Author Archives: Maren

Top 10 Reasons to Exercise

The weather in Beaverton has been glorious these past few weeks – albeit a bit on the hot side. Nonetheless, I’ve managed to work in a daily 45 minute vigorous walk using my portable stair master as a back-up when things are less hospitable outdoors. So, as inspiration for myself and others, I thought I’d list the Top 10 reasons why exercise is so important for good health.

#1: Exercise supports brain health. According to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a regular fitness routine is the single most important lifestyle factor for a healthy brain. Exercise promotes cerebral blood flow which delivers vital nutrients to our brain cells while reducing inflammation. It encourages the release of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), a growth factor that supports the health of new neurons, the recruitment of blood vessels for neural activity, and the survival of all neurons. Exercise also accelerates repair mechanisms for damaged brain cells, speeding up recovery after injury, stroke, or significant emotional stress.

#2: Exercise enhances brain function. Physically fit individuals manifest healthier white matter – i.e., the bundles of nerve fibers through which messages pass between different areas of gray matter. Healthy white matter correlates with sharper minds, better memory, improved reasoning, and increased efficiency in consolidating new information.

#3: Exercise improves cardiovascular function. Regular cardio-based physical activity trains the heart to push out more blood per beat, thereby functioning more efficiently. It encourages the heart to improve blood flow to the small vessels around it which, in turn, discourages build-up of fatty deposits. And with consistent workouts, the heart performs better under stress and recovers more quickly after exercise.

#4 Exercise keeps the blood healthy. When we’re sedentary, our blood circulation slows and our cells use less fuel (i.e., blood sugar). Elevated blood sugar may give rise to insulin resistance, a condition associated with elevated risk of stroke, heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, and other potentially lethal conditions. When motionless, our bodies shut down production of the lipoprotein lipase which breaks down circulating fat molecules in the blood. They also do a poor job of regulating the satiety hormone leptin, thereby confounding the biological signal that tells us to stop eating.

#5 Weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones and increases muscle mass. For most of us, bone density peaks in our thirties. Absent intervention, it ebbs away progressively thereafter. Weight-bearing aerobic exercise (e.g., walking, jogging, stair climbing) can inhibit bone loss. Site-specific strength training and high impact endurance training increase bone density. Exercising also improves muscle strength, coordination, and balance which guard against falls and related fractures. These findings should be of particular interest for older adults!

#6: Exercise improves immune function. The body’s lymphatic system takes responsibility for removing bacteria, viruses, toxins, and abnormal cells. Lymphatic fluid transports waste in the lymphatic vessels and carries it to the lymph nodes to be neutralized by immune cells. The resulting waste enters the blood stream where it heads for the kidneys and elimination through urine. When we move our muscles and get our heart rates up, we stimulate the lymphatic system and increase the speed at which it removes waste. This action helps prevent infection and disease.

#7: Exercise promotes healthy bowels. It increases contractions of the intestinal lining and colon, leading to shorter transit times for processed waste. Exercise has also been associated with elevated microbiome diversity and reduced intestinal wall permeability.

#8: Exercise reduces stress. It increases serum beta-endorphin concentrations which exert positive effects on mood, pain perception, and the stress response. Exercise helps us relax and gain a fresh perspective on whatever is going on with our lives.

#9: Exercise promotes restorative sleep. It tires us out physically and increases the drive for sleep. We gain a similar effect through sustained movement in the course of daily activities – e.g., housework, cooking, gardening, standing while working at a desk, and walking/biking as modes of transportation. (I’ve demonstrated this effect repeatedly and reveled in the good night’s sleep!)

#10: Exercise encourages maintenance of a healthy weight. Exercise increases the rate at which we burn calories in the moment. It also amps up our metabolism which helps us burn calories at a faster rate even when the body is at rest. And when we feel better about ourselves and our bodies, we’re far more likely to make nutritious food choices and far less likely to overeat.

Cultivating a Healthy Brain at Any Age

As noted in a previous blog post, I’ve experienced being a caretaker for folks with cognitive impairment. My father suffered from geriatric dementia for several years prior to his death; my mother had full-blown Alzheimer’s disease. So, I took a keen interest in Sanjay Gupta’s latest book, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age. As the title suggests, Dr. Gupta’s book carries a message of hope for those of us who fear loss of mental competency as we age. Here are a few encouraging facts based on the latest research:

From the day we’re born to the day we die, the brain shapes and reshapes its synaptic connections and neural networks in response to experiences, learning, and even injury. The more we learn and challenge ourselves, the more extensive (and agile) our neural networks. This phenomenon is referred to as neural plasticity.

The brain can also manufacture new brain cells throughout our lives – a process known as neurogenesis. Each of us maintains a reservoir of neural stem cells in our hippocampus. These cells can differentiate into the different types of brain cells that we need. And when the reservoir depletes, the brain can replenish its supply.

Much like a muscle, the brain needs stimulus and challenge to grow. It also needs regular work outs to maintain its existing “muscle mass.” For example, people with memory training and other specialized cognitive skills must continue exercising them to retain them. (The brain works on the use-it-or-lose-it plan.) However, we can’t simply work existing skills and expect growth in our neural networks. We need to acquire new skills and knowledge. You might say that the brain wants new places to go if it’s going to build new neural roads.

While some cognitive skills decline with age, we never lose our capacity to learn. Moreover, the elderly outpace their younger counterparts in vocabulary, character assessment, social communication, diplomacy, and emotional regulation.

Brain function can be impaired when refuse creates arterial blockage (plaque) or embeds twisted insoluble fibers within neural cells (tangles). While plaque and tangles can damage neural pathways, brains with extensive neural networks can re-route with no perceived loss of function. In particular, Dr. Gupta noted that autopsies of nonagenarians may reveal similar levels of plaque and tangles in the brain. Those with agile neural networks avoided cognitive impairment because their brains figured out how to route around the blockages.

So, what are the factors that contribute to a healthy brain?

EXERCISE is the single most important thing we can do for a healthy brain. Physical inactivity is a BIG risk factor cognitive decline. We need at least 150 minutes per week of aerobic exercise alongside strength training and stretching/balance work. Ideally, we should log 450 minutes of aerobic exercise – which can include brisk walking – and find ways to move in acts of daily living.

PURPOSE, LEARNING, and DISCOVERY provide stimulus for the brain that increase the density of neurons, synapses, and dendrites. Brain networks that operate with greater efficiency, complexity, and reserves are less susceptible to disruption or decline. A few ways to stimulate the brain outside of work include learning to speak a foreign language, learning to cook or paint, taking up a musical instrument, programming a computer, taking ballroom dancing, or writing a novel. Don’t worry about whether or not you are any good at the activity. Your brain loves a challenge!

SLEEP. The brain needs 7-8 hours of good quality sleep every night to regenerate, store memories appropriately, and clear out its refuse. Chronic sleep deprivation carries elevated risk for dementia, depression, mood disorders, high blood pressure, weight gain, and fall-related injuries. We also need to RELAX during our waking hours. Healthy practices include meditation, mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and guided imagery.

EAT NUTRITIOUS FOOD. A heart healthy diet is a brain healthy diet. Here are the A-B-Cs of Dr. Sanjay’s diet:

A: Consume Regularly	B: Include these foods	C: Limit these foods:
Fresh vegetables, especially dark leafy greens Whole berries Fish and seafood Healthy fats Nuts and seeds	Beans and other legumes Whole fruits Low sugar, low-fat dairy Poultry Whole grains	Fried food Pastries, sugary foods Processed foods Red meat Red-meat products Whole-fat dairy Salt

BUILD HIGH-QUALITY SOCIAL CONNECTIONS. Close ties with family and friends as well as participation in meaningful social activities keeps a mind sharp and memories strong. Social engagement proves most protective when centered around a challenging activity. Socially connected folks are healthier, happier, and live longer.

What is Karma?

Jagadish Vasudev (a.k.a. Sadhguru) served as my teacher this week. An Indian yogi and author, he recently published Karma: A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny. Here are key concepts.

Karma is not some outside force that acts upon us for better or worse. We are not unwitting beneficiaries of “good karma” or unfortunate victims of “bad karma.” Rather, every thing we do, think, or feel creates an imprint on us. These imprints inform our habits, predispositions, and tendencies. They also determine what we attract and to what we are attracted. We may go through life letting this karmic imprint drive us and live with its consequences. Or, we can elevate our awareness and learn to rewrite our “karmic software.”

In simple terms, karma tells us that every action we perform has consequences. Those consequences can have individual or collective impact. They also shape the people we become and the societies in which we live. When bad things happen to good people, we find the root of the problem in collective karma.

Volition matters more than action. We may act impulsively and suffer a regrettable outcome that causes pain temporarily. But when we repeatedly contemplate hostile or vengeful acts – even if we do not take action on them – we darken our souls and suffer internally. On the flip side, we create positive karma when we consistently operate out of a state of fulfillment versus inner hankering no matter what our circumstances. While we may not be able to control what happens to us, we always have the freedom to choose our responses. This freedom enables us to chart our destiny, not be ruled by it.

Karma also has to do with our sense of self. We experience karmic bondage when we hold rigidly to identities formed by our DNA, families, cultures, life experiences, and memories. We lose touch with our discerning minds and work largely according to engrained thoughts, prejudices, and patterns. We become ensnared by external goals and expectations; we march unconsciously toward them. We find release by holding our identities and histories lightly. A loosened grip provides flexibility and greater potential for transformation.

Karma is an invitation to look within and take responsibility for our lives. We needn’t chase after what society deems worthy or laudable. Saghguru tells us:

“We were never meant to act to find fulfillment. Fulfillment was seen as an inner condition. It could not be pursued externally. We act in order to express our fulfillment, not acquire it. We act in order to celebrate our inner completeness, not pursue it.”

Life should be an expression of happiness, not its pursuit. It is best viewed as an offering to a universe to which we are all connected. With attention and awareness, we can immerse ourselves in right action and lose consciousness of the self. We become involved in the process, not the outcome. Life becomes an endless outpouring of internal joy.

To that end, Saghguru encourages us to live in the moment. The past is a memory, and the future unwritten. Yet, we often cloud our present experience with their influences. Why be enslaved by your old baggage (old karma)? Why constrain your future before you even live it? We need to give our present karma an escape route. For example, a meditation practice can help us create distance from our minds and thereby create distance from thoughts about the past or future. Saghguru says:

“When there is no karma imprint in conscious experience, every action and experience becomes liberating… You have the choice and the ability to be any way you want in a given moment.

Finally, Saghguru admonishes us not to think of karma in terms of a lifetime (or lifetimes!) of accumulation. Think of it in terms of this living moment. It’s that simple.

Happiness = Good Friends + Good Experiences

There’s nothing like cool summer nights in Beaverton for creating wonderful experiences in our own backyard. And we created some wonderful experiences this weekend!

My dear friend opted to use our outdoor space for her piano studio recital. The event was the first of its kind in 2 years, courtesy of COVID. Her students were well-rehearsed, excited, and real pros as they introduced their selections and performed them. Oh, how I love encouraging budding musicians! A group of friends stayed after to enjoy spirits, delicious food, and fellowship. I absolutely loved it!

We spent all day Saturday getting ready for an even bigger party on Sunday during which friends gathered for a visit by an out-of-town chum. To mark the occasion, we had a live band, more spirits, more food, and more wonderful fellowship. Yet again, we stayed out late talking while a gentle breeze kept us cool and relaxed on the patio. Sheer heaven!

According to Dr. Catherine A. Sanderson, PhD of Amherst College, my experience of weekend bliss accords with what researchers have learned about happiness. The quality of our relationships is the single greatest predictor of happiness. It takes a bit of effort to find the folks with whom we feel a sense of kinship. (It took me ~5 years after our move here.) Once found, it takes time, energy, and effort to nurture those cherished relationships.

Some may think: But wait a minute? What if I got that big promotion? Or won the lottery? Wouldn’t such events be bigger determinants of happiness than friends?

It turns out that we aren’t terribly impacted by big life events – even winning millions of dollars! After the initial thrill, we tend to adapt and return to our previous set point. We can, however, increase our set point through right action. In particular:

Take care of ourselves by eating properly, exercising, and getting the right quantity and quality of sleep.

Spend our money wisely by investing in experiences rather than things. As with those big life events, the thrill of a new thing wears off once we become acclimated to it. But a great experience shared with good friends bring anticipation during the planning phase, joy in the moment, and wonderful memories that can be revisited time and again.

Avoid comparisons with others. As Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” To that end, Dr. Sanderson tells us to be wary of social media. It can make us feel as though everyone else is living a more vibrant life than we are. We forgot that most people only post their “best of” moments, not the full range of their everyday experiences.

Give to others; volunteer. When we are generous with our time, talents, and resources, we feel better about ourselves and the difference our lives’ make in the world.

Express gratitude. As the bookend to avoiding comparisons, practicing thankfulness helps us focus on everything that is going right in our lives and will have a ripple effect on the way we feel about ourselves.

Think good thoughts. A positive attitude carries the day for sustaining happiness through the ups and down of our lives.

How To Be – And Age – Well

“There’s no magic pill for health and immunity. There’s a lifestyle that makes your immune system – and all other systems in the body – stronger.” – Dr. Frank Lipman, MD

My latest reads on well-being came courtesy of Dr. Frank Lipman, MD in three books: The New Health Rules, How to Be Well, and The New Rules of Aging Well.

Lipman characterizes the three major goals of medicine in terms of proper organ and systems function, synergy among organs and systems, and resiliency in the face of adversity. To that end, he looks at six areas in which we can all contribute to attaining these goals.

EAT: Prior posts document what to eat to produce good health outcomes. In a nutshell: Eat lots of fresh, organic fruit and vegetables. Boost gut health with prebiotics (garlic, onions, leeks) and probiotics (fermented food). Cut out sugar and processed foods. Drink alcohol sparingly (if at all). Lipman also talks about when to eat. In particular, he advocates consuming the largest meal at mid-day, when the body’s temperature and metabolic rate are at their peak. He further advocates confining one’s daily consumption to an 8-hour period, thereby giving our bodies a full 16 hours without outside sustenance. (While the absolute minimum daily fast should be 12 hours, Lipman says we can work our way up to 16 hours per day.) This schedule boosts a cellular process referred to as autophagy, from the Greek meaning self-devouring. It’s the means by which the body recycles useful cellular material to create new, healthy cells and disposes of dysfunctional elements and toxic waste. When we boost autophagy, we optimize mitochondrial function, dampen inflammation, retard aging, and stave off disease (e.g., cancer).

SLEEP: Adult human beings need high quality sleep every night – i.e., sufficient time in the sack during which we experience the full range of sleep cycles. When we shortchange sleep, the glymphatic system has insufficient time to clear neurological byproducts that accumulate in the brain. Toxic build-up sets the stage for loss of function and, eventually, dementia. One way to promote restorative sleep calls for aligning our schedules with our natural biorhythms. In particular, we should look for exposure to bright sunlight during the day and relative darkness at night. While most of us are unlikely to opt for candle lit evenings, we can minimize our exposure to the energizing blue rays in artificial light by wearing blue blocker glasses after hours.

MOVE: Our bodies are made for movement. We need stretching to maintain good skeletal alignment and prevent injury. We need aerobic exercise to promote a healthy heart and lungs. And we need strength training to build healthy bones. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) followed by a hot shower and cold rinse can be especially beneficial, invigorating, and fun! Lipman also encourages us to identify opportunities to move in the natural course of the day. For example: Alternate between sitting and standing at a desk. Walk around during phone calls. Sit on an exercise ball instead of a chair to improve fine muscle movement and balance. Take 5-10 minute workout breaks every hour. Cook. Garden. Dance!

PROTECT: Beyond following a healthy diet, we minimize inflammation and improve mitochondrial function by steering clear of toxins. Drink filtered water as the beverage of choice. Use glass (not plastic) storage containers. Avoid toxic cleaners for the home. Stay away from pesticides and herbicides for the garden. Work up a sweat to help the body get rid of its toxins.

UNWIND: Give yourself permission to be unproductive. Carve out time to clear your mind and simply rest and relax. Just say “no” to would-be intrusions on your space. Practice meditation or mindfulness. Listen to southing music. Take a walk in nature. Get a massage. Smile. Laugh. Repeat.

CONNECT: Community consistently proves healthy for body and soul. Live purposefully in service of others. Find your tribe and invest in friendship. Gathering great experiences matters far more than accumulating things! Consider forging relationship with a pet. It has been associated with elevated oxytocin (the “love” hormone), improved household feng shui (positive energy), and longer lives.

The Love Lab

The Good Life Project podcast recently featured a segment on marriage with Drs. John and Judy Gottman, PhDs. They’ve spent decades unearthing the “science of relationship” by placing thousands of couples under a proverbial microscope and seeing how they interact with one another and how they respond physiologically to one another. Dubbed The Love Lab, their research center has been in operation since 1986 at the University of Washington. Its sophisticated mathematical models can predict reliably the future course of a relationship based on observed behavior. You can read all about it in John Gottman’s book Why Marriages Succeed or Fail… And How You Can Make Yours Last.

Love and respect provide the foundation for every healthy marriage. Partners model these qualities by consistently serving up at least five times as many positive feelings toward the other as negative. These feelings include showing interest, expressing affection, being thoughtful, being appreciative, showing concern, demonstrating empathy, being accepting, joking around, and sharing joy.

Healthy marriages navigate conflict successfully. The Gottmans identified three models that work in stable marriages:

Validating: These partners choose their battles carefully and remain calm while listening attentively to one another’s perspectives. Each acknowledges that the other has made valid points and gives them due consideration. They see themselves as a team and look for middle ground on which they can both comfortably stand.
Volatile: These partners hear each other’s viewpoints in the heat of the argument. They don’t try to understand as much as persuade. They see themselves as equal, independent sorts who revel in the intensity. Their battles may be epic, but their make-ups are even grander. They live and love passionately.
Avoidant: These partners are conflict minimizers who dodge and hedge to avoid confrontation. They value individuality in union and do not attempt to persuade or compromise. They agree to disagree and trust that their bond is strong enough to overcome stand-offs. They don’t press the issue under the assumption that it’s not worth working through.

In addition to embodying a functional style for disagreement, healthy couples use “repair mechanisms” in the midst of disagreements to ensure that they do not spiral out of control. They include:

Reminding one another of their mutual love and respect
Defining or commenting on the process and where things currently stand
Taking note of when the discussion goes off topic
Requesting space to finish one’s thought
Letting the other know when a comment or attitude has caused pain

Gottman defined unhealthy styles of disagreement as either Hostile/Engaged or Hostile/Detached. In the former, the partners argue hotly, often using insults, name-calling, put-downs, and sarcasm. They don’t communicate with the intent to forge understanding. Hostile/Detached approach conflict by being emotionally uninvolved.

Unhealthy marriages manifest toxic negativity that proves corrosive over time. The Gottmans deem these behaviors the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Criticism constitutes attacking the other party’s character or personality as a means of assigning blame. For example: “You didn’t take the garbage out again. You are so lazy.” Of course, it is perfectly legitimate to lodge a complaint when one’s partner chronically foregoes a previously negotiated responsibility. However, the complaint shouldn’t mutate beyond the specific behavior into a global attack. A complaint is specific and begins with an “I” statement rather than a “You” statement. It also provides a way for the person on the receiving end to be a hero. Revised example: “I am frustrated about the garbage situation. It would take a load off my mind if you could remember to take care of it every Monday night.”

Defensiveness occurs when one feels victimized or attacked and chooses to take up a defensive position. It can manifest as denying responsibility, making excuses, lodging a cross-complaint, yes-butting, whining, and displaying agitated or closed body language (crossing arms and/or legs, shifting weight from one foot to the other, grimacing).

Contempt suggests an intention to insult and psychologically abuse one’s partner. It comes from a place of moral superiority and manifests in insults, name-calling, hostile humor, mockery, and body language (curled lip, rolled eyes). It elicits shame in the other person and weakens their immune system. Contempt may be the most damaging of the Four Horsemen.

Stonewalling provides no communication, no eye contact, no response. It conveys disapproval, icy distance, and smugness. While suggesting detachment, physiological measurements suggest that the stonewaller experiences a heightened state of arousal (“fight or flight”) and may use it to combat the feeling of being overwhelmed.

When these four behaviors take root, the relationship may experience a downward spiraling of discord. Fortunately, there are strategies that all couples can leverage to strengthen their partnerships and avoid suffering.

Schedule discussion of contentious topics when both have the time and energy to address them with civility. Focus on one issue at a time; don’t try to process a backlog of issues all at once.
Structure disagreements – e.g., stay on topic, hear one another out, validate the other’s perspective by “walking in his or her shoes,” persuade, negotiate, and then resolve.
Communicate nondefensively. Choose a positive mindset toward your partner. Give voice to your thoughts with the intention of being heard and understood (without walls going up!) Be an engaged listener. Exhibit open and loving body language.
Stay calm. Keep breathing. Check your heart rate. Notice tension-inducing negative thoughts and replace them with positive, validating, soothing ones. Take time outs as needed to settle down.
Practice, practice, practice. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Keep honing behaviors that work until they become automatic.

While all of the foregoing insights came to fruition in the context of marriage, they apply equally well to family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances.

Understanding Psychotherapy

“I want to capture the process by which humans, struggling to evolve, push against their shells until they crack open.” – Lori Gottlieb

It’s rare that I pick up a health-related book and get so I can’t put it down until I reach the end. But Lori Gottlieb’s Maybe You Should Talk to Someone fit that bill.

I was introduced to the author via the podcast Go Ask Ali. As part of a series on relationships, host Ali Wentworth dedicated a few episodes to creating a better relationship with yourself. She’s a proponent of therapy for the simple reason that we can open up the possibly for substantive personal growth by just talking to a skilled professional. To that end, Ali’s guest, psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb, provided guidance about what to look for in a therapist, what to expect out of the relationship, how it can help, and why it matters to anyone seeking to create a better present and future for themselves.

Unfortunately, our culture stigmatizes psychotherapy. We consider those who seek out this level of support as being somehow weak, or not having their acts together. Because we fear being exposed for our less-than-perfect selves, we “armor up” and put on public faces to mask our struggles. That strategy may render us stuck in a mode where we’re constantly trying to change our pasts or control our futures. It may disconnect us from who we truly are. We need help to get unstuck. As Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

Lori’s book takes the reader inside the therapeutic relationship through the aegis of four case studies as well as Lori’s direct experience of treatment. (Yep, therapists need therapists, too!) While drawing you in to each patient’s story, she provides commentary about how a skilled therapist deftly navigates the terrain to build trust, get to the heart of the individual’s challenges and pain points, and discern a healthy path forward. For the therapeutic relationship to bear fruit, the patient must have the ability to “accept feedback, tolerate discomfort, become aware of blind spots, and discover the impact of their histories and behaviors on themselves and others.” It’s a process that unfolds over time – when the patient is ready to “go there.”

Therapists don’t fix our problems. Lori tells us: “They ask light questions until something happens – internally or externally – that leads [patients] to do their own persuading.” Even when we gain the insights and discover a new way of being, we will not experience a perpetual state of bliss. Life will still bring challenge and heart ache. But as the Buddha said:

“Peace, it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. Peace comes from within.”

If you’ve ever considered talking with a therapist and want some sense for how that scenario plays out, this book would be a good starting point. It’s deeply personal, forthright, poignant, at times humorous, and an all-around good read.

Busting the Myth of Willpower and Dieting

If you’ve ever been on a diet (or several of them), you’ve probably been told by some well-meaning bystander that all you need do is exercise a little willpower. You know, just push yourself away from the table. It seems simple enough. Yet even folks with superior self-control in others areas of their lives often fail to regulate their eating habits to produce weight loss. Think Oprah Winfrey. Staggering success achieved through extraordinary talent and discipline. Lots of help in the form of a personal trainer, chef, nutritionist, counsellor, and assistants. And yet the struggle remains.

Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney tackle this conundrum in Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. They remind us that the body has a will of its own and reacts viscerally to what we do. It’ll go along with a diet once or twice. But then it’ll adapt, hoarding excess body weight even with reduced caloric intake. After all, evolution favors those who survive famines. If the body thinks that food might be scarce, it’ll do what it needs to do to address a projected shortfall. It doesn’t understand dieting for weight loss.

Dieting depletes willpower, even if we’re endowed with tons of it. Every time we go through the mental process of resisting foods that we’d like to eat, we draw down our reservoir of self-control. To resupply that energy, we need glucose. The body knows that the fastest way to produce glucose is sweets. So we crave sweets, causing a further drain on our willpower if we resist them. Talk about a Catch-22!

Baumeister and Tierney also shed light on the what-the-hell effect – a phenomena I know all too well! It says that when we’re watching what we eat, we make a mental note of the total calories that will pass our lips each day. When we blow the plan, we classify the day as a failure, eat whatever we want for the remaining waking hours, and vow to regain our virtue in the morning. Unfortunately, our overindulgence disrupts our biochemistry, messes with our sleep, and makes the next day’s task all the more difficult… which could well precipitate another what-the-hell effect.

Finally, our artificially regulated diets make it difficult for the body’s hormones to give us accurate clues on when we’re hungry and when we’re sated. Most of us simply eat at preset times during the day according to work and household schedules. So, we don’t know what it feels like to live in harmony with our body’s natural rhythm. We eat because it’s time to eat. We eat because the food is there. We eat because we’re bored. We eat because we eat.

What do Baumeister and Tierney suggest we do?

Focus on lifestyle changes that yield gradual weight loss and support long-term weight maintenance. Don’t shock the system into thinking it has been thrown back in time to the mid-19^th century Potato Famine. Establish realistic goals, and eat sensibly and sustainably to attain them.

Weigh daily. Folks who take to the scales every day are more successful keeping weight off than those who don’t. They accept tiny fluctuations as a function of water retention without discouragement and nip the larger swings in the bud. Wearing fitted clothing also helps monitor the battle of the bulge!

Make highly specific plans to address high temptation circumstances. Use IF-THEN rules: “If I’ve had a bad day at work, then I will go to the gym before I go home.” “If I go to a restaurant, then I will order____.” If I go to a party, then I will _____.” Don’t waste brain cycles making decisions in the moment. Just follow the rules.

Postpone pleasure, don’t deny it. As Mark Twain said: “To promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing.” Rather, when craving sweets, tell yourself that you can have it later. Eat or drink something healthy in the meantime while savoring the prospect. If you still want sweets, offer yourself a small taste, not a big chunk!

Get back on the wagon immediately when/if you fall off. A momentary lapse doesn’t have to become a major setback. If you are tempted to succumb to the overeating abyss, find an enjoyable activity to distract you – e.g., walk the dog, put on music and dance around the living room, get fresh air while reading a book.

Work with your body’s natural rhythms. Plan meals around times when you are most likely to be hungry. Drink a glass of water roughly 20 minutes before mealtime to start filling up your stomach. Serve yourself modest portions and then eat slowly to give your body time to register that it’s getting full. Stop eating when you are sated. Don’t feel compelled to finish everything on your plate.

Brush your teeth early for bed to create an obstacle for late night snacking.

Ten Tips for Mastering Self-Control

Having discussed Baumeister and Tierney’s findings on self-control, I now turn to proven strategies to win the game of willpower. The short answer: Structure your life such that you minimize temptation and inner conflict. In other words, avoid situations that will drain this finite resource. Here are their recommended strategies:

Don’t procrastinate. When you put off a difficult task or give in to boredom over a mundane task, you are more likely to substitute an activity with the potential for immediate gratification – e.g., raiding the refrigerator. Procrastinators tend to perform worse and exhibit poorer health outcomes than doers while still (eventually) having to get the dreaded job done.

Watch for symptoms of ebbing willpower. Are you feeling increasingly agitated? Are you anxious about making decisions? Are you uncharacteristically making mistakes? Do you snap at others? If yes to any of these questions, push the pause button. Relax and breathe deeply. Get healthy food in your body. Then get back to whatever you were doing.

Pick your battles. Set aside a day each year to reflect on your life and create a rough 5-year plan with monthly goals. Then plan to make important changes during periods with relatively low demand on your internal resources. Huge, quick, ill-timed attempts at transformation tend to backfire. Instead, budget your willpower and use it wisely.

Create rules that dictate what you will (and won’t) do – e.g., “I will exercise every morning right when I get out of bed.” “I won’t have more than 2 glasses of wine during the course of an extended dinner party.” Once you’ve made these decisions and take action on them, you won’t waste brainpower on them. They’ll become automatic mental processes.

Beware of planning optimism. Human beings consistently underestimate the amount of time and effort it takes to complete a project. Set realistic expectations by using your history as a guide and/or getting input from others who’ve gone before you. Try to chunk big projects into small pieces and set priorities for how you’ll proceed.

Attend to the basics – diet, exercise, sleep, hygiene. A healthy, rested will is a strong will. An orderly environment creates a well-disciplined mind. Cultivate good habits and get rid of bad ones. Habits are strengthened by routine.

Postpone with a plan. If you really can’t motivate yourself to tackle a must-do project but can’t stop thinking about it, set it up as the #1 thing on the following day’s to-do list. Add pleasurable tasks as items 2, 3, 4… as incentives to knock out the top priority. This strategy frees the mind to do something else in the present moment while providing assurance that the task is not left unattended.

Set aside time daily to attend to your most important priorities. Do not allow for alternate activities to intrude upon that time. Scheduled time prepares the mind to focus on that activity and stops the internal debate about competing uses of time.

Track your time. The more carefully you monitor your time, the better you’ll get at using it wisely. (There are lots of tools to help you do it!)

Give yourself rewards. Acknowledge your accomplishments and the willpower necessary to achieve them. Use little rewards for little things, and big rewards for big things.

Willpower

What is the most reliable predictor of accelerated performance? Intelligence? Good genes? Great coaching? According to Roy Baumeister and John Tierney in Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, the answer is self-control.

In the famed “marshmallow test,” psychologist Walter Mischel placed very young children in a room with one marshmallow. The children were told that if they left the marshmallow alone while the researcher exited the room, they would be rewarded with a second marshmallow upon the researcher’s return. Later in life, children who successfully delayed gratification were found to be more popular, earn higher salaries, have lower body mass index (BMI), be prone to less substance abuse, and have more stable relationships.

Because self-mastery is such a critical life skill, it’s useful to understand the mechanics of how it plays out in the human body. In particular, we each have a finite amount of willpower. It gets depleted when:

Managing thoughts: It takes effort to focus our minds on the task at hand (and shut out other thoughts), to process and store information, to evaluate data when making decisions, and any other mindful event.
Exercising emotional control: It is effortful to process anger, frustration, disappointment, stress, etc. and stay on task and/or work ourselves into pleasant companionship. Even just “being nice” can be effortful when we’re placed in unfamiliar territory.
Navigating impulses: We spend upwards of 25% of our waking hours resisting temptation – specifically, the urge to eat, the urge to sleep, and the urge to seek pleasure. While we can’t control the impulses, we can determine how we’ll respond to them.
Managing performance: In addition to focusing on the task at hand, we need to attend to the speed, accuracy, and quality of our work, manage external and internal pressure, and prioritize competing demands on our time.

The more we use up our willpower, the less able we are to make good decisions. We’ll postpone, procrastinate, look for an easy out, or simply go with the status quo. We’re also more likely to fail in our efforts to resist temptation, especially sugary foods. With glucose depleted through exercise of willpower, the body starts to crave sweet things to eat. Even an expectation of elevated demands on willpower can trigger a raging sweet tooth. While we can’t get around the fact that we have a human mind that exists in a biological body, we can learn to “feed the beast” in a way that wards off unhealthy cravings:

Focus on foods with a low glycemic index. They’ll provide a slow burn that will maintain a steady supply of glucose for the brain.
Get adequate rest. Sleep reduces the body’s demand for glucose and creates the space for our willpower reservoir to replenish.
When sick, give the immune system first dibs on glucose. We can mitigate the overall demand for glucose by resting, minimizing stress, letting others take care of us, and deferring major decisions.

Beyond simply taking good care of ourselves, we improve self-control by establishing goals, setting clear boundaries, and sticking with them. When we’re juggling competing demands on our time, we worry too much, get less done, feel bad ourselves, and get less sleep. It drains our reservoir of willpower and introduces needless mental drag. We need to decide which goals and behaviors will do us the most good, create reasonable action plans, and then commit to doing them with focused attention. A mind at peace can get more done and be less reactive to the unexpected.

“Stuff” will crop up – i.e., things that show up in our physical or psychological world for which we haven’t determined an outcome or next step. Such things are best handled by the 4 D’s – Do it, Delegate it, Drop it, or Defer it. The latter can be placed in a folder corresponding to the day of the month during which you’ll give it further consideration. By using this system, you de-clutter your mind while creating the means to address important matters at the right time with the right level of attention.

Healthy Lifestyle

Ideas to Nourish the Body, Mind, and Spirit