A vital part of being healthy is not just having a strong, fit body, you also need to have a strong, tough mind, one capable of withstanding tough times and maintaining a sense of balance and perspective. Building a tough body takes time and a lot of hard work. Building a tough mind is easy. Just support the England football (soccer) team.

Another day, another defeat for England's World Cup team

When you are exercising muscles you develop strength by stressing the muscle; as it recovers the muscle adds extra fibres to get bigger and stronger. It is the stressing of the muscle that helps build it up. It is the same with mental toughness. You need to stress the brain, to go through tough times, endure hardships and adversity to be able to develop the inner strength you need for god mental health.

Now no one in their right mind – and this is all about creating a right mind – would deliberately put themself through pain and suffering and anguish even if the end result was a healthier, more durable mind. But the good news is you don’t have to work hard to get that. It all comes naturally to supporters of the England football team.

Every World Cup that comes around the England team – if they even qualify – go in to the competition confident of their chances to win the whole thing. It’s not surprising really. The English invented the game, the English Premier League is the best in the world, and English teams often dominate European competitions. The problem is, many of the best players on those teams are not English and the best English players have consistently shown they are not good enough when faced by the best of the rest of the world.

End Result; Heartbreak

Every time English fans go into a World Cup game thinking ‘this time it will be different’. By the time the referee blows the whistle for the end of the match they have come to the sad realization that it’s exactly the same as it’s always been. Defeat. Pain. Frustration.

On the bright side that constant sense of frustration helps you develop the mental equivalent of a tough hide and that can be really useful in all walks of life.

Tough Times Breed Tough People

A few years ago a friend of mine was doing an in-depth series of studies on mental health in South East Asia as part of a Fellowship he won with the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism program. His Fellowship coincided with the 2004 tragic tsunami that killed an estimated quarter of a million people. In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami there was lots of speculation that there would be tremendous levels of mental health problems in the months and years to come with people suffering from the equivalent of post traumatic stress disorder.

Village destroyed by tsunami

Several months after the tsunami Greg traveled to Thailand to see what kind of impact the event had on the mental health of people living in the hardest hit areas. To everyone’s surprise there wasn’t that much evidence to suggest people were suffering at dramatically higher levels than usual. It turns out that people in those communities devastated by the tsunami already had such a tough life that they were better able to cope with the tragedy. It’s not that they were emotionally unaffected by the loss of so many friends and family, it’s just that the day-to-day hardships of their lives had prepared them to endure something that would have left most of us a wreck.

An Easier Route To Toughness

The vast majority of people in the US, Europe and other developed countries don’t have any such hardships on a regular basis to toughen us up so we have to find other ways.

English fans have a cross to bear

That’s why supporting England is so useful. It will guarantee you heartbreak on almost every occasion and leave you better equipped for anything life can throw at you.

But just in case England one day surprises me and does win something I’ve taken out extra insurance. Since moving to San Francisco I have supported the Giants baseball team. They haven’t won the World Series since 1954. And while England only disappoint every four years, the Giants do so every year. It’s like having a refresher course every summer.

So even if England let me down by winning one day, I know my faithful Giants will take up the slack and keep me mentally strong.

A close friend of mine was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It wasn’t a huge surprise. She hadn’t been taking care of herself; she ate a diet heavy in fats and sweets, and got very little exercise. She also has a family history of diabetes so with that kind of background and that kind of lifestyle everything was heading in one direction.

Even so, she was a little taken aback when she got the diagnosis.

Fortunately the disease was caught early, before any real damage had been done, and she was given some reading materials on how to take better care of herself. She was also given a session with a nutritionist who gave her advice on her diet, the kinds of food she could eat and the kind she should try and avoid.

There were no absolutes – no “you can never eat chocolate again” rules – just general guidelines.

Six months later she admits she is doing a poor job of making those lifestyle changes, of doing the things she needs to do to avoid having to take medications like insulin or, more seriously, of having complications such as damage to her kidneys or eyes.

When I asked her why she hadn’t made the changes she simply said “I just don’t have any will power.”

Now, most of us struggle from time to time, or maybe even all the time, with will power. For some the source of their temptation is chocolate or candy, for others it’s alcohol or drugs. None of us is immune to the problem and sooner or later we all give in to the temptation, albeit usually temporarily. But in my friends case it wasn’t that she was struggling with the temptation, she had given up even trying to fight it.

By telling herself she had no will power she was saying to herself she couldn’t control her urges or desires. In essence she was giving herself permission to fail.

There’s an old saying that comes to mind; “We are not what we think we are, but what we think, we are”

In other words the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves become our reality. If we tell ourselves we can’t do something we don’t do it. If we tell ourselves we have no will power we will have no will power.

The only problem is when  you try telling yourself you don’t have diabetes. Your brain may hear but your body has a mind of its own.

These are stressful times. Every day we are faced with difficult decisions. No, I’m not talking about politics or work or even family. I mean the problem when folks bring food into work and leave you asking yourself “Do I eat the chocolate chip cookie or the apple pie,” or the other daily dilemma “Should I shop online at work and risk getting caught or wait till I get home?”

That’s why it’s all the more important for us all to have some physical outlet, to ease the tension, and maybe even help us make the right decision.

Now, you may not have the time to hit the gym or perhaps never go to the gym because it’s too expensive,. but here’s something you can do at home any time of the day or night and it’s guaranteed to help relax and refresh you.

It’s the whole body stretch. It’s easy to do and it works on the whole front of the body as well as stretching out all the muscles that get tight sitting in front of a computer all day long.

Here’s how you do it. If you have one of those big, bouncy rubber exercise balls handy pull it out. If you don’t find a small footstool or similar sized object and put a thick towel or blanket over it to make it comfortable.

Lie face up on the ball and slowly adjust your position until the ball is halfway down your body and your back is fully supported. Straighten your legs and then stretch back over the ball so that your body is draped over it and your arms are hanging towards the floor.

That’s it. Hold it for 3-5 breaths. Sit up. Repeat.

Want to see how to do it. Here you go.

It’s amazing how something as simple as this can really help ease stress and tension and just let all those muscles that have been hunched and crunched all day stretch out.

I love to play squash. I’m not very good at it. In fact, to be brutally honest, I’m rubbish. But I’m enthusiastic and I try and I am getting better. Unfortunately the folks I play against are getting better as well so the gap between us remains the same. Here’s the proof - I am the one in the white shirt.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CyVCNRE-OA

I didn’t really start playing regularly until recently and most of the folks I’m playing have been doing it for years, they’ve played in college, they’ve had lessons. In short, they know what they’re doing. Me, I’m running around, flailing away while they glide around the court.

But for me none of that matters. I figure this is a game I can play for decades to come. Hopefully I’ll get better with time. But even if I don’t it’s still fun and it’s still great exercise. So, either way I win.

That same attitude can pay off in lots of different ways too, both mental and physical. We are all living longer than ever - in fact, a new book called Successful Cognitive and Emotional Aging says that two thirds of all people in the entire history of the world who have lived to the age of 65 are alive today - so we need to be doing things that mean those extra years are filled with good health and activity, not spent waiting in the doctor’s office or in bed.

In their book, authors Colin Depp PhD. and Dilip Jeste MD, look at the biological, environmental, and emotional factors that help people enjoy good mental and emotional health as they get older. The bottom line is that it’s never too early or too late to start working towards the goal of improving brain health (see, I just saved you $40, actually $45 including shipping!)

There’s no end of other studies that show that living a more active life is associated not just with a longer life but also with better quality life, mental and physical. That doesn’t mean you have to be running marathons into your 70′s - though if you do that’s pretty bloody impressive - it can mean just being physically active every day, walking, running, gardening, anything that gets your body moving.

The great news is that it doesn’t really matter when you start leading a more active life. Obviously the younger you start the better. But you can start in your 30′s, 40′s, 50′s 60′s, 70′s and so on. Ultimately the age is less important than the fact that you are doing it.

So how do you find the information you need to start being healthy? Well, there’s no end of books, magazines and websites out there willing to help point you in the right direction. For a fee. Some of them are good. Some not so good. But how do you tell the difference.

Don’t bother. There’s a much easier place to go to, that has excellent content, put together by the best experts in the field. And it’s all free. It’s the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s site on Healthy Aging for Older Adults.

While the focus is on older adults the information is applicable to pretty nearly everyone. So check it out. Act on it. It could save your life. Or at the very least make it a longer, healthier one.

Sometimes it feels as if you can’t turn around without bumping into another study that tells you how wonderful exercise is. Most of it is stuff you probably already know – at least it is if you read Health and Simple regularly – but once in a while you come across some fun new benefit that makes you think “cool”.

We’ll get to that in a minute.

But first.. Just Being Fat Increases a Kids Risk of Heart Disease
Now, we all know that more and more children are becoming overweight or even obese. Not just here in the U.S. but throughout Europe and other developed and affluent nations. Now a new study says the consequences of that may be far graver than we thought.

The study, in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, found that as early as age 7, being obese may raise a child’s risk of future heart disease and stroke, even if they don’t have any other risk factors for cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure.

That’s a wake-up call to parents, schools and pediatricians that they need to be more aggressive in working with kids with weight problems, to tackle them early and often so that those kids don’t grow up overweight or obese. The longer the problems persist, the greater the risk of future health problems.

Now, the news that fat kids start showing signs of heart disease early on is not new. But this adds an extra wrinkle. This shows that even if the kids are otherwise healthy and show no other indications of heart problems, just being fat shows they are heading for a world of health problems, unless we act quickly.

Move More Live Longer, and Healthier
OK, stop me if you heard this before. Exercise or physical activity is linked to a friggin’ host of wonderful things such as reduced risk of:

• arthritis
• falls
• fractures
• heart disease
• lung disease
• cancer
• diabetes
• obesity
• watching the Kardashians (OK, the evidence isn’t all in on this one but hopefully if you workout regularly you won’t have time to watch this dreadful, awful, scripted “reality” show) (note from Shirl:  I kinda like it…love the make-up!)

But now a bunch of new studies in the Archives of Internal Medicine show that exercise can have benefits in all sorts of fun, new ways

• Among women who are 70 or older, those who exercise regularly during middle age are healthier in many areas of health from less risk of chronic disease to lower risk of heart problems or dementia
• Exercise programs are associated with denser bones in older women. Why is that good? Because stronger bones mean less likely of fracture or other serious problems if you fall – either fall in love or fall in the shower
• Here’s my favorite. Resistance training can improve some cognitive skills in older women. This is such a cool study. The researchers found that doing resistance training just once or twice a week can not only improve attention and concentration skills among older women, but it can also improve conflict resolution skills. Amazing eh. Better conflict resolution skills. But then I figured that no one wants to argue with an old woman who’s built like Arnold Schwarzenneger so maybe that explains it. But what a cool granny eh!

When I die I am going to donate my body to science.  I figure that after many years as a journalist specializing in health, and now working for a hospital, that I have made a good living out of medicine and so should give something back – even if it is my discarded old carcass.

I don’t care what they do with my body, whether they use it for first year medical students to dissect, or they stick it under a tree at the Body Farm down in Tennessee, just as long as they take out all my functioning organs beforehand and give them to other people who might benefit.

Shirley is also going to donate her body to science, but with one stipulation; whatever they decide to do with her, she has to have on sunglasses.  Even in death she wants to look cool! That seems reasonable to me.

I know some people get squeamish at the thought of their body being sliced and diced but I really don’t mind what happens to me once I’m gone. If there is an afterlife and a God and a heaven, I shan’t need my body to get there. And if there isn’t, then I really won’t need it. So what the heck, someone else may benefit by my demise!

I bring this up only because of something I read recently about Spain’s organ donation program. In Spain it is pretty much assumed that you are going to donate your organs after death, unless you specify otherwise. In this country it’s the other way around.

I’ve only ever been to Spain once and that was really only passing through on my way from France to Portugal, but everyone I know who has been there says its a very cool place, the people are great, and they have some of the best football (soccer) teams in the world so I’m already a fan.

Add to that the fact that they think that organ donation is so important that you have to stand up and say “no” if you don’t want your organs harvested after death and used to save other people’s lives, then I’m thinking that this is a country we could all learn a lot from.

In the U.S. the organ donation rate is pitiful. There are close to 80,000 people on the organ donor waiting list and one in four of those will die before an organ becomes available. One in four. How horrible to be one of those people, or a husband or wife or mum or dad or sister or brother or friend or lover of one of those people and know that the one thing you need to save their life is available every single day, if only the person who had it said “yes”.

It’s such a simple thing. Such a simple thing. None of the world’s major religions have any rules against it. There’s no real downside for the individual donating – after all, you are already dead – but for those receiving there is an enormous benefit. You get a second chance at life.

What a wonderful thing to do. For some of us the most profound thing we may ever do in life is departing it and giving nine other people a shot at a better life. That’s a pretty cool parting present.

It’s also a pretty cool Christmas present. So this holiday season why not think about signing that organ donor card. I’m not suggesting you go out and do anything to make those organs immediately available, but by signing on as a donor, and telling your family about your wishes, you may one day make an enormous difference in someone’s life.

You never know, it could save someone you love.

How do you gain self – knowledge?

Here are some things to consider as you ponder that question.  First of all why is it important to have self-knowledge? Well, it’s important to understand your own basic attributes, strengths and weaknesses or limits so you can better cope with the world as it presents itself to you.

Understanding what triggers your stress levels will help you calm yourself easier.

For instance, if you get stressed easily when you are in a noisy atmosphere or you become short tempered, observe how you react physically and mentally.  Do you feel anxious?  You will be able to cope better if you know what makes you feel stressed. When you observe how you react to different circumstances you will gain information about your self….hence, self-knowledge.

When you have this information you can see how you cope with problems and situations.  What do you do that works for you?  What do you do that undermines your overall optimum behavior?  In other words, you are now observing your strengths and weaknesses and you will be able to recognize events or thoughts that reveal your coping style and you can then begin to build skills which will help you cope more easily and comfortably.

What happens when you obtain self-knowledge?

You become less judgmental and begin to enjoy self-acceptance.  You then realize that you are fine in many ways.  Maybe you are good at cooking, not so good at math, or maybe you are good at being diplomatic, but you can’t boil water, or maybe you’re good at math but you suck at charades.   You see, being in acceptance of who you are releases you of being unhappy.

Some people call this having confidence.  But self-confidence is an overused term like self-esteem.  Most of us are good at most things but are not good at others.  Self-acceptance lets you embrace what you are good at and accept what you are not so great at.  There is room for improvement right, but you are no longer beating yourself up for not being “perfect”.

Accepting that you are who you are gives you permission to “be” who you are.  No need to change who you are but simply accept the person you are right now.  Okay, you may want to be better at math, or you may want to make a mousse or soufflé, or you may want to beat everyone at charades, and you can learn those skills by focusing on them and in time you will get better.  You are free to create the person you want to be.

Creating confidence in yourself.

As you master the first two steps, gaining self-knowledge and creating self-acceptance, you will become more confident in your abilities.  After all, you are getting better with every step you take.  You are stretching and taking risks and expanding your horizons.

Lot’s of people call this self-esteem, another overused and overrated phrase.  Self esteem is really just being confident about who you are…your abilities and understanding your limits ….uh…hmmmm, and accepting them.

Self knowledge, leads to self-acceptance, on the path to self-confidence…or self-esteem and less stress…now that’s healthy and simple!

Still have questions?  Go back to the top of this page and read again.  Geez…..c’mon…it’s not that tough!

Remember all those times when you were growing up and your mum or dad or teacher would say “Stop slouching, sit up straight”, well they had a point. A new study says that doing just that, sitting up straight, isn’t just good for your posture, it’s also good for your self-confidence!

Sounds peculiar I know but the study, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, found that people who were told to sit up straight, and then were told to write down feelings about whether they were qualified for a job, were more likely to believe what they wrote than people who did the same exercise but were slumped in their chair.

So, just to repeat that. Sitting up straight makes you more inclined to believe good things about yourself. Slumping means you are less likely. Fascinating eh.

The researchers say it shows how body posture can influence the way we feel about ourselves, so if we walk around with a confident air, upright and with our chest out, we are not only more likely to create a positive impression in those who see us, we are also more likely to create a confident impression in ourselves. Which makes sense when you think about it. Why else would Marine Staff Sergeants yell at recruits to “Put your chest out and your shoulders back you worthless piece of scum, you worm, you horrible little man” unless it was to help boost their self-esteem!

So, next time you are feeling glum and blue, try sitting up straight or walking with your shoulders back and chest out. At the very least it will get those people around you wondering what the heck you have to be so happy about!

As a side note, this research follows on from a 2003 study by the same researchers in which they studied the impact of nodding your head. Hey, I’m not making this up. They found that people had more confidence in their thoughts when they nodded their head up and down, as if saying yes, than they did when they shook their head from side to side, as if saying no.

Our brains are really fascinating things aren’t they. Kinda freaky, but fascinating nonetheless.

Eat nuts to avoid going nuts

We’ve long known that the so-called Mediterranean diet is good for your physical health, but now comes news that it may also be good for your mental health.

A study in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that people who eat a Mediterranean diet – namely one that is rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and nuts and fish – are less likely to develop depression than people who eat a more meat-based diet.

The researchers asked 10,094 (odd number isn’t it, couldn’t they at least get six more folks and make a nice 10,100!)  Spaniards about their diet over six years. Those who stuck most closely to the Mediterranean diet model were 30 percent less likely to suffer from depression than people who ate a diet with a lot more meat and other junk.

So, you are probably thinking that people who are happy are much more likely to lead a healthier lifestyle anyway, and eat a healthier diet. But the cool thing about the study is that even after they took into account all the other markers of a healthy lifestyle the results were still the same. So it seems as if there is something in the diet itself that offers some protection.

The researchers aren’t quite sure why, but think that there may be something in the monounsaturated fats that helps improve blood vessel function, fight inflammation, reduce the risk of heart disease and helps repair oxygen-related cell damage. Any or all of those factors could help decrease the risk of developing depression.

And even if the researchers were to admit they haven’t a clue why the diet works, really, who cares. It works! And you know what. It tastes damn good too. Isn’t that all you need to know.

I may have many faults – and I am happy to give you a list of people who will be delighted to detail precisely what those faults are – but one thing I do not lack is creativity and imagination when it come to hurting myself.

Over the years I have pulled muscles, strained ligaments – and credibility – cut, bashed and bruised myself in numerous ways. I’ve pulled my calf muscle running, broken my nose playing soccer (and walking into a huge plate glass window early one New Year’s day but I don’t want to talk about that), hurt my shoulder boxing, twisted my back bending down, even strained my lower back getting out of a chair. You name it I’ve done it.

Now, the only advantage to any of this is that over the years I have become very good at reading my body, knowing when I was pushing a muscle or group of muscles too hard and needed to back off. For instance in the gym just now I was doing a bench press when my right shoulder started to complain. Not loudly but just enough for me to recognize the warning signs.

A few years ago I ignored those warning signs and ended up in the Urgent Care department at my local hospital, asking for every pain killer that Rush Limbaugh hadn’t taken. Sadly they only gave me vicodin and codeine laced something or other which did nothing to ease the excruciating pain. It took a week for the pain to subside to a level where I wasn’t wincing with every movement.

That taught me to pay attention to my body. So when my shoulder started playing up this time I stopped doing the bench press and moved on to a leg exercise.

After working out I iced my shoulder. I will ice it several more times before the night is out. Ice is my friend, even if it does give me the cold shoulder (sorry, another of my faults, I can’t resist a pun)

What I’m trying to say is pay attention to your body, learn to spot the warning signs when you are doing something that is going to cause problems. Sometimes injuries just happen because you twist the wrong way at the wrong time. There’s little you can do to stop that. But sometimes your body is telling you that it’s not happy, and by recognizing those signs you can help avoid far more serious problems.

Some people – OK, men – sometimes feel that they should just push through the pain and keep on working out. And in some cases that’s fine. If you are running up and down a hill and your thighs feel like they are rubbery and your lungs are on fire that’s because the exercise is really demanding; those are normal reactions to that kind of exertion.

But if you are running and it feels as if there’s a tight lump in your thigh, that’s the time to stop running and start walking because if you keep pushing it you may really hurt yourself.

It’s frustrating I know. Sometimes when I’m playing squash my knee decides to go left when the rest of my body is going right. In the past I would always want to carry on and push through the problem because it’s so much fun playing squash. But I’ve learned that doing that gets me a few extra minutes of playing time one day, and a couple of weeks of non-playing time afterwards while my knee sorts itself out.

So. Listen to your body. It knows what its talking about.

Does my butt look big on this blog?

It’s a question no one ever wants to be asked because the truth is, if you have to ask you probably already know the answer.  Of course not darling. It’s  pert and perfect.

But if you do want to improve your bottom line, here’s a couple of exercises that can have your toosh in tip top shape.

The easiest way to buff up your butt is simply by walking. Walking activates your glutes (that’s latin for buns) and hamstrings. And if you want to make it even more effective then walk up hills or staircases – that really builds up strength and endurance in your nethermost region.

After you have done that for a while and want to take it to the next level then sprinting is a great way to push those muscles even harder, build them up even faster and get a great workout at the same time.

If you look at sprinters you’ll notice they all have one thing in common, a tremendous bottom. That’s because those are the muscles that power them down the track.

Now, you don’t have to be a budding Olympian to get the same benefits. All you have to do is do some short sprints.

Next time you are out walking pick an object about 30 yards away and then run as fast as you can till you get there. Walk until you have got your breath back. Then pick another object about 30 yards away and run as fast as you can till you get to that.

At first the “fast as you can” bit may not seem very fast but don’t worry,  your bottom will definitely let you know afterwards that it’s hard a workout.

The more you do this the faster you will be able to sprint. That’s when you start choosing objects 40 yards away, then 50 etc.  As you increase the distance you will also increase your strength and stamina.

It’s a terrific exercise for the whole body. And even though you may not be able to see it, everyone else will be admiring the results!