~ My-Wellness-Coach ~

Do You Have a Sleep Conducive Bedroom?

 If you're not getting enough sleep, and who is, a few changes to your bedroom might really make a difference. 

The first thing you can do is get rid of any clutter.     

A sleep conducive bedroom is neat and tidy—piles of laundry and stacks of unpaid bills, reports, and half-finished manuscripts will only serve to distract you—you’ll wind up laying in bed all night thinking you should have, could have, would have, but didn’t do this thing or that thing.

What you really want is a bedroom limited to three basic functions: getting dressed (and undressed), sleeping, and you-know-what.   

Likewise, your bed should be limited to bedtime reading, sleeping and you-know-what. 
   
The best bedrooms are quiet, dark and cool. 

Any sound that exceeds seventy decibels can stimulate your nervous system enough to keep you awake—so for heavens sake fix that dripping faucet in the nearby bathroom and if your alarm clock goes tick-tick-tick too loud get a new one. 

Some sounds are hard to control including barking dogs, car alarms, noisy radiators, late night revelers, your deaf neighbor’s extremely loud TV, cats in heat, sirens, etc.  If these sounds bother you get a “white noise” machine such as SleepMate, which masks out disturbing sounds with a low level, soothing sound. 

Try ear plugs like the ones they sometimes give you on an airplane.  If you’re a helpless tightwad, tune your FM radio to a neutral spot between two channels and leave it on at a low volume—the “pseudo white noise” really works, you could become addicted to it. 
   
Human were designed to sleep in darkness—you really want your bedroom to be dark.   When you get ready to go to bed, pull the curtains and shut the door. 

If you can’t get the room near a “pitch black” state, use eye-shades.  I use them every night and swear by them. 
   
Next, keep the temperature in your bedroom in the range of 60 to 65 degrees.  If it is any warmer than this or if you sleep with too many blankets and bedclothes, you’re much more likely to have nightmares or wake up in a sweat. 

Some people like fresh air when they sleep, which is fine, but it not a prerequisite.  If your bedroom air is dry, a humidifier will also help.
 
Another tip--invest in your bedding!  Clean, good quality sheets and pillow cases, especially those made of linen, create a soothing feeling and make a difference in how quickly you lapse into a really deep sleep.  A good pillow and a firm mattress gives you the support you need in the right places and will keep you from developing neck or back pain.  “Neck roll” and contour pillows provide excellent cervical support and are highly recommend.

Finally, if you have a TV in your bedroom, get rid of it.  Store it in the closet or toss it out on the sidewalk.  Watching TV in bed is a sure-fire formula for insomnia.  

For more tips on how to get a good night's sleep, download my free poster (pdf file):  Click here.

A Few Squirts of Lemon Juice in Your Green Tea Can Make All the Difference

One of the absolute best things you can do to maintain wellness, protect yourself against cancer and prevent the development of diseases like atherosclerosis and liver disease is drink green tea. 

But, can you drink enough of it?

While, there is little doubt that drinking green tea is good for you, there are conflicting reports about how much you need to drink.

For example, a Japanese study found that men who drank 10 cups per day stayed cancer-free for 3 years longer than men who drank less than 3 cups a day.

Another study concludes you can help prevent rheumatoid arthritis or reduce the symptoms (if you already have this condition) by drinking 4 or more cups of green tea a day. 

Several of my Asian-Americans friends drink green tea all day long.  10 cups or more to them is no big deal.

For me, however, and for my non-Asian friends, drinking more than two cups a day on a regular basis just isn't going to happen. 

It turns out, however, there is a simple solution.  All you have to do is add a little lemon juice to your green tea.  Suddenly you are boosting the level of antioxidant compounds in the tea that actually make it through your digestive system.

How much are you boosting them?  According to researchers at Purdue University, the increase is as much as 13-fold.

The reason for this is that the antioxidant compounds or to be more specific the "catechins" in tea aren't very stable in non-acidic environments, such as you stomach and intestines.  Most of value you'd expect to gain from green tea is lost through digestion.

By adding a little lemon juice you are making your tea acidic and as a result, a much higher percentage of catechins is digested and you get more benefits from drinking less. 

This includes the catechin EGCG which besides inhibiting the growth of cancers cells, kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.  EGCG also effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels and inhibiting the formation of blood clots.

So, I think it is a wise decision to make green tea part of your daily life.  And it is even wiser to drink it with lemon.  

A Great Way to Burn Fat and Strengthen Your Heart

If you want to burn more fat and condition your heart in an optimal way you might want to try interval training.  This is an "anaerobic" style of exercise where you speed up, slow down, and speed up again.

I've been doing this recently at the pool.  After stretching and warming up, I swim a lap as fast as I possible can. 

Then I leisurely swim a slow lap, do a couple more stretches and blast off again.  After about 5 cycles I feel like I've had a fantastic workout and the good feeling actually lasts for the rest of the day. 

Research has shown that interval training can dramatically increase your cardiovascular fitness and your fat-burning capabilities. 

The later because the intense stress of accelerated effort releases high levels of chemical compounds called "catecholamines," which allow more fat to be burned from under your skin and within the exercising muscles.

Interval training can be applied to nearly any aerobic exercise.  If you like to walk or hike, you can speed up for a minute up to two minutes, walking as fast as you can, and then slow down to a crawl. 

How many times should repeat this?  I think it depends upon how fit you are, but I'd say four or five times is all it really takes.

You can do interval training on a bicycle or a stationary bike, even, believe it or not, on a golf course by simply walking really fast between shots.

Whatever the type of exercise, the high-intensity phase should be long and strenuous enough that you find yourself running short of breath.  Your heart rate should go up to 80 to 85 percent of its maximum. 

Your recovery period should be leisurely but not last long enough for your pulse to return to normal. 

Most experts recommend that you don't do interval training more than once every other day in order to give your muscles time to recover and thus avoid burnout. 

Amazingly, the benefits actually transfer over to endurance training.  A 2005 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that after just two weeks of interval training, most of the male and female subjects in the study doubled their endurance, or the amount of time they could ride a bicycle at moderate intensity before exhaustion.

Interval training is a great way to build up the strength of your heart and thus help prevent heart attacks.  It's also a good way to help you lose weight or maintain your weight.

If you are diabetic or think you might be "pre-diabetic" interval training will help you by developing new muscle fibers and by increasing you body's ability to use fuel. 

One final thought, with this type of exercise you can accomplish more in less time.

Do you do this type of exercise?  Would you consider it?  Please post your thoughts below.  Thanks!