Lifestyle Habits That Can Lead To Weight Gain

There are three reactions taking place in our body at any given moment: Physical, Psychological and Chemical

Whenever there is a problem in one of those systems, chemical (digestion), psychological (high stress levels, depression), physical (injuries) the body will drive most of its resources to “fix” that problem with the respective system.

It does this by taking resources from the other two systems. And this way they end up imbalanced.

It is important to identify the cause of your problem: weight loss, weight gain, injuries etc beforehand.

So today I would like to give you some examples of weight gain triggers from each system.

Physical

Sedentary lifestyle

If you read the book “The Story Of The Human Body” by Daniel Lieberman, and other books on evolution, you will learn that we are meant to move.

And move a lot. Hunter gatherers used to walk 15km or more. Today we walk 10 min around Tesco and get food that’s already prepared for us.

Furthermore, the fact that our body is mobile, has joints, is a good hint that it is not supposed to sit but move in all ways possible. Bicep curls are not what I have in mind when I think about movement.

Too little physical movement

You probably walk 30 min a day or so and you think it’s enough. Allow me to disagree. In the society we live today we sit far too much for 30 min a day to be enough.

Maybe in the past when we used to work in different, more active conditions it was very good but today …. it is not enough. Walking is great but there is more needed: movement, flexibility, mobility, strength, stamina.

Moreover, you can’t always, for the rest of your life, count the calories you intake and the energy you use. That’s just a burden if you ask me. So use up your energy by practicing some type of movement every day.

I give my clients 5 min, 8 min, 10 min routines to practice every day for a few weeks at a time, each of them at their own level, but they move their bodies as well as walk.

Too much training

Yes you can do that. When we do too much of the same thing, same routine over and over again without changing must you over train.

Under times of stress, such as exercise, cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands and its purpose is to maintain energy supply through the breakdown of carbohydrates, fats and protein.

Cortisol is a double edge sword. When we are continually under stress, the body is constantly releasing cortisol. This triggers the release of sugar from the liver, which releases insulin from the pancreas, and which causes more fat storage.

Chemical

Toxic environment

The majority of harmful toxins come from medication, alcohol, cigarettes, and pesticides found in non-organic produce and processed products.

Your body protects itself from pollutants by building a layer of fat. It’s like an armour. When it can’t eliminate toxins, it stores them in your fat cells creating a type of buffer between the toxins and your body. And since the fat is protecting your body, its natural reaction is to protect itself by not burning the fat.

Exercising, breathing correctly, drinking water and eating the right foods will help your body eliminate those toxins, if done consistently and long term.

Create strong foundations which last for a lifetime.

Not eating truly nutritious foods.

Playing with food, this week good, next week bad, today was bad but yesterday was good is not the way to go. You will just go up and down, never finding a balance.

Aim to have a little bit of everything and a day when you can have anything you want.

If you keep the same diet for too long you plateau. A day off can get you out of the plateau.

Making too many exceptions and giving into cravings

If you want a lifestyle that is easy to maintain long term you need to stop thinking about food as a tasty, cultural treat and start seeing it as fuel for your body.

In essence that’s what food is: fuel. Food is not for us to play with and enjoy the taste. The taste is just an awesome add-on.

When this lesson sinks in, when you really understand it, your food choices will change. You will want only good quality fuel for your body and mind to function at its peak.

Not eating high quality foods that promote digestion

Fibre. We do not digest fibre but our body uses fibre for healthy digestion. Eating too much of it, particularly from sources such as pasta, creates bulk and we feel unwell, bloated, cramps etc.

When you eat the wrong foods your digestive tract suffers the consequences. This results in starvation response, which puts your body in fat storage mode and increases your hunger.

Eating too much, even if healthy

Quality and quantity are both important.

Carbs, fats and protein in high amounts will lead to fat storage. Your body can utilize a certain quantity of these essential macronutrients, it’s not infinite.

So if the body doesn’t use the nutrients for energy, or storage for later use, it will store the energy is in the adipose tissue, fat.

Psychological

Stress

We mentioned cortisol earlier. High levels of stress release too much cortisol in the body which, leads to weight gain. In a tiny nutshell that’s how it works.

Emotional eating

Stress, depression, worry all lead to unhealthy over eating and weight gain. We’ve all been there at one point in our lives.

However, I have experienced the stages myself and I can say that if you have good, solid foundations or food discipline habits in place, and they are automatic, emotional UNHEALTHY eating turns into emotional HEALTHY eating.

So instead of ice cream you will actually eat a lot of fruit, vegetables and other foods.

Negative self talk

Telling yourself all sort of negative things will not help either. You will only bring yourself into a position of stress, depression, worry and over eating.

If you have nothing particularly awesome to say, take action, change your habits, change your lifestyle accordingly and get yourself into the position where every day you have something awesome to say about yourself.

If you’d like to talk more about the three reaction do get in touch.

June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

What Is Efficient Body Movement and Why Should You Care

Why you should care

First things first. First things first. Unusual way to start a blog but bear with me.

Your body and your mind are always connected. No matter what you do or when, they will always work together and influence each other.

When I began the journey of studying movement and teaching it I realised that the way I was using or carrying my body, my stances and my general physical state were influencing my state of mind and my emotions.

The same with some of my clients, particularly when we talk about stress caused by lifestyles, work environment, life events etc.

And this is more often than the opposite, although the mind influences the body as well.

However I noticed from experience and working with my clients that the moment we release physical stress release, psychological stress release takes place as well. And often this happens in a matter of seconds.

What is efficient body movement

I often speak about efficient body movement or body use. While my clients have a good understanding of what this means and most of them begin incorporating the elements from our sessions into their daily life, others don’t work with me so they do not know.

Everyone can move, everyone can run, everyone can breath, sit, stand and walk. No doubt about that. We do these day and night.

However efficient body movement or use is a healthy type of movement that nurtures the body, mind and spirit. It is the movement that enhances creativity, allows the mind to flow and the body to move with less restrictions.

It is the type of movement that allows all the functions of the body, internal and external, to function with as little resistance and restrictions as possible. It is the movement that allows you to thrive.

Your body is just like a musician’s instrument. You play that instrument. But unless you look after it and fine tune it you will not be able to make great music. It’s the same with your body, fine tune the way you use your body and it will function smoothly, with less problems and difficulties. And so will your mind as well.

[tweetthis]Fine tune the way you use your body to function with less problems and difficulties.[/tweetthis]

Is movement only about the body?

No. It is my belief that a relaxed physical state will allow the body and mind to function at their best. When we do not use the body in a healthy manner there is a lot of pressure and many restrictions at all levels. Movement impacts everything else, it is not only about the body.

There are 3 reactions taking place in our bodies at any given time: PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL and CHEMICAL (i.e. digestion).

[tweetthis]There are 3 reactions taking place in our bodies at any given time: PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL and CHEMICAL[/tweetthis]

Whenever there is an “emergency” in one of the systems (i.e. stress) the brain directs most of the resources to deal with that problem.

The downside is that it takes the much needed resources for other functions. For example it takes the resources, the energy which deals with proper digestion. So stress leads to poor digestion, which leads to poor nutrients for the body, weight gain and so on.

Can you see what’s happening here? Any imbalance of any sort, in the body or mind, will cause the brain to focus on that particular function more and leave the others aside until that “emergency” is fixed.

But what about the body?

Here I’d like to give you an example using posture.

When we slouch and/or tense our bodies we compress our torso and place unnecessary pressure on our internal organs, as the body collapses forward and head hangs backwards. And so the internal organs functioning is restricted.

And with restricted internal functioning, digestion is restricted as well as many other functions, but let’s stick with digestion, it’s easier to explain and understand.

If digestion is restricted then the body will not be able to extract the resources it needs from the food we eat.

When this happens our bodies cannot recover, nourish and thrive. And if our bodies cannot thrive then our minds will not thrive either. Besides what we eat and how we digest the food directly impacts the mental functions as well.

With restricted internal organ functioning, because of all the stress we place on them by slouching, many other problems arise at a physical, mental and emotional level.

What to look after

To achieve this balance, or rather to go back to balance, because your system will always try and get back to that, we need to look at the body and mind as one whole unit. They are not separate.

We need to address all three reactions taking place in our bodies at any given time: physical, mental and chemical.

So here’s a simple example on weight loss, because many people struggle with this.

“What is the reason I gained weight?
Is it lack of exercise – physical reacion?
Stress or depression – psychological reaction?
Nutrition – chemical reaction?”

Find the real cause. Because, for example, if your imbalance is caused by a psychological reaction you can tackle the physical and chemical as much as you want, you may even see results, but if you do not address the real cause, nothing will change, and the experience will perpetuate over and over again. Same goes for the other systems.

The brain will send all its resources to take care of that problem and that means it taking resources from the other parts. There’s your imbalance. Bring your body back to balance.

Allow yourself to thrive. Book a free call and I will help you with the first few steps.

January 19, 2015May 17, 2015

How I managed to manage my anger and stress

Nowadays anger is as foreign to me as Mars. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating. But I get angry and stressed out very seldom and when I do it only lasts for a few minutes before I’m back to myself again, the self you all know to be Alexandra. However it didn’t always use to be this way.

Anger and stress used to be 2 constants in my life. Always present, always a burden. As a child I grew up in a very competitive environment and I lived a very angry, stressed and frustrated family life.

As I grew up almost everything would get me angry and make me lose control. From someone cutting in front of me to my mother expressing her opinion on which jeans I should wear as an answer to my questions.

Yes, I was not the calm, patient and thoughtful person you and my clients see today. So what changed? What made me transform?

The experience

I used to be a very shy kid. The kid at the back of the class, on the last chair. I was in the shadows, invisible to everyone, just the way I liked it. But that was what I chose to show my peers. Inside I was a different person, I was a volcano ready erupt any moment. They learnt this as well.

Growing up my volcanic personality was more obvious and more difficult to control. Of course I did not know what I know now and I did not live my life like I do today. There are some things you only learn by experiencing the opposite extreme.

The explosion

I don’t want to make this story too long so I will fast forward to 3-4 years ago when my anger as well as depressive inclinations peaked. No one knew what to do with or to me. Well I decided to come to the UK in the end.

I ended up living in a village where I worked 1 year until I could get my permanent work permit so I can work without restrictions. A place where I had a bus every 3-4 hours to take me to a slightly larger village.

That was the place I fell into the worst and darkest places I ever was in the past. I went into depression for months, almost 1 year actually. I cannot write here all the details.

But what I can tell you is that I used to get angry only by sitting on a bus. Angry at myself, at the world, the people around me, my friend and on everything and everyone that crossed my path.

My ways of dealing with anger were always punching a punching bag, running and trowing myself into cold water if I had any. But those actions did little to solve those feelings. I was addressing something that came from inside myself with things I found outside myself.

The transformation

How can you see the light if you’ve never seen the darkness?

I always wanted to be different from my parents. They were angry all the time, at each other and not only. But how could I achieve calmness if I never knew what anger felt like?

Of course those were not my thoughts back then. I was a volcano in eruption.

Somehow that period slowly dissolved as I began to explore the English country side, walking, running, swimming in cold waters, hanging off trees and walking barefoot through rivers. Then silence replaced anger, frustration, fear and depression. Making me wonder how long will it last.

It seems like it was planned to last forever and for me to help others overcome these moments like I did.

Who I am today

Today I notice many situations which in the past would make me explode with anger. Many situations which would cause me to slip into depression again. But then don’t have the same effect on me. In some cases I am socked of how calm I feel. Is there something wrong with me or what?

The difference is that now I know how to welcome them. How instead of building resistance I just let them past, I even open the doors for them. One for them to enter and one to leave.

This is not something that can really help you is it? I will give you something more applicable then.

The #1 thing that helps me make anger or stress a matter of minutes rather than days, weeks and months

Out of all the things I learnt, I wrote and I preach there is one thing, the most important, which I emphasize to my clients every single time we work together. One basic, overlooked and underestimated but powerful habit we all take for granted.

So the #1 thing I do to achieve this calmness is…..BREATHING. Yep, the simple and powerful, yet underestimated, act of breathing.

But there’s more. It is mindful breathing not breathing for the sake of it. Which we all do all the time.

Sure I’ve now learnt so many other things I may use but I always end up going to the basics, breathing. And the more I practice and the most often I am aware of it the better I get at managing, or controlling, or letting go of these types of feeling. Leaving behind a sense of calmness and stillness, in the body and in the mind.

It’s simple really and I can easily teach you in a 30 min call, for free. I promise that if you use what I teach you in 30 min you will feel the difference in a matter of minutes, just like I do.

Here’s where you can book that call with me.

January 2, 2015May 17, 2015

10 awesome things about training outdoors

1. It’s the best way to warm up when you’re cold. You will walk around in a t-shirt while others have coats.

2. When you’re bored of one place you have the option to move in a totally different place 2km away

3. Research shows that people who spend more time outdoor are happier.

4. There’s no one standing in your way. There’s more room to do more things.

5. Raises your vitamin D level

6. Harvard Health Publications say that it improves concentration

7. May help you heal faster

8. Researchers found a link between connecting with the Earth and Mental Health – depression, anxiety, emotional stress, panic, fear, headaches, cardiac palpitations, and dizziness

9. It is never boring

10. There is loads of clean, fresh air and no or few viruses to come in contact with

If you’d like to learn more please download my free eBook “15 Healthy Habits For The Body” orbook a free consultation with me.

December 25, 2014December 25, 2014

How nutrition affects our Mental Health

Although no one has ever seen the mind, we can consider the brain as the platform for the mind and thus a platform for out mental wellbeing.

The brain is made up in large part of essential fatty acids, water and other nutrients. We know that food affects how we feel, think and behave. You felt it , I felt it, everyone knows it. But how many of us, especially busy professionals take the time to invest in this knowledge which actually has the potential to make their businesses a success?

Most of your brain is derived directly from food. The last fifty years have witnessed remarkable alterations to what we eat, how we process and refined it, food additives, use of pesticides and the alteration of animal fats through intensive farming. And here we are thinking we actually eat healthy fats.

Studies estimate that the average person in the UK and other industrialised countries will eat more than 4 kilogrammes of additives every year!!! So the importance of reducing processed food as much as possible is critical. At least the obvious ones.

Different methods of farming have also introduced higher levels and different types of fat into our diet. Nowadays chickens grow twice as fast as 30 years ago and this changes the quality of the meat. A chicken carcass used to be 2% fat, it is now 22%. according to Dr Deborah Cornah, Consultant to the Mental Health Foundation

The chicken’s changed diets have reduced omega-3 fatty acids and increased omega-6 fatty acids in the meat.

Unequal intakes of omega-3 (fish and oils) and omega-6 fats (cereals, eggs, poultry) have been implicated in a number of mental health problems, including depression, concentration and memory problems. Scientists have observed that western diets contain far too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3.

Smoking, drinking alcohol, tea, coffee or eating chocolate, improves one’s mood, we all know this, at least temporarily. What we don’t know, or rather ignore, is that some foods can have a lasting influence on mood and mental wellbeing because of the impact they have on the structure and function of the brain.

Food and Depression

Evidence shows that the presentation of depression in the UK population has increased dramatically over recent decades, with more cases being reported in children, adolescents and young adults. And the only way we address it is through pills, to suppress the symptoms but not addressing the cause.

There seems to be a correlation between low intakes of fish by a country and high levels of depression amongst its citizens, as well as the reverse. This correlation has been shown for major depression, post-natal depression, seasonal affective disorder and bipolar affective disorder.

Complex carbohydrates as well as certain food components such as folic acid, omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and tryptophan are thought to decrease the symptoms of depression. Those with low intakes of folate, or folic acid, have been found to be significantly more likely to be diagnosed with depression than those with higher intakes.

Similar conclusions have been drawn from studies looking at the association of depression with low levels of zinc and vitamins B1, B2 and C.

In other studies standard treatments have been supplemented with these micronutrients resulting in significant relief of symptoms in people with depression and bi-polar affective disorder, in some cases by 50%.

In one epidemiological study it was found that levels of depression were rising at the same time that traditional diets were being abandoned for more processed foods.

Food and Schizophrenia

I don’t know much about Schizophrenia but according to the research out there, people with schizophrenia have lower levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (oils made from seeds, corn, nuts, vegetables) in their bodies than those with no experience of illness.

There has also been evidence which suggests that antioxidant enzymes (found in orange

and red peppers, spinach and tomatoes.) are lower in the brains of people with schizophrenia.

Food and Attention Hyperactivity Disorder

If my parents were to ever take me to the doctor I would have been diagnosed with ADHD for sure. But they never did, they raised and nurtured and helped me develop in a traditional and healthy way as best they could. Most importantly they gave me the chance to use up all my energy through various sports. I didn’t spend too much time indoors eating and sleeping.

However, for more serious cases of ADHD, there have been great improvements when dietary changes are introduced to children with ADHD. Two food groups have been identified, fatty acids and minerals.

It seems that children diagnosed with ADHD commonly share characteristics of Essential fatty acid (Cereal, pasta, bread, vegetables) deficiency. A deficiency in zinc (red meat, beans and poultry) was also discovered among children with ADHD.

There is even more research out there linking diet with mental health is growing at a rapid pace. The quality of the food we eat has a great impact on feelings of mood and general wellbeing, but the evidence demonstrates its contribution to the development, prevention and management of specific mental health problems like the ones described above.

What can we do?

Balanced mood and feelings of well being can be maintained by ensuring that our diet provides adequate amounts of complex carbohydrates, essential fats, amino acids, vitamins and minerals and water in balanced amounts.

I encourage you to do your research so you make informed decisions rather than believe everything you are told. Read shorts articles on macronutrients and micronutrients and decide for yourself whether a type of food is good or not.

Educating our children is our number one priority. However instead of teaching by example we say something it not healthy and we still eat it. Kids copy adults’ behaviours and no matter how many times we tell them it’s not good they will still copy what we do. Lead by example, walk the talk.

If you’d like to learn more please download my free eBook “15 Healthy Habits For The Body”

Primary sources:

Feeding Minds: The impact of food on mental health by Mental Health Foundation

Diet and the effects on emotional wellbeing and mental health by Jonathan Stanley, National Children’s Bureau and National Center of Excellence in Residential Child Care.

December 23, 2014May 17, 2015

The role of mindfulness in my childhood

Author’s note

Hi. I think this is one of the most difficult blogs I’ve written lately. That is because I am sharing with you another part of my life, the one which involved meditation. It is very difficult for me to put this into words. So if there is anything that doesn’t make sense and creates even more confusion please let me know so I can try to explain in a different way to make it more clear.

Today I was in the forest trying to fluidly move on a narrow path through branches and leaves. I was paying attention on how my body was moving, the items (branches, leaves, mud) around me and I was just experiencing the moment.

At one point I began thinking about Urban Women Fitness, and without even realizing I went straight through the foliage in front of me. When I was asked why I answered I just lost focus. It’s that simple.

And doesn’t this happen to all of us? We seldom let go of the daily thoughts we carry around with us day and night. Doesn’t it feel like pulling a boulder up a hill?

When you come in the present moment you cut the rope and the boulder just falls. Instant relief. There was no use getting it up that hill anyway.

The leaf the at the top of the tree

Mindfulness is a type or style of meditation otherwise called ‘Vipassana’. But didn’t I say in another blog that meditation is not an actual technique? Yes, I did, right here.

Meditation, in any form, is about letting go. Whether you let go by relaxing you body, or your breath or about letting go of thoughts, anger or frustrating, it’s about allowing for a little space in your life, your mind and your heart.

Mindfulness has been something I’ve been doing since I was a little girl without realising. It just made me feel so good. It felt like I was coming out of the grown up world and retreating into my own world.

I remember I used to go my local park and to search for the highest tree I could find. Then I would lie down on a bench, look for the leaf at the very top of the tree and watch how it moved in the wind. The patterns it created, its speed, its colour, its shape. And I would spend a long time watching that. At the end I was ready to go back, with a smile on my face, a happy child.

It was like running away for home

Mindfulness is one of the things I carried with me through my tough moments in life as a depressed child, teenager and young adult.

I used to be a very panicked child. I would feel uncomfortable in crowds and around my friends, so I didn’t have many. I liked to be alone, to retreat in my own universe (a 2x3m room in our apartment).

Listen, or rather read. The #1 reason mindfulness was an escape route for me is thanks to my parents. I am serious, I am grateful for this. They used to fight every single day (I actually logged their fights). So I wanted to run away from home, to escape.

Mindfulness, because now I have a name for it, helped that child calm down and slowly make sense of what was going on. It was like running away for home for a while, escaping the fights my parents had.

But I am grateful for what they gave me. As I am writing this I realize that what I am doing today is thanks to them and the negative charged environment I grew up in. They brought light into my life.

So what is mindfulness all about?

Mindfulness is about being present, about slowing down, observe and not judge. It’s non-intrusive, you don’t interfere.

You allow your thoughts to come up and go past you, without interfering in any way – judging or forcing them out of your mind. Just let them float like bubbles on the surface of an otherwise still lake. When they reach the surface they pop and disappear.

Observe your breathing

It is usually done by focusing on your breath. When focusing on breathing your mind cannot focus on something else unless you split the focus and come out of meditation.

There is no attempt to change the breathing. Just observe it and observe the different feelings throughout your body.

What else can you be mindful about besides breathing:

objects around your room; say out loud “there is the printer, there is the door, there is the window” etc. See how that affects you.
people passing by; glimpse for a fraction of a second at a the pattern on a tie, at a woman’s freckles on her checks, without judging, just observe (just don’t stare, that’s awkward)
mindful walking; how you touch the ground, how fluid you move around, what you feel under your feet or through your shoes
mindful eating; see, smell, feel the experience. I wrote a full blog on this topic.
mindful sitting
mindful standing

You got the point. Mindfulness is paying attention rather than anything else. Mindfulness is everywhere and in everything we do. Or it should be.

For example if you live in a noisy city, you don’t have to block out the outside sirens and screaming children, you let your mind be aware of the sounds. You observe.

You literally just let your mind be fluid and flow from one thought to the next, not really focusing on one particular thing, just let them unfold.

If you’d like to learn more please download my free eBook “15 Healthy Habits For The Body”

December 12, 2014March 13, 2015

What does Earthing have to do with Mental Health

What does Earthing have to do with mental health?

Earlier this year I went through more than 14 research papers and studies on Earthing. I have seen a shift in my wellbeing over the years.

From good to bad and good again. I was not aware however why that happened and exclusively blamed it on sport performance, nutrition, sleep deprivation or simply growing up.

What is Earthing?

Earthing (grounding or Electron Transfer Technology) is defined as placing one’s skin on the ground (especially when humid or wet), whether it be dirt, grass, sand, or concrete.

Earthing can be done in direct skin contact to earth or through patches attached to the human feet and/or palms of hands and an earthing cord leading to the outdoors to a rod driven into the earth.

There are different technologies which try to imitate the effects of Earthing. Nikken for example is a Japanese company which created insoles, mattresses, pendants and more which mimic de electromagnetic field of the Earth to help healing and better functioning of the body as a whole. It is however better to send as much time outdoor barefoot.

Earthing and health and well-being

Many research papers ask us to allow for the possibility that human beings have been and always will be connected to the Earth and any attempt to change this universal law may disturb the natural and healthy processes in the human body.

Until a few generations ago, most humans walked and slept in direct contact with the surface of the Earth. Our modern lifestyle involves wearing insulating shoes and sleeping in buildings that electrically isolate the body from the ground plane.

Furthermore, although the internet and mobile phones are a blessing to many of us, all the waves and frequencies go through and around us and so disconnect us from the Earth’s electromagnetic field.

The science of Earthing

Emerging scientific research has revealed a surprisingly positive and overlooked environmental factor on health: direct physical contact with the vast supply of electrons on the surface of the Earth.

In our fight to achieve a more comfortable lifestyle we have separated ourselves from such contact or connection. The research suggests that this disconnect may be a major contributor to physiological dysfunction and general unwellness.

Reconnection with the Earth’s electrons has been proved to promote intriguing physiological changes and subjective reports of well-being.

Earthing (or grounding) refers to the discovery of benefits—including better sleep and reduced pain—from walking barefoot outside or sitting, working, or sleeping indoors connected to conductive systems that transfer the Earth’s electrons from the ground into the body.

While some people intuitively sense that they feel better when they walk or even sleep directly on the earth (as on a camping trip), most of the population is more or less permanently isolated from the earth’s electrical influences.

Living in direct contact with the earth grounds the body, inducing favorable physiological and electrophysiological changes that promote optimum health.

Earthing and stress, anxiety or depression

Earthing is the oldest and most basic form of natural bioelectric potential that supports physiological and electrophysiological changes in the body.

The many unpredictable sociological, economic, and political events of the 21st century have increased the stress of modern living as compared to earlier and simpler times.

Since the ANS (autonomic nervous system) is linked to the stress response, previous investigations have demonstrated that grounded subjects experience a reduction in stress and a normalization of the ANS.

When one grounds to the electron-enriched earth, an improved balance of the sympathetic (flight-or-fight response, which can lead to hypertension and cardiovascular disease) and parasympathetic nervous system occurs.

In patients who experience anxiety, emotional stress, panic, fear, and/or symptoms of autonomic dystonia, including headaches, cardiac palpitations, and dizziness, grounding could be a very realistic therapy. These patients may see positive effects most likely within 20 to 30 minutes and in almost all cases in 40 minutes.

Negative emotions such as panic, depression, anxiety, and hostility have all demonstrated reduced HRV (Heart Rate Variability).

Grounding has the potential to help support Heart Rate Variability, reduce excessive sympathetic overdrive, balance the ANS, and, thus, attenuate the stress response.

This is very important especially because an association between depression and increased risk of cardiovascular events has been repeatedly observed in both the healthy population and patients with established cardiovascular disease.

WARNING: It is important to follow your doctor’s instructions. You may use earthing in addition to your planned medical care but do not replace it.

My (personal) Earthing story

As a child my parents would send me in the country side to spend up to 3 months of summer holiday with my grandparents.

I used to spend those 3 months barefoot, day and night really. Through rivers and lakes, up on hills and through forests. Looking in retrospective, I was the happiest child, I was free from the city, I was wild.

With time I developed symptoms of depression, panic attacks and anxiety. I was a stressed out child form a very early age. Being outdoor kept my mental health stable, but who knew that then?

Growing up I stopped spending time at my grandparents’ and lived my days in school or university and in a busy city. Much like London just smaller but packed.

My depression, panic attacks and anxiety became more difficult to control and this lead to years of struggle for my parents who spent a lot of money to help me grow up … in a normal way. The pressure was especially on my mother’s shoulders.

Long story short, about 3 years ago (when my mental health was quite worrying), in a moment of clarity, I began connecting with the outdoors, to re-connect I should say. I don’t know how I made that decision but it happened.

And thus a new journey began. A journey of discovering another self, of understanding the cause of my mental and physical unbalances. At least from one point of view

Now, after going through this research, things start to make sense. At least I discovered one of the causes of my unbalanced health

This may not be the only cause but it is the only big thing that changed throughout my life, looking in retrospective.

Nowadays I start at least 5 days out of 7 outdoor and many times barefoot. Sometimes with my clients, other times with myself.

WARNING: It is important to follow your doctor’s instructions. You may use earthing in addition to your planned medical care but do not replace it.

Would you like to know more about what I do? Please book a 30 min free consultation and let’s just talk.

December 2, 2014March 13, 2015

How to let go of stress instantly

As women we wear multiple hats. We take upon us many responsibilities and a lot of stress. That builds up and before you know it, gets out of control. This in turn leads to anxiety, more stress and even depression.

It is important to learn simple and fast ways you can do instantly to relieve the stress, center yourself and regain focus. And here are 3 of them that I use most:

1. Focus on your Heart

Close your eyes, focus on your heart and breath 3 times (deeper than you normally would). Do this now…

Breathing straight into your heart helps you center, find quietness and inner peace. This is particularly important when you feel angry and you want to respond to the situation without regretting it later. This will help you respond rather than just react, throwing out whatever comes to you.

Photo Credit: martinak15 via Compfight cc

2. Relax your Muscles

Close your eyes and feel how your tensed muscles on your face, shoulders, back and arms just relax and drop. A deep breath or sigh can help with this.

Many times we hold our stress and frustration in our bodies. Actually most of the time and especially around the shoulders. When we close the outside world by closing our eyes, we allow ourselves to internalize the feeling, and just let go of the physical tension and with it goes the mental tension.

3. Fake the Smile

There has been scientific research done to prove that even a fake smile has the power to change your mood. Your brain does not make the difference between a fake and a real smile and it reacts the same, releasing hormones in the body which make you feel happier. Try this now…fake a smile.

All these elements are essential parts in my 6 step Outdoor Health and Wellness Program when I work with stressed out women to leave them feeling energized and transformed in as little as 12 weeks.

Please leave your feedback below, I would love to hear how all this has made a difference in how you feel while reading this.

If you’d like to know more please download my free eBook “15 Healthy Habits For The Body”

November 21, 2014March 13, 2015

What meaning do you give to depression?

Dr Alan Cohen, a GP with a special interest in mental health, says that when people get depressed or anxious, they often feel they’re not in control of their lives.

One in Four women suffer from this biological illness (depression) at some point in her lifetime.

A child with a depressed parent is 2 to 4 times more likely to develop depression himself before adulthood.

Extensive research has shown that a mother’s depression, especially when untreated, can interfere with her child’s social, emotional, and cognitive development.

A review of studies going back to 1981 concluded that regular exercise can improve mood in people with mild to moderate depression and it can also play a supporting role in treating severe depression.

There are less people in control of their lives and more people who suffer from depression.

We need and can take control over our lives, through exercise, meditation or anything than brings us joy, calmness, mindfulness and relaxes us.

IMPORTANT: Below are some experiences I went through by myself, I do not assume it is a treatment for depression rather an experience with it (not just sadness) and how it affected me. Please do not use these ideas to replace professional medical treatment.

You give it meaning

When we have a feeling that’s all it is, just a feeling. It does not become good or bad and it does not affect us until we judge it, until we label it as good or bad.

Any experience can have many meanings and we are the ones who give those experiences the meaning in our lives. We have the power to alter the consequence of any experience we go through right this moment.

The only true meaning of any experience is the one we give it. Through meditation and other mental techniques we can also alter the meanings of past experiences.

Questions for yourself

What is the experience you are going through?

What is the meaning you give it?

What is the new meaning you give it?

It is a map for you follow

An experience can show us where we need to focus our attention if we have the wisdom to see it. And we do…

These feelings we have give us a clue that something or someone crossed our way and we are invited to explore that feeling, to ask “why am I having this feeling”, “what is the lesson I am supposed to learn”.

And so the feelings we label as negative become our friends and mentors because they teach us rather than hurt us.

Questions for yourself

Why are you having this feeling, emotion or experience?

What is the lesson you are supposed to learn?

Everything happens in cycles

Everything in our lives unfolds in cycles. Seasons, years, day and night, even ice age and global warming, they happen at shorter or longer periods of time but they are a cycle.

The same is true with our thoughts, emotions and feelings. There is a cycle if you have enough time to observe.

And you should have enough time, or make time, because it is about You, Your Family and Your Child. Isn’t that a good enough reason to “make time”?

Questions for yourself

When, in my past, has this feeling or experience happened again? Or is it a new one?

If it did happen in the past then what was it that I needed to learn and I didn’t?

What is the lesson you are supposed to learn?

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Pull when pushed and Push when pulled, follow the flow

Most modern treatments teach us how to push away the experiences and feelings which might be painful and may hurt us.

In ancient cultures and traditions such as Japanese martial Arts Aikido the opposite is true.

In Aikido you pull when pushed and push when pulled. That means that you go with the flow and the flow will show you where to go.

When we experience something that our beliefs tell us is negative or bad or may lead to negative or bad consequences, we are actually invited to allow this experience to unfold, and not to resist it, not to use strength.

This does not mean we do not follow our doctors recommendations, we do.

This does not mean we have to like it. It means that we can learn from it, we can evolve and ReCreate ourselves based on an experience which showed us a glimpse of who we really are.

Or maybe you can give it a different meaning? 😉

Questions for yourself

Am I trying to suppress my feelings and push away my experiences?

My experience taught me…

I experienced many cycles of depression from the age of 6, with and without sport and exercise. I was part of the National Karate Squat an still being depressed.

That was the result of the environment I lived in and the people I spent my time with, mainly adults with financial, personal and emotional challenges.

In the past 3 years I went through my deepest depression ever, I got over it and I found out what I loved most and what I wanted to do in life. I did not take pills, no therapies, but instead I connected with Earth and with myself and discovered something that was not there before.

At that time I did not know that my believes and interpretation of that experience was the way out of it. I did not know that training outdoor would help me in any way. I knew that being outdoor made me feel calm, clear-minded and relaxed. And that’s all I needed

But I took action nonetheless, I did not wait for it to get worse. I began training outdoor and since then I coached myself and was coached and learned how to use nature for training and achieve a healthier life.

So this is my experience and now, looking back, I can talk about the journey.

It is, however, important to remember that this is not a replacement for professional medical treatment.

There were and are many people in my life who directly and indirectly mentored me. The ideas I believe in and I expressed in this article are lessons learnt from teachers in personal development and applied in my own life whether consciously or unconsciously, but if they worked for me it does not mean they will work for every single person, we are all different.

Finally, give these lessons I learned and wrote here a meaning by yourself.

July 2, 2014December 24, 2014

Stress, anxiety and depression

Stress, anxiety and depression

We tend to try and solve our health and energy drawbacks by changing our
external environment. We try and take pills, supplements in the form of shakes,
energy drinks or vitamins.

Yet, if we were to look within us we would notice that probably the #1 cause
for anxiety, irritable or low self esteem, depression or loss of temper is stress.

NHS UK associates stress with: muscle tension, headaches, muscle pain and dizziness.

Stress can also cause a surge of hormones in your body. These stress hormones
are released to enable you to deal with pressures or threats – the so-called “fight or flight”
response, according to NHS UK.

If you’re constantly under stress, these hormones will remain in your body, leading to the symptoms of stress.

In the end stress is one of the weight gain triggers, or excessive, worrying weight loss
and is detrimental to our long-term health.

I think I made my point that stress is not good – I think we all know that – and, in time,
can lead to serious illnesses and addiction such as drinking, smoking, eating sugar to be able to cope with it.

What triggers the Stress?

Anything really and, as we are all different, the triggers are different as well.
However there are a few common stress triggers:

1. money problems
2. relationships
3. work – job you hate
4. time constraints
5. holiday pressures
6. overload – taking on too many tasks
7. not enough quality time for yourself with yourself
8. striving for perfection
9. lack of passion
10. disorganized clutter – messy home, messy desk, overflowing inbox just adds to the pile

So what can you do about it?

I read quite a bit about keeping a diary and make notes of stressful episodes for 2-4 weeks.

This will help detect what causes stress in your life.

You should write down information such as:

1. the date, time and place of a stressful episode
2. what you were doing
3. who you were with
4. how you felt emotionally
5. what you were thinking
6. what you started doing
7. how you felt physically
8. a stress rating (0-10 where 10 is the most stressed you could ever feel)

I used to be a very impatient child and now I am an impatient adult, of course.
I used to be very stressed and depressed since I was, maybe, 7-8 years old.

So I created my own stress coping mechanisms.

While the diary is a really good advice which you should definitely try I will give you
some of my own techniques I use to get rid of stress without drinking, smoking or overeating.

1. Breath, breathe and breathe some more.

Breathing exercises release muscle tension .
If you do them constantly you will feel great improvement on your stress levels,
patience and coping mechanisms.

Here is a basic breathing technique: Rectangular deep abdominal breathing.

1. In breathe & Out breathe the same length.

2. Then the holds are longer after the in breath and the out breath. i.e. 5 seconds in
breath, hold 10 seconds, out breath 5 seconds, hold 10 seconds.

3. If you want, make the rectangle as long as is needed to take your lungs, diaphragm,
and heart to the gym.

4. Make sure you are not doing it in a dusty, dirty or polluted location. So NOT in the
warehouse/storerooms, trains, busy roads. Not at work as you have lots of perfume
sprays/chemicals and air conditioning all around you.

5. You can do it before you go to bed or while you are in bed but after you leave
the window open for a while.

6. Breath through your nose, if needed breath out through your mouth

Even writing this article I find myself closing my eyes from time to time,
and take a deep breath to help me focus on the task.

This takes us to the next technique

2. Close your eyes and pay attention to just 1 inhalation 1 exhalation.

This is such a powerful and calming exercise which takes only 3 seconds.

Close your eyes and pay attention

3. Stretching.

We tend to “store” stress primarily in our abdomen and shoulders but
also in muscles throughout our body.

Mix stretching with breathing and closed eyes and stress and anxiety will
melt away.

4. None of these working? Take a nap.

Surprised?

My mother used to say that out of 4 hours of studying while exhausted, if I slept
(or just lay down with my eyes closed) for 30 min, I would be twice more productive
in the time left than if I just pushed through.

To this day I prove this to myself over and over again. And when I refuse to listen to
my body I prove that my mother was right all the time.

Arianna Huffington mentions sleep in her speech “The Third Metric” as well. It’s good
to listen to the whole speech.

Sleeping is not a waste of time. Take a 10 min, 20 min, or 1 hour nap, you may feel
tired right after it but in 5 min your mind will be fully energized.

If I have 2 hours time for a nap I am in paradise.

Follow your passion

5. Follow your passion

Many wise people talk about this and, as I found mine in the health and fitness
industry, I understand how powerful and life changing this is.

Sure, it can be really, really difficult, but it’s what you love to do and you will
never feel like you are working one day for the rest of your life.

Don’t let your passion orbit around your life, rather embrace it and build your future with it.

Meditation

6. Deep meditation

I used to do this as a child as part of Karate Shotokan classes every single day
without knowing what or why I was doing it.

Now a lot of people talk about it. It is not viewed as a religious practice or only
reserved for certain people.

There are many free meditation programs online. I personally use Mindvalley classes and courses.
They give a lot of quality classes for free and if you want more they have really good deals.
There are also great, inspiring people in the team.

Other things to try:

1. practice your favorite sport
2. try something new
3. eat real, nutritious foods
4. nutritious food
5. just be nice to yourself once in a while

I don’t want to make this article too long and boring. These are just a
few techniques you can start using and see if any of them work for you.

You just need to find your way.

So what action will you take when you lack energy, you start gaining
weight or frustrated? Will you reach for the pills or address the way you live your life?

Source: this article was written by Alexandra Merisoiu and syndicated from www.moosin.net