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In the United States, only 8 percent of elementary schools and 6 percent of middle and high schools provide daily physical education for everyone. And 20 percent of elementary schools have abolished PE altogether.
We want everyone to realize that PE reduces stress and calms kids, making them happier and more attentive in the classroom. And physically fit kids are more likely to skip risky behaviors. PE is also the best way to battle obesity (30 percent of all teens) and type 2 diabetes, which has increased 21 percent in kids since 2001. These conditions threaten children’s heart health even while they’re young and place a huge economic burden on society.
Summer is a great time to start a year-round plan for getting your kids active and establishing habits for lifelong good health.
• Step one: Get yourself off the sofa and away from the computer! Active parents have kids who are five to six times more physical than children of couch potatoes.
• Step two: Plan all-season family activities: Walk for 45 minutes after dinner; take kids to a swim club twice a week; go on weekend hikes; garden or do other tasks around the yard.
Grill tips part two: Keeping the food healthy
Cooking meat, as well as poultry, fish and even vegetables, over charcoal or any source of high heat produces two toxins: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs), both known carcinogens. But you don’t have to give up the joys of grilling; you can fire up the barbie, enjoy great flavors and eliminate the toxins with simple techniques:
1. Stop the fat-dripping, PHA-producing cycle. When meat and other foods drip their juices on flames or embers, they cause flares that deposit PHAs on the underside of your food. Minimize that nasty additive by placing your food on aluminum foil (you can poke holes or cut slits in it) on top of the grill’s grate.
2. Eliminate 90 percent of HCAs by microwaving your fish or poultry (meat too, but we avoid all red meat to help us stay younger) for one and a half to two minutes before putting it on the grill.
3. Always marinate. And make sure you use fresh rosemary (a real HCA killer) and lemon juice, with a base of balsamic vinegar. Sounds good, right?
4. And on the side? Make sure there’s a whole lotta broccoli goin’ on. Broccoli has been shown to break down HCAs, even the ones that get through the microwave and marinade and end up on the food.
How to build willpower
Everyday activities, like eating, working or texting, can be transformed into negative habits: overeating or overworking, for example. When you have an “occasional” midnight snack night after night, you’re rewarded with a dose of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine. You set a pattern of behavior-and reward-your brain urges you to repeat over and over.
The good news? You’re more than a bundle of impulses and dopamine. Creating smart strategies and reinforcing healthy choices (no cookies in this house!) helps your brain adopt healthy habits. Try these steps.
• Change your environment. Always eat fries and a shake in the cafeteria? Find a new locale and bring healthy food into it; repeat and eat; repeat and eat. Pretty soon that becomes your pattern.
• Make breaking the habit your mantra. Turns out telling yourself to shape up actually helps. Interrupting the cycle of impulse and reward, even temporarily, gives you time to consciously not do something.
• Get enough sleep every night. When it comes to making healthy choices, less than six hours of sleep is equal to being a little tipsy.
• Enlist support. Bring friends, family, support groups, therapists, even your dog into your battle to create a new, good habit.
Can you sing away your ailments?
We believe in the healing powers of music. Music is so powerful a therapeutic tool that it’s used to treat abused children, trauma survivors and those in hospice care. We know learning to play an instrument — as a child or a senior — fires up neural pathways that improve memory and other mental powers. But what about the benefits of karaoke, the last refuge of the musically hopeful?
Singing (on key or off) improves breathing, and that’s good for many parts of your body and brain. According to a recent Japanese study (of course!), the benefits of karaoke are far-reaching. Singing Sinatra or even Aerosmith relieves stress and boosts self-esteem and confidence, while also building social connections — all major life extenders. And families that karaoke together? They build bonds and banish conflict.
True, there have not been studies on how karaoke affects listeners, but we do know that listening to joyful music (and what’s joyful is always a personal opinion) reduces blood pressure. So if you enjoy what you’re singing or what you’re listening to, we say be a rock star or a lounge lizard (at home or at the hotel out by the freeway) and embrace karaoke.
The power of a good, short nap
In a world where 34 percent of employees work 41 to 60 hours a week, chances are you’re feeling a bit weary by midafternoon. Energy drinks? Well, coffee’s good for you, but here’s our suggestion for reclaiming your workday energy: the 10-minute nap, either at your desk, at the gym or in your car in the parking lot. It matters not where, as long as you are peaceful and relaxed. The benefits: enormous.
Each brief 10-minute dive into stage 1 sleep (optimally between 3 and 5 p.m.) sharpens focus and memory, reduces stress (helps your heart and spares you inflammation) and increases your productivity. Another bonus: That brief length doesn’t make you groggy when you wake up. On weekends or at home, you might sleep a bit longer and still wake up refreshed.
If you want to gain the benefits — and you’re not a natural born napper (you know who you are) — here’s how to get into the swing of a short, refreshing episode of detachment and relaxation.
1. Find a quiet spot. Set an alarm for 10 minutes. Eventually you’ll be able to wake yourself up after the 10 minutes is up.
2. Use eye shades if it’s not dark.
3. Concentrate on breathing. Let your thoughts flow. Notice them, but don’t focus on them.
4. Focus on tense muscles, and imagine them relaxing. Breathe slowly. Drift.
