Wednesday, January 6, 2010

New Year's Resolutions, continued

We talked last about making a Positive decision with this years resolution. Now lets talk about one of the four legs of strength mentioned there: "Healthy Lifestyle"
Our lifestyle choices have a huge affect on our health. Take into account your job, school, family, activities, and pleasures. All these can have positive affects as well as negative on the body. Your lifestyle can create a stress on the body from inflammation, pain, lowering the immune system, and many more. When a person has a healthy lifestyle it improves their quality and lengthen of life. Two area in our life have a profound impact on its quality.

Exercise and Sleep

Benefits of exercise

• improves cardiovascular function

• improves respiratory function

• helps transport oxygen and nutrients to the cells

• transports carbon dioxide and waste products from body

• increases stamina and energy levels

• body becomes stronger

• body functions more efficiently

Benefits of Sleep

• affects mental and physical function

• helps to combat depression, and chronic fatigue

• affects brain chemicals: serotonin and melatonin

Studies have shown that people that exercise are happier and have longer lives. The studies explained that the earlier you start to exercise results in adding years to your life. That goes to show that there is no time like the present to start getting fit. One of the things I like the most about exercising is how we learn to breath better. When you exert your body during exercise, you take nice deep cleansing breaths that detoxify the body and the lungs. It is good practice to take deep cleansing breaths throughout your day to release the lungs of stored carbon dioxide while breathing in rich oxygen for the blood. Not to mention when you exercise you sleep better. The body rests better after it has been use properly in stretching, breathing, and working the muscles. Sleeping well at night will help to improve our outlook on life as well. When we sleep correctly, getting in the REM and non- REM cycles, we allow ourselves to dream. In our dreams we see ourselves, the world, and people around us as we like or remember. Sigmund Freud stated that "dreams are the window to the souls". He viewed dreams as a subconscious mind with impulses and desires. Dreaming has an affect on the mental physic, causing us to be content and happy or depressed and stressed. If you are unable to remember dreams when waking or overly tired and restless when waking, look to get in a better nights rest. A few things to practice:

1) Do not use drugs or over the counter meds to go into this sleep they usually over tax the mind and body and you are even more tired that to learn to do this on your own.

2) One of the best ways to fall into a good rest is to recap the day's events from most recent to your waking that morning. It relaxes and repairs your mental state for the dreams ahead.


3) Allow the body the ability to dream, this is relaxing and refreshing for the whole body.

Have a Blessed and Healthy Day

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