Today’s blog is republished from my friends at TheAlternativeDaily, a leading publisher of daily alternative health tips that I personally read every day… The original article can be found here:

They say your eyes are the window to your soul. Well then, shouldn’t we give them a little TLC? If you stare at a computer screen all day, like the majority of Americans, then this article is for you. Here’s how to do eye yoga to reduce eyestrain, keep eye muscles sharp, promote better eyesight and more.

Why your tired eyes need eye yoga

If you spend eight or more hours staring at a computer screen every day, your eyes might be in trouble — and you might not even know it! Over time, you could develop a condition called Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), which is characterized by several signs:

• Squinting
• Blurred vision
• Dry, red eyes
• Itchy eyes
• Watery eyes
• Double vision
• Headaches
• Neck or back pain

If this sounds like you, you might want to give eye yoga a try. It’s been in use for centuries, helping to combat eye strain, vision issues and more. Try these strengthening exercises for improved eye health:

1. Practice palming

Our eyes are used to staring at lights all the time. From the moment we wake up, we’re taking in the blue light emission on our phone, artificial lights in our office and blinking lights in traffic. That’s a lot of stimulation for the eyes! This simple palming exercise can give them a rest, any time of day.

Rub your palms together to create some heat in your hands, then gently set them over your eyes in a “cupping” position. Allow your eyes to rest in the darkness. Relax and breathe here for a few minutes, enjoying the peace and solitude this brings.

2. Blink rapidly

Blinking helps to nourish the eyes while relaxing the muscles and preventing dryness. Ideally, we would all blink 25 times per minute. However, when we’re intensely focused on something — like a detailed Excel spreadsheet or a shocking YouTube video, we may blink less. Here is an exercise to help you balance out intense staring sessions.

In your comfortable seated position, relax and breathe deeply using your diaphragm — you’ll see pranayama (breathing) come up over and over again. Now loosen your jaw, separating your lips from one another, releasing any tension in your face or forehead. Find a point of focus, then blink rapidly 10 times in a row. Close your eyes for 20 seconds, then repeat this exercise three more times.

3. Gaze up and down

Now that your eyes are warmed up, use this simple up and down movement from Yoga Journal. Make sure to relax and check in with your breath again. Next, imagine a clock in front of you. Shift your gaze up towards 12:00 then down towards 6:00. Be careful not to move your neck; this exercise is for your eyes only. Do this up-and-down eye stretch 10 times, slowly back and forth. After your done, try the same exercise looking left to right.

4. Do eye circles, both directions

Think of this as flexibility training for your beautiful eyes. Yoga International recommends moving your eye gaze around in as big a circle as possible, without using any help from your neck or spine. Start by remembering to breathe deeply. Send your eye gaze up towards the ceiling, and slowly work your way around in a clockwise circle. Try to squeeze in at least three deep breaths per circle. When you’ve reached the top, rest your eyes with the “palming” method. Try the same sequence again, moving counterclockwise this time.

5. Shift your focus

We’re not meant to look at up-close materials all the time, and yet we do! This simple exercise of shifting your focus will help retrain your eyes to see detail at different perspectives.

First, hold your right arm out one full length in front of you and stick the thumb straight up. Focus your eye gaze on your thumb. Slowly move your thumb towards your face until it appears blurry. Pause, then slowly move your thumb away from you back to the starting position. Repeat this a few more times, being mindful of your pace and breathing.

6. Try trataka (fixed gazing at a candle)

Obviously, don’t do this at work if you shouldn’t be lighting candles, but feel free to give this a try the next time you’re relaxing at home. This meditation exercise will help sharpen the focus of your eyes and send energy to your third eye — the point between the eyes on the forehead that guides intuition. Trataka is also said to enhance concentration, improve memory and quiet the restless mind.

Here’s how to try the ancient practice of trataka: set up a candle three feet away from you. Find a comfortable seated position, where you can keep your spine erect and the flame is level with the eyes. Next, using a fixed gaze, stare into the flame and focus only on your breathing. Listen to the thoughts that enter your mind, without judgment. Simply let them float by like clouds. When your eyes begin to water, close them and rest in the darkness. Some yoga practitioners recommend this exercise for up to 40 minutes, but do what makes sense for you.

Always give your eyes a break

In addition to doing eye yoga regularly, there are a number of things you can do to reduce eye strain. When you’re at work, make sure to follow the 20-20-20 rule. This means every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Also, make sure to complete the following tips from the American Optometric Association:

• Reduce the glare on your screen by angling your computer away from the window or adding a glare filter to your monitor.
• Rearrange your monitor so that it is 20 to 28 inches from your face and 15 to 20 degrees below eye level. You shouldn’t have to stretch your neck like a turtle or squint your eyes to see what’s on the screen.
• Adjust the brightness on your monitor away from factory settings, particularly if you’re working after dark. The blue light emitted from screens interrupts natural melatonin production, the hormone that lets you know it’s time to sleep. In other words, if your screen is too bright, it’ll interrupt your natural circadian rhythm and ability to get deep, healing sleep.

In yoga, there’s a stretch for just about everything — and the eyes are no exception. After all, they work just as hard as any other muscle in the body. Practice eye yoga every day to keep your eyes sharp while giving them the break they deserve.

Our friend Dr. Williams wants to share this very important article on how to restore 20/20 vision-no surgery or glasses needed.

Get your vision back in as little as 7 days

Imagine no more squinting just to read text messages, or struggling to see while driving at night without risky surgeries, expensive lenses, or lab-made pills with scary side-effects?

Most Americans are simply clueless to this weird scientific fact about your eyes…

And the true cause behind your fading vision (it has NOTHING to do with getting older)

In fact, this veteran military U.S. doctor challenged a billion-dollar industry just to get this information out.

All the while a vicious cycle attacks your eyes from the inside out, causing your vision to slowly fade away day after day…

It’s all explained right here.

It all has to do with this “Far East herb” known to natives as, “The Tree Of Life…”

That could be the key to getting your perfect vision back in as little as 7 days.

==> US Doctor says: “Do this every morning to REVERSE vision loss”

Hurry before the eye industry billionaires bury this miracle for good!

The post Tired, Strained Eyes? Here Are 6 Eye Yoga Exercises You Need NOW appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.

By: Cat Ebeling, RN, MSN-PHN, co-author of the best-sellers:  The Fat Burning Kitchen, The Top 101 Foods that Fight Aging & The Diabetes Fix

You may be seeing mushrooms as ingredients in everything from kombucha to coffee drinks to protein powders and supplements to healthy snacks lately. Mushrooms are everywhere and they have been discovered as the new ‘superfood’.

Medicinal mushrooms have been used for centuries around the world to fight cancer, enhance or modulate immune response, boost brain power and focus, increase antioxidants, lower blood pressure, help with sleep and relaxation and more. Mushrooms are reported to have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular-protective, antidiabetic, liver-protective, and anticancer properties.

While mushrooms are not the richest source of common micronutrients like magnesium, calcium, and vitamins, they are full of harder-to-get nutrients like selenium, copper, and pantothenic acid—as well as having some unique nutrients you can’t get in other foods.

Did you know you can take fresh mushrooms, lay them out in the sun for a couple of hours and they will synthesize more vitamin D? Yes, indeed. Pretty awesome.

The most interesting properties of mushrooms come from the rare and unique compounds that won’t show up in any nutrient database. Many edible mushrooms contain substances that perform with therapeutic, medicinal, or pharmacological-like effects.

Some of the more popular and well-known medicinal mushrooms include shiitake, reishi, cordyceps, maitake, chaga, cordyceps, turkey tail, and lion’s mane.

While these are often ingredients sold in powdered form, many of these are also showing up in the produce section of your favorite health food store.

Nootropics are a new form of supplementing to increase brain power, focus, mood, memory, and fight dementia. Several varieties of medicinal mushrooms fit in this category, including, chaga, lion’s mane, cordyceps, maitake, and reishi. And what college student or aspiring professional doesn’t want to increase their brain power?

Mushrooms are also known for their powerful immune-enhancing properties. Many medicinal mushrooms not only make the immune system stronger to fight off pathogens, but these mushrooms also help the body destroy cancer cells as well.

Some varieties of mushrooms can help to modulate the immune system in a way that helps the immune system become more balanced. Strong enough to fight off dangerous pathogens and cancer, but calm enough to lower inflammation and auto-immune health issues.

Here’s an in-depth look at some of the most powerful health-enhancing mushrooms:

Shiitake

Primary Benefits: Best for strengthening the immune system, better liver function, and supporting the cardiovascular system.

Shiitakes are one of my favorite mushrooms, aside from their major health benefits. Shiitakes have a delicious, earthy, almost meaty texture, that makes them a beneficial addition to soups, stews, meat, and vegetable dishes. Shiitakes are denser and higher in protein and iron than many other types of mushrooms.

Shiitakes contains an antioxidant called “L-ergothioneine” which specifically protects the cells from oxidative damage. This amazing antioxidant can only be obtained through diet—most notably, shiitakes.

Shiitakes also contain a polysaccharide—a type of special carbohydrate—that has cancer tumor fighting properties along with immune boosting abilities. This substance, lentinan, is very effective for the immune system. In fact, for people who are immune-suppressed or immune-depressed, lentinan provides added protection.

Reishi

Primary Benefits: Calming, anti-anxiety. Sleep aid and immune modulator.

This mushroom is a very popular medicinal mushroom in that helps alleviate anxiety, depression and help people sleep better. In addition, this powerhouse mushroom helps lower inflammation, fight cancer, and aid in weight loss.

Other reishi mushroom benefits include blood sugar regulation, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and tumor-fighting capabilities.

What makes this mushroom stand out, however is the calming properties it contains. Reishi contains a compound called triterpene which is the active ingredient in its mood-boosting abilities.

Reishi is also valuable as a treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome. A study in Thailand treated subjects with reishi mushroom or placebo. At the end of the study those who were using the reishi reported a significant increase in quality of life, compared the placebo group.

Reishi supports the growth of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), which helps boost learning, memory, and longevity.

Many of the polysaccharides contained in reishi mushroom are associated with immune function, and will help modulate the immune system. It is also known to improve sleep, reduce stress and fatigue.

Lion’s Mane

Primary Benefits: Mental clarity, brain function and nerve growth and regeneration.

Lion’s mane is an interesting looking fungus, looking like a big white puffball or even—at first glance—a little like cauliflower.

Do you ever struggle with brain fog? Lion’s mane will help re-establish your mental clarity. This puffball of a mushroom is full of antioxidants and helps immune function, like many other mushrooms.

However, lion’s mane strength comes from the fact that it boosts the production of Nerve Growth Factor and myelin, which is the all-important insulation around your nerves.

NFG and myelin are critical to brain and nerve health. When things go awry, it results in serious neurological diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and MS. Lion’s mane protects from these life-changing illnesses.

In addition, lion’s mane helps improve cognition, making it an excellent learning aid, while calming anxiety and irritability. Sounds like a college student’s best friend.

Lion’s mane also helps to enhance chemotherapy treatments in cancer patients and minimizes the toxic effects.

Cordyceps

Primary Benefits: Increases energy, physical strength and endurance, aids in muscle recovery.

Cordyceps has an interesting history. In the wild, cordyceps is a parasitic fungus that grows on a particular type of caterpillar. Cordyceps is now cultivated so it does not have to be grown on caterpillars, although it still retains its amazing medicinal properties.

Over 200 clinical studies show cordyceps mushrooms improve athletic performance by increasing blood flow and boosting ATP synthesis for greater energy and strength. ATP is the compound that gives our cells energy.

In addition, cordyceps helps to enhance lactate clearance. Lactate is the substance that builds up in muscles during strenuous exercise and creates that muscle ‘burn’ and fatigue. Cordyceps is also known as an antioxidant and reduces oxidative stress, making it the ideal medicinal mushroom for improved athletic performance and better recovery.

In fact, cordyceps first gained a lot of attention, when, in 1993, Chinese female athletes began breaking world records in distance running. Their performance was attributed to a nutrition regimen that involved cordyceps supplementation.

Another study from Japan showed significant increases in creatine and catecholamines in men supplementing with cordyceps. Catecholamines help the body respond to stress, and help the body with “fight-or-flight” reactions. Catecholamines are made in the adrenals as a reaction to stress. The primary catecholamines are epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and dopamine.

And yet another study on endurance cyclists found that cordyceps not only improved cycling performance but it also helped prevent overtraining syndrome (OTS), due to the high levels of antioxidants cordyceps contains.

Researchers concluded that during prolonged exercise ingesting cordyceps helps to elicit superior efficiency while saving energy.

Cordyceps also acts as an immune stimulator by increasing cancer-fighting T cells and ‘Natural Killer’ cells, while prolonging the life and power of our body’s white blood cells. This increases its ability to fight pathogens, infections, and cancer. Cordyceps also acts as an immune modulator, keeping it from overreacting in autoimmune situations. And cordyceps also has a powerful effect on the gut’s immune function as well.

Last but not least, cordyceps helps men increase their testosterone production. Testosterone is necessary for normal sperm development and sex drive. Cordyceps has long been used for the enhancement of sexual function in human beings. Evidence shows that cordyceps can improve reproductive activity, enhance the libido, and restore reproductive function in both men and women. A specific protein found in cordyceps may increase blood flow and help the penis trap blood to improve erections, thereby improving sexual function.

Chaga

Primary Benefits: Boosts immune function, supports liver health, brain health and longevity.

Chaga is not your typical mushroom. It is a fungus that grows on the bark of birch trees in northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, Northern Europe, and Korea.

Chaga is one of the most potent sources of antioxidants on the planet, so chaga is very efficient at fighting free radicals, stimulating the immune system, protecting the liver, and lowering inflammation. Chaga can also slow aging of the skin, help to lower LDL cholesterol and prevent or slow the growth of cancer.

Chaga’s action on the immune system specifically enhances the activation of NK cells – natural killer cells. These powerful immune cells are part of the innate immune system—our first line of defense—against viruses, bacteria, and other harmful pathogens.

Studies on chaga in animals show it to help preserve acetylcholine for better brain function, learning and memory. Acetylcholine is a brain chemical which is critical for creating new memories, reasoning, focus, cognition, and growth of new synapses. Lack of acetylcholine can result in diseases like ADD, ADHD and Alzheimer’s. Chaga, lion’s mane and reishi are the top three medicinal mushrooms for better brain health.

Avoid chaga if you take blood thinning medication, diabetes medication or if you have kidney disease. Chaga is higher in oxalates, which may prevent the absorption of some nutrients and can bother those who are sensitive to high oxalate foods.

Turkey Tail

Primary Benefits: Boosts immune function, increases natural killer cells, fights cancer

Turkey Tail mushroom is one of the best-researched medicinal mushrooms. It grows on dead logs all over the world, and gets its name from the brown and tan rings that look like the tail feathers of a turkey. It’s very pretty.

Many of the medicinal mushrooms exhibit strong anticancer properties, probably due to their high levels of powerful antioxidants. But turkey tail takes it a step further.

Turkey tail improves the body’s immune function by stimulating cytokine production, which helps to increase the body’s supply of natural killer cells (part of the innate immune systems—your first line of defense) and other immune-boosting functions.

Turkey tail contains a special compound called “polysaccharide-K” that stimulates the immune system, especially in fighting cancer. PSK is so effective that it’s become an approved anticancer prescription drug in Japan.

Turkey tail has also been shown to improve the survival rate of people with particular types of cancer, including gastric cancer. Due to the beneficial compounds it contains, turkey tail is often used with traditional cancer treatments like chemotherapy as a natural way to fight certain cancers.

Turkey tail can also strengthen the immune systems of those cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, enhancing the ability of chemotherapy to work on cancer cells. Turkey tail contains some of the highest levels of beta-glucans of all mushrooms and keeps our immune systems healthy—especially when turkey tail is taken over extended periods of time.

Maitake

Primary Benefit: Helps regulate blood pressure, immune function and relieve depression.

The maitake mushroom is native to northeastern Japan. Its name is derived from the Japanese words for dancing mushroom. Another legend says it was named after people dancing with happiness upon finding it because of its incredible healing properties.

This mushroom, like many mushrooms, is a type of adaptogen. Adaptogens help the body with physical and mental stresses. They also work to help balance any unbalanced systems in the body.

Maitake mushrooms are known to help regulate the immune system by stimulating specific immune cells such as the white blood cells, natural killer cells, and T cells.

The mushroom contains polysaccharides such as beta-glucans, which have been linked to healthy cell growth and turnover. Maitake mushrooms support certain cancer therapies, help chronic fatigue syndrome, protect the liver, fight allergies, and lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

It’s primary value as a nootropic (brain boosting chemical) comes from its ability to help relieve depression. Studies with animals show that supplementing with maitake helps alleviate depression by sensitizing certain receptors in the brain.

Basic Tips on Mushrooms

If you plan to eat the mushroom as a food (and many of these are delicious to eat), be sure to cook them. Raw mushrooms are difficult to digest or metabolize. And many mushrooms are slightly toxic when raw.

The best way to cook most any mushroom is to sauté them in butter or olive oil with some garlic. Add sea salt and cracked black pepper and serve alongside a juicy, grass-fed steak and you will be in heaven.

Dried mushrooms—especially from an Asian grocery store—are far less expensive and work great added to soups and steps or sauces.

There are many types of mushroom supplements available in health foods stores, as well as powders, mixes and proteins that contain mushroom extract. Mushroom extracts are now available in ready to serve coffees, kombuchas, and other drinks as well.

References
https://www.realmushrooms.com/7-medicinal-mushroom-benefits-for-health/
https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/best-medicinal-mushrooms-to-try#for-brain-health
https://www.marksdailyapple.com/smart-fuel-mushrooms/
https://www.marksdailyapple.com/shiitake-mushroom/
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/features/nootropics-smart-drugs-overview
https://teelixir.com/blogs/news/mushrooms-for-brain-health
https://bionatures.com/blogs/news/5-medicinal-mushrooms-and-their-health-benef

The post The Magic of Medicinal Mushrooms appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.

By: Cat Ebeling, RN, MSN-PHN, co-author of the best-sellers:  The Fat Burning Kitchen, The Top 101 Foods that Fight Aging & The Diabetes Fix

How do you handle stressful events? Do you seek out adventure, excitement and risky situations? Or do you sometimes lie awake at night worrying, strategizing and planning?

Most of us are either worriers or warriors—and it turns out there’s actually a genetic reason for this.

What’s the difference?

• Worriers tend to fight within, while warriors go out and fight the problem.
• Worriers often focus on what could go wrong, while warriors just go out there and go for it.
• If a worrier loses, they may feel defeated and not want to take the chance again. If a warrior loses, they tend to regroup and get back into the fight.

You know the old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Well, some warriors need the going to get tough–just to get going!

We process information in the prefrontal cortex portion of the brain, which is responsible for problem solving, working memory, reasoning, planning and self-control. The brain needs neurotransmitters to perform these function properly. The excitatory brain chemicals involved in this process include dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine.

Dopamine is the fuel that gets us going and motivated to get things done. Too little and we have no motivation or drive; too much and we cannot concentrate and function well. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are brain chemicals that are released when our bodies react to stress of any kind.

These neurotransmitters increase arousal and alertness, focuses attention but also increases restlessness and anxiety. In the rest of the body, norepinephrine increases the heart rate, triggers the release of glucose into the bloodstream and increases blood flow to muscles.

However, the speed at which we clear out these chemicals revolves around a specific gene. It’s called the COMT gene, or Catechol-O-methyl transferase. COMT is actually an enzyme that metabolizes dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine and even estrogen. While we all have this gene, some of us have a ‘fast’ COMT and some of us have ‘slow’ COMT.

The fast version of COMT clears out dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine quickly, leaving it easy for these folks to continue on their journey without any anxiety, worrying, stress, etc. People with the fast COMT are the warriors.

Warriors need a level of stress to feel motivated and ambitious. Warriors work well in threatening environments where maximal performance is required despite threat and pain. Warriors also tend to be those dopamine junkies who seek out excitement, adventure, competition and even danger. But warriors can generally stand up in the heat of the moment and pull off a flawless performance—in spite of stress, anxiety, nervousness and lots of adrenaline.

On the other hand, those who have slow COMT are slow to clear out those excitatory brain chemicals. This can create anxiety or tension in times of stress. However, these higher levels of dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine are useful in more complex and calmer environments that require maximal performance in terms of thought, memory and attention for survival.

While it may seem advantageous to be a warrior, there certainly are advantages to being a worrier also. Over the course of evolution, both warriors and worriers were necessary for human tribes to survive.

Which One Are You?

Do you tend to worry about things, fall apart when times are stressful, or do you get energized and motivated under duress? We each get a copy of a specific version of the COMT gene from our parents. Most of us generally have a one copy of a worrier gene and one copy of the warrior gene, although there are quite few people who may have a double copy of the warrior gene. And some of us have a double copy of the worrier gene variation.

About a quarter of us actually have the slow variant and when we’re stressed, we become worriers. Another quarter of us have the fast variant — we probably don’t function as well as the slow COMT’s when things are calm, but under stress we can become warriors and can outshine the competition. And 50% of us are half and half—half worrier, half warrior.

What do we do about our COMT inheritance? If we’re stuck with the “slow” variant, how do we learn to deal better with stress? It boils down to our nutrition and how we think.

Our COMT gene is a methylation gene, meaning that it is necessary to get adequate B vitamins (in the correct form) to support the COMT gene. B2, B6, B9 and B12 are especially important, along with magnesium and vitamin C. Worriers may also benefit from taking SAMe.

People with a slow COMT, or the worriers, should also avoid foods containing catechols. Reducing foods that contain tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine (any high protein food) should help as these foods are converted into dopamine.

Limiting caffeine can also be helpful as caffeine can aggravate the symptoms of stress, worry and anxiety. And limit your intake of alcohol, since alcohol consumption triggers dopamine release.

Women who have excess estrogen in their bodies (estrogen dominant) usually have slow COMT as well as estrogen tends to slow down COMT processing. It’s important to avoid Xenoestrogens (artificial estrogens) in foods as well–especially in dairy, soy and personal care products.

Additionally, those with a slow COMT should limit intake of foods containing certain flavonoids such as green tea, capers, cilantro, berries and apples.

And for those who are warriors, having deadlines and a little pressure may help push performance to a higher level. Boring, repetitive tasks and low-pressure environments are often very detrimental to warriors and can cause them to produce mediocre results.

Dietarily, catecholamines like coffee, chocolate, green tea, black tea, citrus, and bananas help give a needed dopamine boost and can help warriors who need it get through low-pressure tasks.

Certain types of exercise like weight lifting, sprinting and chopping wood may prove to be more beneficial for the worriers by increasing their testosterone levels and helping clear out excess dopamine and adrenaline when stressed.

Exercise for warriors that gives an element of a thrill such as mountain biking, downhill skiing, surfing or racing, etc., is great to keep dopamine elevated in warriors.

There you have it—worrier or warrior. There is a genetic connection to both of these personality types. If you find that you are either worrying too much or are too much of warrior, there are dietary interventions that may help even out how quickly you process certain brain chemicals.

Keep in mind, chronic long-term negative stress can be harmful to anyone and should be avoided if at all possible. On the other hand, performance-enhancing stress such as public speaking or competing in an athletic even can be beneficial to both personality types. This will help you become more resilient to stress in the long run.

Worriers and warriors have an important place in our society. Finding what works best for you is key along with proper nutrition, the right vitamins, and suitable activity.

References
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-happiness/202001/what-is-the-comt-gene-and-how-does-it-affect-your-health
https://nutritiongenome.com/are-you-a-warrior-or-a-worrier-exploring-the-influence-of-comt/
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magazine/why-can-some-kids-handle-pressure-while-others-fall-apart.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stress-management_b_2671591

The post Are You A Worrier or a Warrior? appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.

Meditation used to be something I thought about as applying mostly to Eastern cultures and yoga fanatics. I just didn’t see how it could be possible to transcend thoughts and never wanted to take the time to practice it. I always found meditation to be too complicated and time-consuming and actually never felt it was productive to ‘disengage’ from life and swirling thoughts long enough to make it worthwhile.

I was never so wrong.

Meditation has become mainstream these days, thanks to the popularity of yoga and other eastern practices. It seems that everyone, especially productive, creative ‘game-changers’ are doing it and having amazing benefits. The most successful people in the world meditate. They apparently know something about its benefits, or they wouldn’t waste their time.

People like Paul McCartney, Oprah, Hugh Jackman, Richard Branson, Derek Jeter, Ariana Huffington, Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more all practice some form of meditation. Olympic athletes do it, top-level CEO’s do it, and super successful celebrities do it—and everyone in between. These people are not doing it because they have too much time on their hands; these people are busy super-performers who have learned how to become even more productive and more clear-headed with meditation.

It’s a discipline that needs daily time and attention.

Meditation is not just for yoga fanatics. Meditation is not mysterious or complicated. It is exactly and perfectly made for us–busy, crazy, too-much-stuff-packed-into-one-day folks. It is a simple process of clearing one’s mind of all the crazy clutter that we get hammered with on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis. You clear your desk to work, right? Well, when you clear your mind, you will find that work, health, exercise, personal relationships, creativity, and more—all become better and more productive.

Meditation will change your life for the better if you make it a habit.

One of my resolutions for this year is to get more disciplined in a meditation practice. After seeing dozens of articles come up on my computer, I decided it was high time to look into the benefits and get my own practice going. It’s not easy at first, but it’s like exercise for the brain. At first, it’s difficult and you may struggle with this, but it’s an EXERCISE, which means that with practice, you will get better and better, and see and feel results more and more!

What are the Benefits of Meditation?

Below are twelve ways that meditation is as powerful for your health as a healthy diet and exercise.

Stress Reduction

Have you ever felt like there is information overload going on in your brain and you feel you just need hit a shut off button to reboot? This is where meditation can be extremely helpful. Depending on the meditation style you practice, you can virtually empty your mind of all the excessive clutter flying around in your head and reset your focus.

Meditation is incredibly effective at slowing down your thoughts and lowering stress and anxiety. In fact, many people often meditate before stressful events like going onstage to speak or perform in front of thousands of people.

One study found that mindfulness and Zen meditation significantly reduced stress after only a period of 8 weeks. Another study found that meditation actually changes the brain structure, especially those parts associated with stress and worry.

Both mental and physical stress can increase the hormone cortisol. This is what causes many of the harmful effects of stress, such as insomnia, high blood pressure, tight muscles, weight gain and more. Cortisol is an inflammatory hormone that has very negative effects on the body.

In this study of med school students, a meditation style called “mindfulness meditation” reduced the inflammation response caused by stress. Research also shows that meditation can not only lower stress and cortisol response, but it also has a very positive effects on those conditions affected by stress like irritable bowel syndrome, PTSD, fibromyalgia and even more serious diseases like cancer. I know for me, meditation is a definite stress reliever. It does seem to really help to rewire my brain.

Helps with Razor Sharp Focus

Need to sharpen up your focus a bit? Meditation improves your ability to stay on task, focus on being productive, and also helps with cognition. This study shows how meditation improves focus.

With the computers and the internet on everyone’s desktop, focus has become a diminishing ability. However, focused meditation actually helps us increase this all-important ability once again, and clears your plate for razor sharp focus. Meditation helps to increase both the strength and length of your attention.

This study published in Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience journal shows that just 8 weeks of mindfulness meditation improves the ability to reorient and maintain attention. And a similar study shows workers who practiced meditation were able to stay on task and focus for longer periods of time while multitasking—and remember details of their tasks better than those who did not practice meditation.

While our digital phones, pads and computers, combined with social media, have actually shortened our attention spans to about 8 seconds, according to a study by Microsoft, meditation can help to reverse those brain wave patterns that have contributed to mind-wandering, worry, and short attention spans. This study actually found that just four days of short meditations helped attention.

Reduces Anxiety

Meditation lowers anxiety as well as stress. Many people have out of control anxiety which results in panic attacks, social anxiety, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This comprehensive scientific review of 47 studies shows just that. Positive effects of meditation have been seen across multiple studies, and it only takes about 2-2.5 hours per week, or 20 minutes a day for these effects.

One of the best types of meditation for anxiety is a type called mindfulness-based stress reduction or MBSR. Mindfulness meditation is one of the easiest types of meditation to learn. It merely means you stay in the moment and focus mostly on your breathing while letting your thoughts just pass by.

Having a meditation practice shows promise, especially after a few years of following regular meditation. This study of 18 people shows that after an 8-week meditation program, the participants who practiced regular meditation had maintained lower anxiety levels over the course of three years. And a larger study shows a variety of meditation techniques work for reducing anxiety. Some techniques include visualization that helps to shift attention away from the thoughts that may cause anxiety.

Meditation may also help control anxiety that comes from a high-pressure work environments. Here is a study that shows how a meditation program reduced the related job anxiety in a group of nurses, which as we all should know is a very high stress job.

Promotes a Positive Mindset

With a reduction in stress and anxiety, the chance for hope and a positive mindset can come in. Many forms of meditation help to improve self-image and create a happier, calmer, more positive mindset.

In fact these studies show that mindfulness meditation helps to get rid of depression in 4,600 adults, and meditation can produce lasting results when practiced for longer periods of time.

And guess what? This meditation practice literally changes your brain! Those who meditate actually show measurable changes in the activity areas related to positive thinking and optimism.

Positive thinking helps to bring about positive results in your daily life. What a great reason to make meditation a daily habit, along with your cup of coffee in the morning!

Increases Feelings of Kindness, Compassion and Love

We just discussed how meditation helps to increase positive feelings and actions, and this translates to positive feelings towards yourself and others as well. Creating feelings of calmness and happiness also help to generate this loving kindness. A specific type of meditation, Metta, especially enhances loving-kindness feelings, beginning with yourself. Metta increases feelings of positivity, empathy and compassionate behavior toward others. Over twenty studies on this type of meditation have shown that it increases one’s feelings of compassion and self-worth. And the more it’s practiced, the better it works!

While meditation is helping to improve your ability to empathize, it also allows you to increase your intuitive ability to notice subtle cues that will help you understand how others are feeling.

Meditation also increases your emotional stability, making you less likely to be influenced by negative people or negative emotions in your life. And because of all of this, meditation has a definite positive influence on relationships and marriages!

Whatever type of meditation practice you choose, rest assured, it will help to increase your feelings of being self-aware, having greater self-worth, and feeling more loving of yourself and others.

Better Self-Awareness

One of the great things about mindfulness meditation (which I think is one of the easiest to understand and follow) is that it helps to create better self-awareness. As you meditate and go within yourself, you will begin to notice passing thoughts and feelings. Meditation helps you become more aware of your own feelings and instead of being reactive, it helps you to see your thoughts and feelings and to understand them better.

Other types of meditation help you to recognize harmful or negative subconscious defeating thoughts that may be operating in the background of your mind, creating situations for you with poor outcomes. Meditation helps to break this cycle and helps you to see and separate out those negative, self-defeating thoughts. And, as you gain a better awareness of your own thoughts and habitual ways of thinking, you can begin to steer your thoughts to more constructive patterns.

Gaining a better understanding of yourself and your subconscious thought patterns can go a long way towards changing your whole life for the better. This can become a huge starting point for positive changes in your life. Want to change your life? Meditate on a regular basis!

Improves Memory

Did you know that improving your attention and clarity of thinking helps keep your mind young? In essence, meditation helps to reduce the noise and clutter going on in our brain, and that allows people to remember things better. In addition, because meditation helps to tap into the subconscious, many forgotten memories can be tapped into as well.

An interesting review of 12 different studies found that many different meditation styles increased attention, memory and mental quickness in older volunteers, especially. For aging people, meditation is especially good at helping to reverse age-related memory loss and even dementia. So meditation is good for keeping your brain young!

Kirtan Kriya is a particular type of meditation that involves chanting, using a repetitive motion with the fingers that actually helps to focus thoughts. It was shown to improve participants’ ability to perform memory tasks, especially for those with memory loss due to aging.

Controls Pain

Physicians know that when a patient is anxious, they tend to feel pain even more, so oftentimes patients in pain are given medications that help to relieve anxiety, as well as the pain. What if you could do that without taking addictive medications that have undesirable side effects?

Since your perception of pain is very attached to your own state of mind, pain is elevated when you are stressed. And pain, is of course, stressful all by itself. Especially chronic pain.

One study used MRI techniques to observe brain activity on participants experiencing a painful stimulus. Some participants used a type of mindfulness meditation while others did not. Meditating patients showed increased activity in the brain centers known to control pain. They also reported less sensitivity to pain.

Another study looked at the effects of habitual meditation in 3,500 participants. It found that meditation was associated with decreased complaints of chronic or intermittent pain. And further studies of meditation in patients with terminal diseases like cancer found that meditation not only helped reduce anxiety but it also helped mitigate chronic pain, even near the end of life.

While both both groups were experiencing the same cause of pain, the meditators showed a greater ability to cope with pain and even experienced a reduced perception of pain.

With diseases like breast cancer, meditation is not used just as a treatment for pain or the disease. It is supportive care designed to help a person deal with the stress that comes with cancer. While this area currently needs more research, meditation may actually help fight cancer on a cellular level.

Helps Fight Addiction

It’s apparent that meditation helps to strengthen the mind and the will power. Using this mental discipline that can be developed through meditation may actually help break dependencies on addictive substances or behaviors. Not only does this practice help to focus and redirect attention, it also helps to lower stress, lower anxiety and reduce depression. All of these things are extremely helpful in breaking free from addiction.

Mindfulness meditation also increases self-awareness, helping to break down some of the barriers in understanding how one gets addicted in the first place. Meditation also helps to stop food cravings and impulsive eating as well, making it helpful for weight loss too.

Can’t Sleep? Meditate!

One of the reasons many people say that cannot sleep is because they have a hard time calming an overactive mind. Most of us have problems with insomnia at some point. Some of the common reasons for trouble sleeping include stress, discomfort, anxiety, inability to relax, and just a busy mind that cannot shut down. Meditation is helpful for all of these things and helps to put you in a relaxed state of mind to sleep soundly.

Participants in a study on sleep and meditation fell asleep sooner, stayed asleep longer and slept more restfully than those who didn’t meditate. Meditation helps to relax the body, release tension, and allow for natural, beneficial, restorative REM sleep. And another benefit of meditation is that you don’t need to rely on harmful sleep medications that destroy one’s natural restful sleep cycles.

Avoiding those racing thoughts in the middle of the night that wake you up and cause you to worry needlessly will help you feel rested and relaxed in the morning and much better able to deal with the daily issues.

Decreases Blood Pressure

While meditation has many benefits for the mind, it also has beneficial effects on the physical body including the heart and blood vessels. High blood pressure can be partially a result of stress and excess tension, and create extra strain on the heart and blood vessels. This can lead to strokes, heart disease, and blood vessel irregularities like aneurysms.

Meditation can become a form of biofeedback that helps in focusing on relaxing the mind and lowering overall blood pressure. This seems to be even more effective in older people and those with higher blood pressure. Meditation is thought to actually control the nerve signals that coordinate heart function, lower the heart rate, and the tension in the blood vessels as well. Cardiologists, take note!

You Can Meditate Anywhere

Unlike other activities, meditation does not require any fancy equipment or specific locations to practice. You can practice meditation virtually anywhere! Well, maybe not while driving a car, but you know what I mean! And it only takes a few minutes a day. One of the best ways to start meditating and reaping its benefits is to meditate a few minutes in the morning when you first get up and meditate right before bed.

How Do I Get Started?

While there quite a few different meditation practices out there, there are two basic types:

• Focused-attention meditation which allows you to concentrate your attention on a single object, thought, sound or visualization. This helps by ridding your mind of other distractions. Meditation may focus on breathing, a mantra or a calming sound. I find this is the best form for me, as I tend to get distracted easily by sounds and other things.
• Mindfulness meditation encourages more awareness of all aspects of your environment, your train of thought and your sense of self. While you want to relax your mind and slow it down, it allows you to become aware of your thoughts and feelings and letting them go. Think of it like you holding onto a helium balloon. As you become aware of a particular thought or feeling, you just consciously let it go and its drifts away. This practice is an easy way to begin.

Don’t be like I used to be and think that meditation required a lot of training or studying. It’s easy and is something everyone can do—you can too—and reap some amazing benefits. That’s not to say that a meditative class or yoga practice won’t improve your chances of incorporating it into your life as well if your home space is not conducive to a quiet meditative practice.

I set my appointment alarm to remind me that I have an appointment to meditate every morning while I drink my coffee. I currently only meditate for about ten minutes in the morning but setting a timer helps so you don’t have to keep peeking how long you’ve been at it. There are also quite a few good apps you can download on your phone that will take you through the steps and offer guided imagery, mantras, or gentle directions. My two favorites are Headspace and Russell Simmons’ Meditation Made Simple.

Many of the studies above utilized mindfulness or TM style meditation, but that is simply because they are the most well-known. There are around nine major styles of meditation to try out if you’d like. Start simple and incorporate the practice into habit. Other types of meditation styles may fit your personality better, but they all will have positive benefits, and some, if you stay with the practice, can radically transform your life in such positive ways, you will become a new and better person.

Trying out a style of meditation suited to your goals is a great way to improve your quality of life, even if you only have a few minutes to do it each day.

If you are struggling getting into the “meditation groove”, but you want to reap the amazing health & mental benefits meditation it can bring, please check out our friends from Alternative Daily. Grab your FREE copy of this amazing meditation book. It’ll change your life.

References
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation
https://www.scienceofpeople.com/meditation-benefits/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/business-meditation-executives-meditate_n_3528731

The post Why Meditation is as Important as a Healthy Diet and Exercise appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.

Most of us think of exercise in terms of how we want to look—losing weight, a carved six pack, the firm fanny, or chiseled arms. Sure, those are great, but exercise has wide-ranging benefits that go far beyond just looking good.

Aside from the health and physical benefits, did you know that exercise–especially weight training and High Intensity Interval Training–can actually slow down the aging process? Yes, it has been scientifically proven to slow aging dramatically! Researchers have discovered a way to actually shave as much as ten years from your age with vigorous exercise. And no, you do not need to start training for an Ironman, you just have to start getting exercise in your life.

Exercise has the ability to not only change the VERY cells in your physical body to slow down aging, and actually change the structure of your brain as well, making you feel stronger, more confident, happier and more focused. Starting an exercise program today, no matter how old you are, will absolutely change your life for the better!

After the age of 35, most adults begin to lose 8-10% of their muscle mass per decade. That means by age 55, you have lost up to 20% or so of your muscle mass—if you aren’t exercising. This sneaky condition means your metabolism—and your ability to burn fat—decreases drastically with loss of muscle, and that worst part is that you probably don’t really notice the muscle loss, until you get to a point where everyday activities become difficult. Muscle is one of the most metabolically active parts of our bodies, so losing muscle means our metabolism drops!

Research from UCLA suggests that the more muscle mass older people have, the longer they can expect to live. These findings add to the growing evidence that overall body composition—how much muscle you have, versus how much body fat you have—not the more commonly used and less specific measurement of body mass index (BMI), is one of the best predictors of all-cause mortality.

Aging can make our joints and bones more subject to arthritis (inflammation) and osteoporosis (weak bones). Obviously, these two things can lead to injuries and immobility as we age. Lifting weights and most kinds of weight-bearing exercise actually help to manage arthritis pain and create more mobility in our joints.

Strengthening the muscles around joints not only helps to support, lubricate, and strengthen your joints, but the tug on your muscles and bones created by resistance exercise (like weight training) actually will help to strengthen bones and counter osteoporosis.

Even people with mild to moderate hip arthritis can avoid the surgeon’s knife and hip replacement surgery by exercising. And exercise helps to improve flexibility, movement and joint range of motion as well.

Have you put on a few pounds as you have gotten older? Muscles and the mitochondria in our cells are strong determinants of our metabolism. Metabolism, as you may know, has to do with how many calories you burn in a day and how much energy you have. As mentioned above, losing muscle mass also creates a drop in your metabolism. Think of muscle mass as our ‘engines’. If you want to boost that metabolism back up, start a weight training program, which revs up our physical engines. Adding muscle to your body, is like adding high octane gas to our body’s engines! More muscle, more ‘horsepower’, more metabolism—and more energy!

Men who are looking to replace their declining levels of testosterone and DHEA will be happy to know—just 12 weeks of strength training significantly increases levels of free testosterone and DHEA. Testosterone and DHEA (a pre-cursor to testosterone) not only helps men in the bedroom, but it also benefits the body’s ability to burn fat, but it helps prevent heart attacks, and helps with feelings of empowerment, confidence and mental clarity as well. And ladies, this is for us too! Women actually need testosterone and DHEA for libido, mental clarity, confidence and ability to burn fat too!

We don’t need to set a goal of looking like fitness models to feel like our workouts are paying off—simply working out consistently will improve your health, your fitness AND your appearance. Strength training, aerobic training or HIIT will not only help you start to burn off some of that body fat, but your muscles will become a bit more defined, you will stand a little taller and walk with a bit more confidence too.

Exercise will help your body to burn off that dreaded belly fat as well. Exercise scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that healthy men who did 20 minutes of daily weight training had less of an age-related increase in abdominal fat compared with men who spent the same amount of time doing aerobic activities.

Exercise also improves your skin tone and helps you avoid the droopy skin look. We women especially hate that droopy skin/fat on the backs of our upper arms, but if you build up and strengthen those arm muscles, you can firm up this area, and have nicely defined arms. And it works for all those other areas of your body prone to drooping too! Because exercise speeds up your circulation and flushes out toxins, your skin begins to glow as well.

A study of almost 6,000 adults in the U.S., showed that those who exercise regularly are younger on a cellular level than those who lead sedentary lifestyles. Researchers can look at the telomeres on your chromosomes to determine how fast or slow your cells are aging. Telomeres are the protective caps on the ends of your chromosomes in each of your cells. Telomeres are a little like those plastic ends on shoelaces that keep them from unraveling. Every time our cells divide, the telomeres shorten. When the telomeres become too small, the cells die, which is a big part of how we age. Short telomeres are related to many age-related diseases, including cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s, and cardiovascular disease.

In the study, an exercise science professor from Brigham Young University compared the telomere lengths in those who did regular vigorous exercise and those who were sedentary. His conclusion was startling: the more physically active we are, the less our biological aging. In other words, exercise truly does slow down our biological aging clock.

In fact, vigorous physical activity can take about ten years off your age, and moderate physical activity can turn back the clock about seven years. Who doesn’t want to be 7-10 years younger??

The best thing is, you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to reverse the clock; it only takes a minimum of 30-40 minutes of running or other moderate to vigorous exercise five days a week.

One of the biggest and best new forms of exercise to hit the mainstream is HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. This is a fast-paced, intense form of exercise that creates the biggest effect in the shortest amount of time. HIIT has been known to burn the most calories and increase overall fitness in the shortest period of time. HIIT exercise works like this—it alternates short intervals of maximum effort combined with several short recovery times. Often those intervals are 3-5 minutes or less of hard exercise with a couple minutes of rest. There are many different varieities of HIIT workouts, but they all have the same benefits. HIIT can boost your metabolism for hours, melt off fat, build muscle, and maximize those awesome exercise endorphins that give you that wonderful exercise ‘high’.

Now, the Mayo Clinic also says HIIT can stop the aging clock as well. The study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, involved 72 sedentary adults in two age groups—young (18 to 30) and older (65 to 80). The participants were assigned to one of three 12-week workout routines: high-intensity interval cycling, strength training with weights, or a combined strength-training and cycling plan for three months.

The HIIT training plan required three days of cycling with four, 4-minute high-intensity intervals and 3-minute recovery periods), and two days of steady, brisk treadmill walking. The strength-training group performed upper- and lower-body exercises twice a week, while the combined-training group worked out five days a week at a steady state, and for less time.

At the end of the study period, all three groups had gained lean muscle mass and improved their aerobic capacity. But the HIIT group had noticeable changes at the cellular level. Younger volunteers experienced a 49% boost in mitochondrial capacity—the cell’s ability to take in oxygen and produce energy—while the older age group had a dramatic 69% increase!

Mitochondria are our cells’ powerhouses and are important to vitality, oxygen-burning capability metabolism, and energy. In essence, the health of our cells, and our bodies (which are made up of cells) is directly tied to the function of our mitochondria.

The bottom line is that adding short bursts of high intensity exercise is a great way to boost the benefits of exercise even more. Even finding a path where you can run for short bursts or pedaling your bike up hilly sections in a road will work. Obviously, you want to gradually ease into this type of exercise. There are many different types of HIIT workouts online as well.

What if you could do something that would immediately improve your mood, your focus and your memory while protecting your brain from Alzheimer’s, dementia, ADD/ADHD, and banish depression and anxiety? That’s exercise!

According to neuroscientist, Wendy Suzuki, exercise actually helps your prefrontal cortex which is involved in focus, attention, personality and judgement, to improve and grow, improving your capacity for focus and improving your mood. And what’s more, exercise helps to increase your long- and short-term memory.

A single 30-minute workout increases your ‘happy’ brain chemicals of dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline, improves your focus and attention as well as your reaction times. Exercise actually helps your brain make new brain cells and helps your brain to expand and become stronger. And these benefits stick with you!

Your body changes for the better, your health improves, your metabolism improves, your moods improve, you gain confidence, you move better, you feel stronger, you stand up straighter, and your whole life improves with regular exercise.

Don’t ever feel like it is too late! All of these benefits happen, no matter what your age. We don’t have to become fitness models or superathletes, we just have to start moving and start exercising. It only takes 3-4 times a week of 30-40 minutes to make this work. (Of course, if you want to go longer or harder that’s even better!)

So, start now–whether it’s simply walking, running, cycling, strength training, or High Intensity Interval Training—or any combination of the above exercises. You will feel better–mentally, physically and emotionally–and your body and brain physically change for the better as well.

In the words of neuroscientist, Wendy Suzuki,

“Bringing exercise into your life will change your life for the better making you happier and more productive. You can actually CHANGE THE TRAJECTORY of your life for the better–and those around you.”

Don’t wait, start now. It’s never too late!

If you find this article interesting, our friend Steve Holman shows you what exercises can SLOW the aging process, and which ones actually can accelerate it.

This article shows you how to AVOID the exercises that accelerate aging in your body…

References
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/weight-training-appears-key-to-controlling-belly-fat/
http://www.shrinkinguy.com/blog/5-anti-aging-benefits-of-strength-training
https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_suzuki_the_brain_changing_benefits_of_exercise?language=en
https://www.newsweek.com/exercise-anti-aging-younger-cellular-level-telomeres-607228
https://dailyburn.com/life/fitness/strength-training-aging-study-100714/
https://www.fasebj.org/doi/abs/10.1096/fj.13-245480?journalCode=fasebj
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743517301470?via%3Dihub
https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/43/6/748/2812353
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131(17)30099-2

The post Five Ways Exercise Actually Makes You Look YOUNGER appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.