By: Wendy Betterini

What would you consider to be your most precious possession? Your home? Car? Book collection? What about … your body? It is surely your most precious possession because without it, you wouldn’t be here.

How well do you care for your body? Do you exercise every day, eat healthful foods, drink enough water, get adequate sleep? Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn this into a big sermon, because I’ve been just as guilty of not giving my body the care and attention it deserves. A large majority of us are. We live in an age of high stress, fast pace, and abundant convenience foods. For those of us who only need to walk a few paces from our desk to the kitchen, the temptation for snacking is even greater. Who has time to exercise and prepare balanced meals?

However, it’s important to realize that neglecting our physical well-being can profoundly affect us mentally and spiritually. The Mind/Body/Spirit connection is strong. If we neglect one area, the others will suffer also. The goal should be to achieve a nice, even balance between all three. I’m learning that it’s not as hard as it seems. It just takes a little effort.

My biggest mistake over the past several years was believing that proper care of my body would take a massive amount of time. “I’m too busy to exercise. I don’t have time to cook decent meals, I’ll just grab something quick. I have too much to do, so I can’t get a full night’s sleep.” But by shunning my physical well-being, I found myself not able to be as productive and efficient in other areas. I had little energy, I couldn’t concentrate, and generally felt rotten all the time.

Caring for our bodies doesn’t have to take a lot of time. In fact, by focusing more attention on my physical health lately, I would venture to say that I’m gaining time, because my focus and energy level are so much better, and I get a lot more done during the day. I also sleep better at night, another bonus!

You might be wondering just how much time and effort is required? Here are the things I’ve been doing for myself recently:

Exercise – For me, that was the biggest obstacle because I tend to get lazy. 😉 Once I sit down at my desk, I’m glued to it all day. If I don’t exercise first thing in the morning, I will keep putting it off. So I started doing my workout immediately after I wake up. I spend about 30-60 minutes on aerobic activity (walking), and some light weight training. I had to push myself at first, but now that I’m getting into the habit I’m feeling stronger and even starting to look forward to my workouts every morning. If you tend to procrastinate about exercise like I did, try making it your first priority when you wake up, and then you have the rest of the day to do whatever else needs to be done.

By: Powelljohny

Each of us wants to live independent and active life at home. And, we all agree that Health concerns and others special needs are unavoidable part of life. But, many a times, rigorous daily activities, physical and mental stress loosen our confidence. Eventually it degrades quality of life, reduce fitness and increase disease symptoms. Wellness centers have a contributory remedial role over here.

Let us see how do wellness programs give new birth to our disastrous lives? What they have to offer for individuals and groups? What are the benefits of working with wellness trainers or doctors?

Wellness centers are more than mere fitness centers. The training programs and inspirational activities, they conduct are of immense help and need-specific. Whether it is physical weakness, aging problem or mental issues, these wellness coaching classes render all around solutions.

Let us understand how such rejuvenating program works for both individual and groups.

A. For individual:

Wellness trainers can accommodate particular schedule for personalized guidance. The professionals will keep a close eye on essential factors like health improvements, goal attainment, varieties, and discipline.

Eating the wrong type of food and too much of it together with a lack of muscular exertion are making many of us fat, immobile and sick. The combination of these things can trigger an insidious metabolic disorder that often is not noticed for many years but can have fatal consequences.

High levels of blood sugar over a long period of time cause massive damage to blood vessels and organs. These constant elevations in blood sugar and the resulting surges in insulin cause the body’s hormonal signaling mechanisms to be constantly disrupted and result is a hormonal system that is not functioning properly. Kind of like a car engine out of tune.

Since hormonal balance is essential for health and wellness, high insulin levels caused by too many highly refined carbohydrates are one of the primary causes of accelerated aging and poor health. Every year, the obesity crisis worsens and the level of health deteriorates further and as a result, type 2 diabetes is becoming more and more prevalent.

The basic problem in all forms of diabetes is that blood sugar levels are too high too much of the time so to prevent it the most important things are (1) to keep blood sugar levels under control, and (2) to improve your cells’ sensitivity to insulin.

A proper exercise program containing mostly strength training does BOTH of these things better than any other form of exercise. If muscles are exercised properly at the right level of intensity (degree of effort) and diet is controlled, the problem can be brought under control. In contrast to medication on its own, these two factors have a long lasting and healthy effect on metabolic activity in the muscle cell.