As we spring into Spring we have lots to look forward to: the nights are drawing out, the snowdrops have burst through, and the daffodils are blooming. Easter, which signifies new life, is definitely on the horizon, and with the COVID vaccine development and roll out, we sure have a brighter future to look forward to. Your mind is a powerful thing and if filled with positive thoughts, life changes are positive. Did you know by the end of March the sun won’t set until 7.37pm? Lots more daylight hours to look forward to, more opportunity for natural vitamin D with more sunshine, greener trees, and brighter colours in the flowers.
Last month’s article assigned days of the week as reminders to keep us in check for the healthy things we should be doing day in day out, week in week out. It is that routine and consistency that delivers results. Hopefully you are keeping yourself on track with it and feeling good? Motivation Monday, Tuesday Tunes, Work out Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday, Fish Friday, Social Saturday, and Self-care Sunday. Are you on it?
This month I want to talk about making things happen consistently. Exercise for mental wellbeing and overall health is something we should all be doing daily. Making a start or getting back in the game, being motivated and keeping it going can often be an effort. Many of you will have heard of goals needing to be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound. Well, they do, and the bit I want to offer some tips and tricks for is the measurement of your daily exercise. There are tools out there to help us track our exercise and make it more fun. We’ve seen the government track the Covid virus and chart the successful roll out of vaccines and basically if you can measure it, you can achieve and exceed expectation. There are the basic step counters for which there are multiple devices and you would get the best idea searching up pedometers or step counters on amazon. They start from under £10 and then get pricier as the features and technology increases. However, it’s a smartphone app that I particularly like that adds a bit of fun and sense of achievement to your walking or running or cycling: www.myvirtualmission.com. In this smartphone app you can select a challenge, that can literally take you around the world. I’m staying in the UK and going for Lands End to John O’Groats. All miles you do are captured and count towards this challenge and would you believe you even get postcards at various landmarks of achievement to help keep you going. Just the visual of seeing your progress on the map keeps you going. You can set yourself a timescale too, although there is no penalty for not completing your course in a certain timeframe. I’d highly recommend you checking out either a pedometer / step counter or a fun app such as myvirtualmission.com or similar.
Measuring our efforts, and charting progress helps us maintain focus and improve, but an additional tip to make things more fun is to do it with a friend. All the ideas suggested work well if you do them the with a friend, and even virtually with a friend works great too. Encourage one another, sometimes it’s more motivating to do things for others rather than yourself, so if you are in this camp, it’s definitely worth buddying up with someone for your exercise be than in person or virtually. Help one another.
Following on from exercise the point of water and hydration is worth making. Water is your body’s principal chemical component and makes up about 50% to 70% of your body weight. Your body depends on water to survive.
Every cell, tissue and organ in your body needs water to work properly. For example, water:
- Gets rid of wastes through urination, perspiration and bowel movements
- Keeps your temperature normal
- Lubricates and cushions joints
- Protects sensitive tissues
If you do any activity that makes you sweat, you need to drink extra water to cover the fluid loss. It’s important to drink water before, during and after a workout.
Drinking the right levels of water can even help reduce obesity. So, what is the right amount?
- About 15.5 cups (3.7 litres) of fluids a day for men
- About 11.5 cups (2.7 litres) of fluids a day for women
Some people may have the figure of 8 glasses of water a day which is definitely in the ball park. If it’s an effort to achieve this, why not make up a jug in the morning, add in some fresh lemon, lime, mint and or cinnamon sticks, basically whatever fruit makes it more palatable for you and then you know that’s got to be drunk before the day is out. I would recommend doing well over half before lunch time to avoid having to get up in the night!
So, with new tips for workout Wednesday and Thursday Thursday, here’s a little tip for Fish Friday. Is tinned fish an option? Tinned foods usually mean processed and processed usually means chemicals and chemical sugars, so rarely would I recommend. Did you know that 300g of Heinz tomato soup (about ¾ of a tin), has the equivalent of 4 teaspoons of sugar? You can see why tins make me nervous! However, tinned tuna is a bit of an anomaly, it’s high in protein, and low in calories and fat, it makes it a great choice for a quick meal, virtually a zero prep’ meal. I love it in a bowl with chopped cucumber, spring onion and seasoned with salt and pepper and vinegar. It even works as a snack and certainly beats a packet of crisps or couple of biscuits in terms of nutrition.
We are fast approaching Easter, which this year falls on 4 April, so if you are wanting some Easter treats, really work hard on the exercise and nutrition in March. Get out for your daily exercise, try not to miss a day, make it part of the routine. If you try the monitoring apps or similar, I hope they bring you a great sense of achievement and enjoyment. Thanks for reading and if you have any questions, I am happy to answer them privately, or in the next edition. Just email me dianne@rejuvenateathypoxi.co.uk. Previous copies of my health column can be found at www.rejuvenateathypoxi.co.uk
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Best wishes, Dianne x