While it’s relatively new as an academic subject, lifestyle medicine essentially promotes much of what we already regard as good…
This guest post was written by Shari Duddy
Shari Duddy is a Yoga teacher and educator in New Jersey. Shari has many years of experience teaching Yoga
A lot of men believe that yoga is for women. In fact, it’s rare to see men in yoga classes. Most yoga teachers admit that the majority of their classes are made up of women. However, this is a sad fact for most yoga teachers because they’re fully aware of the great number of benefits men can reap from practicing yoga. For instance, if you’re a man who often faces stressful days on the job, you’re likely bringing those stressors home with you. And that increased stress at work can put stress on your relationships. But that isn’t all stress can do to your life. It can cause your body to become less able to function, piling health problem on top of health problem as you get older. Yoga can help you learn to relax and put your mind, as well as your body, at ease, thereby reducing the stress you feel in every area of your life. Yoga can also increase your strength and your flexibility. And if that’s not enough to get you to try yoga, what would you say to the knowledge that yoga can even increase your potency as a man? Thought so.
No matter who you are or where you live or how much money you have, we can all count on a certain amount of stress in our lives. While the idea of a stress-free life may sound wonderful, it is not really a realistic goal. What many people don’t take into account is how too much stress can impact their health. High stress levels can take their toll on both your emotional and your physical health.
You may have heard the term spiritual wellness thrown around quite a bit without knowing exactly what it means. Many people use it, but not many people take the time to explain it. Generally, spiritual wellness is concerned with finding a greater purpose for your life and having a firm understanding of the values and beliefs that guide one’s actions. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with being deeply religious or living your life according to a strict set of rules and cultural norms. Nevertheless, it may help to explore spiritual wellness and why it is important in people’s lives.
Most of us know that stretching before engaging in any form of exercise is important. But how important is stretching to your daily routine? We stretch when we’re tired, and we stretch when we don’t want to be tired anymore—a fact that seems to indicate that stretching has benefits on both sides of the spectrum. And so it does. Stretching is an extremely beneficial and healthy means of getting oxygen to cells, and oxygen is what helps cells thrive. As a matter of fact, oxygen is so important to every single cell in our bodies that without it, we begin to die within minutes. The health benefits of stretching are many, including increasing blood circulation to all organs of your body; preventing you from getting injured, particularly while you’re exercising; helping you to develop more flexibility; boosting your endurance levels; increasing your energy levels; reducing cramping and aching; increasing your athletic performance ability; and even lifting your spirits. Following is information regarding daily health tips and benefits of stretching that will help explain why including daily stretching into your life.
It’s not hard to live a healthier life. In fact, living an unhealthy life is probably harder than making just one or two small changes toward that healthier life. That’s really all it takes—just one or two small steps—and you’re on your way to a healthier, more vibrant life where you’re doing all the things you enjoy. For instance, if you’re eating an unhealthy diet, you likely feel tired, run-down, unable to tackle all those things you need to get done in a day, let alone the things you want to do. But replace just a couple unhealthy foods and add a few steps here and there throughout your week and you’re well on your way to living that healthier life you so desire. If you’ve recently visited a top doctor near you and it was suggested you should get on the road to living a healthier life, here are valuable steps you can take on your journey.
Of sugar, New York Knicks basketball player Derrick Rose says, “Everyone’s got their poison; mine’s sugar.” Perhaps calling sugar a ‘poison’ is a bit strong, but the truth is that sugar—particularly the processed stuff—is not very good for you. In fact, many healthcare professionals and nutritionists now are actually calling sugar an addictive substance. If you look up the term ‘addictive’ in a thesaurus, similar words are ‘habit-forming,’ ‘obsessive,’ and yes, even ‘enslaving.’ But how addictive is sugar, really? Following are some important daily health tips about the potential addictive qualities of sugar that will help you decide for yourself how much sugar is too much.
Making other people happy, doing what you love, money, freedom, falling in love, living a healthier life—these are just a handful of the answers you’ll get if you ask the question, “What is the secret to happiness?” But, seriously, what is happiness’ secret? If you were able to ask happiness if it had a secret, what do you think it would say? This mystical inquest doubtless has been at the forefront of human pursuit since the beginning of time. So has anyone ever really come up with an answer for this question? That is, has anyone come up with a real, concrete, and more important, a demonstrable solution to this seemingly unanswerable query? If you were to explore just what translates into the state of ‘happiness,’ where would that exploration take you? Let’s take a look.
Most Americans get very little nutrition in their daily diets. According to the President’s Council on Fitness, the typical American diet exceeds the recommended intake limits in four categories, including fats and added sugars, sodium, saturated fats, and refined grains. It also reports that most Americans eat less than the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, and 90% of all Americans eat more sodium than what is recommended for a healthy diet. However, perhaps what is most shocking is that the average calorie consumption has increased by 600 calories per day in the past four decades! If one of your goals this year is to eat a healthier diet, here are some tips for living a healthy life that will help you make better decisions every day from here on out so that you can look forward to a long and healthy future.
Perhaps Louis Armstrong sang it best in the song “When You’re Smiling”
When you’re smilin’, when you’re smilin’,
The whole world smiles with you.
When you’re laughin’, when you’re laughin,’
The sun comes shinin’ through.
It’s hard not to smile back when a friend, or even a total stranger, flashes you a smile on the street.
That’s because smiling is infectious.
And today’s daily health tip is that smiling is good for your health! Well fancy that.