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A novice exercise enthusiast asked me if I could share some information on how to incorporate a heart rate monitor into her running program. This woman wants to keep her exercise at a healthy pace, while avoiding injury and promoting weight loss. So that’s what I decided to write about this month.

A heart rate monitor is used to measure the amount of times that your heart beats per minute. It is a valuable tool to help you exercise within the “safe zone”. This means keeping your heart rate at a pace that will not over-stress your body while also exercising hard enough to raise it to a healthy level and burn fat. Knowing your heart rate zones will help you monitor progress and avoid injuries that can stem from over-exertion. As a corrective exercise specialist, my first priority with clients starting to exercise is for them to enjoy it, my second to keep them free of injury. A heart rate monitor is a valuable tool used to accomplish this. Wearing one gives you the basic feedback needed to make your exercise safe.

The other advantage to using a heart rate monitor is to understand the different “zones” and where the body burns fats if you are interested in losing or maintaining your weight. The science behind this is counter-intuitive to how most people think it works. The common process is to work very hard at high heart rates to lose weight. While that might burn a lot of calories, it burns off the sugar in your body and not the fat.   Exercising at an aerobic “safe zone” is where the body actually burns fat.

Where do I start?

Lets imagine that Jenny Heart decides to start exercising and has not run since her high school days. She would like to begin a long-term lifestyle change before the holidays to address her issue of being about 30 pounds overweight.

First of all, we must find out if Jenny has any major health issues. This will play a very important part in determining the intensity level of her exercise. Additional stressors can exacerbate existing health problems and hinder one’s ability to perform. If this is not the case with Jenny, I would start her out with a simple stretching routine.

Now let’s talk about the intensity at which she should start exercising in order to have a safe experience getting back into the arena. Although there are several ways to find your target zones, such as exerting youself to your maximum limit, I feel the safest formula to use is Dr. Maffetone’s method. Dr. Philip Maffetone is the author of the acclaimed book, “The Maffetone Method- The Holistic, No- Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness”.

Dr. Maffetone has trained many professional athletes, and uses the formula that takes 180 minus your age as a maximum heart rate. Because Jenny is 40 years old, I would estimate 140 as Jenny’s maximum heart rate (180-40=140). This will provide her with great aerobic training (also known as cardio training).   For the first 2-4 weeks of her new exercise program, Jenny can reduce her maximum heart rate number by 5 beats to allow her body to adapt to the beginning stages of her running program. Running at a heart rate over 140 will go over the healthy aerobic threshold, or “safe zone”, and will move into the anaerobic stage. This will cause her to burn more sugar than fat and not be effective in achieving her goal of weight-loss.

Warming up and cooling down

Many people find this part of an exercise program to be a hassle, but it is important in preventing injuries and developing the proper mechanisms to mobilize blood to the lower extremities. In other words, this can help in preventing soreness.

The human body is always performing various biological activities throughout the day. For example, meals you ate yesterday are in transit inside your digestive tract, the nutrients being broken down and utilized as your body needs them. Beginning an exercise session at a high level of intensity, rather than warming up at a lower intensity, will force this process to an abrupt halt. This may cause further biological disturbances because the body is being forced to adapt to the sudden strain of exercise. This may further complicate the issue by causing the heart rate to reach abnormal heights too quickly. However, if we start with a fast walk and gradually accelerate the pace after a few minutes, our body will have time to prepare for a more intense level of exercise without unnecessary stress on your system.

Cooling down will help the blood return to the upper extremities to resume your pre-run activities. Overall, this makes your exercise session a pleasant and safe experience. You should feel alert and energized after exercise, not pure exhaustion.

In conclusion

I would suggest that you invest in a heart rate monitor and set it to alert you when your heart rate reaches its healthy maximum. This is a key element to not go above limits that are potentially harmful to your body. It may be a challenge at first, but as you continue to train this way, you will notice that you are running faster while staying within the same healthy heart rate range. This is a positive sign of building endurance and your heart’s ability to pump more blood per beat.

Make sure to stretch the muscles that you engage while you run: calves, thighs, groin, gluteus, core and shoulders. Do short 3-5 second” contract and relax” movements, 2-3 times per stretch. Tight, short muscles force you to work harder to compensate for inflexibility. Stretching these muscles will enhance your performance and reduce post-workout soreness.

Give yourself the “mile test”. Select a route and identify a section that is one mile. Set your heart rate monitor to beep when it reaches 5 beats below your maximum heart rate so that you’ll have time to slow down before you hit your max. Warm up appropriately and then run your mile, trying to keep a steady heart rate at or just below your max. Note the time that it takes you to run a mile, train 3-4 times per week then test yourself again 4 weeks later. You’ll notice that it took you less time to complete the mile.   The outcome? Less stress on your body which will lessen the chances of injuries. Most importantly, you’ll enjoy training!

If you’d like help with a better understanding of training within your safe zone or setting up a training program, please contact us to schedule an appointment with one of our fitness professionals. We are always happy to meet with you and discuss a training plan that will suit your needs!

“Keep on moving”

Luis Ponce Sr.

(408) 778-5577

Nutrition Response Testing (NRT) is an amazing tool that we utilize here at MBM to help our clients quickly assess which of their body systems may be in need of nutritional support, via the muscular system.

What’s best is NRT is non-invasive and can be done on anyone, children, elderly, expecting mothers, people with impaired mobility and anyone in-between.

We are able to help you design an appropriately customized supplement and dietary plan to fit your individual needs. One of my favorite groups to work with are kids! Children don’t always have the words to tell us how they’re feeling and when signs of illness pop up, NRT is the quickest way to get to the root cause of their symptoms.

Join us at our free seminar to find out how you can best support the nutritional needs of your growing child and see a live demonstration of the NRT Technique! Tuesday, February 18 at 6:30pm at Mind Body Motion in Morgan Hill, Ca.

–Rachel Forman-Lau, NC, ACN

In order to help you accomplish all of those resolutions, we wanted to help
you with some simple strategies to help you increase energy RIGHT AWAY.

Whether you want to lose weight, spend more time with loved ones, or get more organized. Energy plays a vital role in helping us meet our goals.

1) Avoid refined foods- packaged foods not only don’t add any nutritional value, but actually deplete our precious nutrient stores in order to metabolize these “food-like” substances, that are chalked full of chemicals, artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners. They contain harmful pesticides, preservatives, sugars and poor-quality fats like vegetable or soybean oils.

PRO TIP: Shop on the outer perimeter of the grocery store to find the freshest produce, eggs and dairy products.

2) Drink more water- water is essential for almost every bodily function and is what helps us transport vital nutrients throughout the body. Often times hunger pangs are mistaken for thirst. Making sure you’re getting enough water will help your body maintain energy throughout the day.

NOT SURE HOW MUCH? Drinking at least half your body weight in fluid ounces per day will help you stay adequately hydrated.

3) Eat a balanced breakfast- Starting the day off with a balanced breakfast (within an hour of waking) will help you to jumpstart your metabolism, balance your blood sugar (more on that in a sec) and help you set the tone for the entire day with a healthy dose of protein, fats and carbohydrates.

MY FAVORITE BREAKFAST: 2 over-easy eggs, sautéed greens and sliced avocado

ON-THE-GO? Blend up one of our delicious protein shakes with some fresh fruit, a handful of greens and some coconut oil or chia seeds for a quick, healthy breakfast

4) Support your digestive system- The digestive system is meant to breakdown nutrients and eliminate waste and toxins. If not working properly, toxins and waste build up, and nutrients are not broken down and absorbed. This leaves us bombarded with build-up and depleted in building blocks needed for energy.

PRO TIP: Drink 1-3 tsp of raw apple cider vinegar, diluted in a couple ounces of water 10-15 minutes before meals to stimulate your body’s own digestive process.

5) Balance blood sugar- balancing blood sugar could be its own blog post, but by helping your body to stabilize its response to glucose—our main energy source, we are able to help balance out energy and mood. Eating 3 balanced meals and 2 snacks every few hours, along with adequate plant and animal protein will help you to balance blood sugar and have the sustained energy you’ve always wanted.

PRO TIP: Packing nuts, seeds, and low glycemic fruit like apples, citrus and berries will help you plan for success in any situation.

Find out how these tips, along with a customized meal, supplement plan and supportive- lifestyle changes can help you to be your best, healthiest self in 2020!

Salud!

–Rachel Forman-Lau, NC, ACN

We here at MBM are ramping up for another amazing holiday season and what better gift than to share with all of you one of our top secrets to staying happy, healthy and balanced all year!

It’s our amazing 28-Day Whole Food Whole Body cleanse!

We are bombarded with toxins in our food system, homes and offices all day long and we are starting to see the effects of these toxins build up in our bodies, resulting in chronic pain, inflammation, weakened digestion, skin issues, hormonal imbalances, challenged immune systems and more. If unaddressed, these toxins continue to accumulate and wreak havoc on our lives, inhibiting us from the joys of everyday life. Why put off feeling better any longer? Find out how we can help you to:

• Lose weight
• Improve sleep
• Strengthen immune system
• Balance hormones
• Increase energy
• Reduce allergy symptoms
• Improve skin
• Have better digestion
• Decrease toxic load
• Support a healthier lifestyle
• Improve your overall eating habits
• Decreased pain and inflammation
  

This is one of our strongest tools, utilized by every trainer at MBM and we want to share it with you. Be sure to check out our upcoming informational seminar Thursday December 12 at 5:30pm to find out if a cleanse will help you reach your goals in the New Year. Download and print this Toxicity Questionnaire to assess your own toxic load, then come check us out next week to find out how you can improve your overall scores in just 28 days!

–Rachel Forman-Lau, NC, ACN

You may be wondering why Mind Body Motion encourages the use of supplements in our practice, when taking large quantities of pills to relieve the signs and symptoms of our ailments. This is the exact medical paradigm we are trying to shit away from. To answer your question, I have to give you a little explanation of why taking supplements differs from popping prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

• The supplements we use at MBM are whole food concentrates, so they are essentially the same as just eating food.

So you may be asking, why don’t I just eat better food?

• YES, we will always work with you to find ways to improve your overall diet! Taking supplements is never a substitute for a well-balanced diet filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, high quality protein and essential fats. However, during the beginning phases of care, we want to focus on rebuilding vitamins and mineral stores that have been depleted during times of high stress, inflammation and disease.
• We also cannot ignore the fact that our food system is not the nutritionally robust system that it once was. Due to over-farming, GMO’s, pesticide and herbicide use, foods that we know now are no longer as nutrient-dense as they once were. That makes supplementing with organically-grown whole food supplements essential in order to receive the therapeutic dosage that your body requires to see results.
• Finally, our modern diet no longer includes many of the rich sources of vitamins and minerals that it once did. Organ meats, sea vegetables and beet greens are not a staple of the American Diet, but their nutritional value is unparalleled by most modern foods. Taking supplements that include these ingredients, gives us all the therapeutic benefits without having to track them down at the local grocery store.

Rachel Forman-Lau, NC, ACN

Digestion is often overlooked and taken for granted; warning signs can be dismissed as normal or just a temporary inconvenience. But in the holistic community, for centuries we have known that optimizing digestion is a crucial component of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Ancient Greek culture is known to be one of the first cultures to discover the key to balancing meals, and many cultures since have developed norms and food combinations to prioritize having rich enzymatic meals. Sadly in our culture there is still a lot of confusion about food and our cultural norms can even be destructive rather than help support a healthy lifestyle.

What is now considered the “Standard American Diet” is the byproduct of the food pyramid, which despite being reinvented on numerous occasions will still lead people astray when they are trying to figure out what their meals should consist of. On top of giving poor standards for what ratios of foods you should try to consume, it operates under the notion that there is one ideal diet that everyone should follow. And as fad diets come and go it is clear that people are constantly searching for the magic combination that will give them optimal energy. The secret formula has been reinvented as eating only fats and protein, to only vegetables and every combination in-between. But amid the desperation to find which diet works best, you need to keep in mind that your needs are unique to you, even the size and shape of your stomach is unique, and thinking that one diet will meet everyone’s specific individual needs is impractical. In order to find which “diet” and meal combinations are optimal to you, you can use your digestive system as a guide to give you direct feedback about how you are utilizing the food that you are eating.

In our experience we have found two major factors that play a role in digestive complications- eating the wrong combinations of foods, or eating food that has a subpar source/quality. The challenge to fixing digestive issues is certain symptoms can be caused by a variety of different root problems. For example lets look at bloating- it could be caused by carbohydrates fermenting too quickly in your stomach while it is trying to digest other proteins and fats that you consumed in your meal. Or bloating can be caused by not having enough hydrochloric acid and enzymes in your stomach, which can be due to drinking too much fluid with your meals. Our goal when approaching digestion is to not just eliminate your symptoms, but to pinpoint the root cause of your symptoms and address them.

Another factor that is important to consider when addressing digestion is where does digestion really start? In the brain or in the stomach? Most people are focused on the stomach when considering digestion complications, but if you consider marketing for food companies you will see a common trend. They focus on the look and smell of the food, which is the very beginning of the digestive sequence. Psychological and environmental factors play a role in your digestion, before you even start eating! Whether you are stressed in general or trying to eat your meal in a stressful environment, it can slow down your digestion since your body is in “fight or flight” mode. Creating space to eat without rushing through your meal or eating when you are in a better emotional state can positively impact your digestion.

The mechanical aspects of digestion start when we chew. The food is broken down by enzymes in the saliva and will then make their way down to the stomach. In the stomach hydrochloric acid and enzymes will break down your food, but this is only 10% of the process. 90% of digestion happens in the small intestines where food will travel approximately 20-25 feet. During this transit, food will continue to be broken down so vitamins and minerals can get absorbed and utilized by your body. Next up is the large intestine, which has task of absorbing water and electrolytes, as well as fermenting your food. This is also where the stool gets formed, and your stool is one of the most precise feedback systems that your body has. Diarrhea or constipation can give you specific indications of your gut flora balance, hydration or if you are eating too much processed food. It is taboo in our culture to discuss the result of digestion, but your stool can reveal crucial information about your health.

At Mind Body Motion we focus on optimizing your digestion in the first phase of your care. Making lifestyle changes and altering eating habits are important aspects of your digestion, but if there is a mechanical issue with your digestion then you could be eating an ideal diet but your body is unable to utilize the good food. All the money and effort you are putting toward supplements and meals is going down the drain. Or in this case, the toilet. “You are what you eat” is only a piece of the puzzle, how it is processed, metabolized and used by the body is just as important.

Testing your metabolic type, tracking stool types and transit times, paying attention to meal combinations and energy levels, all this and more is part of our Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Pillar to help you get to the bottom of what you need to eat to be at your best each day. If you are looking for help with your digestion, e-mail us to get more information or call our office to schedule an appointment today!

Halloween has just passed and it seems to be the catalyst for the start of the holiday season tradition of overindulging with copious amounts of sugar. While we do not promote a purist diet at MBM, we believe it is important to enjoy your life with fun food and treats in moderation. Splurging for a couple months on a daily basis can have effects that last beyond the standard New Year’s Day resolution kick off. Let’s take a closer look at blood sugar…

What is Blood Sugar and Why Is It So Important?

The medical term for sugar in the blood is glucose. Our pancreas helps regulate blood sugar levels by producing insulin, which carries glucose to wherever it is needed in the body to be used as energy. When glucose is not being used, it is stored in the liver as glycogen to be utilized while we are sleeping/”fasting” or stored in our fat cells. If your body is struggling to produce enough insulin, or overcompensating by producing too much insulin, you can start to become symptomatic. Common symptoms for unstable blood sugar levels are fatigue, irritability, cravings for sweets, afternoon headaches, trouble concentrating, weight gain around the stomach, and becoming lightheaded/shaky of you miss a meal. It is important that your blood sugar levels stay in a specific range, otherwise over time you can have some more serious issues arise, such as type-2 diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Serious Consequences of Long-term Irregular Blood Sugar Levels

Diabetes and insulin resistance are becoming part of our culture, especially in the Silicon Valley and other fast-paced social regions. We are looking to fast food places and overly processed packaged food as sources for quick energy, which over time throws our biorhythms out of sequence and can lead to metabolic dysfunctions. Metabolic syndrome- the combination of central obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, and/or abnormal cholesterol levels- is on the rise. 80 million Americans have been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and the diagnosis is associated with a significant increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes. These serious health concerns don’t happen overnight, but are an accumulation of factors and strain on our body over time. Since your pancreas is reactive and simply producing insulin to keep your blood sugar levels in a specific range, on a daily basis if each meal is littered with sugar and simple carbohydrates your body is having to compensate for the flood of glucose every time a meal or snack is eaten. If your day is a roller coaster of spikes and crashes, relying on late morning or early afternoon caffeine intake to help get you through to your next meal, your body is already heading down a path of blood sugar instability.

Ways to Help Support Healthy Blood Sugar Balance

When it comes to supporting healthy blood sugar levels, diet is one of the most direct ways to keep your levels in a healthy range. Eating generous amounts of fiber and phytonutrient rich foods is important on a daily basis. But before you turn primarily to fruit to up your fiber quota, keep in mind that along with that dose of fiber, your body will also need to process fructose. Another important factor is making sure to consume healthy fats, protein and complex carbohydrates since eating these types of food does not trigger your pancreas to produce large amounts of insulin. If a person is really fatigued, on certain medications, or dealing with greater health issues, we can use supplements to help support you through and accelerate the process to achieving better stability. However supplements alone won’t be enough to help; it must be complimented with good food. Other important factors are gut bacteria, adequate hydration, exercise and sleep quality. Even external factors such as stress and schedule changes connect to your adrenal response, “fight or flight,” and can heavily influence how you handle and process food. A lifestyle change as simple as taking time to chew and enjoy your meals can help with how you digest, process your food, and improve portion control. Try to aim for 3-4 hours between meals, with a maximum of 5 hours. Considering lifestyle and habits are crucial to support eating quality food and ultimately help maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

Achieving Results with MBM

When pairing dietary changes with lifestyle changes, you can start seeing results within the first phase of your care at MBM. Especially on minor blood sugar level fluctuations and symptoms. But sustainable and substantial improvements are most commonly seen once you reach the third phase of care. Everyone is unique and we are equipped to support you through whatever challenges you may be facing. Making significant lifestyle changes can be overwhelming, and when there isn’t a quick fix to the issues you are dealing with, it can be challenging to stay motivated. At MBM, we meet you wherever you are in your health journey and present a clear path to help you reach your goals. It is never too late to start improving your health!

Interested in more information about blood sugar? Contact us the office today! (408) 778-5577

As most of you know, for over 30 years Mind Body Motion has developed and utilized three pillars to help our clients achieve their health and fitness goals- corrective massage, integrated movement and functional nutrition. (Not familiar with MBM’s story? Click here) But did you know that we have 4 Phases of care to help you along the way to reaching your goals? Whether you are using only one pillar or all three, there are four distinct stages of care we progress you through to help you achieve optimal health and fitness.

Phase 1 – The Beginner/Relief Phase

In this phase, our goal is to address your most acute symptoms and reduce their frequency and intensity. This phase can be looked at as a “Band-Aid” approach because at this point we are not addressing the root cause of the issue, but rather focusing on symptom relief to help get your body out of a stressed state. If your care stops after this phase your symptoms might return because we did not get to correct what was causing the issues that brought you to our office. Examples of what you can achieve in this phase- reduce or relieve acute pain, normalize range of motion, increase energy, and improve digestion. Many clients are happy to end their journey here, but we encourage you to move into further stages to obtain sustainable results.

Phase 2 – Intermediate/Stability Phase

Now that you have found relief with your acute symptoms, we can start to address the root cause of the issues that you are experiencing. This is when we can help you achieve more long-term results. In this phase you are still susceptible to symptoms returning over time, the root cause will need to be addressed completely for you to have sustainable results. There are certain goals that cannot be achieved until your body has reached a stable state, at the end of this phase some things we can achieve: address chronic symptoms, decrease inflammation and improve balance/coordination.

Phase 3 – Advanced/Strength Phase

In this phase we focus on eliminating the root cause of your symptoms. By doing so, you can look forward to sustainable results and be equipped to identify triggers that might lead to symptoms returning. Now that your body is operating on a more stable platform, you are able to achieve goals that were being prevented by the root cause of your original issues. This an exciting phase because many clients have long term goals that can be achieved in this phase such as increased strength and stamina, regulating hormone and blood sugar levels, and dynamic pain-free movement.

Phase 4 – Mastery Phase

This is the phase where we move to mastering injury prevention through a balance of optimal myo-fascial tensegrity, nutrition and movement patterns. This is our favorite phase to help clients achieve because this is where you get to dream and set new goals for all aspects of your life- work, family, athletics, etc. Reaching this phase requires incorporating all three pillars and at this time you will experience minimal recovery time, master weight management, be able to handle high intensity activities and improve your stress management.

How Long Does It Take to Progress Through Each Phase?

This is one of the most common questions, and it depends on a few factors. Everyone’s situation, symptoms and circumstances are different and as unique as their fingerprint. It can strongly depend on your enthusiasm and commitment to our program. It can also depend on how many pillars you are incorporating into your care. Also there are often factors that are contributing to the root cause that you may not be aware of and can delay the process. On average it takes 3 months to go through each phase.

Do You Always Start in Phase 1?

Not everyone comes into our office and has to start in the Beginning/Relief Phase. If you lead an active and healthy lifestyle then you might be able to start in a later phase and progress more quickly through our program.

What Phase Am I In and How Do I Progress to the Next Phase?

Talk to your trainer at your next session and find out what phase you are in and what specific steps you need to complete to graduate to the next phase of care!

Regardless of your goals and where you are starting your journey, we aim to help everyone start feeling better as quickly as possible. Our aim is to provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to accomplish your goals and we are always honored to be a part of that process.

Want to learn more about our 4 Phases and the specifics on how they influence your program? Check out the “How Can We Help?” section on our home page

Are the many hours of devoted workout sessions without the results starting to frustrate you? Well, there are many factors that can cause this, but the two main reasons this can happen that most trainers and instructors will not talk about are:

1) Changing your routine
&
2) Proper rest.

1) Changing your workout routine every 3-4 weeks is very important in order to keep the nervous system sharp and make the body learn to respond to new and different movements. If you do not change your routine, you are simply allowing your body to be complacent in a way that doesn’t continue progress. The changes do not need to be drastic, but make sure you are not doing the same movements for months on end without any changes.

2) If the body is not fully recovered from its previous workouts and the training continues, the tissue break down will continue to a level where the muscle can sprain or strain. Not paying attention to these signs can lead to serious long term injury that could keep you from getting any kind of workout in at all. So how do you know if you are overtraining and how do you prevent it?

Signs of Over Training:

• Constant muscle soreness
• Insomnia
• Irritability
• Mood swings
• Injuries that won’t heal

How To Prevent Overtraining:

We strongly suggest to vary your exercise sessions with the three planes of motion (below). This is an effective way to prevent overtraining in specific muscle groups.

• Sagittal Plane: Front-Back
• Frontal Plane: Side to Side
• Transversal Plane: Rotation-Twist.

Resting Heart Rate:

Checking your resting heart rate can give you an indication of where your fitness level is at and also whether your body is stressed, fatigued, or fighting an illness.

I’d suggest the Delta Heart Rate Method:

1. In order to take your heart rate (if you have a monitor) take it for two minutes lying down for your resting heart rate and keep the lowest number. If you do not have a monitor, count your pulse for 30 seconds then double it.
2. Take your heart rate every morning for several days (before you get out of bed) to get an average base line of your normal resting heart rate (usually between 60-90 bpm)
3. Start to take your Delta Heart Rate, which is the change in BPM from resting to standing. So after you take your resting heart rate, stand up, wait a few seconds, take your standing heart rate. Then, subtract the difference between your standing and resting and that is your Delta Heart Rate.
4. Start to monitor your heart rate daily to see how your body is doing that day. You’ll notice as you become more fit, your resting heart rate will decrease. However, if you notice a spike in your Delta heart rate one morning (difference of 0-10 bpm is excellent, 10-20 bp is normal, 20-30+ bpm is cautionary). That is usually a sign your body is fatigued, stressed, fighting illness etc. This means you should REST that day and not exercise. If you are in the 0-10 range, that would be a good day to exercise and possibly try some new movements.

Using these techniques can help you be more aware of what your body can handle and where you are at in your fitness level.

“Keep On Moving!”

Luis Ponce Sr.

( 408) 778-5577

SLEEP! Those of you who have spent any prolonged time at Mind Body Motion may know the Six Principles of Health and Well Being. One significant principle on that list is SLEEP. Why is sleep so important you ask? Well that’s simple, it is hands down the most important part of recovery. This means recovery from everything we do. Recovery from workouts, stress, illness, and everyday wear and tear.

In order to understand the importance of sleep we must look at the Autonomic Nervous System. There are two parts to this system and both pieces must be used properly in order for our bodies to function in a healthy way. The first piece of the Autonomic Nervous System is the Sympathetic Branch which includes our ability for “fight or flight” as well as the release of stress hormones. These are essential parts of survival in our everyday world. However, without the next piece of the puzzle, the Parasympathetic Branch, we slowly burn our systems out making us susceptible to illness, injury, pain, exhaustion, the list goes on.

The Parasympathetic Branch is about “rest & digest” with the release of growth and repair hormones. Without this step on a daily basis our cells cannot recover. Every morning after you get up from only 4-6 hours of sleep or less for some people, your cells are basically hungover. They haven’t gotten the rest and repair they need to make your body function properly. This means you feel sluggish, in pain, and probably pouring yourself a big cup of coffee.

With your busy life, you may think “sleep is overrated, I don’t have time to sleep” but we ask you to consider some basic tips for giving your Autonomic Nervous System a little love:

Try to minimize screen time before bed (ideally two hours, but at minimum one hour). Any form of screen time is stimulating as well as the lights omitted from screens, which keeps your mind engaged and makes it difficult to wind down.

Do NOT sleep with your cell phone or other electronic device right by your head all night long. If you use your cell phone as an alarm clock, make sure it is on airplane mode or ideally go get yourself a cheap alarm clock and keep your cell phone in the other room.

Use Magnesium oil before bed as a way to get your body relaxed.

Do a couple minutes of diaphragmatic breathing as part of your bedtime routine.

Work on going to bed earlier. Even if you think you’re a night owl, our bodies have a natural rhythm and it’s better for us to be asleep by 10:30pm and up by 6:30am. Even if you don’t have to be up at 6:30, it’s better to be on this schedule and get things done in the morning you may normally do late at night.

“Keep On Moving!”

Luis Ponce Sr.

( 408) 778-5577