How taking a break can help you fend off heart disease

When I wrote last week that I was taking a break, foremost in my mind was my birthday. I was trying to practice a little self-compassion, recognizing that posting each weekday was becoming a little more of a challenge than I can handle right now, while trying to balance other commitments to myself and others. The freshness I feel after a few days away means that I think it will be good to me to aim to blog 2-3 times a week instead. I think that helps me to strike a more workable balance.

However, there is another way in which breaks can prove very beneficial: small physical activity breaks when engaged in long spells of desk work. More specifically, light or moderate bouts of walking can help to protect you against the risk of heart disease and diabetes through inactivity. Overweight or obese people who walked for just 2 minutes after a period of uninterrupted sitting for two hours and drinking a standardized test drink lowered their post-consumptions glucose and insulin levels.

It is important to note that the participants were only studied over one day, but the potential is enormous. This really simple intervention looks like it can reduce sugar spikes and potentially add to the evidence base for a public health and clinical intervention strategy for reducing cardiovascular risk.

The really interesting finding from the study was the lack of any large difference between those who did light or more vigorous exercise. This points to the more damaging effects of sitting down all day without any kind of activity.

Just getting up and walking for 2 minutes every 20 minutes. That’s how easy it could be to ward off the damaging effects of remaining on our butts for long periods of time. That should be inspiration enough to get us all on our feet.

Birthday break

I’m taking a break today until Monday – my birthday being one of the reasons why. I’ll be back after the weekend on the benefits of taking breaks. Until then, be kind to yourself, breathe, and keep on doing.

The knack to asking the right questions, at the right time

Think of using questions as you use a good search engine – the right keywords get you to the result you want. You still have to be discriminating with the information you get, but if you can master the skill of knowing how to phrase your request then you’re better placed to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

You live in an age of unprecedented availability of information. Not all of the information that’s available to you is good, honest, valid or useful, yet it’s sometimes hard to distinguish what’s beneficial from what’s pretty useless. You need good questioning skills to tell the difference. That goes for asking questions of yourself too. So how do you know what questions you should be asking yourself? And when?

Reflective questions are probing, clarifying questions that are great at getting to the heart of an issue that you might be wrestling with. They encourage you to reflect inwardly, and consider possibilities in a particular way. Light bulb moments can follow a tightly phrased reflective question and thinking about its context. Here are a few:

• What will make me most comfortable with this situation (or action, or decision)? Subtext – remember your unique preferences and strengths
• What stops me from taking decisive action? Subtext – what tightly held beliefs may be holding me back right now? Get in touch with these, and you may be able to start challenging whether these hard and fast rules are working for you right now
• What would achieving this goal give me? Subtext – what is the link between this goal and what you truly value in life?
• What’s great about the option I’m mulling over? Subtext – switches your mind into a positive frame when chewing over the solutions you’ve come up with
• How will I know when I’ve reached my goal? Subtext – keeps your focus on positive actions, results and milestones along the way.

Pre-supposing questions are also probing or even hypothetical questions. They can help you overcome a self-limiting thought or belief, and show you what can be achieved if you imagine what lies beyond. They say, “Just put aside your reservations for a moment and see what the world could look like.”

If I knew I couldn’t fail, what would I do next?

If I could play my perfect game, what would that look and feel like?

Dream freely, and think big.

 

Tips for getting through that difficult run

If you are trying to extend out the time or distance that you are running, it can be tricky to break through some limits. You might be running a bit too quickly for the distance you are trying to accomplish. The speed makes a difference – it changes the proportion of fuel you draw from in your body from either carbohydrate or fat sources. A greater proportion of fat sources tend to be drawn from if you run relatively slowly and for periods of 25-30 minutes or more. Quicker, shorter runs tend to draw from your carb stores – which tends to be glycogen.

If you are having trouble breaking through a barrier, try out these three tips:

1. Try some self-talk. If you’re running alone and struggling, give yourself a bit of self-coaching. Tell yourself that you’re mentally fatigues — not physically tired, and that you can push through it. Trying telling yourself things like, “I’ll have some water in five minutes — that will make me feel better.” If you’re extending distance and doing your longest run ever, remind yourself how great you’ll feel when you’re finished.
2. Break up your run into smaller goals. Dividing up your run into smaller chunks will make the distance feel much more manageable. For example, if you’re running 20 km, think, “OK, it’s four 5-km runs.” At the start of each new chunk, visualize yourself just starting out on a new run with fresh legs and attitude and just focus on getting to the end of that section. This works for shorter distances too, and can work on the fly. You can focus on maintaining good form to get to the end of that street, and then focus on speed between those two lampposts.
3. Remember: It’s not always easy. As you’re doing a long run – maybe your weekly long, slow distance run, remind yourself that it’s not so easy to train for a long-distance event. If it were, everyone would be doing it, right? Remind yourself that you’re taking on a challenge and the difficulties you face will make your achievements all the more worthwhile in the end.

Keep getting out there!

The secret to getting out there and exercising is getting out there and exercising

Over the last few days, I discovered that I have mislaid the charging cable for my Garmin GPS training watch somewhere. Those who know me know that I usually take quite a scientific approach to my running, so this flummoxed me a bit and probably became a barrier to me getting out for a run on a couple of occasions. But it was a sunny afternoon with no wind (this is Wellington so this is uncommon), and I had time – I had to get out there. Coincidentally, I also saw this story recently on the Stuff NZ website, and it got me thinking.

What do people mean by mental strength, and how can it help us when it comes to exercising? One difference is the idea of intrinsic motivation – where the desire to exercise and keep fit comes from within and from enjoyment of the task, rather than external rewards. If you are extrinsically motivated, you can tend to complete the task at hand (a run or a workout), because you are told to do it rather than getting any enjoyment out of it. It made me ask myself: is what got me out there the thrill of checking my Garmin data at the end of the run, or the enjoyment of the run itself? People who are extrinsically motivated are also more likely to perform exercise to avoid feeling bad rather than feeling good. Not a great recipe for forming a good habit.

I heard a ‘story’ once about a man who was found by a friend pacing up and down the street outside their office on a Monday morning. ‘What are you doing?’, asked the friend. ‘I’m waiting for my motivation to show up …’, replied the man.

Not feeling like it can be one of the many barriers that we throw up in front of ourselves as blocks to what we want to do. My view is that motivation comes after action, not the other way around. If we hang around waiting for external factors to line up perfectly, then we have a great excuse to wait around forever. However, if we realize that the important part is action, we can choose when we want to do that. Here are some other barriers that often get in the way (and not just for exercising):

1. I don’t have time to exercise. This is a good one, and one that I am prey to. Lack of time is one of the most popular excuses for skipping exercise. But squeezing in your workouts may not be as impossible as you think. Instead of watching TV for 30 minutes, put on your running shoes and get moving. Or, divide your exercise up into smaller 15 minute chunks — your body still gets mostly the same benefits.
2. I’m too tired to exercise. When you’re feeling tired, it’s hard to get motivated to get up off the sofa and out the door. But going for a run will energise you and make you feel better. You may be tired because you have low blood sugar, so eat a snack or light meal at least an hour before running. If you find yourself feeling really tired as you start your run, start off by walking and then pick it up slowly. If you feel extremely tired all the time, get yourself checked out by a health professional.
3. I’m just not motivated to run or workout. All runners go through some periods when they’re lacking motivation and feel like they are in a rut. This goes for other forms of exercise too. One smart way to get inspired to keep running is to find a running group, or join a group fitness class. When you know other people are counting on you to be at a workout, you’re more likely to show up. And the social interaction (and sometimes, competition) that comes with group training also help increase your reasons to turn up.
4. It’s too cold (or hot), windy or rainy outside. There’s no such thing as bad weather — just bad clothes (or equipment or tools if we are talking about other activities). In other words, if you’re dressed properly and prepared to deal with less-than-ideal running weather, you can still go for a run — and actually enjoy it too.

Be kinder to yourself: Here’s how

Imagine that you just forgot your mum’s birthday, or some other equally horrifying social faux pas. Or perhaps imagine that you just hit send on that draft email containing some inappropriate choice language to a colleague at work. Horrible. Your initial reaction might be some good old-fashioned self-punishment, verbally beating yourself up for your mistake.

It seems that self-criticism does have its place – in small doses (see how guilt might be good for you). It helps us to maintain and repair relationships, make amends, and take responsibility. But to excess, self-criticism can be damaging and self-defeating.

Although self-criticism may have its place we need the counter-balance of being kinder and more understanding with ourselves. Here are just three ways of increasing our self-compassion:

1. What would you say to a friend in the same position as you? Sometimes it’s easier to show compassion for someone else than it is to show compassion towards yourself. Ask yourself  what you would say to a friend, or perhaps what you would like a good friend to say to you. It can often be somewhat kinder than what you might say to yourself.
2. Get in touch with the caring part of you. If you had someone who showed compassion to you when you grew up, self-compassion can tend to come more easily. But don’t worry if you didn’t have such people in your early life. A promising approach called compassionate mind training includes generating images of warmth and directing them towards yourself.
3. Making mistakes makes you human, and more likeable too. I can sometimes struggle with this when I make mistakes. You can afford to be kinder with yourself when you make mistakes – and so can I when I make them too. In a classic study, researchers found that participants liked a person who spilled coffee on themselves more than a person who didn’t spill, as long as the spiller was otherwise competent (apart from their spilling tendencies). When people make mistakes, than can come across as more human and likeable. They make us feel that it is ok if we make mistakes too.

So ease off on yourself. All is not lost.

Five running tips for beginners

As I have mentioned before, I only started running 3 years ago. When I started, I did the classic thing of piling on too much mileage too quickly. I ended up getting injured, but I saw a physiotherapist who identified some issues for me. I have been working on these correctable weaknesses in my core, and with asymmetrical strength in my hips ever since, and have stayed pretty much injury free (bar a weird little calf strain).

If you are starting out on the path to running more, or even to start running, here are a few tips you might find helpful:

Get yourself a fitted for a decent pair of shoes. You may think it is a money-making gimmick, but for your first pair of trainers, going to a store that has staff that can assess your running gait and can match you to the right type of shoe can be a very wise investment of time and money. Essentially, you will need a shoe for 3 types of gait: a neutral running gait, or you may over-pronate, or under pronate (this is to do with angle at which your feet tend to hit the ground underneath you) – you will need a shoe to help you correct a little for this. Anything more complicated than this, and you might be advised to see a specialist to asses you for orthotics – little inserts for your shoe to help you stay injury free. If you buy a cheap pair of shoes and try to run any kind of meaningful distance in them, you are asking for trouble. Leave barefoot running, or barefoot style shoes, until you are a little more experienced. Don’t buy your first pair of shoes off the internet, unless you have had your gait assessed and know exactly what you are looking for. Even then, you might feel obliged to buy your first pair from the store that did the running assessment for you.

Start with low mileage. If all you can run is half a kilometre (or mile), that’s fine. If it is just a few tens of metres, that is fine too. Start with a gentle couch-to-5k plan over a number of weeks – here’s one that is three runs a week over nine weeks – that’s fast enough. You might be tempted, but resist the urge to add a whole heap of distance to your runs all at once. You will risk injury, or burnout if you have a horrible time.

Don’t run every day. Many beginners come to running thinking that they have to run every day. You don’t. In fact, 3-4 times a week is plenty. Strengthening and repair actually happens on your non-running days – running every day doesn’t give you body enough time to recover.

Drink lots of water. Running can dehydrate you, especially if it is hot. Drink about 30 minutes before you run, after you run, and if you can, during your run. Even being slightly dehydrated can make running harder, and severely impair your enjoyment – which can make you less keen to pull on those running shoes the next time around. Don’t overlook your water intake during the week and on non-running days too.

Beware of comparing yourself to other runners. The risk here is that you become demoralised through comparing yourself to faster, more experienced runners. Getting better takes time and practice – running is a skill. No matter how counter-intuitive it seems, we need to learn to do it right. Modern lives mean that we don’t use our bodies how they were designed to be used and our muscles are not as strong as they should be in the right places. So, it takes time to learn how to run in a sustainable way. There will be people who are faster, more fluid than you – but there will also be people who are slower, or who do not run at all. Set your own goals and try not to worry about others. For some people, comparing yourself with others is motivating – and that’s fine. Just be aware if it starts to become a stick rather than a carrot.

Leave a comment if you want to chat about this more – happy to help or discuss.

Image from http://www.veterantraining.org

Focusing on the problem is sometimes the problem

You’ve been at that meeting, right? Participants preoccupied with endlessly describing the problem, each person taking their turn to depict the problem in increasingly erudite and imaginative ways. You sit there, becoming increasingly irritated, wondering how to move the discussion away from this problem-talk and towards solution-talk.

Cutting people off and imposing your solution ideas might feel good, but is unlikely to get you very far. It might even be considered something of a career-limiting move.

One alternative is to listen carefully when others are outlining the problem, alert for when useful elements start appearing. This is called building the platform. You are listening out for the elements that describe what works – not what doesn’t work. In this way, we start the journey to solution-talk – it isn’t about a solution yet, but it gently leads the way down that track.

Some questions that could be helpful to build a platform for solution-talk:

• What do you want to achieve today?
• How will we know when we have made some progress?
• What would be the benefit from solving this problem?
• How confident are you that something can be done about this?
• When you have tackled a problem like this before, what was most helpful? What skills and resources did you discover that you weren’t aware of before?
• What has been going well for you?

This last question really leads down the path of problem-free talk and can transform the nature of the conversation. It can flip people into a frame of mind that helps them to think of examples of resources, skills and positive events already happening. People often dismiss these as unrelated to the ‘problem’, but they can contain the seed of a useful way forward. Remember though, sometimes people need the space to describe the problem first, or they can’t hear you trying to lead them to another, more solution-focused place. They just repeat their description of the problem in other ways, because they are convinced you didn’t hear them right the first time around (or the second or third either).

Acknowledge their problem, and gently help them to move on.

The benefits of disconnecting every now and again

I’m a fine one to talk. I am one of the most connected people I know, and I know that I sometimes need to moderate my usage. Here’s why.

In a study presented at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Computer-Human Interaction Conference last week, researchers described how heart rate monitors were attached to computer users in a suburban office setting, while software sensors detected how often they switched windows. People who read email changed screens twice as often and were in a steady “high alert” state, with more constant heart rates. Those removed from email for five days experienced more natural, variable heart rates.

Five days – that’s how long it took to get participants’ heart rate variability to a more naturally occurring state. This is important: other research has shown that people with steady “high alert” heart rates have more cortisol, a hormone linked to stress. Stress on the job, in turn, has been linked to a variety of health problems.

It also seems that when you remove email, people multitask less (although multitasking doesn’t really exist – you actually rapidly switch between tasks), and they experience less stress. Those people who had no email reported that they were more able to do their jobs, stay on task, and experienced fewer time wasting interruptions. And it seems like objective behavioral measurements supported these reports. People with email switched windows an average of 37 times per hour. Those without changed screens half as often – about 18 times in an hour

Participants were happier too, even though it took some convincing for them to take part in the study. They reportedly loved being without email, especially if their manager supported it. The only downside was that people felt somewhat isolated without their email – though they managed to get critical information form those around them who did have email.

So, what can you do to help?

• Email vacations seem like a good idea – if you can still get the information you need
• Perhaps batching your email is a good idea too – turn off that email alert pop-up and sound that means you are tempted to switch screen to check email
• Designate times during the day when you’ll deal with your inbox
• And every now and again, it seems like a good idea to disconnect completely – perhaps an email vacation while still on the job.
• Managers take note – it’s also a good way to take care of your team.

More on mindful breathing

On April 13, I posted about a small breathing exercise to help you start to focus on what is going on now, to bring your mind into present awareness. Here are a few other pointers to help you to develop awareness of the present moment while doing this exercise:

1. Bring yourself into the present moment by deliberately adopting an erect and dignified posture. Try to activate your core muscles – if you know how to do that from any physical training you may have done.The sensation can feel like trying to draw your belly away from your trouser waist band and into your spine. If possible, close your eyes. Then ask: “what is my experience right now – in thoughts – in feelings – in bodily sensation?” Acknowledge and become aware of your experience, even if it is unwanted.
2. Now, gently gather and direct your full attention to your breathing, to each in-breath, and to each out-breath as they follow, one after the other. Your breath can work like an anchor to bring you into the present moment and help you to tune into a state of awareness and stillness.
3. Then, expand the field of your awareness around your breathing, so that it includes a sense of the body as a whole, your posture, and facial expression.

This breathing space can provide a way for you to step out of automatic pilot mode and reconnect with your present moment experience.