What is Lack of Movement Doing to Our Bodies?

January 10, 2012

Do you suffer from Acute Motion Starvation?  A lot of people do.

Do you have any of the following symptoms?

• Your body hurts in one or more places with no real reason (no pathology or other injury)
• You work out two to three days a week but don’t move too much apart from the workouts
• Your mind begins to seek reasons to move less instead of move more
• You have a desk job
• You have a long commute spent seated in a car/bus/train
• You need to “unwind” for 2 or more hours a day in front of the TV
• You feel “down” or mildly depressed often and with no real reason

If any of the above describes you, then you probably are suffering from something I like to call AMS (Acute Motion Starvation). 

There is a treatment for this condition that has a nearly 100 percent success rate, and it involves reversing what caused the condition. Get moving!!

Movement Therapy

Your body literally thrives on movement. It comes alive when moving. It sends small electrical signals all over the place to turn various muscles on or off at the right times, to sense where your body is in space and how fast you are moving. 

Movement also sends blood around the body and this brings warm, nutrient-rich blood to all your joints and muscles. Joints feel more stiff and painful when they are moved less, not more.  The only way blood gets into your joints is from the pumping action of muscles contracting and relaxing. No movement equals no blood flow. This is why joints (whether healthy or injured) feel stiffer when they are motionless for any length of time.

To apply movement therapy, use a daily dose of movement for at least ten to 15 minutes a day. If desired, you can double the dose as this has often been shown to magnify the results of the treatment. 

Feel free to self-administer this treatment whenever you have ten minutes available. The type of movement matters very little to your body so long as it involves motion of the larger joints in the body – the shoulder, trunk, and hips.

Apply movement therapy one to two times per day for a period of seven days, and if symptoms are reduced, feel free to continue the treatment indefinitely. Movement therapy is available without a prescription, and you’ll find it wherever there is gravity.

 

More on Fitness:

5 Easy Exercises to Do at Work

Best Workout Equipment for the Office

Weight Lifting for Women

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Can Exercise Increase Brain Function?

December 19, 2011

“Exercise doesn’t make you smarter…it just makes you normal.” This great quote from John Medina in Brain Rules illustrates the essential role that physical activity plays in maintaining a sharp mind. The brain is best at solving problems related to surviving in an unstable environment, and to do so in nearly constant motion. This is what the brain did for virtually all of human history until we engineered the need for physical activity out of everyday life.

Rush to the Head

Exercise literally increases the blood volume in a region of the brain called the dentate gyrus, a vital part of the hippocampus. Exercise also stimulates BDNF, a protein which exerts a fertilizer-like growth effect on certain neurons. This protein keeps existing neurons young and healthy, rendering them much more willing to connect with one another. It also encourages neurogenesis, the formation of new cells in the brain. The cells most sensitive to this are in the hippocampus, inside the very regions deeply involved to human cognition and memory.

It’s what happens after exercise that optimizes the brain. Exercise increases levels of IGF-1 (a growth hormone), and in the hippocampus IGF-1 increases neuroplasticity (the way we learn associations with things), and neurogenesis. It’s another way exercise helps our neurons bind.

“The way exercise changes our brains is more effective than wine, medicines, and doughnuts,” says John Ratey, author of Spark. But too often, this is what we use to attempt to manage stress.

Find Stress Relief

Stress, lack of exercise, and junk food harms your brain. Stressed brains don’t learn the same way. The hormones released in response to stress are meant for immediate danger response, not chronic stress. Chronic stress makes adrenaline scar blood vessels while cortisol damages the cells of the hippocampus. Since exercise influences metabolism, it serves as a powerful way to influence synaptic function, and thus the way we think and feel.

As hard as it might be right now, instead of wine, medicine and doughnuts, what might be best to deal with stress is to get moving. Even if it’s just taking a short walk. The more you move, the better you’ll feel. Your movement choices don’t have to be exercise or nothing. A little exercise with a lot of movement in general can help you cope with stress – a great coping strategy to have at this time of year.

No matter how sharp or smart you are, your brain gets better with physical activity. It has a 100% effectiveness rate and the side effects are a healthier body as well!

More on Exercise:

Is 90 Minutes Per Week the Ideal Amount of Exercise?

Cardio vs. Weight Training

Can Exercise Improve Sex Life?

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The Truth About P90X

October 03, 2011

I’m always getting asked about fitness products, and I always give straight answers on what works, what doesn’t and everything in between. Below are some of the most common questions I get asked about a popular program, P90X, and the truth about what you need to know before you consider ordering and using a program like this.

1. What makes P90X different from other workout DVDs?

There are many different types and intensities of exercise shown. Most DVDs and programs focus on one type of exercise or one type of equipment, and it’s up to the individual to integrate the workouts into whatever else they may be doing for exercise. The variety keeps the workouts from getting boring and can help prevent injuries from doing too much of one exercise.

2. What should I know about it before ordering?

It’s a big commitment – both financially and time-wise! Twelve DVDs plus the program manual isn’t cheap. Also, get your schedule ready for 90 minutes of exercise five to six days per week. If you can devote that much time to exercise, it almost doesn’t matter what program you follow, you’ll get results. I’ve rarely met people that find the prospect of such a big time commitment realistic.

There’s nothing magical about “muscle confusion” - it’s a term created by P90X, not an idea created by P90X. To describe what every entry-level trainer has known for decades: without a varied stimulus to the body, it is difficult to make long-term progress. You’ve got to force the body to change. The only thing revolutionary about “muscle confusion” is the term itself. The concept is an old one.

3. Any precautions about who should be doing the program (is it safe for everyone?), how to execute it safely, etc.?

If you know how to listen to your body it can potentially be for anyone. New exercisers will need to make the movements easier at first. In general, it’s for younger people (teens, 20’s and 30’s) who are exercising already but not getting great results from their time and effort. Just jumping in and following everything at full intensity if you haven’t already been exercising is not going to be a wise choice.

4. Is there anything I should do before I begin the program to be more prepared?

Make room in your schedule – can’t stress this enough. The time commitment on this program is more than most people typically say they have available for exercise.

5. Anything I should do (either during, before or after) to get the best results from the program?

Plan on getting seven to eight hours of sleep every night, eating small, frequent meals that are high in veggies and fruits and taking a fish-oil supplement. In addition, either schedule a deep-tissue massage every two to three weeks or spend some time on self-massage with a tennis ball, foam roller or other similar device. Your muscles will need it! 

Remember: Progress from fitness isn’t from the workouts – it’s from the body’s ability to recover from a workout. 

6. Any advice for when I’m performing the workouts to help me get the most benefits?

Feel free to modify any exercise for your body, your injury history and your goals. There’s nothing magical about doing everything exactly as someone else does it. Know your limits, and push them. However, know that the risk of overdoing it is common with this ambitious program.

7. Anything I should not do while performing this program? Is there anything that will sabotage my results?

Don’t feel pressure to do all the sets and reps at the highest intensity shown. Listen to your body and know that during a workout, it can be easy to get “in the zone” and overdo it. Then a few hours later, you’re hurting - and not in a good way. Intense muscle soreness is from a poorly executed workout. A little soreness lets you know you had a challenge, but very sore or painful muscles need to recover before getting hit hard again. Even if you have to take an extra day or two of light exercise to recover and skip a workout or two, that’s fine if it is what is best for your body. 

8. Are there any other things you think i should know about P90X before I begin? Or tips/advice on how I can see the best results while completing the program?

The over-the-top delivery style of the workout leader on the videos can get irritating after multiple viewings. After one or two times through and you have a good idea of the moves, try following the videos with the sound down while you’re listening to your own motivating music.

 

More Fitness Trends:

What Are the Craziest Diet Trends of All Time?

Pros and Cons of Wii Fit

10 Weird Workouts

 

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Top 5 Fitness Mistakes

September 19, 2011

There are a few recent trends in fitness that can potentially lead you off course in your pursuit of fitness. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the common fitness mistakes coming from these recent trends with some tips on avoiding them.

1. Running barefoot on concrete or asphalt. I’m no fan of the traditional running shoe with its over-cushioned, elevated heel. I personally do a lot of work with people to strengthen their feet since they are the platform for all human movement, but running barefoot on concrete or asphalt must stop. The modern running shoe is unnatural, so getting rid of them is a good idea. But modern surfaces – perfectly flat, rock-hard streets and sidewalks – are just as unnatural and our feet aren’t equipped to run on them. Our feet work best on highly variable terrain. The barefoot running fanatics only see half the problem. Run barefoot or in minimalist shoes, but do it on grass or other more forgiving and variable surfaces.

2. You’re not really doing Tabata training. “We’re doing Tabata today: 20 seconds on, then ten seconds of rest, for eight cycles.” You’re hearing this more and more from personal trainers and fitness instructors, and they couldn’t be more wrong. Tabata is the last name of a Japanese researcher who, along with other researchers, studied the effects of short, intense bouts of exercise. The protocol was 20 seconds of high-intensity effort, followed by ten seconds of full rest. The part that no one seems to notice is that the high-intensity part is at 170% of VO2 Max. In layman’s terms, this is far higher than most people have ever worked or are capable of working. It’s not Tabata training if you’re not at those insane intensities. You can’t do it with body weight squats or push-ups.

3. Get your head straight. The inverted push-up (sometimes known as the handstand push-up) has gotten more popular, but to do it right, you don’t just need significant upper body strength. You need to keep your head on straight. When doing any push-up variation, the head should be positioned so that the neck stays neutral. In this position, your nose points the same direction as your chest. In a regular push-up, this means you’d be looking at the floor (between your hands.) In a handstand push-up, this means you are NOT looking at the floor but out from the wall so that the top of your head is pointed toward the space on the floor between your hands.

4. Avoiding crunches. Based on some seriously flawed conclusions from research, some people have recommended that you stop doing crunches. In a nutshell, these studies show that when you take the spines of dead pigs and put them through thousands – and in some cases tens of thousands – of spinal flexion cycles, there is a big jump in damage to the spinal structures. You aren’t a dead pig. When you put living tissue under stress in a workout and let it rest, it remodels itself and gets stronger to handle the stress better next time. You don’t do thousands of reps at once with dead tissue so it’s really silly to make this comparison. Further, when you compress and release pressure on living discs, you improve hydration and fluid flow in and out of the disc…another thing that can’t happen with dead tissue. It gets big headlines to shout, “Stop Doing Crunches!” but it’s intellectually lazy to do so. As I demonstrate in Abs Revealed, a smarter solution is to perform better crunches.

5. Wasting time on planks. Most of the anti-crunch zealots also make the error of thinking planks are the secret to world peace. Planks are a great exercise…to help you get better at doing other exercises. But many people make the mistake of doing planks for more and more time and with more and more challenges – all while staying perfectly still. Beyond 30 seconds, static planks are a waste of valuable training time you should be spending on movement. Life is movement, not staying still. Doing static planks for longer and longer is like staying in 1st grade forever. If you’re an adult in 1st grade, you’re likely getting perfect scores on your tests every time! But so what…you’re supposed to move on. If you’re up to 30 seconds on planks, either start shifting your body or moving your arms and legs to add a more appropriate challenge. Here’s a terrific example I created for you called “Walking Plank”. 

 

Your time is valuable and in short supply so you want to make sure you’re making the most of your precious workout time. Avoid the mistakes here and you’ll be getting fitter with some of the recent trends in fitness but avoiding the problems that come from not getting them quite right.

 

More on Fitness Trends:

Craziest Diet Trends of All Time

10 Heart Health Myths

5 Worst Fad Diets

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Mind Over Milkshakes: Do We Eat Less If We Indulge?

September 07, 2011

Can your mind determine how many calories are in a food?  Not quite, but close.

The same 46 people were fed the exact same milkshake (340 calories) on two separate occasions one week apart. Each time, it was labeled differently. One time, it was named “Indulgence” (label showed 620 calories, 31g of fat, 56g of sugar) with language like “decadence you deserve.” The other time, it was called the “Sensi-Shake” (label showed 140 calories, 0g fat, 20g of sugar) with “guilt-free satisfaction” on the label. 

The findings blew me away when I read them. Grehlin is a hormone that stimulates appetite. It rises when it is time for us to eat again and drops when we are full. The response of grehlin should be immune to how many calories we “think” are in a food since its levels rise and fall in direct response to how much we eat. 

Shockingly, the grehlin response differed significantly - findings suggest that the psychological mindset of sensibility while eating may actually dampen the effect of ghrelin. After the “indulgent” shake, the grehlin response increasesd significantly an hour after, but by 90 minutes had dropped steeply. After the “sensible” shake, the grehlin response went up slightly, then down slightly and stayed mostly level. 

More simply, when participants drank the “indulgent” shake, they had a significantly steeper decline in ghrelin than when they drank the sensible shake.  (Thinking they indulged led them to feel more satisfied for longer and get hungry later.)

Implications for Food Labeling:  A combination of unhealthy food with healthy claims could be very dangerous. Not only is the product itself unhealthy, but the mindset of sensibility might lead to feeling hungry faster, regardless of the actual fat and calorie content.

There is a lot of good publicity in calling your product healthy, and there are countless examples of foods that are marketed that way but aren’t.  “Low-fat” foods can often have high fat content but still carry less fat than their full fat counterparts. Another product might tout its high fiber content but have far too much sugar in it.

Perhaps if we can begin to approach even the healthiest foods with a mindset of indulgence, we will experience the physiological satisfaction of having had our cake and eaten it too.

To read the full study from the May 2011 Health Psychology visit my website at Aion Fitness.

 

More on Diet and Fitness:

10 Diets That Just Don't Work

The 90/10 Weight Loss Plan

You on a Diet: What You Need to Know

 

Photo Source: Thinkstock/Brand X Pictures

The Truth Behind Reality TV Fitness

August 19, 2011

At a recent fitness conference in Los Angeles, I was a member of a panel discussion on "The Biggest Loser" featuring people from the show. Fitness on reality TV is often quite different from fitness in reality. And some of the highlights of the panel make that more apparent.

The panel featured experts from the fitness industry – yours truly along with Shannon Fable – and Brett, a trainer from the show. A bonus was that in the audience were Jerry and Estalla Hayes from season 7 (Jerry was the at-home winner) and Kim, the trainer from season 3.

The hot topic from the start was the announcement that former pro-tennis player Anna Kournikova would be joining the upcoming season as a trainer. She just got certified as a trainer in December and is heading straight for "The Biggest Loser".

My Take On This...

It’s a great thing, since it proves that the quality and experience of the trainers on the show isn't top priority. With cameras watching, doctors on staff, and all of the obstacles for exercise (i.e., real life) out of the way on a secluded ranch, it's the perfect environment for less-experienced trainers to get by. 

A funny anecdote from Brett regarding the contestants pertained to their upping the drama during certain workouts when the cameras were on. He revealed that when you see contests crying and shouting loudly while struggling in a workout, it’s often a workout they’ve done before without the cameras on. And while they were certainly challenged when they did it previously, there was no weeping and drama – that gets added. Not really that surprising is it?

The show is great at motivating some people, yet a lot of people like to watch from a nice, safe distance. The more ridiculous elements of the show (vomiting, people shooting off treadmills, yelling, etc.) keeps it from hitting too close to home for most people and they can watch it without getting uncomfortable stirrings of a need to change anything. Every season features a new superlative…the oldest, heaviest, youngest, etc. contestants ever. This just creates a greater and greater gap between the show and reality.

Many trainers get exhausted from fielding questions from the public about what happens on the show – and this is potentially the biggest impact. If anyone out there thinks that having a trainer is or should be anything like what you see on the show, they are mistaken. In the end, you are still watching television.

Trainers in the real world face a usually more difficult challenge. With only a few hours per week (at the most), we need to get clients to take the ball and run with it! No one can do it for you, and the ability to successfully coach clients to adopt the lifestyle changes necessary for real and lasting change is what separates the great trainers form the ones who think they are.

Overall, it was a thrill to be part of such a panel that had circumspect and well-formed opinions on a topic that is often a touchstone for heated comments and arguments in the fitness industry.

And the Big Take Home is This...

TV trainers aren’t trainers in the real world. The demands of the people on television are much different than the challenges that people face in the every day - thus, the level of training is also much different. Everyone would be better off if we put less emphasis on celebrity trainers and listened to the advice of credible trainers who know what it takes to succeed in daily fitness.

 

More on Fitness Myths:

Top 10 False Fitness Myths

Common Weight Loss Myths

Debunking Diet Myths

 

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5 Tips for Mental Fitness

May 18, 2011

The mind is a terrible thing to waste.  But it’s also a terrible thing to let get out of control.  We all have our challenges in life, but we can also look those challenges in the face, see them for what they are and do something about it.  Here are 5 tips for doing just that.

1.       Outrun Fear with Exercise

In neurological terms, fear is the memory of danger.  Simply by taking action and exercising you’re circumventing the mechanism for the fear memory. 

Here’s how exercise helps you outrun fear:

 - It provides distraction
 - It reduces muscle tension
 - It builds brain resources
 - It teaches a different outcome
 - It reroutes your circuits (use sympathetic nervous system to move instead of wait and worry)
 - It improves resilience (learn to control anxiety and not let it become a panic)
 - It sets you free (literally…if you’re locked down, you’ll feel more anxious)

2.       Become Your Own Mind-Control Freak

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true.  Exercise is being used to treat depression – and often more effectively than commonly prescribed drugs.  Depression isn’t just all in your head.  It is a re-wiring of the physical and chemical structure of your brain.

About 17 million American adults experience depression at some point, to the tune of $26.1 billion in health care costs each year.  A 1999 Duke University showed that every 50 minutes of exercise conducted weekly is correlated to a 50% reduction in the odds of being depressed.

Humans are social animals, so if you’re depressed, it would be ideal to choose a form of exercise that encourages making connections and that can take place outside or in some environment that stimulates the senses.  This will stimulate your brain and make depression less likely.

3.       See What’s Really Going On

Ever notice how when something a little bad happens, we sometimes think it’s worse.  “Why is this happening to ME!?” We sometimes take negatives personally when they rarely are. 

You might hit a traffic jam when you’re already running late for an appointment.  Or perhaps the grocery store is out of the one ingredient you need to make that new recipe you want to try.  Any number of relatively minor frustrations can be made worse or better by your mindset.

At times like this, it’s important to stop and ask yourself “What is really going on and exactly how bad is this situation?”  Is it really the end of your child’s future hopes and dreams if they get a bad grade on a single test?  Or is it an opportunity to identify an area of study or organization that needs either a different approach or more focused effort?  It’s all in how you view it.  (For more info on “mindset,” see Mindset by Carol Dweck.)

4.       Are Your Challenges Making You Better or Just Challenged?

What frustrates you over and over?  And then ask yourself: “Am I learning anything from it?”  We get into patterns of doing things just because we’ve always done them.  If the frustrations make you search for solutions, get better at problem-solving, or cause you to think differently about similar situations moving forward, then there is value in those frustrations.

If all you’re getting is frustrated over and over without any growth or learning, then these are challenges best avoided.

For example, I’ve spoken for a fitness organization several times and have had to consistently fight just to be treated fairly.  Recently, it became apparent that they weren’t going to change the way they do things, so I’m not going to lend my talents and ideas to that organization.  I’m no longer expecting them to change, but instead I’m directing my energies where they will be fully appreciated. 

If you’re not learning or growing from a challenge and just repeating frustrations, then put your energies elsewhere.

5.       Get Away in Body or at Least in Mind

Remind yourself that the world is a very large and complex place.  Either get away from your surroundings by taking a short trip or get away in mind and spirit by connecting with a friend you haven’t spoken with in a while or diving into a cherished hobby or activity that you haven’t enjoyed in a while that will consume your mental energies in a positive enjoyable way to give you a mental holiday. 

For me, I get this either from playing sports that I love or in watching thought-provoking and/or highly entertaining movies where it is possible to lose oneself in the story.  Very soon, I’ll be resuming outdoor volleyball with some friends one night a week.  This is often a highlight of the week because for a couple of hours, my mind is focused only on the momentary needs of the next rally.  Nothing before or after that moment enters the mind.  And it just feels great afterward.

Keep your mind sharp by not using it so much!  It is humanly impossible to truly multi-task well (read the research if you don’t believe me) and our poor over-burdened brains are not meant to be constantly plugged-in and over stimulated by multiple streams of info.  Use these tips to keep your mind right, and you probably noticed while reading them that a lot can be done for the mind by getting the body moving.  If you’d like more details on how activity can benefit the mind, I’d encourage you to read Spark by John Ratey.

All kinds of fitness are mind-body fitness – so get moving for your brain, and enjoy the benefits to your body as a side effect!

Jonathan Ross 
Discovery Fit & Health Fitness Expert

Author, Abs Revealed
Everyday Fitness videos
 www.AionFitness.com
Everyday Fitness on Facebook

Sweet Spot of Stress

April 13, 2011

April is Stress Awareness Month.  It’s a good thing too since I’m sure you had no idea that chronic stress can take a real toll on you…right? It’s a common misperception that we need to eliminate stress. The truth is that struggling in life isn’t an option, it’s a requirement.

The good stress – “eustress” – keeps you focused, on your game, and doing things that matter to you.  The bad stress – “distress” – is inevitable at some point for all of us. 

Ideally, we periodically get hit with some negative stress, we handle it, recover to normal, manageable levels of stress, and life hums along.  Increasingly, life is less than ideal.

Stress used to be in the form of immediate threats to our survival.  (“Is that saber-toothed tiger going to eat me?”)  But now, the stresses are vague, long-term, and can’t be handled by a physical response.  (“My retirement fund is doing terribly.”  “How will I pay for college for my kids?”)

But the brain and the body only know one response to stress – the “fight or flight” response you’re likely familiar with. 

Your body gets pumped for action, and your brain starts alerting the attention and memory centers of the brain to heighten awareness of the stress. 

Acute stress is something we deal with in a relatively short period of time – hours or days at the most.  Chronic stress is anything that creates a stress response in your body for an extended period of time – weeks or months. 

The problem is when stress becomes chronic. Scientists don’t know exactly when the transition occurs from stress that builds up to stress that tears down, but they sure do know the effects when they see them.

Stress hormones (adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol) really like your hippocampus – a part of your brain that, among other things, plays a big role in memory.  If stress hormones get high enough for long enough, they can take over your memories, encoding even non-stressful events as stressful.  (Think of the war veteran who hears a firecracker and experiences a stress response like he was still in combat.)

Even worse, in excess amounts, stress hormones, can kill off the proteins that are designed to protect your brain from damage.  And with no nerve endings in your brain, you can’t feel the damage like you feel a sprained ankle.

The “feeling” of stress you experience is essentially the emotional echo of the underlying stress on your brain cells.  With chronic stress, the brain gets locked into the same pattern – typically one marked by pessimism, fear, and retreat from life. 

Normal events start to be perceived as stressful.  And the overabundance of stress can start to block access to existing memories.  (Think of stories you’ve heard about someone who panics while driving and steps on the gas instead of the brake pedal.)

Effective stress management does not involve eliminating stress.  It involves two components:

1.        Reducing the stress to eustress levels and acute distress events (like your car breaking down.)

2.        Re-taking control of your body’s response to stress.

The second one is best done with, you guessed it, exercise.  It provides a distraction, reduces muscle tension, builds brain resources, teaches you a different outcome to a stressor, reroutes your brain circuits to take action when stressed instead of “wait and worry,” and it sets you free (if you’re locked into a chronic stress pattern you feel anxious and restricted.)

One caveat though:  If you’re dealing with an excessive chronic stress load, your exercise efforts should not be at high intensity as very challenging workouts are another form of stress on the body so you don’t want to have workouts that “tear you down.”

Hitting the “sweet spot of stress” involves allowing enough stress into your life to give you purpose, meaning, and direction for your energies and efforts while avoiding getting locked into a chronic pattern of chronic stress that will tear down both your brain and your body.

My Teen’s a Nightmare – or Maybe Just Not Myelinated Yet

March 26, 2011

Ah, teenagers. Been there, done that. Do you remember being a teenager? Do you now have one of your own? Everyone falls into at least one of those two categories.It’s a universal truth that most teens are bad at decision-making. And anyone who has witnessed the “so-bad-it’s-hilarious” song and video “Friday” by Rebecca Black (getting over 55 million hits on You Tube at this writing) knows that teenage bad decisions keep coming.

On 3/28 at 10pm ET, Discovery Fit & Health will premiere My Teen's a Nightmare

Loud music, shouting, swearing, smoking and drinking -- these are just some teenage behaviors that are every parent's nightmare. But suppose you could just pack your bags and let someone else pick up the pieces? My Teen's a Nightmare gives overwrought parents the chance to do just that. Terrible teenagers are in for the shock of their lives -- their parents have left home and they're about to meet their match, teen expert Sarah Newton. Newton's moving in for four days to sort them out once and for all.

Ms. Newton has her hands full. But why?

The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) – home of our “executive decisions” like impulse control – doesn’t fully develop until we are well into our 20’s. So teenagers are governed more by the urges and impulses of a primitive “me first” reward system that isn’t yet kept in check by the PFC.

It’s not so much that teens make bad choices as they fail to inhibit behavior that has become reflexive. They have nearly adult bodies, but not adult brains. And their brains are close enough to being developed that it can get them into a whole lot of trouble.

Why do young people make bad decisions? All the circuits are there in their brains, but they have little myelin. Think of it like this…their brains are just about ready to go, a lot of the circuitry is connected, but their brains don’t yet know which circuits to treat as more important than the others.

When we repeat something often and learn it, those circuits in the brain get covered with more and more myelin. In essence, myelin is like insulation that wraps the circuit to protect it, keep it strong, and help it fire more readily. In terms of our discussion about teenagers, myelin = wisdom.

(For more details on the brain differences between teenagers and adults, see this excellent article from "How Stuff Works." )

But there is hope. In the book The Talent Code there is a reference to research from Marvin Eisenstadt who looked into the background of great historical or famous figures. There is a long and distinguished list of high achievers in history that lost a parent when they were young.

It sends a primal cue that "you are not safe."

This heightens the focus in a teenage brain at a time when the brain is most receptive to learning and mastering new skills. It provides a focus and direction for all the (commonly misspent) energy of youth.

When the proper motivation is there to focus the energy, teens can learn the skills and coping mechanisms necessary to achieve greatness later on in life.

Diabetes Disaster

March 24, 2011

Childhood obesity seems to be, quite literally, surrounding us these days. On Friday, March 25 @ 8 PM, Discovery Fit & Health will premiere "Big Babies."

The global epidemic of obesity is spawning a nursery-load of super-sized newborns, stressing parents, straining hospitals, and endangering the lives of moms and babies alike. In this sensitive and personal look at a serious and worsening problem, Big Babies follows three overweight women on their anxious journeys through pregnancy, into the delivery room and home again with newborns who weigh-in at thirteen pounds and more: twice the weight of an average infant.

A few days ago, a local major newspaper published an article on type-2 diabetes (the disease formerly known as "adult-onset" diabetes.) Unfortunately, it contained a lot of misinformation, some of it coming in the form of quotes from people in executive positions of children’s obesity programs who should know better.

One example is the director of the Child/Adolescent Diabetes Program at Children’s National Medical Center who promotes the idea that...."no one caused their diabetes."

(Translation: You didn't do anything to cause diabetes; it is just something that happened to you.)

Later on in the same article we are (thankfully) hit with some facts..."adults with pre-diabetes who lost 7% of body weight reduced risk of diabetes by 58%" and "It's crucial to find these children before their condition progresses to diabetes so that it can be reversed by lifestyle changes."

(Translation: by taking action, you can prevent diabetes.)

Are we to believe that our actions have an effect on diabetes, but that our inactions don't?

Type-2 diabetes is either affected by lifestyle choices or it isn’t. It can’t be only affected by positive choices.

As long as leaders in diabetes research conceal the truth that the majority (not all) of type-2 diabetes cases are lifestyle related, we will continue to struggle with this problem. This in no way means that anyone should feel guilty about it, but the truth is that the majority (again, not all, just to be clear) of type-2 cases are mostly self-inflicted through "inactions." And that is the real shame because it means most cases are avoidable.

With newborns essentially being born obese, we need to deal with the truths of diabetes and obesity rather than worry about making people feel bad.