Who Needs Friends? We Do!

Do you have a core group of people in your life with whom you feel a connection? The group doesn't have to be large...just one or two people with whom you feel comfortable and can spend time together. Being connected to other people is a form of self-care. Spending time with your tribe is good for you, not only while you're together but also in the "afterglow" of the time spent together. 

Humans are social animals and being connected to others has a great impact on your mental and physical health. We need to feel needed, valued and loved. Having strong ties to family and friends helps to alleviate stress and increases your zest for life. We learn to be more empathetic when we care for someone besides ourselves. Staying healthy is also easier knowing that someone cares for you too. 

Spending time together with your network has many other benefits too. You have increased self-esteem from the support and a greater sense of self and a feeling of identifying with a group. Your stress level is reduced and your mood is enhanced. 

When you are together with your tribe, find ways to have fun. Participate in healthy activity like walking or sports. Have a meal together. Play a game. Sit and chat. 

Your interactions don't have to be only with your close family and friends to be beneficial. Connect with strangers. You can achieve fulfillment from a friendly chat with someone you meet on the street, in a store or any place you are that includes others. It's important that we stay connected to other human beings to help us to know our place in the world. It makes for a much richer and more fulfilling life. 

As a health coach, I work with women to find their power to overcome health challenges and live a fuller, happier, more energetic life. If you would like to have a free consultation about the health challenges you have and the improvements you would like to see in your health, click www.karensammer.com/contact to schedule a no strings attached call.  

Maybe We Should Sleep On It

How important is sleep? Beyond feeling rested and getting rid of dark circles under the eyes, sleep has a very important role in our lives and without it our health suffers. 

Why do we need sleep?

While we sleep, our cells are being repaired. We tend to think that sleep is downtime for our body when, in fact, we are quite active during sleep.While there is still a lot of mystery around the sleep process, a lot of information is known about its importance. 

During sleep, our bodies process and store information from the day before and solidify memories. As we go through life, we are bombarded by a lot of information and it's during sleep that we are able to organize and commit much of it to long-term memory.

We require long periods of sleep to rebuild, repair and restore muscle and other tissue and to synthesize hormones. Because young children learn so much during their earliest years, like language and other life skills needed to survive, it is likely that they require the most sleep.  

According to the National Sleep Foundation, the guidelines for adequate sleep by age group are as follows:

• infants (4-11 months) 12-15 hours
• school age children (6-13 years) 9-11 hours
• teenagers (14-17 years) 8-10 hours
• young adults and adults (18-64 years) 7-9 hours
• older adults (65+ years) 7-8 hours

What happens if we don't get enough sleep?

Sleep deprivation has many detrimental effects on your health and well-being. Although it is a good idea to try to make up for lost sleep, you cannot accumulate a large sleep deficit and then make up for it by sleeping many hours afterward. 

Sleep deprivation can make one accident-prone and clumsy. Drowsy driving is as bad as driving while intoxicated. Many fatal accidents occur when the driver has fallen asleep at the wheel.

There are many health issues that are made worse by a lack of sleep. High blood pressure has been linked to a lack of adequate, deep, restorative sleep. When you are overtired, you are more likely to overeat and to succumb to cravings. This is due, in part, to the fact that your hunger hormones, leptin and ghrelin are not working properly. When you are overtired, your ghrelin levels could be high causing you to feel hungry while your leptin levels are low, causing you to not feel satisfied or full after eating. Additionally, your metabolism is negatively impacted by a lack of sleep and could contribute to the development or the exacerbation of diabetes.

Teen-agers who consistently lack sleep perform poorly in school. It's been shown that teens who can start school later in the day than the typical high school day starts, perform better in testing. This is possibly because their circadian rhythms are such that they are not ready to sleep early enough at night to get adequate sleep before they have to get up for school that starts very early in the morning. Some schools have implemented an early morning nap opportunity for high-schoolers and have found that this helps in school performance.

Lack of sleep has also been associated with mood disorders and depression and other mental health issues. People who don't get enough sleep may have trouble regulating their emotions. One way prisoners of war are broken by their captors is by being deprived of sleep as a means of torture. Extreme sleep deprivation causes mental and physical harm that will ultimately lead to death.        

The best habit you can develop for yourself to ensure healthy sleep habits is to consistently go to bed and get up at the same time each day after sufficient sleep. This is how you are able to keep your circadian rhythm in synch and you can be sure you are well rested to face your life.  

As a health coach, I work with women to find their power to overcome health challenges and live a fuller, happier, more energetic life. If you would like to have a free consultation about the health challenges you have and the improvements you would like to see in your health, click www.karensammer.com/contact to schedule a no strings attached call.    

Water Water Everywhere...How much should we drink and why?

Did you know that our bodies consist of about 75% water? We need water for every joint, every organ, every system and in fact, every cell in our bodies require water to perform optimally.

How much water do we need to consume?

Some think that 64 ounces of water daily is adequate for everyone, but that does not take into account differences in body types, sex, activity levels, environmental factors such as humidity and temperature or any other differences that may require more or less water consumption. 

There are others who believe that using the body weight of the individual in the calculation of how much water to consume is a more accurate way to determine water needs. Consumption of half the body weight in ounces of water will ensure proper hydration in most cases (e.g. a person weighing 150 pounds would need about 75 ounces of water daily).

Why do we need water?

Water is vital for the proper function of every cell in the body. It helps to form the saliva needed to begin the digestive process. It supports proper brain function and the development of hormones and neurotransmitters. Water helps to regulate body temperature through perspiration and respiration. It assists in the removal of waste and toxins from the body. It helps to break down food into a useable form for our cells to be nourished. It helps to lubricate the joints and keep the organs supple and functioning. Water aids in the transmission of oxygen to all the cells in the body. Every aspect of the body works better when adequate fresh clean water is consumed.

Beyond the daily needs of adequate water consumption, for general good health we need water to regulate blood pressure, maintain kidney health,  and optimize exercise performance.  Healthy skin requires adequate hydration.  

Water can be obtained from foods like fruits and vegetables and other water containing foods but most should be acquired through drinking clean fresh water.

If drinking plain water is not appealing, you can squeeze a little fresh fruit juice into it for flavor. Drinking caffeine free herbal tea is acceptable as well.

Beverages that should NOT be used as a substitute for water are those containing caffeine, alcohol and sugar or artificial sweeteners. Caffeine and alcohol act as diuretics and will exacerbate dehydration and sugar and artificial sweeteners add extra calories and carcinogenic chemicals to the body. 

When given the choice between water and other beverages, water is always the wiser choice. Try it...you might be surprised at how much better you will feel fully hydrated.   

As a health coach, I work with women to find their power to overcome health challenges and live a fuller, happier, more energetic life. If you would like to have a free consultation about the health challenges you have and the improvements you would like to see in your health, click www.karensammer.com/contact to schedule a no strings attached call.  

Let's Talk About Stress

Stress

Your body is an amazing machine that was designed to survive. All of your vital organs have a role in that survival. When there is perceived danger, your various systems will slow or shut down to focus your resources on keeping you safe. Digestion stops, blood flow is restricted, adrenaline and cortisol production is increased, breathing becomes shallow, heart races…all of these are a reaction to stress.

What is stress?

According to the Cleveland Clinic, stress is your body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. Stress is a normal part of life. You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts. Even positive life changes such as a promotion, a mortgage, or the birth of a child produce stress.

Our bodies are designed to experience stress and react accordingly. Stress can be a good thing. It keeps us alert and ready to escape danger. However, when a person experiences chronic or continuous stress without relief, that’s where we get into trouble. Our bodies have a built-in stress response in the autonomic nervous system which causes us to develop physiological changes when we are under stress that allow us to “save” ourselves under dangerous circumstances. This is known as the “fight or flight” response and is activated in the case of perceived emergency. When behaving normally, the fight or flight response will be activated when a dangerous situation presents itself but as soon as the danger is removed, our system should return to normal. Under chronic stress however, this response never shuts off and may result in emotional and physical harm long term.

How does stress affect us?

A body under constant and continuous stress will likely develop physical and mental or emotional symptoms such as: headache, digestive issues, insomnia, irritability, anxiety, sexual dysfunction, anti-social behavior, chest pain, elevated blood pressure, and many other health issues. Chronic stress could also lead to poor lifestyle choices such as: poor food choices, excessive drinking, reckless behavior and is linked to several disease states. Stress is linked to several of the leading causes of death like heart disease, accidents, cancer and suicide. 

People under chronic stress are more likely to engage in dangerous or compulsive behaviors like gambling, casual sex, pornography and overuse or abuse substances such as: tobacco, alcohol, recreational drugs, and shopping. Ironically, the behaviors used by people trying to alleviate stress actually end up adding to and increasing the stress level. The victims are trapped in a vicious, never-ending cycle of chronic stress.

What should we do to minimize stress?

The Mayo Clinic suggests ways to minimize or alleviate the effects of stress on the body. They suggest practicing relaxation technics like: deep breathing, meditation, yoga, tai chi, regular massage (my favorite). Get regular exercise or other kinds of physics activity. Socialize with people  you love or at least like, engage in relaxing hobbies and don’t take yourself or your life so seriously. Be sure to get enough good quality sleep, make healthy food choices, avoid using tobacco and recreational drugs, and  avoid excess alcohol and caffeine intake.

The effects of stress on the body often look like health issues. If you have taken steps to lower or eliminate the stress in your life and you still experience symptoms, see your health professional. There could be something else going on. If you experience shortness of breath, chest pressure or pain, dizziness or pain in arms or shoulders upon exertion, seek immediate and emergent help. These could be signs of a cardiac event and must be addressed immediately.

Stress is an inevitable part of life but if it is unrelenting, it can be a troublemaker that you do not need. Pay attention to the stressors in your life and do your best to eliminate them or at least minimize them.

As a health coach, I empower women to overcome health challenges and live a fuller, happier, more energetic life. If you would like to have a free consultation about the health challenges you have and the improvements you would like to see in your health, click www.karensammer.com/contact to schedule a no strings attached call.

Stepping Into the Challenge Once Again

So I'm back at it again. I've accepted another challenge to write 30 blog posts in 30 days and I'm already late for day one. 

I decided to take this challenge on again to force myself to develop some discipline around what I really want to do...help people live their best and healthiest lives. So as the month progresses, I will post on topics I hope most will find helpful. 

Some of the topics I'll attempt to shed light on will be:

• stress and its detrimental effects on our health and well-being
• the importance of staying hydrated
• sleep and how it effects us
• connection to other people 
• heart disease in women
• breast cancer treatment...the gift that keeps on giving
• exercise as a deterrent to so many health issues
• detox...what does it mean and how should it be done

These are just a few of the topics I'll discuss as time goes on. My plan is to stay with the theme of health throughout the month. We are moving into spring, a season of renewal, as we come out of our winter hibernation.

If you are anything like me, you want to increase your energy and feel a sense of renewal yourself. Maybe you put on a few winter pounds, didn't really exercise much because you were hunkered down and generally feel like you want to wash away the winter blues. We can do it together. 

I hope you stay with me this month and maybe I'll help you with a little information you might not have considered. Stay tuned.   

By the way, the picture, not me, but maybe someday. 

Could You Just Love Me Like This?

This poem brings tears to my eyes. The author is Hollie Holden and I think so many people, especially women, can relate to this feeling. 

How many times have you looked in the mirror and been critical of your body, your hair, your skin? 

How many times have you said negative things to other people about yourself? 

How many times have you said something like "I hate my (fill in the blank)?"

We are often our own worst enemy, and we speak to or about ourselves in a way we would never speak about someone else...especially someone we love.

Here's an idea...why not treat yourself at least as well as you treat someone you respect or dare I say, even love?   

Give yourself a break. Look in the mirror and find something about your body that you can be proud of. It doesn't have to be what you look like. 

Are you smart? You have a gifted brain. 

Are you loving? You have a kind and beautiful heart. 

Are you able to move of your own accord? You have strong legs and feet.

Find some part of you to love and just love unconditionally. Look in the mirror and express that love. You may feel uncomfortable at first but you deserve at least the love you share with others. You are worthy.

  

Everyone Looks Beautiful in Red...Did You Go Red Today?

Today is Go Red for Women with Heart Disease. This event has never been so important to me. I have spent this past week and will spend most of the month of February speaking about WomenHeart and women with or at risk for heart disease. 

It has been so interesting meeting women who have had their own cardiac events or they know they are at risk but are afraid to confront it, or are just interested in learning about it.

One in three women will die of heart disease. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in  both women and men. More women will die of heart disease than all forms of cancer combined. More men have heart attacks but more women will die from them.  

Women experience cardiac events very differently compared to men. Our symptoms are different. They may not be as dramatic as men's. Testing during, or immediately following, a heart attack may prove inconclusive or appear to have "normal" results. If the ER docs don't recognize the symptoms a woman presents with, the patient will be sent home often after being told she is having anxiety, indigestion or she is dehydrated or some other misclassification of her symptoms, only to possibly go to sleep and have a fatal cardiac event later. Her chances of survival are dramatically increased if she has a female cardiologist tending to her.

Our physiology is different from men's beyond the obvious so we do not respond to treatment the same way men do. Most of the testing historically has been performed on men and no distinction is made for the physiological differences women have on dosing and other aspects of treatment. 

Heart disease is not just reserved for men. Women need to be able to advocate for themselves when they find themselves in a situation that is potentially life threatening. You know your body more than anyone else, so do not allow yourself to be marginalized or dismissed. It could be a matter of life and death.