Saturday, July 29, 2017

Gonna make you sweat...

                                 SWEAT


With a recent interview during patient hours, I had gone through my usual Q&A to develop a picture of the 2nd person in the room.  One of my pillars to a balanced antiinflammatory lifestyle change is activity.  EVERYONE HAS TO MOVE....in the US we conceptualize walking as a chore thinking there is status in not having to walk so far from the front door or being at the back of the line or being able to watch 200 channels after a huge dinner, paying for your pre-made food instead of having to make it or chop veggies or cook from scratch.
My patient said he goes to the gym for 60-75 min about 3 x weekly.  NICE!!! Then I ask what are the activities he relies on (thinking I may be able to change or rearrange his routine to get the most his time in the gym).  He said 15minutes is spent in the sauna, another 15 spent in the whirlpool...then he gets on the treadmill or uses machines.   So you are thinking, 30minutes getting warm, then the rest of the time expending energy on the gym floor.  Fits into the AHA's recommendations of 30min 3-5 days a week.  BUT...this is a business owner that has 2 jobs and works around 60-70 hours a week and shoots for 6-8 hours of sleep nightly.  Even with his enjoyment of heat and concept of relating sweating as a form of exercise....this is where the life coach in me says to better utilize total hours per week, cut out the heat and try to condition the cardiovascular system to tolerate HIIT, (driving the heart rate high in a short amount of time and sustaining it for 30min -DONE!)...save time in the gym, get sweaty and with the 90minutes of "freed up time" per week, we can dive into a mindful practice development or enjoy a walk or family time.

(So I like using the American Heart Associations saying of minimum activity is 3-5 days a week of 30min of moderate intensity exercise weekly. )

So speaking of the cardiovascular system, when the heart beats faster than resting state, it is a muscle and muscle generates heat.  The reason the heart beats fast is to supply freshly oxygenated blood to muscles that are moving.  All this muscle heat has to be offloaded for fear that the brain will heat up to high temps - and result in a seizure.  One way to neutralize temp, SWEAT.  Perspiration moves water to skin layer and evaporation is cooling.  Some proponents of detoxing say a lot of toxins will leave the body with sweat but ....regarding weight.  NO overall change when you reload the fluid you sweat out in the gym over the course of the next 12 hours.

1-sweating ok (unless you are on a water pill at which point you can drop blood volume too fast)
2-perceived exertion of sweating should be associated with breath and pulse rate
3-walk when ever you can, stand instead of sit, feel the body high of moving fast for short times
4-tie in healthy eating to healthy activity to healthy mindful practice (stillness in silence )
5-HIRE a COACH if you are stagnant with what you do / bored / plateaued on benefits