Fitness News Magazine

I’ve long advocated getting outside to do your workout whenever you possibly can. It can definitely be a challenge for those of us that don’t live in such temperate climates, like me for example. The weather doesn’t exactly agree about 75% of the year around here with that goal, so I’m often finding other ways to exercise, or exercising outside (usually jogging) when it’s a little too chilly to still be doing so.

There are many reasons I’ve cited personally that getting outside to exercise really agrees with me. Among them are getting fresh air, seeing greenery and getting sunshine as well as smelling the scents and seeing the beautiful scenery that nature has to offer, which is in and of itself invigorating and rejuvenating to the body and the brain.

Now I’m reading that there is another very good reason to get outdoors to do your workout if you possibly can.  A new study has shown that seeing the color green can actually make you work out harder.  Yep, just the simplicity of seeing that glorious color that nature is often painted with has a positive effect on how great your workout can be!

How can researchers determine this? Well, they did a study where participants were asked to get on a stationary bike while watching various simulated scenes on a monitor in front of them. They showed various outdoor nature-like scenes with one caveat.

They would switch up the color filters on the nature scenes for each study segment in order to see how the various filtered colors affected the study participants in their mood and perceived sense of well being. Both of these have an important impact on how well we work out and how positive the impact of our workout is because they give us that mental and physical boost that we need and crave from our workouts.

As they say, there is a huge mind-body connection and most people look for not only a physical sense of energy and strength from working out, but they also look for that extra mental and emotional boost as well.  I actually feel like my workouts are more about keeping my emotions in check the older I get, so it goes to show that working out has shifting priorities for most people as they get older.

In the end, the study participants who saw the natural scenery with the green filter were the ones who reported the least negative emotional feelings and felt less fatigued than the participants who viewed the screens with other colors like red filters and black and white filters.

This is the first study that tells us that it may not just be the sounds and scents of getting outdoors that helps boost our mood and therefore our workout’s effects, but it may in large part actually have a lot to do with something a whole lot more simplistic (and easily controlled) the color green. Perhaps this might lead to some interesting displays one can buy when working out that help boost mood. More to come on this interesting discovery….

There are a few things other than exercising, and of course eating the right diet, that can really help you live a long and heart-healthy life these days.  Of course exercise is still on the forefront along with eating a diet that agrees with your body and keeps your waistline trim, but there are a few other habits that will really help your ticker stay strong.

You’re familiar with the link we always make between our hearts and our emotions.  Often times, we say someone has a “big heart” or they have a kind or soft heart.  Well, we know logically that our hearts really are not our brains and responsible for our actual behaviors, but it seems that the heart gets so much attention because it truly is our lifeblood. Without our hearts, we would not be alive.

So it’s funny that the two life habits I’m about to review actually have a lot to do with your brain activity and emotions, because after all the two are related even if science cannot find the exact causal effects other than the biological outcomes that some of the behaviors lead to.

The first is to be kind to people.  A recent study found that being kind and compassionate toward others and also by taking part in a compassionate awareness exercise where one meditates on being compassionate toward someone other than themselves, increased the flow of positive hormones and chemicals in the body.  This lead to a better, more relaxed and less anxious existence which is linked to better heart health and a much longer life span.

So basically, being kind has its health benefits. It’s not just the way you feel about yourself when you’re kind (most people tend to feel a tremendous sense of self worth and pride when they are kind, and mostly people with high self esteem exhibit kind behavior which is no surprise because these people tend to be more self aware).

Another lifestyle habit that can really help your heart health is owning a pet.  It has been a scientifically known fact for a while now that owning a pet seems to result in lower blood pressure and lower stress hormone levels circulating in the body.

In fact, studies have shown that the mere act of making eye contact with your beloved pet (I know this is what happens when I get “love eyes” from either of my cats), or petting them actually lowers your blood pressure on the spot and has anxiety-easing powers.

If that’s not evidence enough that owning a pet can help you live a happier and healthier life, then I don’t know what is. Strictly from an anecdotal stance, I can tell you that most of the older people I’ve known seem to really “live” for their pets.

Owning an animal that relies on you for its care and shows unconditional love in return can really give a sense of purpose to your life, especially when you begin to get in your very advanced years and start losing a lot of friends and love ones simply because so much time has passed and people all have different life spans.

So there you have it. You still do need exercise of some sort on a daily basis – don’t think these two life choices are going to let you get away without those two necessities. However, these two very pleasant parts of life actually don’t just add a level of pleasure to your life, they may actually extend it!

I have asthma, and have had asthma since I was a small child. I started to get asthma attacks when I was about 8 years old give or take a year, and it really hit me like a ton of bricks because I had never experienced the sensation of “suffocating” as I had before I had my first attack after a long romp in a field full of pollen and physical activity.

I’m still convinced that my sugary and starchy diet probably had something to do with its onset since all I was interested in as a kid was sweets and carbs – and not the good kind. The problem is, there’s only so much influence a parent can influence over a child when they’re young in what they eat since half the time they’re so picky parents are just thankful when they want to eat anything that’s not a sugar bomb.

I remember as a child that I used to think physical activity would trigger my asthma. While it is true that it could be a catalyst, it was really the lack of exercise and then the short bursts of activity that my lungs simply hadn’t built up the capacity to that caused them. That and emotional distress were the two biggest factors.

The thing is, you have to do a lot of physical activity in order to build your lung capacity up. If you’re a couch potato most of the time, of course you’re going to get an asthma attack if you finally move and exert a lot of energy. Your lungs cannot handle it because you haven’t conditioned them to take in oxygen and put it out correctly.

You get a lot of cardiovascular conditioning and lung conditioning without even knowing it when you are active. This builds up your tolerance for activity and makes your lungs more resistant to asthma attacks, which are essentially when the bronchial tubes constrict when the lungs are over stressed.

Those that get regular physical activity in their daily routine are much more likely to hold asthma attacks at bay. I’m the perfect example of this. I notice that when I’m not as active, it’s easier for me to get asthma even though thank goodness I’ve mostly outgrown it as I’ve gotten older.

The reasons for this, in my case at least, are twofold. Asthma, for me, is a very emotional condition. If I’m upset, scared, anxious or frightened, I actually will get an asthma attack simply from these types of emotions. Even excitement will sometimes do it!

These emotions are typically coupled with cortisol and other negative stress hormones which elevate things like heart rate and blood pressure. When I exercise regularly, it’s like a natural antidote to these negative hormone surges in my body. Since the exercise quells the hormones, it also in turn helps me to not react by having an asthma flare up.

Also as we talked about before, working out builds up the lung tissue and makes the bronchial tubes more powerful and resilient. Since the integrity of the lungs is strong, the likelihood of malfunction via an asthma attack is dramatically decreased, making you less likely to suffer these attacks.