More Good Reasons to Mix it Up and Keep Moving

Did you know that …

A recent study at the University of Western Ontario revealed that turning up the volume when you exercise pushes you harder. In one test, women listened to their favorite workout songs at four different volumes and when the music was the loudest they could do 7 more leg presses than when it was at a lower level.  This is because your brain perceives the booming as a threat, causing a release of adrenalin.  The adrenaline sends extra glucose to your muscles, giving more fuel to your body so that it can work longer.  Thanks to Janet McMordie, the lead study author, who recommends turning up the volume just for the last few reps so we can get the extra boost without damaging our precious sense of hearing.

Practicing yoga might help you eat less! A study reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that yoga practitioners tend to eat more mindfully than non-practitioners.  Even if the non-yogis exercise daily, they still tend to often eat for emotional reasons, and past the point of being full.  Lead study author in this one, Alan Kristal, D.P.H., believes yoga teaches calmness in the face of discomfort making it easier to pass up the extra calories, giving us another great reason to find ourselves in downward facing dog!  My take-a-way; practicing yoga makes us more inclined to also practice hara hachi bu!

Active women are less like to have healthy levels of iron than couch potatoes. Ouch!  High impact exercise ruptures some of the iron-rich blood cells in our bodies.  The iron is then swept out of the bloodstream via the kidneys.  Women should aim for 18 milligrams of iron a day.  Good sources include beans, fortified cereals and …lean beef, if you must 🙂 Ironically, I haven’t eaten meat in decades and my iron levels improved greatly over the years.  Once I gave up most animal products, I actually became much more aware of eating foods that are rich in iron like the just mentioned beans, and also lots of leafy greens.

Weight gain could increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Studies reported in the journal Human Brain Mapping, showed that scans of overweight people had an average of 4% less brain tissue than normal weight adults.  Obese subjects had 8% less.  The most depleted portion of the brain was the frontal lobe, which is the same area affected my dementia.  A high-fat diet clogs arteries, as we know, so oxygen cannot get to the brain cells and they die.  The good news is aerobic exercise not only helps fight the fat, but also sends oxygen to the brain, helping to nourish the cells and preserve the tissue.  Additional studies show that doing three hours and twenty minutes of moderate exercise every week helps short-term memory as well as attention spans and abilities to multitask.

Thanks for some great feedback this week.  Biggest Loser always sparks a lot of thought and conversation.  Most of you who commented, emailed or I spoke with personally, were impacted by Miggy’s softer personality this week.  Perhaps she was staying so tough while Migdalia was there as she apparently raised her to be VERY tough skinned.  Perhaps surgery gave her some time to re-evaluate, or perhaps it was just a case of some clever editing to add twist to the “story line.”  I think it might have been all of the above.

I hope you’ll forgive any typos this morning.  I have been up most of the night prepping for that baseline colonoscopy, this morning.  Thanks to Women’s Health Magazine for today’s tidbits.  Mitch bought me some magazines to keep me busy while I prepped.  Thanks, Mitch.  The prep, by the way, wasn’t nearly as terrible as I thought it would be.  If, in fact, that is the hardest part of the test, than it was actually a breeze…and yes, the scale is down a pound or so, but I’ll be sure to gain that right back after a hearty breakfast which I am anxiously anticipating.

Thanks for checking in.  Have a fantastic day.