We have become pretty bad at the most basic act of living: breathing. We breathe through our mouths and into our chests, and we do it way too fast. 
Besides the health problems this may cause, breathing the wrong way may have another big consequence: contributing to our anxiety and other mental health problems.

Breathing and anxiety

Instead of trying to think yourself out of feeling anxious, you can do something more specific: breathe slow or fast, in a particular rhythm, or through a nostril; this can work as an instant relief.
A regular breathing practice will help you feel calmer in daily situations, but studies suggest that focusing on your breathing in moments of acute stress could also be useful.

How breathing can calm us

The way we breathe can set off a cascade of physical changes in the body that promote either stress or relaxation.
Breathing impacts the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) and parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) branches of our nervous system, and certain techniques can promote more parasympathetic calm and relaxation. Some may also cause us to release hormones like prolactin and possibly oxytocin, the feel-good hormone of love and bonding.

Breathing: stress vs relaxation

<ul>
<li>Breathing fast can act as a trigger for people with anxiety causing symptoms that often accompany panic attacks, but you can use that to your advantage.</li>
<li>When you breathe fast and start to feel symptoms that you normally associate with anxiety, it may help you re-interpret those symptoms in a less threatening way. </li>
<li>They become less worrisome because they have a clear cause, the same way an elevated heart rate during exercise doesn’t bother us. </li>
<li>And if you can connect anxiety to faulty breathing habits, it means you can change the way you breathe and potentially see some improvement.</li>
</ul>

Fast breathing

Many of the techniques that have been formally researched are derived from pranayama, yogic breathing that dates back to ancient India:
<ul>
<li>Ujayyi: Deep breathing with a narrowed throat, creating an ocean-like sound, often recommended while doing yoga asanas.</li>
<li>Bhastrika, or “bellows breath”: inhaling and exhaling forcefully.</li>
<li>Nadi Sodhan and Anulom Vilom: Types of alternate nostril breathing, where air is inhaled in one nostril and exhaled through the other, sometimes with breath holding.</li>
</ul>
Although these shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for therapy or a cure for severe anxiety, they can be a free, simple tool for both short-term relief and long-term benefit.

How to breathe better

Breathing sets off a cascade of physical changes in the body that promote either stress or relaxation.

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Health

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Exercise & Fitness

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Mental Health

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Meditation

Is the Way You Breathe Making You Anxious?

Most people didn't see exercise as necessary until the mid-20th century. Food scarcity meant people didn't overeat, and it didn't make sense to try to burn off the calories. 
However, industrialization changed the nature of work and food production. Fewer farmers were doing physical labour, and more people were doing office desk jobs. The growth of automobile culture, the suburban sprawl, and the popularity of television, all led to a more sedentary lifestyle.

Exercise was not necessary until the mid-20th century

The exercise culture in the U.S. only took off after World War II.
<ul>
<li>After a 1955 report showed that 57.9% of American kids failed one or more of six physical fitness tests - versus about 8 % of European kids - an executive order was issued to create the President's Council on Youth Fitness.</li>
<li>In 1960, President-Elect John F. Kennedy wrote that the increasing lack of physical fitness is a menace to society. This push for fitness led to an expansion of the President's Council on Youth Fitness.</li>
</ul>

The start of the exercise culture

Some entrepreneurs and trainers played a vital role in the rising exercise culture.
<ul>
<li>Health clubs were popularized by the Vic Tanny Gyms chain.</li>
<li>Weight-lifting for women was popularized in the 1930s and 1940s by female-bodybuilder Abby "Pudgy" Stockton.</li>
<li>In 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act paved the way for women to go out and sign up for exercise classes on their own.</li>
<li>In the '60s and '70s, exercise became a more accepted and celebrated pursuit.</li>
<li>The '80s and '90s saw the expansion of a conversation about diet and fitness.</li>
</ul>

Entrepreneurs played a key role in establishing the fitness industry

The rise of exercise culture has that has led to fitness-focused New Year's resolutions does not mean people will exercise. Only 1 in 4 U.S. adults and 1 in 5 high school students meet the recommended physical activity guidelines.
The relentless optimism displayed each year in setting fitness resolutions may reflect an American ideal. The New Year's resolution to get in shape demonstrates a belief in the individual's ability for self-improvement.

Exercise is not a widespread hobby

New Year's resolutions have been around for millennia, but most Americans didn't see exercise as necessary until the mid-20th century.

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

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Personal Development

Trying to Get in Shape? Here's the History Behind the Common New Year's Resolution

Exercise is a  movement of the body to enhance physical fitness. Most people know that exercise is important for the physical development of the self, yet a majority of them are skipping exercise often.

Exercise Defined

Historic evidence suggests that for many thousands of years, human beings were more active and stronger than today. The early humans had increased movement and activity, like going for long and tiring hunts, walking long distances that took weeks, making the prehistoric humans fitter than the best athletes today.

Decrease in Human Strength

Technological breakthroughs have reduced our activity to a great extent ( vacuum cleaners, washer-dryers, self-cleaning ovens, and even cars).The rise of the internet gave us a whole lot of technology, curbing our need to move even more.

Technology as the Culprit

While we aren't replacing our saved energy with a different activity, in the past 70 years, hard and manual labor, which required toil and sweat, has been replaced by desk jobs, leading to sedentary lifestyles.

Change in Work Profiles

Sedentary lifestyle diseases like heart disease/strokes and diabetes are the leading cause of death in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

Sedentary Lifestyle Death Toll

The way to change this sedentary epidemic:<ul><li>Exercise and be active all day, not just for an hour a day.</li><li>Rethink your working style.</li><li>Limit the number of sitting hours.</li><li>Make it a habit to eat right.</li></ul>

The Way Out

This is the time of year when trainers are mined from under beds and gym kits are disinterred from the bottom drawer. Google searches relating to physical fitness peak in January. Many people even trawl the web to find out about "desk exercises" and "workouts on the go" in case they are too busy to use their new gym memberships.

Why exercise alone won't save us

While it's established that cardio and weight lifting build muscle, new research in mice shows that endurance exercise boosts the growth of vital muscle stem cells and fundamentally changes their metabolism.
It is too early to translate the findings directly to people. Still, this research could inform strategies to help people bounce back from injury, resist the loss of muscle mass that comes with ageing, and gain benefits even if people can't exercise.

The benefits of getting stronger

Muscle maintenance is vital to ensure healthy ageing. 
In research with mice, researchers found that aerobic exercise changed how the animals consumed oxygen, metabolised sugar, and how tired they were when they weren't exercising. The mice were leaner and had fewer signs of inflammation.

How muscle maintenance affects longevity

The research team isolated muscle tissue and focused on satellite cells - stem cells that live in skeletal muscle and regenerate muscle throughout adulthood.
These cells are activated continuously, but over time become fatigued and stop renewing. Endurance exercise increases proteins involved in quieting and activating these satellite cells, which enable self-renewal or differentiation.

Cells capable of regenerating tissue

A new study finds endurance exercise boosts the growth of vital muscle stem cells and sets off a cascade of regenerative effects on the body.‌‌

Endurance exercise study illuminates the link between muscles and health

<ol>
<li>Introduced in the late 1st century in Ancient Rome as a Roman treadmill crane, the treadmill was initially used to lift or transport heavy objects.</li>
<li>In the 19th century, farmers used a treadmill based mechanism to better utilize the pulling power of a horse(coining the term horsepower). </li>
<li>Smaller versions of the horse treadmills were used by dogs, sheep and goats for churning butter, grinding stones, fanning mills and also for separation of creams.</li>
<li>The Victorian Era saw prison treadmills where prisoners used to work the wheel to grind corn or pump water.</li>
</ol>

The History Of The Treadmill

<ul>
<li>1952: Dr Robert Bruce (The Father Of Exercise Cardiology) conducts research on patients using the first medical treadmills.</li>
<li>1960: Treadmills as aerobic exercise equipment at home and at the gym start to be in vogue.</li>
<li>1991: The first modern-looking model came into the market.</li>
<li>2003: Treadmills with LCD touchscreens and USB connectivity became popular.</li>
</ul>

Treadmills For Health And Fitness

Today, the treadmill is the most popular piece of fitness equipment, found in homes and health clubs around the world. But where did this great cardiovascular machine come from?

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Leadership & Management

The History of the Treadmill

Intermittent fasting is based on the idea that when you reduce your calorie intake for limited stretches of time, your body will use its stored fat for energy. Intermittent fasting has many health benefits, including losing weight.
There is no one way to do intermittent fasting. There is the 5:2 diet, which means eating very few calories for two days of the week, followed by five days of normal eating. Or the alternate-day fasting, which means eating normally for one day, then either nothing or just 500 calories the next.

What Intermittent fasting is

One intermittent fasting method is known as time-restricted eating: A person consumes all of their calories for the day within an 8-to-12-hour window. You might eat breakfast at 8 AM, including coffee, and finishing your dinner by 6 PM.
In an experiment, two sets of mice were fed the same diet and ate the same number of calories a day. One set had access to food for 24 hours, and the other group had access for only 8 hours. After 18 weeks, the group that could eat all hours showed signs of insulin resistance and had liver damage. The mice who ate in an 8-hour window did not have the condition and weighed 28 percent less than the other group.

Time-restricted eating

Many of the human body’s processes are tied to our circadian rhythms.
Eating food at the right time can nurture us, and healthy food at the wrong time can be junk food because it gets stored as fat instead of being used as fuel.

Food at the right time

Time-restricted eating gives our body a chance to use up fat. When we eat, our body uses carbohydrates for energy. When we don't need them right away, they get stored in the liver as glycogen or converted into fat.
When we finish eating for the day, our body first use glucose from the carbohydrates we've eaten before moving on to the stored carbohydrates, or glycogen, in the liver. Glycogen lasts for eight hours after we've stopped eating. After that, our body begins to tap into its stored fat.

How the body uses and stores food

When we shorten the period for eating and extend the time for fasting, we stay in the fat-burning mode of our metabolism.
The moment we eat food, even coffee with a bit of sugar and milk, we switch to the other mode and start burning carbohydrates while storing glycogen and fat.

Switching modes

<ul>
<li>Subjects in a study reported experiencing better sleep, more energy in the mornings, and less hunger at bedtime.</li>
<li>In a study of men at risk for type-2 diabetes, after one week of restricting eating to a nine-hour window, the men showed a lower spike in blood glucose after a test meal.</li>
<li>In another experiment of time-restricted eating, where the subjects were on medication to lower cholesterol, after 12 weeks, they found reduced cholesterol levels of about 11 percent on average.</li>
</ul>

Benefits of time-restricted eating

<ul>
<li>Only consume water during your fasting window. It means no coffee, tea, or herbal tea.</li>
<li>Drink only plain hot water after waking up as it can give you the same soothing feeling as coffee.</li>
<li>If you have to be very alert in the morning, it's OK to have black coffee, but don't add any creamer or sweeteners.</li>
<li>Wait to eat breakfast until you've been awake for a few hours.</li>
<li>Finish your last meal about two to three hours before your bedtime.</li>
</ul>

How to practice time-restricted eating

While the time-restricted eating holds promise, there is a need for more research.
<ul>
<li>There haven't been studies with humans that lasted longer than a few months.</li>
<li>The gut microbiome actually changes in mice that restrict their eating to an eight-hour window, so they digest nutrients differently. It remains to be seen if it is possible in humans.</li>
<li>Research suggests that people practicing intermittent fasting eat more before and after their fasting days and don't receive calorie-reducing benefits.</li>
<li>There may be a potential danger for people who struggle with binge-eating disorder or anorexia.</li>
</ul>

More research is needed on intermittent fasting

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Longevity

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Food

Fasting Basics

Leading researcher Satchin Panda explains how intermittent fasting works and what it can — and can't do — for you.

The science behind intermittent fasting — and how you can make it work for you

Many athletes and sportspersons have an ice bathing ritual post their performances or even after routine workouts to recover their muscles, by reducing the temperature, tissue inflammation and blood flow. This is also done to reduce swelling and pain in their limbs.
Extreme cold temperatures may work in the short run, and help athletes recover at a faster rate, especially if they are to perform again in the coming days.

Ice Baths For Athletes

Ice baths are not recommended for ling term muscle strengthening. New studies show that while the ice bath method works to some extent, it does not help in building muscles, and might even slow down the natural repair process.
This method can be used occasionally for a quick recovery but is not recommended if one wants stronger muscles in the long run.

Ice Baths And Long Term Muscle Strengthening

Athletes are told a post-match ice bath works wonders for their muscles. But is it really good for them? Claudia Hammond investigates.

Do ice baths have benefits?

Pushing your body to reach new levels of fitness requires commitment and effort that are intense and challenging.
But without the right balance of rest and recovery you could end up with a long-term fatigue condition called overtraining syndrome.

Pushing yourself too hard

Common symptoms include:
<ul>
<li>Long-term decrease in sports performance</li>
<li>Less motivation to exercise</li>
<li>Low mood</li>
<li>Muscle soreness, aches and pains</li>
<li>Loss of good quality sleep</li>
<li>General tiredness or fatigue</li>
</ul>
Symptoms can vary wildly from person to person. Other life stresses, such as working long hours, difficult relationships, dieting, and not getting enough sleep, can accelerate the syndrome. The only reliable method to assess if you have overtraining syndrome is to track how long it takes you to recover. If you bounce back after a week or two, you probably weren't overtraining.

Overtraining symptoms

Overreaching is a similar condition to overtraining and it is also characterized by performance decline, but recovery takes several days to weeks. Hard and frequent training, coupled with poor sleep, high levels of stress, and low calorie, low-carb diet may all make someone more likely to develop overtraining syndrome. 
The best recovery tool is to manage your training.
<ul>
<li>Take a break from demanding exercise and let your body heal and repair itself. Do light activities, such as walking or stretching.</li>
<li>Ensure you're eating healthily</li>
<li>Aim for a sufficient amount of undisturbed sleep each night.</li>
</ul>

Overreaching and best training recovery tools

Those with the condition could take several weeks, months, or even years to properly recover.

Overtraining syndrome: what it is and how to avoid it

If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) is a new diet that counts the daily macronutrients in the food and drinks we intake, mainly the fats, carbs and proteins. It provides flexibility and choice in our diet with the same results as a much stricter diet.
This popular new diet currently has no scientific research to test its effectiveness as compared to the previous diet plans of low-carb or low-fat consumption.

Macronutrient Dieting

Calorie counting does not take into account the type of nutrients consumed, reducing the many types of food into numbers. It essentially makes no distinction between cottage cheese and a chocolate bar, apart from the number of calories they have.
The advantage of counting the macros (fats, proteins and carbs) is that many essential nutrients (vitamins, minerals) are naturally incorporated in our food intake.

Counting Calories Vs Counting Macros

Counting macronutrients offers more food flexibility – but may be most useful when trying to build muscle.

Calories or macros: nutritionist explains which works best for weight loss or building muscle

Sleeping less has been associated with increased risk of obesity, and addition of body fat, as it affects the overall metabolism of the body, and can also affect our appetite.
Sleep duration is a problem for many adults, as they find sleeping the recommended seven to nine hours a night a challenge, given the hectic lifestyle and social commitments.

Sleep And Weight Fluctuation

<ul>
<li>Various studies point out that sleep influences two appetite hormones, leptin (to decrease appetite) and ghrelin (to stimulate appetite), which is also known as the hunger hormone.</li>
<li>Lack of sleep is associated with higher levels of ghrelin and lower levels of leptin, making the person more likely to overeat.</li>
</ul>

More Sleep Means Better Metabolism

<ul>
<li>Sleep-deprived people crave for and also end up eating more carb-rich foods and sugar.</li>
<li>Sleep duration affects the release of insulin in the body, that affects our glucose levels, and prolonged sleep deprivation can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes.</li>
<li>Research shows that exercise prevents the damage done by lack of sleep and also makes one eat less.</li>
</ul>
To stay healthy, one has to sleep more and also do regular exercise.

More Sleep And More Exercise

A lack of sleep increases appetite, makes us more likely to eat unhealthy foods, and even affects how body fat is lost while dieting.

Why sleep is so important for losing weight

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