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Tag: sleep

More Sleep = Weight Loss?

I’ve mentioned that I lost 17 lbs last year. This happened without any intention from me, i.e., I wasn’t trying to lose weight. While I think there were several factors to this, one was likely getting more sleep.

Ariana Huffington is on her own quest this month to get more sleep regularly, and one thing she has noticed is that she has more energy for her workouts. “Our sleep consultant, Dr. Michael Breus, has shown how getting more sleep can actually help you lose weight more effectively than exercise, but I’ve been finding the two are wonderfully compatible.”

I hadn’t connected the increased intensity of my workouts with more sleep, but now that I think about it, I think she has a point.

In January, 2009, I was content where I was, wearing my size 6 clothes. I’d certainly been much heavier in my life, and I was feeling pretty strong and fit and glad to be a size 6. I really wasn’t thinking much about my weight, which hovered on a plateau right around 134 lbs.

Our youngest had just turned four and life was getting easier all around because of it. Without so much energy needed to care for the kids, my husband and I were able to focus a bit more on our marriage, which had been on autopilot for the “dark years” of infancy and toddlerhood. My husband’s idea to help our marriage was for us to start going to bed at the same time, instead of him falling asleep at 9 or 10 so that he could leave for work at 6 am, and me working until 1 or 2 am every night.

By mid-January last year, I remember feeling more energetic in my regular workouts. I didn’t change my workout — I still went to Jazzercise three times each week, as I had been doing for two years — but I lifted my knees higher, caught a bit more air on the bounces, and generally pushed myself into a more intense workout.

I was no longer slogging through the workout at a low level. And it felt great.

At the time, I thought I had just randomly made the decision to work harder in my workouts, but in retrospect I can see that it was totally connected to getting more sleep every night.

In July I stepped on the scale at my mom’s house and saw 117 lbs. looking back at me. (I don’t keep a scale at my house to avoid obsession with weight. I really believe its more about how you feel than what you weigh. This is an unusual post for me to talk about weight so concretely, but it’s info I think a lot of people could use.)

Now, almost 6 months later, I still weigh 117-118 lbs., and I’m still working out at a high-intensity in my Jazzercise classes. I’m thinking maybe I’m going to be this weight now, for real. I’ve had to buy all new jeans (size 2 and 0!) and clear out my closet of things I used to squeeze into, even before I had kids. And I’m still getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

My workouts are more fun, my body looks better than it did in my 20s, and I feel strong and energetic. I’ve even been out dancing into the wee hours a few times in the last few months… 🙂 I have a hard time believing that I’m going to be 41 next month.

Who would have thought that you could lose weight just by getting more sleep? It was a revelation to me. I have to say that I feel better all the way around because I’m getting more sleep.

Oh, and my marriage improved, too!  🙂

Prevent Swine Flu Naturally

Are you feeling the pressure to get the untested H1N1 vaccine in order to prevent swine flu? Any time a vaccine is rushed to market the way this one was there is a greater risk to the general population, besides having little proof of its efficacy.

We are holding firm in our family and are determined not to get this dangerous vaccine, or the regular flu shot, either. Instead, we are opting for preventing the flu and swine flu with natural remedies and common sense hygiene practices.

Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) with more than 20 years of clinical experience. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital, Bombay Hospital, Saifee Hospital, Tata Memoria, etc. Presently, he heads the Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre in Malad, India.

Dr. Goyal notes that the only portals of entry for the virus are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it’s almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as the proliferation of the virus in your body can be.

In order to prevent proliferation of the virus, aggravation of symptoms, and development of secondary infections, you can take some very simple steps while you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection. Instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu, consider these preventative measures and avoid the whole shebang.

1. Frequent hand-washing (this practice is well highlighted in all official communications from the medical community). In our house, washing your hands comes immediately after removing your shoes in the entryway. Just as shoes track germs from the outside world in through your house, your hands will bring in anything you’ve touched and deposit it on your doorknobs, fridge handle, computer keyboard, etc. Wash your hands before you touch anything or anybody.

2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap), recommends Dr. Goyal. Slap? Slapping may be more common in other cultures than our own, but we have a rule against that, too, in our house. Not touching your face is a good habit to get into anyway since your fingers can deposit dirt and grime along with bacteria and viruses, all of which can give you some pretty nasty breakouts. So no hands on the face.

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population. Personally, I’m a fan of Sinus Rinse and use it all the time to stay healthy.

5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C. Some good ones are kiwis, strawberries, citrus fruits, acai berries, and rosehips. If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it is a full-spectrum C (not just ascorbic acid) and also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm. Since it has decided to snow here already, this is not a problem for me!  🙂

To Dr. Goyal’s list let me add a few more disease prevention remedies I have found work well to stay healthy during flu season:

7. Take probiotics regularly. When I start my kids off with a shot of Good Belly probiotic drink every day I notice they miss fewer days of school and are generally healthier.

8. Don’t skimp on sleep. A run-down body is more susceptable to colonization by detrimental agents like viruses.

9. Wash towels and sheets regularly in unscented detergent. Artificial fragrances can irritate sinus cavities and make them more hospitable environments for germs to thrive.

10. If you start feeling sick, drink some garlic tea as soon as possible. Repeat as often as necessary until symptoms subside. Feel free to add some fresh ginger to the mix for an added anti-viral/antibacterial boost. Garlic tea has never failed me.

Now, let’s get out there and stay healthy!