Recovery Strategies
Meditation: Part of a Heart-Healthy Lifestyle?
The American Heart Association has released a scientific statement noting that meditation has potential to reduce some heart disease risk factors and may be considered an adjunct to a heart-healthy lifestyle of good nutrition, physical activity and smoking cessation, combined with medical treatment for conditions like high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
Question of the Month
With the American Heart Association’s recent recognition of meditation and mindfulness practices and with meditation studios appearing in Los Angeles and New York City, it’s clear that these activities are going mainstream. Are you or is your facility integrating this trend into programs? For example, are you offering yoga and meditation classes or meditation-only sessions?
Share your responses with executive editor Joy Keller at jkeller@ideafit.com.
All Types of Exercise Prevent Depression
Regular exercise of any intensity for as little as 1 hour per week can prevent depression in people of all ages and genders, according to findings by an international research team led by the Black Dog Institute in Randwick, Australia. The study monitored exercise levels and symptoms of anxiety and depression in 33,908 Norwegian adults for more than 11 years.
Cultivate Joy Through Mindfulness
It’s a busy, technology-dominated world—and most of us are continually spinning, twisting and turning in an effort to “get things done” and “produce.” We work, we raise families, we have countless responsibilities. The truth is, this is distracted living, and it raises stress levels, lowers productivity and interferes with our ability to focus. When we live this way, we fail to cultivate a sense of contentment and joy.
Cultivating a Home Yoga Practice
Find out why a home yoga practice can benefit your students, how to encourage them to create the space, and what will help them sustain it.
Mindfulness, Stress and Blood-Sugar Regulation
A Penn State University study found that women with overweight or obesity had significantly lower levels of stress and fasting glucose after participating in a mindfulness-based stress reduction [MBSR] program. Researchers evaluated the effects of MBSR on cardiometabolic outcomes in 86 women with overweight or obesity. The 8-week MBSR program—which consists of group training in mindfulness, stress reduction, mindful movement and meditation—includes weekly 2.5-hour sessions, one 6-hour retreat and a recommendation of daily home practice.
The Science of Yoga
“Jane,” like many clients, tried yoga to reduce her stress and anxiety, but she often held her breath during triggering moments, taxing her to the point where she’d feel faint and need to lie on the floor. After taking yoga sessions with Nicole DeAvilla, RYT 500, of Kentfield, California, Jane immediately felt calmer, more grounded and more optimistic.
Happiness Is Found on the Hiking Trail
The next time someone tells you to take a hike, why not heed the suggestion! A new report says outdoor mountain hiking has many significant benefits.
Mindful Movement, Meditation and High Blood Pressure
Qigong, yoga and tai chi may all be useful practices for reducing high blood pressure. And qigong, in particular, may have the most significant impact on reducing diastolic blood pressure [DBP], according to a review of studies published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2017; article ID 9784271).
Cycling to Work Could Ease Workday Stress
A new study from Concordia University in Montreal finds that people who commute to work on a bike arrive at the office less stressed.
Control Your Moods, Achieve Your Goals
Anxious, fatigued, unhappy, uncertain? We’ve all been there, all known times when our emotional hot buttons take over. We swear to ourselves that this time we will overcome them and stay committed to our goal, but it doesn’t work and we react with indulgent self-gratification. “I had such a long day, and I just don’t feel like going to the gym today.” “I’ve already fallen off the wagon so I’ll just eat what I want and start again on Monday.”
Mindful or Mind Full?
It’s a busy, technology-dominated world—and most of us are continually spinning, twisting and turning in an effort to “get things done” and “produce.” We work, we raise families, we have countless responsibilities. The truth is, this is distracted living, and it raises stress levels, lowers productivity, interferes with our ability to focus and compromises the mind-body connection. When we live this way, we fail to cultivate a sense of contentment and joy, which is counterproductive to our work as fitness and wellness professionals.
“How do you incorporate breathing strategies into clients’ workouts?”
Breathing strategies help keep clients focused on the movement and minimize distractions. When your clients take a deep breath just before a set, they can turn their thoughts inward and focus on proper body alignment, rather than moving the weight. This improves body awareness and posture and creates better engagement of the muscles needed for the lift.
Can You Climb Out of Depression?
Access to indoor climbing gyms has become more widespread, and so, too, has interest in
the benefits of the sport. Recently, a team of researchers from the University of Arizona and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany studied the impact of indoor climbing
on depression.
Women, Men and Mindfulness
Educating men in mindfulness skills via mind-body movement like yoga and tai chi may be more successful than encouraging introspective activities.
In a paper presented in Frontiers in Psychology (2017), Brown University researchers in Providence, Rhode Island, discovered that men and women respond differently to training in meditation and mindfulness skills. Women significantly improved a negative mood by participating in the training, while men felt slightly worse.
10-Minute Meditation Helps With Anxiety
For people with anxiety, just 10 minutes a day of mindful meditation is enough to prevent the mind from wandering, according to a preliminary study reported in Consciousness and Cognition (2017; 51, 157–65). Mind-wandering disrupts productivity and contributes to accidents, and it’s particularly an issue for people with anxiety, as they tend to worry and ruminate about negative events that are not happening in the present moment.
Tai Chi: The Perfect Balance for Aging Adults
Why tai chi?
These Chinese movement patterns have been around for centuries. In recent years, study after study has proven the benefits of tai chi—particularly for older exercisers—yet most fitness professionals seem to know little about it.
That’s too bad, because just about any fitness client can learn tai chi, and any fitness professional can teach it. Like other types of exercise, tai chi simply requires you to learn its movements and experience its benefits.
The Care and Feeding of Superheroes
You’ve heard it often: Your people are your greatest asset. But as author Rodd Wagner points out in his book Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees As If They’re Real People (McGraw-Hill 2015), “Your people are not your greatest assets. They’re not yours, and they’re not assets.”
Exercise Mitigates Stress-Related Weight Gain in Kids
School work, social situations, family challenges—young kids are faced with a great deal of pressure and perhaps lack the proper outlets to handle it. And as previous research has shown, stress and weight gain sometimes go hand in hand. A new study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (2017; 49 [3], 581–87) shows that exercise may help kids manage stress and prevent weight gain.
Music Listening, Meditation and Brain Fitness
Older adults may be able to enhance memory and brain fitness by meditating or listening to music, according to preliminary research findings reported in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (2017; 56 [3], 899–916). West Virginia University researchers in Morgantown, West Virginia, conducted the study to determine whether simple mind-body practices could boost cognition or improve perceived memory loss among older adults with cognitive decline.
