Your Health and Wellness

Good health and wellness depends on a number of factors, mainly:

Diet
Exercise
Rest and relaxation
Lifestyle

Other factors can also affect how your body reacts to everyday life. They can include:

Stress
Mental Health
Work activities
Non-work activities

Understanding Stress

We are all familiar with the word "stress". People react differently to different situations. The main thing is to understand the signs of stress in yourself and in your co-workers. A few signs include:

Withdrawing from the job
Not showing up
Coming in late
Leaving early
Avoiding phone calls
Rise in blood pressure
An increase in drinking

Communicating

The key about stress is learning how to communicate - for males, it usually means rethinking traditional male roles. This means trying to openly resolve conflicts at work and home. Seeking professional support from counselors, support groups or co-workers is a good start. One simple thing you can do to control stress is relaxation training, such as meditation, biofeedback or yoga, for 15 to 20 minutes during the work day. Exercise also plays a role in making the body stronger and able to withstand stress.

Exercise

A combination of exercise and diet can improve your health and wellness.

Exercise activities can include:

Aerobic classes
Brisk walks
Swimming
Yoga or Tai Chi

Steps to take:

Make a personal exercise plan.
Set activity goals. Start slow and then increase your activity as you gain strength.
Workout with friends.
Make it fun. Doing exercise in a social setting, i.e. beach volleyball, flag football, can be fun!

Physical Activity

Being physically active and maintaining a healthy weight are both needed for fitness. Children, teens, adults, elderly-all can improve their health and well being and have fun by including moderate amounts of physical activity in their daily lives. Physical activity involves moving the body. A moderate physical activity is any activity that requires as much energy as walking 2 miles in 30 minutes.

Aim to accumulate at least 30 minutes of physical activity daily. If you already get 30 minutes of physical activity daily, you can gain even more health benefits by increasing the amount of time that you are physically active or by taking part in more vigorous activities. No matter what activity you choose, you can do it all at once or spread it out over two or three times during the day.

Choose activities that you enjoy and that you can do regularly. Some people prefer activities that fit into their daily routine like gardening or taking extra trips up and down the stairs. Others prefer a regular exercise program, such as a physical activity program at work. Some do both. The important thing is to be physically active every day.

Stretch and Flexibility

Flexibility is defined as "the absolute range of movement in a joint or series of joints that is attainable in a momentary effort with the help of a partner or a piece of equipment." This definition tells us that flexibility is not something general but is specific to a particular joint or set of joints.

It is a myth that some people are innately flexible throughout their entire body. Being flexible in one particular area or joint does not necessarily imply being flexible in another. Being "loose" in the upper body does not mean you will have a "loose" lower body.

Flexibility in a joint is also "specific to the action performed at the joint" (the ability to do front splits doesn't imply the ability to do side splits even though both actions occur at the hip). Many people are unaware of the fact that there are different types of flexibility.

Burning Calories

Your fat intake determines how many calories you take in and how many you use up. To lose body fat, you need to control the number of calories you eat from a balanced diet and increase the amount of calories you burn through exercise. Research shows overwhelmingly that combining the proper diet with exercise is much more effective for losing body fat than dieting alone. Even the most nutritious low calorie diet without exercise will cause some of your losses to be from muscle. A pound of muscle has only 600 calories - or about 1/6 the calories in a pound of fat - and, therefore, can be lost much quicker than fat.

Since a pound of fat has 3,500 calories, you should expect to lose no more than 1/2 to 1 percent body fat per month or 1-2 pounds of fat per week. If you lose any more than that, you are losing muscle too. You simply cannot rush fat loss. You do not gain fat overnight and you do not lose it that way either; but the losses you do get will be permanent. And with the accompanying changes that exercise will make to your body, the results can be remarkable. Remember to consult your doctor before starting a reduced-calorie diet and exercise program, especially if you have a history of health problems, have not had a physical checkup recently or are pregnant or lactating.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates quickly break down in the body as simple sugar; excess amounts can cause wild swings in blood sugar levels. The "sugar high," a temporary boost of energy, is usually followed by a sudden energy slump. This phenomenon often occurs just after a high-carbohydrate breakfast or lunch. By making lean sources of protein the cornerstone of your meals - combined with the right amount of carbohydrate - these blood sugar swings are reduced or eliminated, resulting in a steady stream of energy that comes from your own body fat. You should feel a dramatic energy boost in just a few days.

Typically, only about 20% of the cholesterol found in your body comes from food. The rest is produced within your body - in the liver. If you can control this internal cholesterol production, you can reduce your risk in this area dramatically. When you eat foods that are high in carbohydrate, the body releases a hormone called insulin. When insulin levels are high, the liver produces more cholesterol. By controlling insulin levels you can naturally lower your body's production of cholesterol.