Running has always been a punishment for me. No, that's exactly running. As a child, he played football with pleasure, then for a long time and quite seriously played basketball. But running! Getting up early was always a torment, something like tempering and pouring cold water (as well as a cold shower after the sauna), I regard as a mockery of a person. I always ate as it turned out, the benefit of the hostel and the army tempered. The working process is tightly seated and in front of the computer, respectively, walks in the fresh air did not take root.
That's why, like a balm for my soul, I read these supposedly myths about the measures and methods usually proposed for a healthy lifestyle:-)
Of course, you should be wary of them, but apparently there is something here …
Myth 1. Running in the morning is always good for you
Two years ago, scientists from the Institute for the Study of the Human Cardiovascular System at the Lehigh Valley Health Network (USA, Pennsylvania) made an official statement that even with moderate enough exercise, jogging can cause serious damage to health. This was preceded by a study of 3800 people who were involved in jogging of varying degrees of intensity. Men and women over 35 made up a group with an average age of 46 and received an unexpected result.
The life expectancy of those who run a lot and intensively, as well as those who do not exercise at all, turned out to be less than that of those who do moderately. At the same time, factors that could distort the clinical picture (chronic hypertension or hypotension, high blood cholesterol levels and smoking) were taken into account in advance - none of them could affect the study. The decline in life expectancy statistics began at about 20 miles (32 km) per week, which is only about 4.5 km per day. The latter corresponds to approximately 30–45 minutes of daily jogging - longer runs led to a reduction in the average lifespan of the runners. And especially expensive morning jogging cost those who ran in the city near active car traffic on a regular sidewalk,without a special spring cover.
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Myth 2. Low fat food is part of a healthy diet
Have you heard that fatty foods supposedly contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases, and low-fat foods reduce the risks? Six years ago, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition devoted an entire special issue to this issue. The editors pooled data from 21 studies. We are talking about completely different clinical experiments conducted by unrelated hospitals and institutes from different parts of the United States. Almost 350 thousand "experimental" participants took part in them, of which 11 thousand by the time of the beginning of the study had already been observed in cardiologists with symptoms of cardiovascular diseases.
The average study duration was 14 years. And the conclusion read: there is no direct connection between the consumption of fatty foods and the development of vascular and heart diseases. And if you avoid dietary fats, not for fear of problems with cardiology, but because you want to lose weight, classic low-fat foods are completely contraindicated for you. Especially yoghurts, because more sugar is added to these products to compensate for the changes in taste caused by the decrease in fat content. So for the figure, they are much more dangerous than ordinary fat ones.
Myth 3. Waking up early is a sign of a healthy lifestyle
An old English proverb, an analogue of the Slavic "Who gets up early …", linking early waking up with health, wealth and wisdom (Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise), is lying! Last year, a group of researchers from the University of Westminster (UK) published a report according to which early awakening leads to chronic stress. The fact is that from about 6 to 8 in the morning the body produces the maximum level of cortisol - the stress hormone. Most importantly, waking up during this period keeps cortisol levels high throughout the day.
Accordingly, if getting up early is a way of life for you, then an overdose of cortisol is a permanent phenomenon. Over time, this will have to pay off with decreased immunity, chronic migraines and depression. At the same time, the usefulness of morning exercise does not compensate for the harm of morning lack of sleep. So if you need to get to work or classes by 8-9 am, it is better to postpone physical exercises for the evening. By the way, the period from 8 pm to midnight and from 2 pm to sunset is considered to be the period of the most valuable sleep for the body.
Myth 4. Desserts are evil
The startling conclusion of a team of scientists from Tel Aviv University, published this winter, contradicts all traditional ideas about good nutrition. If we want to lose weight, the first thing we are recommended to refuse is confectionery (a classic combination of animal fats and carbohydrates). This recommendation is refuted by Israeli nutritionist Daniela Yakubovich and several of her associates, who recently conducted an amusing experiment. 193 people who wanted to lose weight were divided into two groups. The first was constantly fed low-calorie food - 300 kilocalories at a time. The second group was given full breakfasts in the morning - 600 kilocalories (scrambled eggs, meat, beans, vegetables), and then treated with dessert, but the total number of kilocalories per day was the same,as well as the first group (1600 per day for men and 1400 for women).
So, the rate of weight loss was the same for the participants in both groups. But the indicator of stability of the achieved result in the second group turned out to be much higher: after 32 weeks, the participants in the experiment, who were on a strict low-calorie diet, began to regain the pounds they had just dropped, and those who ate cakes in the morning were still losing weight. So, if you sometimes like to pamper yourself with sweets, from now on you can do it with a light heart. But only in the morning and knowing a sense of proportion: for those who eat pastries in kilograms, the payback is likely to be type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Myth 5. Long walks in the fresh air are good for everyone
But not if you are overweight and if you are a city dweller. Scientists from the Department of Social Medicine at the University of Montreal investigated the differences in the functioning of the respiratory organs of slender and overweight people. It turned out that breathing depth correlates with weight. The experiment showed that obese people inhale on average 50% more air. The less the excess weight, the less excess breathing, but even with a minimum excess of his ideal weight, a person inhales 7% more air. At the same time, in the city, together with him, he receives his share of gaseous pollution - ammonia, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, etc.
If the excess breathing rate is higher than 10%, the result of regular long walks within the city is likely to result in poisoning, which will later be attributed to the general pollution of the environment. In general, most people have enough common sense to beware when someone is smoking a cigarette nearby, the strong smell of the smoke reminds them of the pollution. But it must be remembered that serious pollution is often present even where the smell is not felt.
How are you doing with a healthy lifestyle? Does it work? Does it help?