So we’ve made it past Moody Monday….and overcame the ‘How-many-days-til-Friday‘ Tuesday, now we sit gleeful and hopeful on this glorious hump-day!
I had the best dream last night!!!!!!
I dreamt that I won the lottery with 2 other people :D It was 60 million and we each got a cut of 20 mil!!! I must say I was soooo disappointed when I woke up though! It was funny, in my dream I kept saying to Eric that I would use the money to build a really awesome Oh She Glows website! haha! Ahhh a girl can dream….
Thanks to everyone for your awesome comments after my post last night! I love hearing that you are finding motivation to make healthy changes in your life! It puts such a bounce in my step when I read them each morning as I eat breakfast!
For those of you who were trying out my treadmill hill workout and were getting discouraged, I hope this info will help you today:
I meant to say that I have been doing hill workouts on the treadmill for years. It takes lots of consistency to build up the stamina to maintain walking fast at an incline of 15. When I first started my hill workouts I was doing:
- Incline 10, speed 3.5 mph
Then I gradually worked my way up to:
- Incline 12, speed 3.5 mph
And then:
- Incline 15, Speed 3.5 mph
Then:
- Incline 15, speed 4.0 mph
And finally:
- Incline 15, speed 4.0 with ‘running bursts’ for 30-60 seconds once per 5 min. interval
So as you can see it takes a while to build up to this! I am sorry that I did not mention this before because it probably would have made you feel less discouraged when you tried it out! And no, I do not hold onto the railings of any piece of equipment!
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I decided to workout on the Elliptical this morning for some cross-training!
Details:
- 40 mins. on Elliptical (I do 5 mins. forward, 5 mins. backward, rotating)
- Incline 10-15, Resistance 9-10
- 24 flights stairs (8 jogged up)
- Avg. Heart Rate: 149 bpm
- Max. Heart rate: 172 (while running up stairs)
- Duration: 43:40 mins
It was a good workout! :D I read my magazine and got caught up on the morning news while I worked out to make it more fun.
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I heard about this interesting research finding on the news this morning:
Lack Of Sleep Could Lead To Breast Cancer: Study
If you’re going to bed around midnight, you might glance at the clock and think, “I have to be awake in six hours. That’s six hours of sleep.”
By the time 1am rolls around, you might reassure yourself, “If I fall asleep right now, that’s still five full hours.”
It’s that kind of anxiety that prevents a restful slumber – and the following news won’t do much to make you feel better.
Tossing and turning every night could do more than damage how alert you’ll feel the next day. It could also put women at a higher risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study out of the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan.
They looked at nearly 24,000 women over the course of eight years. The women ranged in age from 40 to 79. They found that those who slept fewer hours – less than six a night – were 62 per cent more likely to have breast cancer when compared with their well-rested counterparts.
“There are at least two other studies where women who slept shorter periods were found to have an increased risk of breast cancer,” outlined Dr. Steven Narod of Women’s College Hospital.
“If the theory’s right, it’s the interaction between some of the hormones that are involved in sleep.”
A hormone called melatonin may be the culprit. It’s produced in the brain, and darkness triggers the body to release it. Likewise, light suppresses its synthesis. One of its functions is to regulate the amount of estrogen released.
Estrogen is naturally occurring and necessary for puberty, but it’s also a factor in the development of some cases of breast cancer.
During the eight-year study, 143 were diagnosed with breast cancer. However, it’s not clear that more sleep prevents cancer.
“What you can do is go for regular screenings to try and catch it early,” recommends CityNews Medical Specialist Dr Karl Kabasele.
“Getting regular mammograms can help to detect it early especially if you’re between the ages of 50 and 70,” he added.
This study is by no means conclusive and it is hard to say whether getting enough sleep when you are at a younger age will have the same benefits (the sample was between the ages of 40-79).
However, I think the take home message is that getting enough sleep (that is usually no less than 7.5 hours per night) will only benefit your health in positive ways. Whether it reduces breast cancer is still unclear, but it is best to err on the cautious side and make sure that we get enough sleep each night.
Lack of sleep is one thing that has been on my mind lately. I haven’t been getting more than 7 hours of sleep lately and I have really been dragging during the day. I need to make a point to get more sleep by going to bed earlier and winding down my stress and overactive mind at the end of a long day. I would like to read more and take baths at the end of the night to help calm me down and prepare me for sleep.
Do you currently get enough sleep? Why or why not?
Do you have any bedtime rituals that help prepare you for sleep?
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It is not work that kills men, it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more on a man than he can bear. But worry is rust upon the blade. It is not movement that destroys the machinery, but friction.
~Henry Ward Beecher
I occasionally have a week where I have a hard time falling asleep…drinking a cup of relaxing tea slowly, while reading (not on the computer or watching t.v.) in lower light, maybe with some candles lit…
or taking a bath with lavender essential oil in it knocks me out like a narcotic. If you don’t have a tub, put a few drops on the floor of the shower or on a warm, damp washcloth that you drape over your face and breathe deeply through.
hours-wise i get enough sleep, but it never FEELS like enough sleep. perhaps its my addiction to caffiene.
Kelly Turner
www.groundedfitness.com
Thank goodness for Wednesday!
I’ve only been getting about 7 recently too and I can definitely feel it. I need to make a better effort to go to bed early.
I like to read before bed, but I don’t always get a chance to.
Fabulous dream and workout! :-)
I always get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Works perfectly for me.
My ritual = read some magazines or a few chapters in my latest novel before turning out the lights and passing out ;-)
Fortunately, I’ve been falling asleep the second my head hits the pillow. I am normally so tired by the end of the day, I can barely keep my eyes opened past 9 pm.
If I am having trouble dozing off, I usually read. I read somewhere that the lights from TVs and computers can stimulate your body and make it harder to fall asleep.
One thing I have to do is turn off my computer a little while before bed. If I’m on my computer and then try to go to bed, I just can’t. There’s so much that can “overload” on the internet, so I just make sure I take some down time w/ a book or usually with my hubby to relax before I go to bed.
I have a cup of chamomile every night before bed. My husband and I usually chat before we fall asleep, which really helps me get those last thoughts/concerns out before my eyes shut. He does a great job of putting things in perspective – “Beth, if God is taking care of all the birds out there, he’s surely taking care of you” — that’s one thing he said that I repeat over and over when I’m feeling worried/stressed. I think it’s all about coping with things properly throughout the day so that you don’t carry that load to bed with you!
I like to take baths and read in the evening to get ready for bed. I get a lot of sleep- I like to have about 9 hours! And I’m still tired when I get up!
I find that reading before I goto bed with relaxes my eyes and makes me drift off faster. I get engrossed in the characters stories and don’t focus on frivolous things concerning me :)
Normally I’m an eight-hours-a-night girl. This week I’ve been sleeping lighter than normal, and I’m feeling it.
Something that helps me sleep when my mind is racing: I keep a pad of sticky notes and a pen near my bed. If something is on my mind I write it down, stick it to the night stand and rest assured I won’t forget to take care of it in the morning.
My latest bedtime ritual has been doing crossword puzzles right before turning off the lights. My mind tends to be all over the place when I’m trying to go to sleep, so I like to think the crossword puzzles make me focus on a single thing.
im the same way, i get 8-9 hours a night of sleep and i almost feel like i need 10. my bf is the same way.. the two lazy bums i guess!
that is one thing i try not to sacrifice though! i try and plan my day around getting 8 hours of sleep- no matter what! so its almost like a job getting ready for the next day and bed before 9.. sometimes it works like a charm! other times i cant fall asleep. my mind usually whirls 100 miles an hour.. stress!!!!! argh!
Hey Angela! Before I give my answer to your question, I would like to say what an inspiration you are and thank you for your contributions to a healthier lifestyle. I have been a vegan/healthy eater for 6 years as well as an active teacher, wife, and mother of one. I stumbled on your website back on New Year’s Eve when I was trying to make a yummy meal for my hubby, 2 year old son and I. I made your amazing lentil oat meatballs and smoky butternut squash Mac and cheese. Both were a hit! This summer I decided to read all of your blogs from start to finish :)
Getting to my answer: I’ve been getting anywhere from 8.5-9 hours of sleep a night. I feel this is a big improvement for me having such an active lifestyle. I recently spent the last 6 months doing Freelee the banana girl’s raw til 4 challenge and one of the components to better digestion, mood and hormone balance is getting proper sleep. They recommend 9-11 hours a night of rest on their lifestyle. I’ve been pretty successful with the amount above.