That's Fit

I used to be vigilant about exercising every morning... and it felt great. I started my day out with energy and a sense of accomplishment. After adopting my son, however, my schedule has changed and my morning exercise has become sporadic at best. I've vowed to get back on the bandwagon when he returns to school next week, though. Our schedule will be changing naturally -- so it's a good time for me to get my morning self in gear again.

Divine Caroline offers some great inspiration with five reasons to start the day with a workout:

• Better performance at work.
  
• A metabolism boost throughout the day.
• A better night's sleep.
• Increased likelihood to stick with it.
• A happier outlook.

Check out the original article for details. Then, set that alarm clock a little bit earlier and get your move on in the am.

The FDA is alarmed by our collectively high salt intake, so alarmed they are thinking about removing salt -- also known as sodium chloride -- from the list of foods they categorize as "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS.

Salt "is the single most harmful element in the food supply, even worse than saturated fat and trans fat, or food additives and pesticides," says Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, the center petitioning the FDA to remove salt from the GRAS list. Salt is a forgotten killer, according to this group, and limiting consumption could save 150,000 lives per year.

Our bodies need a certain amount of salt to help maintain the right balance of body fluids. For healthy adults, this "need" amounts to a daily intake of less than 2,300 milligrams or one teaspoon. Most Americans ingest up to 4,000 milligrams a day.

It's not necessarily the individual to blame for this salt epidemic. Dangerous salt levels mostly come from food processing. So if salt was taken off the GRAS list, manufacturers would have limits on the quantities they could use.

Some say limiting salt will create problems elsewhere. Removing salt compromises taste and requires modifications that might lead to the addition of complex chemicals just to make up for the salt. It's not even all about the salt, say others. What about inactivity, low consumption of fruits and veggies, and excessive consumption of trans fats and alcohol? These issues clearly play a role in the mismanagement of an ideal lifestyle.

While concerned groups are lobbying for salt changes, you might want to take matters into your own hands. Hide your salt shaker, purchase low-sodium foods, and eat at home. Oh, and stay active, eat your fruits and veggies, cut the fats and minimize alcohol too. Commit to all of these tasks and the alarms you hear sounding in your future will be minimal.

My husband and I both set our alarms for 6:00 AM on weekdays. We don't get up at this early hour, though, because we snooze, and snooze, and snooze until an extra 30 minutes has passed. Then we roll out of bed and get on with our days. Why we don't just set our alarms for a later hour, I'm not sure. But we should -- because our extra eight-minute intervals of sleep are not doing us one bit of good. We aren't even really sleeping during these short spurts of time.

The average snooze button allows for seven to nine minutes of quiet, not long enough to get back into a deep sleep, says Michael Breus, author of Good Night: The Sleep Doctor's 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health. Breus suggests the snoozers of the world set their clocks for when they absolutely must be up and spend more time in nourishing sleep. Put your alarm on the other side of the room, he says, so you have to get up to get it. Also, open the curtains as soon as you step out of bed -- the daylight tells our brains it's time to wake up.

Are you a snoozer? If so, you might want to join me in listening to this wake-up call. The bonus sleep will surely do us good as we tackle the days that lie ahead.

A healthy home is a great step towards a healthy life. And if you're interested in finding out how to make your home a healthier place, MSN has put together a list of the healthiest appliances, including:

• An allergy-zapping vaccum
• A dustpan with built-in suction to make sure you get all the crumbs
  
• A hands-free soap dispenser that lessens the chance of germs being spread
• An alarm that will tell you when you left the iron on, or turn off the water supply if a pipe bursts while you're on vacation
• A water filter that adds zero-cal flavour to your water
• A shovel that protects your back
• A rice cooked that specializes in brown rice.
  

To read the specifics of where you can find these handy appliances, click here.

What have you added to your home to make it healthier?

No matter what, the sound of my alarm is jarring. It seems like it always comes on at just the wrong time, ripping me out of bed when all I want is 5 minutes to snooze.

And all this despite the fact that I actually look forward to starting my day.

But that early-morning mayhem could soon be history, if I could only get my hands one of the new bio-alarm clocks. These innovative devices detect brainwaves and body movements, so they know to wake you only during light sleep.

Or, there's other novel gadgets to help shrug off the morning stupor -- like the Clocky (which has wheels, and drives around, forcing you to chase it) -- that might work just as well. My favorite amongst these more gimmicky alarms is the Wake n' Bacon, which -- as you might suspect -- wakes you with a little breakfast.

All in all, the best way to wake up feeling good in the morning is to go to sleep earlier. But if you'd like a little help from technology, these clever gizmos seem like a decent place to start.

Although we all have our own unique biorhythms, studies have shown that there are more benefits to being an early bird versus being a night owl. Of course if you're happy as is, then don't change! But if not, you may find that getting up early can have so many great benefits, you might want to consider setting your alarm a little earlier from now on. Things like seeing the sunrise, having time to exercise, and generally doing things without rushing can really help to reduce stress levels. What better way to start the day than relaxed and happy?

I'm a night owl at heart, so I hear ya that it's 'just so hard' to get up early! If you need help (I do!), read over these ideas for ways to help make the switch successfully.


Via LifeHacker