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Tag: exercise

  • Fresh Air Is Good For You

    Fresh Air Is Good For You

    Fresh air is good for you; it’s as simple as that. High school, college, university, academia or whatever path you choose to follow can be tiring and stressful. Long hours combing through forgotten history textbooks, memorizing flow charts and questioning minute details of your latest assignment can, and often will, be central to your formal education. So take a break – get outside!

    This isn’t a new concept. Many of us were fortunate enough to have parents push us out the backdoor when we were younger despite how much we wanted to watch just five more minutes of television or play one last level of our video games. Apparently they were right after all.

    With our technological era, the roles, responsibilities and resources of and for students are increasingly found behind the warm glow of a computer screen. Though such advances allow access to information and creates communication possibilities that our parent’s generation could never have dreamed of, it’s important not to forget the world beyond online academic databases, social networks and online video.

    Whether it’s a walk to the grocery store, a jog or finding a spot in a nice piece of shade, the outdoors can prove to be a welcome change from the fluorescent lighting, long lectures and minuscule texts typically found on campus.

    If you’re having trouble concentrating, how about a walk? If you’re experiencing a mental block, try working in a different environment (maybe your back porch?). Getting fresh air doesn’t necessarily mean excessive physical strain or avoiding your academic responsibilities. It can be as simple as sitting on a lawn chair or taking the scenic route back from your classes. It can be a welcome break, a stress reliever or just plain fun.

    Being outside, and physical activity, has its obvious benefits as well. One issue that many students face, particularly when beginning their post-secondary studies, is malnutrition and the dreaded weight gain of the “freshman 15”.

    For the first time, especially if going away for school, you will be in charge of your own physical fitness and for many this can be difficult. Sometimes there are too many temptations in the school cafeteria, or the ease of fast food during exam time is far too alluring. Physical fitness and personal well-being is an important part of student life and one that is often understated.

    So get outside! Whether for your physical well being, to help cope with academic stress and emotions or just for some fresh air, don’t forget there’s a world outside of the school’s facilities.

    You won’t regret it, I promise.

  • It’s Natural To Be Healthy

    It’s Natural To Be Healthy

    It’s amazing how our bodies regenerate. We get hit and bruises form as blood leaks into tissues. Over time, the dark blue colour is diluted, and may move before disappearing. Even broken bones will heal and return to full strength. And skin, our largest organ, is a miracle layer. It keeps the rest of us inside and everything else outside. It wards off infections, sheds water, cools us in hot weather, and repairs itself.
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    Still, viruses, bacteria, and parasites are ever-alert for opportunities to penetrate our protective layer. As well as frequent nicks and cuts, we have natural openings like mouths, ears, noses, anuses, and genitals, each with its own protective mechanisms. If an invading organism gets inside, we have an incredible barrier, our immune system, constantly generating new proteins to fight off infections we’ve never even encountered. We have a defence system that recognizes and fights against any cell with a genetic makeup different from our own (which is why it’s so difficult to transplant organs, tissues, or cells). Yet, pregnant women support a foetus that is genetically different for nine months.

    Thanks to evolution, our bodies have powerful ways to ward off illness and infection and enable us to live long and healthy lives. Why, then, do health costs continue to climb at unsustainable and frightening rates? Part of it is that medical care has become so sophisticated that doctors are able to treat more problems. Another part is the ever-increasing cost of drugs. And with a medical system, people are more likely to seek help. Still, health-care costs can’t continue to rise forever. Governments are always looking for ways to reduce costs, often by offloading a greater share of the burden onto patients.

    We must pay greater attention to keeping our bodies and minds healthy and able to heal. Yet we are making it difficult for our defences to work. We allow things to be sold that should not be called food. Many have no nutritive value and lead to obesity, salt imbalance, and allergies. We spew chemicals into the environment by the millions of tonnes. Molecules pour into us through air, water, and food, overwhelming or weakening our protective immune systems. According to Harvard University doctors Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, “Our behaviour is the result of a basic failure to recognize that human beings are an inseparable part of nature and that we cannot damage it severely without severely damaging ourselves.”

    The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and many more problems are though healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.

    In 2007, the World Health Organization concluded that environmental factors contribute to 36,000 deaths and 13 per cent of the disease burden in Canada annually. The Canadian Medical Association claims air pollution causes more than 20,000 premature deaths a year. And according to author and environmental lawyer David R. Boyd, scientists estimate that environmental factors affecting heart and respiratory disease, cancer, and birth problems contribute to anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 deaths, 78,000 to 194,000 hospitalizations, 600,000 to 1.5 million days in hospitals, and other problems totalling $3.6 billion to $9.1 billion in direct and indirect costs each year.

    It’s easier, more effective, and cheaper to let healthy bodies fight off disease and infections than to weaken those defence mechanisms and then compensate for them medically. If we want a stable health system, we must put more resources into reducing pollution and environmental degradation and creating a way of life that keeps bodies and minds happy and in good health

  • Boost Your Brain Power

    Boost Your Brain Power

    Why Fitness is Just as Important for Your Brain as it is for Your Body

    We’ve all been there- feeling tired and worn out after a long day at work, or feeling sluggish after indulging in an extra large burger and fries combo from the local fast food joint. When you can’t find the time to eat healthy and exercise, you can feel it in your entire body. So what do you do to refresh your body and keep it in optimal condition? I’m sure we’ve all heard it umpteen times: eat a balanced diet and exercise, exercise, exercise! But did you know that the same philosophy applies to keeping your brain healthy as well? Like the rest of your body, your brain can get tired and sluggish if you don’t work to keep it in shape, and this causes it to function at a sub-optimal level. If you’re looking to boost your brain power for an upcoming exam, unfortunately there is no magic pill you can take to make you instantly smarter. However, by eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly you can help maintain your brain’s health and thus optimize your brain power

    There is much evidence that nutrition during all stages of life is equally important. Throughout one’s life, nutrition affects various aspects of cognition, such as memory, IQ, attention, and learning ability. Thus, nutrition is directly linked to how well the brain functions. More specifically, a balanced diet as part of a healthy lifestyle can “optimize brain function, prevent dysfunction, and even treat disease.” According to M. J. Dauncey, there are several key factors that exert the most influence on cognitive functioning, including energy balance, fatty acids, and trace elements such as copper, zinc, and iron. In order to incorporate these key elements into your diet, try to include a balance of carbohydrates (such as whole wheat), proteins (such as dairy products and lean red meat), and food that contains fatty acids (such as fish).

    On the other hand, try to stay away from processed foods and foods high in trans and saturated fat. Too much fat or sugar in your diet can make you feel tired and sluggish because it ultimately drains your brain power. However, don’t feel like you can’t indulge every now and then in some of your favorite treats; moderation is also part of a balanced diet. Even sweet treats like chocolate can be good for you in small quantities. Cocoa contains compounds called flavanol that actually increase blood flow to the brain and can make you feel more alert.

    In addition to a healthy diet, physical activity also helps to maintain and improve brain function. The benefits of physical activity (namely aerobic exercise like jogging, which gets your heart rate up) are numerous. For starters, exercise increases blood flow to the brain which in turn increases energy and boosts concentration and awareness. In addition, certain hormones that are released during exercise can actually help repair damaged neurons. Moreover, exercise decreases stress, increases mood, and fosters a more positive outlook on life in general. All of these factors contribute to help the brain perform at its optimal level, which of course varies by individual.

    So even though you can’t take a pill to miraculously increase your IQ, you can ensure that your brain is functioning at the highest level possible simply by eating a healthy, balanced diet, and exercising a few times a week. Who thought boosting your brain power could be so simple?