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| Erica Mesirov Food Coach http://www.ericamesirov.com |
Want to do something super supportive of good health? What if I told you there was something you
could do that involves no deprivation and would not only make you feel
wonderful but also improve your health? “Sign me up right now!”, you scream! Ok, great! I want you to close your e-mail, hide your
smartphone, put your textbooks away, get someone to watch the kids and….
You still with me?
Great because this is the good part.
I want you to take some time each day to unwind and
relax. This could mean lighting candles,
taking a bath, journaling, meditating, reading a book or whatever else allows
you to center yourself and de-stress.
Hello? HELLO? Is anybody there?
Gosh, why when I mention taking a little time each day for
down-time does everybody leave the room?
Relaxation has gotten a bad rap these days. It is often equated with being slothful,
selfish, lazy and worse. Leisure time is
as vital to your health and well being as eating vegetables, running on the treadmill
or reducing sweets!
What happens if you decide not to charge your
smartphone? It eventually dies
right? And your computer? I bet when you don’t use it after a certain
amount of time, it eventually goes into sleep mode. What about the electricity in your
house? I imagine you don’t run every
high powered electric device at once or you will soon be in the basement
looking for the fuse box.
We realize our electronics have limits, but we refuse to
believe that our bodies do too. Running
non-stop elevates our stress hormones.
We can exist without outward repercussion for a period of time in this
inflamed, elevated state. This fools us
into thinking that there isn’t a negative consequence to this lifestyle. We tell ourselves, we are fine, we feel fine
and even though we are teetering on the brink, we don’t yet have tangible
signals of the combustive tension building up in our internal organs.
Then one day it happens.
We get a small sign that something is amiss. Maybe we gain 10 pounds, maybe we have
trouble falling asleep, or perhaps we have a little indigestion. The imbalance and inflammation in our bodies
is trying to give us a clue…which unfortunately we don’t have time for because
we have a deadline. Skip ahead about
five years, and now we’ve gained fifty pounds, or gone weeks without a good
nights sleep or have full blown IBS. And all these negative side affects of too
much stress feeds back into the inflammation and hormonal imbalance that is
making us feel crappy in the first place.
Taking leisure time isn’t a luxury. It is an essential piece of the health and
weight-loss puzzle. Constant pressure
and stress is as toxic to our bodies as eating at McDonalds on a daily basis.
Not convinced? Here
are some added benefits of leisure time.
It allows your clients to have the best and most capable you. It allows you to work faster in the
office. It makes you more cheerful and
patient at home. It will make you
healthier and potentially allow you to live longer to be with everyone who
cares about you.
Yes, there are situations like being a single parent that
make finding time for you much more demanding.
Take whatever time you can. If
you can only find 10 minutes at a time, that will have to work for the
moment. Just make sure to find it.
The crazy thing is, after you try it, you might actually
find you like it. So what do you do daily
to relax?
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