exercise

The benefits of open water swimming

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It’s aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

Swimming is an all-body workout. It strengthens your muscles, heart, and brain. It’s better than any medicine out there.

Swimming is gentle on the joints. It’s the opposite of running, which is like putting your knees and hips through a meat shredder.

You can’t bring your phone into the water, so it’s a forced disconnect. No checking your phone when stretching or taking a breather.

It’s brain yoga. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the water that keeps your lizard brain firing. Will a shark eat you? Is the swell or current knocking you off track? Is that a fish or a turtle? A dynamic environment keeps you in the moment and gets you out of future thinking or past thinking.

Swimming in cold water requires more energy from your body to keep you warm and regulate temperature. That’s a workout in itself.

You will meet like-minded people and build a community over time. That’s good for your mental state mind.

Living close to the ocean is good for your health and longevity.

After the swim, you get to have a hot cup of tea and warm up.

Go.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Pexels.com

Health is a glass ball

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Your health is a glass ball. It will shatter if you drop it. Rebuilding is hard and sometimes impossible.

A wealthy man worries about many things. A sick man worries about one thing. 

A dying billionaire would give away his fortune to be young and healthy.

Youth and vitality are priceless. Use it wisely. 

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Believe in someone

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Imagine this clip wasn’t about sport. Imagine it was about academics and encouraging a young kid at school. It’s a little hazy now but I can’t recall ever hearing a teacher talking like this to me or anyone else when I was at school.

Marry someone who believes in you, work for people who believe in you. Then pay it forward and make sure your kids or young people in particular hear that you believe in their potential.

What’s good for the heart is good for the brain

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I picked out some gems from a Terry Gross interview with British neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli first set out to study Alzheimer’s because of his grandfather died of the disease. It’s worth a listen.

What’s good for the heart is good for the brain. When we exercise, the brain releases a protein called Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, also known as BDNF. BDNF acts as a fertilizer for the mind and can aid the growth of new neurons and new synapses. Next time you work out you are doing some gardening on your brain.

A Mediterranean diet lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s. So eat more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts. Cook with olive oil and cut back on the red meat.

The spice turmeric has been seen to be a super good for brain health. Get going with the turmeric lattes and learn to cook with the spice. It pops up in a lot of Indian food staples. Another natural reason to eat more Indian food.

Compounded benefits

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Nine women can’t make a baby in one month. It’s an overused phrase in business, but it’s still a goodie. The sentence is typically a response when someone on the project team asks if more people will accelerate the timing of the project. More doesn’t always equal faster.

Got a beach holiday planned this summer? Doing 200 sit-ups the day before you hit the beach isn’t going to get you that flat tummy. You’ll probably strain a back muscle in the process though.

Want to get a clean bill of health during your annual physical? Staying off sugar, not drinking booze and cutting back on red meat for one week before the blood test isn’t going to help your cholesterol levels.

Are you saving for retirement? Living large and waiting for a liquidity pop or a lottery ticket to play catch up when you are older is a risky move.

Some things you have to do every day. Slow and steady. Be patient and find joy in the day to day rituals. Most things in life compound over time. Start with a little bit every day, and it’ll grow over time.

Inflight safety

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Put on your oxygen mask before helping others. An essential air safety trip and a useful metaphor for everyday life.

In other words look after yourself first. If you are taking care of yourself, spiritually, mentally and physically, then you will be much better placed to listen and assist others.

Ten dinner cooking tips

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Buy a nonstick saucepan. Replace it every year. It doesn’t have to be made of kryptonite or unobtainium. A new pan washes easily and makes cooking a pleasure. Throw out the old pan and rotate.

Wash the pan once it’s cooled down. Washing the pan when it’s hot will wear away the nonstick stuff.

Eat leftovers. They last longer than you think. Get tastier over time and make one meal into three

Use ghee over butter or oil. It doesn’t smoke like oil and adds flavor.

If you can lean, then you can clean

Vegetarian dishes are easier to clean up than meat dishes. The ingredients last longer in the fridge.

There’s nothing a fried egg or avocado won’t solve. Just plop it on t with a bit of salt and pepper. Same for heirloom tomatoes 🍅

Undercooking your meat is okay. Salmonella is a thing, but most meat should be on the rare side.

If you have the time, cook food on medium heat versus incinerating it on high. It’ll take longer, but it’ll be juicer and more flavorsome.

Eat early. It’ll give you more time to digest your food and you’ll sleep better.

Yoga is a Practice

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Yoga is a Practice. You practice by listening to and learning from fellow students & teachers. Everyone in the room is your teacher. Daily practice results in small corrections every day.

Practice life the same way.

It’s going to be okay

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Relax your shoulders, wiggle your jaw, feel the muscles behind your eyes relax. Take a deep breath and feel the love and support that surrounds you. How do you feel now?

If you need help, then help someone else. If you need support then support someone else. If you need love then love someone else. If you need to receive then give.

The fun of plodding perseverance

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Exercise and learning are cumulative. The benefits accumulate like climbing a stairway, one step at a time.

Watch a baby learning to walk. First it’s about tummy time which strengthens the neck and stomach muscles. Then it’s about learning to roll over, strengthening muscles and gaining a sense of gravity.  Sitting up and crawling comes next to toughen up knees and strengthen the wrists and neck. The arms slowly get strong enough to grab a stool and hoist up the body. Pulling up and sitting down gets the legs working and toughens up the glutes. The first step finally comes after many tears, false starts, knocks to the head and LOTS of laughs.

What I love about the process is that baby never gives up. Failure is not an option or in the vocab and no amount of falling deters the kid. Every little milestone is celebrated with a toothless laugh and ear to ear smiles.

As adults we need to remember how we learned as infants. Small changes every day and results are cumulative. Don’t give up so easily! Practice, practice, practice. Laugh and celebrate the act of practice.