Tag Archives: exercise

Recharging the Tiger in Your Tank

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Recently I received a portable, external power source for my cell phone. Now if I run low on juice and there’s no electricity to tap into — or we have another 3-day power outage like last year — then I simply plug into the source and recharge my phone’s battery.

Mentally — many of us recharge by doing crossword puzzles, using a game App like Dots, play chess, or exercise our brains online with programs like Lumosity or Happify.

Spiritually — many of us recharge in the sanctuary of nature, in a brick-and-mortar house of worship, or we meditate/pray in the comfort of our own home, or wherever we happen to be.

Physically — many of us recharge our bodies with a healthy combination of exercise and being mindful of the foods we use to fuel it.

Body, mind, or spirit — what’s your favorite method of “plugging in” and recharging?

— Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are  choosing.” — Laurie Buchanan

The Book — Discovering the Seven Selves
The Experience — Life Harmony

© Laurie Buchanan 2014

Find me on Twitter @HolEssence
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Jumping through Mental Hoops – Swoosh!

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Our brains—like muscles—become stronger with use. Excuses be gone! There are oh-so-many ways to exercise our brains:

  • The ever popular, jumping to conclusions.
  • Who among us hasn’t tried pushing their luck?
  • Dodging deadlines is always good for an extra shot of adrenaline!
  • There’s the time-tested jogging our memory.
  • Raising the bar of unrealistic expectations.
  • The tried-and-true limiting oneself by running out of options.
  • Stretching the truth forces us to keep double mental books—an especially vigorous workout for the brain!

When was the last time you exercised benefit of the doubt?

Post Script
Nan Palmer, I snuck into your gear…
A special thank you to my friend, Jill Witty, for taking the photograph.

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Discovering the Seven Selves     Life Harmony     Facebook

© 2012 Laurie Buchanan– All Rights Reserved

A Chair for your Derrière? Take a Stand!

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Do you sit too much?

In an editorial published in the January 2010 publication of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences said that authorities need to highlight the dangers of sitting. “After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals because the genes that regulate the amount of glucose and fat in the body start to shut down.”

Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization said that people who exercise every day—but still spend a lot of time sitting—might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single session.

A new Australian study by Melbourne-based Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, in conjunction with health insurer Medibank Private, has alarming findings about the simple act of sitting down: It’s dangerous, particularly at work and watching TV.

The study was published in the American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report in January of this year. They said that the theory of sedentary lifestyle being bad for you isn’t new, but that the findings in this study are alarming.

Australian researchers tracked the lifestyle habits of 8,800 adults and found that each hour spent in front of the television daily was associated with:

An 11 percent increased risk of death from all causes.

A 9 percent increased risk of cancer death.

An 18 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related death.

Compared with people who watched less than two hours of television daily, those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes and an 80 percent increased risk for CVD-related death.

This association held regardless of other independent and common cardiovascular disease risk factors, including smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, unhealthy diet, excessive waist circumference, and leisure-time exercises.

Len stands—all day. There are stand-up desks. And there are pub tables. As you can see in the final photo, Len’s preference is the latter. A good choice, as he burns an extra several hundred calories per day just by taking a stand!

If you’d like to find out how many calories you burn per day doing certain activities—including standing—simply follow this LINK to the AOL Health page and use their “Calories Burned” feature.

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
               – Laurie Buchanan

www.HolEssence.com
Copyright © 2010 Laurie Buchanan — All Rights Reserved. 

Caution – Tractor Crossing

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Nan and Dave Palmer, fellow bicyclists, told us about the Long Prairie Trail in Boone County, and exactly how to get there. Never ones to let grass grow under our feet, nice and early on Monday morning we loaded the bikes on the back of the car and headed out.

The head of the trail was waiting for us exactly where they said it would be, with a nice little parking area for a few cars. We took off on our bikes at a leisurely clip. As you can see from the photographs, the trail is nicely paved, flat, and always visible for at least a mile.

Lovely trees bow gracefully toward each other over a good portion of the trail. At one point we came across a patch of birch trees mixed in with the rest. Surprisingly, there were very few other cyclists.

Pedaling along merrily, I heard a crash. I turned around just in time to see Len in the end part of a body roll.

“Are you okay? What happened?” I asked.

“I got too close to your back tire and I didn’t want to knock you over. I don’t know if I braked too fast, or turned too sharp, or what — it happened so fast.”

Good thing we wear helmets, riding gloves with padded palms, and carry a well-stocked first-aid kit. I could sew up a deep gash if I needed to. We’ve never had to use the kit for ourselves before. On occasion we’ve used it for other people we’ve come across who’ve taken a nasty spill. Gratefully, no stitches were needed.

That part of our ride was 15 miles—a little longer than the actual trail because we did a little off-trail snooping. After we got home, and just before dinner that evening, we took another ride much closer to home. We rode up to the train station in McHenry and back—it was a lovely 10 mile ride.

If you were to hop on your bike and ride somewhere today, where would it be?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
               – Laurie Buchanan

www.HolEssence.com
Copyright © 2010 Laurie Buchanan — All Rights Reserved.