Besides loving and trusting your spouse, supporting his or her personal goals and dreams may also be key to maintaining a happy marriage. People feel happiest in relationships where they feel the other person helps them achieve their own personal goals.
It's so easy to be blinded by physical attractiveness. Yet, individuals should evaluate what the other person is trying to accomplish in his or her own life and determine whether those goals are compatible with what they are trying to accomplish.
Individuals who perceived themselves as having high levels of support from their spouses in their personal pursuits reported greater marital satisfaction than their less-supported peers.
Further, those who agreed that they and their spouse were able to successfully work together to achieve shared goals, such as buying a home or having children, were also likely to report increased marital satisfaction.
Since the study showed only associations between marital satisfaction and spousal support, rather than a definite cause and effect, the authors note that they cannot conclude that spousal support of personal goals will cause marital satisfaction or vice versa.
When people are at the beginning of a potential romantic or close relationship they (should) think very closely about their own aspirations and whether the person will be supportive.
Studies have shown that one key to a successful marriage is maintaining a high level of affection right from the start. In other words, both partners behaving as lovers and remaining that way through time.
At a singles meeting twenty years ago Bill Hybels, senior pastor at Willow Creek Church, said one of the most profound things I have heard on this subject. He stated that the saddest and most unhappy people he knows are not those who never married, but those who married the wrong person.
A healthy marriage is one factor of physical and emotional wellness. Dr. Gottman is one of the best in the business. I would encourage reading this article several times if you are married, and then pass it along to your married friends and family. It can have a huge impact on your health. Another book that I strongly recommend to couples is "Fighting for Your Marriage" by Markman, Stanley and Blumberg. The authors have worked with Dr. Gottman. The book provides some very practical communication strategies.
Mercola.com
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By Expert Teddy Bass
Let's face it , no matter how many workouts I write up for this website , and
exactly how long I want them to last and how many sets and repititions you
should do, if you don't feel like it , it will never get done.
There is no perfect workout , just do one that you like and find challenging
enough so you are having to put some effort(at least 5 on a scale from 1-10).
Well, feelings are always backed by a thought supported by a belief that was
created long before this article. So starting right where you are , be willing
to accept that body just as it is. Beautiful , no matter what size waist,
thighs or hips because how it looks is perception and the the viewer only sees
what you present to the world and that's always a reflection of your inner
thoughts about yourself.
Choose a good one and take steps daily towards your goals whether it be fat
loss, more muscle tone or just a better mood.
Step up now embrace your God given body,and yes individual as it is no other
just like yours and yes maybe a little bad eating habit and lack of exercise
got you to be "not" where you'd want it to be , but in this moment I don't tell
you what to do , I just tell you to do something ; first thing make an inner
agreement with your self. Say yes I deserve to the be the best version of me
and from this place you can do anything. Pilates , weights , yoga , surfing ,
spinning , kickboxing , walking, boot camp, and the list goes on.
At some point you have to change the inner dialogue of self-judgement and
dissaproval and love what you got and get excited about where you want to be
and start now. Just say YES !!
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I spend so much time doing the same old things that I think I just put my husband's clean underwear away from the laundry for what feels like the 639th time. The funny thing is it's 10 p.m. and my three daughters have just hit the hay, so this is a great time to do what can't wait for tomorrow.
It just gets me thinking about how much energy I choose to put into so many of the things that aren't really that important. Yes, they need to get done, but I could be doing so many things that would be better for me and my family. For one, how about getting to bed? We civilized people of this planet are not getting enough sleep. How about when I'm organizing just stopping and grabbing a book to read to my 4-year-old? Which of course leads me to running errands, getting my nails done, watching a favorite show or going online to catch up on the latest gossip.
Why can't people find enough time to workout? I just don't understand why it's not one of the top five most important things we do in our day/life. Take care of and love our families and friends, go to work or school, enjoy life, help someone out, and take care of our bodies. I'm sure you could switch something around, but you get my point.
After you read this, chart out what you do over the course of five days. Write down how much time is spent on the phone, at the computer for other purposes than work, making sure the house is perfect and so on. Is there a way to find that 30-45 minutes, 4-5 times a week to move your body?
You shouldn't do exercise at the sacrifice of spending quality time with loved ones; however, the quality of that time will improve the healthier and happier you are. The expression "you can't take it with you" is cliche. But in the end, isn't it about the quality of our relationships and experiences versus making sure all my emails are answered and my home is spotless?
I have a very wise friend, Katie, who said as she was leaving from a visit, "Don't invest in things. Invest in relationships and experiences." I'm going to take it one further and say invest in your own physical health (which of course includes your mental and spiritual well-being). And now I'm hitting the send button and heading to bed.
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By Carole Carson
We learn by example and by direct experience because there are real limits to the adequacy of verbal instruction.
Malcolm Gladwell
An epidemic of supersize kids is worrying both parents and professionals. The number of overweight children is frighteningly unacceptable.
The stakes are high for oversize kids. They face an increased risk of heart disease and a host of other chronic diseases, such as liver disease, diabetes, gallstones and deteriorating joints. Even if the diseases don’t shorten the lives of overweight kids, they will certainly diminish the quality of the children’s days and result in avoidable medical expenses.
The extra pounds also become a lifetime legacy. If these kids have overweight parents, the odds are stacked against them, and they are unlikely to ever experience normal weight. By the time a child turns 20, the number of fat cells in the body is set. Weight fluctuations shrink or expand the cells, but the number remains constant.
Setting aside medical issues, overweight children also face teasing, bullying and isolation—pressures that can send children into depression. Drugs—illicit or stolen from the family medicine chest—can easily become a source of comfort and a way to cope.
One of the major contributors to kids’ extra weight is the extraordinary amount of time kids spend before a screen, whether that of a television, computer or video game. The total on average is nearly six hours each day. If we are going to help our kids lose weight, we’ll have to wean them off the screen.
What else can parents do to slim down their overweight child?
Like good doctors, parents must first make sure they do no harm. Obsessing about their child’s weight, forbidding foods, attempting to control their child’s food decisions and criticizing the child’s indulgences are as damaging as denial is.
Both boys and girls are sensitive to cultural pressure to be thin, even as they are surrounded by temptations to indulge. Children between 9 and 15 years old are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders. In one study of girls in Australia, researchers discovered girls as young as 8 years old were suffering from life-threatening anorexia. Sixteen years of research involving hundreds of girls led clinical psychologist Dr. Eric Stice to assert that girls’ attempts to rigidly control their eating led to weight gain.
To succeed, parents must follow Bing Crosby’s musical advice: accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. Instead of focusing on weight loss, parents need to create playful situations for the entire family that encourage and reinforce the larger goal of getting and staying fit. Most importantly, this fun-loving promotion of family fitness isn’t something parents should do for their children, but something they must do with their children. As in all areas of parenting, actions speak louder than words.
Here are some ideas for creating family fitness fun:
1. Let’s Get Physical: Buy everyone in the family an inexpensive pedometer ($10) and create teams. Record your steps each day. Set a goal and establish prizes for the winning team. Once a goal has been met, rearrange team players and create a new game. This game teaches math and team-building skills and develops sound fitness habits.
2. Green Exercise: Pick an outdoor project your family can accomplish together. Help restore a trail or pick up trash along a river or walkway. Cleaning up the environment teaches kids the value of contributing to others and respect for our natural resources, and it gives them the opportunity to enjoy outdoor exercise. A healthy body on a healthy planet is an important message for kids to absorb.
3. Chef of the Week: Each week, designate the family’s chef of the week. The chef must introduce one new recipe, one new vegetable and one new fruit into the family diet. Keep notes on the reaction to the newbies. For the toddler too small to cook, place a chair at the kitchen counter to stand on and designate him or her the sous-chef. Exploring new foods and sharing in food preparation is a fun-filled way to teach cooking skills and learn about nutrition. Eating at home and eating together as a family can help slim your kids.
With a little imagination, parents can create dozens of ways—both high- and no-tech to stay active with their children and have fun cooking and eating together. Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Fit are dynamic high-tech exercise games that can help families lose weight and become more active.
On the other hand, your kids can probably have as much fun stringing a line across the backyard and playing balloon volleyball. You can use the computer to teach your kids about food, nutrition and health by steering them to www.e-learningforkids.org. Or you can pick up some inexpensive used cookbooks and experiment with recipes. As long as it’s fun and you’re participating with your kids, you can’t go wrong.
Kids can be taught to love their bodies, and parents can’t let these special teaching moments pass. The stakes for the small fry are too high.
Carole Carson is the author of From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction www.fromfat2fit.com
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By Expert Adam Friedman
Living an active lifestyle is what our bodies crave, as we are designed to move freely and dynamically. Along with exercise, it is important to have a balance of nutrition, supplementation, and sleep. These simple steps are a part of nurturing yourself to have optimal health and vitality.
One of the most productive and nurturing actions you can take is to maintain healthy muscular tissue. Your muscles should be pain-free and non-resistant at rest, during full range of motion, and to the touch. Healthy tissue is pliable throughout; a little like fresh raw meat. Where as unhealthy tissue can be lumpy, and a little like beef jerky.
Anything to the contrary of healthy tissue signals a degree of muscular dysfunction that should be given attention to by creating healing to the environment. This can be accomplished with stretching, and self-massage by using a foam roller, or other modalities. Both activities are centered on rejuvenating stressed muscles and relaxing them to an optimal length.
Rejuvenate your muscle tissue with these simple steps:
Before a workout:
• Warm-up 10 minutes
• Foam Roll and Stretch areas of stiffness for 10-15 minutes
During a workout:
• Take 30 seconds to stretch other areas of the body between sets
• Add electrolytes to your water for optimal energy and muscle function
After a workout:
• Cool-down 10 minutes
• Foam roll the targeted areas of the workout 5 minutes
• Full body stretch 10-15 minutes
• Drink a high quality protein shake
Check out advancedathletics.com where you will find stretches in the exercise digest, and videos of how to foam roll.
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