Wellness
Embracing Health at Every Size
People who have worked to lose weight may have found that achieving short-term weight loss is relatively easy. But weight loss success all too often ends in weight regain. Soon, dieters embark on a new diet, launching a round of weight cycling that wreaks havoc on the body and causes many problems routinely blamed on obesity.
The Food-Inflammation Connection
Many of the foods we eat—especially vegetables—can help us deal with the double-edged sword of inflammation.
Habits and Nutrition for Better Sleep
The consensus of sleep experts and research studies suggests that optimal outcomes depend on these essential sleep habits:
Transforming Your Fitness Facility Into a Wellness Center
People originally viewed fitness facilities simply as places to work out and play sports in order to change their physical appearance. However, this has shifted. Wellness—embracing physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health—has become the buzzword of the decade, and today’s fitness facilities have begun offering a myriad of services. To cover the full wellness spectrum, however, you need to combine forces with other health modalities.
Sleep and Your Clients
Sleep influences our demeanor, our choices and how others perceive us. It shapes our waking hours, leaving us alert, calm, focused and joyful—or tired, grumpy, distracted and unhappy.
That makes sleep a crucial concern for our harried clientele and for ourselves, as busy fitness professionals. We all try to sneak by without enough sleep, and we all pay the price for sleep deprivation. Read on for the latest research on sleep, plus how to bring up sleep in your clients’ sessions or at your business.
Changing Behavior Changes Lives
In North America—and around the world—people are suffering or dying from the ravages of chronic lifestyle diseases that are mostly preventable. It’s troubling to write those words as a flat statement of fact, especially in an era of such astonishing medical advancements paralleled with a daily firehose of new health research that further pressure-washes what we already know.
Creating Preclass Rituals and Routines
Do you ever feel nervous before teaching a class? While your main focus is to educate and encourage students—and you know your stuff—there’s also a performance aspect to your work, and that can lead to a case of the butterflies! Professional athletes, actors, singers and public speakers experience similar nerves, and many use routines and rituals to put themselves in the right mindset prior to performing or competing.
Can Exercise Prevent Depression?
Fifteen minutes of vigorous activity or approximately 1 hour of moderate activity (like walking or gardening)—or a combination of light and vigorous physical activity—may significantly reduce risk of major depression, according to a study published in JAMA Psychiatry (2019; doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.4175).
Health Coaching: Starting Your Business
Are you excited about helping people to transform their lives through health coaching? You’ve educated yourself, earned certifications, gained practical experience and are ready to start your business. What’s next?
Bug Off, High-Fat Diets
High-fat diets have their fans on social media, but the pro-keto crowd is probably not cheering a recent finding that suggests a higher-fat, lower-carb diet can be bad news for your microbiome.
Motivational Interviewing: Talking Their Way to Health
Do you want to be a wrestler or a dancer?
This question stands at the center of motivational interviewing (MI), which emerged more than three decades ago to assist people in making difficult changes like overcoming addiction. Health coaches can use MI to help people stop harmful behaviors and start helpful ones. Consider a likely scenario:
Self-Massage Techniques for Exercise Recovery
As a fitness pro, you no doubt value the restorative properties of professional massage. However, finding time for a massage may sometimes be difficult. That’s why it’s helpful to use self-care massage tools for preventing or treating pain or imbalances in the body. While these tools don’t provide “massage” as such (and can’t replace a professional therapist), the best ones offer some of the same benefits.
Question of the Month: May 2019
Have you or the policymakers at any facilities where you work shared guidelines about positive body talk or about language that could contribute to body shame among members or clients? Share your best practices and illustrative stories on how you or your facility management promote positive body image in staff and fitness participants.
We want to hear from you!
Fitness Pros Influence Body Satisfaction
Women in a group exercise class experienced greater body satisfaction and better moods when the instructor made motivational comments related to strength and health instead of weight or appearance.
Move Over, Happy Meal®
Recent research shows how our dietary choices can help turn a frown upside down.
The State of Health and Wellness Coaching
In 2017, the Global Wellness Institute launched an initiative called the Wellness Moonshot, seeking a collaborative effort between the wellness and healthcare communities to rid the world of chronic, preventable disease (GWI 2017). According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes and cancer—all of them noncommunicable diseases—account for more than two-thirds of premature deaths worldwide (WHO 2018).
Inside the Latest Physical Activity Guidelines
The more we move, the better we live. Even a few minutes of exercise is better than sitting still.
These are just two of the conclusions in the recent report from the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee, whose recommendations form a sound foundation for integrating exercise into our daily lives.
The Power of Simple Lifestyle Changes
Lifestyle choices have a significant impact on quality and length of life. With many Americans living longer than ever, fitness pros are on the front lines of a complex challenge: How will we help people remain active and engaged from their 60s into their 90s and beyond? How can we help them stay healthy to rein in healthcare costs?
How Resistance Training Affects Metabolism
Resistance training does much more than build strong muscles. Research has confirmed that resistance training affects metabolism, too.
Debating Alcohol Consumption and Risk
In our September 2018 issue of Fitness Journal, we reported on an international study published in The Lancet that found any level of drinking above 100 grams of alcohol (3.75 ounces) per week increases heart disease risk and shortens lifespan.