Of course, the most obvious reason you’re so tired is not enough sleep.

Everyone is so busy these days that it’s not uncommon for women to report sleeping 6 or fewer hours per night for weeks at a time.  But if you try to keep up that pace, your body will probably begin to send you some strong signals that you need more rest.  However, this reason for tiredness has an easy cure – just get more sleep! Even getting one 7 or 8 hour night of good, uninterrupted sleep can make a world of difference.

And we all know that stress/anxiety can be very insomnia inducing.

But there are other, less obvious causes of unusual fatigue.   The good news is there are treatment options for all of them.  The following is not a list of all possible tiredness causes on earth (for example, sleep apnea is a topic for its own post) but it is a place to start if you think your fatigue might be caused by something other than lack of sleep or extreme stress.

1. Hypothyroidism Having an underactive thyroid gland can cause you to feel as if you have no energy and maybe even cause you to have the blues.  Since the thyroid controls your metabolic rate, it stands to reason that if it’s not doing its job, you will feel tired.  Your doctor can do a blood test to measure the level of hormones your thyroid is producing.  If it’s not working up to par, you can take synthetic thyroid hormones which will allow you to feel back to normal pretty quickly.
2. Anemia If your periods are extra heavy you may be losing enough blood each month to develop anemia.  Abnormal blood loss causes you to have  reduced hemoglobin which carries oxygen through your bloodstream to all parts of your body.  You feel tired because your body is not receiving enough oxygen.  Besides heavy periods, other causes of anemia can be low levels of iron, vitamin B12, or folic acid, uterine polyps, certain chronic diseases, and fibroids,   In addition to fatigue, other symptoms of anemia could be feeling irritable, dizziness, or feeling cold.  Again, a blood test can determine whether or not you are anemic.  The treatment is eating more iron rich foods and taking iron supplements.
3. Too Much Caffeine What?!  How can caffeine make you tired?  Apparently some people react to ingesting too much caffeine by feeling tired rather than wired.  If you drink more and more coffee but just feel more and more tired, you may be one of these people.  The only cure is to cut caffeine completely out of your diet. 
4. Heart Disease If you notice that you feel extremely fatigued after doing something ordinary that never used to bother you, it might be a symptom of undiagnosed heart disease.  Notice that I highlighted might because I don’t want you to panic!  This is only one of many possible causes of tiredness but it is something your doctor might want to check out if she can’t find any other reason for your fatigue.

If you’ve been getting sufficient sleep and eating a healthy diet but your fatigue continues for more than a week, you might want to consider making an appointment with your doctor to find out if there’s another reason you’re so tired all the time.

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We all know that being sedentary is unhealthy, but sitting, specifically, adds an even more dangerous level of health risks to the mix.

In the previous blog post we talked about the increased risk of heart disease.  But sitting at a desk all day causes other problems as well.

Because your legs are kept bent, the muscles along the front of your thighs shorten up.  When you stand up they can’t stretch out as they should so people with desk jobs tend to walk leaning forward after a time.

If you sit hunched over your desk for long periods you develop a permanently hunched posture.

What about your butt? You’ve heard of the dreaded secretary spread!  Your butt muscles (glutes) are the biggest muscles in your body.  When you are sitting, your glutes aren’t being used at all.  They become weak and flabby causing you to lose strength.  And remember that muscle tissue burns calories – if you lose your largest muscle group, you lose your biggest fat burning source!

Having a desk job is not only a pain in the butt, but also a pain in the neck, back, and shoulders.  It causes stiffness and decreased balance and flexibility.

But what can you do to lessen the health risks of having a desk job?

Very simply, get out of your chair! Stand when reading over paper documents.  Pace when talking on the phone.

Be creative!  Look around your office for opportunities to get out of the sitting position.  I have an elbow-height counter in my work area where I put my laptop and stand to work for part of each day.  I also set a timer to make sure I get up at least once per hour even if it’s only for 5 or 10 minutes.

When you get home at night, don’t just veg on the couch watching TV for 4 or 5 hours.  Walk the dog, sweep the floor, stand up to fold the laundry.

Now that you know the health risks of having a desk job, what are you going to do to avoid them?

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Having a desk job could be the biggest health risk in your life if you don’t make some changes to your sedentary lifestyle.

Many of us work day in and day out sitting at a desk, some at home, some in offices.  We know that too much sitting around leads to health risks such as obesity and heart disease.

But what about those people who faithfully keep their weight under control and work out strenuously for an hour  every day?  This cancels out the negative effects of sitting at a desk all day, right?

Wrong!

Studies conducted by the Pennington Biomedical Research Center (the leading obesity research center in the U.S.) have found that the health risks of a sedentary day are not helped by adding a separate exercise session no matter how intense it is. Dr. Peter Katzmarzyk at the Pennington Center says, “Regularly exercising is not the same as being active. A person may hit the gym every day, but if he’s sitting a good deal of the rest of the time, he’s probably not leading an overall active life.”

Even standing around is healthier than sitting.  A study in the UK compared bus drivers, who sit most of the day, to conductors, who stand.  The drivers were twice as likely as the conductors to die of heart disease, even if they had the same amount of belly fat.

From Dr. Katzmarzyk again: “The evidence that sitting is associated with heart disease is very strong.  We see it in people who smoke and people who don’t.  We see it in people who are regular exercisers and those who aren’t.  Sitting is an independent risk factor.”

Dr. Marc Hamilton, also of the Pennington Center says, “Humans sit too much, so you have to treat the problem specifically.  The cure for too much sitting isn’t more exercise.  We know there’s a gene in the body that causes heart disease, but it doesn’t respond to exercise no matter how often or how hard you work out. And yet the activity of the gene becomes worse from sitting – or rather, the complete and utter lack of contractile activity in your muscles. So the more nonexercise activity you do, the more total time you spend on your feet and out of your chair.  That’s the real cure.”

Nonexercise activity is defined as activity that is incidental to your life such as walking down the hall, housework, or even just standing.

My next post will discuss other health risks of having a desk job besides heart disease.

You go to the health club to stay healthy, right?

But, especially during the “cold and flu season”,  how do you keep from catching something when everyone is coughing, sneezing, and sweating on the surfaces you have to touch?

Here are 7 ways to stay healthy at the health club:

1. Before you even consider joining a particular gym, ask the staff how often they clean the equipment, showers, floors, etc.  What cleaning products do they use?  Do they have a written schedule for cleaning?  Make sure you’re satisfied with their answers before you commit.
2. Wipe equipment with a towel then spray with your own disinfectant spray before using.  You can use disinfectant wipes rather than spray if you prefer.
3. Don’t go barefoot anywhere in the club.
4. Bring your own mat rather than using the ones provided by the gym.  Wash it at least once a week.
5. If you have a cut, scrape, or blister, cover it with a bandaid.
6. For the pool, shower, etc. have at least two pairs of flip-flops to alternate.  That way one pair can dry for a whole day while you wear the other.  Actually, you should give all your shoes at least a 24-hour drying period between wearings.
7. Bring a plastic bag for your used workout clothes to avoid contaminating the inside of your gym bag with sweat and bacteria.

Following these tips should help you avoid gym germs and stay healthier!

What advice do you have for staying healthy at the health club?  Please share in the comments below.  Thanks!

Recently I read an article stating that seeing thin women on television can be a factor in causing eating disorders.

The article was published by The Independent in the U.K. (www.independent.co.uk)   Just to be clear, the author of the report, Aric Sigman, does not say that television causes eating disorders.

I have a problem with some of the statements in this article.

For example: it says that when healthy women (I don’t know how they defined “healthy”) look at pictures of thin women, “The parts of the brain involved with anxiety, unhappiness, self-loathing, pain, those sorts of things become highly activated in all of the women that they looked at.”  Well, duh!  That’s what your brain does – it reacts!  Did it occur to anyone that at least some of the women reacted in that part of their brain because they were envious?  Or maybe thought the images looked sickly?  What made them think it had to mean “I’m gonna starve myself”?

I’m sure that when I see images of suicide bombers, the same parts of my brain react.  But I don’t run out and blow my car up in the midst of a crowd!  Now, maybe, if I already had tendencies toward being a suicide bomber, seeing those images might inspire me to take action.  But, I believe, if I was already leaning that way, millions of other things would be just as likely to trigger the action.

I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t want the terrible pain and anxiety that anorexic girls (and boys) experience to be trivialized.  I don’t want someone to seize on this one idea, think they can ban their daughter from watching TV, and she’ll be cured.  Television may very well be a factor but the underlying problem is already there.

My other problem with the article is that Dr. Sigman “is urging the Government to intervene over the prevalence of thin women on television.”  I don’t know about you but I think the government has more pressing business!  Can you imagine the endless debates over how thin is too thin or how many slim women per hour could appear per network?!  What about movies?  How about the thin women out jogging in your neighborhood?  Your skinny co-worker?

Once again, I want to be clear that I do believe that seeing ultra-thin, desirable women on TV might be a trigger for some individuals who are susceptible  to eating disorders.   But that, unfortunately, is part of the person’s disease.  They will be seeing slender women everywhere for the rest of their lives.  During their treatment they must be taught how to react in a healthy manner.

And then there are the people who believe that watching McDonald’s commercials causes obesity…..

I’d love to know what you think about this.  Please comment below.  Thanks!

No matter what your age, you can’t take a healthy heart for granted.

Heart disease is the leading killer of women in the U.S.  Don’t become a statistic!  Make sure to keep your heart healthy for a lifetime by following these 4 healthy heart tips!

1. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day.  Exercise helps control your weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and stress, which are all contributors to heart disease.  As a bonus, it also improves your mood!
2. Maintain a healthy weight. Do not consume more calories than you use up in a day.  If you’re trying to lose weight, make sure that you’re eating fewer calories than you burn.  Hint: it’s easier to control what you eat if you eat at home rather than eating out.
3. Choose the right foods. Avoid processed foods in favor of natural, whole foods.  Aim for a healthy balance of lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, veggies, and healthy fats such as olive oil.
4. Avoid excess sodium. Read labels carefully because you can’t always tell by the taste how much sodium something contains.  You should limit yourself to a maximum of 2400 mg of sodium per day.

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There is so much  misinformation  floating around about carbohydrates that it’s hard to know what to believe.

Some push the idea of a low carb diet, some mention “good carbs” and “bad carbs”, and some people act as if carbs were poisonous!  Today I’d like to talk about what carbohydrates are and what they do for your body.

There are 2 kinds of carbohydrates, simple and complex.  Simple carbs have a simple molecular composition, are easily and quickly digested and enter your bloodstream as glucose.  Complex carbohydrates have a molecular structure that takes longer to digest but they also eventually enter your bloodstream as glucose.  The end product, glucose, is the same for both types of carbs.

Your body needs glucose for energy.  People who are serious about strength training know that you need protein to build muscle and carbs to power them.

Problems can occur when you eat too many simple carbohydrates (candy, soda, etc.).  They are rapidly digested and quickly raise your blood sugar level.  To compensate, your body releases a bunch of insulin to get rid of the sugar.  But this causes your blood sugar to quickly lower, resulting in low blood sugar levels, low energy, and hunger.  Then you grab a candy bar, which causes your sugar levels to spike, and so on and so on and so on.

This is why so many people mistakenly believe that carbs cause weight gain.  In reality, they are trying to feed their bodies with the wrong fuel, which causes a chemical reaction that leaves them hungrier and more prone to overeating!

The better choice is to use complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, whole grain cereals, and vegetables.  These are digested more slowly and release glucose at an even rate so that your sugar/insulin ratio remains balanced.  There are no excessive highs or lows.

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During my multiple former lives as a child care director, high school cheerleader coach, and health club owner, I was required to take CPR many times.  The problem was, by the next week I couldn’t remember how many compressions and how many rescue breaths they said to do!

This uncertainty can cause people to hesitate if they find themselves in a situation where they actually need to use their emergency life-saving training.  And every second counts when CPR is needed!

Now the doctors at the Sarver Heart Center at the University of Arizona College of Medicine have developed a new technique called “continuous chest compression CPR.”  This method does not include mouth-to-mouth breathing at all.  Here is a video demonstration.

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In the last post we talked about the dangers of having too much belly fat inside your abdominal wall, the visceral fat.  So the two questions we need to answer are:

1. How do I know if I have visceral fat?
2. What can I do about it?

How to tell if you have it

If you want to be absolutely sure and you have lots of money to spend, you can have a CT scan or MRI.  But the easiest way to tell is by using a tape measure.

Place the tape around your abdomen at the level of your belly button.  Do not measure where your waist curves in, do not suck in your tummy, and do not pull the tape tight to smash down your gut!  If you’re just going to try and “trick” yourself, don’t bother doing it at all!

What does the tape say?  If the diameter of your belly is 35 inches or more, you probably have excess visceral fat.

If you don’t want to measure but you notice that your pants are getting tight around the waist but not elsewhere, you probably have excess visceral fat.

Why me?!

Part of why you tend to gain weight in certain places is determined by your genes and your age.  Women tend to add a lot of visceral fat when they go through menopause.  If you have had children, you will be more likely to add visceral fat than women who haven’t had children.  And, oddly enough, if you were born a low birth weight baby, you are more likely to develop this unhealthy belly fat.

How can I prevent or get rid of it?

Guess what?  Getting rid of belly fat is easier than getting rid of thigh or hip fat! Follow these tips for reducing visceral fat in your belly:

• Don’t smoke. Smokers tend to store more fat in their abdomens than any place else.
• Take care of your emotional health. Women who are stressed or depressed accumulate more visceral fat.
• Get the right amount of sleep. Regularly sleeping less than 6 or more than 8 hours per night is linked to gaining belly fat.
• Get plenty of calcium. Women who have more calcium in their diets tend to put on less visceral fat.
• Exercise. Get at least 30 minutes a day of exercise.
• Eat healthy. Follow a balanced diet that keeps you at a healthy weight.

What doesn’t work?

• Crunches Although crunches help tighten your muscles, they don’t reduce belly fat.
• Liposuction This procedure removes subcutaneous fat, not visceral fat.

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Do you have a higher percentage of belly fat than fat in other locations such as the thighs or hips?

If so, you could be at risk for multiple health problems.  Even if belly fat isn’t a problem for you right now, it could become a problem as you age.

Before the middle of the 1990s, doctors and researchers considered fat cells to be nothing more than places the body stored fat for future use as an energy source.  But since that time they have discovered that fat cells are actually quite active.

It turns out that fat cells function a lot like glands that produce hormones and other molecules which can affect other parts of the body, leading to chronic health conditions.

There are two kinds of fat.

Subcutaneous fat, which makes up around 90% of all body fat, is a layer of fat stored just below the skin.  In some people, this is a thin layer; in others it is quite thick.  This type of fat can feel soft and squishy when you pinch or poke it.

Visceral fat is the second type of fat.  It occurs inside the abdominal wall,  filling up the spaces surrounding your internal organs.  You can’t feel it from the outside because the abdominal wall surrounding it is tough and firm.

Both of these fat types produce hormones but the visceral fat cells are more active and have a much more negative effect.

So what type of health problems are we talking about?

The hormones produced by visceral fat have been linked to these health conditions:

• high blood pressure
• type 2 diabetes
• higher triglycerides
• lower HDL (good cholesterol)
• colon cancer
• asthma
• dementia
• breast cancer
• rectal cancer

In the next post we’ll talk about how to know if you have visceral fat and what you can do about it.