing
Once balancing on one leg becomes easy, Fitzgerald recommends dynamic balancing exercises. Stand on one leg, tracing the letters of the alphabet in the air with the elevated foot. “This dynamic motion requires the ankle to work much harder to stabilize the body,” he says. Complete the alphabet on one leg, then switch. Complete three sets on each leg.
4. Single-Leg Squat
Single-leg strength exercises such as pistol squats are very specific to limiting asymmetries and improving running strength, Fitzgerald says. To perform a single-legged squat, begin by standing on one leg, arms extended straight in front of the body. Slowly lower the body so that the standing leg almost makes a 90-degree angle with the ground. Return to the starting position slowly, controlling the movement as you rise. For added ankle strength, perform these exercises barefoot. Work up to 10 reps on each leg.
5. Slow-Motion Marching Drills
To further recuperate functional ankle instability and correct gait imbalances, Johnson recommends dynamic slow motion marching drills. March forward in a slow motion, keeping the thigh and knee flexed at a 90-degree angle. Perform the exercises barefoot with relaxed toes. First, attempt to march wobble-free for 30 seconds. To master the exercise, march wobble-free for 60 seconds.
Saturday, 8 August 2015
Weightlifting, sprints and high-fat diets. The rise of the superfit 60s
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Fitness trainer Joe Friel, 71 Brandon Sullivan / The Times
As America’s leading endurance sports coach, Joe Friel, 71, has many reasons to be interested in the toll that ageing takes on fitness. He is an elite triathlon and cycling instructor, has coached sportspeople of all ages and abilities, and is the author of more than a dozen books for athletes including the bestselling Training Bible series. His curiosity about whether people can extend their sporting activities into the decades beyond middle age also has personal resonance. “I was approaching my 70th birthday and I was wondering what to expect. The number was scary because of the drop in fitness and performance that’s supposed to happen,” he says.
For the fitness enthusiast, growing old can be particularly tough. After a lifetime of being active, suddenly he or she is told to avoid strenuous exercise or risk broken bones and heart attacks. Cyclists, runners, swimmers, skiers, rowers and triathletes do not want to be told that they should potter around in the garden or do a bit of gentle swimming, says Friel. Though reluctant to take it easy, they acknowledge that their bodies are changing. They are slower to recover after workouts, for example, and want to know how to address these changes. This week, research reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine from studies monitoring a group of over-60s for ten years, showed the importance of exercise. Even those who exercised but failed to meet the recommended target of at least 20 minutes a day still were 22 per cent less likely to die during the study period than those who did no exercise. Those who did manage the recommended target were 28 per cent less likely to die. Six months before his big 7-0, Arizona-based Friel set out to look at all the research on ageing and sport. He wanted to pin down why some older athletes are regarded as “legends” by younger athletes for their continued fitness, while others appear to age quickly and see significant drops in performance. Is there an athletic fountain of youth? In his latest book, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life, Friel explains that vigorous exercise is possible well into your 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. “We’re capable of achieving far more than we are currently accomplishing if we learn what’s happening to the ageing body and gently coax it to greater fitness,” he says. Where fitness is concerned, the three main downsides of ageing are as follows: firstly, decreasing aerobic capacity because the maximum amount of oxygen consumption measured during exercise declines at the rate of ten per cent or more per decade — and muscles need oxygen to work. Secondly, body fat will increase because the basic metabolic rate slows down, often resulting in weight gain — mostly fat. Lastly, muscle shrinkage: muscle mass decline begins during your 40s but decreases more rapidly after the age of 50, due largely to a decrease in anabolic or tissue-building hormones. There are other consequences too, such as reduced bone density and joint motion, which can lead to an increased risk of injury and a weakened immune system. Friel acknowledges that while these signs of ageing sound depressing, most of what we know about the process is based on “normal” subjects — sedentary old people like our parents or grandparents who saw their later years as a time to take it easy and snooze in armchairs. With baby boomers now in their 50s and 60s there is more positive research about ageing, thanks to people who push their physical and mental limits. “It appears that about half the loss is due to a sedentary lifestyle, not ageing per se,” says Friel. Therefore, though genetics play a part in ageing well, many of what we consider to be inevitable changes are in fact things that we have some control over. As we get older there can be a tendency to lighten the training load. Friel, who trains 15 hours a week on his bike, said he experienced this. “From my mid-60s I was doing less weight training, more long, slow, distance runs and fewer high-intensity workouts,” he says. “It wasn’t an intended change, it just kind of crept up on me.” Plus, he had the beginnings of a belly that he found harder to shift because of his changed workouts and the hormonal changes brought on by ageing. A daily diet of easy workouts “won’t get the job done”, the American coach declares in his book, and he sets out the four areas of training to focus on in later life:
For the fitness enthusiast, growing old can be particularly tough. After a lifetime of being active, suddenly he or she is told to avoid strenuous exercise or risk broken bones and heart attacks. Cyclists, runners, swimmers, skiers, rowers and triathletes do not want to be told that they should potter around in the garden or do a bit of gentle swimming, says Friel. Though reluctant to take it easy, they acknowledge that their bodies are changing. They are slower to recover after workouts, for example, and want to know how to address these changes. This week, research reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine from studies monitoring a group of over-60s for ten years, showed the importance of exercise. Even those who exercised but failed to meet the recommended target of at least 20 minutes a day still were 22 per cent less likely to die during the study period than those who did no exercise. Those who did manage the recommended target were 28 per cent less likely to die. Six months before his big 7-0, Arizona-based Friel set out to look at all the research on ageing and sport. He wanted to pin down why some older athletes are regarded as “legends” by younger athletes for their continued fitness, while others appear to age quickly and see significant drops in performance. Is there an athletic fountain of youth? In his latest book, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life, Friel explains that vigorous exercise is possible well into your 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. “We’re capable of achieving far more than we are currently accomplishing if we learn what’s happening to the ageing body and gently coax it to greater fitness,” he says. Where fitness is concerned, the three main downsides of ageing are as follows: firstly, decreasing aerobic capacity because the maximum amount of oxygen consumption measured during exercise declines at the rate of ten per cent or more per decade — and muscles need oxygen to work. Secondly, body fat will increase because the basic metabolic rate slows down, often resulting in weight gain — mostly fat. Lastly, muscle shrinkage: muscle mass decline begins during your 40s but decreases more rapidly after the age of 50, due largely to a decrease in anabolic or tissue-building hormones. There are other consequences too, such as reduced bone density and joint motion, which can lead to an increased risk of injury and a weakened immune system. Friel acknowledges that while these signs of ageing sound depressing, most of what we know about the process is based on “normal” subjects — sedentary old people like our parents or grandparents who saw their later years as a time to take it easy and snooze in armchairs. With baby boomers now in their 50s and 60s there is more positive research about ageing, thanks to people who push their physical and mental limits. “It appears that about half the loss is due to a sedentary lifestyle, not ageing per se,” says Friel. Therefore, though genetics play a part in ageing well, many of what we consider to be inevitable changes are in fact things that we have some control over. As we get older there can be a tendency to lighten the training load. Friel, who trains 15 hours a week on his bike, said he experienced this. “From my mid-60s I was doing less weight training, more long, slow, distance runs and fewer high-intensity workouts,” he says. “It wasn’t an intended change, it just kind of crept up on me.” Plus, he had the beginnings of a belly that he found harder to shift because of his changed workouts and the hormonal changes brought on by ageing. A daily diet of easy workouts “won’t get the job done”, the American coach declares in his book, and he sets out the four areas of training to focus on in later life:
Workout intensity
In any sport, as we age there is the tendency to increase duration of workouts at the expense of intensity, Friel says. Workouts become longer and slower. And yet you should be doing just the opposite. “Research shows that with athletes who maintain high intensity training, their decline is slowed by about 50 per cent compared with athletes who do lots of long, slow, distance training. There’s considerable evidence that supports this conclusion.” Training should be two or three times a week with an emphasis on muscular endurance, anaerobic endurance and sprint power.
Muscular endurance involves long workouts — for example running or cycling for a long period of time. Anaerobic endurance involves working out above the anaerobic threshold (where your body starts to produce lactic acid) for shorter intervals — running or cycling hard for a minute at 80 per cent of your maximum heart rate then recovering. Sprint power involves high-intensity workouts at maximum power for very short periods of time.
These workouts help to maintain muscle mass and stimulate testosterone release (this hormone, which aids muscle growth, is produced by both men and women, though women produce less, and its production declines as we age).
Strength training
Lifting weights is one of the best ways to build bone density while also stimulating testosterone release to maintain muscle mass. An alternative for the cyclist or swimmer who prefers not to use heavy weights on their legs in the gym is walking or running for several miles each week. This type of training should be done regularly and frequently, depending on your individual level of fitness. “Research suggests that you can rebuild bone and muscle no matter how old you are,” says Friel. Over-50s athletes should be cautious about introducing intervals and weight training to avoid injuries, he continues, but when practised safely and increased gradually, the regimen is the surest way to stay strong and competitive.
Sleep
Older people cannot afford to burn the candle at both ends. Friel writes that the purpose of sleep is the growth and rejuvenation of the body — the muscular, skeletal, immune, nervous systems. Several studies have found that the amount of sleep people get is closely associated with not only health but living longer. Short sleep durations can increase the risk of obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Aim for six to seven hours per night. “Sleep is critical to sport success,” says Friel. “The standard I use to determine if someone is getting enough sleep is [whether] they have to use an alarm clock in the morning. [If they do] they haven’t had enough sleep. Go to bed earlier.”
Nutrition
Protein plays an important and unique role in recovery. “The research shows that, as we get older, we need more protein in our diet. We need to replace carbohydrates with protein, which is anabolic and promotes muscle growth,” says Friel. Overdoing carbohydrates is likely to lead to an increase in body fat because insulin secretion interacts with another chemical in the body, lipoprotein lipase (LPL), to store fat, he writes in Fast After 50. “When we are younger, testosterone keeps LPL in check, allowing us to eat lots of carbs without increasing fat, but that changes with age because testosterone decreases in both women and men.” Dietary needs also change with physical shifts, and Friel says he has changed his diet at two pivotal times in his life. “The first was in 1994, shortly after my 50th birthday, when I was eating a lot of carbs because I was an endurance athlete. A friend tried to convince me to cut back on the refined carbs and eat more vegetables, fruit and animal products.” For the first three weeks of the new diet he felt terrible, he remembers, and then he started to feel better and to recover from workouts more quickly. His friend, Loren Cordain, with whom he later wrote The Paleo Diet for Athletes, explained that his immune system had been weak due to an inadequate intake of the micronutrients in vegetables, fruit and animal protein. At the age of 68, Friel switched his diet again when he noticed that his formerly flat belly was plump. His weight had been stable for most of his life at 154lb (11st / 70kg), the same weight he was in high school, but went up to 166lb. On the advice of Dr Timothy Noakes, author of Lore of Running, Friel switched to a low-carb, high-fat diet, cutting back on the five servings of fruit he ate daily, which were high in carbohydrates because of naturally occurring sugars, and eating more high-fat foods such as avocado, nuts, nut butters, eggs, bacon, olive oil and fish. “I’m back to 154lb, which has been my standard weight for most of my life,” says Friel. “I’m lean and that makes me happy.” While researching his book, Friel began to incorporate changes into his own fitness regimen, ditching the long slow workouts that his ageing body had become accustomed to and going for a pattern of high-intensity workouts interspersed with periods of moderate or easy workouts. What worked for him was three vigorous workouts within a nine-day period — on the other days he did easy workouts. This can be adjusted for the individual, he says. Some people may benefit from three vigorous workouts interspersed with three moderate and three easy ones. This intensity, coupled with vital rest periods in between, is, he says, the key to maintaining performance with ageing. Soon, he said, he saw improvements and measured a 7 per cent increase in his fitness in a short space of time. “If you currently have a relatively high level of fitness, there’s a great deal to lose by becoming sedentary or even just cutting back on intensity. It’s use it or lose it,” he says. A month after his 70th birthday, in January 2014, Friel had a serious crash on his bike. “I’d thought about not riding at all that day because the wind gusts were really strong, but I went out anyway and an exceptionally strong gust came from my left side and blew me into a kerb, where I landed on my head and shoulder, and did a lot of damage,” he remembers. He broke seven bones, had concussion and was in hospital for six days. He developed blood clots in both legs and both lungs and was on blood-thinning medication for six months. Though he returned to cycling three weeks after the crash, Friel’s long recovery continues. “A major issue is that my body is not coming back as fast as when I was younger, and it has had a tremendous impact on my performance. So my focus now is just on health and enjoying whatever exercise I’m capable of.” Not even an athlete can out-run or out-cycle the ravages of time, Friel says, and athletes don’t only have to deal with the wear and tear caused by years of training. They also have to battle the psychological effects of being in an ageing body, and remembering their body at its best. Being respectful of the physiological changes that occur with age and adapting accordingly, he continues, there is no need to settle down into a sedentary old age. Friel still travels the world advising athletes. “When people start losing their performance they think ‘I probably shouldn’t expect to race so well or be as fit as I was years ago’, but that’s just an excuse. Ageing is first and foremost an attitude. If you decide you’re over the hill, you are.”
Thursday, 6 August 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Does Working Out in the Rain Make You Sick?
It's a common medical myth that being outside in the rain or cold makes you sick. So, it's natural to assume that, by the same logic, working out in the rain or cold -- or both -- makes you sick. Neither, of course, is true. Being in rainy or cold conditions during exercise is not a direct cause of viruses like cold or flu. You must come into contact with a virus to contract these illnesses.
Why the Myth Endures
The myth endures because it appears to people as if rainy or cold weather contributes to illness. Certainly there is a strong correlation between rainy or cold weather and viruses like cold or influenza. This is because more people are infected with these viruses during cold and/or rainy months. Plus, being outside in cold rain can cause temporary flu-like symptoms, like shivering or a runny nose. But in these cases, correlation does not imply causation. Viruses cause these illnesses, not weather patterns.
Why the Myth Endures
The myth endures because it appears to people as if rainy or cold weather contributes to illness. Certainly there is a strong correlation between rainy or cold weather and viruses like cold or influenza. This is because more people are infected with these viruses during cold and/or rainy months. Plus, being outside in cold rain can cause temporary flu-like symptoms, like shivering or a runny nose. But in these cases, correlation does not imply causation. Viruses cause these illnesses, not weather patterns.
Being Indoors with People
Cold and flu viruses tend to spike any time cold or rainy weather keeps people indoors more often than usual. During these times, people tend to be in closer proximity to one another as well. When you inhale the virus particles that a person breathes or coughs into the air, you can be infected. Whether to exercise indoors or outdoors is not the issue.
Body Temperature Drop
When you get wet outdoors, your body temperature drops. This is offset somewhat by exercise, which increases your body temperature. Even so, especially cold rainy conditions may cool the body enough to cause hypothermia, particularly if your clothes are drenched in water. Hypothermia strains the body, including the immune system, and this may heighten your chances of becoming infected with a virus. In such cases, rain may aggravate your immune system, but it is not the direct cause of illness.
Immunity Benefits of Exercise
Cardiovascular exercise helps boost the function of the immune system. This is true regardless of weather conditions. In other words, your immune system function will improve whether you choose to exercise indoors or outdoors during a cold rain. This can make you less likely to contract a cold or flu virus.
Precautions
Exercise common sense when carrying out your exercise plan in the rain. MayoClinic.com recommends staying indoors if the outside windchill reaches zero degrees F or lower. By the same token, it's probably unwise to exercise outdoors in freezing rain, in which quick accumulation can make you more prone to falls and injury. If you have asthma or any other chronic illness, consult your doctor before beginning a new exercise program.
Sunday, 10 May 2015
FAST FOOD KILLS BUGS THAT KEEP YOU THIN
Fast food kills bugs that keep you thin
FAST food diets make people fat not just through excess calories but by killing off the gut bacteria that help people burn off their excess energy, a leading British researcher has found.
Diets with just a few highly processed ingredients, rather than the dozens of foods found in a healthy diet, are so toxic to these bacteria that it takes only a few meals to wipe out hundreds of the species humans need to maintain healthy digestion, according to research by Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London.
The findings emerged from a series of studies in which Spector, whose book on the topic, The Diet Myth, is published this week, investigated links between gut bacteria and health. He was seeking insights into why some people put on weight while others stay slim on similar diets — and why less than 5% of fat people succeed in long-term weight loss.
In one study, Spector’s 23-year-old son, Tom, agreed to spend 10 days eating just McDonald’s burgers, chicken nuggets, chips and Coke.
“Before I started my father’s fast food diet there were about 3,500 bacterial species in my gut, dominated by a type called firmicutes,” said Tom Spector, a genetics student, who gained 4lb during the experiment.
“Once on the diet I rapidly lost 1,300 species of bacteria and my gut was dominated by a different group called bacteroidetes. The implication is that the McDonald’s diet killed 1,300 of my gut species.”
For his father, this supported other research suggesting the reason almost twothirds of Britain’s adults are obese or overweight is far more complex than eating too much.
“Microbes get a bad press, but only a few of the millions of species are harmful and many are crucial to our health,” Spector said. “Microbes are not only essential to how we digest food; they control the calories we absorb and provide vital enzymes and vitamins.”
Spector is well placed to investigate such issues. He oversees Twins UK, a registry of 12,000 twins who are being tracked and tested throughout their lives to tease out the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in a range of complex diseases including obesity.
“What is emerging is that changes in our gut microbe community, or microbiome, are likely to be responsible for much of our obesity epidemic, and consequences like diabetes, cancer and heart disease,” he said.
“It is clear that the more diverse your diet, the more diverse your microbes and the better your health at any age.”
Spector’s research reflects growing global interest in the relationship between gutdwelling bacteria and human health. Scientists have long known that human intestines harbour 3lb of bacteria but the numbers and diversity made research hard.
This is changing, largely because of the advent of highspeed genome-sequencing machines, which mean samples taken from the gut can be rapidly and cheaply analysed. In large-scale studies such variations can also be linked to conditions including obesity, allergies and asthma.
Professor Rob Knight, of the University of Colorado Boulder, who collaborates with Spector, began investigating the links between gut bacteria and health after he and his wife suffered a severe stomach infection during a trip to Peru. In the months afterwards he lost 80lb, going from obese to a healthy weight — a change he suspects was linked to the change in his intestinal flora.
Since then he has launched his own research programme, becoming a leader in the field, and founded American Gut, a project that offers people the chance to have the genomes of their gut bacteria analysed cheaply if they make the data available to researchers.
His recently published book, Follow Your Gut, sets out some of the findings from his and other laboratories. One was the discovery that gut bacteria vary not just between people but between countries too, because of variations in national diet. Another was that transferring bacteria from the gut of an obese human to a lean mouse made the animal obese as well.
Such experiments lead to a highly controversial possibility: that obesity is at least partially infectious. In his book, Spector describes how lean mice put into cages with fat ones also became obese.
The findings are powerful evidence for gut bacteria playing a key role in controlling obesity and suggest there might be certain combinations that could aid weight loss.
Other scientists have used antibiotics to target the bacteria that proliferate on a high-fat diet, leading to weight loss in mice.
Such research is in its early days but expanding fast. Spector recently founded the British Gut Project, the UK equivalent of Knight’s study, but some early practical conclusions are emerging already.
Healthy diets are not about excluding things such as fat or sugar, or about eating lots of protein, a currently popular idea. Instead, said Spector, they should simply be as diverse and natural as possible.
One finding is that Belgian beer, garlic, coffee, leeks and celery are perfect foods to increase gut microbes.
“Fifteen-thousand years ago our ancestors regularly ingested around 150 ingredients in a week. Most people nowadays consume fewer than 20 separate food types and many, if not most, are artificially refined. Most processed food products come, depressingly, from just four ingredients: corn, soy, wheat or meat,” said Spector.
“The promotion of restrictive diets that depend on just a few ingredients will inevitably lead to more reduction in microbe diversity and to ill health.”
Friday, 8 May 2015
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Tuesday, 21 April 2015
WHAT WE'VE BEEN TELLING YOU!
At the Trail Running Forum (Sunday, Sutera Harbour), both main speakers emphasized that training should focus on strength rather than running. Vlad Ixel, currently 100k trail champion throughout SE Asia, said quite specifically: out of say 10 hrs training a week, no more than 3 or 4 should be running. The other 6-7 hrs should be spent on improving strength, balance & agility. Exactly what we've been doing for you at Warrior! He also emphasized the importance of core strength! And he also recommended lots of glute training ie lunges for downhill running.
Both talked at length about nutrition, and had the same basic message: avoid all processed foods!
It was nice to find that the experts agree with us. See you all at the next session. Don't forget - Fitter, Faster, Tougher, Stronger. whatever your chosen sport.
Thursday, 2 April 2015
6 REASONS FOR MUSCLE CRAMPS
6 Reasons for Muscle Cramps
We are sure that all of you have already had their experiences with painful muscle cramps – be it during or after training or even at rest.
How does a cramp occur?
Muscles exist of a large number of muscle cells. With the help of mineral ions, also called electrolytes, your brain sends electric impulses via the nerve pathway to those muscle cells. This chemical energy gets transformed into mechanical energy within the cells: Your muscles react and move your skeleton.
In case of miscommunication – meaning that the nerves send too many, too strong or just wrong signals or that muscle cells cannot process the correct signals adequately – your muscles cannot react properly. This leads to erratic, lagged or conflicting contractions which we perceive as painful cramps.
Why do miscommunications occur?
How does a cramp occur?
Muscles exist of a large number of muscle cells. With the help of mineral ions, also called electrolytes, your brain sends electric impulses via the nerve pathway to those muscle cells. This chemical energy gets transformed into mechanical energy within the cells: Your muscles react and move your skeleton.
In case of miscommunication – meaning that the nerves send too many, too strong or just wrong signals or that muscle cells cannot process the correct signals adequately – your muscles cannot react properly. This leads to erratic, lagged or conflicting contractions which we perceive as painful cramps.
Why do miscommunications occur?
1. Mineral deficiency
There are several causes for a muscle cramp. Often, it is tied to a magnesium deficiency. In fact, the cause of a cramp often is an impaired concentration of electrolytes – however, it does not always have to be magnesium.
Through sweat, your body loses a lot of fluids during exercise and thus important minerals. To keep your body supplied with minerals during a workout, it is critical to drink enough water before, during and after training. Water provides essential minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. They all play a role in the communication between the nervous and muscular system and therefore are important.
2. Dehydration
However, the concentration of electrolytes does not have to be causal itself. In general, it can also be dehydration. Without enough liquid, your body cannot transport nutrients smoothly which is also the case for minerals. So it might be that your minerals are in balance but that there is not enough liquid for them to reach their destination.
Both aforementioned reasons are mainly responsible for muscle cramps – which is why we again want to point to the huge importance of sufficient hydration.
3. Blood flow disorder
Another major factor is an impaired blood flow, e.g. due to bad posture and form, one-sided loading or just shoes that are too tight. During a workout, your muscles need oxygen as fuel to convert chemical energy into mechanical energy. If the blood vessels do not convey enough oxygen, muscle cells cannot process impulses correctly and tense up.
4. Overload
Training for too long can also lead to muscle spasm. After too intense effort, meaning that you train well beyond muscle fatigue, your muscle cells are irritated. This makes them hypersensitive for any orders of the brain: the electronic signals are too strong for the drained muscle cells and cannot be processed properly.
5. Cold
Very cold temperatures – especially sudden changes from warm to cold – can lead to heavy tension within muscles which in turn can eventually result in a cramp.
6. Anatomical and medical reasons
Other and rather rare reasons can be misalignments in legs, hips or trunk as well as constrained nerves and vessels but also illnesses – from a simple cold to diabetes – and side effects of drugs. Whenever you are suspicious of those factors, you should consult a doctor.
How can I treat cramps?
Many people are almost paralyzed when they experience muscle spasm and just hold the aching spot. Instead, the opposite is necessary: Active but cautious stretching of the muscle and activation of the antagonistic muscle to slowly release the contraction.
For example, if your calf hurts – one of the most common cramps – it is useful to pull your toes towards yourself and thus tense its antagonistic muscle on the shin. In doing so, the calf gets stretched and relaxed. It can also be helpful to carefully massage it lengthways. As soon as the tension ceases, you should slowly move the muscle again to remove potential contraction residues.
The best treatment however still is prevention. Besides a sufficient intake of fluids and minerals which is needed to ensure supply and transmission of electrolytes, two aspects of training are often neglected: A warm up before the workout and a thorough stretching afterwards.
Fresh fruit such as apples or fruit juices (ideally freshly squeezed) are also often used as a preventive. This is because fruit contains a lot of minerals which your body can utilize quickly due to the fruit sugar.
Warm and cold showers as wells as heat baths can also be quite helpful to accustom the muscle to temperature changes and to increase blood flow.
https://knowledge.freeletics.com/en/muscle-cramps-causes-therapy-prevention/
Friday, 27 March 2015
STRENGTHEN YOUR WILLPOWER!
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle.
Success is a lot of small things done well, day after day.
What seems like an overnight success is usually a very long time in the making. Success is created from people who establish the right habits, then execute them over and over.
So I wanted to share with you the top 10 habits that have been scientifically proven to give you incredible willpower!
There are a lot of myths surrounding meditation. Burning incense, chanting, wearing robes, etc. So let's start by explaining what meditation really is.
Meditation is simply the practice of bringing your thoughts to the present moment.47% of our lives are spent either reminiscing about the past or thinking about what we are going to do in the future. [2]
We spend very little time with a clear, focused mind on what we are doing right now.
Meditation attempts to do just that. This is usually done by sitting upright in a room that is clear of distractions and focusing solely on your breathing. However, it can be achieved with any activity that brings your full focus and attention.
For example, if you are completely focused on the task of cleaning dishes; without mentally going over your day, pondering another problem in your head, or thinking about what you will be doing next, you can achieve a state of meditation.
If your mind is clear and focused completely on the present task, you will see the benefits of meditation.
To get started meditating, check out this article which will give you the tools and exercises you need to begin adding the habit of daily meditation.
Any food that contains calories will give your brain glucose to work with. But not all glucose is created equally. Sugary foods will cause a quick spike of glucose, giving you willpower fuel for the short-term, but will cause a subsequent crash that depletes your willpower just as fast.
The best thing you can do is keep the glucose level in your bloodstream steady. This will give your brain a consistent reserve of fuel to exert willpower for the long-term. To accomplish this, researchers suggest a low-glycemic diet. [4]
Here are some low-glycemic foods that will give you long-term willpower fuel:
Do not try to completely overhaul your diet if you are not used to eating these types of foods. Instead focus on eating them for just one meal per day. The best of which would be eating them for breakfast.
Then your brain will recognize the fact that it is not getting enough glucose, and immediately start to crave sugary foods and caffeine to replenish its supply. However, because your brain cells are not absorbing glucose as efficiently as they should be, not only will you give in to eating junk, you will eat much more than you need.
Your brain will continue to crave junk food until it gets as much glucose as it can out of your bloodstream – regardless of how many calories that may be.
Luckily, there are scientifically proven tactics that will help you get a better night’s sleep even without adding more hours:
Throughout the study they would test the participants on various self-control activities from resisting temptations to persevering through challenging tasks.
The results were nothing short of remarkable.
After just 2 months of exercise every participant had indeed increased his or her ability to resist temptations and persevere on tasks.
But the benefits didn’t end there. Without any instruction by the researchers, the participants also:
Now, before you set a plan to go from not exercising at all to exercising every day, let’s pause. It’s important to remember that for a full month, these participants only went to the gym 1x/week. That means they only went 4 times total in the entire first month!
Clearly, it is not necessary for you to go crazy with your exercise plan. To start getting all of the benefits listed above, you just need to make a plan that is consistent, not overwhelming. Whether you can exercise 1x/week or 4x/week, it doesn’t matter. To see the benefits, you just need to set a plan that you will not fail.
When you have listed 10, see if you can continue writing them while also figuring out the answer to 17 x 24.
Were you able to do it?
We have 2 distinct parts of our brain that help in our problem-solving. One is the limbic system, which makes our easy and automatic decisions. This includes brushing our teeth and stopping at a red light. This part of the brain is also short-term minded, and is what motivates us to indulge in unhealthy food and get off of the treadmill.
The other is the pre-frontal cortex, which solves more difficult problems like how to effectively communicate or solve more complicated math equations like the one above. This is also the part of our brain that thinks long-term and is responsible for our willpower.
The problems above both require the pre-frontal cortex to solve. If I were to ask you to write the 50 states and do a simple problem like 10 x 5, you would have had no problem doing it. 10 x 5 is easy. It only requires our limbic system to solve, so we can successfully multi-task.
The more we multi-task, the more we train our limbic system. So by trying to do 4 things at once, we are unknowingly making the part of the brain that wants us to indulge stronger.
The pre-frontal cortex, however, cannot multi-task. The problems it deals with are too complicated. So by focusing on one task at a time, we are making the part of the brain that exerts willpower stronger!
So resist the temptation to multi-task and remain focused. This will train your willpower and help you make tough decisions. [10]
You can overcome this tendency by becoming more mindful of your daily decisions. This is as simple as pausing and questioning why you are making the decision to get coffee as soon as you make it into the office. Or why you are eating cereal for breakfast rather than eggs.
Simply question these daily decisions and you will strengthen your willpower to make better choices throughout the day. [10]
In other words, rather than seeing see who we are, we see who we want to be. This is not because we are shallow, it is because we all have an ideal self that we want to live up to. With this ideal self in our mind, we begin to think and act more like them.
The best way to keep your ideal self in mind is through a process called Self-Monitoring. This involves keeping track of as much information on yourself as possible. Like with the mirror, you will look at the information on yourself and compare it to what you really want. This will strengthen your willpower and help you make better decisions.
To get started, check out the list of ways to begin self-monitoring at the bottom of this article.
But they were not saints at all. Many of them reported that if they were to get behind a bar stool, they would never leave. Others reported that they were unable to resist sweets whenever they were around. It seemed that these "saints" were prone to the same temptations as the rest of us. [13]
So what was their secret?
The secret, it turned out, was that these people simply did not put themselves in those situations. Their lifestyles were well-organized to prevent having to look temptation in the face.
These people played offense. They thought about what might tempt them in the future – whether it was alcohol, sweets, or distractions from work – and set themselves up to avoid them. They were seemingly willpower super heroes because they almost never had to use it.
In your life, look for the things that test your willpower. How can you play offense and remove future temptations?
When we witness something inspiring, the part of the pre-frontal cortex that thinks about the long-term lights up. The neurons in this part of the brain start firing and we feel a rush of energy as we begin to believe in our dreams and goals.
This essentially means that by becoming inspired, we give the pre-frontal cortex more power. This strengthens our willpower and makes it easier to work towards our long-term goals. [14]
To tap into this willpower, find something inspiring that you can turn to on a daily basis. This will help you find the willpower you need even when times get tough.
If you’ve ever had a goal, you know how exciting it can be at first. You can see the “after photo” of your life when the goal is achieved - and you love what you see. You imagine all of the great things about the “new you” and you can't wait to get started working towards that goal!
Then it’s time to actually do the work. And whether that work is putting pen to paper, or putting foot to treadmill, you get a sudden rush of being completely overwhelmed. You see just how much work it’s going to take to get you from where you are, to where you want to be. Then you get paralyzed by the fact that you don’t know where to begin. So you don't bother trying, or you lose the persistence to keep going.
Chunking works because it shifts your focus from that larger goal, into smaller chunks that are easier for your brain to comprehend. If your goal is to follow a 12-week exercise plan, it can be overwhelming when you’re tired on day 4 and thinking about the fact that you have 80 more days of this. [15]
But if you shift your focus to simply accomplishing the workout plan today, you are far less likely to become overwhelmed. Then, before you know it, 20, 40, 60 days have passed and you are more confident than ever that we can make it to the end.
It will be far more beneficial for you to begin just 1 of these daily willpower habits and do it consistently, than to do all 10 for a short period of time. So select just 1 habit to add to your life and stick to it. After it has truly become a habit, move on to the next one. Over time, you will see incredible benefits to your willpower!
Success is a lot of small things done well, day after day.
What seems like an overnight success is usually a very long time in the making. Success is created from people who establish the right habits, then execute them over and over.
So I wanted to share with you the top 10 habits that have been scientifically proven to give you incredible willpower!
1. MEDITATE
Meditation is the fastest and most effective way to increase your willpower. Bymeditating you are training the brain to focus and resist the urge to wander. Research shows that after just 2-3 days of practicing meditation for 10 minutes, your brain will be able to focus better, you will have more energy, and you will be less stressed. [1]There are a lot of myths surrounding meditation. Burning incense, chanting, wearing robes, etc. So let's start by explaining what meditation really is.
Meditation is simply the practice of bringing your thoughts to the present moment.47% of our lives are spent either reminiscing about the past or thinking about what we are going to do in the future. [2]
We spend very little time with a clear, focused mind on what we are doing right now.
Meditation attempts to do just that. This is usually done by sitting upright in a room that is clear of distractions and focusing solely on your breathing. However, it can be achieved with any activity that brings your full focus and attention.
For example, if you are completely focused on the task of cleaning dishes; without mentally going over your day, pondering another problem in your head, or thinking about what you will be doing next, you can achieve a state of meditation.
If your mind is clear and focused completely on the present task, you will see the benefits of meditation.
To get started meditating, check out this article which will give you the tools and exercises you need to begin adding the habit of daily meditation.
2. EAT A LOW GLYCEMIC DIET
When the body takes in food, it creates a chemical known as glucose that travels through the blood stream. This is what the brain uses as its source of fuel to think, create, and exert willpower. So to ensure a healthy stock of willpower, we want to make sure our brain has enough glucose to use as energy. [3]Any food that contains calories will give your brain glucose to work with. But not all glucose is created equally. Sugary foods will cause a quick spike of glucose, giving you willpower fuel for the short-term, but will cause a subsequent crash that depletes your willpower just as fast.
The best thing you can do is keep the glucose level in your bloodstream steady. This will give your brain a consistent reserve of fuel to exert willpower for the long-term. To accomplish this, researchers suggest a low-glycemic diet. [4]
Here are some low-glycemic foods that will give you long-term willpower fuel:
1. LEAN PROTEINS
Nothing fancy is required – just lean cuts of beef, poultry, pork and fish.2. NUTS
Specifically those nuts that are high in omega-3 fatty acids like walnuts, pecans and cashews. (Note: this does not include legumes like peanuts).3. FRESH FRUIT
Fresh fruit is preferred over dried fruit because dried fruits have a high concentration of sugar in them. This will result in the glucose spike for the short term and lead to a subsequent crash. Some good choices are bananas, blueberries, apples and cherries.4. VEGETABLES
All vegetables will help build your long-term willpower, but specific veggies have a lot of willpower fuel in them are root-based. These include sweet potatoes, carrots and onions which will all give you some serious willpower fuel!Do not try to completely overhaul your diet if you are not used to eating these types of foods. Instead focus on eating them for just one meal per day. The best of which would be eating them for breakfast.
3. GET ENOUGH SLEEP
When you don't get enough sleep, your willpower takes the biggest hit. When you are tired, your brain cells are not able to absorb glucose as efficiently as when you are well rested. This means that you begin lose the “power” in your willpower. [5]Then your brain will recognize the fact that it is not getting enough glucose, and immediately start to crave sugary foods and caffeine to replenish its supply. However, because your brain cells are not absorbing glucose as efficiently as they should be, not only will you give in to eating junk, you will eat much more than you need.
Your brain will continue to crave junk food until it gets as much glucose as it can out of your bloodstream – regardless of how many calories that may be.
Luckily, there are scientifically proven tactics that will help you get a better night’s sleep even without adding more hours:
1. A COMPLETELY DARK ROOM
Most of us underestimate the affect that lights in our room have on our sleep. When our room is completely dark, it helps our brain shut down and sleep more efficiently. This helps us get more rest out of the hours we lay in bed; helping to restore our willpower. [6]2. NAP
Other research suggests that it is the amount of consecutive hours you spend awake that matters the most. So breaking up the day with a nap can have significant benefits. It is better to sleep for 7 hours with a 1-hour nap than it is to sleep for 8 consecutive hours without taking that break during the day. [7]3. CREATE A RESERVOIR
Getting more sleep on the weekend will create a reserve of energy your brain can use for willpower during the week. So if you cannot squeeze more hours of sleep in during the week, see if you can catch up on the weekend. [8]4. EXERCISE
We all know that exercise is good for our health, but can it also be good for our willpower? In order to find out, researchers found 24 non-exercisers between 18 and 50 to partake in a 2-month study. They were given free gym memberships and asked to exercise just 1x/week for the first month and 3x/week for the second month.Throughout the study they would test the participants on various self-control activities from resisting temptations to persevering through challenging tasks.
The results were nothing short of remarkable.
After just 2 months of exercise every participant had indeed increased his or her ability to resist temptations and persevere on tasks.
But the benefits didn’t end there. Without any instruction by the researchers, the participants also:
· Procrastinated less
· Felt more in control of their emotions
· Reduced smoking, alcohol and caffeine intake
· Saved more money
· Ate less junk food
· Began eating a healthier diet
· Watched less TV
· Spent more time studying
· Splurged on impulse purchases less
· Were more likely to be on time to appointments
All of these activities occurred naturally from the habitual exercise! [9]Now, before you set a plan to go from not exercising at all to exercising every day, let’s pause. It’s important to remember that for a full month, these participants only went to the gym 1x/week. That means they only went 4 times total in the entire first month!
Clearly, it is not necessary for you to go crazy with your exercise plan. To start getting all of the benefits listed above, you just need to make a plan that is consistent, not overwhelming. Whether you can exercise 1x/week or 4x/week, it doesn’t matter. To see the benefits, you just need to set a plan that you will not fail.
5. FOCUS ON ONE TASK AT A TIME
Ready for a puzzle? See if you can write down a list of all 50 states.When you have listed 10, see if you can continue writing them while also figuring out the answer to 17 x 24.
Were you able to do it?
We have 2 distinct parts of our brain that help in our problem-solving. One is the limbic system, which makes our easy and automatic decisions. This includes brushing our teeth and stopping at a red light. This part of the brain is also short-term minded, and is what motivates us to indulge in unhealthy food and get off of the treadmill.
The other is the pre-frontal cortex, which solves more difficult problems like how to effectively communicate or solve more complicated math equations like the one above. This is also the part of our brain that thinks long-term and is responsible for our willpower.
The problems above both require the pre-frontal cortex to solve. If I were to ask you to write the 50 states and do a simple problem like 10 x 5, you would have had no problem doing it. 10 x 5 is easy. It only requires our limbic system to solve, so we can successfully multi-task.
The more we multi-task, the more we train our limbic system. So by trying to do 4 things at once, we are unknowingly making the part of the brain that wants us to indulge stronger.
The pre-frontal cortex, however, cannot multi-task. The problems it deals with are too complicated. So by focusing on one task at a time, we are making the part of the brain that exerts willpower stronger!
So resist the temptation to multi-task and remain focused. This will train your willpower and help you make tough decisions. [10]
6. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS
We tend to believe that every choice we make throughout the day goes through a process of well-informed decision-making. But 45% of our daily-decision are made completely automatically. From what we decide to eat, what we decide to wear and what we decide to do when we first get to work, our brains are running on autopilot. [11]You can overcome this tendency by becoming more mindful of your daily decisions. This is as simple as pausing and questioning why you are making the decision to get coffee as soon as you make it into the office. Or why you are eating cereal for breakfast rather than eggs.
Simply question these daily decisions and you will strengthen your willpower to make better choices throughout the day. [10]
7. SELF-MONITORING
Something odd happens in our brains when we look at ourselves in the mirror. The part of the brain that would say "hey, that's me in the mirror" is not activated. Instead it is a part of the brain that says "I wish I was taller, skinnier, more muscular, etc." [12]In other words, rather than seeing see who we are, we see who we want to be. This is not because we are shallow, it is because we all have an ideal self that we want to live up to. With this ideal self in our mind, we begin to think and act more like them.
The best way to keep your ideal self in mind is through a process called Self-Monitoring. This involves keeping track of as much information on yourself as possible. Like with the mirror, you will look at the information on yourself and compare it to what you really want. This will strengthen your willpower and help you make better decisions.
To get started, check out the list of ways to begin self-monitoring at the bottom of this article.
8. PLAY OFFENSE
When researchers came across a group of people in the Netherlands who seemingly had unstoppable willpower, they thought they must be saints. They ate extremely healthy, exercised regularly, hardly procrastinated and reported less stress than almost everyone around them.But they were not saints at all. Many of them reported that if they were to get behind a bar stool, they would never leave. Others reported that they were unable to resist sweets whenever they were around. It seemed that these "saints" were prone to the same temptations as the rest of us. [13]
So what was their secret?
The secret, it turned out, was that these people simply did not put themselves in those situations. Their lifestyles were well-organized to prevent having to look temptation in the face.
These people played offense. They thought about what might tempt them in the future – whether it was alcohol, sweets, or distractions from work – and set themselves up to avoid them. They were seemingly willpower super heroes because they almost never had to use it.
In your life, look for the things that test your willpower. How can you play offense and remove future temptations?
9. FIND INSPIRATION
We have all experienced the feeling of inspiration at some point in our lives. It may have been from a story in history, a speech by a great leader, or by someone in our own lives. When we become inspired, we get a rush of energy that we feel can take us to new heights. It's almost as if we get more willpower.When we witness something inspiring, the part of the pre-frontal cortex that thinks about the long-term lights up. The neurons in this part of the brain start firing and we feel a rush of energy as we begin to believe in our dreams and goals.
This essentially means that by becoming inspired, we give the pre-frontal cortex more power. This strengthens our willpower and makes it easier to work towards our long-term goals. [14]
To tap into this willpower, find something inspiring that you can turn to on a daily basis. This will help you find the willpower you need even when times get tough.
10. CHUNKING
The last and perhaps the most important willpower habit is chunking. Chunking is the process of taking a large task, goal, dream, etc. and breaking it into manageable “chunks”.If you’ve ever had a goal, you know how exciting it can be at first. You can see the “after photo” of your life when the goal is achieved - and you love what you see. You imagine all of the great things about the “new you” and you can't wait to get started working towards that goal!
Then it’s time to actually do the work. And whether that work is putting pen to paper, or putting foot to treadmill, you get a sudden rush of being completely overwhelmed. You see just how much work it’s going to take to get you from where you are, to where you want to be. Then you get paralyzed by the fact that you don’t know where to begin. So you don't bother trying, or you lose the persistence to keep going.
Chunking works because it shifts your focus from that larger goal, into smaller chunks that are easier for your brain to comprehend. If your goal is to follow a 12-week exercise plan, it can be overwhelming when you’re tired on day 4 and thinking about the fact that you have 80 more days of this. [15]
But if you shift your focus to simply accomplishing the workout plan today, you are far less likely to become overwhelmed. Then, before you know it, 20, 40, 60 days have passed and you are more confident than ever that we can make it to the end.
CONCLUSION
Excellence is a habit. It is a lot of small things done well, day-after-day. Starting any one of the habits listed above has been proven to give you incredible willpower over time.But you must be consistent.It will be far more beneficial for you to begin just 1 of these daily willpower habits and do it consistently, than to do all 10 for a short period of time. So select just 1 habit to add to your life and stick to it. After it has truly become a habit, move on to the next one. Over time, you will see incredible benefits to your willpower!
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