Is your Work taking over your life?

Working is vital to pay the bills but we all know that too much can be bad for your health. With the UK having one of the longest working weeks in Europe and 1 in 8 people working a 48 hour week or more, unions have been putting pressure on employers to introduce more flexible working conditions.

Overworked staff will become more unproductive, less interested in their work, suffer from mood swings and fatigue which can lead to more sickness and time off work.

Working long hours restricts your rest and social time and makes it hard to see friends and family and get into a steady exercise routine.

Training for 45 minutes 1-3 times a week before, during, after work or at the weekend can help you achieve your goals and improve your health and fitness and is also a good way of relieving stress.

A Healthy Diet versus Supplements

With people leading busy and stressful lives in the 21st century more and more people have turned to taking supplements as a quick and easy way of getting their daily vitamins and minerals.

These are fine to take in small doses or every now and again when you’re feeling especially run down and tired but having a healthy and well balanced diet will always be better for you then swallowing lots of tablets every day.

Try to be careful and do some research into the best brands before taking carbohydrates and protein powder supplements as sometimes the labelling can be misleading and some have very little nutritional value.

The best thing is to eat little and often. Rather then having 3 large meals a day try to have 4-5 smaller meals with healthy snacks spaced out to achieve your 5 a day (aiming for 7 is even better).

Try more variety and take pride in the food you buy and prepare as the food you eat fuels your brain and body and superior fuel leads to superior results.

Sunbathing - How do you get your tan?

Another topic which has been talked about a lot in the media of late is the damaging and long term effects of too much sunbathing.

People are going on holiday and not applying suntan cream often enough or using one with the right sun protection factor (SPF) and they generally think that getting sunburnt is part of the tanning process. People back in the UK are also using sunbeds for too long or too often which greatly increases the chances of getting skin cancer.

In terms of exercise if you have been sunburnt you will find it hard and uncomfortable to train which might mean having to have a couple of days break from your training regime, which will delay you in achieving or maintaining your goals.

If you train outdoors even in the winter time you should wear a suitable sport / sweat / water resistant SPF cream to help protect and moisturise your exposed skin.

Visit http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/sunbathing.htm for useful tips on how to sunbathe safely and avoid becoming sunburnt.

Are you Smoking too much?! Help with quiting

People start smoking at different ages and for different reasons and for anyone who is a long term smoker it must be a hard thing to give up.

In terms of exercise smoking can have a very negative effect on your general health and fitness levels and make it harder to achieve any goals you might have.

There are stories of 50 to 70 year olds smoking 20 cigarettes a day since they were 16 years old and still being able to run a whole marathon. They are the lucky few who have a naturally high genetic level of fitness which the smoking has not affected too much. For other heavy smokers they might cough and struggle to run 1 mile let alone 26. The main thing to consider is how much easier or how much faster they could they have run the marathon if they hadn’t smoked all their lives and also how much faster their recovery time would be, I think in all these areas the results would have been much better.

The damage and long term illnesses from smoking have been highlighted extensively in the media and there are now various treatments and support agencies to help people cut down and quit all together.

The NHS has a very good website with lots of information, tips and advice http://smokefree.nhs.uk/

Are you Sleeping enough?

Sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing.

According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) when people don’t get enough sleep they can suffer from the following:

- Irritability / mood swings
- Slowed speech
- Impaired memory
- Inability to multitask
- Micro sleeps (nodding off for 5-10 seconds, especially dangerous when driving)

In terms of exercise your body rests and recovers when you’re asleep and the nutritional value of all your meals is realised to rebuild and replace vitamins and minerals lost during the day such as calcium, potassium, sodium, protein, carbohydrates, vitamin C...

If you are just starting an exercise regime or have been training hard for an event such as a triathlon and you are not getting enough sleep then your body will never fully recover or and your training will not progress as it should.

Individual sleep needs vary. In general, most healthy adults are built for 16 hours awake and need an average of eight hours sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function normally and without feeling tired after as little as five or six hours sleep. Others cannot perform at their peak unless they have had ten hours sleep.

You should by now know how many hours sleep your body and mind needs to feel fully refreshed and you should aim to get that many hours every night in order to get into a rhythm. If you are struggling with a long term lack of sleep then you should consult your GP to find out what treatment or remedies might work for you.

Are you Moving around enough?

Activities carried out sitting down such as watching TV, playing computer games (Wii excluded), surfing the internet or reading a book do not require any physical effort to complete and therefore don’t burn any calories.

Any sort of movement of your body burns calories in order to move your muscles and joints which then moves your skeletal system. Movement increases your blood circulation and also generates heat which increases your metabolism. Sitting down for a long period makes your body very relaxed and sometimes cold which slows your metabolism and can create more fat as insulating layers.

People normally associate Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) with long haul flying but there have been cases of people having severe health threats from DVT from sitting at their computers for too long.

Try not to spend too much time sitting down in anyone period. Get up and walk around as often as possible and loosen of your ankles, legs, wrists, arms, shoulders and neck and stand up straight to improve your posture.

What type of Exercise Category do you fit into?

When considering exercise there are generally three types of people.

The first is the extreme athlete who knows exactly what to do to keep on top of their game.

The second type is those of an average to high fitness level who enjoys exercise and sport and maintains their fitness all year round.

The third and most common type is the person of low to average fitness who can never get into a steady exercise routine. They normally ‘Yo-Yo’ on their diets and exercise often starting with new year resolutions and finishing in February or March to start again 4-6 weeks before the summer holidays by which time its much too late.

The key to a healthy lifestyle is consistency. Someone who has never exercised before needs to start slowly and progressively increase their fitness level and once they have achieved their goals they need to work to maintain that level.

It’s very hard both physically and psychologically to achieve past goals such as a target body weight or running a marathon in a certain time after a period of no exercise.

People also have to be careful not to ‘overtrain’ as that can lead to ‘burnout’ and ‘staleness’ which have negative effects such as amongst other things fatigue, mood swings, cold like symptoms, impaired performance and loss of concentration.

How much Alcohol are you drinking?

Most people enjoy a drink now and again and it’s OK for a special occasion or at the weekends.

However if you drink more often than this e.g. every evening with your meal or in the pub most nights, you will be surprised to find out how many calories you are consuming.

Just from cutting down on alcohol or abstaining for a certain period can help you to notice some weight loss and an improvement in your fitness and energy levels.

The latest report from the National Health Service (NHS) states that:-

Men should not regularly drink more than three to four units of alcohol per day.
Women should not regularly drink more than two to three units of alcohol per day.

Visit http://units.nhs.uk/howMany.html to see how many units are in specific drinks.

The NHS also has a useful 10 step guide to cutting down on alcohol along with a drink diary: full details are at http://units.nhs.uk/cuttingDown.html