Health Plus

Strength Training: Essential for a Long and Healthy Life

Some of you may think of exercise as only doing “cardio”, meaning you are increasing your heart rate through activities such as brisk walking, running, bicycling, swimming, using cardio equipment at the gym (treadmill, stationary bicycle, elliptical, stair master etc.), or group exercise classes (Zumba, Step, Cycle). Cardiovascular exercise helps to improve the function and performance of your heart and lungs, and it helps to improve mental health, mood, sleep, weight management and metabolism. On the other hand, strength training is movement in which you use equipment or your body weight to build muscle mass, strength and endurance. Do you stop and think about why strength training is also important for your body? Do you actually participate in strength training sessions focusing on all your major muscle groups at least 2-3 days each week? You may be thinking that you are okay with just doing cardio exercise and don’t want to add in strength training. Here’s why you should re-think this.

Muscles follow a “use it or lose it” principle. We start losing muscle mass at a rate of about 0.5% per year staring in our thirties. By the time we are in our fifties we are losing considerably more each year (1-2%) and then up to 3% per year in our sixties. So by the time you are 70 years old you may have lost 40% or more of your muscle mass. In addition, your muscle fibers get smaller as you age, and the muscles are less able to contract. So the bad news is that you will lose some muscle mass as you get older even if you’ve been doing strength training. But the good news is that you can slow down the muscle loss, and you can build muscle at any age.

Muscle strength also decrease as you age. This loss of strength occurs 2-5 times as fast as muscle mass loss. Muscle strength is dependent not only on muscle size but also on the interaction of the nervous system with the muscle. Strength training helps increase both muscle strength and muscle size. When you first start strength training you will likely notice that your muscles are stronger before you notice an increase in muscle size. This is because the strength adaptations that happen initially are mostly neuromuscular.

Strength training can help you maintain your independence as you age. In order to move your body from one place to another, stand up from a chair, and to walk up a flight of stairs, you need strength in your muscles. Strength training helps preserve your ability to move in general, improves balance and flexibility, and can make performing daily activities of living (such as gardening, cleaning the house, walking the dog) easier and more enjoyable for you. Additionally, the more you move, the lower your heart rate and the easier it will be to breathe, leading to more enjoyment of activities.

Strength training can help prevent falls as you age. Through strength training you can increase your strength and power so that you are better able to catch yourself if you start to fall. One in three women and one in five men over the age of 50 will fall and fracture a bone due to osteoporosis. To lower your fall risk, do activities that will not only build strength but will also improve your balance and coordination such as yoga, Tai Chi, dancing and hiking. Hiking strengthens your ankles, challenges your balance and will help build muscle as you move uphill and downhill on the hiking trails.

Strength training helps prevent osteoporosis. Weight-bearing exercise where you are standing and gravity is pulling down on your body lightly stresses and strengthens muscles and bones. When a muscle contracts, it pulls on the bones it is attached to, leading to the bone cells making structural proteins and moving minerals into the bone. This makes the bone more dense, stronger and less likely to break. Your strength training routine should include some standing weight-bearing activities like squats and lunges.

Doing strength training leads to less abdominal fat. Harvard researchers followed more than 10,000 men for 12 years and found that strength training was more effective than cardiovascular exercise in preventing increases in abdominal fat. Adding strength training to your exercise routine will burn calories and increase lean muscle mass. Muscle tissue burns more calories, even at rest, than body fat so it makes sense that you will have less of an increase in fat stores if you are doing strength training regularly.

Working your muscles can decrease your blood sugar. Muscle is metabolically active, and it uses and stores more glucose (or blood sugar) than any other tissue in the body. The more muscle you have, the more blood sugar will be used. Research using patients with type 2 diabetes found that patients who participated in strength training (and not cardiovascular exercise) had improved blood sugar levels. Another study showed that patients with type 2 diabetes who participated in both strength training and cardiovascular exercise had a larger decrease in A1c levels (a long term measure of blood sugar levels) compared to the patients who participated in only one or the other. Strength training can also decrease your risk of developing diabetes since it helps improve the ability of insulin to move the sugar out of the blood and into the body’s cells.

Strength training can help you live longer. There are a number of research studies which have found that strength training is associated with a decreased risk of dying. It appears that muscle strength and amount of lean muscle mass are better indicators of health than body mass index (BMI). It is unclear exactly why strengthening your muscles keeps you alive longer. Some theories include:
• People who are working to build muscle mass and increase strength will have a low risk of falling and becoming injured.
• People who strength train often belong to a gym which means they are likely socializing and are less isolated. Isolation increases the risk of dying.
• Increased grip strength (which helps measure total body strength) leads to a younger biological age compared to a person’s chronological age. A study looked at markers in people’s DNA to determine biological age. A person who is 70 years old chronologically with a high grip strength may only be 60 years old biologically.

So hopefully now you are convinced that adding strength training to your exercise routine is worthwhile. But perhaps you are not sure where to start. Here are some tips:

• Consider working with a personal trainer to make sure you are using proper form and technique. You can use weight machines at a gym, resistance bands, free weights or even your own body weight.
• Warm up your muscles with brisk walking or another type of cardio exercise for 5-10 minutes. Cold muscles are more prone to injury.
• Start with lighter weights. Pick a weight where you can do at least 10 repetitions of an exercise but not more than 15 repetitions. Then do 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions. As you get stronger, increase the amount of weight you use. If you prefer you can do more repetitions with lighter weights. You want to get to the point of muscle failure where you can’t lift the weight one more time.
• Aim for working all the major muscle groups at least twice a week. If you don’t work all the major muscle groups in one session, you may need to do strength training more often (like 3-4 times each week). Some people choose to work on upper body muscles 2 days a week and then lower body muscles on a different 2 days a week.
• Be sure to rest one full day between exercising specific muscle groups so that your muscles have time to recover. The rest time is important to allow your muscles to heal and grow.
• Some muscle soreness is normal and indicates that you have challenged your muscles. You will likely have less soreness after doing the strength training during the first few weeks. If the soreness persists, consider using lighter weights or adding more rest days in between sessions. The soreness should not be so intense that it interferes with activities of daily living. But don’t be concerned if you are not sore. Gaining strength and increasing muscle mass is not linked to muscle soreness.
• Strength training doesn’t need to take a lot of time. Two 30 minutes workouts per week is enough to see good results.
• Don’t let strength training become boring. Try out some group exercise classes at the gym that focus on strength (Pilates, boot camps, etc.) or classes that combine both cardio and strength training. Follow some classes online such as “HAS Fit” strength workouts. Or try resistance bands of body weight instead of free weights.

Would you like to learn more about exercise? Click here: https://healthplustoday.com/resources/blog/lets-get-moving/
to read the “Let’s Get Moving” Blog post.

21 Ways to Combat Chronic Stress

You have a very important deadline for work in just a few days and you are nowhere near done with the project. Your boss is texting you every hour to ask when it will be finished. In addition, one of your children is sick and can’t go to school so you are trying to work from home while tending to your child. Your dog got injured after chasing a squirrel through the blackberry bushes (which you need to try and get rid of but have not had any extra time to do yardwork recently) and needs to go to the vet. Your refrigerator is almost empty and you have no idea what you will fix for dinner or when you’ll be able to get to the grocery store. You are feeling very maxed out due to the many demands you face! Stress is inevitable and unavoidable. A little stress may even be a good thing since it may help make you more productive and creative. But sometimes there is just too much stress!

Your body is geared to react to stress in ways that protect you against physical threats and attacks. While it is rare that we are faced with a predator or other aggressor, our body reacts to stressful events and situations (such as those mentioned above) in a way that is similar to how it reacts to physical threats. When you face a threat (such as a large dog barking at you while you are on a walk around your neighborhood), your body reacts by releasing hormones including adrenaline and cortisol so that you are geared up for a “Fight-or-Flight” response.

Adrenaline increases your heart rate and blood pressure. Cortisol (which is your body's main stress hormone) increases blood sugar and increases your brain’s use of these sugars, providing increased energy so you can either get away from the perceived threat by running (Flight) or are able to protect/defend yourself (Fight). Cortisol also slows body functions that are not essential or could even be harmful in a Fight-or-Flight situation, such as digestion and your immune system. For example, blood flow is redirected from the digestive tract to the brain and large muscles so you can deal more effectively with the threat.

We need cortisol to survive, but too much cortisol can cause problems. Occasional or temporary stressful situations may not be harmful; however, chronically elevated cortisol levels, as is seen with chronic stress, can lead to weight gain, negative effects on the immune system, and risk of chronic illnesses and mental health disorders. High cortisol levels are thought to increase fat accumulation, especially around the waist and also to increase the ability of fat cells to store fat. Cortisol is also an appetite stimulant causing you to eat more when you are stressed.

Stress also indirectly causes weight gain. We often turn to “comfort food” when we are under a lot of stress. In addition, when we are experiencing stress, it is often more difficult to find the motivation to exercise and to resist the temptation to eat unhealthy foods. Stress can also interfere with sleep. When we are sleep deprived, we are less likely to make healthy food choices. Sleep deprivation can be its own source of stress on the body, setting up a vicious cycle.

So how can you reduce chronic stress and subsequently reduce cortisol levels? First, try to identify what is causing your stress. Lots of times we feel stressed and don't even know why. Next, either work to eliminate the source of stress, or if that is not possible, take steps to manage the impact the situation has on you. Choosing healthier ways to manage stress and not letting it control your life is important. Taking a holistic approach to weight loss that includes stress reduction will likely lead to better overall health and the probability that you will successfully achieve and maintain your weight loss goals.

Here are 21 tips to help reduce your stress:

--exercise for 30 minutes or more
--go outdoors and enjoy the beauty of nature
--choose healthy foods to nourish your body (lean meats, beans and legumes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables)
--call a friend or family member
--do yoga for 10 minutes
--ask family or friends for help so you have more time for you
--listen to music as you are doing chores
--read a good book (or listen to an audiobook)
--go to bed 1 hour earlier than you normally do
--pet a dog or cat
--practice positive self-talk
--say “no” to something that may cause stress
--meditate (See below for a One Minute Meditation)
--breathe deeply for a few minutes
--cross a nonessential item off of your to-do list
--take time to engage in hobbies you enjoy
--avoid caffeine and alcohol
--write your thoughts in a journal; focus on what you are grateful for
--watch a funny movie or YouTube video
--volunteer in your community
--seek professional counseling to help you develop coping strategies for stress

One Minute Meditation

When you feel stress piling up in your life, take 1 minute to practice meditation. This can help you manage the stress that inevitably will pop up in your day. You can do this anywhere and at any time, as you are standing or sitting, or even before you get out of bed in the morning.

Steps:
--Close your eyes and breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth.
--Focus on how your body expands as you breathe in and softens as you breathe out.
--Allow thoughts to come and go while continuing to gently refocus on your breathing.
--When you are ready, reopen your eyes.
--Pause for a moment and decide how you’d like to continue on with the rest of your day.