Thursday looked like it was going to be yet another day that I would shortchange myself on working out. I’d been in the latter stages of a book deadline crisis for the past three weeks, my every moment occupied with writing or fretting over why I wasn’t writing. My ability to get out for a ride, to take a long run, to go for a night hike or to hit the climbing wall had suffered. Driving back from a meeting in Durham I felt the pull of the deadline yanking me away from yet another workout. I was cranky.
Category Archives: Sanity
Recommended reading: “Spark”
Another reason to exercise: It’s good for your brain. That’s hardly a revelation. Anyone who exercises knows, for instance, that even a short 30-minute workout can boost your mood for the rest of the day. But just how extensive the relationship is between exercise and your brain may come as a surprise. That relationship is the subject of “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain,” by John J. Ratey and Eric Hagerman, $24.99, Little, Brown and Company. In addition to being a mood enhancer, the book explores how exercise can among other things, relieve stress, diffuse anxiety, help you focus, regulate hormones and grow brain cells. (The book isn’t new; it’s been out nearly two years. It’s just new to GGNC.) Haven’t gotten a copy yet; I will and will report periodically on what I learn. You can reviews in August 2008 issue of Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, and at Blogcrtics.org.
Start 2010 with a hike, a run, a ride — even a chilly dive
I can almost guarantee that your resolution to be more active in 2010 will last at least through New Year’s Day. That’s because there are way too many activities scheduled to keep you on the move.
Sure, some fall into the intense category. The Triangle Scuba Group plans to dive the frigid waters at Fantasy Lake at 10 a.m. The North Carolina Bicycle Club plans to get together for a little ride — of 62 miles at an average pace of 19 to 20 miles per hour. And no doubt someone has plans to lead a winter assault on Mt. Mitchell or Clingman’s Dome.
Winter break: Exploring the wilds of your own neighborhood
North Carolina, the 9th biggest state in the country with 9.2 million residents, is unusual because even if you live in one of its urban centers — Charlotte, the Triad, the Triangle, Asheville, Wilmington — there’s likely a wooded area within walking distance. Maybe not a national forest or a state park, but at least a corridor of wild that for any number of reasons has eluded development. For instance, we live in the heart of Cary (we call it Historic Cary because the houses date all the way back to the 1970s) between two malls (Cary Town Centre and Crossroads Plaza), yet we can walk out the end of our cul-de-sac along a storm drainage easement and within minutes be at the headwaters of Walnut Creek. This proximity to the wild comes in handy when you have a houseful of kids on winter break.
Recommended reading over leftover salad
Feeling guilty about all those holiday leftovers?
Then turn ‘em into a salad!
For lunch yesterday, Marcy took leftover turkey, cut it into bite-size pieces, tossed it in with some arugula, walnuts and blue cheese crumbles. She added a dollop of cranberry sauce and topped it with dressing, which we pretended were croutons. Save perhaps for the dressing-as-croutons, it was a healthier use of leftovers than, say, putting a couple slabs of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy between two pieces of white bread and calling it a sandwich. It was also mighty tasty, and if you’re into point counting I’m guessing it had about a third the calories of a leftover sandwich.