WOW!

Today I walked around the center of our complex ten times (around 150 steps per cycle).  TEN TIMES!  Six months ago, when I started this current attempt to lose weight,  I was lucky to get around it once . . and I would hurt for days.   I admit, by round 8 I was pretty tired.  But I had a goal.  And I did it!!  Yay me!

Lobes of Steel

Scientists have suspected for decades that exercise, particularly regular aerobic exercise, can affect the brain. But they could only speculate as to how. Now an expanding body of research shows that exercise can improve the performance of the brain by boosting memory and cognitive processing speed. Exercise can, in fact, create a stronger, faster brain

The Morris water maze is the rodent equivalent of an I.Q. test: mice are placed in a tank filled with water dyed an opaque color. Beneath a small area of the surface is a platform, which the mice can’t see. Despite what you’ve heard about rodents and sinking ships, mice hate water; those that blunder upon the platform climb onto it immediately. Scientists have long agreed that a mouse’s spatial memory can be inferred by how quickly the animal finds its way in subsequent dunkings. A “smart” mouse remembers the platform and swims right to it.

In the late 1990s, one group of mice at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, near San Diego, blew away the others in the Morris maze. The difference between the smart mice and those that floundered? Exercise. The brainy mice had running wheels in their cages, and the others didn’t.

Scientists have suspected for decades that exercise, particularly regular aerobic exercise, can affect the brain. But they could only speculate as to how. Now an expanding body of research shows that exercise can improve the performance of the brain by boosting memory and cognitive processing speed. Exercise can, in fact, create a stronger, faster brain.

This theory emerged from those mouse studies at the Salk Institute. After conducting maze tests, the neuroscientist Fred H. Gage and his colleagues examined brain samples from the mice. Conventional wisdom had long held that animal (and human) brains weren’t malleable: after a brief window early in life, the brain could no longer grow or renew itself. The supply of neurons — the brain cells that enable us to think — was believed to be fixed almost from birth. As the cells died through aging, mental function declined. The damage couldn’t be staved off or repaired.

Read more . . .

Combatting Resistance

Anyone who is trying to overcome bad habits and make positive lifestyle changes faces it. Resistance to change. I'm struggling with that right now, so I'm trying to make tiny changes that I can slip under the radar of my subconscious. :D Additionally, I'm struggling to rebuild a body devastated by three years of chronic pain. This week (and you may notice my weeks run Thursday to Thursday because that is when my TOPS Chapter meets) I am working on two things: totally removing refined sugars from my diet and just getting back in the habit of exercising every morning.

So far the sugar is going pretty good, but that's because this is a goal I return to regularly and have made permanent progress on over years of behavior modification. My goal for this week is to have no more than one sweetened soft drink. I allow myself the one because I have a very public life and chances are I'll be somewhere in the next week where a soft drink is my only option and I'm thirsty.

At home I use raw sugar, when I use added sugar at all. The only things I add sugar to are coffee and oatmeal. Raw sugar, at least in my opinion, is better than refined. It could be all my head, but when I miss my morning coffee and have to have coffee at office where the choices are white sugar or artificial sweetners, I notice I am more . . hyper. I'm not sure of a good way to test the validity of this observation, but I figure, eh, if raw sugar works, even in my head, I'll just use it.

I've having a more difficult time with exercise goals. Anyone who knows me knows I have a ferret-like mind that is easily distracted and so, as I've been doing searches and reading books about physical training, it is easy for me to see a cool link and end up pondering a page on the effects of climate change on larval termites or something bizarre like that. I've been adding to the links at the side though and have added a page to my Food and Exercise Log (see links at right) where I am compiling exercises I can manage and the reps each day.

So, I guess my exercise goal for this week should be to come up with a program I can manage and stick to it.

Aging Muscles Become Hard of Hearing

As people age, neurons have to yell louder at the body's muscles to whip them into action, according to a new study, but exercise could reverse the aging effect.

Researchers examined the relationship between neuron activity and corresponding muscle force for 23 subjects between the ages of 18 and 88. They found a diminished ability of the muscles to respond to the commands of neurons amongst the older participants.

Specifically, the researchers looked at the dorsal interosseous muscle, situated between the index finger and thumb. This muscle is activated by 120 individual neurons. Each subject had a small needle-like electrode inserted into their index finger. The electrode was hooked up to a computer which recorded the electrical impulses as they traveled from the neurons to the muscle fibers.

The participants were asked to use that finger to follow the outline of a wavy line with peaks and valleys on a computer screen.

Read more . . .

Getting an aerobic workout in 30 minutes

(including the time it takes to change your shoes)

A general formula: Target heart rate or pulse: 60-80% of 220 – age. It's great to plug into a formula, but unfortunately, this formula is general and isn't that accurate for each individual. The target heart rate formula can be as much as 20 beats per minute off, so I find using the target heart rate formula alone inadequate. You'll learn more about the pace that's right for you by observing your perceived rate of exertion. I like these guidelines from Miriam E. Nelson, Strong Men and Women Beat Arthritis, Putnam, 2002. You can take your pulse or use a heart monitor to get your pulse rate while exercising, and it's interesting to compare your perceived rate of exertion with the target heart rate you get from using a formula. But, unless you're interesting in competitive aerobics, working with the perceived level of exertion works fine.

Active movement: 50-60% heart rate maximum or easy, sustainable movement that increases your heart and breathing rate but doesn’t make you sweat unless it’s hot. Gardening, strolling, golfing, etc. Do this as often as possible, because it’s healthy and enjoyable to move, but it won’t improve your aerobic condition unless you’ve been totally sedentary.

Aerobic training at a beginning level: 60-70% is rapid breathing with the ability to converse with only slight strain. Perspiration appears after about 5-15 minutes depending on air temperature. You could continue this indefinitely.

More advanced aerobic training: 70-85% with more rapid but not labored breathing. Possible to converse but with interruptions and more strain. More fatigue by the end of exercise session.

Overexertion: excessive effort with heart pounding and breathing too rapid to speak. Don't do this!

Goals: Exercise aerobically 3 times a week. Begin with twice a week if you can't commit to 3 times. Just make a commitment you can keep and move up to 3 times a week later. The idea is to make a manageable goal that will bring success. Success leads to confidence and more success. This is a sample program. You should make a plan that progresses at the right pace for your body, but do improve your level of aerobic fitness over time. Without asking your body for just a little more output over time, you won't become more fit.

How to begin if you’re out of shape:

Week 1: Active movement (50% of maximum heart rate) for 10 minutes

Week 2: Active movement for 15 minutes

Week 3: Active movement for 20 minutes

Week 4: Active movement for 10 minutes, beginning aerobic training level (60% max heart rate) for 5, then active movement for 5

Week 5: Active movement for 5 minutes, beginning aerobic training level (60% max heart rate) for 10, then active movement for 5

Week 6: Active movement for 5 minutes, beginning aerobic level for 5, more advanced aerobic level (70-85% max heart rate) for 5, active movement for 5

Week 7: Active movement for 5 minutes, beginning aerobic level for 5 minutes, advanced aerobic level for 10, beginning aerobic level for 5

read more . . .

Okay, I can do this. Just how to figure how what qualifies as "leveling".

Really Bad Night Last Night

And after I bragged how I don't have trouble falling asleep. Of course, it wasn't the falling asleep that was the problem. It was waking up around 3a with a really painful neck and my CPAP just not fitting right. I tried going back to sleep, after taking 600 mg of ibuprofen, just curling up without the CPAP. But the sleep was fitful and full of dreams I can't remember.

I'm trying to find a way to focus my weight loss energy. Those of you who know me know I am like a ferrett mentally . . .any new idea pulls me off track. But I think my "leveling" idea is valid and am researching types of exercise to include. I am probably just a bit above the lowest functioning I have ever been. So I have to start slow.

I figure I can divide up the types of training kind of like they do stats in a video game: strength, stamina and agility. That would be, of course, strength, endurance and flexibility in my real world. I'm researching what the best sorts of things are to include, I'll keep you updated.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Woke up around 7a. BP 105/55 (it was 116/72 when I went to bed)

Exercise
Mild stretches, walked to store

Breakfast
Half a bagel, a slice of ham and cream cheese
Large coffee

Snack
Low Fat Pumpkin Muffin, medium

Lunch
1 cup seafood salad

Snack
Bagel

Dinner
Pork kabobs
Broccoli

BP 124/74 8p
Bed 8p