Bad habits to break

This is a reprint of an article I read on Yahoo today. It kind of gets you thinking!
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"Someday," you say, "I'm going to get my health back on track, after this next project," or "when I get back from my cruise," or "when the kids get a little older" ... C'mon, you know your list of reasons -- or what I call EXCUSES -- better than I.

Look, if you're waiting for some magical day to appear, you just may be waiting forever. These days do not "show up"; you show up for THEM. I have identified five critical areas, bad habits that many people mindlessly follow. Do you realize that each and every day of your life that you do not reverse these dangerous trends, you get farther and farther from your ultimate goal of living a fulfilling life?

Take a look at each area, determine how you stack up, and then make the fix today:

1) Stealing from sleep: Studies show that a minimum of seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep (at night) are essential for health. Sleep is the time when your body repairs and recovers from all of the metabolic processes that your body performs every second. Sleep supports healthy weight management, raises growth hormone, and heals the adrenals. If you are watching TV, working on your PC, or otherwise stimulating yourself so that you are unable to go to sleep by 11 PM, then establish the Power Down Hour and turn to more relaxing activities like baths, light novels, or cuddling with a loved one (or pet!) at least an hour or two before bedtime. Then ... retrain yourself to sleep through the night.

2) Skipping breakfast: How many times do you find yourself dashing out the door to start your day, only to discover that you forgot to eat? Listen, your body has just "fasted" overnight, and in order to fuel yourself for the day (and lower stress hormones), you must eat a balanced meal that includes proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Otherwise, your body will turn on itself for fuel, and it isn't fat but muscle that it's going to target ... which will cascade into a very nasty sequence of health consequences that will make you fat, old, and tired before your time.

3) Blowing off exercise: If you think you can manage your health and weight through dietary means alone, it won't work. Period. Exercise is crucial for stimulating proper physical and hormonal response necessary for building muscle and bone, burning fat, letting you sleep, keeping you young, giving you energy -- the list is endless. More important is the CORRECT type of exercise, which involves high-intensity interval training, along with resistance workouts. If you can't find 20-30 minutes a day to incorporate these exercises into your life (oh yeah, that is ALL you need, by the way), then you can kiss your health goodbye.

4) Noshing at night: Strapping on the feedbag in the evenings basically signals your body to hold off on burning existing fat stores, raises stress hormones before bedtime, and screws up your body's natural digestive processes at a time when it should be ready to shut down and repair. If you are eating in a hormonally-balanced way during your evening meal, there is absolutely no need to munch afterward.

5) Not counting your beverages: One of the craziest things I encounter in my work is the lack of consideration of high-calorie, high-sugar drinks in the diet. Yes, those healthy "Jumbo Juices," designer coffee slurpees (hey, they may as well be, given all the sugar in them), and those harmless little cocktails every night, especially those fruit-flavored martini and tequila drinks, can really pack on the pounds in a hurry. Make the switch to healthier options like iced green tea -- or, my favorite, Emergen-C -- for some sparkling mineral replacements that not only satisfy, but also fuel and nourish!

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Yikes, yikes and yikes again!

SRDs

"A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work." (John Lubbock)

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk." (Doug Larson)

Lately I've been having this feeling of uncertainty, as well as a certain lack of enthusiasm for my job. Work-related issues that had been cropping up in the past few months must have taken their toll on me, bringing about a certain amount of stress that must have been the main reason why I lost about ten pounds (if our weighing scale is that accurate) in about as many weeks, even without exercising.

I normally sleep deeply enough. In fact, when I'm tired and sleepy, I could curl up or stretch out my legs on the sofa and you'd see me off in dreamland already. But during those, shall we call them, "stress-related days" or SRDs, it seemed I couldn't sleep without having to wake up at least two or three times before my usual rousing time to prepare for the day. Worse, I couldn't get back to sleep for what seemed like an hour after those "disturbances!" Uninvited thoughts that would cause more stress would intrude into my sleepy brain… One thought would lead to another that my mind could not drive away!
But there were certain times during those SRDs that people would come and talk to me, seeking advice or plainly needing an ear to sympathetically (maybe) hear them out. It may have been some of those talks that added to the SRDs, but ironically, I would admit there was a certain relief from the experience.

I am no priest that would listen to confessions, but what was it about listening to other people's problems that seemed to lift from my own shoulders my own worries?

Was it because it was a reminder that no person has an exclusivity on problems, that whatever problems you may have, others may have the same or even worse ones?

Was it because it was sort of an affirmation that somehow, people still trust you enough to tell you their problems, whether they were looking for friendly advice or an ally in office causes or simply someone to vent their frustrations on?

I don't know if subliminally, this adds to my SRDs, but listening to other people drone on and on unexplainably feels like a soothing balm to me… I disagree with the quote "Every problem is just an opportunity waiting to be made of" because recently, I've been having bouts with forgetfulness. I believe more Charles Schulz when he said, "No problem is so formidable that you can't walk away from it." That is why most of the time, what people say to me in confidence is something I refuse to think about constantly so I would not feel the need to unburden myself on others, and thus break the chain of confidence.

Maybe I ought to keep in mind what Dale Carnegie said: "If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep."

Then wouldn't my husband be the one who wouldn't get enough sleep…