Page 57 - Education Issue

Pearls of Wisdom

ic of obesity and diabetes, and it turns the subjects did aerobic exercise (with morning—for at least 20 minutes—is
out that eating our main meal at a greater drop at night predicting beneficial for weight maintenance.
noon is another way to do just that. better heart health.) Add the extra benefit of walking to
A study of 420 subjects published In line with the Ayurvedic pre- your morning “sun time,” and you’ve
in the International Journal of Obe- diction, morning exercise at 7 AM got one doubly-powerful technique for
sity (3) showed that those random- resulted in the greatest drop in systolic good health!
ized to eating the majority of their nighttime blood pressure, and deeper
calories before 3 PM had more and sleep was an added bonus. Second Ride the Waves
quicker weight loss over those eating place, went to those exercising at 7 Riding the waves of a good daily
the majority of their calories after 3 PM, which resulted in the greatest routine can ground and protect us
PM—even though they consumed the drop in diastolic nocturnal blood from the hustle, bustle, and stress of
same number of total calories in both pressure. everyday life. Now that you know Na-
groups. The researchers concluded Those who exercised at 1 pm ture’s ideal schedule, you can truly “go
that “novel” approaches” to weight actually saw an inhibition of night- with the flow” and enjoy better sleep,
loss that include the timing of meals time BP drop, so just as Ayurveda mood, weight, digestion, and heart
should be considered in any weight prescribes, “after lunch, rest awhile, health as you cruise through your days
loss program. after dinner, walk a mile,” it’s better to with the help of Nature’s wisdom fully
Bring on the midday “dinner!” eat, rest and digest at lunchtime, and supporting your health, happiness,
leave the exercise for earlier or later and rejuvenation.
We Know We Should Exercise, but in the day.
When? • Gangwisch, JE, et al, National Longitu-
Dr. G - First of all, I advise my pa- One Last Powerful Tip dinal Study of Adolescent Health, USA,
tients that with today’s overly-busy life- Ayurveda highly recommends a 1994-1996; Sleep, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2010.
style, exercise at any time is better than morning walk for everyone as the best • Asarnow, Lauren D. et al., The Effects of
not at all. But beyond that, research prevention and rejuvenative for just Bedtime and Sleep Duration on Aca-
indicates that certain times are more about everything. Interestingly, this demic and Emotional Outcomes in a
beneficial than others, and may have ancient recommendation is also sup- Nationally Representative Sample of Ad-
to do with our underlying physiological ported by modern research. A recent olescents, Journal of Adolescent Health,
state at different times of the day. study (5) by Northwestern University Volume 54, Issue 3, 350 – 356
I do recommend avoiding vigorous looked at light exposure and its effect • Ordovás and F A J L Scheer, Timing of
exercise right after eating, especially a on the human body. food intake predicts weight loss effective-
full meal. A comfortably-paced walk The researchers found that being ness. International Journal of Obesity
is fine, but wait at least an hour, and outside in the morning appears to 37, 604-611 (April 2013)
preferably two, before heading out for a dramatically influence our metab- • Fairbrother K, Cartner B, Alley JR,
run, or to the gym. olism for the entire day. They also Curry CD, Dickinson DL, Morris DM,
Ayurveda recommends exercis- discovered that people who get more Collier SR. Effects of exercise timing on
ing in the time between 6-10 in the morning light exposure are leaner— sleep architecture and nocturnal blood
morning or evening—with the morn- have less fat. pressure. Vascular Health and Risk Man-
ing being ideal--- as the body tends to As much as 20 percent of our agement. Dec 12, 2014.
be more stable, resilient and possibly a body mass, and our weight, is deter- • Reid K, Santostasi G, Baron KG, Wilson
bit sluggish then and will benefit most mined by how much morning light J, Kang J, Zee PC. Timing and intensity
with the least likelihood of strain or we get. If we don’t get enough light of light correlate with body weight in
injury. in the morning, our body clock gets adults. PLOS One. April 2, 2014
A fascinating study (4) on people de-synchronized and alters our me-
with early hypertension bears this tabolism. Pacific Pearl La Jolla
Ayurvedic recommendation out. Re- When that happens, even if we 6919 La Jolla Blvd,
searchers looked at the blood pressure eat the same amount of food, we tend La Jolla, CA 92037
drop during sleep in relation to what to gain more weight. The researchers (858) 459 6919
time of day—7 am, 1 pm or 7 pm— concluded that being outdoors in the www.pacificpearllajolla.com

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