3 Easy Ways to Stay Fit and Healthy During the Holidays

Many people spend Christmastime attending social gatherings, but did you know that this time of the year also comes with increased risk for cardiac failure? A 16-year study done in Sweden found that heart attacks are most common on Christmas Day, with peak hours at 10 PM. This spike can’t be blamed on the cold alone; researchers from the University of Melbourne found that there’s a 4% increase in cardiac events in New Zealand during the Christmas holidays.

Christmas season in Australia is an occasion filled with gifts, good food, and quality time with family and friends. However, it’s also a good time to enquire about the health of your loved ones and practice habits that keep you in tiptop shape. A healthy holiday doesn’t need to be boring; there are plenty of ways you can incorporate staying fit with traditional celebrations and hearty family dinners. Below, we share 3 ways:

Join a first aid class.

Learning first aid or refreshing your skills by joining first aid express training courses is one way of safeguarding your family this Christmas season. A short course on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and basic first aid can make you more aware of the signs and symptoms of cardiac events and other illnesses and medical emergencies. It empowers you to make the right decisions and act during critical moments, which can give the patient a better chance of a swift recovery. Your family members will also feel safer knowing that they have someone who knows first aid in their midst.

At the same time, you can give the gift of learning to your loved ones by letting them learn first aid. Aside from making sure they’re ready for emergencies, a first aid course and certification can also improve their career prospects.

Engage in physical activity.

It may be the holidays, but that doesn’t mean you should spend it on the couch or around the dining table. Take the opportunity to engage your friends or members of your family in physical activities. You can play beach volleyball or go swimming if there’s a good beach near you. Run during the cooler hours of the day, take a brisk walk if you don’t want to exert too much effort, or ride a bike around the neighborhood you are staying in. You can also organize relay and group games and make it a tradition to keep the rest of your family active. However, since it’s the middle of summer, make sure you hydrate properly and stay under the shade to avoid heatstroke.

Eat-in moderation.

Food is an integral part of any Christmas celebration, and many people find it difficult to keep to their diet during this time of the year. There’s nothing wrong with eating well on holidays, but make sure that you are not overindulging in food and drinks that are not good for you. Go easy on the alcoholic drinks, avoid overstuffing yourself, and try to distance yourself from the buffet table. You can also opt to bring healthy food options to the party and snack on these instead of greasy, sweet, or salty dishes. In addition, keep yourself well hydrated at all times.

The holiday season takes place at the height of summer, so heat-related illnesses are also more likely to occur. If there are people in your vicinity that are at a higher risk for diseases associated with the season, keep an eye out for them, make sure they are aware of the symptoms, and instruct them to ask for help at the first sign of trouble. Make it a habit to look out for each other and express approval when someone in your group is being active or eating well. This not only makes the other person feel good, but it also encourages the whole group to celebrate Christmas in a healthier manner.
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November 20, 2019

Health Hiccups – 4 Ways To Get Back On Track If You’ve Dropped Your Fitness Goals

It’s no secret that people are creatures of habit. This is why you shouldn’t beat yourself up about not being able to stick to a new fitness routine 100% of the time. It takes time to establish new habits and transform your lifestyle, but with a bit of patience, you will get there. Here are five ways you can get back on track after a slump in your fitness regimen.

1. Team Up With A Trainer

Becoming a morning person who visits the gym before sunrise is not easy to achieve overnight. If you’re a newly initiated gym-goer or have spent years waking up just in time to make it work, your new healthy habit can be especially difficult. As crazy as it sounds, you’re basically making yourself relearn how to live.

Joining a personal training gym is one of the best ways to inspire this massive change (and make it stick). Your personal trainer will be waiting for you to start your session, giving you that vital sense of accountability before you’ve even stepped foot in the gym. Having a professional trainer is invaluable in terms of guidance and motivation to stick to your goals. Surprisingly, this takes a lot of pressure off you.

2. Start A Group Fitness Initiative At Work

Similar to having a personal trainer who holds you accountable to your gym sessions, organizing a scheduled fitness-based activity with your workmates can help you keep up with your routine. This is because others will be expecting you to make an appearance, and you don’t want to break your commitments in a professional setting like your workplace.

Your group initiative could be anything from a 30-minute fitness class at a nearby gym to having a yoga teacher visit your workplace on the busiest day of the week. You could even organize a team to take part in a walk, fun run, marathon, or obstacle challenge and raise money for charity. All these initiatives will help improve morale and employee health as well, so don’t be afraid to bring this up with your seniors.

3. Walk Or Ride To Work

This isn’t for everyone, but if you’re based a reasonable distance from work, consider leaving your car at home one day a week so you can walk or ride a bike to work. Increasing the amount of incidental exercise you get each day can be a great way to start leading a healthier lifestyle without too much hassle.

Over time, you can increase this to a few days per week, and who knows, maybe you’ll end up becoming a daily cyclist? In addition to getting more exercise into your day, you are also reducing your carbon footprint and saving money on gas.

4. Track Your Progress

No matter what your starting point was, you are probably not going to experience major visible changes for a while, but you can still monitor your progress. This doesn’t just mean a weekly weigh-in either. Consider tracking other health measures, like your heart rate during certain activities, your daily steps, and advancements made in your training.

Keeping a diary will allow you to record all these numbers as well as other important health measures like your food intake and how you’re feeling overall. When it comes to your fitness journey, remember that even the smallest step forward is still progress.

It’s not going to be easy, but by keeping an open mind, remaining patient, and following through on the above points, you will be able to achieve your fitness goals.

4 Ways to Establish New Fitness Goals That Will Keep You on Track. #fitnessgoals

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September 20, 2019August 18, 2021

Tips For Keeping Yourself Active And Healthy When Moving

Let’s admit it – moving to a new home can disrupt your daily life. With relocation, you may be spending your days and nights preparing, organizing, and packing. And once you arrive in your new place, it’ll take a few weeks before you can fully unpack your belongings. Because of these things, chances are you may probably forget about eating healthy and keeping yourself active at all times.

Here are a few essential tips for staying active and healthy while moving to a new place.

Eat Healthily

Keeping a healthy diet throughout the moving preparation can help you maintain a high energy level to handle physically demanding tasks, including the process of packing. In this case, eating healthy is extremely important. While you may not have sufficient time to cook healthy foods, be sure to stock up on foods like lean meats, hard-boiled eggs, dairy products, whole grain bread, and fruits and vegetables. Moreover, make a real effort not to skip meals. If possible, create a healthy meal plan to ensure you eat healthier and have the physical strength to survive the entire moving process.

Drink Plenty Of Water Regularly

Aside from eating healthy, keeping your body hydrated is also a great way to stay active during a move. If you’re relocating in warmer months, your exposure to the excessive heat in the air can dehydrate you quickly. As a result, you may experience dizziness, headaches, increased thirst, and many more. To ensure a smooth house relocation, drink enough water to quench your thirst. Also, avoid excessive intake of carbonated drinks as they may only make you thirstier and later on, result in sugar crashes.

De-Stress

It’s important to note that moving is a stressful process. With all the things that need to be done, the entire process will definitely stress you out. That said, you need to take care of yourself during the move. You can take advantage of some de-stressing techniques to keep yourself active and healthy. Find time to exercise, whether it’s playing a sport, yoga, or running. In addition, you can try deep breathing to lower your stress level.

Get Enough Sleep

Again, moving home comes with a lot of stress, anxiety, and work. Hence, the most healthy way to survive all of these challenges is to sleep well. Waking up well-rested every morning can help you stay fit and active in the process. Even if the tasks are time-consuming, it’s best not to sacrifice your sleep just to make up for the work. Make sure you shouldn’t compromise your habitual sleeping pattern by organizing your time properly with the assistance of a moving checklist. Also, start your planning and preparation as early as possible and don’t hesitate to ask for help from friends or experts like moving companies NYC.

Keep Safe Throughout The Move

Being healthy during a move also means taking good care of your safety. When relocating, there may be several situations which seem dangerous and risky. These may even lead to accidents and injuries if safety precautions aren’t observed. Below are the things you need to do to keep yourself safe throughout the transition:

Wear a comfortable pair of shoes – Prevent potential accidents by using shoes with adequate ankle protection and anti-slip soles. Under these circumstances, sports shoes can be a great option.
Use quality gloves – Moving heavy items will be safe if you wear gloves. They protect your hands from injuries while carrying bulky objects. So, choose the right work gloves that work best for you. These should be well-padded, sweat-resistant, and stretchable.
Follow proper lifting techniques – A miscalculated effort when moving items such as appliances and furniture can cause you some injuries. That’s why you should do everything to avoid getting yourself harmed when relocating to a new house.
Clear pathways from all sorts of debris – Don’t let yourself be in danger with all the obstacles around the area. Be sure nothing is scattered along your way to keep yourself active and healthy.

Hire Movers To Help

If you can afford to hire movers, do it. Most long-distance moving companies offer services that can help you relocate without hassle. By having professionals on your side, you can make the process less stressful and tedious. So, do yourself a big favor and give the burden to experts who happen to know everything about how you can ensure a safe and healthy move.

Conclusion

Follow the essential tips mentioned above so you can stay active and healthy while moving. If you’re healthy during a house move, it’ll make the whole process go smoothly. With renewed mental stamina and physical energy, you’ll be fully ready to overcome every challenge you have to go through.
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February 28, 2019

Stop The Aging: Keep Muscles and Brain Healthy

Best exercises to stop aging, keep muscles, brain healthy

Looking after our bodies can be tough work – often much tougher than we would originally assume. If you are someone who is trying to look after themselves properly, then you will be all too aware of the challenges that exist. For example, as we continue to age, we often find that our physical performance – from our consistency to our ability to impact events – will fall through the floor. We simply cannot last as long, nor put in as much effort without risking an injury.

If you feel like this is the case, then here are some of the best exercises to stop aging, keep your muscles healthy and keep your mind active. With each of these exercises, you are likely to find that you can do a lot to help stay a lot more mentally and physically active, ensuring that you can adequately react to the issues that you are facing physically and mentally.

It’s a long journey to get to peak fitness. However, in time, you might just find that this is the right path for you to take. So, what are some of the best exercises you can work on?

Try out Tai Chi

It might not be your first port of call normally, but we recommend that you try out Tai Chi as quickly as you can. It’s one of the best exercises that you can try out if you wish to help keep yourself well-motivated mentally as well as flexible and strong physically. It’s great for both body and mind and will go some way to making sure you can make genuine improvements physically and mentally.

Tai Chi is done by carrying out numerous small motions, often in a rather low-tempo and graceful fashion. It’s almost like a dance: you move from one movement to the next in the most graceful, comfortable fashion that you possibly can. Tai Chi is not an exercise program that you need to think is too heavy going on the body, either. Just about any Tai Chi class worth engaging with shall come with its own quirks and positive features, most of the time being made for beginners.

You can often find Tai Chi being taught at health clubs, community centers and even senior living centers. Be sure to look around, and finding a good quality Tai Chi class should be possible. *This post may contain affiliate links and it is a way for the site to earn advertising fees and I might receive compensation at no additional cost to you if you click on an affiliate link.

Take part in some swimming

One of the best exercises that you can do for body and mind, though, is about swimming. If you are serious about maintaining a healthy body and a sharp mind, then swimming is probably one of the best places for you to start off with. Why? Because swimming has been proven to be the ideal workout for the body.

It’s great for offering a bit of extra support to the body, meaning that you can work out with total comfort and without the same intense physical pain other exercises might provide you with. If you have too much joint pain to take on some certain exercises, then swimming is a low-impact solution that you can enjoy.

It’s also quite good for seniors who struggle to exercise due to issues like arthritis. The lack of weight bearing on the muscles and the joints means that you are far less likely to feel the physical impact quite so heavily, allowing you to just work out and enjoy the whole experience as you normally would.

You will also most likely find that doing this allows you to enjoy a more relaxing, methodical workout experience – and tone-up!

Stay strong

Speaking of toning up, you should never neglect good old strength exercises. These are going to help you to make sure that you can maintain physical power, meaning that your bones will stay strong and your muscles resistant to injury. Strength training such as using weights and resistance tools will give you a lot of help to stay physically capable, and it will help you to stay strong and physically independent even when you might be used to needing a lot of help around the house.

So, if you are serious about making sure that you can stay in good physical shape, don’t be afraid to invest in some weights. While it might not seem like something that a senior should be doing, when carried out with supervision and with some support around you it can be excellent for retaining high physical strength. Gym equipment have put together an extensive list of weight-related exercises you can try, for both at home and in the gym.

It will also help you to make sure that you don’t become lazy or weak as you age. With strong muscles, you can maintain independence and do your own thing. Don’t let your muscles become weak and take away of doing many of the activities that you enjoy most in life. With some basic strength training, even only once or twice per week, the difference can be quite remarkable.

Go for a walk

Last but certainly not least, you should look to go for a walk every day. walking helps you to stay in good physical shape, allows you to enjoy some time to yourself and also helps you to strengthen your bones. If you feel like your bones are quite weak or that you are struggling to stay in an optimistic mood, then you can find that a walk is an easy way to solve such issues without any pressure.

Why? Because walking helps us to find time to ‘talk through’ our lives mentally. You can solve a lot of problems which are weighing you down mentally and physically simply by going for a walk. Add to the fact that it’s low-impact but good for the muscles and bones, and it’s easy to see why going for a walk might just be one of the best things that you can do for improved physical fitness.

Try starting out slow, going for a little 10-15 minute walks each day. Build it up, setting targets for where you wish to walk to and back from. Do that for long enough, and you’ll be going for hour-long walks daily and feeling damn good about it!