3 of The Mariano's tips!

There are many ways in which a person may fight anxiety or stress. Some people are better than others at finding the right road to relaxation, but for some people it is a very tough task...ME!
therefore I have decided to show you three important tips that I found really helpful when I get to the point of maximum stress:

1- Cook out!

I don't know what is it about cooking that its so relaxing to me but I think is one of the best ways to release pressure. Have some friends that may be stressed too, and invite them to have a cook out where everybody can bring their own plate.

2- Separation, Relaxation

Go away from everything to a nice and quite place, get comfortable, close your eyes, and start picturing your happy place. In my case, I tend to think about my favorite beach back home where I'm surrounded by family and friends having a good time. Of course yours does not have to be the same, In your mind, you are the king.

3- Be creative

Try to stimulate your brain with positive ideas, write down thoughts that might help you in the future in anything you do. Plan something, do something new.


Check out this video from the Chopra Well about creativity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4vt6lONzh4


There are so many things already out there that can be helpful for relaxation, however, I think we are perfectly capable of creating our own tool, of course without harming others.

Health as a weird cat!

Looking at some news I found one that was related to how good is to stay active for children

Now take a look at this video and please comment what do you think..

There are so many things we dont know :)

Evidence supporting exercise!

When I go exercise, I try to think about how well I'm going to feel afterwards. I use it as an escape from all the stress that college brings to my body. But this is because I like exercise and being healthy in general. I think most of the people in the world seek some kind of health that would keep them alive but is not the behavior that seeks ultimate health.

There is evidence enough to show that proper exercise can help in the fight of many diseases and other problems. Recently, a study on rats, had shown that cardio could hold key to cancer cure.

STOP!....read that sentence five more times...

"cardio could hold key to cancer cure"

How strong can exercise be? what would you do if you know that by exercising regularly, you can save your own life from terminal problems.

This study, among of the thousands of studies that had been done regarding exercise, shows  that cardio could reduce the risk of having liver tumours almost 40%. Even though this study is more of a door opener, I think its a good reason to get out there and do some exercise.

It is interesting how some people see exercise as suffering, maybe they havent found the right one :)

Digesting the black apple

Office and TeamWork.

Picture this situation:


You are member of a sports team or a workplace team. Your group has 5 members counting you, and 4 of them seem to have a good understanding of what a team work means. However, the fifth one does not really follows the flow of everybody working together. He oftens complaints about every decision the team presents and is just full of negative energy.

 

What would you do? .. How would you adress this problem?

 

take a few minutes to come up with a solution

 

1...2...3...4 ready??

 

Well..first! you have to identify that person as a "work rebel". This is a person that refuses to follow instructions and tries to go against the system in a negative way.

 

The reason im talking about this its because I have experienced many situations participating for a group or sport team where there is always someone that brings the black cloud to the good weather. My parents called these people: "The black apples".

 

Some of the ways that had worked for me at the time of dealing with this problem are:

Eat the black apple right way: I have talked to that person and we found a way to get to a middle point where he can feel free to express himself but without harming others

 

Make an apple pie: making sure that the rest of the team feels the same way and figure out a solution that makes everybody happy.

 

Check out this article...i think it supports my idea very well :)

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/managing-rebels.htm#np

More than just a Bomb

BOOM! its a sound that can mean many things, for example:

BOOM!, your forgot to lower the fire of whatever you were cooking and the thing just blew up!

BOOM!, fireworks!! happy fourth of July!!!!

BOOM! at the speed of that word, its the same speed you run to class when you are late.

picture by WP Sports.

But this last April 16th, the City of Boston heard the boom in a way no one wants to hear. It is probably the most important news right now. However, the reason of this post is to talk about how can this situation has affected more than just a city or a state, it is a matter of the whole country.

 It is possible to feel stressed  and angry about something that is really far away!!

Los Angeles psychologist  Emanuel Maidenberg, PhD, says that in the wake of all that horror, it's understandable that emotions are still raw and  intense.

"People become vigilant, they look around, they become apprehensive," says Maidenberg, director of the cognitive behavioral therapy clinic at the UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

in the Article posted by Kathleen Doheny, she interview these two people to explore the effects of this event. They mention how this can trigger strong feelings of anger, and they also mention how to cope  with it.

However, my attention has been dragged to the news channels, that are constantly showing the time when the bomb exploded. I ask to myself, How can one that has been strongly affected by that event would recover or reduce the fellings of anger if they are seeing it all the time. Its like a  vicious cycle.

"The person has to acknowledge the loss," says the medical director of the Amputee Coalition and chief medical officer of the Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital of Maryland, Terrence Sheehan, talking about the process that people who lose limbs or are seriously injured have to go through. 

"They have to progress from ''this is horrible" to the difficult recognition that the limb, for example, is not coming back.

This can be tough, especially for those accustomed to high levels of activity.

Creating a vision of their new life is the next crucial step, Sheehan says. "They have to let go of their old self and embrace their new self," he says.

What Sheehan explains, makes me think about how "creating a vision" can be a problematic situation for the people witnessing also. It is like an inverse process. The people that lose a limb, have to create a vision of their new life but on the other side the people that are being exposed to the image of the event constantly crate a vision that dvelops feelings of anger.

Lets get some fish!!!

Good morning!! I live you guys a short video! Fish.. You got to like it :)

Exercise and Alzhaimer could be together!

I was 14 years old when I saw my grandmother took her clothes in the middle of a family reunion at one of my uncle's farm. I was kind of shocked for that situation and part of my family started joking about it like if it was the age that was affecting my grandmother. I thought it was "the age" too, but when I looked at my uncle, aunt and mother's face...I knew this was serious. The smile was erased from my face.

 2006,  my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer. My mom was so sad, and so were her siblings, who consistently kept trying to make my grandmother's life easier so she could have the chance to get better. She past away three years later, and at that time I was already studying away.

The truth is... that the Doctor told us that Alzheimer was an irreversible disease, and even though my family tried hard to keep my grandmother healthy, "the book was already written". I felt so useless at the age of 17 because  I really did nothing to help my grandma.

Today,  navigating on health sites, I found this interesting article. http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20130415/exercise-may-help-people-with-alzheimers-avoid-nursing-homes?src=RSS_PUBLIC

The article talks about how exercise at home could make patients diagnosed with Alzheimer have a DELAY  in the process of been taken to a nursing home.

Now if I knew this then, I would have commited to make my grandmother to exercise daily.

However the worst about this disease is that it is and expensive situation for the family of the diseased  in both dimensions, emotional and economic. My family spent so much money taking care of my grandmother. To me was like and inversed propotion...as the cost of taking care went up, the emotions went down. What I like about this study is that one of the outcomes from it might be to help families that dont have enough resources to take care of their member with Alzheimer.

Instead, they try to apply exercise to reduce depression, cost and stress...LOVED IT!

Tool against Stress!

Tuesday morning, I have wake up at 6 am to work as a lifeguard, then I will go the three classes from 8:00 am to 11:30 am, and after work at housekeeping for an hour. Eat lunch in 10 minutes and then go to class from 12:30 to 3:15, just to go to work on my internship until 9:30 pm...yes I eat sometime in between.

 The idea of telling you how every single one of my Tuesdays are is to make you think about your schedule, and how stressful can be. This stress can definitely affect your performance in class and sports as well. I am sure that most of students like me, know different ways to cope with this kind of stress. I usually exercise when I can to liberate physical pressure, others might listen to a especial playlist or even cook.. who knows.

According to the dictionary Meditation is the action of engaging in mental exercise for the purpose of reaching certain level of spiritual awareness.

However, studies have suggested that Meditation can not only help you coping with stress but also to improve your scores on tests. check out this article How meditation might boost your test score

The big picture is that Anxiety, Stress and Depression might affect students everyday life. A 2011 survey of 1,600 University of Alberta students reported that 50 percent had felt hopeless within a 12-month period, more than a half of the students felt overwhelming anxiety and 7 admitted to feel like committing suicide.This Article talks about the factors that might be involve on this situation:

· stress of moving away from home;
· academic demands;
· social pressures;
· parents’ expectations;
· fear of graduating into a tough job market;
· pre-existing diagnosis of mental illness;
· difficulty coping with the rapidly changing world; and
· black-and-white thinking regarding success and failure

Meditation is also good to fight against this aspects. This article talks about how Mindfullness meditation can lower the levels of stress


 

Warning, your brain should be aware.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumbrl, Path, Google+......There are so many social networks and so many ways to connect with people around the world. However, I remember when a few years ago I could have a conversation with my friends without thinking what was going on in the internet or at least looking at my cellphone.

I remember my first cellphone:

Strongest artifact EVER!..Feel down from a 4th floor and NOTHING happened!!!

Now technology has become simpler and practical.The new devices are smaller and smaller everyday, however their complexity turns out to be more efficient.

     Same thing with our brains, check out this video,     posted by Deepak Chopra (yes I'm a fan) that talks about social networks and our brain.  Social Networks and the Social Brain by Deepak Chopra

Basically our brain is shaped by everything we do or we experience. Before social networks we were kind of limited to the mind set of the places we have been or only the social interaction at hand. The reason im talking about this, its because I think social networks had helped spreading the word of seeking ultimate health.

Right now i'm following more than ten people and more than ten organizations that talk about health, fitness or anything related. Those are 20 resources I can get information from.

The impact of social networks and technology has been huge last 5 years

              < =======  Check out this video

although it does not provide strong evidence, i think it summarizes what is the good and bad of this new technology. This new era brings many good things but also many bad things, therefore I want to call the attention to the people that relay on social media only to manage their health and say BE CAREFUL..our brain is like water, can take the shape of where its placed.

Check out this video from Deepak Chopra for more information related to the action of sleep, I really like it!

If you can't see the video go here https://www.deepakchopra.com/video/view/508/the_rabbit_hole__the_science_of_sleep

Say No to sleep deprivation!

As I posted earlier the effects of Sleep deprivation can shape negatively they way we live. Therefore i am going to give you guys some tips that I follow hoping that would be helpful for those that struggle getting some sleep time:


Finish every homework, every diligence, every cooking etc before an specific time, for example:
 "I will finish this paper before 9:00pm" so in that way you make your duty a little bit more interesting transforming it into a kind of race.

Exercise, a well set of exercise will get you tired and ready to go to bed

When I miss sleep time, I usually pick one day to wake up really early (a day that is not going to be so busy) and then during the night Im tired enough to sleep at a decent time. The idea of this is to create a routing of sleeping time.

Those are some of the stuff I do, however I know not everybody functions the same way. That is why I found you guys an useful article that explains a little bit more about the ways of coping with sleep deprivation:

Ways to avoid sleep deprivation!

Some factors on sleep deprivation

 - As a college student, I have experienced many nights of long studying, not eating well and worst: combination of both. I'm sure the majority of college students had struggled with this situation before so I went and did a little research to see what the effects of this behavior might cause.

Check this article I found

www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-48440287/sleep-deprivation-the-surprising-causes-and-solutions/

They talked about about many factors that are involve on sleeping deprivation and eating less related to weight gainning:

• About 95% of people use some type of electronics in the hour before bed, whether it's watching TV, surfing the internet, playing video games or texting.
• The youngest generation of adults, Gen Y'ers (19 to 29 year olds), are the biggest users of interactive electronics, like cell phones and the internet. They are more than eight times as likely as baby boomers (46 to 64 year old) to text in the hour before bedtime--52% of them texted compared to 5% of boomers.
• About 19% of respondents sent or received work related emails before bed.

 Notice that this article studies young adults that are out of school, now... my point is, how many students use technology before they go to bed either because they have to write a paper or simply because they are just on facebook, twitter or any other app.

check out this video:

added to nutrional effects, sleeping deprivation has also a negative impact on your brain...so that makes think that maybe students are living in a vicious cycle.. we have a lot of homework, they have to eat well but sometimes they don't manage the time well, therefore we don't sleep, we start eating less and our brain does not work at 100%.

Protein supplements, do we need them??

When going to the wight room, there is a big chance of finding many people filling up a bottle with some kind powder before or after training. That powder can change in color or it can come from different types of cans or containers, but they mostly, have the same purpose: Gaining muscle!

People may have different reason of why they exercise such as general health, getting that "beach body" etc. But in my experience as a wellness student, from what I have seen the most, its guys wanting to get bigger and bigger by using different kinds of supplements. Some of the ones I know say that supplements accelerate the process of getting stronger and gaining more muscle. 

Therefore,  before criticizing this substances we need to know what are the most popular ones that some people use:

Creatine

Beta Alanine

Whey Protein

Branch Chain Amino Acids

popular protein supplements

 if we compare these supplements with real food (supplements with real food) we see that supplements make nutrition easier by lowering in costs and they are easier to get. But on the other side these supplements can develop some stomach bloating in some people and are hard to combine with other foods. Real food makes nutrition more like a satisfaction action rather than only taking nutrients. Food such as eggs, cheese, and specially beef could have more protein than any of the top 5 shakes. 

“..supplements that provide essential nutrients may be a short-term option when food intake or food choices are restricted due to travel or other factors” and that they should be “used in accordance with current evidence under the guidance of a well-informed professional". This was the statement of  the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Even though  such organization may have considered to accept the use of supplements, I believe that it is important to highlight the part when they said "due to travel and other factors" . It may be true that Athletes can encounter some difficulties related to their competition and practices that can make their nutrition and training plan be affected, but I think it is the Job of the professionals surrounding those athletes to create a plan with sufficient organization that provides the athlete easy access to nutrition. Hence, my opinion is that it is not a matter of thinking than protein supplements are better than real food or that food is better than these substances. I think it is a matter of professionally creating a plan that does not requires the need of supplements.

For people that are only looking only for general health and gaining muscle: I have found another statement from the IOC (muscle diet , you may translate the web page) which  says that in order to gain muscle, no more than 2 grams per Kilogram of protein is an efficient amount for gaining muscle, so don't be to worried about getting big so fast.

 

WELCOME!

This blog is dedicated to discuss, debate and inform people about "invisible fitness". The term refers to the things that can do to improve our health but that they are not easily seen in the weight room, or other areas where people can go and exercise. Such activities involve, good nutrition, meditation, stretching, psychology of exercise, sleeping, emotional exercise and the like.