Tag: Fitness

Whenever you have just 10 minutes of free time, you can lower your level of anxiety, reduce stress and enjoy a much more relaxed state of being.

That is all the time that is needed for the Relaxation Response meditation technique to calm you down, and it also improves your cardiovascular health.

Created by Harvard physician and bestselling author Doctor Herbert Benson in the 1970’s in the United States, the Relaxation Response delivers the exact opposite physical reaction to your natural “fight or flight” response.

When your mind perceives some type of stress or threat, you receive an adrenaline rush, your blood pressure, pulse and breathing rate increase rapidly, as does blood flow to your muscles.

How To Do The Relaxation Response Meditation

The Relaxation Response meditation method helps to reduce stress by slowing down your breathing, blood pressure, metabolism and pulse rate.

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1. You sit quietly with your eyes closed in a quiet environment for 10 to 20 minutes.
2. Visualize your muscles relaxing, beginning at your feet and moving up through the top of your head.
3. You silently repeat a word or phrase, or have a particular sound repeated, that triggers a relaxing response in your body.

By continually training your mind to deliver this sense of calm and peacefulness when a particular word is repeated, you can easily access this stress-relieving tactic anytime and anywhere.

Develop a phrase or word which has special meaning to you, or one that sounds relaxing, such as “peace” or “restful”.

This works because your brain switches conscious efforts to unconscious habit after several repetitions.

Your mind is an amazing machine, and when it notices a certain behavior accompanied by a particular response happening on a regular basis, it does not spend any time thinking about possibly delivering a different response.

Your mind automatically and unconsciously does what it has been taught to do.

When you are first training yourself to benefit from meditation and the Relaxation Response, understand that this takes time. It takes multiple repetitions before this becomes an automatic behavior.

You should also wait at least 2 hours after eating a meal before trying this process, as your digestive system can interfere with your success.

Do not set an alarm. The harsh sound of an alarm bell could undo all of the stress-relieving, anxiety-cleansing benefits you are enjoying.

It is acceptable to open your eyes and check a clock to see how long you have been meditating. Practice twice a day for 3 to 4 weeks and you will find it easier and easier to drain the stress and anxiousness out of your hectic lifestyle.

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I will be writing a couple of articles about kidney disease over the next couple weeks and even though you may not be touched by it yourself, kidney disease is crazy popular as a diease to watch out for.

1 in 3 people is at risk today for kidney disease and 1 in 20 is currently struggling with kidney disease

The reason for this interest right now in kidney disease is because in two weeks I will be going under the knife to donate a kidney to my daughter.

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Our Kidney Disease History

We have known for almost four years now that our daughter Taylor was going to need a kidney transplant at some point. Back a few years ago after a few blood tests and X Rays we were told that our daughter had acquired nephronophthisis, a genetic broken spot, that meant that her kidneys were just going to get worse and eventually she would have to lose her kidneys and get a donor to give her a new kidney.

I was tested once Taylor got closer to needing a kidney and since I am her dad I ended up being a good match and was healthy enough to donate to her as well.

Then two months ago as a preparation for the kidney transplant Taylor had her kidneys pulled out and has been on dialysis since. She does dialysis for 10 hours a night and then a couple extra exchanges during the day. This is not as common.

Usually a kidney transplant will just be an additional kidney added to the two that a person already has. In Taylors case though there was a real problem with her urine output being too high so she would not have had a good chance at a good outcome with one of my kidneys.

So wish me luck these next two weeks. I am starting to feel the pressure of getting everything just right.

Trying to get things right around my house, around my work, and around my family so that everything will be ready for my few weeks of bedrest after the surgery while at the same time helping my wife with the healing process for my daughter.

Wish us luck!

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Are you looking for tips to lose weight? These tips to lose weight fast will help you. Keep in mind, however, that if you want to lose and keep it off that you have to change your lifestyle.

That means following these tips consistently.

It can be difficult to change life-long habits. Starting out is usually the hardest part. Once you develop healthier patterns, they too can become habits!

5 Tips To Lose Weight

1. Eat Healthier Fats

tips to lose

The latest research on weight loss say that it’s not so much fat itself that is the problem when it comes to health and weight loss, but the kind of fat. In general, it’s a good idea to avoid trans fats, which are found in many junk foods, margarine, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and baked goods such as cakes, cookies and donuts (you can find healthier, organic versions of these products).

Saturated fats, which are found in animal products are fine to eat in small quantities, especially if they are natural or organic.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats that are now called “healthy fats” contain essential fatty acids, especially Omega-3. These are found in almonds and other nuts, avocados, coconut and olive oils and flaxseed oil.

So, as a rule,the best tips to lose are that it’s best to avoid trans fats as much as possible, consume limited amounts of saturated fats

(note -some people still label saturated fats as “bad fats” but there is compelling research that shows that many cultures have consumed animal products for centuries with virtually no obesity or degenerative diseases -see Weston Price Foundation for more information;the problem today is that most animal products are from factory farms, which use many questionable additives)

and large amounts of healthy fats.

One Healthy Diet program is the Fat Loss for Idiots plan. Check out my Review of it

2. Exercise Intelligently

Besides diet the best tips to lose are that you need to exercise. The problem many people have with exercise is that they start out very enthusiastically and then, when that initial burst of energy wears out, they quit. If this is your tendency, you should remember that the real key to a successful exercise program is consistency.

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It’s far better, for example, to walk for forty-five minutes every day and stick with it than to be a “weekend warrior” and do strenuous exercise inconsistently. Don’t try to do too much, but make sure you get regular exercise at least three times per week.

Tom Venuto who created Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is a great resource for this. You can read the review of his book here.

3. Pay Attention to What You Drink

Water and fluid intake can be at least as important as food when it comes to tips to lose weight. The best thing to drink is pure water.

After that, stick to pure juices (in moderation; many juices like apple are healthy, but contain lots of sugar; even natural sugar can be fattening in large quantities), green tea, which has antioxidants that may help with loss, and herbal teas.

Avoid soda as much as possible, even diet sodas –most artificial sweeteners have potential health risks. One glass of wine or beer every day is fine for most people and may actually have health benefits. Beyond this, however, alcohol can be fattening and of course can contribute to other health problems.

4. Get Some Sleep!

While we all know that you need exercise to lose fast, oddly enough, sleep can also help. Recent research has shown a correlation between sleep deprivation and obesity. Apparently lack of sleep causes an imbalance in the body which inhibits the burning of fat.

So if you have sleeping problems, you should address this. Regular exercise can help with this. Avoid caffeine or stimulants beyond the mid-afternoon. Certain herbal teas, such as chamomile and skullcap can also help with sleep.

5. Reduce Stress

Stress also makes it difficult to lose fast. This is probably related to the issue of sleep deprivation contributing to obesity. While we tend to think of sleep and relaxation as the opposite of what we need to lose weight, the fact is we need both activity and rest to be at our best and for our body to burn fat.

Remember to do all these things together

So we don’t only need to get enough sleep, but we also need to be able to deal with stress throughout the day. If you have a problem with stress, try yoga or meditation. These also teach proper breathing, which is crucial for overall health, stress reduction and losing weight.

So follow these tips to lose fast and you will be sure to do a lot better in your loss goals.

I really think that to lose fast you need to concentrate on all of these things. There are a ton of articles that I have written on weight loss and muscle gain but more often than not it is the time crunch that forces people to look for tips to lose .