How much do you see your friends and family?
When scientists have gone around the world searching for the “happiest people” or the “healthiest people” there’s one trait that comes up that ranks highest on both lists. Time spent with friends and family.
How much time do you spend with your friends and family? Whoever it is that you like, your social support network – it doesn’t matter if it’s your blood relatives or your new found “family” in a hippie commune. It seems that the more time you spend with the people you like, the happier and healthier you will be.
This should be an easy prescription to fulfill. Who doesn’t like seeing their friends? After time with your good friends you can feel refreshed and revitalized. They can give great advice and perspective on problems you may be having, or things you find stressful. Or hearing about their problems can help you shake you out of your own head, and help you to become stronger and more generous as you help them with their problems.
But count up the actual hours we spend with people we don’t know or don’t like (at work perhaps, or commuting, or in obligatory social settings we don’t actually enjoy) and add to that the hours we spend effectively by ourselves (watching TV, on the computer, on the blackberry), and there are very few hours we actually spend interacting with our friends.
By the way, I do not count sitting in the same room as friends and watching TV as time interacting with the friends. I know many people do count this time as social time, laughing at youtube videos, watching movies, etc. But I feel in these cases that people are interacting with the screen that is manipulating them emotionally. They are not getting real time human interaction with another human that is responding to them. A screen gives out one way, it is not a give and take relationship. And thus many people end up spending many “empty” hours feeling like they are interacting with people while on facebook, email, or while watching TV. But I do not think it subs in for actual time engaging with another person in the same room at the same time.
So in short, take a little tally this week. It may be more important to your health than getting exercise or eating right. Post in the comment field below – how many hours do you spend a day or per week with people you like?
Stretching
So I was chilling with some of the trainers at the one of the gyms I teach at. I had just finished subbing a Zumba class for a friend and was stretching before heading home.
As I was doing some more exteme stretches (yoga pigeon and full hamstring stretches) of course all the buffed up trainers thought what I was doing was impossible. Even worse, they all seemed to thinking stretching was totally unneccesary and a waste of time. Most of these guys couldn’t touch the back of their neck – their arms and shoulders were so bulked up and inflexible. But besides their own lack of flexibility, I was saddened by their complete dismissal of the benefits of stretching.
So I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the topic, in case any of my friends are taking with personal trainers like these guys.
Stretching is highly beneficial to your body. Stretching can:
- Reduce muscle tension
- Increase range of movement in the joints
- Enhance muscular coordination
- Increase circulation of the blood to various parts of the body
- Result in fewer in juries
- Decrease muscle soreness
- Increase energy levels (resulting from increased circulation)
Let me just take one of those bullet points – increased range of motion. That doesn’t sound very exciting, right? Who cares if the range of motion of my ankle joint, for example, is 6 degrees or 12 degrees? That’s not going to make me a better athlete.
Oh but it is! Take, as the example, the ankle joint. If one does not stretch one’s calf muscle, the ability to flex and point the ankle can greatly diminish. This loss of range of motion can mean you can’t squat as far. Without the ability to do a deep squat, you can’t jump as high or run as fast. So losing range of motion in just one joint in the body can horribly diminish your athletic potential.
It can even make daily living harder. Without a 10 degree range of motion in the ankle, it can be difficult even to go down stairs. But some simple stretching for the calf and ankle muscles can relieve all of these problems.
Take that concept and apply it to all your joints. Those buffed up guys in the gym? They wouldn’t be able to throw a ball like a real pitcher who has great range of motion in his shoulders. Or have the hip flexibility to be a good rock climber or runner.
If you are going to lift (and doing some resistance training is good for most every body), make sure to stretch inbetween your sets, and thoroughly stretch at the end of your workout – spending at least 15 minutes stretching can save you from slowly shrink wrapping your body into a tight little package that can’t move. I know it can be hard to make yourself quit lifting sooner and save time for stretching. It can be hard to think that this part of the workout is really “worth it”. Check out my post on the benefits of “rest” and perhaps you’ll be more likely to add stretching into your daily routine.
What do you do to stretch? Please share below in the comments field…
Do you rest enough?
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but sleep and rest of vitality important to your health. They are sadly also highly underrated by popular American culture. It seems like many people emulate “successful” people around them who are super busy. They see these successful, busy people cutting short on their sleep and rest and making do with coffee and sugar and adrenaline. Pretty soon everyone thinks that rest and sleep must be short changed if one is going to be successful.
Don’t buy it! One of the best ways to lose weight, feel more fit, do better at work, and even have more friends is to Get Enough Rest and Sleep.
I separate those two because I feel like they are both important. Of course, quality and quantity of sleep are important. Are you getting enough? If you wake up in the morning on your own without an alarm clock, you’re getting enough sleep. If that sounds patently absurd (you always snooze 17 times and are still exhausted when you drag yourself out of bed) then perhaps you should look into making your bedtime earlier. I mean, do you really need to watch that extra episode of TV?
Rest is an even more underrated concept in America (interesting note – if you Google Rest you gets lots of info on the programming language, and some pages on restful sleep – but no pages on rest – it’s that underrated). Everyone has different things that are restful to them – some extroverts “rest” most when they are with people and enjoying themselves socially. Many introverts “rest” by themselves, whether walking, gardening, reading, or what have you. Some forms of exercise can be restful (like yoga or pilates), but I think it’s good to set aside time outside the gym to do whatever you find the most restful. I am always amazed at how much faster my body trains (gets in shape, stronger, slimmer, etc) if I am taking an hour or two per day to rest.
What I find particularly restful is filling up with beauty. I feel almost like I am drinking in beautiful sights or sounds. This can be walking through a beautiful natural setting, a garden, or even sitting in my backyard and watching the alleycats and birds. Listening to beautiful music, or watching beautiful dancing can also be very fulfilling.
This kind of rest helps me to recharge, and I think is a missing element for many people who struggle with their weight and fitness. They keep pushing harder and harder to try and lose those 5 pounds, but the harder they struggle the less rested they feel, and their body resists.
Rest and sleep tell your body that all is well, and when all is well, your body natural relaxes into its ideal fitness level.
What do you do to rest and relax? Share your tips with all of us below in the comments field…
