Issue No. 56
October 2013
Are Your Zzzzs EZ?

Dear Friends of Balancing Act,
 
It's easy to name the Top Three laments I hear from coaching clients:

 

    Not enough sleep  

    Not enough exercise  

    Too much junk food 

 

In this month's newsletter, we'll explore resources for each of those challenges, including a new book by a Gallup researcher that helps us customize a plan for tackling all three. 

 

We'll especially look at some ongoing help for getting more sleep at the right times (i.e., not in the middle of meetings). From what I hear, the sleep issue is anything but a snoozer.

 

And we'll learn - in a flash - how to change habits that are affecting the Top Three. 

 

Here's to more Zzzzs, more leafy green vegetables and more activity in your life!

 

 

                           Pat  
Eat Move Sleep

Tom Rath, who authored Gallup's Strengthsfinder 2.0 has this month launched a wellness book designed to get us sleeping, moving and eating right. 

Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes
contains plenty of research showing the importance of diet, activity and sleep.

Did you know, for example, that 95% of us need 7 to 9 hours of snoozing a night? And that most of us need 7 just to be "in the game" and 8 "for enough energy to win?"

Or that only 1 percent of us read beyond the calorie count if we read nutritional labels at all?   And that nutritional labels are what can save us from whopping carbohydrate and sugar counts, even in low-cal foods?

But more important than the research, Rath makes small, practical recommendations for change.

For example...  

 

Read the nutritional labels and try to choose foods that have 1 gram of protein for every gram of carbs. Avoid those that have more than 5 grams of carbs for every gram of protein.

 

Find one way you can work without sitting and try it. 

 

Gradually add 15-minute increments of sleep to your bedtime routine until you feel fully rested.

Rath also encourages readers to create their own 30-day Eat Move Sleep Plan and provides a tool for doing this both in the book and free on the book's website. Based on your own habits, you can try specific small changes for 30 days and even receive e-mail reminders to keep at it.   

Keeping Zzzzs Top of Mind
 
With the best of intentions, it's really easy to keep doing "one more thing" at bedtime, and soon bedtime is after midnight.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) is a great resource for keeping better sleep habits  on our radar screens.

If you're on Facebook (hopefully not at bedtime), you can "like" AASM's page and receive links to helpful articles on getting more sleep. Here's a recent link to practical tips on sleeping better. 

The Academy also makes scholarly sleep research available on the web, such as this article on how extroverts may have trouble sleeping after intense social interaction during the day.

(Interestingly, AASM also posted on Facebook an article on new ways to sweeten your coffee  - but in their defense, it referenced "morning coffee.")
Habits In A Hurry

Many of our less than helpful routines related to sleep, diet and exercise are the product of habit.

If you haven't had a chance to read about cracking bad habits in Charles Duhigg's book The Power of Habit, now you can get the gist in under five minutes.

Watch here as Duhigg explains how he analyzed his cookie-eating habit and figured out how to change it.

How to break habits (from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg)
How to break habits (from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg)


Copyright 2013 Pat Snyder
In This Issue
Eat, Move, Sleep
Zzzzzs
Habits
Quick Links
 
STRUGGLING WITH FALL? 

The turning leaves of fall are a downer for some and an exhilarating experience for others. 

Pat recently returned to "All Sides with Ann Fisher" (WOSU 89.7 FM) to talk about positive ways to transition into fall. 

Tune in here for strategies to savor the season.

Ann Fisher and Pat 
 
 
NEW TIME-SAVING
STRENGTHS TEST  
VIA

Are you naturally courageous? Creative? Prudent?

The Values In Action inventory, developed by positive psychologists to detect your highest character strengths,
is now faster to take than ever (around 20 minutes) and free.


Why bother? Strengths use can increase your overall well-being and your energy and flow at work.

xxxxxxxxxx 

LEASH LAW

NO. 56:

 
FAST FOOD

              

horizontal leashed dog

 

Even with the healthier versions of fast food meals that restaurants have concocted of late, your best bets for fast food may be a cooler full of apples, arugula, and other fruits and veggies.

In case you've ever indulged in a fast food salad and saved the plate, it fits right on top of the cooler. Good health and recycling all in one!

 

This is based on one of the 74 leash laws offered in Pat's book, The Dog Ate My Planner: Tales and Tips from an Overbooked Life.            

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