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No one believes it unless they try it themselves. How can forcing yourself to exercise lift your body out of the depths of its exhaustion? You have been working since you opened your eyes - carpooling, fighting traffic and pacifying fighting children, taking meetings, teaching, doing housework, and running errands - and now, late in the day, you have had it.
Your body feels as if it is full of lead weights, your head is empty of all motivation and you have only enough energy to lie down, turn on the remote and watch Judge Judy. How can any sane person believe that 30 minutes or more of exercise is going to transform your zombie-like body and mind into something full of energy and enthusiasm? But it is true. Exercise has the power to bring about an instant mental and physical makeover. Everyone, even the most dedicated couch potato, admits to feeling better after exercising. "My husband and I drive to our health club after work," a friend told me. "We are so exhausted by the stress of the day that we can't even talk to each other in the car. When we arrive we mumble something about seeing each other after our workout and go to our respective exercise classes. Then, around 10 or 15 minutes into the exercise routine, my head clears, my muscles stop feeling stiff, my normal gray office complexion turns rosy and I feel alive again. He has the same response. By the time we shower, change and meet each other, we are chattering away and feeling as if we could go out on a date." The simplest explanation for the effects my friend described is that as the flow of blood around the body increases due to the heart working harder, the brain gets more oxygen and nutrients. Sweating removes toxins from the body (while providing a nice facial), muscles lose the stiffness and tension, and posture changes from the computer pretzel-shape to a straighter line, which also increases blood flow and removes back tension. And something else happens also that you may tend to overlook. When you exercise you turn off that part of the brain that is constantly making lists, worrying about things not done and yet to do. Exercising distracts from the daily anxieties and concerns you carry around. It is an escape, maybe for only 30 minutes or so, from obligations, concerns and cares. When you are caught up in which leg crosses over which thigh in yoga, or straining to lift that weight a little higher or increasing the resistance on the cardio machine, it's just about impossible to think about anything else. A neighbor told me she loves going to her gym because she reads all the junky magazines she would be too embarrassed to read at home because her teenage daughter devours them. I have to confess that I love watching the old movies my health cub shows. I have even stayed on a machine longer than I intended so that I can watch until the end. There is, however, something you must realize about exercise. Once you start doing it regularly, you may find yourself unable to give it up. So the only answer is to find a place to exercise so all those programs you used to watch sitting on the couch can now be seen while you pedal on a stationary bike. | permalink | related link |   ( 3 / 44 )"I am so tired" seems to be the mantra for December. People feel as if they are dragging their bodies around like a large sack of potatoes, and even a good night's sleep does not seem to relieve the continuous fatigue. Part of the tiredness can be due to unaccustomed physical activity. If you have been spending every other day shoveling snow, chipping the ice off of your car and sidewalk, and lugging bags of salt to coat your steps, you are aware of your exhausted arms and legs. And the added holiday tasks of cleaning, cooking, decorating, carrying home boxes and bags of gifts or groceries is also justification for physical fatigue. But you may also seem to find it difficult to be mentally energetic and emotionally "bouncy." If you rate tour upbeat moods of the late spring and summer as a 9 or 10, right now they probably tend to hover around 3-4 on a mood scale. Darkness early in the afternoon and well into the early hours of morning has a great deal to do with this. The absence of light does a job on your brains by limiting the activity of serotonin, the "good mood" chemical. Fatigue is a symptom of both depression and lack of serotonin. Interestingly, it is one of the most common symptoms produced by the short days of late fall and winter. But there are other reasons as well. Stress can leave you feeling overwhelmingly tired, and the season is abundant in stress triggers. In addition to the hardships imposed by the terrible weather conditions across much of the country, there is the stress of getting through the holiday season. Just finding a place to park in an overcrowded shopping mall. or having to wait in an endless line to pay for your purchases, is enough to make you feel stressed—assuming you were fortunate enough to actually find the gifts you were looking for. Combine this with the round of social obligations, visits from relatives, eating and drinking too much, little or no exercise and too little sleep and it is no wonder that " I am so tired" sums up this month. Fortunately, you do not have to take drastic measures such as moving to the Southern Hemisphere or stay in bed for the month to feel less tired. These simple suggestions will give you energy and remove the exhaustion caused by both physical and mental stress. · Make good food choices. Stop eating high-fat foods that leave your brain feeling as if it is stuffed with cotton and your body encased in lead. Try to eat more vegetables, fruit, very low-fat dairy products, and lean protein. If you are not going to prepare these foods at home, go to your supermarket, load up on vegetables (without salad dressing) at the salad bar, stop at the deli counter to pick up a roasted chicken and get some cottage cheese and milk from the dairy case. Buy some quick cooking oatmeal for breakfast and microwavable brown rice for dinner and you are on your way to boosting your body's energy. · Watch the alcohol. Drinking too much will disturb your sleep and leave you even more tired the next day. But do drink more water. Being dehydrated will also make you feel tired and if you are shoveling snow, you are probably sweating inside those layers of clothes. So rehydrate yourself. · If you haven't shoveled snow take 10 minutes from the day for some vigorous exercise. Jump rope, get on that treadmill, do pushups, climb stairs rapidly—anything to get your heart beating. Increasing your heart rate increases blood flow to your brain and flushes away exhaustion. Boost your calming comforting fatigue-combating serotonin levels. Every afternoon around 4, sit down with about some graham crackers, pretzels, popcorn, toasted cinnamon raisin bread, rice crackers, or sweet crunchy cereal and snack. If you like, drink a cup of tea, decaffeinated coffee or fat-free hot chocolate with it. In about 20 minutes the digested carbohydrate will make your brain cells synthesize new serotonin and you will feel your stress drifting off and your good mood coming back. Do these small things every day and you will find yourself saying, " I feel great." | permalink | related link | ( 3.1 / 43 )It comes to my attention that prescribing physicians are still denying the connection between antidepressants and weight gain. I'm not sure how they can deny it - it's so common and, frankly, a well known side effect. It's just that what to do about the weight gain is not well known - yet. But if I had a physician give me the meds and then tell me weight gain was simply hormones or stress or lack of exercise, I'd be pretty mad. And that would be only after I got over feeling badly about myself because I kept gaining weight despite trying every diet on the planet before finding The Serotonin Power Diet. Clients and readers remind me all the time that the medications cause more than just weight gain: low mental energy, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, dry mouth, lack of desire to exercise, and other effects. The Serotonin Power Diet should improve most of them (not the dry mouth, unfortunately), but it's helpful to arrange your life to feel your best while losing weight or maintaining that weight loss. Here are some tips I've enjoyed getting from clients and readers: For low mental energy, do what energizes you. You don't have to meditate on a mountain to feel calm and relaxed (it would probably cause more stress for some people!) - it's not about how busy you are but rather what is the quality of what you do and who you spend your time with. Simply notice and make any changes that seem appropriate if possible. For fatigue, spend more time in bed allowing yourself some quiet time before you plan to fall asleep and also relaxing for a few moments in the morning before bounding out of bed. You can even do some simple stretches, whatever feels good, while lying there. Somehow it can make you feel less "rest-deprived". For difficulty sleeping, especially falling asleep, no computer in the evening. Period. And, an evening bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar. For lack of desire to exercise, just put on your outfit and get started without moaning to yourself about how you'll have to take a shower, blow dry your hair, and put on make-up again. It will be over eventually and you'll be right back on your couch showered and warm and dry before you know it, maybe even in your lounge-around-the-house sweatpants. Dry mouth and thirst, drink water before you eat. Bottled lemon juice added occasionally can make it less boring. While losing weight on antidepressants, why not help yourself feel your very best? | permalink | related link |  ( 2.8 / 19 )OK, I have to admit I bought M&M's Halloween candy back when it first appeared on the drugstore and supermarket shelves (probably September some time - it all seems to be available earlier and earlier each year and in greater and greater abundance). M&M's are still my favorite candy and I knew much of it wouldn't last for the trick or treaters. (OK, I confess, I've since bought more M&M's along with fun size KitKat bars, my other favorite). In the interest of keeping my brain and my taste buds happy, I'm indulging every day or two. But only one. I'm not pretending they have the antioxidants found in dark chocolate or any other nutritional benefits. But I have to say the "fun size" packet of M&M's, at just barely over 100 calories and 15 g of carbs (they're actually quite low in fat: only 4 g), is a great way to snack when I eat them with a few healthy oat bran pretzel nuggets - makes a delicious sweet and salty crunchy combination that is quite satisfying. Particularly as the days are getting shorter and the weather colder, and you may be needing serotonin-boosting snacks more than ever to control your appetite, restore your mental energy, and boost your mood, why not use those "fun size" candies to make your Halloween-time snacks, well, more fun? | permalink | related link | ( 3.1 / 30 )As the hours of sunlight shrink these weeks of mid fall, our good mood seems to shrink as well. The cheerfulness, energy, patience and enthusiasm that may have characterized us in the spring and summer seem to be replaced by grumpiness, impatience and irritability. As the sun goes down, fatigue goes up, and the idea of going for a walk or to a gym late in the afternoon or early evening has as much appeal as sleeping on an ice floe. What is even more disturbing for those of us always worried about gaining weight or losing it is the change in appetite. The willingness to dine on grilled chicken and a large salad is a thing of the summer past. Mac and cheese, roasted potatoes, crusty bread, stuffing, dumplings, rice, and bean soup seems much more appealing. We rationalize the need for these carbohydrates as a source of warmth and energy for those long winter nights. However, recently scientists have given a plausible explanation for carbohydrate cravings that go up as the sun goes down earlier and earlier. It is all in the brain. In an article recently published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, Matthaus Williet and colleagues suggest that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) affects the brain chemical serotonin. The short hours of sunlight and the long hours of darkness of late fall and winter trigger depression, tiredness, increased sleep, and irritable moods. People suffering from SAD also experience an overwhelming desire to eat carbohydrates. The link between SAD and carbohydrate craving has been a puzzle until recently. Now there seems to be an explanation. In the winter, when people experience SAD, the brain uses serotonin faster. This lack of serotonin explains the symptoms of winter depression, especially carbohydrate craving. Serotonin is made only when sweet and starchy carbohydrates (except fruit) are eaten. If protein is eaten along with the carbohydrates, no serotonin is made. So eating carbohydrates is therapeutic. The brain makes new serotonin, and the symptoms of SAD diminish. Eating potatoes, rice, bread, pasta and other carbohydrates is a natural way of dealing with the darkness of winter. This does not mean that protein foods, vegetables, fruit, dairy products should be avoided. Not at all. But one approach might be to eat protein for breakfast and lunch. As the sun and serotonin levels go down, switch to carbohydrates. A dinner of pasta, or roasted potatoes or rice and vegetables, will restore serotonin, your good mood and your energy. When the longer days of spring return, the depression will go away, serotonin use will return to normal and that grilled chicken and salad will be appealing again. | permalink | related link | ( 2.6 / 41 )Next |
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