How to create peace points?

As all of us are living in a hectic fast-paced lifestyle, most of us have forgotten to find time for ourselves, especially having an intimate with our own body, mind and soul. With that, I don't mean going shopping alone buying clothes and handbags or the things we want in shopping mall. Nor playing online games with your desktop, or watching long hours of TV on the couch eating junk food. 

First of all, what is peace points? Most of you readers might be wondering what on earth that is? As I just completed blogging about 'Workout' activities as something YANG and catabolic type of physiological stimulation, today's discussion is about the opposite of hectic, chaos, racing mind, sympathetic, etc. It is ways to find to find your soul and get to know yourself each time when you needed it most. It's the small little thing which we can do for ourselves, each time when we connect with our inner soul, on daily basis. In other words, it's a form of healing when one is out of sorts or disconnected from nature and the body. 

To maintain a sense of self and equal equilibrium and have capacity to engage things in life. From cell phones to TV to internet to social networking, our lives are bombarded with distractions and sometimes we need to give permission to ourselves to get away from the buzz and all the hectic stuff around us. We are so busy and so crowded through medias and electronics and we know what phones and handbags our neighbors are using, or celebrities private lives and even your colleague's bad day in toilet. Most of us spent more time knowing others' problems and happenings, then reserving quality time with their own lives and loved ones. It's cruel irony and sad reality. 

We really owed it to ourselves to shut off these gadgets and give a period of time to go off the grid and disconnect. Else, we will end up like most of the celebrities and rich people where many of them spend lots of money on so called medical and health care, psychiatrist, doctors, drugs, psychologist, etc. Getting out in nature and taking care of your body, which is ultimately yours by calming and stretching the body and create more space in the body. Especially living in a hectic stressed out world at present time, creating peace point can provide us with some sense of inner peace.

Most people I know don't even have time to eat as they have such a busy schedule. It's a self destructive habit to constantly surround yourself with people particularly when you eat. When you watch people eat and talk, they barely even chew their foods and swallow down chunks of it. The next thing you know, they have parasite infections, digestive problems, elimination problems, skin problems, attitude problems, headaches, etc. Eating is a sacred event and one should have a relationship with food. 

Spend time exercising alone. Spend time doing things you love alone, such as doing art or singing. As some people prefer going to the gym with a training buddy, there is nothing wrong with it. But, training alone with maximum focus on your entire session without distraction is a win. If you walk into commercial gyms, you will be blasted with loud music and TV programs and people talking all over the place. Not to mention group classes which at times could be deafening and giving you headache more then benefit the body.

One of the peace points techniques is called the single pointed focus. Imagine you give 100% focus in that very moment, be it holding a static crow stance for 2 mins, or bottoms up heavy kettlebell static press up, or pressing with every muscle in the body with maximum contraction, against the wall. Bear in mind, doing a chest press or bodycombat class is not a single pointed focus. The goal is an alone time, quiet time, fully present in that moment and totally focus. In that moment, the rest of the world seize to exist. A peace point, as you choose to exercise and take care of yourself.

Ask yourself, do you really need loud music or a group of friends to exercise? If you really listen to your body and choose to do it for yourself, you DO NOT need all these factors to accompany you to perform this activity. Try enjoy the irrational, from making art to music and singing or anything driven by your soul. Nothing to measure, nobody to compare or compete, just having good old irrational fun. Most people just afraid to perform or even attempt anything in their lives, because they are afraid others judge them and say things which make them feel bad. Remember, this is your life, and you can't always control what people say about you. Don't let it affect what you love to do the most, your passion and what your soul tells you to do.

Meanwhile, below are some of the tips to create peace points:


- Build them into your schedule, don't buy excuses
- Eat alone, have relationship with the food, develop spiritual experience during the meal
- Take breaks at work and allow yourself to think nothing!
- Have sense of humor, allow yourself to jokes with others
- Enjoy nature whenever possible, especially barefoot
- Shut off your cell phone or leave it behind during your peace points moment
- Use travel time to enjoy yourself rather then busy working or constant worrying
- Play and have alone fun

Bottom line is, whatever you do, keep it irrational, not measurable. Playfulness is the measure of intelligence. Stop worrying about what your colleagues or friends say about what you are going to do. Be it something which might sound silly or your good friend tells you that it's a bad idea. Let your soul guide you, spending more alone time in quiet environment is far more beautiful then you can ever imagine. Picture yourself exploring a serene rainforest surrounded by nature, the silence and peace of mind in that moment will make you realize how much you have been disconnected from nature and your own body and soul. Before I sign off, I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Holidays!

Workout - No Pain, No Gain ( The ugly truth ) - Part 2

As year 2015 coming to an end, many of us start to set new resolutions for next year. Some are a bit more realistic, for some, it's a disconnection between the mind and heart. I've got clients and friends who want to make more money from the job they hate, even though their heart tell them NO. And we then have people want to lose a far-fetched 20kg for that 6 months period but poor mindset will always setup for failure and further demotivation. As for most typical Malaysians, they want a quick fix for almost everything in their lives, including health, weight loss and getting into shape. Is it long term sustainable? Definitely NO.

In today 2nd part, we will focus and discuss more about working-out. A popular topic and exercise routine which everyone is raving about where ever you go. For instance, you ever hardly see anyone doing a para-sympathetic stimulated exercise in commercial gyms. Or what I would call it as work-in exercise. Going all out performing workout or catabolic type of exercises is a recipe for self-destruction. We no longer live in a slow paced low stress life which our ancestors lived hundreds or thousands years ago. Our ancestors don't have to worry about bills to pay, our if your neighbors or friends have fancier cars or handbags, or a complicated relationship which is affected by current social networking environment. One thing for sure, most of us have to bear with the jobs we hate and enslaving our souls and body to corporate companies or bosses we dislike. All these mental and emotional stress, add to other layers of stressors we have in our lives, including nutritional, thermal, biochemical, spiritual and physical (which I will discuss shortly.)

Now, imagine you decide to start exercising or 'workout'. What do you decide and do? Join gym membership? Join the crossfit community? YouTube home workout? Or just typical jogging or biking? Let's look deeper into what these common types of workout or exercise routines will impact your body as a whole. To stimulate real life scenario, let's take an individual who is working a 9-6pm typical office job with medium to high level of stress at work. 

Scenario A - Female adult 35 years old, overweight

Office worker who sits regularly daily for prolonged period of time, a typical lordosis posture combined with kyphosis and weak glutes and tight hamstrings. With regular complains of lower back tightness and pain, this female also has job stress and inability to sleep properly at night. Diet is out of control, primarily eat outside foods most of the time and cravings for sugars and wheat have becoming an addiction. She is also a heavy mobile phone user and expose to constant man-made EMF devices such as wireless routers, TV and laptop. In addition, she hates her job and having relationship problem with her spouse. Now, let's evaluate the total stress output for this individual, prior to adding 'workout' routine later on.

Diet - Poor (processed and non-organic, toxic and inflammatory) - HIGH cortisol level

Sleep cycle - Poor sleep quality, deprived - medium to HIGH cortisol level

Thermal stressor - High exposure to EMF radiation - HIGH cortisol level

Mental and Emotional stressor - Job and Relationship - HIGH cortisol level

Physical stressor - ??? Unknown yet

What would a typical 35 years old overweight female choose in the most typical fashion for an exercise program? Regular jogging routine? Or maybe join a gym membership and participate in the bodycombat or RPM night classes? Or perhaps maybe subscribe to a personal training one on one session? The question is, what do all these exercise routines have in common? Yes, workout, expanding energy which involve in catabolic activity. It doesn't matter if you jog for 60-90 mins nightly, or intense bodycombat or RPM classes in the gym after office hours in the evening, or complete a full hour of weight training when darkness increases. Working out, triggers stress hormones, stressing out the adrenal glands and stimulate sympathetic nervous system. Although some may say that it has benefits of improving mood, burn fat and improve sleep quality, etc. That's true, if the workout movement and program is executed and prescribed correctly to that particular INDIVIDUAL. Not to everyone else. Think of a house on fire and you pour more Molotov cocktail and gasoline into it. Does that make any sense?

As what Paul Chek classified as 'The Virgin Reps'. A new exercise takes about 350 properly executed reps to integrate the movement pattern with the nervous system. A poorly executed repetitions for that new exercise will require up to 10 times the amount of reps performed, to rehabilitated with corrective exercises, due to faulty patterns recruitment. meaning, much more reps of corrective exercise to reprogram back the nervous system as to also reverse the faulty pattern which was integrated previously. This is something the conventional fitness industry is not taught, and many personal trainers and coaches failed to identify that the nervous system is directly in-sync with the muscular system. 

Having goals to lose weight and looks better physically may be a typical outward perception. Most people too obsessed about how they look from the outside, but what happen to how they feel and health status? In the year of 1900, the statistics for cancer is 1 in every 30 people. In year of 1980, it's 1 in every 5 people. By the  year of 2000, it's 1 in every 3 ppl. The latest statistics showed that it's 1 in every 2 people will develop cancer and die of this man-made lifestyle based disease! And guess what, another 10 years from now, almost everyone will get cancer and most likely die of this condition.

Bear in mind, toxicity and stress are two major contributor to most of the chronic diseases. Both of these factors lead to inflammation and eventually added into layers of total stressors. As muscular systems is the always the slave to the vital organs and glands, over training or prolonged workout type of exercises will only stressed out the adrenals and immune system even further. Not to mention dysfunctions in vital organs will impact the functions of the muscles performance and recovery. Example, inflammation of the gut from poor diet (wheat, sugars, processed foods) can deactivate the intrinsic abdominal core muscles, leading to a spiral downward of postural alignment to the feet. This can happen vice versa, as dsyfunctions of certain muscle areas can steal the nutrients, oxygen and bloodflow of attached vital organs or even spine, both sharing same neurological pathways.


Some of you readers might be wondering, this sounds like me. Age 30's, overweight, fatigue, often bloated, cravings for sugars and wheat, and stressed out. When each time you look in the mirror, you are often not satisfied or happy with how you look physically, and also emotionally and spiritually, you are unhappy and unfulfilled deep inside of your soul. Most people perceive themselves as OUTWARD (physical body --> skin --> bones --> organs --> ligaments --> tissues --> cells --> atom) expression. And very few people look at themselves as INWARD (atom --> cells --> tisues --> ligaments --> organs --> bones --> skin --> physical body) expression. The question is, which one is you? Ask yourself honestly.

The lesson from this scenario is to really listen to the body, identify the layers of stressors of this female individual. The total output of stress accumulated will determine if she needs more stress on the adrenals and physiology. Or perhaps perform movement or activity which balance out the autonomic nervous system and chakras? Burning fat would be the last thing the body does, if the there is on going crisis such as chronic inflammation level, toxicity and underlying infections. Many middle age women end up gaining more weight long term while doing prolonged cardiovascular/endurance type of exercise or end up losing tons of muscle mass which is so vital for metabolism as age is catching up.



Scenario B - Male adult  30 years old, obese

Me on behalf of male adults, I will tell a common scenarios of such individuals who wants to lose weight or get into shape. Common goals include losing 20kg in 6 months period, or get into a 'normal' male figure as his main objective. Doesn't matter what it takes or what he will do, all that matters is achieve this goal. If this sounds familar, keep reading.

From real life experiences of overloading myself with toxic commercial protein powders and supplements, to eating tons of grains and refined carbs, and hours and hours of physical intense training weekly. That was ME many years back! Confession of a so called fitness enthusiast or body-building wannabe. Fit, toxic and sick. Ok, confession over. Let's get back to this obese male adult who wants to have the body of his dream.

Now, let me add more details of the previous and current history of this male adult in terms of medical, health, physical and exercise. Let's take a look below.


Profile:
Has been inactive physically, did not exercise in years, very deconditioned and suffering from chronic lower back pain. Ocassional knee pain combined with stiff neck.
Diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, regular migraines and sleep problems, insomnia. Poor bowel movement, regular constipation and bloating. Easily feels exhausted and severe cravings for sugars. Diet consists of high carbs based and processed foods.
Spent most time sitting at desk during work and at home, very limited exposure to sun and outdoor.



Does this profile sounds familar to many overweight male adults at present time? I think so. Why did I say so? Majority of my male clients have the same exact profile, literally. Poor posture, noticeable muscular imbalances, low energy levels, intense sugar cravings, poor inflammatory diet, and long list of symptoms and medical conditions, and primarily leading a sedentary lifestyle.

Let me ask you (guys) bluntly about what would your typical next action plan is? Joining gym membership? Crossfit? Marathon? Three most commonly participated training of as recent time, especially crossfit and marathon community is growing like never before. For someone who is more ambitious, the more glamorous hardcore crossfit training might suit him or her, or setting certain fitness goals such as completing marathon might favor one's liking. The funny thing is, most of the ones who participated in marathon training think that it is a healthy lifestyle. I'm not fully supportive of prolonged endurance type of training especially then ones who are having multiple stressors in their lives. It will only make things worst in terms of health and wellness.

Why marathon participation is increasingly popular? Firstly, it's lost cost investment. All you need is a pair of running shoes and you do not need any gym membership or having to pay for training facilities ( in most cases ). But for crossfit training regime, of course you need to pay for a membership for crossfit facility, and hopefully you have a highly skilled experienced coach to really train and look after you. All of training programs or regimes, crossfit is ranked 2nd highest in terms of injuries, latest reports from IHRSA confirmed.

What would happen to your fat loss or body transformation goals if you get injured? If it's serious, those goals will be halted and down the drain. If its minor but coupled with chronic joint pain, the quality of life and wellness could most likely be impaired, as it could disrupt your sleep quality, how you feel (mood), and even performance in daily functions and exercise or even playing your favorite sport.

Most people especially guys beat themselves up in the gym trying to achieve the body similar to male models in fitness magazines. Majority of them ended up stressing the adrenals even more, and having a compromised suppressed immunity is a bad idea, exposing oneself to infections and higher level of inflammation. You might build a nicer body showing off to your Facebook pals but developing adrenal fatigue or other chronic diseases years down the road would be disaster. Same concept with building a house with weak foundation but expensive furniture and appliances, in the end, an inevitable catastrophe.


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As a holistic health coach and personal trainer, I always explain the importance of building health ahead of fitness. The 5 elements of life and pathway to health is crucial in anyway how one look at it. Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Movement. All these elements work synergistically to integrate a holistic body, mind and soul to an individual. How the mind feels, it will impact the body and soul, and vice versa.

Remember, if you lead a 'sympathetic-dominance' lifestyle, be it chronic prolonged workout routines, or even mental and emotional stress, you will throw your own biochemistry off balance, and your risk of developing DIS-EASE will be higher, once homeostasis is no longer in place. Before I sign off, below are the indicators when you should or should not perform workout exercise.


When should I WORK-OUT?

- Listen to your body at all times is the key. If you are exhausted or low energy level by the end of the office work day, the last thing you want is further stressing out your adrenals and producing more cortisol. Instead, you should get more rest/sleep and goin to bed by 10pm is vital for repair and restoration. 

- If you experienced DOMS (Delay onset muscle soreness), it is a sign your body is still recovering from previous exercise session. Come back again for more resistance workout once you feed your body with high quality nutrition and sufficient sleep, with less onset soreness. Ideally, you can perform myofascial release for faster recovery.

- If your workout or performance in the gym or during current training session is poor or sluggish, your body is NOT ready and still recovering.

- When your menstrual is cycling, those period should be your rest days. Reproductive and ovulation do not mixed with physical stressor, which translate to survival. 

- No workout or sympathetic type of physical activities after 7pm. You should be winding down and getting ready to relax and sleep. Melatonin sleep hormone should be highest during sundown or bedtime, elevating your cortisol stress hormone hours before sleep would disrupt your repair cycle. Remember, your muscles growth and anabolic activities are at its peak during circadian rhythm. 

- Best time to perform any sympathetic stimulated activity is during daytime, preferably in the morning. Go all out with intense or weight bearing exercise if you feel energetic (not after a coffee or energy drink dose) and rested enough from the day before. Avoid long hours of workout session, and you should stop once you feel as if you are struggling or depleted.

- If you are suffering from chronic pain (lower back or joints pain), the last thing you want is participating in an intense workout session, especially heavy lifting. Fix the biomechanics dsyfunctions and muscular imbalances with corrective exercises and proper rehabilitation. You might want to look at your diet as most people are eating highly inflammatory foods which deactivated the intrinsic deep core muscles due to inflammation of the gut. 

Workout - No Pain, No Gain ( The ugly truth )

We have all heard it all over the place. Gyms, work place, friends, jogging buddies, fitness groups, bootcamps, online training programs, crossfit communities, etc. No pain no gain! How much truth would most people know about this approach? It's a hype around conventional fitness world, but yet few know what is really happening with the body physiologically and psychologically, if this approach is followed for a prolonged period of time. 

As the concept of 'burning calories' floods almost the entire population especially the weight loss paradigm and its followers, we have been led to believe that the only way to lose weight and be healthier is to exercise (workout) more, and eat less (caloric restriction).  We have been hardwired to think that working out in the gym is the way to go, but guess what? We have more gyms and fitness studios ever existed in the history of mankind, yet we have the sickest and more overweight people on the planet earth then ever before. In terms of common sense, one will realize that we don't need an IQ of 160 (equivalent to Einstein) to figure out this statistic. It doesn't make any sense at all. 

Going back to the future a few generations ago, our great grand parents and ancestors do not even know what calories is, nor is there any gym available. But guess what, our ancestors are so much stronger, functional, healthier and better shape then most of us. How can that be even possible? They don't 'workout' in the gym, they don't count calories every single meal, nor do they even have any dietary experts and personal trainers. That's the million dollar question most people DON'T even ask themselves. No one even bother asking common sense related questions, and we all kept following so called diet, fitness and health advises/programs available out there. 

First thing first. What makes sense? What works for sure every single time? Have we all lost track of how we should live our lives or integrating primal patterns? Back to basics, how humans evolved for millenia, what made humans @ caveman, able to reproduce and stay functional and healthy for thousands if not millions of years. Do we ever train and move on fix machines, cardio centric treadmills or even stationary bicycles? How many of us know how humans suppose to move functionally?  Apart from countless generations of moving contra-laterally and bi-pedal, our primal ancestors (including us) were meant to do activities such as hanging our shoulders on bars like apes, walk, run, sprint, crawl and even animal-based movements. A better question, how often do we even practive such primal movements? Daily? Six days a week? Almost 2 hours per session in the gym?

When we talk about workout or exercise, we first need to understand what workout actually means. Most people thought of workout as an activity to burn calories, burn body fat, build muscles or even improve fitness and health. But what 'workout' actually means? 

Work -  Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something

Out -  Away from a usual or original place

Think for a moment of credit card usage. I'm sure most people who own credit card realize the consequences if he or she is unable to fully pay back the total amount for each billing month. Imagine you spent USD300 for that particular month, but if you don't have the sufficient resources (money) to pay back in full, what's going to happen? Yes, you will be in debt or resources/money owed and penalty will incurred. It's the same with what happened when we 'workout'  and do not realize we could be expanding way too much resources then we could actually restored back. 

If one kept focusing on working-out., the prolonged regular sessions of expanding resources (nutrition, vitality and energy) will cause physiological deficit, impacting the health and reserves of vital organs and glands in the body. Building brick house with woods is another silly analogy which is similar to this scenario. The popular hype of 'no pain no gain' workout paradigm, is a cliche which derived from military training which is based on survival protocols, a very sympathetic dominant mental and physically drained environment. 

Since fitness magazines,TV shows and youtube channels have all commercialized and publicly hardwired the images of six pack abs and ripped physical bodies, this obsession has become global priority, for some, it's an addiction. Ever since the publicity and popularity of bodybuilding in the days of Arnold Schwarzenegger, it has over spilled to the fitness industry. Ridiculous amount of money has snowballed ever since decades ago, with bodybuilding supplements has become a powerhouse in sports and fitness world. 

We have lost the primal instincts of how humans suppose to move and live, not to mention the health of muscoloskeletal systems and biomechanics. We have more incidents of lower back and joints problems then ever in the history of mankind, yet there are more physical therapists and orthopeadic surgeons born every year. How can that be? Research has shown that up to 80% of all orthopeadic injuries are chronic, meaning, non-acute and no physical contacts with another person which resulted in the injured individual. And the cruel irony is, the experts in the field don't even know what causes the injuries in the first place, not to mention how to rehabilitate safely and effectively. Thus, reoccuring injuries, and it has become more common in the field of sports, fitness and even general population. 

As most people tend to forget that the muscular systems act as 'slaves' to the vital organs and glands in the body. When I mention the word 'slave', what I meant was the muscles will always provide the resources and reserves to the organs and glands which share the same neurological pathways. Always remember, vital organs and glands always have first priority when it comes to resources and reserves in the body. Reason?  It's the body survival mechanism to keep the host alive at any given situation.

When we talk about building and maintaining good health, it is plain common sense to realize that priority is set towards the immune system, vital organs and glands and gut health. Depending on which studies, the immune system consist of 70-80% of gut flora. Gut health is one of the most important pillars of health, and almost all diseases start in the gut. Now, from my years of personal training and coaching clients, i have yet to find an individual (Malaysians) who really develop relationship with his or her body. Most of them don't even know how to listen to their body signals when it is in crisis or state of stress. But guess what, tons of people too obsessed with what's in front of the mirror, building a six pack abs or losing pounds of fat in time for the wedding event in few months period. 

Before we deep dive into 'workout', let's discuss the fundamentals of how our immune system and hormonal system work, from the perspective of energetic and autonomic stand point. We have the sympathetic and para-sympathetic nervous system. YIN and YANG, or the anabolic and catabolic activities. A question everyone should be asking themselves, "Which is more important, health or fitness?". Or another question one should be asking, "Does feeling energetic, happy and pain free matter more then looking good on the physical side?"

To be bluntly honest, almost all of us will only do something about our health if there is a life threatening situation impending or your doctor mentioned " Your health screening result is alarming, you better do something about it immediately". To make changes in our life, it takes commitment and some level of self-discipline. Most people do not want to make lifestyle changes or any change at all, because they are in comfort zone, even though they know it will kill them. Smoking and alcohol consumption are two good examples of mentioned scenario. Firstly, awareness is the pre-requisite to change. Next, mindset is what determine what an individual decide and take action. Doesn't matter if it's planning and preparing your own healthy meals, or spending time with your kids more then on social networking and friends. A healthy mind reflect a healthy body.

To be continued...stay tuned..

Sleep Deprivation : Am I getting quality sleep?

Another health talk event took place recently at my work place and another 'specialist' doctor from a private hospital came by to give her presentation. This time, the health talk focus on 'Stress Management'. It was one of the most shocking health talks I have ever attended, and worst still, it was conducted by a medical professional.

What was presented during the health talk? The following, is the advise by that medical doctor...

"You can eat whatever you want to stay healthy. You can drink whiskey daily, and life is not worth it without coffee. It is not worth it to prepare and bring your own healthy home cook meals to office at work. You should stay awake late at night do the things you want such as watching your favorite TV show and going to bed on time is not important. We only need 6 hours a day of sleep and that is sufficient."

I felt as if she is giving advise to the audience based on her own lifestyle and liking. Maybe the doctor has her own opinions and how she lives her life, but giving such misinformed and poor health advise will only misguide the already unhealthy group of people in this country. The first advise itself is a death sentence for everyone, to eat anything you want to stay healthy? Most people don't realized that most conventional medical doctors have less then a handful hours of lectures in diet and nutrition in their 5-6 years of medical degree. 

By eating whatever you want during the day or at night, it will most likely impair your sleep quality due to blood sugar dsyregulation and impacting your adrenals at the same time. Wonder why you are awake by 2-3 am in some nights? And by consuming regular coffee daily, the caffeine will trigger stress hormones and the effect of half-life (6 hours) will only decrease depending on the last consumed timing. If you hit that cup of joe by 2pm, your adrenals will release cortisol and epinephrine, but cortisol will remain circulating in the blood for up to 6 hours, meaning by 8pm, the half-life potency will only decrease to 50%. This will surely making exhausted by the end of the day, feeling wired but tired and being able to sleep naturally by 10pm is almost impossible. Besides, most consumed coffee products are processed and non-organic, high in pesticides, mold and mycotoxins. 

If you have read my previous posts about sleep, I have explained in details how sleep deprivation can cause long list of physiological and psychological problems. Not to mention weight gain, diabetic and out of sync circadian rhythm. A more serious complications, increased risk of heart disease, cancer, intestinal permeability, autoimmune disease, and of course, reduced healing capacity. 

As most people either don't know what to do about it, for some, the need for sleeping pills or eating a high sugar/carbs meal before bed. As I have blogged about some of the ways to have better sleep, below are some of the 'revised and tuned' versions of getting deep restorative sleep. The number one remedy for anti-aging, healing and feeling focus and happy. 

Ways to sleep better: 

1) Oxytocin- release activity (sleep naked with your partner, enable more hugs, great sex)

A 2009 study published by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, had the following say about oxytocin.

"Oxytocin can induce anti-stress-like effects such as reduction of blood pressure and cortisol levels. it increase pain thresholds, and stimulates various types of positive social interactions. In addition, it promote growth and healing."

The release of this hormone not only beneficial to your relationship, but also to your health. It is also known as the love hormone. One of the ways to trigger the release of such hormone is getting regular sleep with your partner in NAKED form. The bonding skin to skin with someone you love during sleep will trigger oxytocin. Another way is to give someone as many hugs as  you could on daily basis. Finally, favorite topic of all, SEX. Not only mind-blowing, toes-curling orgasmic sex will triggers huge amount of oxytocin and endorphins, it is a potent sleep booster! It numb your senses and decrease pain, making your eyes so heavy, falling asleep in no time, hitting that deep REM sleep. Oxytocin release up to 5 times more then normal level during this copulating process. 

2) Sleep with the moon, wake up with the sun (circadian rhythm)

A study published in the Annals of Epidemiology showed that getting regular less than six hours of sleep per night can lead to an increased risk of both heart disease and type 2 Diabetes. The researchers analyzed six years worth of data from just under 1500 participants, all between the ages of 35 and 79. On their results, the study authors wrote,

"Short sleep duration was associated with an elevated risk of IFG (incident-impaired fasting glucose). Not only can this elevated blood sugar lead to heart disease and diabetes, it can also lead to gain weight, which comes with its own risk of debilitating health issues, as well."

Now, most people don't realize that we have all been sleeping according to circadian rhythm since humans evolved thousands if not millions of years ago. Before artificial lights were invented, all of us have had quality sleep cycle. I remember my parents said that my great grandmother go to bed as early as before 9pm, and wakes up by 6am. Those years before TV, computers and internet were commercialized, our old folks were living a healthy life, and insomnia was almost never heard of. People don't even know about sleeping pills nor any sleep supplements. We have an epidemic of sleep disorders and insomnia is one of the common symptom. Is insomnia a deficiency of sleeping pill? Definitely not. 

3) Shorter, quality, functional exercise (HIIT, weight training)

HIIT has been shown in studies to provide multiple benefits to the body, which  includes lower stress level, better sleep at night and more effective in burning body fat. It is a smarter way of training and less damaging to the body hormonally and physically. It has been shown to burn body fat up to 10 times more effective then steady state cardio. Bear in mind, prolonged cardio or endurance exercise has been shown to increased risk of heart disease. There are many studies which explain why and how elevated cortisol hormone cause damage to the heart muscles during these types of physical exercises. The goal of exercise, is to control the over stimulation of cortisol stress hormone during the session. Avoid performing strenuous exercise at night, and at least 3 hours before your bedtime (10pm). Cortisol suppress your sleep hormone melatonin, preventing you from quality restorative sleep.  

4) Disconnect!
Switch off all electronic devices including TV, radio, wireless router, mobile phone (airplane mode), artificial lights at home and inside the bedroom by latest 10pm. Unless you have something to attend, make it a routine to hit the bed by 10pm. All these man-made EMF and interference will disrupt your sleeping hormones receptors causing poor sleep quality.

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Journals/References:

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/28/10135.short
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2656292/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21075236
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22621349
http://www.journalsleep.org/viewabstract.aspx?pid=27617
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2902103/
http://www.annalsofepidemiology.org/article/s1047-2797(10)00113-4/abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15834840
http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/12/05/eurheartj.ehr397.abstract

WOD - Primal movement

When the chips are low, when you feel a little exhausted from work at office, and if you don't feel like being a mouse on a wheel at the gym for an hour or so, or shooting your adrenals in the loud music pumping RPM class late at night, you might go for nature-based outdoor primal movement.

As indoor buildings which include gyms are 95% more polluted then outdoor in terms of air quality, a short drill of primal movement outdoor around nature might just be the tonic for you after a stressful day at work. Unless you are cultivating energy (work-in exercise), a quality short whole body movement circuit (6-7 rounds) is beneficial yet does not produce high amount of cortisol production.

Avoid strenuous workout session at least 3 hours before you actual circadian rhythm (10pm), due to cortisol suppressing melatonin sleep hormone which can prevent you from getting quality deep sleep.

When you workout, your body breaks down, catabolic state. Your body rebuild itself (anabolic) during para-sympathetic phase during sleep.  Bottom line, you will achieve optimum growth and results if you go to bed early and feed your body with high quality nutrition from whole foods and non of that junk nor toxic protein powders.

Enjoy the nature and move freely and rediscover the inner child in you. Enjoy the short exercise video below shot at local training ground. 

Microwave oven - One of the most dangerous kitchenware ever invented!

As I observe many people in my workplace going in and out of the pantry, one of the most frequently used kitchen appliances is the microwave oven. Apart from the coffee machine, this would arguably rated as 2nd most used appliance in my workplace or most offices. It is also prized for convenience and common in most homes, as most people are not aware of the harmful affect of using microwave oven.

In reality, most people tend to spend most of their time at work (job), or doing something else which is lower priority or less important on their daily routine. Let's face it, social networking, watching late night TV, playing online games, etc. The same group of people usualy complain about having no time to prepare their foods or too expensive to spend on organic whole foods. What happen next? Regular take-away meals on daily basis, more exposure to microwave radiation on the foods, developing more digestive problems, setting up food intolerance, malnutrition, etc. 

Today, I will briefly share with you the 4 known issues with using microwave oven. It is hazardous and alarming to our body and health, and many more people should be aware of heating up foods with microwave oven, instead of being ignorant about it. One important note for breastfeeding mothers. If you are feeding your baby with your own milk/infant milk formula, DO NOT heat it with microwave oven before giving it to your infant! The baby's immune system is yet to fully developed and will incur more damage to the body then adult.

Why microwave oven is so dangerous? 

- It's a radiation based electrical appliance. It alter the particles and destroy most of the nutrients and live enzymes of the foods you are about to consume. In a nutshell, you are eating a nutrient depleted almost-dead meal. This will impair your digestion and assimiliation capacity and creating food intolerance in the process, if prolonged use of microwaved foods. 

- Assuming you are buying your meal from outside, packed in a so called 'microwavable plastic' container, or even bringing your own home-cooked non-organic meal in a low quality plastic tupperware. The heating process using microwave oven will leech the chemicals (easily more then 30-50) into your foods. These chemicals are known as obesogens (phthalates, atrazine, BPA, PFOA, etc), also known as estrogen mimickers or endocrine disrupters. It will make you fat, confuse your body mimicking higher amount of estrogen level and increased risk of cancer. 

- What is even worst, is it create a new breed of pesticides during radiation heating process from the existing amount of pesticides in the foods, creating a pesticides factory in your gut! A new host of pesticides never found by scientists and your liver has no idea how to metabolize these toxins. 

- Study has shown exposure to devices such as microwave oven, can affect the heart.

according to Dr. Magda Havas of Trent University. Dr. Havas says:

"This is the first study that documents immediate and dramatic changes in both heart rate and heart rate variability caused by an approved device that generates microwaves at 

levels well below (0.3 percent) federal guidelines in both Canada and the United States."

How to reduce the amount of obesogens exposure?

- Avoid drinking/shower unfiltered water

- Avoid drinking from cans and bottled water/beverages

- Be aware of air-fresheners and fragrance products

- Avoid cooking with no-stick pan and consuming microwave popcorn

Journals/References: 

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/34532034.html

http://www.litalee.com/documents/Microwaves%20And%20Microwave%20Ovens.pdf 

http://healingtools.tripod.com/thn4.html

http://www.goodhealthinfo.net/radiation/health_efx_western.htm

http://www.magdahavas.com/2010/04/01/dect-phones-affect-the-heart/ 

Leaky Gut - Do you have it? (Assessment)

Leaky gut? What on earth is that? The question being thrown at me many times over the last year or so, and a condition more people beginning to realize they may be suffering from it. Before we proceed further, please take note that up to 80% of our immune system comes from the gut. What does that tells us? Our gut is extremely crucial for optimal health and prevention of most diseases.

We have heard many times "You Are What You Eat". That may sound right in some way, but in fact, "You Are What Your Body Can Break Down". Seeing undigested foods in your poop, or unable to digest fats or protein from the foods you eat, there is no way your body can achieve optimum nutrients assimilation. You could be suffering from atrophy of the villi or chronic inflammation of the mucosal lining of the gut and in most cases, patients end up misdiagnosed by their doctors.

Unless you undergo functional lab testing, endoscopy procedure may be your only best bet to find out what is wrong with your gut. Most commercial standard health screening DO NOT include testing to investigate what is going on with your GI tract, especially your gut. There are couple of functional lab test companies (BIOHEALTH & CYREX) which are available in many countries, but you have to locate the practitioners or functional medical doctors to work with you on the test kits, results and protocols.

But, what else can we do if we can't get hold of these functional test kits and want to find out if we suffer from leaky gut? If there any assessment of other home test available? As I always tell all my clients and friends, no one will know better then yourself in regards to your own body. Not even your doctor, nutritionist, personal trainer or any health expert. All you need, is really listen and in-sync with your own body. It is signalling to you all the time, the symptoms and how you feel. From bloating to brain fog and constant fatigue and insomnia, the brain-gut axis is regulating each other all the time.

If you research in pubmed, you will not find studies/journals associate with leaky gut. Use the keyword 'intestinal permeability', and there you go, a whole list of studies related to this condition. Triggers which damage and cause gut permeability include wheat, sugar, toxins, most grains, chronic stress and primarily anything which raises cortisol stress hormone in an extended period of time.

Some of you readers might be wondering, why is this assessment important? Isn't the conventional health screening sufficient? Most health screening tests are just the 'tip of the iceberg' overview of what is really going on with your body. The below assessment is a manual, more detailed symptoms and lifestyle based data retriever, if functional lab testing is not possible. But, if you are able to run the functional lab for intestinal musocal screening and cross match with below questionnaire results, that would even further determining the severity of the intestinal permeability.

Remember, if your body can't break down the foods you eat, the assimilation capacity will be impaired, and that translate into poor digestion and malnutrition. Doesn't matter if you are eating organic whole foods or the healthiest diet on the planet. If you have leaky gut, the risk of autoimmune disease is almost inevitable, as every autoimmunity condition has a leaky gut component. It is now the third leading cause of death globally, behind heart disease and cancer. Your gut, is the most important pillar of health and the foundation of optimal health and disease prevention.

Questionnaire assessment:

• Did you get less then 8 hours of sleep most night?
• Do you crave for sugar, sweets or breads?
• Do you ever go more then 1 day without a bowel movement? 
• Do you have eczema, rashes or acne?
• Do you have autoimmune condition/disease such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimoto's, Psoriasis, MS, etc?
• Do you struggle with depression, anxiety or lack of mental clarity and focus?
• Do you have low energy level or frequent fatigue?
• Are you currently taking any medications or aspirin/ibuprofen?
• Do you have multiple foods sensitivities or food allergies? Example, gluten and dairy
• Are your stress levels moderate to high?
• Have you ever struggled with any type of candida, yeast or fungal infections?
• Do you have thyroid condition or sluggish metabolism?
• Do you have frequent diarheaa or loose stools?
• Do you have gas, bloating or other digestive issues once or more per week?
• Do you struggle with seasonal allergies?
• Do you have a very busy life?
• Do you have IBS, Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's disease?
• Have you ever been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease?
• Do you suffer from any type of pain including joint pain or headaches?
• Do you get sick often (more then 2 times per year) or feel like you need an immune system boost?

Now, if you scored 1-2 from the list of questionnaire, there is a high chance you have leaky gut. And if you scored 3 or more, you definitely have a intestinal permeability. In modern society, it would be rare for someone to get score zero in this leaky gut assessment. Unless you are very healthy and have been eliminating prescription drugs, stimulants such as sugars, wheat, alcohol and symptom free, you may be at low risk of suffering from leaky gut.