Motion Health & Fitness

Tag: happiness

  • Know Your Health; Know Your Biomarkers

    Know Your Health; Know Your Biomarkers

    America is not a healthy nation. The US spends more on health care than any other high-income country but still has the lowest life expectancy at birth and the highest rate of people with multiple chronic diseases, according to a 2023 report from The Commonwealth Fund, an independent research group. In fact, America is ranked No. 35 out of 169 countries in terms of overall citizen health, according to the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index. This means that 34 countries are ahead of us.

    It’s easy to see why. Nearly 60% adults in the United States have at least one chronic disease, with the most common being heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and obesity, according to the CDC. Consequently, biomarkers — objective measures of normal or abnormal processes or conditions or diseases —really matter. These might include blood pressure, resting heart rate, blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels, and body fat percentage, for example.

    Essentially half (47%) of American adults have high blood pressure (hypertension), according to the American Heart Association. That amounts to a whopping 122.4 million people. A normal blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmHg. A blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or more is too high. People with levels from 120/80 mmHg to 139/89 mmHg have a condition called pre-hypertension, which means they are at high risk for high blood pressure.

    Having high blood pressure puts you at risk for heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the United States. However, most people who have hypertension do not experience any symptoms. People usually discover that they have hypertension following a routine blood pressure check.

    Another all-too-common disease in the US is diabetes, which is diagnosed when a person’s A1C levels are 6.5% or higher.

    According to the CDC, 11.3% of the US population has diabetes, and 23% of adults are undiagnosed. This means that more 34% of the adult population likely has diabetes. Yet, about 90-95% of people with diabetes have type-2, which is preventable. Additionally, about 98 million American adults (more than 1 in 3) have pre-diabetes. If you get the sense that diabetes is a crisis in the US, you’re right. Having diabetes also raises the risks for other chronic conditions.

    For example, if you have diabetes, you are twice as likely to have high blood pressure. Chronic diseases are often linked.
    Diabetes is the top cause of kidney failure, causing nearly half (47%) of new cases. About 1 in 3 adults with diabetes may have kidney disease. High blood pressure is the second most common cause of kidney failure, causing 27% of new cases. In fact, 1 in 5 adults with high blood pressure may have kidney disease. Are you getting the sense that many of the most common chronic diseases are linked?

    Quite astonishingly, as many as 37 million Americans have kidney disease, meaning it affects 14% of American adults. In fact, kidney disease is the fastest-growing noncommunicable disease in the US, and it’s one of the top 10 causes of death.

    The kicker is that all of the above are preventable; it’s within our hands to heal or prevent them. But there’s more.

    High LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in the bloodstream may increase the risk of heart disease and cardiovascular events like stroke. Normal cholesterol in adults is less than 200 mg/dL; borderline high is 200 to 239 mg/dL. Yet, about 86 million US adults age 20 or older have total cholesterol levels above 200 mg/dL, according to the CDC. And nearly 25 million adults in the US have total cholesterol levels above 240 mg/dL.

    The latest data indicate that 39.6% of US adults are obese, and another 31.6% are overweight. Taken together, 71.2%, or nearly three-quarters, of American adults are either overweight or obese. This comes at a tremendous cost to our national wellbeing. Overweight and obesity may increase your risk for developing health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers, according to the National Institutes of Health.

    Excess body fat is associated with high levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol. It also impairs the body’s responsiveness to insulin, raising blood sugar and insulin levels. Excess body fat contributes to major causes of death and disability, including heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, osteoarthritis, fatty liver, and depression. Yet, when it comes to health, the issue is not how much you weigh but how much abdominal fat you have. Research shows that abdominal fat is the worst of the worst because it is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease.

    Waist circumference is an indicator of the health risks associated with excess fat around the waist. A waist circumference of 40 inches or more in men, or 35 inches or more in women, is associated with health problems such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Ideally, everyone should aim to keep their waist measurement less than half that of their height, according to scientists. That means a 6ft (72 inch) tall man should aim to keep his waist less than 36 inches, while a 5ft 4in (64 inch) woman should keep hers under 32 inches.

    Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Metabolic syndrome includes obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, and irregular cholesterol levels. The risk of metabolic syndrome increases with age, and about 1 in 3 adults have metabolic syndrome.

    Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the US, as it has been for the past 100 years. Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death. Together, they claimed more lives in 2021 in the U.S. than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined. High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. Yet, diabetes, overweight and obesity can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease.

    The links between all of these chronic diseases is striking. Having high blood pressure puts you at risk for heart disease and stroke. If you have diabetes, you are twice as likely to have high blood pressure. Yet, people with high blood pressure usually have insulin resistance and have an increased risk of developing diabetes compared to those with normal blood pressure. So the relationship between diabetes and high blood pressure is a two-way street. Diabetes is the top cause of kidney failure. High blood pressure is the second most common cause of kidney failure. High LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in the bloodstream may increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Overweight and obesity may increase your risk for developing a wide array health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers.

    Link after link after link. The connection between chronic conditions is stark.

    Yet, being thin doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re healthy. Thin people might still have cancer, diabetes or heart disease, for example.

    Health is comprehensive and encompasses a number of factors including nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress levels, lifestyle choices, and more. Weight is just one small piece of the puzzle and should never be used as the sole indicator of overall health.

    Wellness requires us to think holistically and address all indicators of health. Obsessing and stressing over one factor, such as weight status, can stunt progress and lead to decreased mental wellbeing.

    It’s important to recognize that medical interventions contribute less than 10% to overall health. Meanwhile, nutritional status accounts for a remarkable 80%. Nutrition addresses the root causes of diseases, whereas drugs often only alleviate symptoms. What we eat really matters… a lot.

    We know that exercise certainly improves health and wellness. Yet, a staggering 80% of US adults and adolescents are insufficiently active, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. What’s more, those leading sedentary lifestyles face a 20-30% higher risk of mortality compared to those who participate in at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week, according to the World Health Organization.

    Numerous studies show that consistent exercise decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, many cancers, cognitive decline and mental illness. Meanwhile, a sedentary life is associated with an increase in cardiometabolic disease and shortened lifespans.

    While there are many reasons that people exercise, in my view it shouldn’t be about having the best butt or bigger biceps; it’s about being a happier, more fulfilled, more self-satisfied person. Everyone recognizes that exercise can change your body, but it can also change your mood, your attitude, and even your mind.

    Wellbeing is not just the absence of disease or illness. It’s a complex combination of a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and social health factors. Wellbeing is strongly linked to happiness and life satisfaction. In short, wellbeing could be described as how you feel about yourself and your life.

    Researchers agree that health-related quality of life is multi-dimensional and includes domains that are related to physical, mental, emotional and social functioning, and the social context in which people live. That said, loneliness and social disconnectedness are two of the greatest challenges of the modern era. Social isolation and loneliness are now considered demonstrated risk factors for depression and cancer. Our social connections, or lack thereof, really affect our health.

    Loneliness takes a toll on our health. It can lead to high blood pressure, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Loneliness has been linked to the progression of Alzheimer’s, raising the likelihood of dementia by 40%. And it can also double the risk of Type-2 diabetes. One study found that loneliness can be as much of a long-term risk factor as smoking. As a consequence, chronically lonely people tend to have an 83% higher mortality risk than those who feel less isolated.

    Brigham Young University researchers have revealed that loneliness is deadlier than obesity and should now be considered a major public health hazard. They discovered that lonely people had a 50% increased risk of early death, compared to those with good social connections. In contrast, obesity raises the chance of dying before the age of 70 by around 30%. Humans are social animals. We need community, we need friends. While solitude may be nice sometimes, loneliness isn’t.

    Research also shows that mindset really matters when it comes to health, and it can even extend your life. A classic study found that people who were optimistic about aging lived seven and a half years longer than those who had negative perceptions of it.

    The takeaway is that our health is mostly in our own hands. We can be proactive and we can largely control our own destiny. We are not fated to ill health, even if our parents or grandparents had specific diseases. Most of the diseases that modern Americans suffer from are lifestyle disease, meaning they’re the result of the way we live and the choices we make.

    We can make better choices to improve our health, the quality of our life, and even our life expectancy. We also need to remember that stress reduction and social connection play a big role in our wellbeing. We can do better, and we must do better. Our very lives depend on it.

    It’s preferable that your doctor tells you that you look better on the inside than on the outside. Your biomarkers really matter, and you should know them.

  • Honor Your Body Clock, Create Circadian Alignment

    Honor Your Body Clock, Create Circadian Alignment

    Scientists have isolated the body-clock genes that control 24-hour light-dark circadian rhythm, and it’s now known that every cell in the body has a synchronized clock. 
     
    The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded to three scientists who discovered the body clock gene and its critical role in metabolic function. In a world of 24/7 non-stop chaotic eating, relentless stress, continuous screen-gazing, sedentary lifestyle and sleep deprivation, time has become irrelevant. These constant 21st century disruptions of the powerful cellular body clock cycles (aka, circadian rhythm) are wreaking life-threatening havoc on mental and physical health, resulting in obesity, metabolic syndrome, cancer and diabetes.
     
    “We didn’t realize at the time that this clock would be represented all over the body in many different tissues and control so many different biological processes that we go through every day,” says Michael Young MD, 2017 Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology. “It left us with the understanding that our whole bodies are rhythmically active.”  
     
    Circadian Alignment is when the central and peripheral clocks are aligned: bright light during daytime, sleep at night, and food intake during daytime. Circadian Misalignment is when the central and peripheral clocks are misaligned: light at night, sleep during daytime, and food intake at night.
     
    This misalignment has become normalized. According to a recent study of the eating habits of more than 34,000 U.S. adults, nearly 60 percent said it was normal for them to eat after 9 p.m. 
     
    Yet, time-restricted eating (12-16 hours of non-eating) has proven to be the best match to our circadian clocks. This means we need to eliminate nocturnal eating. We should stop eating by 6-7pm and not eat again for at least 12 hours (14 hours is the sweet spot).
     
    Our bodies have evolved to process nutrients during the day, and to conserve energy at night. The body uses energy to repair all of its systems at night, while we sleep. Disrupting that natural rhythm can cause problems.
     
    Several studies have found, for instance, that eating dinner within three hours of bedtime may worsen heartburn or acid reflux symptoms. And limited research has suggested that eating one to three hours before bedtime is associated with more disrupted sleep.
     
    The most intriguing research on late-night eating, however, has focused on its relationship with body weight and metabolic health.
     
    In one 2019 study of nearly 900 middle-aged and older U.S. adults, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that those who consumed roughly 100 calories or more within two hours of bedtime were about 80 percent more likely to be overweight or to have obesity than those who did not eat during that window. Researchers have found similar results in adults in Sweden and Japan.
     
    And in a 2023 study of more than 850 adults in Britain, those who regularly snacked after 9 p.m. had higher levels of HbA1c, a marker for diabetes risk, and greater spikes in blood sugars and fats after daytime meals than those who did not typically consume late-night snacks.
     
    Research has also found that carbohydrates consumed in the evening result in greater blood sugar spikes than those consumed earlier in the day. That is in part because melatonin, a sleep-promoting hormone that increases in the evening, dampens the secretion of insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels. Elevated blood sugars could eventually damage blood vessels and increase the risk of developing high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes.
     
    Research suggests that it’s best to avoid eating for three to four hours before your usual bedtime. We should be eating during an 8-12 hour window, allowing 12-16 hours for regeneration. We should also be sleeping for 7-8 hours each night. 
     
    A regular bed time is critical for your health and wellness, as is a regular waking time. Additionally, sleeping too long can affect your ability to fall asleep that night. After a good night’s sleep, most people need to be awake around 16 hours before they feel sleepy again.
     
    Going to sleep between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm is associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease compared to earlier or later bedtimes, according to a recent study by the European Society of Cardiology. Early or late bedtimes may be more likely to disrupt the body’s circadian clock, with adverse consequences for cardiovascular health, according to the study’s authors.
     
    The incidence of cardiovascular disease was highest in those with sleep times at midnight or later (25% higher risk) and lowest in those with sleep onset from 10:00 to 10:59 pm. There was also a 24% higher risk for falling asleep before 10:00 pm. Yes, the body clock is that precise and sensitive. 
     
    Humans are not nocturnal animals; we are diurnal. We need to honor our innate body clock by eating and sleeping in a manner that naturally suits us and promotes health.
  • Loneliness Has Become Endemic and It’s Harming Our Health

    Loneliness Has Become Endemic and It’s Harming Our Health

    lone·li·ness| ˈlōnlēnəs | noun
    sadness because one has no friends or company: feelings of depression and loneliness. 
    • the fact of being without companions; solitariness: the loneliness of a sailor’s life.
     
    We’ve all felt lonely from time to time in our lives. But there’s something much deeper going right now, and it’s really troubling.
     
    Loneliness rates are now at unprecedented highs. Multiple studies show that we’re in the midst of a growing loneliness epidemic. Even before the pandemic, nearly half of all Americans said they were lonely. 
     
    Covid only made the problem worse. Data collected in December 2021 found that 58% of US adults considered themselves lonely. Yet, the end of the pandemic surely hasn’t made loneliness go away.
     
    With young adults, the problem of loneliness is even more pervasive. In a recent survey conducted by Cigna, researchers found that almost 80% of young adults from the ages of 18 to 24 reported feeling lonely.  
     
    However, loneliness isn’t just an American phenomena. It’s becoming a public health emergency in other nations too, so much so that countries like Japan and the United Kingdom have appointed Ministries of Loneliness to tackle the problem in recent years. There are good reasons for these concerted national efforts.
     
    Chronic loneliness and isolation can harm both mental and physical health, contributing to conditions such as obesity, inactivity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, anxiety and poor sleep, which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
     
    Yes, loneliness actually takes a toll on our physical health. Loneliness can double the risk of Type 2 diabetes and has been linked to increased inflammation, heart disease, stroke and even premature death. Quite famously, a 2010 study by Brigham Young University found that loneliness shortens a person’s life by 15 years. Remarkably, chronically lonely people tend to have an 83% higher mortality risk than those who feel less isolated.
     
    “Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation has been an underappreciated public health crisis that has harmed individual and societal health,” says US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. He details how much social disconnection increases the risk of certain health issues: heart disease (29 percent), stroke (32 percent) and dementia (50 percent). All because we lack connection with others. We are fundamentally built for social connection. It’s hardwired into our human operating system. 

    Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were supposedly going to solve this, but it seems just the opposite has happened. Studies reveal that the more time people spend on their devices, the more lonely they often feel. People are more connected now than ever — through phones, social media, Zoom, etc. — yet loneliness continues to rise. Among the most digitally connected — teenagers and young adults — loneliness nearly doubled between 2012-2018, coinciding with the explosion in social media use.
     
    Anywhere you go in the world, the evidence shows that people who are more socially connected, people who interact and intentionally spend time with their friends and family members, are happier.
     
    Neuroscience has validated the importance of connections and illustrates how the human brain is hardwired to form personal connections. For example, scientists describe how people’s experiences leave a physical imprint on their brains.
     
    Experiences involving important social connections, such as love, friendship and family bonds, or those involving shame and trauma, physically register in the brain along neuropathways. Studies validate the influence of relational connections on physical and emotional well-being.
     
    Social connections are so essential to the health and well-being of humans that they share a neurological pathway with physical pain. The human body and mind do not differentiate between physical pain and social rejection or isolation in terms of the amount of stress placed on the body. Brain‐imaging studies have demonstrated that neglect by one’s peers stimulates the same areas of the brain as does physical pain.
     
    This is a real problem because less than half of American men report being satisfied with their friendships, and only about 1 in 5 said they had received emotional support from a friend in the last week, compared with 4 in 10 women, according to a 2021 survey from the Survey Center on American Life.
     
    Thirty years ago, a majority of men (55%) reported having at least six close friends. Today, that number has been cut in half. Slightly more than one in four (27%) men now have six or more close friends. Fifteen percent of men have no close friendships at all, a fivefold increase since 1990. 
     
    One large survey showed that the number of Americans who say they have zero close friends has quadrupled in the past 30 years. The numbers are especially bleak for men, with only 48% saying they are satisfied with the number of friends they have. 
     
    It’s important to get connected with real people in real life, not just online or on social media. Reach out to old friends and re-cultivate lost or faded friendships. When you do go online, look for local groups that share your interests; Meet Up is a good example. There are men’s groups and men’s circles, for example, that provide a sense of kinship and belonging. 
     
    There are many, many reasons to avoid isolation and loneliness. Reach out. Get connected. 
  • Adverse Childhood Experiences Have Adverse Effects on Adult Health

    Adverse Childhood Experiences Have Adverse Effects on Adult Health

    In 1985, Dr. Vincent Felitti was running an obesity program at his San Diego-based clinic. He discovered that the people most likely to drop out of the program were the ones successfully losing weight. Upon further inquiry, Dr. Felitti found that 55% of the people in the program acknowledged a history of childhood sexual abuse. Many of the women indicated that they believed their physical size helped to ward off sexual advances from men. For these women, excess weight was meant to be protective. For them, losing weight was not deemed helpful.
     
    Backing Felitti’s findings, longitudinal studies suggest that self-reported physical and sexual abuse during childhood greatly increase one’s risk for severe obesity in adulthood. One analysis using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health found more than double the risk for abused females and more than triple for abused males, compared to individuals with no history of abuse.
     
    This made Dr. Felitti, the founder of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Kaiser Permanente, wonder whether adverse experiences prior to one’s 18th birthday could be related to other negative health outcomes in adulthood. So, he initiated a study to find out.
     
    Now one of the world’s foremost experts on childhood trauma, Dr. Felitti is the co-principal investigator of the internationally recognized Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, a long-term, in-depth, analysis of more than 17,000 middle-class adults, 75% of whom were white. Done in conjunction with the CDC, the ACE study was conducted at Kaiser Permanente from 1995 to 1997.
     
    Again, the participants were largely white, middle-class adults, and they were mostly educated people. In fact, 39.3% were college graduates or higher, and 35.9% had attended at least some college.
     
    The ACE study found that traumatic experiences in childhood, which are often protected for many years by shame and secrecy, can play out a half-century later in terms of emotional state, disease, and even life expectancy. The ACE study examined 10 categories of adverse childhood experiences due to their prevalence:
     
    1. Physical abuse
    2. Sexual abuse
    3. Verbal/emotional abuse
    4. Physical neglect
    5. Emotional neglect
    6. Witnessing a mother being abused
    7. A family member who is depressed, suicidal or diagnosed with other mental illness
    8. A family member who is addicted to alcohol or another substance
    9. Losing a parent to separation, divorce or death
    10. A family member who is in prison
     
    The ACEs study found a strong association between the number of adverse childhood experiences and later-life mental and physical health problems, such as heart disease, COPD, higher rates of STDs, and even premature death.
     
    Adverse childhood experiences dramatically increase the risk for seven of the 10 leading causes of death in the US. In high doses, they affect brain development, the immune system, hormonal systems, and even the way that DNA is read and transcribed. People who are exposed to very high doses have triple the lifetime risk of heart disease and lung cancer, and a significant difference in life expectancy.
     
    The ACEs study found that 67% of the population had at least one ACE; almost 25% of American adults have been exposed to three or more ACEs; and 12.6% (1 in 8) had four or more ACEs. The higher the ACE score, the worse the health outcomes are.
     
    In a middle-class population, one in 11 people experienced six or more of those adverse experiences in childhood. A so-called ACE score of six (experiencing any six of the 10 categories) made that person 4,600% more likely to become an IV drug user than a person who had experienced none of those categories. An ACE score of six also produces a likelihood of attempting suicide that is between 3,100%-5,000% greater than someone with none of these categories.
     
    An ACE score of six also shortens life expectancy by about 20 years.
     
    The findings showed that people who experienced four or more adverse childhood events (1 in 8 people) had:
     
    • Increased risk for smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse
    • Increased risk for depression and suicide attempts
    • Poor self-rated health
    • 50 or more sexual partners
    • Greater likelihood of sexually transmitted disease
    • Challenges with physical inactivity and severe obesity
     
    These individuals end up with a great likelihood of disease states in adulthood for two primary reasons:
     
    1. The use of various coping devices (i.e., smoking, drinking and overeating) that become destructive over time and
    2. The effect of chronic, major unrelieved stress on the brain and CNS can produce a chronic release of pro-inflammatory chemicals into the body and suppress the immune system.
     
    The good news is that ACEs can be screened, prevented and healed. Validating one’s existing strengths and protective factors is important. Some of the strategies that can be employed include:
     
    • Supportive relationships, including other family members and peers
    • High-quality, sufficient sleep
    • Balanced nutrition
    • Regular physical activity
    • Mindfulness and meditation
    • Experiencing nature
    • Mental health care, including psychotherapy or psychiatric care, and substance use disorder treatment, when indicated
     
    The widespread nature of adverse childhood experiences is a reminder that you never know what someone is going through at any given moment or why. It’s a reminder for us to refrain from judgement, and to always be kind.
  • Sean Kennedy: Health & Happiness Coach

    Sean Kennedy: Health & Happiness Coach

    Though my professional titles have long been Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (what a mouthful!), I’ve long thought of myself as a Health & Happiness Coach.
     
    I’m less interested in helping people build a physical monument to themselves (or their egos) than I am in helping them be happier, more confident and more self-fulfilled. I try to get people to focus less on the amount of fat or muscle on their bodies and more on reducing stress, improving self-esteem, sleeping better, lowering blood pressure and resting heart rate, developing better mobility and balance, and building stronger bones, ligaments and tendons, as well as muscles.
     
    A single workout increases neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline, and these mood boosters can also improve your memory and focus for up to three hours afterwards. Research shows that exercise even lowers anxiety levels, and it does it rather quickly — in about 10 minutes. So, exercise helps your mental health, as well as your cognition. Even a brisk walk can help boost your neurotransmitters and mood.
     
    Scientists at Duke University Medical Center tested three groups with depression. One was prescribed exercise; one was prescribed Zoloft; and the third was prescribed a combination of the two. Remarkably, the group that just exercised had the best results. And exercise seemed to do a better job of keeping the depression symptoms from coming back.
     
    Indeed, exercise has a multitude of positive effects; it even helps your brain grow new neurons. During a process called neurogenesis, new neurons (brain cells) develop in the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for learning information, storing long-term memories, and regulating emotions.
     
    Exercise also promotes brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells in many important cortical areas of the brain.
     
    Yes, exercise even leads to a happier, healthier brain!
     
    The physical, emotional and mental benefits of exercise are numerous. So, there are bountiful reasons make regular exercise part of your weekly or even daily life.
     
    Yet, our wellbeing can be affected by more than just exercise.
     
    For example, there is a vital connection between the brain and the gut, where 90% of our serotonin receptors are located. The truth is, the foods we eat not only affect our physical health, but also our emotional wellbeing.
     
    Ultra-processed foods and foods that contain chemical additives negatively affect our gut health and increases our risk of illness. Ultra-processed foods, such as fast foods, are typically cheap, and they’re scientifically designed to be extra tasty and make you overeat. Even worse, ultra-processed foods are known cause inflammation and disease.
     
    On the other hand, a recent study found that fiber might be linked with a reduced risk of depression, especially in pre-menopausal women. Previous studies had already suggested the benefits of fiber for mental health. The link between dietary fiber and depression may be partially explained by gut-brain interactions, since fiber improves the richness and diversity of gut microbiota. It’s theorized that changes in gut-microbiota composition may affect neurotransmission.
     
    Additionally, according to the Cleveland Clinic, protein consumption (from foods like fish, beef, chicken, turkey, tofu, beans, eggs and unsweetened yogurt) has been linked to higher levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, the brain chemicals that play a role in your mood, motivation and concentration.
     
    So, our diets can indeed affect our mood state and mental wellbeing, as well as our physical wellbeing.
     
    Finding healthy ways to manage our stress is also very important. The stress hormone cortisol is known to interfere with immune functioning and even the workings of the cardiovascular system. In fact, stress is an underrated, yet profound, factor in the development of cardiovascular disease. Stress exacerbates cholesterol levels, raises blood pressure and heart rate, and it often creates the kind of pressure that prevents a person from engaging in enough healthy self-care activities.
     
    So, it’s important to find healthy ways to mitigate and manage stress. Lowering your stress levels with relaxation techniques, such as meditation, can reduce your risk of health problems.
     
    However, people often turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as food, alcohol, drugs and impulsive shopping to cope with life’s stresses. Yet, these things ultimately make our stresses even worse in the long run. Meditation, on the other hand, can be helpful in managing stress and anxiety, as well as a variety of other health conditions. Research studies have shown that regular meditation can actually change the physical structure and cognitive function of the brain.
     
    Ultimately, true wellness requires a comprehensive, holistic approach, where all of these factors are considered and implemented.
     
    It may seem intuitive or self-evident that being unhealthy could make someone unhappy, and there’s evidence to support that notion. A study at George Mason University found that the degree to which a disease disrupts daily functioning is associated with reduced happiness. According to the lead author of the study, “these results support the notion that health status is one of the most important predictors of happiness.”
     
    A study of the “Economic Determinants of Happiness,” based on data gathered by the U.S. Census, revealed that health is a far more powerful determinant of an individual’s happiness than his or her income, marital status, age or any other factor. In fact, self-described “healthy” people are 20 percent happier than average, while “unhealthy” people are 8.25 percent less happy.
     
    Okay, but how about the inverse? Can being happy make you more healthy?
     
    According to researchers at Southern Methodist University, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that people’s overall sense of life satisfaction and typical levels of happiness are linked to physical health.
     
    And, according to Harvard Medical School, scientific evidence suggests that positive emotions can help make life longer and healthier.
     
    Furthermore, according to Northwestern Medicine, happiness lowers your risk for cardiovascular disease, lowers your blood pressure, enables better sleep, improves your diet, allows you to maintain a normal body weight through regular exercise and reduces stress.
     
    Clearly, happiness and health are interrelated. And most research suggests that the connection between happiness and health is bidirectional. This means that greater wellbeing leads to better physical health, and better physical health leads to greater wellbeing. One thing leads to the other.
     
    This is why I have always taken a “whole-being” approach to health and wellness. We can’t simply focus on having a little less body fat, bigger biceps or a better butt and expect to be necessarily healthier and/or happier. Certainly, seeing improvements in your physique can be positive and uplifting. But adequate sleep, good nutrition and stress reduction are also vital to our overall wellbeing.
     
    Seeing verifiable improvements in your biomarkers (i.e., blood pressure, resting heart rate, LDL cholesterol, etc.) is not only a clear indication of improving physical health, it also gives you a big boost emotionally and mentally — even if your biceps don’t get any bigger or your butt doesn’t necessarily look better.
     
    Ultimately, exercise, a nutritious diet, meditation, and other forms of self-care can make us healthier, happier, and mentally sharper, all of which are very worthwhile pursuits.
     
    If you’d like help in forging a healthier lifestyle, please reach out to me. It could very well make you happier, too!
  • Exercise to Be Happier and More Fulfilled

    Exercise to Be Happier and More Fulfilled

    There are many reasons that people exercise. In my view — and this is what I try to impart to my clients — it’s not about having the best butt or bigger biceps; it’s about being a happier, more fulfilled, more self-satisfied person.  

    I’ve been in the been in the business of health, wellness and fitness for over 20 years, and I have to admit that my definition of health and wellness has certainly broadened over the years. Once upon a time, if you asked me to define health, I would have listed these parameters: an absence of chronic disease (i.e. coronary artery disease; hypertension; metabolic syndrome; diabetes, etc.), a healthy resting heart rate, low triglycerides, and an absence of obesity. 
     
    However, over the years, I’ve come to recognize that physical wellbeing is only part of the health equation. Mental and emotional wellbeing are vitally important, and our social wellbeing plays a significant role in both.
     
    First, let’s define these terms:
     
    Physical well-being relates to vigor and vitality, feeling very healthy and full of energy.
     
    Mental well-being includes being satisfied with one’s life; balancing positive and negative emotions; accepting one’s self; finding purpose and meaning in one’s life; seeking personal growth, autonomy and competence; believing one’s life and circumstances are under one’s control; and generally experiencing optimism.
     
    Social well-being involves providing and receiving quality support from family, friends and others.
     
    When assessing overall wellbeing, it’s important to assess: the quality of our relationships; our positive emotions and resilience; whether we’re realizing our potential; and our overall satisfaction with life.
     
    Though there are many factors that can contribute to our overall wellness, exercise is critical. There is abundant scientific research showing that exercise improves mood and makes participants happier. 
     
    Exercise promotes chemicals in the brain that improve your mood and make you more relaxed. Specifically, the brain releases feel-good chemicals called endorphins throughout the body. Physical activity also reduces anxiety and depressed mood.
     
    Exercise provides numerous other psychological benefits, such as better sleep, reduced stress, improved self-esteem and greater confidence.
     
    There are so many behaviors that can lead us to feelings of guilt: eating too many sweets or too much junk food; overeating in general; drinking too much; smoking; drug use; sleeping too little; being sedentary; not exercising, etc. With any of the aforementioned, it’s easy to say afterward, “I shouldn’t have done that.” Regrets are not fun. 
     
    But, other than the rare instance of injury, no one ever finishes a workout and says, “Man, I shouldn’t have done that.” Nobody feels guilty after a workout.
     
    There is an undeniable positive-emotion component to exercise. It makes us feel like we did something very worthwhile for ourselves, when so many of our other behaviors can make us feel unworthy. 
     
    Many adults may feel that their lives are in service to others: their kids, their spouse, their aging parents, their boss, etc. When we exercise, we feel that we are in service to ourselves; it’s our time for ourselves.
     
    Regular exercise is a great confidence and morale booster. You don’t necessarily need to aim for a particular weight-loss goal. Just aim for just feeling better about yourself, physically and emotionally.
     
    Exercise even helps your brain grow new neurons. In this process, called neurogenesis, new neurons (brain cells) develop in the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for learning information, storing long-term memories, and regulating emotions.
     
    Exercise also promotes brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells in many important cortical areas of the brain. 
     
    Yes, exercise leads to a happier, healthier brain!
     
    A regular exercise program may also have a domino effect, leading you to other healthier habits, such as eating more whole foods. Those two behaviors, in tandem, will ultimately change your physique, but they will also make you feel better physically and mentally. Everyone would feel better if they knew they were taking positive steps in their lives and working on self-improvement.
     
    So, don’t set a specific weight-loss target or make sculpted arms or chiseled abs your goal. Simply set a goal to feel happier, more positive and better about yourself. Exercise can serve those agendas.
     
    What better goals could anyone have? After all, there’s so much more to exercise than just how you look.