Category: Health & Well Being

Some Sleepy Facts For A Monday Morning…

It’s the start of the work week for most, and I’m sure we can agree that all of us would prefer to roll over, pull our blankets in closer and just keep sleeping until Monday goes away. Much like Garfield, most people aren’t fans of Mondays. ever wonder why Garfield hates Mondays so much? It’s not like he has a job to go to or any responsibilities. But I digress…

The topic of today’s post is about naps. I love naps. I often think back to my youth, when I would have had much more free time to grab a nap here and there but neglected to do so. It reminds me of my son, who outright refuses to nap and I keep telling him he’ll regret that choice when he gets older and no longer has the option. Our two-year old still gets put down for a nap and even when he fights it, ends up getting some sleep. Ah, the innocence!

I’ve written about naps in several previous posts and the reality is that naps are actually beneficial, as long as you don’t overdo them. Like everything else in life, there needs to be a balance. But if you nap in reasonable increments for short periods of time, they’ve been shown to lower the risk of heart disease, improve one’s memory, increase productivity and improve one’s mood. In Japan, nap periods during the workday are encouraged as they’ve already acknowledged that it increases the company’s overall productivity.

I once worked in a call centre (please don’t hold that against me) and they had a break lounge with dim lighting and soft, plush chairs for a staff to use their 15-minute breaks to grab a quick snooze. I was taken aback at the prospect that someone could actually nap for that short a period of time. But once I tried it a few times, I was surprised at how much good it did. Some experts I’ve read about have explained that sleep happens in four stages of a cycle, starting with the “falling asleep” stage, followed by the slowing and relaxing of the body, followed by slipping into deep sleep and finishing off the cycle with rapid-eye movement sleep, or what’s known as REM sleep.

So how long should one nap? This is a deeply debated aspect, since most professionals tend to agree that naps shouldn’t be TOO long or you risk falling into a deep sleep that will negatively affect the remainder of you or day and potentially prevent proper sleep at night. For the most part, I’ve always read that a 15 to 20-minute nap was enough to get you to the relaxing and slowing of the body stage, without allowing you to slip into deep sleep, which can be much more difficult to come out of.

The World Sleep Society claims that naps should be less than 45 minutes. This makes sense, since slipping into “deep sleep” can make waking up difficult and leave you feeling groggy and make it harder to push through the rest of your day. There’s nothing worse than feeling as though your nap made things worse or made you more tired. The whole point is to gain a bit of rejuvenation, right?

I read an article where Dr. Sara Mednick, a cognitive neuroscientist with the University of California, explained how taking an hour-long nap can be ideal since you start to slip into REM sleep. This is where all the beneficial aspects of sleep start to kick in; body regeneration, immune system repair and improved cognitive function. And coming out of REM sleep is actually way easier than coming out of a deep sleep. Apparently. I hate waking up in general. I’d live in the matrix, if it meant I could stay asleep. But once again I digress…

Napping through all four stages of a sleep cycle can do wonders and if t you have the time for it in your day, can increase your productivity and mood significantly. But even if you have time, anything more than an hour, hour and a half and you’re looking at possibly interfering with the sleep you try to get at night. So it’s important to find some balance. If you grab yourself a nap and still feel tired and/or exhausted, it could be a sign of something else so you shouldn’t be afraid to discuss it with your doctor or medical practitioner.

Now if you’ll excuse me, as much as I’d love to keep napping I have to get on with my Monday. perhaps the day will bring an opportunity for a snooze. We’ll see… ☯️

Fathers And Sons

A big part of my childhood involved going out and doing things with my father. Whether this meant running errands with him, doing activities outdoors or learning about computers, whenever I wasn’t at school or in karate, I was with my father. It made for an exciting and valued childhood. I’ve always said that when I had children, I would emulate this behaviour and do the same for my kids. I’m only now learning how difficult and “easier said than done” that this is to accomplish.

My hat’s off to my dad for making so much time and being there for as much as he was. As a kid, I couldn’t clearly grasp how my dad must have been fighting through fatigue from shift work to bring me swimming or how he likely preferred to sit on the couch relaxing on his day off, rather than spend the day peddling on a bike in the hot sun. But he did it all. It definitely makes me appreciate the effort he put in and makes me realize I could often put in more of an effort myself.

Excited anticipation upon arrival…

I had the opportunity to spend a wonderful day with my 7-year old son, Nathan. Our day involved a quiet morning for gaming and watching videos. Once we had lunch, we jumped into the car and headed to a movie theatre to watch Minions: The Rise of Gru. Nathan had recently mentioned liking minions and he’s watched some of the other Despicable Me movies, so I looked up the new one and found a 1:30 showing. We decided to head to the theatre early and partake of some of the games located in the lobby.

We played for almost 40 minutes, enjoying air hockey, shooting hoops and various first-person shooter games before grabbing typical movie snacks, which included popcorn, gummies and raspberry Coke Zero of all things, and finding our assigned seats in the theatre. The theatre was pretty quiet, with only one small group of four or five kids on the other side of the seating area. So we basically had the place to ourselves.

Seated and ready for a show!

Although the movie had its funny moments, the combination of arcade games and sugar made it difficult for Nathan to sit still for the hour and a half that it took for the movie to reach its conclusion. This is problematic, as Nathan becomes quite the handful. in this instances, he was climbing on the seats in front of him, shifting around and asking when it would be done. Even though we were enjoying the film, I could tell the wick on the stick of dynamite was slowly burning down and he would only stay in his seat for so long.

Once the movie was done, we took the opportunity to burn through our remaining game tokens and played some more games. Nathan was hellbent on burning through every token and appeared to enjoy THAT more than the movie itself. He particularly enjoyed the Jurassic Park shooter and spent most of his tokens there. It was fun, watching the joy in his eyes as he played and enjoyed himself in the arcade.

Gaming at its finest…

Admittedly, we were both hot and sweaty when we finally walked back out to the car. There was very little A/C in the gaming area and it was made all the worse by the fact that all the gaming machines were giving off their own respective heat. Although it was nearly 30 degrees outside, it felt cooler than it did inside. As you can see from the photos, Nathan and I were both wearing hooded sweatshirts but were quit to shed them once we left the building.

We travelled across the city and purchased a used life jacket for Nathan’s use while at a swimming pool. This immediately prompted Nathan to request a trip to the pool, which resulted in an argument over why we couldn’t go right away. We discussed potentially going swimming or hit the splash pad over the weekend, but he was insistent of a pool, which told me he only wanted to go because he just got a new life vest. But I digress.

Summertime homework

Once we got home and as we had previously agreed, Nathan got to work on some homework-style exercises that my wife has obtained for him in order to keep what’s he’s learned through the school year as fresh as possible. While he was doing his homework, I ordered pizza and wings for the whole family online. We received our food right around when he finished his exercises and everyone enjoyed a nice, take-out supper. Nathan and his brother particularly enjoyed the bread sticks.

It was a fantastic day and I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy myself. Life gets pretty busy and hectic and making time to do these kind of things can be difficult. But twenty years from now, Nathan will have the benefit of looking back and recognizing that we had this time together, much in the same way I have fond memories of the things I’ve done with my father. These are the important moments that make life matter. Sometimes we get so caught up in the rat race that we forget to take time to stop and smell the flowers. Food for thought… ☯️

On The Road To Recovery…

It’s been something of a rough week. This head cold has totally kicked my ass and made me feel like I was dying. Okay, okay, maybe I’m exaggerating just a bit, but I was on a downer there for a while. It started last Sunday night when I realized that my throat was feeling scratchy and my nose wouldn’t stop running. As I’ve often mentioned in the past, just about every little bug that floats by latches on to me, thanks to good ol’ Type-1 Diabetes.

I worked from home for a few days in order to recover. This is a definite advantage from previous jobs I’ve held, where my presence was actually required and things couldn’t be done virtually the way I do them now. I think it stands to reason that one can’t work from home as a police officer but even prior to that; working from home as a restaurant or pharmacy manager wasn’t a possibility, either. This usually meant going into work, even when I was feeling sick. This is a terrible thing, and not something anyone should have to endure.

I’m making it sound a bit more dramatic than it needs to be. After all, I had a small head cold, I wasn’t dying. But the sad reality is that not everyone has the benefit of continuing to work from home when ill, or the benefit of paid sick days. I think we can agree that everyone has bills, debts and responsibilities and not everyone can be absent from the job for several days to recover. And some employers are unfortunately cruel enough to worry only about their bottom line and may take action against an employee who does. I’ve been there.

Luckily, such is not the case for me now. I’m blessed to have an understanding employer who not only provides me with paid sick days but also has policies allowing remote work, so I was able to keep hammering through while sitting in my jammies and downing cold meds like they were tic tacs. Granted, it’s important to remember that pushing yourself is not always a good thing, either. It’s important to allow the body some genuine rest and even when you’re sitting at a desk, it isn’t comparable to lying down and staying warm and hydrated.

Allowing yourself some recovery time, even for common colds (which there’s no such thing, FYI) is an important step towards maintaining one’s health and wellbeing. It’s also extremely important as it relates to good Diabetes control and blood sugar management. I had a couple of readings this past week that will likely make my endocrinologist’s eyebrows raise but I worked it out. No matter what your work or life situation, just remember that you can’t work and pay the bills if you get worse and end up hospitalized.

Take the time to care for yourself first. Then you can hammer at the challenges of life afterwards. As I’ve often said and written, you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone/anything else. That’s a hard lesson for any of us to embrace, especially when we’re committed to what we do and the responsibilities we have. But self-care ALWAYS has to come first. Food for thought…☯️

The Pebble In Your Shoe

The title refers to a much-referenced quote by Muhammed Ali. The full quote reads, “It’s isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out. It’s the little pebble in your shoe.” It’s usually referenced to represent how the smaller challenges are what usually wear you out along your journey, as opposed to reaching the ultimate goal. That being said, it can also apply to one’s physical health. I recently wrote a post about things one can expect when living with someone who has Diabetes. if you missed it, you can read that post here.

Illness and pain are subjective to the person and it can be REALLY hard to compare oneself to another person. A paper cut can seem like a trivial pain to one individual, while another individual may do everything to avoid using that hand until the paper cut heals. One person may work through a common head cold, going to work and even attending fitness sessions while they recover. Another person will be completely on their ass and on the edge of debilitation from that same head cold. It’s all subjective and dependent on the person and their tolerance.

As much as I’d like to agree that one should just toughen up, hammer through and beat any illness before it beats you, there’s something to be said for taking the time to recover, even when it’s something minor. People tend to forget that the symptoms we feel are not only part of the overall illness but also part of the body’s defence mechanism. A good example is a fever. People tend to try and take medication to reduce or eliminate a fever. In truth, the fever is the body’s mechanism to kill whatever is making the body sick. That’s why it’s important not to ignore symptoms and to allow the body the time it needs to recover.

I’ll fully admit that I’m bad with pushing through. I recognized this last weekend when I started to feel a bit off but continued to do yard work, chores around the house and prepare meals. By the time Sunday rolled around, I started to seriously feel like shit. It was all in my head and I don’t mean that I was imagining it. My head felt heavy and foggy, my nose wouldn’t stop running, despite there being no airflow through it. I ended up sleeping downstairs and spent most of the night up, tossing and turning, taking nasal spray every couple of hours, which we all know is WONDERFUL for the body…

At time of posting, it’s begun to pass and I’ve returned to the office. The important thing to remember, is not to ignore illness when it hits. I don’t need to remind everyone that absolutely EVERYTHING affects Diabetes and as a result, even a small head cold can have nasty results. Take time to rest. This can be tough, depending on one’s adulting responsibilities. Not everyone has the sick days available to take a few days to recover from a cold, especially if they need to save them for more serious illness down the road. Given the way of the new world, maybe you can work from home. That’s what I did, for a couple of days.

The important thing to remember is that your health has to come first. Small colds and illnesses can seem menial but like the small pebble in one’s shoe, it can wear you down worse than the mountain you face. And because this is me and given the subject matter of today’s post, stay hydrated, test your blood often and if your body is weary, for the love of the light, SLEEP! Take rest when you need rest and can get rest. Trying to hard to push through can weaken one’s body further and lead to worse illness. Food for thought… ☯️

Supplementation, Part Trois…

This is my third time posting this material and no, I’m not being lazy. I consider the consumption of vitamins and minerals to be an important part of maintaining one’s health. It’s no surprise that modern nutrition is sorely lacking in most people and with every reposting of this material, I’m reminded of the importance of taking a steady multivitamin on a daily basis; a fact my doctors keep reminding me of, as well. So, bearing in mind that I’m not a doctor or nutritionist, here’s what I posted all the way back in June of 2019. Enjoy!

One of the key reasons behind the consumption of food is to obtain carbohydrates for energy. The human body requires energy to carry on normal functions and, well… stay alive! But what else do we get from the food we eat? A proper diet will also include a number of vitamins and minerals that we require to maintain proper health, growth and energy levels within the body. We’ve all heard about getting enough vitamins from a young age. I remember getting my Flintstones vitamin everyday as a kid.

But if you’re like most people, you’re likely wondering what these vitamins are for and what they do. My goal is to cover off the main ones here:

Vitamin A: This is an all-around vitamin that provides a number of functions including but not limited to the proper health of various bodily functions, tissues and helps to fight chronic disease and is known to be good for the eyes.

Vitamin B: This one is a bit complicated, as there is a large grouping of enzymes, vitamins and minerals that fall under the “B” category. In general, B-vitamins are used for energy production, immune function and absorbing iron. Some them include B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B9 (folate) and B12. There are a few more that I can’t recall, but B12 is considered amongst one of the most important of vitamins overall because it helps you turn food into energy.

Vitamin C: At some points, this one has been referred to as the sunshine vitamin. I’m thinking that’s mostly because people’s main source of Vitamin C is from citrus fruits. But this vitamin also helps with iron absorption, immune function and is a natural antioxidant that helps with the elimination of free radicals. Eating citrus fruits are also what sailors used to eat on long voyages to prevent scurvy.

Vitamin D: This vitamin helps with the strengthening of bones and teeth. Our bodies are designed to self-generate this vitamin naturally through exposure to sunlight, but obviously that needs to be done in small doses. Modern life has created an environment where more people spend their time indoors, away from the sun. So supplementation becomes important.

Vitamin E: A pretty straight forward vitamin, this one helps with proper blood circulation and clear skin.

Vitamin K: This vitamin is essential for blood-clotting. In order words, if you’re deficient in this vitamin, small cuts or injuries can cause excessive bleeding that can become dangerous.

Folic Acid: We hear people speak about this one as being necessary during pregnancy. And they would be correct! Folic Acid helps to prevent certain complications during childbirth but is important to everyone for proper cell renewal. This one is also known as Folate, or Vitamin B9 (as listed above).

Calcium: Most people should be familiar with this one. Teeth and bones, people! Teeth and bones! Good calcium levels are required to keep those body parts healthy.

Iron: This helps to build muscle tissue naturally and helps with proper health of the blood. As an interesting sidebar, it’s also what makes your blood red through the reflection of light!

Zinc: Immunity and Fertility. I’m a little unfamiliar with this one and haven’t had the opportunity to research it a great deal.

Chromium: This one is near and dear to my heart. Because it helps to control blood sugar levels. Chromium is what helps all the systems of your body to get the energy they need when they need it. Some traditional medicine practitioners will suggest Chromium supplements for Type 1 Diabetics who may have difficulty in maintaining proper levels.

Magnesium: This one helps your body to absorb all the other vitamins and minerals. It also acts as something of a relaxant to muscle tissue and play a role in proper muscle contraction.

Potassium: This mineral helps with the proper hydration of your body and helps to control blood pressure.

There are many others of course, but I’ve tried to cover off the main vitamins and minerals required for a proper diet. We get most of what we need by eating regularly and including a variety of healthy foods. A lot of people take a daily multi-vitamin, which is fine. But unless you are experiencing symptoms or unexplained illnesses, there shouldn’t be a need to actively try and take added amounts of anything. Your medical practitioner should be able to advise you if further supplementation is required. For example, patients who are recommended to take Folic Acid and Iron during pregnancy.

Obviously, all of this is extremely important; not only for proper health and fitness, which is important to me, but to help with Type 1 Diabetes as well. Taking a daily multivitamin can help to ensure that your body gets everything it needs, in combination with carbohydrates, lean proteins and fibre. My wife Laura originally gave me the idea for the post I wrote in 2019 when she asked about B-vitamins. Every time I re-post this material, I think of her. The credit for this post is all her! ☯️

Bring On The Pain…

When one becomes a parent, we usually hope and pray that our children will inherit our better traits and values. We hope that they’ll be strong, healthy and develop a wisdom that will allow them to push forward and make a positive presence within the world. At least, that’s what I hope for my sons. But of course, life rarely cares about one’s plans and things don’t always turn out the way we’d LIKE them to. This is why, instead of a strong martial arts acumen or a love of books or making exercise and fitness a priority within his life, my son has chosen one of my lesser-enjoyed traits: he’s a fuckin’ klutz…

Now, don’t get me wrong… I love Nathan. He’s my first-born son, he looks like me, clings to me and watches my every move. So when I say he’s a klutz, I say it with affection albeit a mild tinge of frustration since there are so many other aspects he could have prominently at the forefront. Last week, while walking on my at-home treadmill, he wiped out. This caused him to face plant and roll on his shoulder off the edge of the treadmill’s belt. He busted open his upper lip and bruised his right shoulder pretty good.

The wound on his upper lip, now scabbing and nearing removal

He worked it off like a champ, despite my letting him know it was okay to cry a bit if he needed to let it out. What was worrisome is that he still had a week of school left. In my experience, some school staff become a little overzealous and will assume some dark things when they see a child come to school with new injuries. And even though I don’t think Nathan would lie or make something upon, children have an unfortunate propensity for making shit up if they think it sounds cool or they’re trying to please or agree with another adult.

Luckily, he made it to the school finish line without an issue but that didn’t stop him from hurting himself further. once school was done, my wife took the boys out shopping on the day before Canada Day. Since we were heading into the summer, she bought Nathan one of those plastic tubes that spray water. You know the ones; you stick the tip in water and pull back the tube and it fills, then you push hard and it can squirt almost twenty feet. Well, she got him one of those on the condition that he not use water in the backyard without my permission and that it wasn’t an “everything” toy… It was only to be used with water.

Only my child would manage to self-inflict an injury this way…

So while we’re hanging out outside last week (this was on the same day that a rabbit came to visit), he had been playing with the water tube, using a bucket I made available and told him he could refill it a couple of times, not wanting to waste TOO much water. he came running into the garage at one point with tears in his eyes and showed me his arm, as pictured above. I asked him what happened and he told me he pinched his arm with the water tube.

Now, I’m pretty good at picturing things and I have a pretty solid imagination. But I just COULDN’T wrap my head around how in the holy hell that he managed to hurt himself that way. I had him demonstrate and even to his credit, it took him a couple of tries before he could replicate exactly HOW he had managed to hurt himself. Turns out he was holding the tube almost rifle-style, with the plunger in his right hand against his left pec and pulling the tube towards him instead of pushing the plunger towards the tube.

The result was he pinched his flesh and caused the abrasion in the crook of his arm. All things considered, I think that hurt him and had him more upset than smashing his face did. It didn’t stop him from playing further, but I couldn’t help but think that only my son would be that awkward as to cause an injury with something completely safe that shouldn’t have caused said injury. Que sera… I’ll take his being clumsy and self-injurious over his being diagnosed with Diabetes, any day. ☯️

If You Spill A Bag Of Marbles, You May Wipe Out Trying To Pick One Up…

It’s an odd thing to me, how some people feel it necessary to stick their noses into other people’s affairs. And no, despite that snarky opening line, I’m not bitter, angry or pissed at anyone. If anything, I’m genuinely curious. I’ve seen this happen in almost all areas of life; work, personal and recreational. I’ve always fancied myself as being the kind of individual who stays in his own lane, works hard and makes an effort to be efficient in all things that I do, and work to repair the issues when I fail at that endeavour. But for some, it seems almost impossible to avoid the allure of either wanting what they have or commenting on how they do things.

If I take karate as an example, I’ve frequently seen students become angry or upset at seeing other students promote when they haven’t. Instead of looking into the REASON why they didn’t promote, they seem to find more value in being unhappy that someone else did. That’s a very odd stance to take, especially when you consider that only genuine way to promote in a traditional martial art is to work and train hard and make yourself ready for promotion. But I it sure doesn’t stop some people from being bitter when they’re overlooked.

If I take work as an example, it amazes me how many people are utterly consumed with focusing on other employees activities; when they come and go, how they perform their duties and what they’re doing while they’re on the job. When one is busy poring over these concerns, it can be easy to forget to perform one’s own duties and worry about one’s own job. Not a good approach towards ensuring one’s progression and advancement in the workplace.

From a personal perspective, we’re looking at folks who tend to stick their noses in other people’s personal lives. I have to admit that I’ve been guilty of this on many occasions, myself. Sometimes it can be hard to keep from commenting on someone else’s choices, decisions and lifestyle, especially when it conflicts with ours. In some cases, many cases, it can lead to hard feelings, ended friendships and damaged familial relationships.

The important thing to remember is to stay in your lane. And this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t express concern to someone, if that’s your end goal. Showing concern to others is important and shows one’s compassion. But if you’re training towards specific fitness and martial arts goals, focus on THEM, not the other students around you. When you go to work, don’t worry about the fact that a co-worker takes an extra fifteen minutes on their lunch break; rather focus on ensuring you follow the rules and stick to your duties and entitlements.

Focusing on others will never help you or be a healthy way to approach life. The only way to progress and improve in life is to look inward. Focus on oneself and push yourself to grow and improve. Only through this method will you be able to help others because you can’t help others if you haven’t Fort helped yourself. Stay in your lane! You’ll be all the better for it. Food for thought… ☯️

Sweatin’ To The Facts…

Most people don’t like to sweat. And that makes sense, right? It’s uncomfortable from a dampness standpoint. Humans have an instinct to try and stay warm and dry, and being all wet from sweat tends to contravene that. And it’s considered somewhat taboo from a societal standpoint as well. It’s seen as gross, especially if you it’s seen on someone in a work or social setting. And last but not least, depending on one’s body chemistry and what cocktail of bacterial cultures may be living on you (depending on one’s personal hygiene), it can lend for some rather pungent odours.

From a fitness and physiological standpoint, sweating is not only important but also beneficial to the human body. there are a number benefits to heavy sweating, including the release of toxins, alcohol and other waste byproducts of the body, which helps with detoxifying the body. It also helps with the overall beneficial increase in blood circulation, which has a whole score of other benefits outside of the sweating aspect. But besides being gross and making people think something’s wrong with you, what are some other benefits of sweating?

According to an article posted by HealthLine.com, heavy sweating during exercise can help to potentially reduce the amounts of heavy metals in the body. This is important for the detoxifying process. This is also true for the elimination of certain chemicals that can be harmful on the body in the long term. The sweating process is said to be an excellent elimination route for these chemicals. Sweating also helps with the elimination and removal of certain bacteria from the body, which can be beneficial.

People usually view sweat as a nasty thing but it’s actually a natural and necessary function of the body. Sweating is the body’s primary way to cool down, which is why we tend to do it when we exercise. It also happens when we’re sick as a result of having a fever. When that fever breaks, sweat will appear. The idea is that when the warm sweat evaporates on your skin, it cools your body temperature. All the other potential benefits mentioned above are just icing on the cake. Although sweat contains traces of ammonia, urea and salt, it doesn’t smell bad, in and of itself. The odour typically comes from whatever your sweat mixes with.

As with all things in life, sweating requires a balance. If you sweat too much, it can be a sign of low blood sugars or certain nervous system and thyroid disorders. If you sweat too little, you can potentially face dangerous and life-threatening overheating of the body. This can also be a result of dehydration. If you don’t sweat normally and consistently when exercising, it should be addressed in order to prevent further issues.

If you see someone at the gym who’s completely drenched while working out, don’t judge and keep your comments to yourself. Either they’re pushing as hard as they SHOULD, since a workout isn’t a workout if you don’t sweat through it, or they have a condition that makes them sweat excessively, such as hyperhidrosis. If you find yourself sweating in awkward and inappropriate times, like in the office with huge pit stains on your dress shirt, there are several treatments and prevention methods you can talk to your doctor about, in order to stem the problem. The important thing to remember is not to sweat it (see what I did, there?). ☯️

Bringin’ On The Pain…

Over the regular course of the year, Tuesdays hold a particular place in my schedule, for a variety of reasons. It’s the only weeknight that I don’t have karate classes, with Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays being the norm. Fridays are a weekend night and usually reserved to hang out with my son Nathan and then the actual weekend hits. Because of this, Tuesdays offer a unique piece of time in my week that I can’t find elsewhere. I often use this time to do some reading, writing or take care of chores like laundry.

Since I don’t have karate classes on Tuesdays (at least for now), I try to do something outside the martial arts realm. It’s always a good idea to keep the body moving and I enjoy changing things up. Doing so can help with weight loss and keep one engaged in their personal fitness journey. Keeping yourself engaged and interested in your fitness can mean the difference between hammering forward in your fitness goals or getting lazy and taking too many breaks, which inevitably lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy of going long periods without exercise.

A short start back to the cardio world.

As any of you would have read in light-knows how many posts last summer, I’m a big fan of cycling. I can comfortably manage about 20 kilometres or so in about a hour, which is a decent outing. But considering that I’m gone most evenings due to karate, I try to do things a bit different on Tuesdays. When the stars align and I actually remember to bring fitness apparel, I work through my lunch hour on Tuesday. I know, I know… bad habit! But I do eat, I just keep working through that hour. Moving on!

I work through my lunch hour and exit the office an hour earlier than scheduled and make my way down to the office tower’s gym. There, I’m able to take advantage of various cardio machines including elliptical, treadmills and a weird stepping machine that I haven’t figured out how to use yet. there’s also stationary bikes, but I peddle enough on the weekends, so I steer clear of those. I usually opt for the elliptical, since decades of martial arts have rendered the cartilage in my knees nonexistent.

If I look like death, it’s because I feel like it!

Last Tuesday was my first time making it back to the office gym in quite a while. It was a rough session and I only ran for 45 minutes as opposed to an hour but it felt good to break that intense sweat and burn those calories. I slept solidly that night, no question. As the summer progresses, especially with less karate classes for the next month, it should be easier for me to pull off these Tuesday workouts more often.

As most of your likely know, maintaining one’s proper health and fitness involves a variety of different exercises. Focusing solely on cardio or strength training will provide benefits but perhaps not the totality of what you’re looking for. That’s why it’s important to sprinkle in a bit of everything. Most martial artists avoid bulking up too significantly as large muscle mass will restrict one’s fluidity of movement. Doing only cardio can be significantly helpful with cardiac health and weight loss but muscle build will be minimal and won’t be focused on strength.

That’s why it’s important to incorporate all types of exercise and workouts. Don’t be afraid to get out there and try something. Hell, I once bought a Zumba game for my xBox 360 and the first time my wife and I tried to keep up with the game, it kicked my ass! One can find the most interesting workouts in the least likely of places. Ultimately, as long as you keep moving, you’ll be headed in the right direction. Stay sweaty, my friends! ☯️

It’s Not Me, It’s You…

It’s pretty easy to dismiss someone else’s situation when you’re not in it. I’ve dealt with a lot of that in my life and it continues to this day. ironically, even my own family maintains this practice, despite the fact that they should know better. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves and something that should never be done, especially to ANYONE with a condition that others may consider “invisible.”

For most of my life, I’ve had people commenting about how “it could be worse” or knowing someone who has some chronic disease or disorder in an apparent but perhaps unintentional attempt to one-up the situation I may be dealing with in regards to my own health journey. Although in some instances, the person in question isn’t intentionally trying to be harmful and may simply be trying to make one feel better by illustrating that it could, in fact, be worse.

Unlike being part of a support group or social club aimed at discussing such things, trying to trade “war stories” about whose illness is worse or what the worst sickness you’ve witnessed won’t help the person you’re talking to. In fact, besides making them feel as though you’re belittling or dismissing their illness, it’s likely to simply make them feel like shit. Unfortunately, this is something that I deal with several times a month whenever I speak to a certain, beloved family.

Not looking to create hard feelings on the off chance the family member in question may read this or be told about, I’ll simply say that this person has been there, from the moment I was diagnosed withy Type-1 Diabetes and for the entirety of my life. One would be inclined to think that this would make them enlightened to the struggles and difficulties I’ve suffered in my life. Not so. And that’s unfortunate.

Illness and disease isn’t something meant to be compared. Each person’s journey is unique to them and it serves no purpose trying to explain how someone else’s journey may be rougher or more difficult. How exactly, does that help the person you’re speaking with? It doesn’t, and that’s the lesson. It doesn’t take away from whatever struggle or difficulties that person may be experience, even if someone else has it harder.

This concept applies to all things in life, whether it’s exercise, dieting, managing pain or disease… It’s all the same. We can never truly know what someone may be going through and if they take the effort to share it with you, it’s not an invitation to try and make it seem like nothing. Just offer an open ear, a touch of compassion and caring. You’re not there to try and fix the problem. Just be a good fried, a good family member and acknowledge the person’s situation. Food for thought…☯️