So I noticed that my heart needs to work a bit harder now than it ever used to… to do simple things such as… walk me up a flight of stairs, digest a meal after OverEating!, drinking more than one glass of alcohol, dancing…etc.  This is not good.  This is a sign that I must get shaking and moving.  I must do cardio respiratory exercise much much MUCH more often.  What happened? I got out of rhythm.  I had a schedule that allowed me to work out regularly with at minimum 30 minutes of cardio activity 4 days per week for many years and I felt amazing! and now, I’ve let it all go.  NOT ACCEPTABLE.  My heart won’t take that.  I notice it. In everyday activity.  I hate it. I must not be lazy. I must make amends with my body. I must take action. I must force myself to get back into rhythm.  If I do not, my heart will just work too hard and then clonk out when I least expect it…or should I say expect it, because I do realize that I should expect it and I don’t want to expect it, so I will make change….I will make change…. I will prioritize around my health.. how can I not? How could I allow myself to not prioritize around my health. How could anyone? Are we that dumb? Man, I mean… the human species.  I suppose we are, for the most part.  We take advantage of almost any situation we think we could ‘get away with’ because we tend to take things for granted until they fall back in our face and smack us around.  We of all species should be more intelligent..we have the capacity to understand and change our behavior…WHY IS IT SO HARD? I don’t know. But I do know that if I don’t take action right away, tomorrow will not wait and tomorrow may be too late.  
 

Moderation, moderation, moderation…. Balance, balance, balance. 

It can be done. It will be done.
 

There's a definitive connection between living well and healthfully and having a cheerful outlook on life.  The universal law of attraction is always in action.  If you dwell on negative you inevitably draw more negative into your life. 

For years now it's been the same routine- get up; go to work; drive straight to the gym and follow simple, mundane weight lifting instructions on a notepad. This was up until about a year ago, when I discovered that this habitual practice was demoralizing and ultimately making me miserable. Sure, life can be routine, but it's in that routine that we can exercise our creativity to conjure up new ways to make fitness exciting.

For some people, this could mean simple tweaks in their written/routine free-weight exercises, starting with chest and ending the week with arms. For others, it's about hopping on that bike and/or treadmill and running that extra five miles a day. It's my strong recommendation that you immerse yourself in a solid mix of cardio and free weight exercises as not to create boredom, or lack of will. BUT, don't make your schedule the same each week; spontaneity is key! Sure, there are those who say they've come to learn to love what they do, charming the same weight-lifting regimen weekly while avoiding anything irregular as not to "tarnish" their workout. Learning to love however, is different from naturally engaging in something that's enjoyable.

Routines can be easy, and not very strenuous; but after all, they are just routines. So it's with my dear advice that as practitioners of exercise and fitness we teach ourselves new things, while also teaching our body the same. This is inherently true with things like dance. More specifically, Zumba is an excellent example of something different, fun, and unique. The ability to genuinely enhance cardiovascular function and endurance, while practicing muscle memory routines effectively exercises the whole body. And simply put, it's fun.

The most practical and enjoyable way to stay in shape undoubtedly is by playing sports. Joining a soccer league on Sundays or perhaps playing something as simple as intramural dodge ball or kickball can successfully burn thousands of calories in just one day. The sheer competitive nature of these athletic activities drives the body further and beyond, and although strenuous at times, people crave the struggle and willingness to become better. There comes a certain rush that comes with fast paced activities, which brings me to my next point.

These could include anything from dance to karate and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). Again, most of these practices are very difficult to mimic at an ordinary Gym.  You can certainly find out more from top trainers/classes at pristine establishments like <a href="http://www.mmaindustries.com ">MMA Industries</a>.

Things like mountain climbing, biking, quad-racing, fishing, golfing, etc… – These are all great ways to actively stay in shape, and they're quite enjoyable as well! A sudden increase in endorphins will surely make anybody's day brighter. Also, almost all of these activities take place outdoors, which captures much needed vitamins from the sun, further enhancing the overall experience. Keep in mind however, it is important to get your heart rate up every now and then, so switching on and off amongst these and cardiovascular exercises (i.e. – treadmills) will keep your body guessing while enhancing overall fitness.

Sports and Dance are both a leisurely and/or competitive practice, but can also be the most effective way to exercise. <a href="http://www.gymsource.com/treadmills">Treadmills</a> and <a href="http://www.gymsource.com/ellipticals">Ellipticals</a> will shed weight and enhance muscle strength/endurance, but will never capture the soul and rhythm that dance makes so enjoyable. Meanwhile, the competitive nature and drive that comes with playing sports will always be an important part of everybody's lives.  But again, it's important to diversify your fitness, and be able to incorporate pleasure and strain. Attempt to pull one's self away from everyday fitness equipment and home gyms; pick up a class of zumba and/or sign up for an intramural softball league and you'll be on your way to a healthier, more enjoyable lifestyle.

This was a guest posting by Jim Rollince, whom is a representative from the web relations department of Gym Source. He currently oversees all creative writing efforts and is an expert in home gym equipment<"http://www.gymsource.com/">.

The rules are simple.  Changing your behavior is not.  Accept that.  It is natural that you may ‘fall off the wagon’ sometimes.  That’s normal and expected.  Just make sure that you commit yourself to getting back on the wagon, before you fall off.   Believe that you can ride the bicycle and you will ride it.  If you don’t believe you can ride the bike, then you’ll always fall and probably decide that you’re not going to try again since you’ve already made up your mind that you don’t believe you can ride the bike.  I’ll tell you a trick to believing in anything…feelings.  Feel that you are already riding.  If you feel it, you believe it. Following below are what I call the HEALTHY WEIGHT RULES.  If you abide by these rules, you will: 
•    lose weight if you are too heavy
•    maintain your weight if and when you are in healthy range
•    gain weight if you are too skinny
RULE #1.  The amount of calories you consume must equal the amount of calories your body burns.
These are based upon normal body mechanics.  In basic terms, metabolism, is a series of process by which food is converted into energy and products needed to sustain life.  When the body converts food into energy, we call it digestion.  The body creates heat during this conversion process. In laymen’s terms we say the body is burning calories.

During your quest for good health, you may have heard about calories, more specifically counting calories, but perhaps have not taken the time to understand exactly what a calorie is or the reason why all this attention is given to calories.  A calorie is a unit of energy-producing potential in food.  The potential of energy production from food, otherwise known as its calories, have been measured and that information is readily available and usually found right on the packaging. 

Perhaps you have learned about it, but haven’t been able to stay true to a diet because it’s too difficult to be practical about how to count calories in everyday life.  Well, I’m here to slap you in the face.  Guess what.  In order to make a change in your lifestyle habits, you must make a change in your lifestyle habit.  This does not have to be difficult.  It just has to be something you really, I mean really, want to do.  But it’s SIMPLE!  Initially, you will need some tools:
•    small notebook (so you can write down what you eat)
•    a small calorie counter pocketbook (the source from which you’ll write down your consumption into your notebook)
•    a kitchen scale, in grams preferably (to measure your food-in order to look up a food in a calorie book, you need to know how much of the food you have.)
•    measuring cups and measuring spoons

RULE #2.  Eat mostly unprocessed foods.  The more raw foods, the more organic foods you consume the more nutrition you give your body.  The more nutrition you give your body, the better the body functions.  Nutrition is the nourishment that we obtain from food.  Since food that is processed or grown with chemicals or in depleted soil or poisoned by toxic substances or infused with artificial ingredients, the nutritious elements become reduced or even non existent.  The more food (calories) that we consume that are without nutritious value (empty), the less positive energy is created within the body.  This leads to disease.

RULE #3. Exercise.  The human body is meant to move.  It is made for the purpose of being active.  If you do not activate its muscles regularly in a fashion to keep them limber and strong, then they will lose their purpose.  It’s best if you start with small increments that you can incorporate into your everyday routine.  View (daily exercise tips) for some examples.

RULE #4. Eat in proper portions. Listen to your body as to when to eat, which will in most cases be about 6 meals per day.  Please pay attention to what is meant by the word meals.  Meals are simply a serving of food.  This could be classified as a snack, dinner, breakfast, lunch; it can be a liquid or solid.

THE GOLDEN RULE: The more you practice the first four rules, the more you will find that it gets easier to accommodate this way of living. They become natural habits.  You’ll start to feel more energy each day you’ll notice an increase in lean muscle mass while you’re shedding off excess fat mass.  In fact, as you become more attuned to your body, you’ll notice that if you don’t practice these rules regularly, you’ll be more sensitive to feeling ill at ease.  Your body will be telling you what it needs and this time you’ll be listening!!

Now let’s do a mind exercise.   Imagine yourself exactly as you would be in your ideal universe.  If you could transform your body to exactly what you want it to be, what would you envision it to look like?  Your body, your vision of your body.  Not some celebrity’s body, because that’s not your body, that’s theirs.  Envision your body.  Go ahead, close your eyes. 

Open your eyes. Print these pages and GET STARTED!!!!   Right now.

Since ancient times, many spiritual practices have included dietary fasting.  Today, there are a lot of people claiming that fasting also has a lot of health benefits. And, in fact, research shows that short fasts, lasting anywhere from 20 to 36 hours can in fact reduce some risks for heart disease, diabetes and cancer. I wondered about the benefits of fasting and began researching.  One finding in particular caught my interest and I’d like to share it and my thoughts. The National Institute on Aging conducted a study on mice for which, Mark Mattson, Ph.D., chief of the NIA's Laboratory of Neurosciences fed mice nothing every other day. The mice could eat as much as they wanted on the days in between, and they did. They pigged out. They ended up eating very nearly double what normal mice eat in a day. But fasting every other day caused them to live longer and healthier lives. A lot longer and a lot healthier. Mattson said, "We think what happens is going without food imposes a mild stress on the cells, and cells respond by increasing their ability to cope with more severe stress." He said maybe it's similar to what happens when you lift weights: You stress your muscles and they respond by growing stronger. Near the very end of the study, they injected all the mice (those fasting every other day, and those eating a normal diet) with a toxin that damages the cells in the same part of the brain Alzheimer's damages in humans (the hippocampus). Mattson and his team later looked at the brains of the mice and found that those that had been fasting every other day suffered less damage to their brain cells. I read another article that brought up some very good points. It seems likely that at least an occasional state of hunger would have been fairly common throughout our evolution. Our bodies might be adapted to it. Maybe it creates unnatural problems when the body doesn't ever go hungry. Maybe eating three square meals a day, every day, is unnatural. Going without food for several hours does not cause your metabolism to slow down nor does it wreak havoc with your blood sugar. Short fasts actually improve insulin sensitivity and this is pretty big deal. When your cells are sensitive to the effects of insulin, they do a much better job modulating your blood sugar levels after meals and this makes life a lot easier for your poor old pancreas. Loss of insulin sensitivity is a risk factor for both heart disease and diabetes. For the millions of years mammals have been evolving and right up to our invention of agriculture a short ten thousand years ago, mammals often went hungry many times in an individual's lifetime. Surely our bodies have evolved to handle this. Maybe that's why it is totally accepted by most people in the health profession that human beings gain about a pound a year. Maybe that is part of the body's adaptation to the inevitable lean times the eons have adapted us to. An occasional fast might very well be more natural and very good for us. The key here is SHORT FASTS and OCCASIONAL. You want to slow your metabolism down to where you’re not able to maintain a life of very little caloric intake and then end up gaining weight. 

The energy or calories in the food we eat comes from three macronutrients: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Macro means large, and these nutrients are needed in large quantities to sustain our growth, metabolism, and other bodily functions.

In order to truly understand the food you’re consuming you should be aware of the caloric expenditure of the food. One gram of Carbohydrate equals 4 calories, one gram of Protein equals 4 calories, one gram of Fat equals 9 calories.

One pound of body fat equals about 3500 calories. So, there is a logic of if you can create a deficit of 3500 calories, you will lose 1 pound of body weight. This is a flawed logic though since our bodies don’t operate in a vacuum.  That logic works on paper, but doesn’t take into account that our bodies are working with many a various systems and we are not linear. Be careful when losing weight thought, because when you lose weight, you are also losing lean body mass. That’s when exercise comes in. Exercise will enable you to retain and gain lean muscle mass.  You cannot just reduce caloric intake and expect to lose weight.  Caloric modification has to be done in a way that will work together with your metabolism and not against it.  If you just reduced calories without regard, you may end up slowing your metabolism, keeping weight on, and doing more harm than good.  It’s best to pay attention to how and when you consume your calories, and increase ways to burn the calories (energy).   Some ways to do this is by eating small portions more frequently.  Many times when embarked on properly, a fat reduction plan, which will include exercise, will require more calories instead of less.  This is so because as you exercise, you build lean muscle mass and reduce fat mass.  Lean muscle mass requires more energy (calories).  The more you move (exercise), the more you burn.
 
Over the years, many a various diet has been suggested and tried. The human body has and continues to be studied to understand it’s process of energy, which mainly comes from the ingestion of food. After all that’s said and done, it is widely agreed that the most effective healthful diet is a 40% carbohydrate-30% Protein-30% Fat diet. This practice is endorsed by The American Dietetic Association and has been followed by Europeans as the Mediterranean Diet.

Here are some steps for eating in proper proportions:

1. Study the labels on food products. They are mandated by law in the United States, many countries in Europe, as well as many other countries of the world. Use them to make wise judgements on the portions of what to ingest with each meal. If you take the time to learn about the foods you eat, what they are made of, you will understand how to gain control of your energy, your weight, your body fat, your metabolism, your sugar levels, your thinking power, your efficiency, your overall wellness!

2. In the beginning, don’t change your diet. Just take the time to write down the items you eat and in the portions you eat them. From the food labels, write down the carbs, protein, fat (and what type of fat!), and calories. I know it’s a pain, but make a chart and keep this food log for a minimum of 2 weeks.

3. Study your food log and then decide what items you can change around, minimize, maximize, replace, allow every now and then…etc. All things in moderation. MODERATION!

4. Since every body is different, there is no one exact caloric consumption level you can set to lose weight.  For the most part, you can forget counting the calories.  Yes, that’s right, forget counting.  Instead, pay attention to the balance of the food choices and the quality of the foods.  Pay attention to when your body is hungry.  Pay attention to the cravings you get (these tell you the types of foods you may be over or underconsuming…see ‘what do these food cravings mean?’

5. For the most part, eat whole foods.  Eat foods that have been minimally processed.  Generally, the more the food is to its original natural state, the more nutritious and healthy it is. Remember this at the supermarket.

THIS IS A FILLING, LOW GLYCEMIC, NUTRITIOUSLY DELICIOUS MEAL and I made it up all by myself…oooh, so yummy

1 lb of Soba noodles

1 or 2 lbs baby portabello mushrooms, cubed into bite sizes

2 cups of raw spinach leaves

2 medium yellow onions, diced in bite sizes

2 cloves of garlic

¼ cup olive oil

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp allspice

¼ tsp pure ground red chillies or ½ jalapeno pepper

1 ½-2 inches of Fresh ginger, peeled and cut into large cubes

½ cup lemon juice

1 bunch of scallions

½ tsp ground black pepper

¼ cup tamarind sauce

6 oz. Firm Tofu cubed

8 Jumbo shrimp, peeled and cleaned, leave tail on

1 cup Vegetable broth or 3 cubes

1. Mix vegetable broth, ginger, and lemon juice with 6 cups of water and bring to boil.

2. Boil soba noodles for 5 minutes, drain, rinse and place in ice cold water.  Let sit.

3. While above is boiling, place garlic and onions into the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  If using the fresh jalapeno instead of ground chillies, add the jalapeno here. Fry until onions are translucent. Place mushrooms into the mix and pour 1/8 tamarind sauce over them and toss in the skillet.  Cook mushroom mix for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

4. Place tofu into mushroom mix and pour the remaining tamarind sauce over mix.  Add coriander, allspice, and black pepper. 

5. Add spinach to mushroom mix. Stir until leaves shrink.

6. Remove mushroom and onion mix from heat and add to the boiling broth water.

7. Drain Soba noodles from ice water and add them to broth.

8. Add scallions and ground chillies (unless you used the jalapeno above) to soup.

9. Add shrimp.  Continue to heat soup until shrimp is cooked…approximately 1-2 minutes or until red.

10. optional, add tamarind to your taste. Eat with chopsticks!

Makes 6-8 servings. 

       Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is the main regulator of how much calcium is absorbed or released from your bones.  Calcium is the main structural component in bones which give them their rigidity. If your cells get too much parathyroid hormone, the bones will release too much calcium into the bloodstream resulting in a condition known as osteoporosis.  Osteoporosis is a condition wherein bone mass is reduced due to the depletion of calcium and bone protein.   Osteoporosis can leave a person susceptible to bone fractures and postural abnormalities.  Osteoporosis is a progressive condition that worsens with age.  To understand osteoporosis, it is helpful to understand the basics of bone formation.  Bone is living tissue that is constantly being renewed. Old bone is broken down and removed and new bone is built to replace it.  During the first third of our life, more bone is produced than is removed, reaching its maximum mass and strength by the mid-30s. After that, bone is lost at a faster pace than it is formed, so the amount of bone in the skeleton begins to slowly decline.  Most cases of osteoporosis occur as an acceleration of this normal aging process, which is referred to as primary osteoporosis. Other causes of this disease may be brought about by other disease processes or prolonged use of certain medications.  That is called secondary osteoporosis.  Here we are talking about secondary osteoporosis since we are referring to a diseased parathyroid gland.  The sole purpose of the parathyroid glands is to control calcium within the blood. Calcium is essential to life, and is used primarily for three things

1.   To provide the electrical energy for our nervous system. Calcium is what the nervous system of our body uses to conduct      electricity.

2.   To provide the electrical energy for our muscular system.  Our muscles require calcium to contract. When calcium levels are not correct, people can feel weak and have muscle cramps.

3.   To provide strength to our skeletal system. 

The single major disease of parathyroid glands is over-activity of one or more of the parathyroids which make too much parathyroid hormone causing a potentially serious calcium imbalance (too high calcium in the blood). This is called hyperparathyroidism.

Calcium is the only mineral that has its own regulatory system. (the parathyroid glands) It is not a common cause of osteoporosis, but an important one to be aware of when facing symptoms for diagnosis and treatment. 

Symptoms of parathyroid disease are:

Loss of energy                                                Loss of memory

Loss of concentration                                    Heartburn

Depression                                                     Thinning Hair

Osteoporosis and Osteopenia                         Kidney Stones

Bones hurt                                                     High Blood Pressure

Trouble sleeping                                              Recurrent Headaches

Tiredness                                                        Arrhythmia

Irritable                                                            Decrease in sex drive

Most people with hyperparathyroidism will have about 5 of these symptoms. The only treatment available is to have the parathyroid glands removed.  Fortunately, if you choose an experienced parathyroid surgeon, a minimally invasive operation can be performed to remove only the gland that went bad.  If you’re reading this and you’re in the first third of your lifespan, then make sure you build your bone density now while your bones are still growing, by getting enough calcium in your body.  If you’re out of that first third, then continue to get your calcium with foods such as dark green vegetables, nuts, orange fruits, sardines and dairy. As you age, consider a calcium supplement, especially if you are a woman.  Woman are more susceptible to osteoporosis due to their hormonal make up.

      A good rest has always been called beauty sleep—but how about a lean body sleep?

     Research shows that individuals who are not sleep deprived have an increased capacity to lose weight and keep it off. Sleep reduces stress hormones, important for fat loss and in maintaining good metabolism.

      Sufficient rest and recuperation effectively reduces our stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol has many functions. It helps the body use sugar (glucose) and fat for energy (metabolism), and it helps the body manage stress. Cortisol levels can be affected by many conditions, such as physical or emotional stress, strenuous activity, infection, or injury. When we are sleep deprived, cortisol levels rise. Cortisol controls our appetite. When cortisol levels are high, it can often make us feel hungry even when we have eaten enough.  It also raises blood sugar and insulin levels and results in increased fat deposition around the abdomen. To further complicate the situation, high cortisol can negatively affect our sleep patterns, making it difficult to fall or stay asleep when we finally do go to bed. This increase in stress hormone also has detrimental effects on other aspects of our endocrine system, like thyroid gland function which governs our metabolism.

      Normally, cortisol levels are very low at bedtime and at their highest just after waking. This pattern will change if a person works irregular shifts (such as the night shift) and sleeps at different times of the day.  Cortisol levels are also affected by pregnancy, physical and emotional stress, illness, hyperthyroidism and obesity. Certain drugs can also increase levels, particularly oral contraceptives (birth control pills), hydrocortisone (the synthetic form of cortisol), and spironolactone. Adults have slightly higher cortisol levels than children do. Hypothyroidism may decrease cortisol levels. Drugs that may decrease levels include some steroid hormones.

     Cortisol production regulates your immune system on a 24-hour cycle. This is why many times congestion or your cold or flu symptoms get worse at night. As cortisol levels drop at night, your immune cells become highly active. The immune cells kill large numbers of bacteria and viruses, causing greater mucous production. As a result, you experience more congestion and coughing as your body attempts to get rid of the mucous.

     At daybreak, when cortisol levels rise, the activity of the immune cells tapers off. The immune cells then reset and recondition themselves in preparation for the next nightly cycle.
    

     Problems arise when cortisol levels are out of balance-say, when you fly to a different time zone-thereby compromising the cycle of immune function.

     While cortisol is an important and helpful part of the body’s response to stress, it’s important that the body’s relaxation response to be activated so the body’s functions can return to normal following a stressful event. Unfortunately, in our current high-stress culture, the body’s stress response is activated so often that the body doesn’t always have a chance to return to normal, resulting in a state of chronic stress.
    

     To keep cortisol levels healthy and under control, you can learn to relax your body with various stress management techniques.
Sleep is a most valuable and restorative resource that is vital to wellbeing and stress management. Unfortunately, stressed and busy people tend to get less sleep than they need. Overthinking and anxiety can make sleep difficult and wake you up at night. Anxiety keeps your mind busy as you imagine threatening scenarios and become preoccupied with finding solutions. That racing of your mind can rob you of sleep by keeping your levels high, making sleep harder to achieve.

     Sleeping problems are almost always involved in mental disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, as well as head injury. And symptoms are strongly influenced by the amount of sleep a person gets. Difficulties may arise from the drugs used to control symptoms of a disorder, or from changes in the brain regions and neurotransmitters that control sleep.   

     You can make lifestyle changes in order to keep your body from reacting to stress in the first place. Involve yourself in things such as yoga, writing in a journal, exercise, listening to music, dancing, guided imagery, sex, breathing exercises, gardening, cleaning, building, and creating art. All of these things are proven to be helpful in relaxing the body and mind.  Experiment and find something that works for you, then DO IT on a REGULAR BASIS.  It could be as simple as just taking a walk around the neighborhood for a half an hour a day.
 

Not getting enough sleep is dangerous to your health.  Sleeping is essential to keeping our bodies running optimally. Our immune system functions optimally if we go to sleep by 10 p.m. As we sleep, physical repair takes place between approximately 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. Our immune system kicks into high gear, eliminating cancer cells, bacteria, viruses, and other harmful agents. Then from about 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., we enter a stage of psychic regeneration. During this time, the brain releases chemicals that enhance our immune system. Throughout the night, we experience rapid eye movement (REM) sleep states and non-REM sleep, alternating between light sleep and deep dream states. This is how we process the mental and emotional events of the previous day and refresh our minds for the day ahead.  Most people need a minimum of seven or eight hours of sleep to repair and refresh the body and mind. Without sufficient sleep, the immune system suffers because it can’t keep up with its repair work. This creates the opportunity for disease processes to begin. Moreover, if cortisol is elevated at night-say, because you are anxious, these immune functions can become compromised, which ultimately leads to illness and disease. 

Cortisol is a hormone which has many functions. It helps the body use sugar (glucose) and fat for energy (metabolism), and it helps the body manage stress. Cortisol regulates the immune system. In normal people, cortisol levels are very low at bedtime and at their highest just after waking.  Have you ever wondered why your cold or flu symptoms get worse at night? It's because cortisol production regulates your immune system on a 24-hour cycle. As cortisol levels drop at night, your immune cells become highly active. The immune cells kill large numbers of bacteria and viruses, causing greater mucous production. As a result, you experience more congestion and coughing as your body attempts to get rid of the mucous.  At daybreak, when cortisol levels rise, the activity of the immune cells tapers off. The immune cells then reset and recondition themselves in preparation for the next nightly cycle.

Growth hormone released during sleep is also important for fat loss

It is not just lack of sleep that negatively affects body fat percentage and the risk of chronic disease—poor sleep quality does as well. Deep sleep is accompanied by an increased secretion of growth hormone necessary for repairing and rebuilding body tissues like muscle and bone. It also helps to negate the bad effects of cortisol. Growth hormone naturally decreases with age and also with increased abdominal fat, leading to a viscious cycle of fatigue, excess stress hormone and increased abdominal fat.
As you can see, sleep is essential for our bodies to repair and maintain optimum immune function.

How do you get a good beauty sleep?

1. Get enough sleep. Seven to nine hours of sleep per night is optimal for adults. For most persons schedules, aim to get to bed before 10 or 11 pm.  Listen to your natural circadian rhythms, as this is the body’s recovery period. Make sleep a priority!

2. Improve the quality of your sleep. Do not exercise too late in the evening—it elevates your stress hormones and raises your body temperature which may make it difficult for you to fall asleep. Be sure to sleep in complete darkness to optimize the release of melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone which is essential to healthy sleep patterns and it also helps reduce the negative effects of cortisol.

3. Reduce your stress and adopt methods to manage your stress more effectively. Massage, exercise, acupuncture, meditation—even kissing—all are effective ways to reduce levels of stress. Some herbs have stress reducing qualities. These include herbs like ashwagandha, Siberian ginseng, relora and plant sterols as well as the supplement phosphatidylserine.

4. Regulate blood sugar levels. Eating regularly will avoid swings in blood sugar levels. Stay away from sugar and excess caffeine and follow a healthy eating plan that balances protein, carbohydrates and fats.