Exercise More, Stress Less

Faithful readers of BEYG know that we are not advocates of exercising for weight loss. But we can't think of a better way to stay fit and feel great. Regular exercise makes a body feel wonderful, when not done to excess, and folks who are physically active just know that it has positive effects on their mental health as well.

Now some clever scientists at Princeton University are showing how regular exercise can produce new cells in the brain that do not react to stress. The article, goes into depth on this study and others which are demonstrating how rats brains are changing in response to exercise, and are becoming less anxious and stressed. Several studies involve putting rats on a running program and then subjecting them to laboratory-induced stressful situations. The runner rats were cool as cucumbers.

"It looks more and more like the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so that they’re more equipped to handle stress in other forms," says one graduate student affiliated with the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Laboratory at Dartmouth. And it appears that the benefits appear somewhere between 3 and 6 weeks of getting on a regular training program. In the University of Colorado experiments, for instance, rats that ran for only three weeks did not show much reduction in stress-induced anxiety, but those that ran for at least six weeks did. "'Something happened between three and six weeks,' says Benjamin Greenwood, a research associate in the Department of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado, who helped conduct the experiments."

It's no surprise that there aren't any quick wins in the exercise department. Good things come to those who wait, and persevere. I'd better shut my laptop and start doing my exercises!

Diet, not Exercise, for Weight Loss

We've been on vacation, so I'm a bit behind on the blogging. A couple of weeks ago TIME Magazine published an article summarising what I've been trying to explain to people for years. Exercise won't make you thin. It what you eat that affects your weight.

I'm going to let the article do the explaining this time, however, let me state unequivocally that I highly value exercise. I've had a hard time fitting regular exercise into my life for the past 22 months, since the last couple of months of my pregnancy. I've had sporadic bursts of energy and time, where I walked 10 km per day, or swam a km or two, or had the pleasure of doing yoga twice per week. But it's not been until the last month that I've had time to regularly dedicate to exercise. And I've been feeling great because of it.

I've been biking to work at least 2 times per week, and getting in the odd 30 minutes exercise class there. I've been doing yoga at least once per week at home, and occasionally participating in my husband's latest obsession, the P90X exercise tapes. I'm starting to feel more toned, and less jiggly in my bits. But I'm not losing weight. I've been the same weight since a week after I gave birth. My weight might fluctuate a few pounds up or down from this setpoint, but when it does, it's almost always due to what I eat. Or, to be more specific, what I overeat. When I come back to normal, or eat piously for a few days, I return to my standard weight.

The best way to maintain a healthy weight throughout your life is to eat a moderate amount of a variety of foods: tons of vegetables, fish and beans, some fruits, and not too many flour-based or starchy foods. That's how our bodies were designed to operate, on a steady flow of healthy fuel. Go out and exercise a bit every day if you can, and push yourself athletically if you're in great shape. But don't expect exercise to solve your weight issues. More often than not, starting an exercise program will create a ravenous appetite that leads us to overeat. And then we're back to square one.

Tony Horton is a (Fitness) God

Since giving birth to an infant, I've really found myself without too much time to do anything, including exercise. One late night before Christmas I succumbed to the siren's call of an info-mercial for the 10 Minute Trainer. It promised to send me a series of DVDs to help get me in shape for only 10 minutes per day. It promised to be easy, effective and fun. And it's all true. In fact, it's better than I could have imagined.

I believe that what you put into your body is critically important to your health. Exercise is also very important for improving health. When most people these days are so busy, it can be very difficult to fit exercise into their schedules. I think that Tony Horton's exercise programs offer busy people fun, safe, and effective ways to exercise at home and get in great shape.

I've seen many exercise-at-home programs before and it's very hard for trainers to demonstrate complicated exercises to people who are new to physical activity. Many trainers do not show modifications for people of differing ability or their explanations leave out key safety tips. But these videos manage to do all this and also get viewers moving and working out multiple parts of their bodies at the same time. I'm a very happy customer!

The website Horton uses to promote his many exercise videos such as Hip Hop Abs, P90 and P90X also offer a nutrition section that features recipes, tips, and demos ensuring that folks don't rely only on physical exercise to lose weight and become healthier. It's a well-thought-out program, compelling and easy-to-follow. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to start exercising safely and effectively from home. Now if I could just find those ten minutes for exercising every day...