Archive for October, 2011

  • The Benefits of Running

    The Benefits of RunningThis piece is inspired by an article in Runners World, November 2011. 

    Running protects your heart, slows down the ageing process, and generally improves your health in many ways, some unexpected….

    Running gives you a mental buzz that makes you believe you can achieve your goals. Running raises self-esteem, your expectations of yourself and of life. This in turn lowers physique anxiety. 

    Running lowers your risk of diabetes type 2. 

    A 30 minute run sharpens your mind, improves reaction times and reasoning ability. This benefit shows a marked effect in older runners. 

    If you regularly run for 45 minutes your metabolism is boosted for 14 hours subsequently. So you continue to burn fat over and above the excess removed during the run. 

    Running is a great way to deal with negative feelings and especially to fight depression. 30 minutes, 3 – 5 times a week helps people to stay calm. Clinically depressed people who exercise are less likely to relapse than those who rely on pills alone. 

    Contrary to current thoughts and general comments made about running, the impact of regular runs builds bone density. 15-20 miles a week has a major impact on long-term bone health, protecting the body from stress fractures and the negative effects on bone density from the menopause. 

    Short sprints can drastically reduce the frequency of asthma attacks. Lung function is boosted by fartleks. 

    Both distance runners and sprinters who do 30 second bursts of speed have a lower risk of heart disease. Also pregnant exercisers give birth to babies with better cardiovascular profiles. 

    Another myth is that running is bad for your knees. A long-term study from Stanford University has concluded that runners who regularly clocked 5 runs of 60 minutes each week suffered drastically fewer joint problems in later life. The process of tightening and strengthening the joints starts in the first week of running, so no need to wait for these benefits. 

    6 hours of running a week will burn a pound of fat! 

    40 minutes of running a week for 12 weeks will get rid of long term constipation issues. 

    Running lowers your blood pressure. 

    3 runs of 45 minutes per week for 4 months will boost your muscle mass. 

    Running reduces cholesterol. It is the most effective exercise for this issue. 

    Runners have better sex lives according to fetcheveryone.com. Inactive males have a higher incidence of erectile dysfunction, 71%, and an hour of aerobic exercise 4 times per week improves quality and quantity of sexual encounters. I feel a lot could be inferred here and I leave it to you to interpret this one as it works best for you. 

    Running slashes your risk of silent strokes by almost 50%. A silent stroke is caused by tiny blockages in the blood vessels in the brain which damage the brain tissue but do not leave the same devastating outward signs of a stroke. 

    And back to Stanford’s research which is a wild read, and proves that runners do live longer……. 

     

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  • Squaring Up To Reality

    Tis a full moon in the next few hours and apparently I have to make serious, conscious decisions which will profoundly affect the next 28.5 years of my life.

    Added to this potential reality there is a Chinese curse which says: may you live in interesting times.

    So I feel pressure.

    There are lots of varying reasons for the pressure: the economics created by rafts of Hedge Fund Managers run wild, unchecked bankers, laws which allow those with money to divest the rest of us with impunity, I am a parent of two kids, I run a small business under the abstracted eye of Mr Cameron, plus I am going through divorce.

    When I instigated the process I was met with no resistance to the petition by my ex-husband and have had the decree nisi for over a year one. The decree absolute is another experience entirely.

    After a year of fruitless attempts at settlement met with ridiculous demands by the ex-husband I now find myself turned to the charms of the Court.

    It feels potent and the right choice of routes forward but the process is wild, unknown and impossible to explain by anyone other than those who have trodden the path before me, stressful and very expensive.

    I stand on the threshold of changing case law which adds an interesting flavour to the process, (but in reality is not as exciting as it sounds), and bids me to tread with firm feet and steadfast resolve.

    So I have a massive learning curve going on 24/7.

    I thought I knew a lot about stress management and have a lot of tools. But my body reacts to the current reality in ways that astound me. Ulcers, back aches, dislocation of joints, trapped nerves, styes…. The list is long and unattractive.

    If I had not been teaching spiritual practice on a regular basis for the past 18 months and been forced to walk the walk and talk the talk I would have been in serious trouble. But I have been held high and strong by my practice, the teachings, great friends, new friends, an emerging relationship, my creativity and a rock steady belief that I deserve to have all that I am fighting for.

    So this full moon I have been advised to be utterly present and now in my desires for the future. To be completely clear about how the future is, not how I want it to be. To make certain in my mind, that all my desires and longings are already manifested in how I move forward over this huge full moon. This means that I affirm my life, as I desire it in the future, to be my reality now.

    Hey, the world is an insane and crazy place right now. Why would this not work? Why would I not leap on an opportunity for personal and world peace? The only person I can change is me, no one else, just my reality, my attachments, my reactions, beliefs, my attachment to suffering and drama. Go Ghandi,

    I think it is a great idea and I am going for it, now, sitting on an aeroplane, 35,000 feet above the Alps. Please may the concepts and determination come with lots of glue to make it stick into the future as my resolve can sometimes lack fervour.

    But then this is important stuff, this is the rest of my life, this is me, my kids, my future, and the validation of 18 years of excessively hard work emotionally, physically and financially. I will not walk away, I will not give in, I will stand and fight.

    Bless me please whoever you are that bestows beneficience. I need it now.

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