This week is National Sleep Awareness Week®, it’s is an annual public education and awareness campaign to promote the importance of sleep.

Though diet and exercise are critical components of healthy lifestyles, it’s also important to remember that sleep is inherently linked with how we eat (and how much), how we exercise (and whether or not we lose weight), and how we function on a daily basis. Getting the proper amount of sleep each night is necessary to face the world with your best foot forward. Sleep will help you on the road to good fitness, good eating and good health.

Easiest Thing You Can Do for Your Health Is Sleep. Or is it?

An estimated 18 million Americans have sleep apnea, a sleep-related breathing disorder that leads individuals to repeatedly stop breathing during sleep. Not only does sleep apnea seriously affect one’s quality of sleep, but it can also lead to health risks such as stroke, heart attack, congestive heart failure and excessive daytime sleepiness. Sleep apnea is often associated with people who are overweight – weight gain leads to compromised respiratory function when an individual’s trunk and neck area increase from weight gain. These interacting problems of weight gain and sleep apnea make it difficult to help oneself off the slippery slope of health problems. Read More

(Source: National Sleep Foundation)

Related Health Problems From Poor Sleep

Obesity. Women who reported getting five hours of sleep per night were nearly twice as likely to be obese as women who regularly slept about seven hours; those who got four hours were three times more likely to be obese, according to a 2005 study of more than 2,500 women under age 49. Sleep restriction increases your appetite by lowering your levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger, and raising your levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates it.

High blood pressure. People under age 60 who sleep five or fewer hours a night are twice as likely to develop hypertension as those who log seven to eight hours, according to a 2006 study of almost 5,000 men and women. Not sleeping enough strains the cardiovascular system and “resets” it to operate around the clock at an elevated pressure.

Diabetes. Studies have found an association between lack of sleep and a risk for diabetes as well as a 45 percent increased risk of heart attack and a 15 percent increased risk of death from all causes. Read More

(Source: Ladies Home Journal)

Keys to a Good Night’s Sleep

• Change Your Day to Maximize Sleep
• Wake up and go to bed at the same time every day, even on weekends.
• Limit your intake of alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco products during the day, especially in the hours before sleep.
• Finish eating 2 to 3 hours before bedtime, avoiding big meals.
• Exercise regularly. Finish your exercise a few hours before bedtime.
• Eliminate napping or limit the duration to 20 to 30 minutes.

Create the Best Possible Sleep Environment

• Remove electronics like computers and televisions from your room.
• Keep the room cool, comfortable, quiet, and dark.
• Use a comfortable mattress and pillows.
• Use the bed only for sleep and intimacy.

Prepare for Sleep

• Establish a relaxing bedtime routine: take a bath, read a book, listen to relaxing music before bed.
• Don’t watch the clock—it can cause anxiety about sleep.
• Get out of bed if you can’t fall asleep within 15 to 20 minutes. Only spend time in bed when you are actually sleeping.
• Write down concerns that keep you awake, creating a “to do” list for tomorrow. Also keep a sleep journal to help you see patterns in your sleep.

I joined the Pound for Pound Challenge 8 weeks ago because I wanted to lose 20 pounds…I won’t lie that 8 weeks ago when I joined; it was all about losing 20 pounds so I could fit in a size 6 again and look fabulous this summer.  It was quite superficial of me.

I gained the 20 pounds because I stopped focusing on living a healthy lifestyle and got carried away with living like a tourist on an endless vacation in New Orleans…lots of indulging and because of injuries, no exercising.

For the last 8 weeks I’ve also been blogging about health and fitness every day…and had my own awakening moment about my size and health.  During those 8 weeks; I’ve stopped indulging and refocused on living a healthy lifestyle. Although I’ve lost little weight, I can say that I’m living a healthy lifestyle. I eat healthy. I get my daily recommended fruits and vegetables servings, I eat a low sodium diet, I drink a gallon of water a day and I take a multi-vitamin each and every morning.  I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I haven’t had chocolate in weeks (that was my vice).  I’m exercising, meditating and getting my 8 hours of sleep a night. I am healthy; low Blood Pressure and Cholesterol and not currently at risk for any kinds of health diseases.

I was at a networking event a couple of weeks ago and a lady who was sitting next to me (although I had already introduced myself to her) made an announcement to the table about this fabulous diet supplement, which was supposedly all natural, she had heard about.  I simply had to butt-in and talk about how important it is to focus on life changes and living a healthy lifestyle – NOT quick fixes or solutions because losing weight is a result of living a healthy lifestyle.

An estimated 80 million Americans go on diets every year, spending more than $30 billion annually on programs and products. I’d love to take a survey of those 80 million Americans to find out how many of them are actually putting their health has the #1 reason for wanting to lose weight??

Thankfully we are in LA – Louisiana and not L.A. – Los Angeles so we don’t feel or have a huge pressure in our community/city to be stick figures with a perfect tan, but there is still a big stigma attached to being big so there is still societal pressure for wanting to be slim.

What society needs to put pressure on and what we need to focus on in New Orleans are: living healthy lifestyles, having healthy habits and enjoying good health and healthy bodies, minds and spirits.

Being healthy is what prevents:

Diabetes
High Blood Pressure
Hypertension
Obesity
Heart Attacks
Cancer

It’s not being slim or slander.  A skinny person isn’t necessarily healthy – for all you know he or she might be smoker with high cholesterol on the verge of having a heart attack or lung cancer.  We normally don’t think that when looking at a skinny person…but slim does not equal healthy.

No matter what size you are, living a healthy lifestyle will prolong your life and help you enjoy life a lot more.  Make changes and create new routines and habits that support living a healthy lifestyle.  If  you happen to need to lose some weight – living a healthy lifestyle will take care of that along the way!! And Yes, you better believe it that we’re right here with you to help!!

Yesterday we attended the Lakeview Christian Center Wellness Fair 2010…and we were pleasantly surprised by how well organized the event was.  Parked outside of the Center was the Elmwood “On the Move – Driving to Fight Childhood Obesity” Bus.  This unique program is designed to give school children ages 9-13 an opportunity to learn about health and fitness in a non-competitive environment. Inside the bus is a fitness center designed for children – check the Elmwood Fitness Center Website for more information.

Inside the Lakeview Christian Center we were welcomed by a staff (church members) who were excited, and happy to see us and tell us all about what was available for us to see and take part in.  They had 36 vendors that made up the Wellness Fair to include a station to get your Blood Pressure taken for free and Cholesterol screening from The Blood Center: Blood Mobile & Free Cholesterol Screening. Also in attendance was Salire Fitness, BestRD Wellness (nutritionist), Advance Medical Care and Wellness, DHH/OAAS/Adult Protective Services, Elderly Protective Services, Louisiana Chiropractic Center, Alzheimers Association of GNO and the American Cancer Society to name a few.

From 10:00 am to 3pm they hosted some wonderful free seminars for attendees which included: Tulane hospital discussing Childhood Obesity & Type 2 Diabetes, Rose Dermatology discussed Skin Cancer, and LSU Radiolody has a seminar of Mammogram, When and & Why.

We spoke with Pete Schefferstein the Church Administrator and Wellness Fair Organizer to find out more about the Fair and why the Lakeview Christian Center decided to put on this event. As it turns out, Pete used to be quite an unhealthy fellow – as he puts it “a typical New Orleanian” and his wake-up call came when his doctor told him that he was close to being diabetic and unless he made some changes, he would have to take medicine for diabetics.

Speaking with Pete was an eye opener.  To hear him say that for him; not being able to bend down to pick something up, or not being able to walk up a flight of stair or walk around the block and that living with all the discomfort of bad health seemed perfectly normal was very surreal. It’s hard to comprehend that some people have never known or experienced living a normal “healthy” life.

However, when his doctor told him if he kept going the way he was he would be diabetic – Pete decided to change his lifestyle.  Since then, Pete has lost over 100 pounds.  He enlisted the help of his son who designed a program for him based on the Men’s Health TNT.  After losing 40lbs, Pete was finally able to use a treadmill.  Pete was exercising for the first time in his life.

Pete said to us “When you’re overweight, you don’t really realize how much everything is such a chore – like bending down to pick something up, traveling…how embarrassing it is to ask the stewardess on a plane for a buckle extension”

Since losing the weight and making life changes/establishing a new healthy lifestyle, Pete became more aware of the members in his church community who also needed help and assistance.  He commented on how difficult being overweight is on the families in the community; “People are losing jobs because the can’t perform their duties.” That’s when the Lakeview Christian Center became involved in helping their community become healthier.  Every six weeks they run a Biggest Loser Challenge to encourage members to get involve, participate in learning new things about nutrition and exercise and support each other in losing weight.

They bring in other members of the community who are nutritionists, trainers, nurses and doctors to speak on health issues.  It’s really fabulous what the Lakeview Christian Center have started and how they are supporting their community.

I’m not that old and I didn’t grow up on a farm…yet I remember the saying “If you don’t have your health; you don’t have nothing at all.”  I remember my dad telling me that. He wasn’t or isn’t a sick man but he is a self-employed man; he owns a construction company. His health is very important to him because without his health/ability to put in a hard day’s work – he doesn’t make money.

The saying also definitely applied more in the old days – when most people did some sort of physical labor as the primary way to earn a living. If people were sick or injured, they couldn’t perform their work duties and they didn’t get paid.  The incentives to be healthy were far greater (survival) and by default of performing physical/manual labor people were more active.  Times have changed.  Technology has changed the way we earn a living and most people in developed countries can perform their job while being overweight, out-of-shape, and plagued with chronic diseases, etc. Most people don’t care about their health.  It’s obvious when looking at the results of studies. Louisiana ranked 41 out 50 on the 2009 Well Being State Ranking. #1 being the best – 50 the worst. From Gallup and Healthways Well Being Index (Click on the image for larger image)

Merging decades of social and clinical research, development expertise, health leadership and behavioral economics, Gallup and Healthways collaborated to develop the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI) – the first and largest survey of its kind, aggregating data from 1,000 calls a day, 350 days a year. The Well-Being Index is already the largest behavioral economic database ever created and, over the next quarter century, will generate more than nine million individual responses.

The Well-Being Index and associated City, State and Congressional District Reports provide the only measurement today for total well-being. Beyond medical condition and access to healthcare coverage and services, the Index also questions respondents about economic, professional, emotional and social circumstances. With Well-Being Index data, it’s possible to quantify and establish a correlation between the places where people work and the communities in which they live and their well-being.

Some more results were released today.

The County Health Rankings—the first set of reports to rank the overall health of every county in all 50 states—were released today by the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at a briefing in Washington, D.C.  The 50 state reports help public health and community leaders, policy-makers, consumers and others to see how healthy their county is, compare it with others within their state and find ways to improve the health of their community.

Each county is ranked within the state on how healthy people are and how long they live. They also are ranked on key factors that affect health such as: smoking, obesity, binge drinking, access to primary care providers, rates of high school graduation, rates of violent crime, air pollution levels, liquor store density, unemployment rates and number of children living in poverty.

Poorly ranked counties often had multiple challenges to overcome, including:

• Two- and three-fold higher rates of premature death, often from preventable conditions.
• High smoking rates that lead to cancer, heart disease, bronchitis and emphysema.
• High rates of obesity which can put people at risk for diabetes, disability and heart disease.
• High unemployment and poverty rates.
• High numbers of liquor stores and fast-food outlets but few places to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

Read More from the Press Release

Now, if only Gov. Bobby Jindal would have a look at this study and stop his plans for cuts to health care…

Here’s a look at the results for Health Outcomes.  For the Greater New Orleans area St. Tammany Parish was #1, Jefferson #16 and Orleans and St Bernard 59 and 62 respectively.  Interesting disparity between those…any thoughts of why? (Click on the map for larger image)

And the results for Health Factors: For the Greater New Orleans area St. Tammany Parish was #1, Jefferson #5 and Orleans and St Bernard 47 and 59 respectively. (Click on the map for larger image)

For greater details of the overall rankings and finer details check this out.

I normally don’t write posts this long…but this is serious – we have to start going to back to the mentality: If you don’t have your health; you don’t have anything at all.

The State of Louisiana has some great sites, resources, and information available for Louisianans to live healthy lifestyles.  Frankly, once you start digging around – it’s quite impressive.  The majority of those sites are government funded and non-profits (many are rooted out of the Louisiana Public Health Institute). This differs from us, Be Fit NOLA, but ultimately our goals are the same…to raise awareness, gather and disseminate information and encourage/teach people how to live healthier lifestyles.

But even with that being said – Louisianans and New Orleanians face serious health issues.

(The following excerpts are sourced from Stay Healthy Louisiana)

Heart Disease

Even Young People Need to Monitor Their Cholesterol

High cholesterol greatly increases the risk for heart disease and heart attacks. Following simple nutrition and fitness guidelines and getting a cholesterol blood test every five years beginning at age 20 can help manage cholesterol build up in the body and prevent a heart attack. Learn about what you can do to manage your own cholesterol levels.

Heart attack warning signs include:

Chest discomfort, usually in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back. This can can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. Discomfort in other areas of the upper body, including pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach. Shortness of breath and other symptoms, such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, or light-headedness are also early warning signs.

Obesity

The percentage of overweight and/or obese adults in Louisiana has become an emergent health concern, rising in the past 10 years from 49 percent in 1991 to 63 percent in 2004, as noted by the Louisiana Health Report Card. The percentage of overweight or obese 18-to-24 year olds increased the most.

Understanding what is considered as “average weight,” “overweight” and “obese” is essential to knowing where the danger lies. An individuals body mass index (BMI), an index of weight relative to height, is used to estimate the percentage of fat a person has on his or her body. A person is defined as overweight if his or her BMI is between 25.0 and 29.9 and obese if their BMI is greater than 30.0.

Read more and instantly calculate your Body Mass Index click here.

Diabetes

Reduce Your Child’s Risk of Developing Diabetes

The number of children diagnosed with type-2 diabetes is gradually increasing, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Medical experts advise that Hispanic, African American, and American Indian adolescents are particularly at risk. While some critics blame changes in the healthcare system, many healthcare officials testify that these outcomes are the result of an unhealthy culture. Children who consume high calorie foods and rarely exercise are increasing their likelihood of developing type-2 diabetes. Learn more about helping educate children on the benefits of healthy lifestyles.

Cancer

Louisiana’s High Cancer Rates

Home to  ”Cancer Alley,” a strip of land between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that houses many industrial and petrochemical plants, Louisiana is found to have cancer rates that outpace the national average. For Louisiana residents, the most frequently diagnosed cancers are lung at 16 percent, prostate, 16 percent, breast, 14 percent, colon and rectum, 12 percent, and urinary bladder, 4 percent.  The five-year period between 2000 and 2004 brought 105,082 diagnoses of invasive primary in Louisiana residents, or an average of 21,016 cases per year. Specifically, Louisiana’s incidence rates for tobacco- related cancers such as lung, oral cavity, kidney, and pancreas are also higher than U.S. rates, which are preventable.

We’ve added Stay Healthy Louisiana to our blogroll because we think it’s a site well worth visiting often – you can also Fan Stay Healthy Louisiana on Facebook.