Do you want to sleep better?

Let me quote the great scientist Albert Einstein: "Insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different results" Think about that for a moment. Is there any areas where you could use a different approach? How about your sleep habits? Do you wake up fully rested or do you drag yourself out of bed? If you don't get restful sleep, what can you do to improve it?


Well, I'll give you one clue. Watch less TV and dim the lights. Especially 30 min before you go to bed. Artificial light and the reflection of the TV tell your body that it is time to be awake. And that effect takes time to go away once you are in bed and disturbs your sleep.

Also, if you fall asleep as you hit the pillow, it is a sign that you are exhausted. You need to build your sleep bank.

The Argentinian parodox

When it comes to questions of obesity in North America we always try to compare ourselves to other nations. And see how they can get away with certain habits. You may have heard of the French paradox. They drink wine and eat cheese and stay slim. How can that be? Maybe they just have less garbage in their food.

Now I have heard that the city of Austin, Texas is the fattest city. And most of the blame goes to red meat consumption. So how can the Argentinians eat a lot of beef and not have the same ballooning problems? My guess is that their beef is raised naturally and without extra hormones.

We think we are very intelligent in trying to out smart mother nature. I guess she always has the upper hand.

Slow cardio is no good for fat loss.

An article came out in the New York Times magazine last fall, (http://tinyurl.com/ylqaher). They reported a study that found that low intensity exercise did not increase fat burn post exercise. I find it kind of funny that we still see research like that. A study published in 1994 by Dr Angelo Tremblay showed that high intensity exercise was the best way to burn body fat. The higher the intensity, the more fat calories you burn after.
Slow cardio can improve your fitness level to a point especially if you are a beginner. But if you are healthy and want to lose some blubber, intensity is the answer.

We were made to move.

I just started reading "The stress of life" by Hans Selye. He is a pioneer in the research on stress and its effects. The main point is that we cannot live without a certain level of stress
He also confirmed one of my beliefs: That we were made to move. He writes "As we have so often said, living beings are constructed for work and if they have no outlet for their pent-up energy, they must make extreme efforts at adaptation... "
So choose the good stress over the bad. This is one more way to show you that physical activity is vital to your health.