Category: Health

5 Ways to Avoid Stress-Eating

I’m actually on my way to the great Northwest to attend the wedding of my older son’s best friend. He spent a lot of time at our house throughout their college years and is like a nephew to us. After the wedding, we’ll be exploring the area and then driving south to visit relatives. We’re excited.

But we’ll be confronted with a dilemma, one many people confront when they’re traveling or attending celebrations.

 

We need to keep a close eye on our nutrition plan while we’re away.

 

We don’t want to do any stress eating, any lazy eating, any “just this once” eating and then watch our waistlines enlarge and our clothes tighten.

To that end, we’ll have to maintain some self control, and frequently remind ourselves just how lousy we feel when we break down and eat something we know gives us problems, that will likely make us sick, and regretting that we ever opened our mouths and poked the food inside.

 

Just as I’m about to fly away, Harvard Health hits my email inbox with an article on how to avoid Stress Eating. I’m going to share some of the highlights with you. Hopefully it will help all of us as we work, play, and celebrate!

 

5 ways to manage, and avoid, stress-triggered eating—

 

  1. Make sleep a priority!

This is SO important for your health. Get 7 – 9 hours of good, restful sleep each night. Try to make your bedtimes and wake times as consistent as possible, even on the weekends. Stop watching television or using screen technology at least an hour before bedtime. Use the bedtime function on your smart phone and stick to it, with the screen switching to a warm color a couple of hours prior to going to bed and staying that way until the wake up music goes off.

For the last couple of weeks, Chris and I have been making a point of shutting down the electronics at least an hour before bed, grabbing a book and reading until 10:00, our designated in-bed time. The positive effects have been amazing! We’re enjoying the quiet and proximity to one another, and the melatonin cranks up in the limited light, preparing our bodies for a restful sleep.

 

  1. Take some time to meditate on how you view your work/life situation and what about it makes you stressful

Going through this process is about identifying whether or not you can change your response to any stress in your family or work life. Maybe you need to add more meditation to your life, learn how to take deep breaths and not get so wrapped up in life or work drama. Finding a support group—for over-eating—is also helpful.

 

3. Plan ahead for potentially stressful times

Know you intend to overeat at the holidays, or when a big report or presentation is due at work? Take some extra self-defense steps to curtail the eating. Keep healthful snacks around, make sure you focus on the work or event and don’t procrastinate about the time it will take to prepare. Design stress-reducing activities for the holidays, and resist over loading yourself during these high-stress times.

 

  1. Burn off the tension, or take your frustrations out on the gym equipment or pavement

Make sure you stick to your exercise regimen and don’t let others or their schedules squeeze out your exercise. Like sleep, exercise helps keep your fat-accumulating hormone (cortisol) at bay and your brain alert and healthy. Exercise needs to be a non-negotiable.

 

  1. Consider a doctor consult or counselor who can talk you through it and give you some great options for behavior modification

If, after all of the first 4 ideas and practices fail (and you’ve given them a honest, focused shot), it might be time to get some professional help.

 

BONUS TIP: If you struggle in this area, make sure you always take your burden to the Lord in prayer. It is helpful to pray in any situation where you feel stressed or weak, or on the verge of caving in to temptation. God stands ready to come to your aid and provide you a way out!

 

Good luck, and I’ll meet you back here October 2!

Blessings,

Andrea

 


Andrea Arthur Owan is an award-winning inspirational writer, fitness pro and chaplain. She writes and works to help people live their best lives—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

The Benefits of Swimming—the Game-changer Activity

I grew up surrounded by water. Literally. On a Pacific Ocean island on the most remote land mass on Earth.

Hawaii.

I could see the ocean from our home, and see the condominium pool from our kitchen window and front door.

To say I’m still suffering bodies-of-water withdrawal since our move to the desert Southwest 22 years ago would be an understatement.

BUT, praises of thankfulness, I have a pool in my backyard that I can see from the family room, laundry room and back bedroom, which we’ve set up as an office. Sometimes the pool water reflects off the family room ceiling, making soothing undulating patterns above my head. I’m grateful for these simple pleasures.

 

I spend a lot of my summer in that pool, but not nearly enough. Although I no longer have the luxury of spending hours playing and lapping in the pool as I did during my summer breaks while a kid, I can—and should—dive in and paddle around in order to improve my fitness level.

And it’s my humble opinion that swimming should be a go-to exercise for nearly everyone.

 

Swimming studies results—

A 2017 study reported by the Health Commission British Journal of Sports Medicine about the United Kingdom’s SWIM ENGLAND program showed significant results.

Some of the results:

  • Swimming is uniquely placed to support people throughout their entire life.
  • Swimming lowers the risk of early death by 28 per cent.
  • Swimming and aquatic activity is a safe, cost effective and viable option for healthcare professionals to signpost (UK term for pointing the way, guiding or providing direction) patients.
  • 47% had a lower risk of death due to heart disease or stroke.

 

Jane Nickerson, Swim England CEO, said,

 

“It’s evident from the report that swimming has enormous potential to support the health and wellbeing of the nation.”

 

With that kind of assessment, how long do you think it will be before the UK installs swimming as a mandatory activity for its school children? (While the United States is still cutting physical education and art due to budget concerns. Shortsighted, concerning the long-term health and financial benefits of lifelong exercise.)

Mike Farrar, Swim England Group Board Chairman and former CEO of the NHS Confederation, said,

 

“This report shows that activities like swimming really do have the potential to be a game-changer in supporting the health of this nation, especially at a time when cuts to services means less money for long-term care.”

 

According to the on-line blog article “The Health and Wellbeing Benefits of Swimming report was commissioned by the Swimming and Health Commission on behalf of Swim England to explore the impact of swimming on physical, mental and social wellbeing. It has been written by a range of eminent academics and is supported by the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies.”

They investigated several parameters and age groups and found that swimming:

  • Helps those 3 months and over develop more quickly,
  • Helps adults 18 and over reduce stress and overall health; and
  • Helps those 65 and over live longer and stay mentally alert and physically agile.

 

More positive swimming research—

In a comparative study of middle distance runners’ lung function with that of swimmers, the researchers found that swimmers have better lung volume than the runners. The researchers hypothesized that the muscles active during breathing—like the diaphragm—are forced to work harder in swimming. The activity gave these trained swimmers more elasticity (stretchiness and ability to return to normal shape after being stretched) during breathing than did running.

 

 My experience with swimming—

When I was eight years old, I had a brief stint with swim training at the YMCA. I loved being in the water and playing for hours in a pool, but when it came to practicing and swimming competitively, I couldn’t have been more bored, or probably out of my element.

While I quickly advanced from guppies to minnows, I hit a stalemate when they tried to advance me to shark (or barracuda, whatever it was). I couldn’t stand it. The swim instructor suggested to my mom that I might be happier in the gymnastics class.

Happy didn’t even begin to describe it!

My fast-twitch muscle fibers were born to perform explosive activities, and I quickly improved. While I could dash across a pool for short lengths and laps, long-distance, repetitive practices left me cold. No pun intended.

When I was in college, though, my best friend and I tore up the pool at the campus intercollegiate competition. Short distances, of course.

We were both former gymnasts. And I could do a mean flip turn and push off at the wall that got me out way ahead of the other competitors. (Sorry, I had to relive that victorious moment just once more!)

 

Benefits of swimming for all ages—

Now that I’ve hung up my leotards and really need a good, non-weight bearing activity to keep my muscles supple, my weight down, and my overloaded joints in shape, I’ve returned to the pool to add some crossover training variety to my life. There are great reasons for me to return to the pool—or for you to start getting into one if you haven’t already.

  1.  Swimming can improve coordination. Coordinating your limbs to kick and stroke properly (without pounding or slapping the water and wasting energy) while breathing and not sucking in water is a feat for the uninitiated. Once learned, you’ll find yourself skimming through the water pretty effortlessly. And that effortless swimming helps:
  2. Lubricate your joints. In an era where too many people (I believe) undergo join replacements, or have to undergo the procedure, you swimming might just help you ward off that nasty surgery. When you’re exercising, the joint capsule fluid produces more joint-healing and cushioning fluid. And that benefits works in synergy with swimming’s ability to:
  3. Keep your joints flexible and reduce the onset of the effects of osteoarthritis. A lot of things can contribute to osteoarthritis, including: carrying around too much weight, eating foods that increase inflammation in the body, lack of exercise, over-exercising, and genes. But swimming is a non-weight bearing activity (unless you’re running in the shallow end of the pool) that reduces the load on your joints and gives them more space. And that gives your joints more:
  4. Flexibility! Always a good thing for older people that fall more frequently due to balance and flexibility issues.

 

Other swimming benefits include—
  1. Increased lung volume that aids lung capacity—(It’s a great activity for asthmatics.) With bigger lungs you have an increased area to fill up with O2 (oxygen). That means you’ll have more of that life-giving gas available to load up on cells to be conveyed deep into your body’s tissues. Everything works (and breathes) better.
  2. Some cross-training benefits—Intense swimming programs are found to equal intense sprint and explosive weight training programs.
  3. Lowering your stress levels— Tension and stress shorten your muscles, which leads to tightness and loss of joint range of motion. When we float around in a big cement pond full of water, our bodies naturally relax. Our breathing slows. (Of course, all of this is true if you know how to swim and like it.)

No wonder I feel so relaxed, almost sleepy, after I emerge from my swimming or floating sessions.

It’s cathartic, like praying and meditating. A great way to start or end the day!

 

Some good tools for swimming exercise—

I like to use a kick-board, the kind that swim teams use to have their kids work on their leg kicks. You can hang onto it and paddle along. Try not to keep your head above water for too long, though. You’re likely to get neck cramps and pinched nerves. I regular swim noodle works for this too.

I also like to use the training hand paddles to add resistance to my strokes. Two rubber loops slip over your fingers to keep the paddles in place. Don’t get the rubber too tight or you’ll find your finger circulation getting cut off.

And a good noodle is worth its weight in gold. You can use that for kicking, or for underwater cycling, if you don’t tread water well, or feel secure “running” in the deep end.

 

But beware: with any activity you can overdue it and end up with injuries. Competitive swimmers are notorious for having shoulder and back injuries, and it can be hard on your knees if you don’t kick properly. And you can get dehydrated in a pool just as you can on dry land, so make sure you drink plenty of water after your exercise, or during, if you swim long distances.

So don’t jump into the pool thinking this is an injury-free exercise. As with any other activity, get some training books, start slowly, train wisely, and work your way up.

And what about swimming and weight loss?

As with anything, you’re more likely to lose weight if your energy output exceeds your energy input. In other words, you eat less than you burn off. Swimming is no different, but fair warning: Swimming consistently in cold water can cause you to store fat, just like a polar bear in the arctic. Your body does whatever it can to survive. And swimming burns a ton of calories and increases your appetite. So, if you swim a lot and always chow down an excess portion of food afterward to curb your hunger, your weight may end up creeping up instead of going down.

 

My future swimming goals—

 While we removed the heater capabilities from our pool and usually don’t get in it during the winter months (yes, it can get cold and snowy here), I’ve decided to brave up, purchase a short-leg wet suit, and hit the pool throughout the winter. I find it gives me so many benefits that I want to keep swimming year round and know I need to. I can also drive around the block to our community pool, which is a Junior Olympic size and has marked lanes.

The gym where we work out just moved into a grand new facility with a lap pool, but it isn’t open yet, and I’m going to guess it’ll be so packed that the only time I could get in would be between midnight and 5:00 AM. So I’m going to use my own cement pond. Might as well. I pay property taxes on it!

Even though we’ve had a blistering summer with little rain, it’s nearing the time that we’d normally cover the pool and say adios until next summer. But I’m determined.

 

Maybe I’ll take a picture of myself in my wetsuit and put it in a blog post. Or, maybe not. If I swim enough, I might actually look decent enough in it to share with you.

Now that’s motivation!

 

Until next week, check out some local pools, if you don’t have one in your backyard or community. Or locate a swim coach or club. Set some target goals, get some training material, and jump in.

Your body and mind will be happy you did.

Blessings,

Andrea


Andrea Arthur Owan is an award-winning inspirational writer, fitness pro and chaplain. She writes and works to help people live their best lives—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

How to Have a Living Hope (and Not Waste Your Journey)

The prayer chain email I received last Thursday rattled me. Not for the tremendous burden and need the requester noted—which was, indeed, grievous—but for the depth and spiritual maturity of its perspective.

 

The Christian sister requesting prayer said she had just been diagnosed with a rare and particularly aggressive ovarian cancer. Just being diagnosed with any kind of ovarian cancer is enough to strike terror in the sufferer because ovarian cancer is usually not diagnosed until Stage 4; and the 5-survival rate is around 17%. My own precious cousin, Jan, died of the dreaded disease (after a valiant, grace-filled battle) ten years ago this month while only in her forties.

She’s recovering from surgery to remove large tumors and begins chemotherapy in two and a half weeks. She sounded confident in the family she is blessed with and her “army of supporters.” (Oh, God, that we would all be so blessed when tragedy strikes us!) Because of this support, she says she can make the most of every day that God will grant her.

Then she listed her prayer requests.

 

First, she wants to remember that God, not she, is in control.

Second, [recognizing] that “God is most interested in what’s happening in the part of me that can’t be touched, scanned, or medicated.”

Last on the list was that she not waste the time she has [left] despairing or seeking comfort about her disease or the outcome. She was bold in her statement:

 

“I will only waste my journey with cancer if I seek comfort or despair about my odds, rather than look to know what God can do with me.”

 

She completed her email request by saying she claimed Jesus’ authority and denied Satan [working] in her life.

 

After reading her email—which I read three times—I sucked in my breath. Hard.

Certainly all of this is probably easier to say before chemotherapy flattens her and leaves her feeling as though she’s been run over by a semi-truck; when the only time she can drag herself out of bed is when she has to maintain a vigil in the bathroom, lying on the cold tile next to the toilet, in wait of having to relieve her stomach of its contents.

When she undergoes the process of being poisoned to death in order to eradicate mutated cells that are already killing her. Before she’s really knee deep into this battle.

 

I don’t personally know this sister—whether she is, by nature, as stoic and brave as this email sounds. But clearly she has sought the Lord, the Holy Spirit has spoken to her, and she is ready to confront her disease and this potential earthly death sentence with all the strength, faith, grace, and hope of a believer steeped (and believing) in the promises of Jesus Christ and her true, future hope.

She has put this—and life—in true perspective.

 

And I was awed.

 

*

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me, her prayers and requests are powerful enough to warrant writing down and carrying around with me, to pull out and re-read when metaphorical lightning strikes my life, or I am tempted to whine about inconveniences and aggravating hiccups that cause bumps in my road.

And it was a punctuation mark to my earlier reading about Bethel Music founder and pastor Brian Johnson’s battle with and recovery from depression. He described it as going through six months of “hell” and having to be taken to a hospital when he suffered a nervous breakdown.

When the ambulance arrived at his Redding, California, home, he said to his kids: “This is when God becomes real.”

Isn’t that the truth!

The experience prompted him to write the popular worship song “Living Hope.”

And after watching the YouTube video of Bethel Music singing this heart-churner, I thought about some options for inscriptions on my tombstone:

 

Jesus Christ, My Living Hope

Hallelujah!

The Grave Has No Claim on Me!

 

It sounds as though this dear sister is already claiming these truths as she faces the biggest battle of her earthly life.

Her hope is built on Jesus Christ and the power of His death and Resurrection.

May it be so for all of us.

I promise that you won’t be able to stay seated long during this song.

And if watching that isn’t enough to get your motor going, here’s a Bethel song bonus: “Raise a Hallelujah.”

(*The journal picture and entry is a photo found on unsplash.com.)

Until next week, no matter what you’re facing, raise your own hallelujah to the Lord!

Blessings,

Andrea


Andrea Arthur Owan is an award-winning inspirational writer, fitness pro and chaplain. She writes and works to help people live their best lives—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

The Brain Benefits of Tai Chi

I think most of us who have traveled around the sun 50 revolutions or more know that our “older” age translates to a duller, slower brain. In fact, cognitive changes start occurring at the age of 50. Some of the things we lose are our ability to rapidly process information and focus on details.

By age 70 one in six people has mild cognitive impairment—almost 17% of us! If you can do something now to prevent ending up being part of that sorry statistic, then I would say have at it!

 

Old beliefs about brain function and plasticity—

It wasn’t that long ago that scientists believed that the brain, once you reached adulthood, stopped changing. That it lacked plasticity—the ability of the brain to change throughout a person’s life.

That’s what I was taught in college. It was depressing.

Thankfully, scientists discovered that their theories were wrong, and it’s not true. The brain actually changes throughout a person’s life, and what we do—or don’t do—has a dramatic effect on those changes.

Now scientists know that the brain can:

  • Grow new cells (which means it has some capacity for repair)
  • Make new connections
  • Increase in size

And all of these bonuses can improve cognitive function.

 

What helps the brain get sharper?

We now know that cognitive exercises, learning new things, socializing and exercise can improve brain function and keep it in top condition for longer than expected. In fact, some neuroscientists say that when you’re exercising the body, you’re really exercising the brain.

But what exercises are good at keeping the brain in top form, or actually improving its function?

 

It turns out that the internal martial art of tai chi is a real winner because it offers exceptional brain benefits.

 

Harvard Health noted a meta-analysis (statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies) of 20 studies on tai chi’s effects on cognition. What they found in people with cognitive decline was that tai chi appears to improve their:

  • Ability to multitask
  • Manage time, and
  • Make decisions

 

In those suffering mild cognitive impairment, tai chi’s slow, precise movements slowed the progression so all-out dementia more than any other types of exercise.

And it improved cognitive function in a similar or comparable way to other types of exercise or cognitive training.

 

That’s a big deal!

 

More good news about tai chi—

In one study, 400 Chinese men and women with the same cognitive impairment performed either tai chi or a stretching-toning combination program, 3 times a week for a year.

A year later, tai chi participants showed greater improvements in cognition and only 2% of them showed progression to dementia.

For the group doing only the traditional stretching-toning program, 11% progressed to dementia.

 

How does tai chi compare to walking?

Tai chi won that competition too.

When researchers compared tai chi to walking, social interaction, and no intervention, the MRIs of the participants’ brains showed that the brain volume of the tai chi exercisers had increased the most. So they won the brain volume contest, too.

And this happy group also performed better on cognitive tests.

 

I think I’m going to order a tai chi for beginners DVD. I tried it once before, but I got my DVDs from the library and had to return them before I had a good handle on the activity. I also took a tai chi class on the beach years ago during a Mexico getaway. And in college, I watched a friend of mine participate in the activity. He really bought into the spiritual aspect and acted a little weird about it.

 

The precise tai chi movements were harder than I thought they’d be, with the slow, deliberate motions, but I could tell right away that my balance would improve tremendously with sustained participation. And I would most likely benefit from the meditative aspect of the exercise. Although therein lies a word of caution.

 

Warning about tai chi—

Tai chi is an Eastern, internal martial art developed by a Taoist monk. It’s based on that religion—Taoism. So I would warn anyone participating in the exercise to drop the Taoist meditations and focus and zero in on Jesus, the Holy Spirit and His presence. Use it as a mind-centering exercise, without emptying your mind and opening the door to any old spirit looking for a place to entrench itself.

Be very careful what you open yourself up to.

You can reap the benefits of tai chi without sacrificing your soul or beliefs.

 

NEXT WEEK we’ll look closely at what makes tai chi such a successful activity. What are its special components?

Until then, think about adding different exercise routines to your repertoire, expanding yourself to something besides walking. Your brain will likely thank you for it.

Blessings,

Andrea

How Feeling Active Improves Happiness

I had an interesting email show up in my inbox a couple of weeks ago from the Greater Good Science Center. The subject line of how being alone can increase happiness snagged my attention. But there was a lot more information in the email that lead to additional cogitating.

 

In the article, which I clicked through to, Greater Good Magazine managing editor, Kira Newman, highlighted three main (revelations-to-her) takeaways from her recent excursion to Melbourne, where researchers from over 60 countries gathered for the International Positive Psychology Association’s 6th World Congress. She said that the findings the researchers shared “added depth and complexity to our understanding of major keys to a flourishing life.”

The second point Newman highlighted in her article is what I want to share with you today.

It centered on the positive emotion—or perception—of feeling active.

 

Benefits of positive emotions—

Researchers have discovered that people who experience more positive emotions benefit in numerous areas. They tend to enjoy—

  • Stronger immune systems
  • More frequent exercise engagement
  • Lower risks of heart disease
  • Longer lives

 

Researcher Sarah Pressman wanted to answer another question about feelings and emotions:

What role does “feeling active” play in our health and well-being?

 

Pressman and her colleagues found a sizable link between positive emotions and different health measures. As Newman notes in her post:

 

“For men, feeling active was the positive emotion that predicted how long they lived.”

 

That finding gives me a lot of insight as to why my formerly athletic husband consistently complains about “not getting enough exercise” and not feeling accomplished at work, even though he has—by all observations—accomplished much and has a very successful and distinguished career.

But there was another interesting finding in the research:

 

Feeling active didn’t necessarily correspond to how physically active people actually are.

 

Translation?

It doesn’t just matter how physically active you are but how active—energetic, vigorous, and vital—you feel. It’s all about your psychology state.

Most of the research in this area has been derived from workplace settings and what psychologists refer to as relational energy—how some people rev us up while others drain and exhaust us.

Personally, my feeling active quotient has been in the tank lately, and it’s negatively affecting every aspect of my life, from my family relationships to friendships and beyond. I don’t feel active. I feel like a slug. A broken-down, washed up and washed out slug. Most of the time, anyway. As my injuries improve, the pain subsides, and my energy level increases, I feel more active. But I know I’m more active than the average person, so my feeling active meter might look a lot different than someone else’s.

 

Future feeling active research—

What do researchers want to learn about this feeling active measurement and perception in the future? These might be some things they look at:

  1. What makes us feel active?
  2. How is that beneficial in other ways? (What other areas of life does this feeling affect?)
  3. Can we get happier just by “boosting the pep in our step”? In other words, I guess, can we fake it ‘til we make it?
Your turn—

If you’re up for it, get a journal and write down all of the activities, hobbies, interactions, etc. that make you feel active? As the old sixties’ saying goes: What turns you on?

Conversely, what turns you off? What drags you down emotionally, physically and spiritually? Since research is more and more proving the inter-relationship of these life components, it’s an important consideration.

 

NEXT WEEK we’ll look at how future hopes, dreams and planning increase your happiness.

Got any daydreams you’d like to turn into real happenings?

Until then, remember, the joy of the Lord is your strength. All of this other stuff we’re learning to help us enjoy life more is simply icing on the cake!

Blessings,

Andrea


Andrea Arthur Owan is an award-winning inspirational writer, fitness pro and chaplain. She writes and works to help people live their best lives—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.