Whether your health problems are yeast-connected or not, you need to exercise if you want to enjoy good health. Exercise helps you overcome depression and fatigue. Current scientific evidence shows exercise is a part of the treatment program for patients with depression and chronic fatigue. Aerobic exercise, including walking, running, aerobic dance, swimming and bicycling, is an excellent way to overcome the stress and the exhaustion that accompanies most yeast-related conditions.
In her book Natural Highs, Dr. Cass explains the science behind the benefits of exercise, from improved circulation to enhanced production of feel-good neurotransmitters including endorphins.
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Exercise experts say the key to sticking with an exercise program is finding something you really enjoy. If riding your exercise bike is sheer drudgery, don't do it. Maybe you really enjoy the beauties of nature and would rather have a solitary, early-morning walk every day. If the idea of walking your treadmill alone depresses you, join a gym and laugh it in an aerobics class.
A bonus for women: Not only does exercise help with weight control, weight-bearing exercise such as walking, running or aerobics will strengthen your bones and prevent osteoporosis.
Population-based studies also show that women who get minimal amounts of exercise (20 minutes a day three times a week) lower their risk for heart disease and even cancer.
I personally recommend that everyone needs at least 20 minutes of exercise every day that elevates your heart rate and causes you to perspire lightly.
MEDITATION AND RELAXATION
We all live busy lives and suffering from a chronic disease makes life more difficult.
Humans were designed with a "fight or flight" response to stress. In the days of the cave dwellers, fight or flight meant making a decision to run from a saber-toothed tiger or stay and have the strength to fight it. Our bodies are also designed to quickly respond to either need, increasing heart rate, flooding muscles with blood, raising blood pressure, and temporarily taking energy from the immune system and digestive processes.
In today's world, we don't have saber-toothed tigers, but we combat the stresses of daily life as if we were fighting these invisible enemies all day long - and our bodies respond in the same way, often with toxic results.
Recent research suggests that women may have an additional hormonally driven response to stress. UCLA psychology professor Shelly Taylor, Ph.D., has coined the term "tend-and-befriend" as a more apt description of women's response to long-term stressful situations.
While women may respond to immediate dire threats with the fight-or-flight response, Dr. Taylor found that women - even female animals - under stress also nurture themselves and their young ("tending") and form alliances with others ("befriending"), perhaps by releasing a hormone called oxytocin that promotes relaxation and clear thinking at times of crisis.
If we don't learn to cope with the physiological responses our bodies make to stress, we are constantly in a state of lowered immune response with heightened demands on our hearts and glucose metabolism, leading inevitably to chronic disease.
There are many books on meditation and relaxation, and there are many methods to accomplish this. None of them are terribly complicated.
As with exercise, try several methods and choose one that you enjoy and that helps you start to feel better. Relaxation doesn't have to be structured. Maybe the best form of relaxation for you is a long hot bubble bath at the end of a hectic day. Maybe it's simply putting on your headphones and losing yourself in a favorite piece of music or sitting quietly watching the sunset.
A wonderful form of relaxation is to progressively tighten and release your muscles from head to toe until your body feels heavy and completely at peace. Remain that way for 15 or 20 minutes. This is also a great way to fall asleep if you have insomnia.
Meditation usually involves sitting still and clearing your mind of extraneous thoughts and worries. Here is a very basic form of meditation:
- Choose a mental focusing device. Many people like to use a word or phrase, such as: "Hail Mary, full of grace," "Shalom" or even "One." The word you choose should be positive, but beyond that, the words are unimportant.
- Sit quietly and comfortably. Some soft music might help you relax.
- Close your eyes to help you focus.
- Relax your muscles.
- Breathe slowly and natural and mentally repeat your focus word or phrase.
- Assume a passive attitude. Don't be discouraged if distracting thoughts come your way. Just let them float by rather than mentally commenting on them.
- Continue doing this for 15-20 minutes once or twice a day. Make the time for yourself. Think of how much time you waste worrying, and spend these minutes constructing a positive mental attitude.
Meditation has also been shown to prevent the depression of the body's immune responses that occurs with stress. People who practice meditation on a regular basis have been found to be less anxious, and there is little doubt that meditation and relaxation techniques are effective in dealing with anxiety, stress and insomnia. This confirms research at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center that found that meditators have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
We have seen how even the mildest conflicts can generate an exaggerated "fight or flight" stress reaction (more appropriately reserved for dealing with life-threatening situations). Meditation can be the way to help us unlearn this conditioned response and become less reactive to the normal stresses and strains of life.
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MY COMMENTS
Doing all the things you need to do to create health won't be easy, but you can get started today. Remember Confucius' proverb: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." To find out more, you can check out Getting Rid Of Candida.