A study completed by researchers indicated those who biked while listening to music were able to exert far more energy than anyone else. The results were prominent in those who listened to “fast music”.

This is just a glimpse into the power of music as researchers prefer to say.

It is a subject that is studied on a regular basis and has been dissected by some of the brightest minds in the world.

Let's take a look at the power of music and all that it provides to humans around the world.

Enhanced Motivation

The advantage of using music as a motivational tool begins with this ability to get “pumped up”. It is an adrenaline boost of sorts. It can interact with the mind in a manner where the body follows suit and wills itself forward.

For example, It could be someone looking to run an extra mile even if their mind is saying “no”. In fact, it can even be someone who is cranking out a set of push-ups and wants to get a few more at the end.

It is music that will help them reach those heights they have aimed their sights at.

This is why music is one of the best motivators in the world.

Increased Energy Levels

Being able to run longer and harder is something many people want to do, but it's not easy. When you add music into the mix, it can start to have a positive impact right off the bat. The body will start to hit new peaks, and that is hard to do without music by your side.

Music is often the stimulus you require to get those energy levels as high as possible.

Those who are not tapping into the power of music will lose out repeatedly. Hitting those energy levels becomes a much harder task.

Desire To Push Limits

As a motivational tool, the goal of any stimulus (i.e. music, loud vocal support) is to help push one's limits. An excellent example is seen when home crowds urge athletes and cheer them on. Many athletes do better with this support ringing in their ears even though every other variable remains the same.

The same applies to music as a motivational tool. It can help in ways that any other stimulus would not be able to. Being able to push one's limits is critical, and something music can assist with.

This is the power of music. Many athletes are seen using this as a means to calm down and pump themselves up (depending on their choice of music). It can impact one's brainwaves. This is what a research study was able to break down and pay attention to. Those who were listening to music saw their brainwaves synchronize with the music being played (i.e. fast movement with faster music) (2). This illustrates how the mind reacts to music, and this immediately helps connect with the rest of one's body.

Listening to fast music pumps up the body and helps it kick things up a notch.

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Forty percent of total calories consumed by the average person can be termed as “empty calories”. These are calories such as sugary sweets, grain desserts, sodas, and fruit drinks1.

Healthy eating is often ignored because it is not as exciting as grabbing a quick snack from your local convenience store. Why eat vegetables when you can eat a bag of chips? Why drink water when you can consume a bottle of Pepsi?

It happens all the time.

These decisions have a profound impact on a person's life, and it can lead to consequences that are dire.

Let's understand the importance of healthy eating and how to go about it according to nutritionists.

What is Healthy Eating?

Defining “healthy eating” is a good place to commence this read.

Healthy eating is the idea of meeting all nutritional requirements based on established standards as proclaimed by the government. This includes meeting protein, dairy, and veggie intake. It also involves the amount of calcium being consumed.

There is an established requirement for how many glasses of water are consumed per day as well.

All of this comes together under the umbrella of healthy eating.

Benefits

What are the advantages of following these nutritional requirements that have been set by the federal government? Is it necessary or just an added benefit that can be followed if desired?

The benefits begin with good health. It has an impact on how your major organs are doing along everything else (i.e. hair, skin, teeth). Those who eat well are less likely to have troubles early on in their lives.

Another benefit can be seen in the form of an increase in energy. Many of the “empty calories” being consumed these days sap away at one's energy reserves. They are draining and not good for the body at all. It is best to avoid them as much as possible.

It is also easier to sleep at night when the right foods are being consumed throughout the day. It leads to a sense of being organized with each meal. There is less guesswork involved when healthy eating requirements are being followed to a tee.

Those who are not doing this are never able to benefit from the value on offer.

It is a must to eat well and eat often at the same time. Starvation is never equated with healthy eating, in fact, that would be the exact opposite of what is correct. This is why healthy eating is the way to get fitter as desired.

Building The Perfect Eating Plan

So, what does an individual have to consider while building the perfect eating plan in this day and age? What are the core requirements?

The perfect eating plan has to follow a particular set of standards as laid out by some of the finest nutritionists in the world.

Here are some of the core components:

  1. 8-10 glasses of water (minimum)
  2. 50 grams of protein (meat, lentils)
  3. 90 grams of sugar (fruits, not processed sugars)
  4. 310 grams of carbohydrates
  5. 3 services of dairy products (calcium)
  6. 2 servings of fruits (minimum)
  7. Minimal Use Of Oils And Fatty Acids (Sparingly)
These are some of the core components associated with a perfect eating plan. It is a must to understand you have a lot of leeway with what foods are being consumed as long as these requirements are met. You are not restricted to specific fruits, vegetables, and meats. As long as you are eating well, you are eating right.

These are the intricacies of healthy eating and what it can do for the body as long as you are focused and willing to pay attention.

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Living An Active Lifestyle Can Benefit You Physically And Mentally

What is an active lifestyle and how can living one benefit you? It's important to look into this carefully so that you can become familiar with what it takes to be more active while being safe. In the end, you will feel a lot better mentally and physically when you break yourself of bad habits.

Making Time For Physical Fitness

A lot of people feel like they have no time. Between taking care of your family at home and going to work, it can be difficult to find time to exercise. There are ways to become more active if you are willing to alter how you approach certain activities. The following examples can give you an idea of what people do to get more exercise in every day.

  • Park far from your destination and walk to it instead. If you do this when going to stores and work you could burn lots of calories each day!
  • Quit watching commercials when taking the time to watch television or videos online with ads. When your show is on break, do as much exercise as possible.
  • Don't take escalators or elevators, because you can take just a little bit more time and use the stairs to burn more calories.

Avoid Fad Diet And Exercise Plans

Companies sometimes develop diets or exercise methods that simply do not work as advertised. Some even will have you eat well and add just enough of a twist to make it look like it's working for that reason. There are other kinds of exercise and diet fads that come out that don't really do much for you but slowly help you lose weight and cost you a lot of money.

There are some diets that can be dangerous, like those that only have you consuming liquids. Certain exercise equipment you can buy from infomercials that is gimmicky can cost a lot of money but only work out one part of your body. Before you work with anything you should find out what the reviews say. Just be careful about what you trust because sometimes companies pay people to review items as long as they promise to only say good things about them.

Bad Habits Need To Go

One of the biggest problems in our society is alcohol abuse. It's easy to buy it almost anywhere and it's known to be very addictive. Since alcohol is a depressant, it actually makes you less motivated and active. Not to mention, it damages many of your organs, and in excess it's deadly. Get treatment if you cannot live your day to day life without drinking and you will become more willing to be active in healthy ways.

Goals Are Important To Set

To create good habits and set goals, you need to start by identifying what your overall goals are. Once you identify those, you can come up with smaller goals that you can work with each day until you make it to your larger one. When you do so, you can reward yourself for a job well done. Just make sure that you make your goals reachable, and when you finally do get to reward yourself, you need to do something good for your body and mind. Instead of celebrating with a drink or something else that was a problem for you in the past, you can go to a movie or get yourself something nice.

Being able to live an active lifestyle is not just reserved for those that are young and in good shape. You can do more in your day to day life no matter what your age or body type is. Don't delay and begin working on a plan that you develop with the above guidelines in mind for the best results.
stress

Stress, or lack of its management, is the source of many of today's diseases. Stress does not only make us feel emotionally awful, it can also aggravate any health condition you can think of.

According to a new survey by the American Psychological Association (APA), many health problems are related to stress. Stress aggravates the risk of certain health conditions such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, depression, asthma, and gastrointestinal problems.

75% of Americans report experiencing at least one symptom of stress in the past month. Since 2007, money and work remain the leading causes of stress (67 percent and 65 percent in 2015, respectively) for three-quarters of Americans, a dramatic and steady increase over the 59% reporting the same sources of stress back in 2006. 24% of adults are more likely than in past years to report experiencing extreme stress compared with eighteen percent in 2014. This is the highest reporting since 2010.

Stress in America™ continues to escalate and is affecting every aspect of people's lives; from work to relationships to eating habits and sleep patterns, as well as health,” psychologist Russ Newman, Ph.D., JD, APA says. “We know that stress is a reality of life, and some stress can have a positive impact, however, the high-stress levels that many Americans report experiencing can have long-term health consequences, ranging from fatigue to obesity and heart disease.”


Stress Affecting Health


Sixty-three percent of Americans claim they're managing their stress very well. Despite this, twenty-one percent of Americans (about 67 million) admit that they are not doing enough to manage their stress. Even those that say they do enough to manage their stress still experience physical stress symptoms. However, 77% of American recently report experiencing physical symptoms and 73% reported psychological symptoms related to stress. Physical symptoms of stress include: sleeping habits (33%); fatigue (32%); and headache (32%). Psychological symptoms of stress include irritability or anger (37%); overeating or eating unhealthy foods (39%); nervous or anxious (42%); lack of energy (32%); inability to concentrate (27%); skipping a meal (31%); constant worrying (33%); and feeling depressed or sad (37%). Also, almost half (46%) of Americans report stress-induced insomnia.


Some of the significant health problems:

  • Heart disease

    “Research has shown that the stressed-out, type A personality has a higher risk of high blood pressure and heart problems. Stress can directly raise the heart rate and blood flow, and cause the release of cholesterol and triglycerides into the bloodstream. Also, sudden emotional stress can be a trigger for serious cardiac problems, including heart attacks.”
  • Asthma

    Studies have revealed that stress can worsen asthma. Some evidence suggests that a parent's chronic stress might even increase the risk of developing asthma in their children. Kids with stressed out parents have a considerably higher risk of developing asthma.
  • Obesity

    Stress causes higher levels of the hormone cortisol which tends to increase the amount of fat that is deposited in the abdomen.
  • Diabetes

    Stress can worsen diabetes by raising the glucose levels of people with type 2 diabetes directly.
  • Headaches

    Stress is the commonest trigger for tension headaches as well as migraine.
  • Anxiety and Depression

    It's no surprise that chronic stress is related to higher rates of anxiety and depression. People who have stressful jobs have an 80% greater risk of becoming depressed within a few years compared to people with lower stress.
  • Gastrointestinal diseases

    Stress doesn't cause ulcers but can worsen it. Stress is also a cause of many other GI problems like heartburn, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
  • Alzheimer's disease

    One animal study has proven that stress might worsen Alzheimer's disease, causing its brain lesions to form faster. Some researchers think that reducing stress actually has the potential to slow down the progression of the Alzheimer's disease.
  • Accelerated aging

    There is evidence that stress can affect how you age. Researchers found that a particular region of the chromosomes showed the effects of accelerated aging and that stress expedites aging about 9 to 17 additional years.

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Stress in America™ is a trademark of the American Psychological Association.