Stress: The Good, The Bad

It’s been a long day. You woke up, hit the snooze button. You stay curled up until the alarm goes off again. After moving in a zombie-like fashion through your bathroom routine, you head downstairs and make a quick breakfast. For some, you prepare the kids for school while drinking a cup of coffee. For others, you’re grabbing all your personal belongings and running out the door. Some of you take the QEW to work, which means you have to leave another hour and a half just to move two kilometers ahead of whatever every other rubbernecker is looking at. You get to work and sit at your desk for 8 hours; your posture declining in the process. Lunch is bought, more coffee is drank. Let’s not forget the hour drive home on the same QEW. You get home and prepare a quick dinner, probably something that’s not very healthy. Oh, and you haven’t got to the gym yet. You’ll do it tomorrow, and if not tomorrow then the weekend. Rinse. Repeat.

Sound familiar? Or does this sound relaxing compared to what you actually go through. Even if your day isn’t this chaotic, we all experience some degree of stress. Stress is very often the root of many people’s problems, whether they recognize it or not. You’ll often head that someone is “under too much stress”. You, too, may feel this way. How can some withstand more stress than others? Is stress always a bad thing? Let’s take a look.

What is Stress?

Once again, we turn to Paul Chek and his book “How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy!” for the answer. The following is a selected excerpt from the book. Stress is not always a bad thing. Just as bones and muscle need exercise to stay strong, we also need certain amounts of stress to stay healthy. A complete lack of stress would not be a good thing. Let’s visit the six types of stress.

Physical Stress

The Good: Movement and exercise is very beneficial. The actual stress comes from loading the muscles and bones of our body under the influence of gravity. Adequate movement and exercise also helps us to maintain an optimal metabolic rate (the rate at which all physical and chemical processes take place within your body), keeping us from becoming overweight.

The Bad: Over-exercising can be every bit as bad as not exercising enough. While under-exercising can contribute to becoming fat and sluggish inside, over-exercising can cause immune system suppression. This can lead to increased incidence of upper respiratory infection, chronic fatigue and a number of other maladies. Another form of adverse physical stress is poor posture. Posture has a significant influence on breathing, muscle function, joint health, circulation and internal organ support. When the body structure is out of balance, the rest of the system follows.

Chemical Stress

The Good: Our bodies are full of chemicals – naturally produced chemicals that are essential for health. The work of producing these key chemicals is a necessary stress for the body. For example, when your body systems are working correctly, exercise results in chemical adaptations in the form of hormonal changes that alter your biochemistry to increase protein synthesis, energy production and myriad other chemical reactions. The action of sunlight on the skin results in the production of Vitamin D and the regulation of the hormones melatonin and cortisol – both chemical reactions (see previous article). Plant and animal foods are made up of organic chemicals – vitamins, enzymes, proteins and fats that we need to survive.

The Bad: Today we are bombarded with thousands upon thousands of chemicals that were not around one hundred years ago. Many of these chemicals are synthetic, and our bodies do not have mechanisms to neutralize them. Synthetically manufactured medical drugs, such as aspirin, are among the most common form of unfavourable chemical stress. Other examples of dangerous chemical stressors include pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and certain fertilizers. These chemicals are often made from the same formulas used to make biological weapons, yet nearly two billion pounds of these chemicals are sprayed on our foods. Many health problems have been linked to this form of chemical stress.

Electromagnetic Stress

The Good: Sunlight. Without sunlight, we wouldn’t be alive. The electromagnetic field of the earth is also a good form of this akind of stress. This invisible field helps control the rhythm of our hormones and other physiological functions. A common example of the earth’s electromagnetic effects can be experienced when weather patterns change. At the onset of thunderstorms, many people feel changes in their joints, muscles nd even their moods.

The Bad: The most obvious is over-exposure to sunlight which results in a sunburn. Most people know that overexposure to radiation such as medical X-rays can also be harmful to your health. Often overlooked is the extremely low frequency (ELF) pollution emitted by electronic devices such as computers, cell phones, microwave ovens, electric motors, your TV and even an electric blanket. Many of these forms of stress are insidious, causing dysfunction in your hormonal and autonomic nervous system.

Psychic or Mental Stress

The Good: Thinking and using your mind productively represents good psychic or mental stress. Having a plan or setting goals in your life and doing the work to achieve them is also a positive form of this stress. Other examples include overcoming adversity to become a stronger, better person. Without psychic stress, our minds would not develop fully.

The Bad: A common form of bad psychic stress is focusing on things you don’t want in life instead of what you do want. Other forms include verbal abuse from others, studying so much that your mental faculties begin to diminish, and challenging religious or spiritual beliefs that are imposed upon you – even if self-imposed. Being rushed or taking on more work or responsibility than you can manage will also produce unhealthy psychic stress.

Nutritional Stress

The Good: Eating in accordance to your metabolic type (see much earlier article) and not over – or under-eating are all representatives of good nutritional stress. In these instances, the term stress is used to indicate the stress of digestion, assimilation and metabolizing of foods. For example, your body must be stressed with the challenge of extracting nutrition from food or it will become lazy, much like a person’s muscles become lazy if you put them in a sling or cast and don’t use them.

The Bad: Eating too much, too little, or eating the wrong food proportions for your metabolic type are unhealthy forms of nutritional stress. I love bananas. Always have, but they are not the best fruit according to my type. When I stopped eating bananas, I noticed an immediate change in my body’s composition.

Thermal Stress

The Good: Maintaining your body temperature at 98.6 degrees F (37 degrees Celsius) is the most obvious of the good thermal stressors. When it’s hot or cold outside, the thermoregulatory system is stressed in order to keep your internal temperature constant. It’s good to stress this system now and again to maintain its dynamic capacity.

The Bad: Anything that burns you is a form of adverse thermal stress! In addition, the opposite thermal stress would be anything that brings your body temperature too long for an extended period of time.

What Stress Does to Your Body

External Stressors

External stressors are things that stress the body from the outside, such as sunlight, physical pain (caused by injury or other external forces) emotional trauma and toxic chemical exposure.

Internal Stressors

Stress is perceived or interpreted by key control systems of the body – limbic/emotional, hormonal, visceral, nervous, musculoskeletal and subsystems. Internal stressors come from within the body and are most often the reaction of external stressors. Chronic stressors cause elevated stress hormones in the body, leading to immune suppression, the inability to heal and eventually to disease.

CHEK Points for Managing Stress

1. Identify your primary stressor: Focus on reducing stress in the area that is causing you the most stress. Generally, these include security, sustenance, and sex. Alleviating the chief stressor in your life often creates a domino effect wiping out or dramatically reducing other stressor in succession.
2. Make a plan: Make a realistic plan to address your biggest stressor and a set a series of achievable short-term goals, allowing you to clearly recognize progress as it’s made. Look for current books, videos or audio tapes that address issues related to your key stressor and how to overcome it. Another effective method is to find someone who has already been successful at overcoming the challenge you now face. There is no better teacher than experience.
3. Eat and drink right: Internal stressors only serve to magnify external stressors! Regardless of what your primary stressor may be, if you aren’t eating according to your metabolic type, you will not be able to effectively replace the stress hormones you’re using on a daily basis, which only causes more stress to the body. Dehydration is a common cause of internal stress. A reduction of as little as 1% of water content in your central nervous system can cause significant psychological disorders. Reducing your intake of coffee, tea and sodas, plus drinking more high-quality water, is an easy way to start reducing the internal stress on your body.
4. Move and exercise: Regular exercise can be a major tool to reduce stress. When performed correctly for your particular needs, exercise in the correct dose stimulates an anabolic (tissue growth and repair) environment.
5. Mental exercise: Many successful individuals give credit to the power of positive thinking. Try harmonizing your thoughts, words and actions with your goals and you may find that this will help decrease stress. Doing so is a good example of beneficial mental stress. Make sure you’re talking and thinking about what you do want, rather than what you don’t.

It’s one thing to actually read this article. It’s another to implement the things this article and the previous ones have suggested into your current lifestyle. As a trainer, I know from experience (both my own and my clients), that these methods work and have allowed everyone involved to live happier, healthier lives. One male client has lost 60 lbs. and is forced to buy a new wardrobe. Another has reduced over 20 inches on her body and is fitting in clothes she wore in her 20's. Both are reaping the benefits of a controlled, thoroughly planned out fitness regime. They are working to their goals one day at a time, and you can too, if you act now.

Email your questions or setup an appointment with Adam at adam.kania@goodlifemakesiteasy.com or leave a message at the front desk.

Sleep/Wake Cycles

How many of you can earnestly say that you get to bed by 10:30 every night? In a world with late night TV and bright lights at the flick of a switch, we as humans are able to stay awake for periods of time much longer than our ancient ancestors. I'm sure by now you have all heard that you have to have 8 hours of sleep to reach optimal health, but perhaps you have not been explained to the reasons behind doing so. Further, did you know that when you go to sleep is vital to your health?

It's called the circadian cycle, and it is a natural physiological cycle of about 24 hours that persists even in the absence of external cues. World renowned holistic health practitioner Paul Chek dedicates an entire chapter of his book How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy! to Sleep/Wake cycles in an effort to help the reader understand the scientific and biological aspect of getting to bed on time.

Understand that the cycles of light and dark that result from the movement of the sun and planets affect nearly all living creatures. Even though humans had the ability to use fire thousands of years ago, our activity and sleep schedules were still very much in tune with the sun and our environment. Whenever light stimulates your eyes or skin, regardless of whether it is the sun, a lightbulb, TV or computer monitor, your brain and hormonal system think that it is morning. In response to the light, your hormonal system naturally releases cortisol which is the activating hormone that is released in response to stress (electromagnetic). This activates the body and prepares it for movement, work, combat or whatever may be necessary for survival. Chek says to remember that "our physiological systems were well developed long before we even began using fire, so as far as your body is concerned:

Light = Sunshine = Cortisol release = Daytime activities.

Our cortisol levels rise and peak between 6 and 9 am when the sun rises. In the afternoon, as the sun begins to drop, so do our cortisol levels. As cortisol decreases, our bodies begin to release melatonin and also increase the levels of growth and repair hormones. "If we follow our natural sleep/wake cycles, we start winding down as the sun sets and should fall asleep by about 10 pm. Physical repairs mostly take place when the body is asleep between 10 pm and 2 am. After 2 am, the immune and repair energies are more focused on psychogenic (mental) repair, which lasts until we awaken."

Disrupted Sleep/Wake Cycles

A brightly lit house, late night TV and working late into the evening will keep the levels of stress hormones high past sundown. This includes computer screens which flicker on and off between 60 and 120 cycles per second which your brain interprets as morning sunlight. Since cortisol can take hours to clear your bloodstream, this will prevent the release of melatonin, growth hormones and important immune factors, cutting into your immune system's valuable repair time.

Going to bed after midnight means you've already lost over two hours of your physical repair cycle. People that do shiftwork or parents getting up in the middle of the night to tend to their kids regularly have their psychogenic repair cycle disrupted. This can cause musculoskeletal injuries, an increased incident of headaches, sagging personality and even neuromuscular disorder.

A disrupted sleep/wake cycle can also result in adrenal fatigue, which occurs when more cortisol than normal is produced and can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome, viral infections,bacterial and fungal infections and headaches. In order to overcome this, it is very important to respect your natural circadian rhythm and allow your adrenals to rest.

Factors that Can Disrupt your Sleep/Wake Cycle

- Stimulants: Caffeine, sugar and tobacco are all stimulants, which excite your sympathetic nervous system. This triggers the release of cortisol! Note that coffee, and specifically the caffeine inside it has a half-life of about 6 hours. "If you have a coffee at 3 pm, you'll still have 150 mg of caffeine in your blood stream at 9 pm. Six hours later, well into the psychogenic repair cycle...you'll have 75 mg of caffeine stimulating your adrenal glands to produce cortisol. ideally, you should not drink anything containing caffeine after lunch or throughout the evening."

- Electromagnetic Pollution: Power lines, electric circuits in walls, ceilings and floors and electrical appliances such as electric blankets and TV's all emit electromagnetic energies.

- Entrainment: Physiologists and medical doctors have found that you can be entrained, or synchronized to a dysfunction schedule in as little as 7-21 days. This means that if you stay up until midnight for one to three weeks in a row, your internal body clock will become trained to wait until midnight to start reducing cortisol output and increasing melatonin production.

CHEK Points for Optimizing Your Sleep/Wake Cycle

- Get to sleep by 10:30 pm. If you need time to wind down your sleep, make the appropriate adjustments, Getting in bed at 10 pm and reading until 11 defeats the purpose.

- Minimize exposure to bright lights, particularly fluorescent lights, for at least 2 hours before going to bed.

- Sleep in a room that is completely dark.

- Avoid consumption of stimulants after lunch.

- Drink plenty of water. Our bodies have very little water reserve, and once dehydrated, the body responds as though it's experiencing stress.

- Exercise! Some type of exercise or physical activity during the day will generally help you sleep better at night. However, be aware of the time that you are training. You may find that sleep patterns are disrupted if you exercise after dinner, particularly if the exercise is intense. Intense exercise or cardiovascular activity, particularly when performed for longer than 30 minutes, can increase cortisol levels, making it hard to go to sleep.

- Try unplugging all electrical appliances in your bedroom, including clocks, tv's and lights. If your sleep quality improves, rearrange your bedroom so that all electrical devices are as far from your bed as possible.

Following Chek's advice personally in regards to getting to sleep by 10:30, sleeping in a completely dark room, avoiding coffee and sugar past noon, drinking plenty of water, exercising in the morning and avoiding bright light before bed time have not only improved my own sleep quality, but has also helped in the reduction of body fat and increase in energy levels. After applying the same principles with my clients, within as little as one week, they have more bounce in their step and more energy for their workout.

Working on your sleep/wake patterns is just another example of how the things you do outside the gym affect what you do inside the gym by a considerable amount. Sleeping properly, eating properly and exercising regularly are all components to living a healthy lifestyle. Apply Chek's tips for yourself for one week, and see how you feel.

Next Post: A Look at Stress: The Good and the Bad

Fore the Love of Your Game

Unfortunately for you golf enthusiasts, our Canadian climate around this time of year typically signals the beginning of the end of yet another golf season. With it, leaves what for many turns out to be another frustrating campaign. Whether you are a scratch golfer or a weekend warrior, everyone can relate to the same frustrations one may experience on the course (poor shot distance, accuracy, consistency, back pain, overpriced cart beverages etc.) The thing is, you can have the best golf professional teaching all the little intricacies of the game, the best bag of clubs and top notch balls to hit, but if you do not take care of the most important piece of equipment you own, you might as well save your money for something that will get you a better return on your investment. That piece of equipment is your body.

Teeing Off: Stability vs. Mobility in the Spine

The question begs to be answered: Is your spine stable and strong where it needs to be? Consequently, is it also mobile and flexible where it needs to be? A powerful tee-off puts a very high stress demand on various joints in your body such as your knees, hips, back, shoulders, elbows and wrists. Has there ever been a time when you have finished a game only to find yourself writhing in pain at the clubhouse or at home? Lower back pain is typically the most common site of acute and chronic pain from the recreational golfer to the professional alike. One way to combat this for the upcoming season is to get a jump-start in understanding how your body should be performing.

In terms of needs, your body “needs” to be stable throughout the lumbar region (lower) of your spine and mobile throughout its surroundings: the hips and thoracic spine (middle). If a golfer’s hips and thoracic spine are too stiff, what happens is the body naturally forces the lumbar to become mobile, contributing to the lower back pain one may feel after a round. As such, golfers “need” to develop the surrounding muscles of the core, which is the power center of your swing, and also the key to performance and longevity. Thus, another “need” becomes to improve the rotational ability of the body to enable the transference and production of power from the ground, up through the core, down the arms, through the club and onto the ball.

Birdie or Bogey?: Strengthening and Conditioning Your Core

Working on core development off the course is the fastest way to improve your next round. Your swing largely depends on balance, posture and having a neutral spine (one that does not round out). If you are a novice in the gym, the simplest form of strengthening your core is by eliciting the benefits of the pronated plank position.

Starting on your forearms and elbows, keep your back as straight as you can by lifting up your hips at the same time that you bring your midsection in as tightly as possible. Beginners will shake at first as the brain works with the body to understand which muscles are being stressed and for what purpose. A good way to challenge yourself once you have been able to hold the position for at least ninety seconds is to increase the demand of the exercise by introducing a piece of equipment, such as a stability ball or the TRX. At the same time you strengthen your midsection and lower back, you should also use the side plank variation, targeting your obliques and developing 360 degrees of core strength. Strengthening your abdominals will immediately increase your posture when you step up to the tee and help transfer the above mentioned rotational force.

Closest to Pin: Back and Legs

Equally as important as strengthening your core is strengthening your back and legs. A golfer’s back is so incredibly important to their game. If a golfer has weak muscles between the shoulder blades (rhomboids), this will cause shoulders to be more mobile than wanted, thus creating a rounded back, poor posture, and an uncontrolled swing. A pull exercise such as a variation of a row will immediately strengthen the muscles of the back in order to control any unwanted motion. Also, developing the muscles of the rear deltoid through Y’s, T’s, and I’s will ensure that muscles do not become tight after the game and are available for a great range of motion.

As pull exercises are essential in developing power and maintaining posture in the golf swing, another target area to focus on is the latissimus dorsi, which are connected to your arm and is used when lifting your arms to initiate your swing. The strength throughout your lats must be thorough in order to be able to produce a smooth, controlled movement. Exercises such as a lat pull down or chin-up/pull-up (with assistance if necessary) works to promote the strength needed to help with the swing.

In order to truly reap the benefits of greatly conditioned body, the golfer needs to learn how to do a proper squat. The inability to perform a proper squat on one’s heels will see the golfer rise from their stance before they connect with the ball, forcing the club to be released early, affecting the shot in the process. Learning how to squat on one’s heels not only promotes great leg strength and balance, but also helps to strengthen the stability of the lumbar spine, increasing posture as the outcome.

Often Left Behind in the Clubhouse: Flexibility Training

Finally, a word on flexibility training. As a fitness professional, time and time again I see people finishing an intense workout, only to pack up their things and leave without going through a proper cool down. Stretching after a workout not only makes your muscles feel good by releasing tension, but it also helps to improve flexibility, posture and range of motion in many of your joints. There must be a revolution in the fitness industry to help the common gym-goer understand that our bodies are interconnected entities, and as such, are not simply isolated masses of soft tissue. When one muscle aches, it is not an isolated area of concern, for the surrounding muscles now have to work twice as hard to make up for the lack of action.

Muscles and joints work as chains in unison to create movement. As a trainer, I get my clients to do various multi-joint exercises to severely increase the demand of the body but also, to help the body develop these chains. As such, stretching, or not stretching embodies the same principle. There is a state of interdependency between muscles from our heads right down to our toes. Like the progression of a golf swing, we too are connected throughout are entirety and as such, need to stretch in a manner which promotes functional ability.

Conclusion

Implementing the philosophy written here of creating a stable lumbar spine and mobile thoracic spine and hips, along with strengthening the muscles of the core, back and legs with a proper flexibility routine will do wonders for your game. Whether your play for fun or have a competitive nature, the benefit of having a finely tuned body will instantly shave strokes off your next round and impress friends and business partners alike so get ready to tee up to a higher caliber of sport! And while you now have the ability to use your body to the utmost of your ability, unfortunately the prices of beverages on the course are out of your control.

Q & A: Training for Endurance Athletes

Q: "Hi Adam, I've been following your column through the articles you post in the gym and I find them very helpful. I'm planning on running in the GoodLife Marathon in October. I've been running outside a lot as the sun has cooled down in the evenings, and while my endurance is good, I'm wondering if you could provide me with a few tips on how to help me get better?" - Katie G. via email

A: Thanks for the email Katie. I appreciate your kind words. It's funny that you should mention training for a marathon because I recently took part in last Saturday's Underwear Affair for cancers below the waist, organized by North York General Hospital. I should also preface the rest of the blog by saying that for the last ten years, I have NEVER trained for endurance. My sport was football, and the typical play lasted anywhere between 3 and 10 seconds (if it was a broken play). Thus, I was consistently training for quick, short bursts of power and intensity in order to provide my body with the best possible chance to explode when the play began. However, in terms of training for endurance, this is simply not the case.

The first thing you need to do is train your body for endurance with weights. This is a high repetition, low weight combination which prepares your body to undergo stress for an accumulated period of time. And no, "just running" is not considered to be an acceptable leg workout for your week. Strength and conditioning coach Michael Boyle identifies that you need to create mobile ankles, thoracic spine and hips in your pre-workout warm up. Then, focus on working on a stable lumbar spine and knee joint through very specific strength work. This means utilizing an array of single leg exercises (squat, leg press, anterior reach for hamstring) in order to strengthen one leg at a time. After all, when running, the amount of force applied to each of the above mentioned joints is not only continuous, but also, you are basically hitting the ground one leg at a time and that one leg is keeping your entire body intact! I would suggest working with a partner at first, and having them spot you at all times.

Secondly, if you do not already own one, purchase a foam roller and do not skimp out on the cheap ones. I took Boyle's advice and learned how to work on my muscle tissue quality using the foam roller at least twice a week either after running, or after a lower body workout. Boyle states, "The key to understanding foam rolling and stretching is in understanding the qualities of muscle tissue. Muscle tissue does not just get short, it also gets dense. Dense tissue must be manipulated (rolled or massaged) prior to stretching to get maximum effect. In fact, stretching without rolling is like pulling on a knot in a shoelace. It only gets tighter." Schedule an appointment with me to go through a free session using the foam roller and see the benefits as early as the next day or, simply Google "foam roller" and you'll find a plethora of exercises and videos on how to.

Finally, if you are running long distance, the quickest way to improve your VO2 Max (how your body utilized oxygen during training), is to train using INTERVALS as opposed to steady state running. A 2006 study from McMaster University in Canada illustrated this beyond a shadow of a doubt. The study compared 20 minutes of interval training (30 sec sprint/4 min rest) with 90 to 120 minutes in the “target heart rate zone.” The results showed the same improvement in oxygen utilization. If you could get the same benefit from one hour a week, why run four and a half to six hours a week? Utilize interval training twice a week on non-successive days and watch as your running becomes easier. Note, however, as race day draws near, I would do a long distance run, after improving your VO2 Max, simply to adjust to the mental aspect of continuously running for an hour. One of my colleagues gave me a tip to look around while running, and at all costs avoid tunnel vision. Program a specific playlist on your iPod that has positive, upbeat tracks to keep you happy, motivated and moving.

In preparation for my 10K race (my first ever), I did all the above things. For my strength workouts, I utilized my TRX Suspension trainer for 10 weeks prior to the event working on single leg squats, single leg lunges, and sprinters starts. My legs burned like crazy, but I credit the use of this piece of equipment in combination with training hard prior to the race for making race day so easy (If you're interested in purchasing one, click here). I finished the race in 51:30 (unofficially). Not bad for a football player!

You have about 6 weeks until the GoodLife run. Take these tips and good luck with your training. If you're finding a running session hard on a particular day, at least now you have a visual of a 235 lb man after a 10K run in his underwear to shift you back into neutral! Or, at the very least take your mind of the next kilometer.

Send in your questions to adam.kania@goodlifemakesiteasy.com