Tag: health

Would you like to know about a wonder drug that can help protect
your brain and body against the ravages of aging and illness?

Furthermore, what would you say if I told you this “drug” is
free, or virtually free?

AND – what would you think if I told you that YOU hold the ability
to activate this drug in YOUR hands, right now!

Well, this wonder drug isn’t anything new. It’s been recommended
and promoted for centuries, actually millenia….at least as far
back as the ancient Greeks.

What exactly is this “stuff”? Here’s a hint:

“If exercise was a drug, it would be the biggest wonder drug to
ever hit the market. People would be clamoring for it.”

-Dr. Irwin Barr, Kaiser Permanente

You’re surely aware by now of the benefits of regular exercise.
This is nothing new.

But if you’re like me, as you get older you start thinking more
about quality of life issues as you age.

You want to thrive, feel good and be healthy today….AND you
want to maintain enough strength and fitness to help keep your
independence and ensure better quality of life as you get older.

This may be prompted by seeing family members or friends of your
family go through aging-related declines in their physical
strength and capabilities, their endurance, and – scariest of
all – in their cognitive abilities.

We are going through this now with both sets of parents, to
varying degrees. While our main concern is for them, of course,
we can’t help but think about how best to avoid this outcome
for ourselves in the future, as we move into our 60s, 70s and
80s.

I’ll talk more about exercise and fitness in helping keep your
body young and healthy in a future message. Today, I’d like to
discuss how important exercise is for the health and maintenance
of your brain.

There’s a great book available by Dr. John J. Ratey titled
“SPARK: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain”
(published by Little, Brown 2008).

Ratey is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Harvard
School of Medicine who has taken a special interest in the
effects that regular exercise and fitness have on the brain.

He says that exercise is the single most powerful tool we have
to optimize our brain function.

There are several ways that exercise acts on the brain to
enhance cognitive functioning. One of the most interesting is
the action of nerve growth factors within the brain. The
scientists, including Ratey, call these growth factors
“Miracle-Gro for your brain”.

I won’t go through all the scientific jargon. Instead, I’ll
boil this down to how I explained this to my son, who has ADHD
and related issues (more about that later).

In the past, conventional wisdom assumed that our brains can
develop for awhile into early adulthood; then they pretty much
become fixed in terms of size, number of neurons, connections
between neurons, etc.

In other words, as we age, our brain “plasticity” or ability to
change or grow decreases or even disappears.

Then you’re basically on that sliding slope down to forgetfulness,
decreased cognitive function, maybe even senility. yikes!!

Well, enter the modern era of brain study and imaging.

It turns out that the old assumptions about inevitable cognitive
decline, inability to learn new things as an adult (like a new
language or the latest video game), senility in advanced age,
etc. is not necessarily our destiny.

In fact, it turns out that the brain maintains its plasticity,
even as we age. The brain is flexible. Everything we do, think,
or feel shapes our brain. It’s adaptable and can be molded by
inputs.

So, just as you can build muscles by performing resistance
exercises….so can you build your brain. The more you use it,
the stronger it becomes.

AND – the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.

Anyways, back to that Miracle-Gro stuff.

Exercise releases certain types of proteins known as growth
factors, some of which are specific to the brain. These factors
nourish brain cells like fertilizer and increase the number
of connections between brain cells.

Increased connections basically prime your brain to take in
more information, process it better, remember it better, and
put it into context.

In other words, exercising regularly nourishes and enhances
your brain, which means you can learn faster, better process
and retain information, and create connections between facts
and ideas to help you be more creative.

For many people, this promise of enhanced brain function and
preventing cognitive decline as we age may be even more
powerful as a motivator than any physical benefits of exercise.

We often talk about this when we discuss getting older. No one
I know wants to get old and senile. Everyone would prefer being
with it and aware and cognizant of what is going on, all the
way to the end.

Better our bodies give out first before our minds.

I say this with full awareness of and empathy for those readers
who are caring for a loved one with dementia or Alzheimers. I
helped care for my grandmother who (finally) succumbed to
Parkinsons and dementia, along with other health issues.

It was extremely difficult to see her in that state, and for
so long.

On the other hand, those occasional glimmers of lucidity, of
recognizing a daughter or grandson, of laughing or reminiscing
about a fond memory, let us know our mother / grandmother was
still in there. And her life still had value.

Nevertheless, seeing this up close certainly has served as
motivation for me to continue to improve upon my own health and
fitness habits, in the hopes of avoiding a similar experience
myself as well as putting my family members through it.

And it motivates me to share with and encourage you too!

Now, to the other end of the age spectrum……

I mentioned that my son Miguel has ADHD. I can say unequivocally
that whether or not he gets in exercise and play each day –
especially outdoor play – makes a big difference in his outlook
and his behavior.

He and I often exercise together, especially on the weekends when
we have more time. We’ll hit the bags or do some sparring; do
pushups and situps and maybe some light weights.

We walk the dogs nearly every day and often go for longer hikes
in the hills near our house. Our entire family started bike riding
together this past summer. And we play various sports like soccer
and baseball together in our back yard.

Now I’m thinking that maybe I should wake Miguel up a bit earlier
each morning and work out before school.

Here’s why:

It turns out that Dr. Ratey was inspired to research and write
his “Spark” book by a study that was done on school-age kids in a
suburban Chicago school district.

Basically they had the kids exercise before school – they called it
“Zero Hour PE” – with an emphasis on exercise to enhance fitness
(not team sports or games like in a typical PE class).

They found that the kids got fitter. No surprise there.

More exciting, however, they also found that working out before
school gave the kids a big boost in reading ability and the rest
of their subjects.

By working out in the morning, the kids were sent off to classes in
a “state of heightened awareness” and prepared to learn.

For kids like Miguel who battle that extra challenge of having
to work even harder to focus and maintain impulse control,
exercising in the morning could be another tool in our tool
belt.

For us adults who fight a similar battle to stay focused on
what’s important in a world of distractions…as well as those of
us who fight the “battle of the bulge” or have other health issues,
getting in even a little activity in the morning could make a
huge difference.

I’ve long advocated and practiced doing some breathing and
energy exercises first thing in the morning, before you get going
on the rest of your day.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate. Just a few deep breaths and
stretches will do wonders. It’s a great routine which can do your
body – and brain – a lot of good.

You Can Do It!

“Transform Body Mind and Spirit with Dynamic Energy Exercise!”
http://www.BestBreathingExercises.com

P.S. Breathing paired with specific movements is a natural,
intuitive and awesomely effective way to wake up your body, brain
and internal energies. You can easily and consistently tap into
the power, motivation and abilities you already have through
breathing and exercise.

Discover how to tap into your own source of energy with the Secret
Power of Dynamic Energy Exercise Course, Volume II: The Dynamic
Energy Routine, available at
http://www.bestbreathingexercises.com/dynamic_energy2.html. You’ll
feel sharp and energized for hours after!

Copyright, Karen Van Ness, 2014

Happy New Year!

I trust you are off to a good start to 2014. If not, here are a few thoughts to help you get on course.

I won’t go into resolutions, goals, ready-set-go, get psyched, etc., etc., You’ve probably already seen plenty of these types of articles, blog posts, or Facebook entries in the past several weeks.

Rather, I’d like to refocus you and me on a simple step to help you get on track as you start your year. By the way, this also helps you stay on track, or get back on track if you go off-road, as you progress through the year.

First off, I believe strongly in thinking through, considering, emotionalizing, and then writing down your goals for the coming year.

Take your time to do this. If you’re doing it right, you’ll write and re-write multiple drafts until you get to a focused set of goals that mean something to you, and that you would really really like to achieve this year.

Once you’ve done this, it’s also good practice to review your goals on a regular basis. Some people advocate daily review. Weekly review is good too. You can even test writing out your goals every day into a notebook.

Reviewing, rewriting, thinking about, and emotionalizing your goals is an easy to do, easy to follow practice. Start this now, today, and do it for 21 days. See how you like it.

If this is helping you stay focused, helping you get motivated, then keep it and make it a habit.

Once you’ve got some sense of where you want to go, you’ll find you are naturally more focused, more motivated, more energized to do what you need to do to move toward your goals.

However, if you’re like most people, you’ll find that initial motivation can wane over time. Life gets in the way. You get busy with the current “urgent but unimportant” stuff that can just suck the life out of you.

What can you do to help maintain your self-motivation throughout the year?

One thing I’ve discovered is the importance of taking it day by day. Not a new concept; however, I think it’s one we could all leverage much better than we typically do.

Thinking about what you have to do over the course of the year – all the work, all the effort, all the hours, all the things that need to fall into place – can be intimidating and de-motivating.

On the other hand, if you focus only on what you need to do today to move toward your goals, you’ll find it much less intimidating.

Ted Leonsis, part of the initial management team at AOL, who later went on to become owner of my beloved Washington Capitals, has a great way of looking at life.

He believes that, both for your work life and your personal life, taking it day by day is a very powerful practice.

As he says, “Good days lead to good weeks. Good weeks lead to good months. And good months lead to good years.”

Here are some ideas to help you make the most of each day:

– Map out each day (or the next day at the end of today) before you begin.

A simple but effective approach is to write down the six most important items you need to get done, in order of importance. Start working on the most important item first thing in the morning, or as close to first thing in the morning as you can.

You may only get one or two items done today. But guess what – that’s OK! You’ve done the one or two most important things you needed or wanted to do today. It’s been a good day!

Now, rewrite your list to reflect the six most important items for tomorrow. You’ve got tomorrow planned. Relax and enjoy your evening.

–Focus on a superior beginning and a superior end. This leads to a superior middle.

Start your day off right. Do some deep breathing exercises first thing after you wake up. Stretch your body – really stretch, like a cat stretches whenever it wakes up from sleep or a nap.

Think good thoughts. Think gratefully for the blessings in your life. Know that you are more than equal to the situation and to the upcoming events or challenges of the day.

Do the same thing at the end of your day. As you get into bed, stretch your body a little. Breathe deeply and calmly. Follow your breath to help you relax.

Getting into bed with a relaxed body and mind helps you sleep better. It’s also an optimal time for programming your mind. Program positive thoughts. Program in a request for a solution to a problem or challenge. Think again about all that you are grateful for.

Beginning the day and ending the day in a positive way helps to “bookend” your day and make the middle of your day more positive and productive as well.

– If you are at a lack for motivation today, or finding yourself getting distracted with unimportant things, take a moment to refocus.

What is one thing – even if it’s small – you can do today that will help you move forward toward one of your goals?

Figure it out and do something on it today – right now, if possible, before the day gets away from you.

Remember, a good day today will mean a good week this week.

And a good week this week will lead to a good January – which means you are off to a great start in 2014!

You Can Do It!

“Transform Body Mind and Spirit with Dynamic Energy Exercise!” http://www.BestBreathingExercises.com

P.S. I’d love to help you get off to a super start this year! Go to the Best Breathing Exercises website for information and inspiration. Also, here are a couple of specific recommendations:

-If you’re looking for an effective, easy way to enhance your energy, lung power and focus, the combination of deep breathing and dynamic exercises in “The Secret Power of Dynamic Energy Exercise Course, Volume 2: The Dynamic Energy Routine”, is a powerhouse. Go to http://www.bestbreathingexercises.com/dynamic_energy2.html to learn more.

-If you wish to “finally” lose the weight and shape up fast, get a copy of the “Fire Up Your Metabolism Program”. In it, you’ll discover an excellent workout centered around breathing, dynamic tension, and movements that work the large muscles of the body. Visit http://www.bestbreathingexercises.com/metabolism.html for more information.

Each of these programs takes only 15 minutes to do, but are a great way to start out your day strong and energized.

Copyright, Karen Van Ness, 2014

Traditional goal setting advice is a bunch of BS.

You might as well skip all the online articles and social media blurbs you will soon see on “setting goals for 2014”, “reach your dreams in 2014”, “finally achieve [insert goal here] in 2014”, and so forth.

You may be surprised hearing this from me.

If you’ve been reading these missives for any length of time, you know I am a proponent of setting goals. I firmly believe that a solid, well-though out set of goals can provide the focal point around which you organize your attention, your energy and your activity to achieve your objectives.

But there are a few critical mistakes in most of the goal setting advice out there, and in the way most people go about it.

First of all, many people approach goals from a “resolution” mindset. They make one or several resolutions on New Year’s Day for the coming year. They may even write their resolutions down. They gear up, get enthusiastic, and go at it for a few weeks, or maybe even a few months. Then they….

Sort of drop their resolution. They don’t completely forget it. They know they set it. They still want the end result. But they stop taking specific action toward their goal.

(This is one of the inside “secrets” of the fitness center industry. They make tons of money from people signing up for memberships, or even specific types of fitness classes or programs, in December and January. By mid to late February, however, most of these once enthusiastic and motivated folks have dropped out – either completely, or they are visiting the gym infrequently.  Yet they continue to pay the membership fee.)

The other common mistake is setting only outcome goals – what you want to achieve or your desired end result.

The common flaw in these approaches: a lack of focus on process.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Having a clear idea of what you want to achieve is the starting point. And it’s absolutely critical! Most people set vague goals, or have vague notions of what they would like to have in their lives. But they don’t take the time to think through the specific outcome they want.

If you can get to a reasonable set of specific goals you really want to achieve, you are doing better than 90 percent of the folks out there (the 90 percent who even bother to set goals, that is, which is an amazingly small percentage of the overall population).

However, focusing only on outcome is a recipe for under achievement.

How can I say this?

Because I made this same mistake myself – for years!

Each year, I would happily, enthusiastically and expectantly think through and set goals for myself for the coming year. I’d write and rewrite until I had devolved my initial list down into a core set of goals and objectives for the year. Some were bigger, some were smaller, but they all had meaning for me.

Then, I would review my goals frequently, even rewrite them to help keep them front and center in my mind.

Truthfully, I had some good results with this method. I would never hit all my goals, but I would hit some of them. I would get rid of a few, reframe a few. I would hit a few. I guess I did better than I would have if I had not set any goals.

But I always felt like I was under-achieving, that I could be doing so much more.

The pleasure of hitting certain goals would be outweighed by the frustration of not hitting more goals, or not achieving the one or two that mattered most. The year would get away from me, and I would be sitting there in November or December and wonder what happened – where did the year go?

So one day, I sat down and analyzed my approach. And I realized that I had been missing a key piece.

I was focusing all my attention on “outcome” goals. And I was completely ignoring “process” goals.

What’s the difference? And why are process goals so important?

An outcome goal is the main outcome or objective you want to accomplish. For example, “I want to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks”, or “I want to have $50,000 in investments over the next five years”.

A key characteristic of an outcome goal is that you can’t directly control the accomplishment of the goal. It’s the end result of a series of other things you have to do.

Process goals, also known as behavior goals, represent the steps you have to take to accomplish your outcome. For example, if your outcome goal is, “I want to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks”, your related process or behavior goals could include “I will exercise 5 days per week for the next 10 weeks”, or “I will reduce my caloric intake by 50 calories per day for the next 10 weeks”.

A key characteristic of a behavior goal is that you can directly control the goal, as it’s an action you can choose to take – or not take – every day.

This brings us to the fundamental problem with setting only outcome goals.

Outcome goals represent outcomes that are beyond one’s daily control. You can’t control all the variables that can influence whether or not you hit a specific outcome goal by a specific point in time. Even with highly personal things like losing weight, getting in better shape, or building an investment portfolio, things outside your control can influence your outcome.

This doesn’t mean you get a pass. It doesn’t mean you should just ditch goal-setting altogether.

It does mean you can control the ACTIONS you take that lead to a leaner body or a bigger bank account. Therefore, you should focus on the behavior goals that will help you reach your outcome goals.

And you can control your MINDSET which helps keep you excited and motivated about your goals – both your outcome and your behavior goals.

Here’s how I incorporated this information into my own approach to goal setting.

First, I continued to think through, write out, and prioritize my outcome goals for the coming year. Then I wrote down one to three behavior goals for each major outcome goal. These were the behaviors or actions I had to take on a frequent – daily, weekly, sometimes monthly – basis to stay on track to achieve that goal.

Then, as I reviewed my goals on a daily or weekly basis, I made sure to devote just as much time, mental energy, and emotion to my behavior goals as to my outcome goals.

This did two things for me that made a huge difference:

First, it automatically made me focus on the daily and weekly things I needed to do to reach my goals.

This made me a lot more effective. Moving from a full year focus to a focus on just today is a very powerful tool for achievement. When you think about everything you need to get done over the course of 6 months or 12 months, you can pysche yourself out – the list seems so daunting, the achievement feels so hard.

If, however, you focus just on today, and you make a list of the few key behaviors and activities you want to complete today that will move you toward your goals, you get a better sense of control.

In other words, this type of focus automatically helps you to break down your big goals into bite-sized chunks. This means each day you do a little something that moves you forward. Therefore, each day you make progress. Even if it’s small progress, it’s still progress – and any progress, any task or activity checked off your “to-do” list, feels GOOD!

Second, this made me reduce the number of outcome goals I set to a smaller, more focused, more achievable set of goals.

When you include behavior goals in your goal setting, you soon realize that a large number of outcome goals, with from one to three behavior goals for each, results in…. a huge number of goals you are trying to achieve!

And the larger the number, the less chance you will be capable of devoting focused energy and action to each one….hence, the greater the likelihood that your efforts will be dispersed and you won’t achieve much of anything.

So be reasonable in the number of outcome goals you set for yourself. Choose one to two goals in each major area of your life: health and fitness, family, spiritual and self-improvement, business or career, financial, community. Make sure each goal really resonates with you, really means something – even if it seems like a small goal.

Even a “small” but meaningful goal, once achieved, can have a profound effect on you!

Plus if very goal is a whopper, you run the risk (again) of psyching yourself out and being cowed by your goals, instead of inspired by them.

I urge you to consider this approach and give it a try as you set your sights on 2014. I think you’ll find it helps you quite a bit, as the results you produce become more consistent and come at a faster rate than ever before.

You Can Do It!

“Transform Body Mind and Spirit with Dynamic Energy Exercise!”

http://www.BestBreathingExercises.com

Copyright, Karen Van Ness, 2013

Many men and women go to the human scrap heap. They have not known just how to pump the human bellows – the lungs; get energy out of every ounce of fuel, keep their arteries and veins clean, kidneys and liver from being poisoned.”

That’s a quote from an old book on breathing.

Even in the “old days”, when the importance of breathing for good health was more widely accepted and promoted, the doctor who wrote this book felt compelled to do so. He was concerned about the diseases and conditions he observed in his patients, as well as the people around him.

Today, it seems like we are even more removed from the natural healing and invigorating results of proper breathing.

I think a lot of this has to do with the advent of modern medicine, and all the wonderful medications and drugs that have been developed.

Coming down with a cold? First action for many people is to take medicine to help tamp down the symptoms.

Got a headache? Take two aspirin, or extra strength this or that.

I’m very grateful for the wonder drugs and medicines that help relieve our illnesses, whether acute or chronic. They have reduced much suffering and helped alleviate much pain and discomfort.

But they have also caused us to forget about our own natural resources, instincts and intuitions…and to move away from more natural methods of handling illness and pain.

They tend to make us focus on the symptoms, and treat those, rather than determine the root cause of the symptoms, and take care of that.

If you have headaches on a regular basis, taking aspirin or Tylenol may help you get through your day. But you better be concerned about what is causing those headaches, and what you can do to prevent them.

Even as new and more advanced medicines flood the market, we are getting sicker, fatter, more fatigued and more depressed.

What the heck is up with that. What did the oldtimers know, and do, that we don’t?

One thing they knew about was the importance of deep breathing. In many of the health prescriptions and programs of the late 1800s and early 1900s, you will find plenty of exercises coordinated to breathing.

A few of the exercises in the Secret Power of Dynamic Energy Exercise Course, Volume II: The Dynamic Energy Routine, are based on these oldtime exercises. Others are adapted from martial arts and qi gong (chi kung).

In other words, when you do the exercises in the course, you are benefitting from a wealth of ancient, proven knowledge and practice that can help your asthma.

It’s true: you can live longer and live better by knowing how to breathe properly…and using your breathing to improve your stamina and health.

Proper breathing is almost an art unto itself. But it’s not hard to learn or do.

It just takes a little time, focus and patience. But it’s time well invested.

It keeps you moving. It keeps you healthy. It keeps you young.

You Can Do It!

”

“Transform Body Mind and Spirit with Dynamic Energy Exercise!”
www.BestBreathingExercises.com

P.S. Get a crash course in proper breathing and breath control, and build lung power, stamina and energy, with the Secret Power of Dynamic Energy Exercise Course, Volume II: The Dynamic Energy Routine. The entire routine only takes about 12 minutes – but it will rocket launch your energy levels and enhance your health and wellbeing from the inside out. Plus it’s a wonderful way to start each day! For more information, or to acquire your own copy today, click here.

Copyright, Karen Van Ness, 2013