Damage Control Tips for Your Health
Every day we damage our bodies living in the environments we live in. Not talking about a bruise or a cut, at the cellular level we damage our bodies and our bodies constantly make an attempt to repair that damage either during the day, or at night while we sleep.
Our bodies are meant to do repair work daily, but the amount of damage is greater than what was ever planned for, consequently numerous problems result in a variety of diseases we have all heard of, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, and a number of others.
Sleep was initially meant to repair the body and tissues, and cells from occurrences during the day, a finger crushed between two rocks, some scraps climbing a tree, a bite from an animal, or simply lifting or moving heavy objects like rocks or logs. This kind of damage parallels weightlifting (hopefully not the crushed finger), and breaking down muscle fibers, and building them back stronger. The body was meant to handle this.
Then we have the electronic onslaught of damage to the body. Cell phones, wireless routers, microwave ovens, electric toothbrushes and shavers, and improperly wired electricity in our homes name some of the ways damage is inflicted on us at the cellular level.
Foods that we eat, and the amount of sugar or salt in our foods dramatically affect our health, ways that we cook or overcook those foods, and eating too much of even the healthiest food brings more to the body that has to be sorted out and dealt with on a cellular level. One might begin to think…do I really want that bowl of ice cream, or that bag of chips?
Investing in our health is vitally important, can you stop using your cell phone, or make an attempt to use it less? Can you choose to eat healthier foods, and not overcook them? Exercise as often as you can to increase your blood flow and move toxins out of your body. Make an attempt to refrain from using the above a few hours before bedtime, allow your body to calm itself, and you’ll find improved sleep, greater recuperation from your day, and improved strength during your workouts.
Life is a gift, think of it that way, and how you treat your body, and your body will reward you for making the right choices!
Health Votes
December 9, 2010 at 10:22 am
Damage is unavoidable, it is the control that is a must. technology has gone out of our hands, even if i do not keep a cell phone near me, the next guy would and the waves traveling through his cell phone will surely penetrate me.
So, in a condition like this, the control aspects that you mentioned is important. A few things like drinking enough water, improving the quality and the amount of sleep, eating healthy foods and skipping junk food wherever possible… are just a few to mention.
Fingerman
December 9, 2010 at 11:21 am
You are absolutely correct, damage is unavoidable, and the things within our control are what we can change. If you don’t use a cell phone much, or not at all that is something you can control. If you choose not to use a wireless router yourself that you too can control. Can you ask when you stay in a hotel where the wireless router is, and then ask for a room far from it? When someone is using a cell phone near you can you walk away? If you are with people regularly who use cell phones can you make it known in a polite way that you prefer not to be near them?
We all control what we eat and if we know what the healthy foods are then we decide what to eat and not eat. Eating healthy food isn’t the only component that makes us healthy, not eating food that is unhealthy is the other piece to the puzzle!
Truly restful sleep, which we prepare for does help us to regenerate ourselves, going to bed on a full stomach, one could have closed eyes, but the digestive system is working overtime, not very restful. Screen time could stop a few hours before bed so that the cells in the body have an opportunity to relax, to be calm before going to sleep! True rest and recuperation for the mind/body before we wake up to do it all again!
Richard Harrison
December 10, 2010 at 10:00 am
Ever since I doubled my daily workout times about 2 months ago everyone has ben telling me to cool it! That I was putting to much into and not getting that much out other than possible exhaustion. Did I listen? Well of course not. This week I crashed. Just couldn’t so it any longer. Got R.E. Dickson’s Cut Thru The Crap (buy it!) and decided to change my plan. I don’t know who I thought I was competing with.
Rest and recovery and good nutrition are equally important to reps. Some of us have a hard time with reality.
-richard
Fingerman
December 10, 2010 at 10:22 am
We all “compete” against ourselves. You wanted more than what you were getting. Many of us have been down the road of overtraining, and not making strength gains because of the overtraining. Rest and recuperation, proper sleep and the right diet will show greater gains than will more training. The stronger you get the more rest between lifting for those muscle groups you might need. If you get stronger and lift more weight, the body needs more time to recuperate and then grow stronger. You might find greater gains lifting with more intensity, fewer sets 6 reps instead of 10, heavier weight, using 3/4, or ideally static contractions.
Richard Harrison
December 10, 2010 at 10:35 am
Thanks Fingerman! Good advice that I will (am) following! Happy Healthy Restful Holidays!
Fingerman
December 20, 2010 at 11:09 am
Fast food will always be around the corner!! In our culture most of us are not limited by the types of food we eat, or the amount of food we eat! We are allowed to eat, or allow ouselves to eat whatever we want, whatever we choose to eat. It doesn’t depend on what we killed this week, or whether or not its in season. Most of us know what the healthy food choices are, its whether or not we choose to eat healthy foods. If that’s the choice how damaging are the foods that we choose to eat, as opposed to the “ideal” diet! When we do reach the point of ideal, that we choose not to eat anything at all that is not ideal, we at point are fine tuning the engine of a precision racing machine! Decide where you forsee yourself, where you would like to be, where you strive to be! It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get there, whether that’s a week, a month, a year, or 10 years, because in the long run 5 or 10 years won’t really matter. Decide what your short term and long term goals are, commit that to paper, and begin on a path of your own that will reveal to you what you need to eat to be healthy, and more importantly what you shouldn’t eat to be healthy! Best of luck on your journey!!!!!!!