Discover three things that you can start today, that cost
you nothing, but will have a massive impact on your
health forever!
About us at health1stgym Slatyford, Newcastle
Our team at health1stgym have been studying, researching, networking and trying
various health theories for the past 20 years. We have looked at the basics of how
improving your quality and quantity of water, to the detailed and complicated
detoxification protocols can make to improving your well being, looks and fitness.
We have experienced some barriers on our journey, but on the other hand had a lot of
successes. What we now believe we’ve found is an affordable, simple step by step
approach that can be started today. Just by making small affordable changes, it will
amaze you at the results they produce.
Through all the researching and experimenting we have never lost sight of the real people
who need our help and guidance, YOU. As a group we are still looking to find other
effective ways to bring you affordable, simple and easy ways to improve your well being,
so we never lose sight of our main goal to bring affordable, effective and easy ways to
help you in your quest to improve yourself.
Number one
Would you pay more attention to the way you breathe, if I told you that it’s more
important than the food you eat?
We can survive without water for 4 to 7 days, we can survive with out food for 3 weeks,
but without air to breath we die within minutes. (World record for holding breath is 22
minutes underwater by German Stig Severinsen aged 41 and nicknamed the man who
doesn’t breathe)
How long can you hold your breath? Try it and write it down here…………….
Now get yourself a stopwatch and time your inhalations, (breathing in) now write it
here………….
Next inhale and time exhalation (breathing out), write the time here……….
The shorter your inhale is an indication that your body is too acidic, the exhale gives us
an indication of how your body handles carbinoxides, under 15 seconds is linked to
respiratory tract issues like asthma.
How well did you do?
Ideal would be 60 seconds on inhale and 60 seconds on exhale, so you may have some
work to do, if you did the above great then let’s move on.
The average and one that is considered a good breathing rate is 12 to 15 breaths per
minute, more than 15 breaths per minute is an indicator of a stress response.
Are you breathing equally in between both nostrils?
Sit down place your thumb over your right nostril can you breath through your left nostril
and how long can you inhale and exhale for? Write it here ………………………………
Now test the right nostril by covering the left with your thumb, time it and write it down
here……………..
How well did you do, was there a big difference between left and right?
Alternative nostril breath is a good practice for synchronizing your breath and brain try
10 breaths on each side every day.
Breathe in through the left nostril by covering your right nostril and breathe out through
the right by covering the left, now breathe in through the right and out through the left.
To teach you to belly breath or diaphragmatic it best to get into the most relaxed position
possible, this would be lying on your back with your hips and knees at 90 degrees
supported on chair or stool. Place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach breath
in through the nose and exhale through your mouth with pursed lips, as you exhale slowly
force all of the breath out and wait (one second pause) before inhaling again through the
nose, spend 10 minutes on this slow, long, deep, smooth and even breathing.
This has helped many back pain patients improve their symptoms, simply from the
breath.
The message is simple if you change your breathing you can change your health, what
have you got to lose, just 10 minutes out of your day.
Number two
Are you getting a good night’s sleep?
Or you may be thinking “so, what’s a little lost sleep?
Whether you suffer from a couple of bad nights sleep or are a seasoned insomniac
improving your sleep will improve your health.
Studies show that sleeping 5 hours per night or less raises the risk of heart disease.
New York Columbia University study titled sleep more to stay slimmer showed that
those who slept 5 hours or less per night were 50% more obese than those who slept
longer.
Could the bottom line be sleeping less makes you fat and have a bad heart?
Sleep deprivation has also been linked to hypertension, irregular heartbeat, altered
immune function, sugar/carbohydrate cravings and depression.
It is estimated that in 1910 the average adult slept 9 to 10 hours and before that the
average adult slept 10 to 11 hours. We use to follow circadian rhythms (a circadian
rhythm is a 24 hour cycle of day and night, a bigger rhythm is a menstrual cycle also
known as a looner rhythm or monthly cycle) sun and moon cycle.
Now it is estimated that we sleep on average 7 hours per night.
After 25 years of research the national sleep foundation can still not pin point an exact
amount of sleep needed to stay healthy, but they do say it important to pay attention to
your own individual needs.
But they do recommend average times based on their 25 years of research, for young
adults 18-25 are 7 to 9 hours per night, adults 26 to 64 7-9 hours and 65+ 7 to 8 hours.
The question is to you do you enjoy sleeping?
And what would you say if I was going to take away some of your sleep hours?
How would you wake then? How do you wake now? How long does it take you to get
going now in the morning? How would it feel if we took hours from you per night? And
do you depend on stimulants to get you going in the morning?
All these can be clues to whether you are getting good night’s sleep or not.
Would you be willing in the winter nights to go to bed 30 minutes to one hour earlier to
see if it improves your health, in stead of watching a television program that you could
record?
Would you be willing to practice you’re breathing before going to bed and may be some
gentle stretching.
Would you be willing to remove all electric appliances from your bedroom and ensure
your bedroom is pitch black which will increase melatonin production (your sleep
hormone and growth and repair hormone).
Here’s the reality if you don’t get enough sleep for your needs you store fat easier,
according to neuroscientist Paul Mc Lean we are all mammals that are hard wired to store
fat. The longer we stay awake tells the brain that winters coming and we need to store fat,
ready for hibernation.
Do you want to improve your body image and health?
Try these simple tips for 30 days straight and see how you feel.
1. stop stimulant drink use after 3pm
2. stop strenuous exercise at night, try yoga or tai-chi type exercises
3. Include some down time as mentioned above.
4. Completely darken your room.
5. In the winter get to bed by 10-10-30pm every night.
6. Avoid high carbohydrate foods at night.
7. Don’t drink alcohol to help you to sleep.
8. Placing lavender oil, magnesium oil behind your knees is believed to help sleep
quality.
9. Epsom salts bath has a calming effect on the body and may add to your sleep
quality.
10. The Bowen Technique is reported to aid people to have better sleep quality.
Shorter nights = less melatonin production (growth and repair hormone) = increased
cortisol levels (your stress hormone) = a more catabolic body (breaking down) = earlier
death.
Are you dying to get a good night’s sleep?
Number three
Water, water, water two parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen = H20
As with number one we can survive without water for 4 to 7 days, we can survive with
out food for 3 weeks, but without air to breath we die within minutes.
Dehydration is being hailed as one of the biggest causes of illnesses in men and women.
You may not realize that you are one of millions that fail to drink enough water that our
bodies need everyday.
Our bodies are made up of approximately 70% water, 85% of brain tissue is water your
blood is 90% water, about 16% of the total amount of water in your system right now is
being stored in your muscles.
Why is water so important?
Everything that happens inside of our bodies, every healthful process that happens in the
body happens with water, digestion, nutrient absorption, weight loss, joint lubrication,
detoxification which is one of the most important for health and longer life.
According to Dr F. Batmangheidj author of the book your body’s many cries for water,
he stated that almost every enzyme action and chemical interaction in our bodies depends
on water, our brains are so sensitive to water loss that it begins showing signs of
malfunction with only a 1% of water loss, makes you wonder how many children are
struggling in school are functionally dehydrated. Dr Batmangheihj recommends drinking
half your body weight in water per day, not as much as it sounds simply take your
bodyweight in kilograms and multiple it by 0.033 this will give you the amount of water
in litres to drink each day. Example a 90kg man or woman would drink approximately
3litres per day. (90kg x 0.033 = 2.97litres of water).
We lose water from the body every day through sweat, urination, breathing and other
bodily functions. One indication that you’re drinking enough water is the colour of your
morning urine; it should be a clear colour. Healthy urine should be ideally almost
colourless to light yellow, if your urine begins to become dark yellow, or even orange in
colour you are becoming dehydrated. What this means to you and your body is that your
kidneys are working overtime to get rid of toxins and other waste products from your
body. Dark coloured urine is a strong sign of severe dehydration; chronic dehydration has
been shown through research to create joint pain. The body’s joints contain fluid and
when you are dehydrated, these fluids become dehydrated as well. What most people fail
to realize is water is lost through sweating, urination and breathing every minute of every
day, 16% of the total amount of water in your system right now is being stored in your
muscles, which will become soft and flabby if you become dehydrated.
“You’re not sick, you are thirsty”, Dr Batmangheidj.
The solution is simple enough, we need to increase the quality and amount of fluids we
drink, and the trouble is our preferred beverages are tea, coffee, alcohol and all different
kinds of soft drinks and juices. Alcohol, tea and coffee for example are natural diurects.
Which means it forces water out of the body, leading to dehydration, in fact for every
alcoholic, coffee and tea beverage you consume, you will lose the same amount in
volume of water, the response headache (hangover), fatigue and digestive disturbances to
name just a few.
Coming off coffee or caffeine can be tough, first just reduce the size of your cup and after
a week or two start to reduce the amount of cups you drink and as you do so introduce an
increase in water.
Water and weight loss
In a study “water consumption increase and weight loss” 2010, over a three months two
groups were placed on a calorie restricted diet, but one group was asked to drink half a
litre of water before each meal.
The group who drank water before each meal lost 4.4% body fat and the non water
drinkers before each meal only lost 1.1% body fat.
Before you rush off to buy some fancy fat burning supplement or start a new fad diet it
may be wise and cheaper to simply drink some water before each meal.
What about the quality of water
Please understand that our tap water is regulated and they are looking for approximately
96 of the 90 thousand chemicals we are exposed to everyday this means we are still
exposed to chemicals but don’t be conned to thing that bottled water is the healthier
option, bottled water laws are less regulated that tap water some bottle waters have more
contaminants. Most bottled waters are just tap water filtered to make it look cleaner and
taste better the truth is you are buying an unknown water that’s not regulated and the
simple fact is it’s impossible to get a chemical free water in a plastic bottle.
So before you part with your hard earned money to buy bottled water just take a moment
to think would you pay for your tap water. Just remember bottled water is big business,
so you need to be asking is this bottled water really giving the health benefits the
manufactures claim, is it really healthier? One thing we don’t know is how long the water
has been sitting in warehouses in the plastic bottle, we don’t know if it has been exposed
to direct sunlight which increases the leakage of chemicals into the water.
Many health experts believe we should aim for a water PH of 7 to 9 for those who have
never heard of term PH it comes from the PH scale acid and alkalis (opposites) these are
measured on a scale called PH which is partial hydrogen’s a balance between hydrogen
and hydroxide- ions in liquid. A low PH corresponds to a high hydrogen-ion
concentration and less hydroxide-ions meaning more acidic solution. The PH scale means
1 your body is more acidic and 14 your body is more alkaline. The story is that as we age
we become more acidic, as the bodies principal acidic waste removers the kidneys and
lungs being to slow down, this results in acidosis which has been shown in research to
have a damaging response to our bones and overall health (I wonder if increased water
intake and breathing could help). We can also become more acidic through long
continuous exercise like marathon running, ill health, anorexia, menopause and by the
foods we put in our mouths sugar being the biggest culprit. Cancer cells are highly acidic
with a low PH which means cancer can live without oxygen, therefore to keep cancer
cells at bay it would be better to be more alkaline, this theory is being explored by many
alternative therapists. Though as yet no one has performed enough research!
To give you an idea Evian water has a PH of 7.2 which is a little more alkaline than tap
water which is 7.0 PH classed as neutral.
You can simply test your water with PH strips which can be bought on Amazon or your
local chemist and you can simply test your urine to see if your water is changing the PH
in you.
Look we could right a full book on water, breathing and sleep but the aim of this book
was to give you free, easy, simple and effective things you can do today to improve your
health and fitness, it’s the foundation of all of our programs at health1stgym, Slatyford,
Newcastle.
Continue to check our blog for more simple, easy and effective tips and better still give
us a call to see how we can help you to improve your health.
To your health
Trevor Rutherford
Owner of Health1stgym
Senior therapist at the Northern Integrative Health Practice