Kids Need Sleep!…and so do you…

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Josh

A recent study by researchers at the university of Kentucky found that changing the school start time for high school students from 7:30am to 8:30am led to 13.7 percent more kids getting 8 hours of sleep.

Kids in general need plenty of sleep. They’re growing in both mind and body at a rate that will not be equaled for the rest of their lives. I’ve seen recommendations as high as 12 hours/night for young kids.

What happens when you get plenty of sleep? Well, your attention span goes up, your resilience goes up (fewer colds, injuries, etc.), you’re less accident prone (attention span again), you have more energy physically (you can be more physically fit), your levels of stress hormones decreases leading to generally better moods, etc.

However, teeangers’ circadian rhythms are a little whacky because of the raging hormones in their bodies. Combine that with a diet high in sugar, and plenty of Xbox, and you get a recipe for 12am bedtimes, bad attitudes, inability to focus, and poor grades.

Continue brewing this dangerous concoction for four or ten years, and you get the bad living habits that lead to “adult-onset ADD,” hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease.

None of this stuff is a mystery, friends. Get more high-quality (that is, undisturbed, non-drug-induced) sleep, and your life will improve. I don’t care how old you are.

What cost – “youth”

Posted on December 9, 2008 by Josh

A friend forwarded this article to me. Unfortunately, nothing in it surprises me.

It chronicles a litany of methods being used to obtain “youthfulness” and “vigor” in the aging US population.

Three quotes that stand out for me are:

1. “My friends say, ‘Oh, Ed’s on steroids,’”…”I’m not. I’m on hormone therapy,” he says of a regimen that costs him more than $1,000 a month. [among the drugs he takes are human growth hormone, testosterone, and an adrenal hormone known as DHEA].

2. For a group known as the Calorie Restriction Society, youthfulness isn’t found in hormones. It’s reducing food intake to, in some cases, near-starvation levels.

3. This search for eternal youthfulness certainly isn’t new. “In 1,500 B.C. people were ingesting tiger gonads to rejuvenate them,” says Dr. Gene Cohen, a George Washington University expert on aging.

Before I go further, let’s talk about a few specifics…

What’s the difference, you might ask, between a steroid and a hormone? As far as I know, a steroid is a specific class of compound, with a specific chemical structure. Hormones are chemical messengers in the body, that typically serve as signals to communicate between cells. All of the human sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone (and cortisol)) happen to be steroidal in structure. So our friend above is only partly correct. He is taking steroids.

Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is not steroidal in structure, and has similar effects to steroids, but with low to no (currently known) negative effects if taken in proper doses.

I don’t want to be misleading. Taking the course of “hormone therapy” that’s reviewed here, while you’re under the close monitoring of a physician, may not be harmful at all. If the dosages are closely correlated to your age, body weight, and other physical signifiers, and a doctor is checking you out every few months, you’ll probably experience drastic changes in your body (to the tune of $1000/mo., at least).

Not only that, but hormone therapy has saved the lives of many people. Steroids and HGH can be similarly life-saving in people with HIV/AIDS to help prevent the muscle-wasting associated with that disease.

This post isn’t about the legality issues surrounding steroids (for a great film about that issue, go rent Bigger Faster Stronger). Nor is it about the moral or ethical issues surrounding steroid use in sports.

This post is about a question, which brings me to my final quotes from the article. The interviewees cite the same things as their reasons for taking these drugs. Namely: to “feel better, more energetic, clear-minded” from one, and to have ‘”lots of energy” and feel[sic] “sharp,” from another.

But what else is involved with these therapies? It’s funny, but you can take as much HGH, testosterone, or whatever, but if you don’t exercise, nothing very good will happen to you.

Movement rules above all else. And, in fact, movement can provide all of the benefits sought by the youth-seekers, though maybe not with the extreme muscle-growth.

There’s something you can do that’s a lot cheaper than $1000/mo., that will keep you feeling better, energetic, clear-minded, and sharp. In fact, it can be totally free.

It’s called exercise.

If you want to know where to start and you don’t know how, drop me a line. I’ll be happy to help. If you want something with some structure, and feel compelled to spend some money, go take some Tai Chi (or Taiji) classes.

Is it scientific proof you need? Master Lu Zijian is 93 in this video. He is practicing an art called Baguazhang, similar to Tai Chi.

Jack Lalanne pulled a string of 70 boats behind him with 70 people in them as he swam 1.5 miles. Roland Fortin wanted to fight Jack when he was 91, and Jack was 92!

The law is called inertia – a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Rest more, keep resting…

The fountain of youth is within you, dear hearts. It’s movement. Start moving. Move as much as you can and in as many ways as you can, till you get a little tired (but not a lot), every day, and a funny thing will happen – you’ll be full of energy – able to move more and more, for longer and longer, your mind will become clear and sharp, and life will be better.

The God Within and Without

Posted on December 8, 2008 by Josh

Julian Jaynes was an American psychologist who wrote a book called “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.” His theory was that consciousness arose as a result of a breakdown between the barrier that had previously separated the right and left hemispheres of the brain – specifically, the hemispheres responsible for speech. Mr. Jaynes provides a compelling accumulation of research in his book.

Of most interest to me in this post, is his analysis of religion in the book. Mr. Jaynes outlines a possible etiology of religion. He ties both of these theories together, by showing how our earliest recordings of religions recount their adherents’ hearing the voice of God.

In fact, this was so common that each family had a God in a central location in the home. Mr. Jaynes suggests that what these people were actually hearing was their own internal dialogue. But without the associative help of the left hemisphere, they couldn’t understand that the voice was their own consciousness.

Theology aside, the history he provides of the cultures that worshiped idols placed in central locations in their homes compels us to ask another question. If Mr. Jaynes is right, what replaced that physical, mental, and social need to hear commands from on High? Simply understanding that it was our own internal voice couldn’t fulfill the desire to have a connection with one’s “Higher Power.”

As evidence that that understanding wasn’t enough, look to the churches, cathedrals, and other religious monuments that populate our man-made environment. They’re everywhere! And in the center of each, is the idol we fashion, to which we look for guidance, though mute.

Tonight, Jim Fleming’s interview with Cameron Sinclair on KQED immediately brought Mr. Jaynes’ work to mind. She lamented the central place that a certain appliance holds in our homes, and wishes living rooms could either be without them entirely, or that it at least be relegated to a peripheral location.

I can’t help but wonder, what service the television really provides to us? And with the amount of TV being watched by average American’s hovering somewhere around 4 hours per day, the question becomes more interesting. When we think about the fact that TV viewing takes precedence over even the most natural urges, like moving, I feel like there’s something very deep going on here.

Where is the TV placed in most homes? Where is it in your home?

What is your relationship with this Oracle? And is it giving you what you seek?

How to Return to Nature

Posted on December 6, 2008 by Josh

I know that last post was a little heavy. And I don’t want to be misunderstood. Also, I don’t want to provide a disaster story without some kind of solution.

First, let it be known that I’m all about technology, central HVAC, electric lights, and convenience stores! (I’m typing on a wireless MacBook Pro right now, I wish to God my house was heated – it’s 53 right now, I use lights, watch TV, and the coffee I’m drinking is from the corner store down the street). Modern medicine has provided us with some truly miraculous devices and tools. And our understanding of ourselves and our world is deeper and richer (or at least, can be) thanks to science.

So, what can we do to Return to Nature?

Start shopping at local farmer’s markets whenever you can.

Grow your own veggies if possible, or join in a community garden. It doesn’t take a lot of time.

Get outdoors more, into natural settings, like woods, deserts, beaches, etc., away from manmade structures.

Expand your horizons of what exercise means – visit sites with fresh ideas like Exuberant Animal, the IYCA site, Parkour sites, Walking Mountain, or any trainer/practitioner certified in those methods.

Reevaluate your relationship with money. One great book that can help with that is Your Money or Your Life (there’s also a great website with information based on the book).

Play more!

Learn more about nature, and your connection to it, by reading books by respected nature authors, attending talks, seminars, or community meetings, or just going out and sitting down in it.

Start there, and see what happens.

Back to Nature

Posted on December 6, 2008 by Josh

Aside from being part of the title of one of my favorite books, the heading for this post represents something that I think we all need to start considering and working toward as individuals, communities, and nations.

While this post may be a little far-reaching in scope, and is not dedicated strictly to exercise, I feel personally that this topic represents the root cause of all of the “evils” we experience in our modern world.

What is “nature?” I define nature as the living ecosystem that is the Earth, minus the creations of humankind. Martin Heidegger made what I believe to be a wonderful distinction between the World (man-made environment), and the Earth (the living substrate, the planet itself).

Agriculture and animal husbandry, in its early stages, represented a very close connection with nature, and a deep understanding of our place in it. As our civilizations have become more abstracted from that ground, the ills of mankind have erupted.

Disease, as the result of poor diet, lack of exercise, or overcrowding, rarely happens in nature. Granted, there are diseases (viruses, pathogens, poisons, etc.) that effect any animal, but our created environment as separate from the natural world has given birth to most of the diseases that plague humanity (heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancers, etc.).

Our recent (and ongoing) economic catastrophe has no other ultimate cause than the complete disconnection of our value-system from nature. Value is now ethereal. The US Treasury can (and does, and will continue to) print paper money that has no real representation in the physical realm. Our financial woes will continue until our greed is outweighed by our wisdom, and we return our basis for trade on physical things that are capable of actually being traded.

The disconnection from nature extends to agriculture as well, which is horribly sad, where computer-run combines and harvesters automatically plow and till, reap and sow. They turn up the soil, exposing the delicate balance of micronutrients and microorganisms within it to oxygen and sunlight, thereby killing them, making the soil into dust. They can then justify the use of more petro-chemicals, to “replenish” the soil. To “make it better.”

Our own bodies, our minds and our lives, suffer from this disconnection as well. We live in boxes composed of smooth planar surfaces that rob us of tactile and visual stimulation. We sit on formulaic chairs, benches, and sofas, that put us in the same position all the time. We walk on similarly-constructed smooth planes, in feet encased in pillows. Our soles get no input from our environment, and our souls are bereft because of it. Our ankles receive no stimulus, and we get severe sprains just stepping off a curb. Our bodies begin to conform to the environments we force them into, and are soon unable to move effectively and efficiently.

In the meantime, our new God, science, tells us how to incorporate nature back into our lives – but on the terms of science, of course.

Need more micronutrients? Take a pill. Need more macronutrients? Here’s a liquid meal. Want beautiful veggies? Fertilize, insecticize. Want to be more fit? Take a jog on the treadmill, walk on a pad made to resemble a riverbed, sit on a stability ball, do more woodchops on a cable resistance machine.

Meanwhile, the folks who still eat vegetables pulled straight from the earth, who still eat a little fertile black soil accidentally now and then, who still walk on the riverbed to get to their neighbor’s or loved-one’s homes, who still do “woodchops” by actually chopping wood outdoors in fresh clean air, who get their vitamin D from a daily exposure to sunlight, and who mitigate their financial worries by growing what they need and living simply – the ones who live in harmony with nature…

they live the longest.

Eat your fruits and vegetables!

Posted on December 6, 2008 by Josh

Hi there,

While I’m not a nutritionist, and I can’t make any recommendations regarding dietary choices, I can pass along information when I see it, and this is too good to pass up.

According to this study, eating a diet higher in fruits and vegetables reduces loss of lean body mass in older adults.

This should be nothing new, however, I think it bears repeating. As the obesity epidemic in America continues, and in spite of messaging to counteract it, people continue to make bad food choices. Part of the issue is the preponderance of diet books out there, using bizarre terms like “Acid, Alkaline, Paleolithic, Zone,” etc., to “create” their own “methods” that they can then market and sell.

Let me try to clear some of these up real fast. Alkaline acid balance results from eating more fruits and veggies (see above). Hi acid pH results from eating more meat products. Paleolithic diets say we should eat like our Stone-Age ancestors (sounds good to me). The Zone is a place where your macronutrient (protein, carbs, fats) balance is “perfect” and your total caloric intake is “perfect.” Other diets promote more raw foods, more enzymes, more this or that.

No wonder there’s so much confusion, and lack of motivation to stray from habitual eating patterns (or fall back into those patterns once the palate offered by any single diet book starts to grow bland)!

What can you do? Try getting some real cookbooks, instead of diet books. I highly recommend Nourishing Traditions as a start, or anything produced by Jacques Pepin.

That being said, diet and nutrition are only part of the equation in health and happiness. LIFE IS MOVEMENT! The reason that you need healthy, wholesome food should be that you’ve been moving your body a lot, in a lot of different ways, and so it needs nourishment.

There are three comments on diet that I’ve carried with me for years, as my own guideposts, and I’ll share them with you here:

Paul Chek at a conference I attended back in 2001. He said “If it doesn’t grow out of the ground, or eat something that comes out of the ground, don’t eat it.”

At the same conference, Juan Carlos Santana said that he wasn’t going to cover weight loss and diet, summing up diet by saying “if you consume more calories than you use, you gain weight. If you consume fewer calories than you use, you lose weight.”

And finally, what mom, dad, and grandma always told me – Eat your fruits and vegetables!

Have fun, eat healthy, and move often!

Josh

Egoscue, pain free, and real movement…outdoors even

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Josh

I love the video on this site – http://www.patchfitness.com/

As an aside – I would bet that an assessment of a modern NFL combine test-day would provide you with significantly worse movement patterning than this video does.

But I really LOVE that video because of the awesome footage of the Polish weightlifting team practicing. They do everything – run stairs, throw LOGS, sprint, tumble, flip, play other games…THEN they hit the weightroom.

Check out these kids, on an indoor replica of Egoscue’s original “patch” log course – http://www.egoscuefoundation.org/programs.php

Absolutely inspirational! Of course, I’m slightly saddened that the logs have to be recreated in plastic, and that the wonderful variability of outdoor terrain is exchanged for two-dimensional “perfection” of the school gymnasium, but hey, it’s a place to start!

While I haven’t read any of Egoscue’s books YET, I am so impressed by these presentations that I’m ready to read them all (and I just bought them all on Amazon). Of course, I’ll provide complete book reviews when I’m done!

In the meantime, get outside, play around a little bit. Do whatever you feel like! Throw some logs and some junk! Have FUN!

Cardio Log, and other great products!

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Josh

I can’t resist plugging this blog entry by a friend of mine, Charlie Reid – http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=5249465&blogID=351567635

Please go there and read it now!

It’s funny because it’s true! And for once, I have nothing to add!

The Dose-Response Relationship

Posted on December 1, 2008 by Josh

Hi!

Many researchers refer to the relationship between the stimulus of lifting weights and the resultant reactions within the neuromuscular and other systems as the “dose-response relationship.” If exercise is medicine, then there is a prescription.

A recent meta-analysis from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that “for untrained individuals, maximal strength gains are elicited at a mean training intensity of 60% of 1 repetition maximum (1RM), 3 days per week, and with a mean training volume of 4 sets per muscle group. Recreationally trained nonathletes exhibit maximal strength gains with a mean training intensity of 80% of 1RM, 2 days per week, and a mean volume of 4 sets. For athlete populations, maximal strength gains are elicited at a mean training intensity of 85% of 1RM, 2 days per week, and with a mean training volume of 8 sets per muscle group.”

I guess, not surprisingly, I’ve naturally gravitated toward a similar method. I typically train each bodypart twice a week, but I do 2 sets of max reps/weight (whichever is the emphasis at the time) for each exercise. And I typically will fluctuate between 1 and 3 exercises per bodypart.

I get some additional cardio in once a week with some Prowler sprints. But I also arrange my workouts in either a push/pull, or circuit-type fashion, so that the workout itself is providing a heavy cardio load.

Most of my clients who see this post will not be surprised. This is how I schedule most of their workouts as well! The trick or art is in the exercise selection, the timing of different methods/modes of training emphasis, and the scheduling of slightly higher or lower intensity levels.

However, for all you beginners out there, follow Peterson et al.’s advice! Don’t kill yourself in the weightroom with an overdose!

*MARK D. PETERSON, MATTHEW R. RHEA, AND BRENT A. ALVAR. (2005). APPLICATIONS OF THE DOSE-RESPONSE FOR MUSCULAR STRENGTH DEVELOPMENT: A REVIEW OF META-ANALYTIC EFFICACY AND RELIABILITY FOR DESIGNING TRAINING PRESCRIPTION. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 19(4), 950–958.