Had a hard time all day trying to come up with a topic for tonight's blog entry.....I knew yesterday's tearjerker was going to be a tough act to follow, but I didn't think I'd be drawing a complete blank on what to write about next. Took a bike ride, took a walk, went to see Avengers - Infinity War again...nothing. So I reverted back to how I started #The100DayProject - I went to the dictionary and found a word. Hmmm, guess I should have just found a way to write that would include links to everything else I've written.
The human body is fascinating. Relax, I'm not about to go into a lengthy treatise on human anatomy - I'd probably blush. My dictionary search brought me to the word thyroxine - the main hormone secreted by the thyroid gland into the blood stream. Among its many duties is the regulation of metabolism, the body's process of converting food into energy. I've been trying lately to get my body converting at a higher rate, specifically the food that's been stored for emergency purposes around my midsection since late last fall. The timing of this vocabulary discovery seemed cosmic - I had just returned from my long walk, ate a light supper, and was now staring at a word that might have something to do with more efficiently losing weight. I was curious; does exercise increase the production of this hormone, thereby increase metabolism and, in turn, decrease flabberdabbers? Rather than start to write I started to read.
As usual, there's no easy answer to my question about the body. Yes, exercise can positively impact metabolism by increasing the amount of thyroxine released while also increasing the level of its circulation. Buuuuuuuuut (there's always, always a 'but' when the topic is exercise...which is ironic since the butt is one of the main reasons we begin to exercise) too much exercise can be harmful to the thyroid, and since the thyroid and its hormones regulate pretty much every major body function we must be careful to treat the thyroid kindly. As in "don't exercise too much". A phrase I've been waiting for all my life.
Here's the kicker, though - I don't think I've ever overexercised, yet check out this list of indicators occurring in a body and soul that is exercising too much...which again, I don't think I've ever done:
**mood swings - I was born in the middle of a mood swing.
**loss of muscle - Never had any in the first place, so how do I tell?
**increased fat retention - Wait, what? I walk to get rid of fat....if I walk too far I get fatter????
**long lasting fatigue - Define 'long lasting'. Does 45 years count?
**afternoon malaise - Ha! My malaise is not confined to only afternoons!
**digestive issues - We're not crossing that line.
**disrupted sleep - It's the voices, not the exercise.
**reduced cognitive function - Uhhhhhhhh.....
**depression - Oh geez....
**anxiety - I only worry if I'm awake. Or sleeping.
So I'm ten for ten...well, nine for ten since I have chronic malaise. Wait, eight for ten - thank you nighttime voices of peril and dismay! A near-perfect score on the test for overexercise by a feller who gets more exercise banging out these blog entries than he does anywhere else. Great, just great. Where do I go with this information? Out for a walk??? I think not.
This is the problem I've always had with "healthy living" - there's never a right answer. Carbs or no carbs? Cardio workout or weight workout? Sit-ups or crunches? Dark chocolate or darker chocolate? Fat free or regular unleaded? One expert says one thing, the next expert says another, and the 100 year-old from Tallahassee smokes three packs a day and eats bacon-wrapped donuts for breakfast. Mmmmm, bacon-wrapped donuts......ahem, where was I? Oh, yes, healthy living.
As usual, it's back to the drawing board on my quest to find healthy habits. Felt really good about my bike ride and walk in the same day, now feel like I should be writing an apology to my thyroid. And all because I couldn't come up with something to write about. That's it, next time I've got writer's block I'm just gonna write a continuous string of links to some of my old posts that more people should have read. Like this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment