Ok obviously some signs of stress are abundantly clear – like rapid heart rate, a twitchy eye etc. But in this month’s Prevention magazine, they listed a few signs that you might find surprising.  Sadly, I have experienced ALL of these firsthand…

• Weekend Headaches -”A sudden drop in stress can prompt migraines, says Todd Schwedt, MD, director of the Washington University Headache Center. Stick closely to your weekday sleeping and each schedule to minimize other triggers.”

This is one that used to happen to me a lot – I always called them my “post-stress” migraines. It was at its peak during college – I’d get the migraines AFTER all of my finals were over. Or actually, worse than that, after the worst exams were over but when I was finishing up the others. Very disruptive….Ended up doing biofeedback work that helped (along with lots of advil!).

• An achy mouth -”A sore jaw may be a sign of teeth grinding, which can be worsened by stress, says Matthew Messina, DDS, a consumer advisor to the American Dental Association. Ask your dentist about a nighttime mouth guard – up to 70% of people who use one reduce grinding or stop it altogether.”

Again – in college I was a terrible teeth grinder. Can you tell I internalized stress? Is this TMI (too much information) ?  I’m sure my roommate loved it! ThankfullyI think I’ve overcome this one.

• Odd Dreams “Dreams usually get progressively more positive as you sleep, so you wake  up happier than you were before bed, says Rosalind Cartwright, PhD, and emeritus professor of psychology at Rush University Medical Center. When stressed, you wake up more often, disrupting this process and allowing unpleasant imagery all night. Good sleep habits can also prevent this; aim for 7 to 8 hours a night, and avoid caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime.”

Yep – add this to my list too. I remember having terrible, freaky dreams throughout grad school and even into my regular “corporate” life when I had big projects due. Once in awhile they pop up again, which is a clear sign for me that I need to chill. It’s typically now when I have too much going on and I’m afraid I’m going to drop a ball somewhere.

Well, now that you know way more than you wanted to about my bad habit of internalizing stress (which I have worked on improving over the years – and thankfully it seems to have gotten much much better), I figured I’d throw in Prevention’s suggestions for relieving stress. This page has a ton of links – and they are worth a look. Whether you want quick tips to use throughout the day or more lifestyle changes that can help you destress overall, they’ve got some great suggestions.

http://www.prevention.com/health/health/emotional-health/stress

And of course – just exercising regularly can help tremendously. My new addiction? Wii Fit! Love it. I’m convinced my key to getting rid of belly squish is through Wii Fit Hula Hoop! Fingers crossed…

The problem with the holiday season, I think, is not necessarily that there is so much AMAZING and yummy food around all the time – it’s that there’s never enough time to burn off the calories. ‘Tis the season to run around like a madwoman so typically our days are packed with regular life plus all the extra activities that come with the holidays. That leaves little – if any- time to exercise and burn off those gingerbread cookies, chocolate + candy, and those incredibly yummy little pretzel-with-the-Rolo-and-M&M thingies.

So I was particularly intrigued by some tips in this month’s Prevention magazine for tips to make “Small Changes that take off Big Pounds”. Sounds good, right? They had 11 great tips, but many of them are the typical ones that you hear – keep a food diary (blech), limit high fat foods to once per week (really? doesn’t sound fun), and climb more stairs.

However, they did have some ones that were new to me – or an interesting twist on an oldie-but-goodie. Here are my favs:

1. Sign up for healthy newsletters. Apparently a recent study from Kaiser Permanente found that “people who received weekly e-mails about diet and fitness for 16 weeks substantially increased their levels of physical activity and intake of helathy foods while cutting back on trans and saturated fats.” Huh! I have a favorite – Deborah Enos sends a daily email (or is it weekly?) that is touted as taking only 20 seconds to read and it always has something interesting and helpful. You can sign up for it on her website: http://www.deborahenos.com/. I am also a big fan of the WebMD emails.
2. Walk 5 minutes more every day. This one is not new, but they had some interesting ideas – walk around the perimeter of the grocery store before you start shopping, move in place whenever you are on the phone, go through or around the entire shopping mall instead of parking next to the store you need.
3. Take 10 minutes to eat a treat. I should REALLY try this – I inhale sweets. They are a little over the top with this one, however, since they say “take a minute to smell it, look at it and think about it.” I dunno – I think that’s a bit odd. But taking small bites and chewing slowly is definitely something I’m going to try. They say that by taking more time to eat something you are more likely to feel more satisfied. You also might find that you are content after only a few bites.
4. Obey the 1 mile rule when doing errands. I would be even more gung-ho about this one were it not snowing heavily outside as I write this. But the concept is that you should walk briskly to do any errands that are 1 mile away or less. If that’s not feasible – then park in one location to go to multiple stores (good for when you shop in a town center). They say that Americans use their car for two-thirds of all trips that are less than 1 mile away. Yipes! I have to say – we live 1/2 mile from our town center and I love being able to walk into town to do errands or go out to eat.

The article in Prevention cited recent research from the Annals of Behavioral Medicine found that “participants who made one small, potentially permanent change in tehir food choices and/or physical activity each week lost more than twice as much belly fat, 2 1/2 more inches off their waistlines, and about 4 times more weight during a 4 month program, compared with those who followed traditional calorie-restriction and physical-activity guidelines.”

Check out the article to read all of the tips. You never know – there might be a few that will help you get through this season made almost entirely of calories.

You’ve heard them all before. Crazy diets, new theories, weight-loss schemes. When it comes down to it – people are going back to the basics. Exercise and calories. There are all kinds of ways to squeeze in exercise so there’s literally almost no excuse. And meals? Well maybe you can find a way to tweak what you’re eating and lose a few pounds.

A recent article in Prevention Magazine highlighted a sample day with 4 meals – each with 400 calories or less. They say for “active women over 40″ the easiest way to lose weight is to eat four 400 calorie meals daily. They believe that this “fuels energy, revs metabolism, and keeps you feeling full longer” which will result in weight loss.

Sounds easy? Well the way the spell it out, it looks pretty straightforward.

The meals they showed actually sounded pretty good (and filling):

Hearty Breakfast: Egg Sandwich (with egg whites, avocado, lowfat cheese and tomato)

Fast & Easy Lunch: Personal Pizza (top a whole wheat pita with veggies, lowfat cheese and chicken)

Dinner: Pasta (using Amy’s Bowls Stuffed Pasta Shells – sounds easy!!)

Sweet Treat: Yogurt Parfait (this is where they lose me – where’s the ice cream? The chocolate? – I guess that wouldn’t really work….)

Check out the full article here: http://www.prevention.com/400/ for these recipes plus a bunch more.

In this issue they also have a plan to build up from walking to running. That’s something I need to start doing – I love walking but really do not like running. Maybe this plan could help me like it more? That really would be a miracle!

So I just read a little article in Prevention magazine this week. It said that doing a few 30 second “sprints” with rest in between for a few days a week was as beneficial to your heart as multiple 30 minute cardio workouts. Being an inherent exercise-slacker, I, of course, was totally intrigued. So I checked online to see if I could verify this study, and sure enough – there it is, it’s all over the web. And there have apparently been quite a few studies!

A good summary is in this About.com article. They say that “recent studies of sprint training with cyclists showed greater cardiovascular results in less time. In fact, one study found that just six sessions of four to seven all-out thirty-second sprints (with four minutes of recovery between sprints) could be as effective at improving cardiovascular fitness as an hour of daily moderate-level aerobic exercise.”

Another website WeBeFit.com quotes a different study – they said a researcher at McMaster University in Canada wanted to find out just how little exercise was needed to see a benefit (I like his style!). So they split their study into 2 groups – one group did the sprint exercises, and the other did the more traditional 40-60 minutes of moderate cycling for 5 days a week. The other group did 4-6 all-out sprints with 4.5 minutes of rest in between for 3 days a week. The study showed that the arteries of both groups had improved equally! And when they calculated the time difference it was astonishing – the traditional workout group spent 1,500 minutes excercising over the 6 week test period, while the test group exercised a total of only 45 minutes (not including the rest time)!!

Sounds good, eh? These articles also give some guidelines to setting up a workout – especially the About.com summary. So I have been trying my own little version on the exercise bike (yes – somewhat motivated by the same reason as the lady in the cartoon). It is actually pretty interesting. You really do have to go all out for the 30 seconds as it says in the article. I’m not talking just fast – I’m talking you want to collapse after those 30 seconds. But then you get to just relax and bike slowly for a couple of minutes before you have to do it again. Really – it seems to me that it is quite similar to some of the pre-programmed sessions on the exercise bikes at the gym. But it is nice to be able to sleep in an extra 15-20 minutes! So here’s to a new phase – until I tire of this one too and look for something else

When I started reading this article on WebMD I sort of felt like this was one of those “no DUH” things. Of course exercise is good and is going to help you lose weight. But after reading the article, I realized that the principal had not been studied on older folks as well. And lo and behold – this theory holds true for young or old!

Check out the article on Exercise vs. Diets: Weighing the Benefit from WebMD. It gives examples of how combining the two is going to pay off – and explains why it helps you to lose weight faster and more efficiently.

Let’s face it, exercising is hard work. It’s easier to skip the exercising and we often feel that we just don’t have time. Believe me – I’m saying this from personal struggles that I face each week. I go in waves – sometimes I am really into staying in shape, and then other times I just can’t motivate. It’s definitely hard to fit in when you juggle a family, kids schedules and full time (or more than full-time!) work.

I am back on track these days – my husband got me something called the Fluidity Bar which I absolutely LOVE. And no, I wasn’t offended that he bought me exercise equipment. It was out of the kindness of his heart – he knew I was frustrated trying to find time to exercise. Now I can do this in the early morning before the kids get up. It’s been great! And I’ve stuck with it for 2+ months so that’s a good sign for me

Anyway, the point is not what works for me – it’s finding what works for you! I’m sure many of you already have some great tips for fitting it in – I’d love to hear them!