Category Archives: SEX: Sleep and Exercise

Your Genes Don’t Determine Your Jean Size

Last month the New York Times ran an article called How Exercise Changes Our DNA. That’s right, folks, DNA. We usually think of exercise in terms of bellies and biceps, lungs and love handles, but the effects of exercise go much deeper than that; literally to the core of who we are.

A recent study showed significant changes to the genes in exercised muscles. The study participants exercised one leg, but not the other, on a bicycle. After three months, the exercised leg’s DNA had changed and the lazy leg’s hadn’t.

I’d like to make 3 points based on this research.

The participants exercised their loner leg for a total of 3 hours per week, not per day, and that exercise made a difference for Loner Leg. Three hours per week is an attainable goal for all of us, even those of us who identify more with Lazy Leg than Loner Leg.
Exercise helps your body be healthy from your genes to your jean size. If you are exercising, but lament the lack of visible changes in the mirror, don’t give up: healthy, positive changes are happening, you just need a microscope to see them.
Genetic predisposition can’t hold you back. The genetic wiring you’re born with does not control who you become: you do. You might be genetically predisposed to heart disease, obesity, or diabetes, but the actions you take can change your genes. It’s like training a dog: certain breeds have known tendencies toward stubbornness, sweetness, or aggression, but all breeds can be trained.

We’re a couple of weeks into the New Year, when most people slacken their resolve to get healthy. (No statistics to back me up here, just personal experience.) Don’t give up; don’t leave your dog half-trained. Your genes and your jeans will thank you!

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galations 6:9

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SEX: Sleep and Exercise. Tags: cartoon, effects of exercise, exercise and DNA, maintaining a healthy weight, Physical exercise. Leave a comment

Oct. ’14

Sex and Sleep: Start With S

With the busyness of the school year upon me, I find myself needing to get back to the basics, and I’m starting with the S in Sex: sleep.

Research shows that people who consistently get a full night’s sleep lose more body fat on a diet than those who don’t. (Fat is what I want to lose! Not my hard-earned muscle.) Science has also confirmed that when we’re tired, we not only eat more, but we crave high calorie foods. We all know the equation Tired = Want Sugar² to be true, but it’s nice when scientists agree with us. The emotional food craving part of our brain actually takes charge and the logical decision making part of our brain takes a back seat.

If you don’t trust the experts, do your own research. Ready? Get eight hours of sleep two nights in a row. Does a salad sound appetizing? Do you have the energy to make one? Good. Okay, now get six hours of sleep two nights in a row. What are the chances you’ll exercise today? Are fat and sugar your new best friends? Bingo.

So how do we get more sleep? For many of us, we simply haven’t made sleep a priority. Have you ever noticed how early you go to bed when the power is out or you’re camping? (i.e. When it’s dark, you’re bored.) Screens, be they television, ivision, or webvision, have a way of making us feel more awake than we are or should be. If you turn them off, you will increase your chances of going to bed on time by 200%. That was a scientific study done by yours truly. I aced 9^th grade Biology, so you know my results are accurate.

The more I research the affects of sleep on the body, the more convinced I’m becoming that few things are more important for your health. Now, some of you reading this work the night shift, or have newborns, or other situations in life that interrupt your sleep and are beyond your control. I know you’re sleeping the best you can and you have my sympathy and a pillow if you ever stop by to visit. I’m talking to myself and all of the other idiots out there who don’t know how lucky we are that if we choose to, we can be well rested.

Ladies, maybe you don’t have the will power to turn off the TV and get yourself into bed at a decent hour. But you have at your disposal one of the most powerful forces in nature: your husband’s desire for intimacy. Here’s how you tap into that power. Pick a night (or several nights) of the week and say this: “Husband, I want you to seduce me at nine o’clock tonight. I will say yes. I need to be asleep by ten.” Your husband will remember. He might be incredulous (after all, it sounds too good to be true) but he will remember. Nine o’clock rolls around and badda-bing, badda-boom – a good night’s sleep! (And exercise to boot! What a deal!)

Psalm 127:2 says that God “grants sleep to those he loves”. Sleep is a blessing! A gift! Not a necessary evil.

Science stuff pulled from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/how-sleep-loss-adds-to-weight-gain/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SEX: Sleep and Exercise. Tags: getting to be on time, God, healthy living, humor, sex and exercise, sex and sleep, sleep, weight loss and sleep. 5 Comments

Jun. ’14

Why I Love Swimming At The YMCA

There are many excellent forms of exercise to choose from, but swimming laps is my favorite by far. Let me tell you why swimming at my local YMCA is so great.

1. No sweat! I like to hike, walk, bike, and so forth, but I don’t like to sweat. Ever. I avoid it whenever I can. When I swim, I feel cool and fresh the whole time. I’m going to invent a bike bubble that allows you to pedal down the street surrounded by cold water up to your waist.

2. Feel young and slender! I go to the Y mid-morning when the building is frequented by young moms and retirees. 95% of the young moms are on the elliptical machines or in the aerobics classes, which means that most days I can boast of having the sexiest body in the swimming pool!

3. Hope for the future! There are some days when the best body in the pool award goes to a swimmer in his or her seventies or eighties. While this is humbling, it proves to me that swimming is something I can keep doing for the rest of my life.

4. Full body workout! I love that I swim and then I’m done. Swimming laps works my arms, legs, heart, and lungs.

5. Safer snorkeling! On a planet that’s 70% water, swimming is a life saving skill and it doesn’t hurt to be good at it. After I’d been swimming for six months, my husband and I had the opportunity to snorkel in the ocean off the coast of Mexico. We were fighting waves and currents as we swam and I was so proud of being able to handle myself well in that water.

I realize that not everyone likes to swim. A good friend of mine came swimming with me once, but she didn’t like it. She likes to sweat. She likes to work each part of her body separately and feel the burn. She’s crazy.

If you don’t like your current exercise, try something new and find something you enjoy. Roller skating, biking, hiking, cross country skiing, zumba, kick boxing, square dancing…find a way to move your body and love it!

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

You made them rulers over the works of your hands; the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (excerpts from Psalm 8)

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SEX: Sleep and Exercise. Tags: exercise ideas, God, healthy living, humor, maintaining a healthy weight, Physical exercise, YMCA. 2 Comments

Apr. ’14

March Abness Results

I did it! 3100 crunches in 31 days! And the results are in: I lost 1 inch from my waist!

If you find it, let me know. Har har har. But isn’t that cool? For those of you who’ve been wondering (myself included) if that little bit of exercise you’re doing is making a difference: IT IS.

You know those Ab machine infomercials that show flabby tummies turning into six packs in 90 days, just 3 minutes a day? I’m beginning to suspect that ANY ab exercises for 3 minutes a day for three months will make a huge difference. It takes me about 3 minutes to do 100 crunches; that includes a few little breathers to let my ab muscles un-clench and the pain to subside.

Three minutes! That’s all it takes. I do them best while I watch TV. So, if you’re watching CSI, you do crunches until they find the body. Walking Dead? Crunch until a body finds them. Big Bang Theory? Crunch while Sheldon explains something, anything, to Penny. American Idol fan and want a real challenge? Crunch from when they say “Up next we announce the results of last week’s voting” and keep going until they actually tell you the results. I bet you could beat my 3100 in one show.

The point is, any little bit of exercise you do matters. Motivating, isn’t it?

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

Images are from http://fitterinaballerina.wordpress.com/ and http://the-big-bang-theory.com/gallery/picture/1661/

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SEX: Sleep and Exercise. Tags: exercise ideas, healthy living, humor, maintaining a healthy weight, Physical exercise, Weight loss. 6 Comments

Feb. ’14

March Ab-ness

Despite the snow outside my window, swimsuit season is upon us. The pool toys, tankinis, and deck chairs are out in stores and, if you wait until June to buy your swimsuit, you’ll be picking through the clearance racks next to the Back To School displays.
In honor of swimsuit season, I am challenging myself to do 3100 crunches in 31 days. Yes, dear blog readers, the month of March will be a true test of my determination, discipline, and dread of being half naked in public in a few short months.
Some of you may be thinking “100 crunches a day isn’t that many, Katie”. True, but it’s a heck of a lot more than the zero I do now!
And why the public nature of the challenge? Because I’ve been thinking I should do this since the start of last swimsuit season and my mantra of “I’ll start tomorrow” doesn’t seem to be working.
In 31 days, I will tell you the effect that 3100 crunches has had on my abs. Hopefully those results will include my ab muscles being visible from the surface and not only by using an MRI machine.

Want to see a before picture? Glutton for punishment, aren’t you? I was kidding. This will have to do: It’s a bowl full of jelly; just imagine a belly button in the middle.

I’m not expecting a miracle (Rock hard, get it?), just a bowl with less jelly.
Want to join me? Measure your waist – that’s the line around your middle at the level of your belly button, not where your jeans rest on your hips – and let’s do this! Who’s in?

“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:27

Crunch image from http://sassyfitgirl.com/crunches

Balls from http://woodlandspoolbuilder.com/?p=242

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SEX: Sleep and Exercise. Tags: crunches, God, healthy living, humor, maintaining a healthy weight, Physical exercise, Stomach, swimsuit season, Weight loss. 8 Comments

Jan. ’14

Yoda’s Yoga

“Do or do not. There is no try.”

Oh, if only I had a little green linguistically challenged trainer who could hang on my back, spouting guru encouragement and inspiring me by lifting spaceships out of ponds. Instead, I have four little beige people I must dress and cobble and herd out the door like protesting cats. I feel like Luke when he sizes up that spaceship: I don’t think I’m strong enough. And why am I herding booger spurting beige cats wearing Spiderman masks into the spaceship stuck in a pond? To exercise. Be it rounding the block or driving to the YMCA, I am determined to burn a few hundred calories.

But I must be my own Yoda. “Use the Force, Katie.”

It’s great advice, actually: Do or do not, there is no try. Don’t think about it, just do it. When I think about going to the Y, I often talk myself out of it. I’ll go later. I’ll do some crunches while I watch TV tonight, I promise. It might rain. It’s raining. It did rain. Ooo, my weekly StumbleUpon email just arrived. I should probably clean instead. Pitiful.

There was one day just before Christmas when I finally tired of the filth that was my house (why clean in December when you can shop for presents?) and I cleaned for 3½ hours straight. That was a good workout. “The Force is strong in this one.” Unfortunately, that kind of cleaning bug only hits me on a solstice.

So I try not to think about it. Just do it. (Yes, Nike, I will accept sneakers as payment.) There is always something else I could do with that time, but nothing else I should do. And all of the stuff that needs to get done still gets done because exercise increases my energy. It’s kind of magical. Like Yoda.

“He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31

He is the REAL Force.

Images are from:

http://www.starwarsreport.com/tag/yoda/

http://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.com/2012/10/classic-image-wisdom-never-dies.html

http://imsdemons.pvp101.net/2013/12/guide-herding-cats-or-brief-guide-to.html

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SEX: Sleep and Exercise. Tags: God, Health, healthy living, humor, maintaining a healthy weight, Physical exercise, Weight loss. 2 Comments

Jan. ’14

My Yellow Brick Resolution

Our society has things backwards. The day that we’re expected to begin a self-improving, habit-breaking, life transforming New Year’s Resolution is the day after we stay up way too late and arrives at the end of one of the busiest and most calorie rich seasons of the year. If you searched the calendar for the one day that we are the most physically, emotionally, and motivationally drained, it would be New Year’s Day. It’s like asking me to start a low carb diet the day I tour a bakery. Not going to happen!

If one week into the New Year you’ve already lost your way, I invite you to travel with me down the Healthy Body Yellow Brick Road. We’re going to begin our year the same way we began with this blog: with SEX every day. If God has blessed you with enough mc² to take this suggestion literally, go for it! For the rest of us, remember that SEX reminds us to get plenty of Sleep and EXercise. (To read the first post of this blog and learn how to use your spouse to get yourself to bed on time, click HERE.)

This week we’re going to focus on sleep.

Ready, Dorothy? Let’s collect our traveling companions and get back to Kansas!

Hey Scarecrow! Did you know that sleep cleans your brain? When you sleep, your brain cells contract, leaving extra space between them. Spinocerebral fluid then flows around the cells, flushing away the proteins that build up there when you’re awake. Protein build up has been linked to alzheimers and dementia. When you get enough sleep (7-8 hours per night), your brain gets detoxed. I got so little sleep in college, I think I built protein palaces. http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/october2013/10282013clear.htm Another new study just announced that missed sleep results in an increase in certain chemicals in the brain – the same type of chemical increases that occur after a head injury. http://msnvideo.msn.com/?channelindex=10&from=en-us_msnhpvidmod#/video/7d94de3e-03fa-4090-aa8a-331b3c311c1e

“If I only had a heart” and if I only slept enough to keep it strong! Tin Man, a new study came out this past summer which links sleep and heart health. There are four factors that significantly affect one’s risk for cardiovascular disease: smoking, diet, exercise, and alcohol. New research has added a fifth: sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, it adversely affects your heart just as much as smoking does. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2353692/Lack-sleep-increases-risk-heart-disease-SMOKING.html

Lion, your courage to face the day and change your bad habits into good ones is also linked to sleep. Mood is affected by sleep. If you or someone you know has worked night shift, you don’t need science to tell you that lack of sleep makes a person more irritable, less patient, and well, not someone you want to be caged up with. Some studies have linked sleep deprivation with depression and other studies show that lack of sleep causes your amygdala (the part of the brain associated with negative emotions) to act up more and be less connected to the part of your brain that regulates emotion (and keeps the crazies in check). http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/between-you-and-me/201308/all-night-the-effects-sleep-loss-mood

Last, but not least, we can’t forget the Good Witch Leptin and the Wicked Witch Ghrelin. Well rested bodies produce lots of the hormone leptin which tells your body to stop eating. Sleep starved bodies produce more ghrelin hormones which tell your body to eat more. So in this metaphor, the Munchkins actually work for Wicked Witch Ghrelin. (Dunkin Donut holes, get it?) Come on, Lollipop Guild, you’re not helping us get to Kansas. http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/lack-of-sleep-weight-gain

Join me in celebrating the New Year by resolving to get more sleep: rest for our brain, our heart, and our mood. On our Yellow Brick Road, the best thing Dorothy can do is lie down in the field of poppies and take a nap.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. Psalm 23:2,3a

Images are from:

http://www.doctormacro.com/movie%20summaries/w/wizard%20of%20oz,%20the%20(1939).htm

http://www.fanpop.com

http://www.hrcsuite.com/strategic-planning/manufacturing-metrics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Witch_of_the_West

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm846889984/ch0004330

http://www.queen-of-theme-party-games.com/wizard-of-oz-games.html#axzz39fndneOL

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SEX: Sleep and Exercise. Tags: Diet, healthy living, humor, maintaining a healthy weight, sleep, Weight loss. 1 Comment

Nov. ’13

1 Comment

Oct. ’13

Late Night Cartoon

For the past couple of weeks, I have been struggling to follow my own advice on getting enough sleep. Therefore, this week I will be sharing my sleepy observations in the form of cartoons and going to bed early. The blog in its written form will be back next week. Enjoy!

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: Putting It All Together, SEX: Sleep and Exercise. Tags: Chocolate, Diet, healthy living, humor, sleep, Weight loss. 5 Comments

Sep. ’13

How To Force Your Spouse To Lose Weight

You can’t.

End of post.

Why are you still reading?

Unless HE chooses to lose, it’s not going to happen. You can lead a spouse to water….

So, if you can’t sit on his chest and force feed him carrots, what can you do?

There are a few things you can do to help him get healthy, just remember to treat your spouse like a grown up and not a child who can be tricked into eating asparagus because you call them “magic wands”.

1. Read this blog to him. (Not necessarily today’s entry unless he’s familiar with me; start at the beginning with Sex, then move on to Soup and Two Fisted Eating. Starting any conversation with the word “sex” makes your husband already like where the conversation is headed.)

2. Get him to bed on time. It’s very simple and similar to the method we discussed for getting yourself to bed on time. An hour before he should be asleep, step between him and the TV and strip. Then smile and walk upstairs. He will follow. If you have “wobbly bits” (best Bridget Jones’ Diary quote ever) that haven’t seen the light of day since birth (yours or your childrens’), it’s okay to remove one or two selective articles of clothing to give him the general idea. For some men, this can be as little as a sock.

3. Stop buying donuts. And any other junk food he can’t resist. If he asks you to buy a certain item, buy it, but buy the smaller package. Men thrive when they are respected; treat him like the grown man that he is.

If your man is overweight, there’s nothing wrong with having an “I’m concerned for your health and I want you to join me on this weight loss journey” conversation; in fact, you probably should have one of those. But if he’s not ready, don’t push it. No one wants to live with their personal trainer.

4. Exercise together. Ask him to take a walk with you. If your spouse doesn’t exercise often, keep it simple, sweat-free and short. Ten minutes, maybe twenty. After dinner walks are also a great way to release some gas without him noticing. Or perhaps it’s without you noticing his. Either way, it’s great.

If he’s competitive, ask him to hold your feet while you do sit ups while watching TV. If you brag a little, he’ll probably try to beat your record.

5. Add more vegetables to his meals. He won’t fall for the “magic wand” gimmick, but neither will he notice if an extra veggie is added to his casserole. Speaking of casseroles, try making it in two small pans and freezing one for later. It’s hard to go back for seconds if there are no seconds.

6. Offer water. Don’t take offense if he doesn’t drink it; he’s not rejecting you.

7. The Number One best thing you can do (which is, of course, why it’s listed as #7) is to be a good example. When I began to serve myself smaller portions at dinner, I also began to serve my husband smaller portions. It was easier to dish up two identical plates and if he wanted seconds, he went and got them. He discovered that he liked the smaller portions, re-started his habit of working out in the mornings, and dropped twenty pounds in three months…less than half the time it took me to lose twenty pounds. SIGH.

But the point is that my example helped get him started, and now his example helps keep me on track. If I’m on my way to the kitchen at 9:30pm for a cookie and pass by my husband eating an apple, I think twice about that cookie. If he’s playing badminton with the kids, I’m likely to join in. If he offers me a drink of his water, I find that I’m thirsty.