Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

Laughter is Medicine

GettyImages-1354842116 (1)The NIFS staff often find that employees will take time away from their desk to exercise, enjoy conversation that isn't work related, or simply decompress. Our staff are great at putting the FUN into Fitness which often results in laughter during classes, conversations and that sense of community in our client's onsite fitness centers.

When it comes to health and medicine, most people think about doctors, pills, or exercise. But more evidence is suggesting that laughter can also be a part of one’s treatment and can actually improve one’s health both in the short and long-term.

According to the Mayo Clinic, when laughing there are not only emotional and mental benefits but also physical ones as well. When you laugh, your heart, lungs, and muscles get stimulated more, and in turn, more oxygen is delivered throughout your body. Laughing increases the secretion of endorphins that are released by your brain which makes you feel happy. It also aids in muscle relaxation.

There are also long-term benefits to laughter, too: Positive thoughts can release chemical messengers called neuropeptides that help fight stress and improve overall immunity. Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers and can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. As a result, it can help lessen your stress, depression and anxiety and may make you feel happier. Socially, it also helps you connect with other people since people like to be around those who have a positive outlook. Making more connections with people can also improve your self-esteem.

Laughter and humor can also have the following effects on specific illnesses:

  • Lowered risk of heart diseases
  • Decreased risk of type 2 diabetes
  • Increased pain tolerance
  • Improved mood and self-esteem
  • Reduced hyperinflation of the lungs in people with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Humor therapy (watching a 20-minute humorous movie) can lead to improved cognitive function, including learning ability, delayed recall, and visual recognition in a study that included 30 older adults.
  • Comedy improv training can lead to subjective improvements in symptoms for people with Parkinsons disease.

With all of these benefits in mind, it’s a good reminder for us to have a good laugh every once in a while, and to have as positive an outlook as we can.

Subscribe to our blog

 

 

Topics: employee wellness employee health and fitness exercise and health onsite fitness center happy employees laughter

Exercise and Heart Health

GettyImages-866222478Exercising and having a healthy diet are key components to maintaining or even improving heart health. A heart healthy diet consists of food low in cholesterol, sodium, and high in fiber. Following the DASH diet is a great guideline to discuss with your doctor if you are in need of improving your diet for heart health. With the ideal diet, that not only helps with maintaining or lowering body weight, but it also helps with preventing diabetes,  and improving your blood pressure as well as your bone and joint health.

What can exercise do for your heart health? A lot! Combined with the appropriate foods, here is what exercise can do for the heart and vascular system as a whole:

  • Prevents Diabetes. Over time, the nerves and blood vessels of the heart can be damaged by the effects of diabetes. When you exercise your cells are more sensitive to insulin and results in utilizing it better. Regular exercise reduces chances of developing the disease even if there is family history.
  • Decreases likelihood of cardiovascular diseases. When the heart is not strong enough to pump blood through the body the result can be heart failure. Exercise not only strengthens muscles, but it also strengthens the heart.  Other cardiovascular conditions such as high blood pressure can be caused by stress.  Regular exercise has shown to release "feel good" hormones that aid in lowering stress levels and therefore reducing blood pressure.
  • Aids in weight loss.  Regular exercises can aid in weight loss efforts due to regular movement helping the body to burn calories.  With less weight to carry around you relieve pressure on your bones and joints helping you feel less aches and pains.
  • Improved Cholesterols levels.  Lower LDL (low density lipids, what clogs your arteries) levels have been shown in people that maintain a healthy weight for their height. Higher HDL (high density lipids) levels increase with weight loss and exercise. These lipids are responsible for the formation of hormones and cellular repair.
  • Decrease in medication use.  With regular exercise you are likely to reduce your need for medications. This also results in saving money and allows you to live without being dependent on medications.

Have you started your own exercise routine?  Reach out to your onsite fitness center staff to get started on right program for you and your goals.

Subscribe to our blog

Topics: heart healthy exercise and health wellness and fitness

The Impact of Physical Activity on Mood

GettyImages-1073381110The impact of physical activity on mood has been researched over the last few decades. There has been speculation that an increase in physical activity can provide a substantial positive impact on one’s mood, but to what extent? Let’s dive into the known relationship between physical activity and mood, how much of an effect physical activity can have, and finally will provide a few brief explanations over the mechanisms of which physical activity increases mood!

Multiple studies have shown clear consensus for the benefits that physical activity has on the symptoms of depression and anxiety. It has been shown that the increase levels of physical activity and exercise are inversely correlated with depression levels. Exercise is also being shown to improve other quality of life indicators for individuals such as improvement in self-esteem, vitality, general well-being, and satisfaction with physical appearance.

There has been a lot of speculation from the actual significance that physical activity has on mood. Physical activity has had similar effects on depression symptoms as compared to those of antidepressant medications. Even maintaining this “antidepressant’ effect that can outlast the exercise period. These findings can have a beneficial impact on even people that are not suffering from clinical levels of depression. In terms of what facet of fitness has an impact on mood, both aerobic and anaerobic methods of exercise have shown an immensely beneficial impact. Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise programs (where roughly 65% of a persons VO2 Max is reached) showed improvements in behavioral, mood, and anxiety responses. However, strength (anaerobic) training at low to moderate intensities produced the most reliable and robust decrease in improvements!

Now that I have shown the benefits of exercise, let me explain some of the mechanisms that can cause this improvement in mood. There are two different complex biological mechanisms that occur in your body that may explain the boost in mood with regards to exercise. Firstly, it may be due to a response within the body that has to do with inflammation. Physical activity and exercise reduce chronic inflammation in the body, which is then joined by a lower expression and usage of tryptophan. This limited usage of tryptophan will lead to accumulation, which then results in additional tryptophan being within the bloodstream for your central nervous system. Tryptophan has two major jobs for us in this case: it aids in the biosynthesis (creation) of serotonin, and it also seems to aid in the transmission of serotonin across the blood-brain barrier. As more tryptophan crosses the blood-brain barrier, consequently higher serotonin concentrations are found in the brain as well.

Another possible biological explanation is the endorphin perspective that physical activity and exercise can play on mood. Endorphins are produced by the hypothalamus and pituitary glands during strenuous exercise. They often resemble opiates in their ability to produce euphoria and analgesia. Exercise elicits the secretion of these endorphins in the brain reducing pain and cause general euphoria. Which then later, these same endorphins may reduce anxiety and depression levels.

Have you found that regular exercise affects your mood? Share below!

New call-to-action

 

Topics: physical activity exercise and health mental health

Making Time to Exercise

Since I was a young child, I have continuously heard in school how important it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating nutritious meals and exercising regularly. Starting at a young age is important too because it will create good habits that will carry on throughout life. I remember in my classes we would talk about adults having difficulties making time to exercise. One of the reasons that stuck out the most to me was not having any time. I had a hard time understanding this reason but now that I have entered the work force, I definitely understand how some may believe that there is not ANY time to exercise.  I can only imagine other factors such as kids, workload, second jobs, errands, etc.  That is okay, because today we are going to look at the top reasons for not exercising and finding solutions so that everyone can find a way to exercise even on your busiest day.

Studies show these are the top reasons why some do not exercise:

Not Enough Time 

When you have work, kids, cleaning and other errands to run, it may seem impossible to take time to workout because other things are more of a priority or more necessary. I think that is the key to making time to exercise, it has to be a necessity. When we believe things are important, we make time for them and should do the same for exercising. It is recommended that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week. That is just 30 minutes a day, for 5 days a week! It can be broken up any way you want, whether it is 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening, doing it all at once or even breaking it down in to 10 minute sessions.  It does not matter as long as you hit the recommendation.

ThinkstockPhotos-I can do it.jpg

Exercising Hurts 

Never push yourself to where you feel pain. If you are feeling pain, it is time to decrease the intensity and slow down. It is okay to ease into a basic workout routine. Light cardio and light weightlifting is acceptable to start until you feel comfortable increasing the intensity. Sometimes, you experience soreness from a previous workout and if that is the case, take extra rest days to let your body recover. 

Lack of Motivation 

It is so easy to stay home relaxing and not make an extra trip to the gym, but what is going to get you motivated to exercise? Sometimes writing goals down can help.  Also, rewarding yourself each week or once a month is great motivational tactic. Rewards should be fun and exciting and you could bring a friend on board for an extra boost and a dose of commitment.  You can also benefit from the behavioral science of loss aversion to keep you moving.  Find out more about charity fitness apps as a tool to keep you motivated.

It’s Boring 

There are so many ways to enjoy exercise. It is about finding which form of exercise  or activity you like best to continue moving forward. Yes, you have your traditional way of exercising by hopping on a cardio machine or lifting weights, but there are many other options. You can try a group fitness class at a local or private gym and see what styles you enjoy.

[Read More: Check out the NIFS Group Fitness Schedule!]

If you are not a fan of group fitness, consider joining an adult sports league or try outdoor activities such as running and hiking. You can also buy exercise DVDs or subscribe to a fitness streaming services to use at home.  There's a good chance your kids’ game system has workout “games”  the whole family can use. It is a great way to get the kids involved as well!

Making exercise a habit is going to make it more possible to stick with your fitness goals. There are many ways to make extra time for a workout, you just have to find what works for you and make sure you are choosing enjoyable activities. That’s a recipe for success!

Like what you just read? Subscribe to our blog.

 

Topics: exercise and health exercise habit making time to exercise

What If: Health care providers worked together with exercise specialists to prescribe exercise?

Throughout 2015, we’ll be blogging about our dreams for corporate wellness, fitness, and aging well.  Some of the content will represent a gentle “poking fun” at the industry, but it’s all written to stimulate thought about what really could be if we put our heads together and started mapping out what’s really possible in the realm of individual wellbeing.  We hope you’ll join the conversation by commenting on the blogs, giving us additional ideas about which to write, and/or by finding us out on Twitter at #wellnesswhatif.

seniors_on_res_ballsYou’ve heard the saying, “it takes a village to raise a child”, right?  The idea is that a child needs a whole village worth of support an influence, and education, and diversity to be raised into a healthy and vibrant member of society.  If we look at individual wellbeing through a similar lens, I would say that it takes a team to help an individual be well. 

When I think about the generally poor health (admittedly, I tend to focus on physical health) for adults in the US, specifically preventable issues, I wonder how much is connected to adults simply not knowing how to choose better health and how much goes back to adults making unhealthy choices even though they know better.

Let’s face it, there are a lot of external players who influence an individual’s health.  I can’t get into all of those factors here, but I do want to focus on the potential for a better relationship between health care providers and exercise specialists.  What follows are some of the historical challenges as well as some what if ideas for working better together to take a team approach on individual wellbeing.

When I was working in corporate fitness several years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for me start talking with a new member about her goals for exercise and learn that she came to see me because their physician recommended she start exercising.  In further conversation, I would learn that either the doctor provided no guidance on how often, how much, what intensity of exercise would be best, or (sometimes worse) the physician would have provided recommendations that were not practical for the individual.

It was always so helpful, when working with individuals who had a complicated health history, to get a physician recommendation that took into account that complex health picture.  With more information from the doctor, I was able to write a more effective exercise prescription.  But more often than not, the physician is hurried and filling out one more form isn’t top on their list, so I’d get an almost blank form returned with little more than their signature.

          What if physicians had more time for discussion with patients about preventive health?

I think at least some of the barrier, though I’ve never heard anyone actually articulate this, is the image of the personal trainer.  The certifications available for personal trainers are many and varied in terms of their rigor and it leaves a lot of question about credentials.  Licensure has been debated for years in the industry and although the discussion varies by state (currently Louisiana is the only state with licensure requirements for clinical exercise physiologists), I think the reason licensure is even on the table is because the disparity among requirements for certification is so widely varied, it’s tough for even a well-educated individual to get to the bottom of what “certified personal trainer” really means.

What if all certifications had to meet a specific standard that raised the bar for education and experience?

The American College of Sports Medicine released an Exercise Is Medicine campaign years ago with the goal to have physicians make regular exercise a part of their recommendations for practitioners to their patients.  The program includes guidelines for health care providers as well as for exercise specialists to interact in the best interest of the public.  While some progress has been made on the partnership between the medical community and exercise professionals, there is much work to be done to bridge that professional relationship for the improved outcomes of the patients.

 What if health insurance supported visits with a certified exercise specialists as part of a prescription for better health? (Not unlike counseling from a registered dietitian accompanies a diagnosis of diabetes.)

 
What if general practitioner offices hired exercise physiologists to counsel patients right in their offices?
 
What if medical training provided some insight into exercise prescription and curriculum for exercise physiologists provided insight into what the doctor has to accomplish with a patient in an office visit?

We have a long way to go to build a strong village that contributes positively to individual’s health and this health care + exercise practitioner discussion is only one portion of that village.  What other areas are you passionate about?  Where do we need to build a better village to help individuals make healthier choices?

 

 

Topics: wellness exercise and health what if

NIFS: Ten Myths that Fool the Smartest of Exercisers


Some of you may have already been the brunt of an April Fool’s joke today.  Let’s clear up some fitness myths so you are not the brunt of any more jokes, especially in the gym.

1. The gym negates a bad diet- You cannot out exercise a bad diet. Don’t try it; I promise your diet will win every time! Hours and hours can be spent in the gym yielding few results because a person is only changing one piece of the puzzle. They use the excuse that they can eat whatever they want because their exercise offsets the excess calories taken in. The body does not work this way. Most people do not realize the amount of calories they actually consume and the amount of time it would actually take to burn it off at the gym. It takes much, much longer to burn off that cookie than it does to eat it!

2. Spot reduction works- Don’t feel like a complete fool if you have believed this one; it is not completely untrue. You cannot pick which areas from which you want to burn fat, but you can strengthen certain muscles by performing exercises focused on particular muscle groups.  By strengthening these muscles, you will tone areas and create shapely muscles. Now comes the second piece of the puzzle; to see these muscles you must burn off the excess layer of energy or “fat” to expose these beautiful muscles you have been working so hard for. Again, the gym does not outweigh your diet.

woman using exercise band resized 600

3. I’ve never been flexible and never will be- You make yourself inflexible by never training yourself to be.  Yes, your muscles may have been tight all your life, but this is because you have never worked to train them to be anything but tight.

4. Weight training bulks you up- If you want to change the composition of your body you have to weight lift. Yes, even you, ladies; it’s not just for the guys. Lifting will not make you bulky; things like your diet and the way you train can lead to bulk. Female bodies are lacking enough testosterone to gain as much muscle mass as a male. Lifting weight will change your body composition by increasing the percentage of muscle throughout your body, leading to a higher metabolic rate and a lean, shapely figure.

5. If I’m not sore or in pain, I’m not working hard enough- Don’t seek soreness. It can come from many different factors that have nothing to do with the quality of your workout. Judge your workout by more than how sore you are. How do you feel mentally? Are you smiling? Relaxed? Have more energy? Feel accomplished?

6. Cardio and resistance training are two separate activities- Mixing the two together can be the best combination for fat loss and save you tons of time! While lifting in the gym take fewer breaks between sets or add cardio intervals in between sets. This will allow your heart rate to stay elevated and give you the weight training you set out to do with the added cardio component.

7. I need machines to get a total workout- Why not think of your body as a machine? Machines and free weights serve their purpose and can be an essential part of your routine, but don’t limit yourself. You will get stuck at some point if all you use is machines. There will be a time when these are not available to you. When performing body weight training, you are in full control of the weight (your own body weight). You are recruiting muscles, especially stabilizing muscles that tend to go unused during machine workouts. Body weight training allows you to mimic movements that you will actually perform in real life.

8. Muscle weighs more than fat- Muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat. The difference is their density. As we gain muscle and lose fat, our weight may change very little even though our body composition is changing and we are becoming leaner. Don’t become discouraged if the scale is not going in your favor. That being said, don’t assume you are at a healthy weight; the number is just higher on the scale because of your muscle mass. Get tested! A body composition test is the only true measure of what your weight is actually made up of.

9. Recovery time is social time- Don’t let distractions get in your way. Hopefully you came to the gym with a purpose in mind. Do what you came there to do. Turn off your cell phone, put in your headphones, and stick to your plan. You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish in half the time when you are focused, then you will have more time to rest or socialize after your workout.

10. A tired mind is a tired body- Answering emails and phone calls, long meetings and appointments can make you feel drained after a full day at the office. Ditch the tired excuse. You might be tired of the work you have been doing, but your body may be looking to get rid of built up energy from the day. A tired mind does not mean a tired body! A workout can give you the extra energy and clear mind you are searching for.

Don't fall for those old tricks, re-establish your health for a better you!  

Subscribe to NIFS blog

Topics: wellness April fool's day exercise myths exercise and health