Losing Control
Every week brings new challenges for many people. As I sit and talk to my patients, I realize yet again, how complicated, busy and stressful many of their lives are. My challenge therefore, is to try and help people find ways to achieve some degree of balance when day to day living seems chaotic.
If we look at what I consider the big three: proper eating, or at least eating good nutritious foods, proper sleep, and regular exercise, it seems a lot of us are unable to prioritize any of these things when travel, long office hours, kids with hockey or ringette or dance lessons get in the way.
If we are to get a handle on our health, we must first off realize that all of these things (sleep, nutrition and exercise) are essential, and we must somehow find a way to make sure we make them part of each day.
Eating properly, to me, should be easy. Truth be told, we only need to worry about limiting sugars and carbohydrates from our diets. Not only should they be eliminated at the main meals, but more importantly they should not be in the house and used for snacks. If all we do is minimize our intake of these foods, our health and energy will be better. The only caveat here, is that sugar-carbohydrates are highly addictive to a lot of people, and we have to search for ways to distract ourselves away from chips and ice cream and cookies and desserts. Sugary drinks should always be eliminated. You don't really have to worry about fats and proteins.
As for sleep, this is a tough one for many people. Part of the issue is that we are staying up way too late, and are spending too much time in bed with our IPads or smartphones. Bed should be for sleeping. Try to pull yourself away from the computer earlier, and don't bring a device such as an IPad to bed. Read a book, or listen to music or meditate; whatever works to take your mind off the day. If getting to sleep or staying asleep is difficult, you might try melatonin, or L-tryptophan and magnesium to see if that helps a bit.
Exercise if a must, however we fit it in. You don't have to force yourself to the gym. You can do simple weight bearing exercises at your home. Low intensity might be some push-ups, crunches and simple squats, done daily. This is important to regain lost muscle mass as we age. You can do higher intensity workouts such as Tabata, and there are many examples online. Tabata doesn't take long, but it is intense, so this sort of workout should be reserved for those with a basic foundation of fitness. Walk whenever you can. If you can, go for a 10 or 15 minute walk at your lunch hour.
Thus, in spite of all our many demands in life that seem to sabotage our efforts, we must make daily efforts to work on those things that are important for our health. We cannot afford to risk our future health by avoiding what we should be doing today and tomorrow.
None of this is easy, I know that. However if you keep trying to improve in each of these areas, then bit by bit, day by day, you will achieve a healthier you.
Never give up trying, you can do it.
Dr. Doug