Sleep is imperative for all your daily functions, but there are certain activities that you will falter at if you cut back on bedtime. For instance, your mental state tends to decline when you pull an all-nighter, you are more likely to catch a cold, and you likely can’t put in maximum performance at the gym. Yes, getting horizontal is important if your goal is to get swole. Experts are claiming that slumber might be the very thing that can keep you fit. According to Men’s Health, the restorative process of sleep is when the body gets stronger, repairing muscles. It’s also when the mind strengthens with clarity and focus. In essence, sleep acts as a performance-enhancing drug.
Big muscles. Being virile. Staying power. All these are related to a healthy testosterone level. The big T is extremely important to male development - it helps to develop the penis, testes, voice, facial hair, and pubic hair at puberty. It also increases muscle size and strength, bone strength, increases sex drive, and sperm production. However, imagining it as just a dude thing that gets you swole and can make you aggressive is pretty much a myth, as it’s not just made by men. Women also produce testosterone in their ovaries and the adrenal glands and need certain levels for bone strength, ovarian health, and libido.
You fall and twist your ankle and it swells to the point where you limp. You overdo it with the deadlifts and can’t raise your arms the next day. Or you just drive yourself hard with a long workout and do some free radical damage which causes aches in your joints, muscles, and ligaments. Inflammation causes this pain. Thus most pains are caused by inflammation.
If you are ready to win the big race but your mind is telling you to slow down, then you may need to strengthen your mental fitness. Retooling your self-talk could make the difference of meeting those fitness goals or reaching the podium. Reframing the brain can help you through, negative thinking, workout fatigue, and pain, and help you excel during a workout.
October kicks off Mental Illness Awareness Week. While mental health should be discussed year-round, this week is an important time to shine a light on subjects that might not be brought in the public eye as often. Wellness and self-care are buzzwords right now, but it is important to remember that managing your mental health IS taking care of your health.
The health and fitness community is enamored with intermittent fasting - a system that isn’t a diet but an eating cycle that dictates not what you eat but when you eat it. Is this a fad or does it actually work?
The thought of eating healthy snacks on game day seems like an even bigger fantasy than winning your pick’em league this week. A lot of the standard ball game fare can be unnecessary roughness to your diet. However, it is possible to run your routes past the greasy and fattening snacks onto good food victory. Here are some health-conscious snacks for your tailgating get-togethers and Sunday Football feasts that don’t scrimp on taste and will put your party in the win column.
According to the ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America), seven out of ten Americans claim that their lives are interrupted by daily stress or anxiety. Accumulative effects of stress and tension can take its toll on your health ultimately be very harmful in the long run. This is why making time for stress management is extremely important and should be incorporated the way exercise and other positive health choices are. Learning to self-soothe is an important skill to learn to take control of your own mental and physical health. Here are some ways to choose wellness over worry.
Jolt. Monster. 4 Loco. Sparks. AMP. Full Throttle. Rockstar. All these exciting brands that sound like they could either be a sports team or a new car model, claim to capture energy in a tin can. They are also full of promises to get you through those lag periods in the day when you can barely keep your eyes open.
One of the best parts about being human is that we have so much at our fingertips. There’s a great big world we can explore, and the only thing keeping us from doing it is us. Now, if you want to get outside and see what nature has to offer while getting fit, we have the perfect outdoor exercise ideas for you. You won’t need to pay for a gym membership with these workouts, but you’ll still stay on track with your health and workout goals.
For those needing an energy boost, MCTs are a popular way to supplement the diet. What are MCTs? In short, MCT is a medium chain triglyceride. A triglyceride is a chemical structure composed of one glycerol molecule and 3 fats. In fact, unlike long chain fatty acids, medium chain fatty acids are metabolized up to 100 times faster. In essence, they are a source of instant energy because they are broken down and absorbed quickly, and immediately available for the body to use as fuel.
If you’re one of the many hardworking people, then you may find that you are sitting at a desk for the majority of your day for at least 5 days a week. And that’s only counting the time you’re at work, not the time spent bingeing your favorite show on Netflix. There are a few different issues with that, and we explore the pitfalls of sitting all day so that you can correct this habit before it becomes a serious issue for your health.
