I liked the linking to great articles a few days ago that I thoight I would do it again today. Here are some of the fitness and health articles that I have enjoyed so far today.

I have talked a bit in the past about meditation and although I used to meditate every day I have not done it in a while. Maybe Zen Habits list will help me get started again.
Meditation for Beginners: 20 Practical Tips for Quieting the Mind

Mens Health has 50 ways that you can try to live longer by living healthier. I do likeMens Health although they often seem like they are writing for 18 year old guys…guess that is their target market.
50 Ways To Beat The Reaper – Men’s Health

Lifehacker is a great site for articles about anything to increase your productivity. This article is one that looks into ways to improve your mental ability and concentration on a daily basis, at work or at home.
Mind Hacks: Ten Ways to Defeat Brain Drain

Get the action habit. Here are 7 quick tips on starting to do instead of just thinking about doing.
Going Vegan

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: fitness and health, live longer, meditation, mens health, zen, zen habits

One of the things that came up on the first episode of the Biggest Loser a couple days ago was fitness tips from the pros. Alison Sweeney, the new Biggest Loser Host asked Kim Lyons and Bob Harper what their top tips would be for losing weight.

Kim Lyons said that her number one tips would be to stay away from diet soda. The diet soda fools your body and the caffiene will retain water.

Bob Harper said that the inner mind part is the most important part of weight loss and keeping it off. He said that Yoga and meditation are great ways to keep your mind focussed so that you do not get distracted from your goal of losing weight.

Jillian Michaels was not on the show as I guess they are still trying to keep her as a surprise so no tips from Jillian this week.

Tags: Alison Sweeney, bob harper, jillian michaels, kim lyons, meditation, the Biggest Loser

Any decision you make about your health care is important–including deciding whether to use acupuncture. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has developed this fact sheet to provide you with information on acupuncture. It includes frequently asked questions, issues to consider, and a list of sources for further information. Terms that are underlined are defined at the end of this fact sheet.

Key Points
Acupuncture originated in China more than 2,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest and most commonly used medical procedures in the world.

It is important to inform all of your health care providers about any treatment that you are using or considering, including acupuncture. Ask about the treatment procedures that will be used and their likelihood of success for your condition or disease.

Be an informed consumer and find out what scientific studies have been done on the effectiveness of acupuncture for your health condition.

If you decide to use acupuncture, choose the practitioner with care. Also check with your insurer to see if the services will be covered.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: acupuncture, acupuncture points, Alternative Medicine, Asthma, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, chemotherapy, China, Complementary Medicine, complex chronic, cramps, energy, fatigue, fibromyalgia, headache, health care systems, insurance plans, irritable bowel syndrome, James Reston, Japan, Korea, Massage, meditation, meridians, muscle pain, National Center for Complementary, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institute of Health, nausea, negative energy, New York Times, Office of Alternative Medicine, osteoarthritis, pain, physician, placebos, positive energy, reporter, stroke, surgery, tennis elbow, traditional Chinese medicine, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, United States, vomiting, Web search engines

I think most people reading this weblog know that I am a pretty big fan of meditation and because of this I tend to find and post articles about meditation more than I should. I found this article at Psychology today and thought I would post it in its entirety.

In the highlands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, people look at life differently. Upon entering the local Buddhist monastery, there is a spectacular sculpture the size of a large oak. The intricate carving of clouds and patterns are painted in powerful colors. But as soon as winter gives way, this magnificent work will melt to nothing. The sculpture, in fact, is made of butter, and it is one of the highland people’s symbols of the transient nature of life.

And life here is not easy. Villagers bicycle to work before dawn and return home long after sunset. Many live with nothing more than dirt floors and rickety outhouses. Upon entering these modest mud-brick homes, you’ll find no tables or chairs — just a long platform bed, which sleeps a family of eight. However, when the people invite you in for tea, their smiles are wide and welcoming. How do they possess such inner calm in conditions we would call less than ideal?

When villagers cook, sew or plow the fields, they do so in a tranquil state. As an approach to life, weaving meditation seamlessly into almost every action throughout the day seems unfamiliar to Western cultures. Is there something we can glean from this way of life that will improve our own? The romantic notion of quitting everything and joining Tibetan monks on a mountaintop is not the only way to meditate. You don’t need to quit your job, give up your possessions and spend 30 years chanting. Recent research indicates that meditating brings about dramatic effects in as little as a 10-minute session. Several studies have demonstrated that subjects who meditated for a short time showed increased alpha waves (the relaxed brain waves) and decreased anxiety and depression.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: alpha waves, atherosclerosis, brain meditation, California, cancer, cardiovascular disease, Chicago, clinical psychologist, depression, Diana Adile Kirschner, energy, Fairfield, fight disease, Harvard Medical School, heart attack, heart disease, Herbert Benson, infertility, Iowa, Irvine, Mark Epstein, meditation, Monterey Park, MRI technology, New York City, pain, Philadelphia, psychiatrist, psychologist, Psychotherapy, Qinghai, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Rob Nairn, Roger Thomson, School of Management, Steven Hendlin, the American Journal of Psychotherapy, tibetan monks, welcome tool

I was off sick yesterday. Sometimes there will be a bug in the office and everyone seems to eventually catch it over a couple of month span. Over the last few years I have been able to stay away from getting sick very often at all using a couple rules:

Rule one is that I always try to exercise well. I have some really tough workouts and some not so tough workouts but I never try to push myself to hard over an extended period of days, the way that I look at it is that I can’t heal fast enough to get away with that and I know because I will get more and more tired as the week goes on.

Rule two is that I make sure that I sleep well so that I do not get tired during the day. I make sure that I get 7-8 hours sleep every night and as we all know that is not always possible. I make sure that after a few bad nights of sleep that I will cut back my exercise and get tow great nights sleep and start ramping up my exercise schedule again.

Sometimes you will not avoid a flu but over time I believe that I have caught fewer flues and recovered faster. Most of my sick days are more the mental health variety where I take a day off to recharge and make sure that I am doing all of the things that I write here about, exercise, vitamins, relaxation, sleep, meditation, and of course reflecting on all of these together with my exercise to make sure that I am not deficient in one or to strong in one at the determent of the others.

So this weekend as you are going through the paces of your regular off work week time eating and exercising try to take a few minutes to reflect how you are doing these things both during the week and during the weekend.

Tags: meditation, relaxation

Breathing is as you already know a very important action. All of us tend to breath very shallow and during any kind of exertion we will find that our chest gets sore because of a lack of stretching of our chest breathing deeply.

There are many benefits to proper breathing experts say it reduces the effects of stress, a leading cause of physical woes. Slow, deep breathing can lower blood pressure, end heart irregularities, improve poor digestion and decrease anxiety.

1. Lie down or sit in a comfortable chair, maintaining good posture. Your body should be as relaxed as possible. Close your eyes. Scan your body for tension.


2. Pay attention to your breathing. Place one hand on the part of your chest or abdomen that seems to rise and fall the most with each breath. If this spot is in your chest you are not utilizing the lower part of your lungs.


3. Breathe in through your nose.


4. Notice if your chest is moving in harmony with your abdomen.


5. Now place one hand on your abdomen and one on your chest.


6. Inhale deeply and slowly through your nose into your abdomen. You should feel your abdomen rise with this inhalation and your chest should move only a little. Do this inhaling for a count of 2


7. Hold your breath and hold it for a count of 8


8. Exhale through your mouth, keeping your mouth, tongue, and jaw relaxed. Let the exhale last for a count of 4.


9. Of course these breath numbers are based on taking a comfortable deep breath. The ratio of 1:4:2 is

the number of breaths that you are looking for and you should try to do this breathing method for 10 cycles 3 times per day. If this is not convenient you can also do breathing while commuting, watching TV or even in a meeting as long as your breathing is not distracting to others

This may seem a lot like the breathing that we do for meditation and it is somewhat related. The one thing that is different is that this should be a way of retraining ourselves to breathe better all of the time.

Tags: Breathing exercises, comfortable chair, maintaining good posture, meditation

Meditation? How will this make you feel more fit? Why do I want to bring up what my mom calls navel gazing? Well for at least 4000 years people have been using meditation to center the concentration. There are other credited benefits as well. Many feel that the act of meditation lowers your metabolism to give you greater than sleep type rest. Improvement in the immune system and improved sense of well being are also reported by regular meditation practitioners.

Going through Deepak Chopra or Wayne Dyer’s work as well as many others you will find a very simple way to meditate that stays away from expensive training although getting a couple books would not hurt anyway.

The first step to meditation is to sit in a quiet place preferably on the floor with your back up against a wall. To meditate all you need to do is close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. You can focus on your breathing coming in through your nose and down to your abdomen and then coming up and out of your mouth. This is a very simple method and should be done for 15-30 minutes twice a day, morning and night.

There are several books that will help you in studying meditation. Also you can go to several websites to learn more. Meditation.com as well as learning meditation.com are great resources.

Tags: Deepak Chopra, meditation, Wayne Dyer