Most days I try to follow a lot of the tips and tricks I teach people in my facilitation gigs:
- eat well
- take a deep breath when stressed
- keep tabs on how my self-talk is motivating me (or not), etc.
But every once in a while, a reminder from the science community shines more evidence on why healthy choices are the right ones, which help to keep me on track. Today, I put the information outlined in two recent studies into practice.
First off, I am happy to announce there is another study which says it is smart to eat dark chocolate. Back in graduate school I wrote a paper on the cardiovascular health-promoting benefits of chocolate (and also one on wine), in an attempt, as I jokingly say, to justify my lifestyle. For those of you wondering, I did find proof – but of course, all in moderation (alcohol especially)! And this most recent study, published in September’s issue of The Journal of Physiology highlights a new advantage of cocoa consumption.
As most of us have heard, the darker the chocolate, the greater the amount of beneficial properties it contains (thus, put down your white chocolate, it does nada except taste good!). A particular cocoa health-promoting chemical, epicatechin, was the star of this recent study. When administering the isolated component to mice (i.e. not chocolate directly, poor mice! :)), beneficial structural and metabolic changes in skeletal and cardiac muscle were discovered. These changes produced greater endurance capacity for the mice by enhancing treadmill performance and decreasing muscle fatigue, by approximately 50% and 30%, accordingly. Yes, they put the mice on a treadmill. I would have liked to have seen that, actually…
Speaking of treadmills, that was my cardio equipment of choice today. I was contemplating skipping my workout, due to fatigue, but then remembered the other recent reminder of why science has said it is important to move. On November 3rd, the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) published an article on its website, “New Research: Getting Up from your Desk can put the Breaks on Cancer.” The article outlined the direct link between cancer and lack of physical activity. I am sure there are some of you out there saying, “…uh…Lauren, this isn’t new news…” Let me explain.
There is new field of science emerging called sedentary behaviour research, which is proving that “sitting for long periods of time can increase some of [the] indicators of cancer risk, even among people who exercise daily.” The indicators are insulin resistance, inflammation, carrying excess body weight and elevated sex hormone levels.
When combined with the copious amount of evidence that exercise can decrease these biological white flags, it shows just how important it is to be active as frequently as possible. Luckily, this does not mean that you have to sweat it out for ten minutes with cardio every hour. The scientists found that even one to two minutes of movement during this timeframe can make a difference.
So, even I still have work to do, because although I used chocolate to motivate me to go to the gym today, I must find more ways to be active. I do not have colleagues to get up to speak to (rather than call or email), and my kitchen is right around the corner for a glass of water. But there are other things I can do; I can take the stairs more, I can park even farther back in the parking lot when visiting clients (years spent in sales, resulting in copious dings in my car, have taught me to park where few others would) and I just finished doing a minute of jumping jacks as a break from typing. No joke. 
I do advise not to combine the results of these two studies together – i.e. eat a small piece of dark chocolate every hour so that you can have greater exercise performance when strolling over to the scanner. I know I am going to reserve my treat for the trip to the gym, a rollerblade or a power walk. And maybe some of you are wondering if I noticed a difference during my treadmill time today. Well, whether it is placebo affect, happiness from finding another reason to eat chocolate, the feel-good chemicals that chocolate releases in one’s system, or the study results, the answer is yes!
To be repeated. Very soon.
PS If you are interested in the AICR article, or want it for making your wellness business case please find it here:
http://www.aicr.org/press/press-releases/getting-up-from-your-desk.html