Ohhhmmmmm

Earlier this summer I bought an iPod Touch (which is amazing and I really really REALLY recommend them.) and I downloaded an App called Silva Relaxation (again this is a FREE App! I would also recommend this app!) and I am using it every night to help me fall asleep and calm my mind. Basically it will tell you to breath and relax. It will then tell you to focus on certain parts of your body and if I don't fall asleep it will then tell you to think of a pleasant peaceful place and focus on that. It puts me straight to sleep and it calms my mind. I also love to do a ten minute yoga segment called Reflection. It really relaxes me and I get much deeper sleep. Also at work we had to do this weird relaxation thing at work, and he mentioned that stress kills. I knew this fact already, and it is one of the reasons why women tend to live longer than men. It is a social norm to keep emotions inside and not really talk through much. It considered wimpy  to get upset over things and talk them out. Women, on the other hand, usually talk out their problems with their girlfriends, which helps relieve stress.. So during this seminar, while everyone was looking like they had their "this is bullshit" faces on, my ears perked and I did pay attention (while to fit in I had my "this is bullshit" face on too.. for all you social psychologists this is preserving positive face.). He talked about the importance of just letting go and not getting angry or stressed about things that do not matter. I also watched a documentary on stress (thank you Netflix) and they have done studies on monkeys where there are hierarchies in their clans. The monkeys who were at the bottom of the hierarchy basically got treated like crap and  had an increased level of stress hormones in their blood. They also did not live as long and had problems with atherosclerosis. I would like to know how bad is stress for the human body? And what can we and what should we do to relax our bodies?

At psychcentral.com I found an article called "The Physical Effects of Long-Term Stress" by Jane Collingwood. She states that the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight, not rest and digest) deals with stressful situations. When a stressor occurs we react and then later we relax. This is supposed to be the normal balance, but in many people the sympathetic nervous system stays on guard and people are unable to return to relaxation. When this happens many illnesses and physical problems can occur. Here are a few:

Heart Problems

        -People who react more to stress have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. This is linked to personality traits such as competitiveness, impatience, hostility or if you tend to move and talk very quickly. 

         -Another trait related to stress and that causes cardiovascular problems is people who relax by eating comfort foods. This is not beneficial to the heart unless your comfort foods are carrots or something. And usually they are not... 

High Blood Pressure (Aka hypertension)

         -People who are under high levels of stress tend to have high blood pressure. High blood pressure can increase your risk of heart failure, kidney failure and heart attack. 

           -Stress increases blood pressure in the short term, so if you are stressed out all the time you are more likely to have a permanently high blood pressure level. 

Susceptibility to Infection

         -Stress suppresses the immune system, which in turn makes you more susceptible to diseases. 

          -Not only does being stressed make it easier for you to be sick, but it also makes it harder for you to recover. :(

Skin Problems

         -Stress is known to aggravate skin problems such as acne, psoriasis and eczema. Stress has also been linked to inexplicable rashes. This is a personal one for me. My skin breaks out when I get stressed and I also scratch legs in my sleep which is not good for your skin. This usually happens around finals or very stressful and busy sections of my semesters in college. (Sorry if that was TMI) 

Pain

        -Stress causes backaches due to a continued stimulation of muscles (which one of the things stress does to your body) If you have bad posture and have a sedentary lifestyle this can cause back, neck and shoulder pain, which in turn causes even more stress. Awesome :(. 

        -If you have an underlying condition such as fibromyalgia and RSI stress can aggravate these conditions as well.

Diabetes

         -There is some evidence that points to the fact that chronic stress may lead to insulin dependency. This may be possible because stress can cause the immune system to destroy insulin producing cells. 

Infertility

         -Normally stress does not cause infertility, but they have been linked on many occasions. It has been found that people are more likely to conceive on vacation. 

So none of that sounds like a good time. Stress can be detrimental to your health!! It is extremely important to unwind, relax and give your sympathetic nervous system a break! What are some of your ways to unwind and relax? Here are a few of mine.

-I love to clean. Cleaning is not particularly relaxing for me, especially if I don't have the energy, but the second I get in my newly made bed and look around my clean room I feel amazing and I also feel more motivated to complete the tasks that I need to do. 

-As I had mentioned in my previous blog, working out is one of my favorite ways to deal with stress. Not only do I feel the hormonal benefits, I feel better about my appearance (which gets rid of stress). While I work out, I organize my thoughts and I fantasize about things (which is fun haha). It just gives me a chance to shut out the world and only focus on my music. Every night after work I go to the gym or go for a walk or a run or something. My favorite activities include running, walking, weightlifting, YOGA, pilaties and dancing.

-I am obsessed with lists. In school before I would stuff all my books into my backpack and hit the library, I would make a list of all the things that needed to be taken care of. In these lists I would break it down, step by step, on what I exactly needed to do. It helped me make sure I got all my necessary work done as well as allowing me the satisfaction of crossing off my completed tasks. Now with Windows 7 they have the postie that you can place directly on the desktop. Mine is packed full of things that I need to take care of so if I am ever bored I can reference it. 

-I have a relax playlist on my iPod and if I am ever feeling sad, angry or upset I will turn it on, 

-This is a new one for me, but meditation is also a way that I unwind at the end of the day. I do not really know much about it but its working well so far.

Here is a how to video on how to meditate. I know its a little weird but if you close your eyes and ignore the accent, its really not so bad.

So I would recommend giving that a try! Or just take a few minutes out of your day to just be alone and clear your mind. It is important.  

I also checked out some tips on goodhousekeeping.com. (I love this website, don't judge haha) and they had some really cool ideas that I would have never thought of! The first thing that attracted me to this website was one of the suggestions is to "Uncork a bottle of wine". Here are just a few that I thought are easy to do and they sound kinda fun too!

"Take a Mental Vacation"- To do this you basically close your eyes and think of a relaxing place (i.e a beach a lake, a cozy room). Think about what you see, what you smell what you hear. The more detailed the picture in your mind, the better. Its so simple and it helps! This is something I can do just sitting at my desk if I need a little break.

"Mindful Meals"- Take ten minutes to eat mindfully. Smell your food before you chew and savor the taste as you chew. Just by doing this you can give your mind a break.

-"Do Less" (This one is hard for me haha) Basically you make a to do list and cross off three things. You will have more time!

-"Celebrate the Small Stuff"- Write down all the little things that make you happy!! (Maybe Ill write a blog about this..)

-"Breath Deeply"- Inhale deeply, exhale deeply. Just by doing this you cue your body to relax, and you can do it anywhere. Breath deeply before you respond to negative stimuli and see if you react differently.

-"Bless Their Hearts"- The next time someone cuts you off, or you get a rude email, or you trip over your sisters shoes try saying "Bless their heart." It is just saying that the person that pissed your off is a human and probably deserves your forgiveness.


Tadaahh! Those are just a few SIMPLE ways to reduce stress in your life. :) Put them in your pocket and use them sometime :).


And I did my own stress relief the other day..

Here is STRESS:

And this is better:

        

         

Anyways.


Blogging news:

Well I went to DAVE MATHEWS BAND CARAVAN TOUR, which was amazing. Minus the first day. I have never in my entire life have had worse luck. All in one day I dented my car, bent the rim on the tire, broke the hubcap, was hours late to the concert which in turn meant I missed one of my favorite bands Rebelution, got a picture with my celeb crush and then LOST my camera and then realized that we forgot pillows... Not the best day. But I did get to MEET Eric Rachamy!! He is so talented!! :) I enjoyed the rest of my time there, although I would not recommend going to a festival where there is no onsite camping. Im shooting for the Roo again next summer. I am also planning a road trip with one of my bestest friends EVER Suzanne. I am trying so hard to save for it and tomorrow is pay day so I think Im going to buy a plane ticket. We are planning on driving up the coast and I think it could be a serious adventure!!! :) Oh and I DID get my very own apartment in Indiana!! I am so excited. And I bought a ton of stuff for my kitchen.. AHH! I can't wait to start decorating. I bought other stuff on eBay to decorate my walls and my mom is giving me a ton of furniture. The next step is finding a job :). For now I am just working for what feels like all the time and I am watching that 70's show in between work. This weekend Ill take care of some business.




This blog took me two weeks to write so I am so sorry if it is long. And I apologize for any typos

FINALLY: Cardio vs. Strength Training

As some of you know I have been sick the past twoish weeks. ( I had strep throat, but a false negative test prevented me from getting the right treatment until a week later. Not fun.) And I have not had the energy to go to the gym. I had been lifting weights and doing cardiovascular exercise (Such as running, stride machines ect.) Last summer when I signed up for the gym they sat me down to create a workout plan. The trainer seemed very very interested and enthusiastic about strength training and less so about cardiovascular workouts. When I was in undergrad I did cardio workouts religiously, not only to lose weight, but working out kept me sane when I was just about to snap. I did not enjoy the weight room because honestly I was intimidated by some of the people in there and there were rarely any females doing strength training workouts. One of the disadvantages to cardio workouts (according to the trainer at Planet Fitness) was that once you stop doing the cardio, hello, here comes back the weight. I have experienced this before. Fall semester I got sick and I did not work out for almost five days and I gained five pounds! Not good! Tonight I am going to just dig a little deeper and see what I can find on the matter.

On bodybuilding.com they list 5 benefits of cardiovascular workouts. They include:

-Improved condition of your heart. (Well duh haha. But in no way is this a bad thing!) This will help you not become winded when you climb stairs, or when you are running ect.

-Cardiovascular workouts increase your metabolism. The more intense your workout the better the benefits are. Intense interval sprints are the best way to increase metabolism. (This is when your on a treadmill, for example, and you RUNRUNRUN until you cant run any longer, and then you go down to a resting walk until you can do it again, and then you speed it up and RUNRUNRUN.) The trainer at the gym recommended this to me, but honestly I do not particularly enjoy doing it.

-Improved hormonal balance. Cardiovascular exercise releases your "feel good" hormones. (Hello endorphins!!) These can help ease the symptoms of depression and fatigue, and a hormone is released that decreases appetite. (Yes please!)

-Improved recovery ability. If you have just done an intense session at the gym weightlifting, getting on the treadmill can help remove by-products that were created during you lifting session.

-Forum thread. Building muscle mass is a combination of an overloading stimulus and a sufficient rest period to allow the muscle to heal itself. If you work out too much or too little you wont benefit much from your workout. The more frequently you are able to work a muscle the faster new muscle will be added. Cardio can help you do this. So mixing cardio in with weight training is important.

-Management of diabetes. Those who exercise more tend to have better control of their blood sugars and see less blood sugar swings.

I also found on Circulation Journals that...

-People who exercise regularly were shown to be better adjusted, to perform better on tests and they have shown to experience less cardiovascular responses to stress.

-Your heart rate is lower when resting if you do regular cardio workouts.

-Your lungs become more efficient at delivering oxygen.

-Blood cholesterol levels decrease

Very cool.

Ok. Honestly a lot of that I already knew... But cardio IS really good for you. They did not mention weight loss too much actually, which surprised me. I definitely love the mental benefits. I feel more energized and happy when I do work out. Lets see if I can find disadvantages of cardiovascular workouts...


I did find an article on Toronto-Health.com (A Canadian wrote this article so I dunno how legit it is.. Haha I AM KIDDING. Promise.) and this article was about the disadvantages of cardiovascular exercise. They state that cardio is a true way to lose weight, but not the best. Here are some of the reasons:

-Cardio is a process that takes up a great deal of time and it can be exhausting depending on your intensity.

-Cardio is great for your heart but it can do terrible things to your joints. Cardio can increase your chances of getting arthritis later in life and can cause joint pain. Also if you do an intense cardio workout your muscles can get sore, which means that there will be a longer time that you need to rest before you can workout again.

-To see results you have to work out DAILY. (I dont know if this is true or not. I have seen results without doing it for an hour, 7 days a week).

-If you become accustomed to cardio you can gain more weight if you stop cardio. :(

-When your working out you need to get in the fat burning zone to get results. It is nearly impossible to burn excess fat doing low intensity cardio.

-Cardio doesnt really build muscle, and if it does it is usually only on the lower half of the body.

And then the author states that turbulence training can give you the benefits of a cardio workout without all the disadvantages. And yet he doesnt say what it is!! So... Im going to research that now! Basically it is a book that has a workout that is designed to keep you out of the gym. It involves a five minute body weight warm up and 25 minutes of dumbbell training and then 20 minutes of interval training. While this sounds nice I spent 50 bucks for planet fitness and I am using it! Plus I do mix weight training and cardio so I feel like my plan is fine.

OK. Now that were done with that, I am going to talk about resistance training. On emedicinehealth.com I found some reasons why you should do strength training. Here they are:

-It builds strength and tone. (Um yeah.. Haha)

-From age 30 to age 70 we can lose 25% of our strength fibers and resistance exercise can slow down or even reverse the aging process.

-Muscle has been shown to build bone and by doing this it can prevent Osteoporosis (which for those of you don't know it is a condition in which the bone mineral loss is accelerated.) Strength training has been shown to increase bone mass even in the elderly.

-There is some evidence that resistance training can lower moderately high  blood pressure.

-More strength can lead to fewer falls in the elderly.

-Resistance training can raise metabolic rate (UM YES PLEASE :)! ) It prevents yo-yo dieting (you gain and lose weight constantly) and it helps long term fat loss. Also intense workouts elevate metabolism several hours after you workout. :)

-You can have a more toned appearance when you do strength training. It can increase physical attractiveness :)

-Strength training can improve posture and it provides more support for joints. (this can be good when doing cardio!)

-Strength training can improve flexibility.

-You can have increase levels of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine which improve your mood!! :)



So it seems that strength training has great benefits especially if you are aging! I will keep this in mind for later in life. Now lets take a look at the disadvantages.

- I saw a video on ehow.com and they say that one of the biggest problem is improper form can cause injury.

-They also mention that if you don't stretch you can lose flexibility.

On healthlylivingworld.com I found an article that says...

-If you throw dumbbells once you are done you can cause muscle damage. You can tear muscles if you do not have good control over your body. Start small and work up.




-Safety is a big issue. Getting stuck under a barbell is one of the biggest problems, but it is easily preventable if you just have a spotter or a buddy to help you workout and save you if get trapped.



It was much more difficult to find anything negative about strength training and most of the disadvantages are preventable with proper instruction and form.

This man on youtube basically calls cardio the devil haha:

I am honestly not sure if what he is saying is true or not but if it is YOWZA! I still hate to say it but I really do like doing cardio sometimes. I love the way it makes me feel and it is a great way to get my Cosmo reading in.   I really do feel a mental difference when I work out so I am going to continue to do it. But I will keep this in mind.

Lastly I found an article from the Washington Post Called "Cardio vs. Weights: The Battle is Over" stating that its best to have a combination of the two. They did state that you actually burn more calories when you lift weights, but you take breaks during your your resistance training workout so the actual number of calories burned during your strength training will be less. Strength training is something that you cannot really do very much because you need to give your body ample time to rest. You should only do resistance training 2 to 3 times a week to allow your body enough time to rest. Cardiovascular workouts are something you can do everyday. The best workout is a combination of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise and moderate intensity strength training. They also mention that if vigorous strength training and vigorous cardio went head to head cardio would win for the most calories burned. They also mention that you cannot really lose weight unless you watch your diet! The fact that you may be working out counts but all movement during the day matters. They recommended circuit style strength training because your moving around more and you burn more calories. (This is how I do it! Yay!) 

So to conclude: BOTH CARDIOVASCULAR AND STRENGTH TRAINING ARE IMPORTANT. I will continue my routine which includes 3 days of strength training and intense cardio and two days of regular cardio and core training. :) 

 vs            

its a TIE! 

In blogging news: Ok I need to complain a little bit. My job is a banking job, so obviously its not very exciting...  I found out that we can get 5 hours overtime which is awesome.. but I feel like I have no time for ANYTHING anymore. I am gone from my house from 8-6 PM. Never has my drive been such a bother for me, but I feel like I could really use that extra hour. My room is a freaking train wreck, I need to get stuff done for grad school, I just started apartment hunting now and there are just so many things on my list right now but I just cant take care of them. On the brightside I have been sick for almost two weeks and things are FINALLY starting to look up. I mean I am actually posting a blog :) and I did actually look for apartments today and I finally feel like I have the energy to do something. I honestly have no clue how I am going to find the time to study in grad school, pay for grad school, have enough time to do my practicum in grad school.... I was thinking about it and I might be working a job like this AND have classes on top of it!!! I have no freaking energy now :/. Ill work it out. ONE DAY AT A TIME  :).

In music news: If you are a hip hop enthusiast I REAALLY suggest Lupe Fiasco's album Lasers. It is so so so good!! I am so impressed!! 

also the new GaGa album of course freaking rocks!! 

I am so in love with almost all of the songs! Check them out!! :)