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It doesn’t take a very shiny object to get my attention. I noticed that when I’m out shopping, I can get into the holiday frenzy just like anyone else. I get home and there’s a bag of stuff that I bought.
How do you prevent yourself from buying some glittery objects or gifts that you just can’t resist?
MAKE A LIST.
And stick to it. Write out everyone’s name who is on your gift recipient list. Write out what they are getting, where you’ll buy it and what it’s going to cost. I’ve talked to people who are doing “Secret Santas” this year and are drawing names. Some are just doing it to save on the amount of “stuff” that comes through the household.
This weekend I spent the weekend at a Toronto hospital while my son got an emergency appendectomy. Thank goodness for socialized medicine.
As I was trying to rest in the middle of the night, I was reflecting on how important it is to be healthy and stay out of hospitals. One woman was ambulanced into the ER and looked about 90. She was 65. Decades of hard living brought her to the hospital. She was on a cornucopia of drugs and was having trouble with day-to-day living. Another woman had fainted because she was living on a diet of donuts and coffee. (Hey, I could hear everything through those sheeted “walls”.)
My moral from this whole experience was to stay healthy.
Eat well – cut out all that fried food, sugar, chemically-processed food and overeating. Eat those fruits and vegetables. Get outdoors and walk or bicycle. Practice safe sex. Stop smoking and drinking (or at least cut down). Take multi-vitamins. Get enough sleep. Talk to your friends and connect with people (help them and they might help you when you need it). Get an annual check-up. Sing (from an earlier post).
Hopefully it’ll keep you out of hospital and save you money and aggravation.
I clipped an article out of Toronto’s Globe & Mail newspaper about a month ago. It was a story on the health benefits of singing and how it can heal the body.
This article talks about how singing reduces stress and pain. In a three-year study in those 55 and older, it showed significant health improvements including few doctor visits, less need for medication and fewer falls and other injuries - among other benefits.
This link shows numerous health benefits:
- Lung development and strengthening
- Back strengthening and posture correction
- Bowel, bladder and stomach strengthening
- Neurological improvement
- Oxygen to the blood system and brain
- Increased concentration
- Energetic and euphoric uplift
- Confidence
- Discipline
- Improved vocabulary and grammar
Other benefits include:
- Helps sufferers of sleep apnea
- Helps retrain breathing for asthma sufferers and panic attack patients
- Helps reduce the feelings of depression or anxiety through the release of endorphins during singing
- Overcomes shyness and nervous reactions to attention and crowds
- Improves confidence in public speaking and public appearances
- Improves articulation and presence when speaking
In Southern Ontario, a barbershop quartet called The Graytones have been harmonizing together for over 13 years. The four men are in their 70s and 80s and have been singing for decades longer than that. They’re all pretty healthy. The group’s leader says, “When you’re happy, you’re probably healthier. And it’s hard to be sad when you’re singing.”
So when the radio is playing in the car, belt out that song. It’s good for you.
This week with the weather improving, I have begun to walk more regularly.
Here is About.com’s calorie and distance calculator. The average person walks at a speed of 3 mph. Walk for 30 minutes. Let’s say you weigh 140 pounds. Click the Calculate It! button and you’ve burned 95 calories. There are 3500 calories in a pound. Without any other changes in your diet, you will lose a pound in 37 days. That’s 10 pounds in a year just with that walk every day.
Additionally, I take stairs when I can and I park as far as I can in the parking lot (less chance of the car getting dinged as well).
In March, I’m going to be taking aquafitness instructor classes so we can have them here at Campark Resorts this summer.
What is aquafitness? It is a fitness routine in a swimming pool.
In Canada, we have the Canadian Aquafitness Leaders Alliance Inc. In the US, there is the United States Water Fitness Association.
This is great exercise for people of all ages, as long as you don’t mind getting wet.
Aquafitness instructors are paid $25 to $40 an hour. I was talking to the gal at the Canadian Aquafitness Leaders Alliance and she said that one of their instructors was just exercising at a pool and people asked to join in and she now holds classes and makes money. Their website also has loads of job listings. Additionally, you could offer your services at the local Y or fitness club (obviously one with a pool).
When my son was growing up, I spent most of my time chasing him, so I stayed slim and fit. We bicycled, ran or walked everywhere.
Today, when I drive by the Y and see all of those people in the window on stationary bicycles, I think it’s a pity that they aren’t wired into the electrical grid and providing electricity for the building. That is as close as I get to the gym.
I have to get back into the exercise gig. I’ve gotten a dog. Well, in actual fact, I’m dogsitting for an indefinite period so this is my big opportunity to get fit. I like the idea. We both get exercise.
