Morning Yoga

Yoga has a special place in my heart. It promotes flexibility, balance, and strength all at the same time. It is also a key form of stress relief that helps to lower cortisol levels (stress hormone), lower blood pressure, and reduce cardiovascular disease risk (as well as a whole list of other physiological benefits). In terms of neuro-cognitive performance, yoga has also been shown to clear the mind and improve memory retention. Yoga also enhances performance in other sports and reduces the likelihood of injury by stretching tight muscles.

My experience with yoga has been very positive. Before doing morning yoga I would wake up and immediately start addressing daily problems without any forethought or planning. Morning yoga helps me clear my head prior and then plan out a systematic approach on how to address these problems. Additionally, I find that when I plan in the morning, I subconsciously plan throughout the day and stick to a schedule (this helps me allocate enough time for assignments and meet submission deadlines).

Morning yoga also encourages me to wake up earlier. On days when I have class early in the morning, establishing a daily morning yoga routine helps me get out of bed earlier and get to class on time. For those dreaded 7:30 am lectures/meetings/conference calls, this really helps.

Before doing my routine, I generally walk around for 5 to 10 minutes after getting out of bed and let my body warm up. After I spend approximately 1 minute in each pose and concentrate on deep breathing. Overall, this routine should only take around 10 minutes (plus the warmup time). My routine is as follows:

- Child's pose (then roll wrists forward after 1 minute)

- Cobra pose

- Downward dog

- Low lunge (alternate to other leg after 1 minute)

- Warrior 2 (each side for 1 minute)

- Triangle pose (each side for 1 minute)

- Optional: Half moon (disclaimer: this one is hard... )

Child's Pose

Downward Dog

Low Lunge

Warrior 2

Triangle Pose 

Half Moon Pose

Is it my posture?

Good morning all,

I was with a good friend last night discussing how people's posture seems to be getting progressively worse. How we feel, how we communicate with others, our perceptions of ourselves, and how we physiologically act are determined by our posture habits. With the advent of technology and the increasing shift into a stationary lifestyle (desk jobs, internet surfing, TV watching), our posture has continuously declined (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Evolution of man

Everything from mobile phones, to incorrectly adjusted computers, to poorly designed chairs may be affecting our posture negatively. Wearing heavily loaded backpacks, commuting in a car on the way to work, biking, and walking down the street looking at a smart phone may be contributing to poor posture. Also, exercise routines such as excessive chest development (bench press), and upper trapezius muscle development may be contributing to poor posture.

Poor posture may be a increasing physiological aches and pains. For example, poor posture may be causing "upper cross syndrome" defined as tight upper traps and tight pectoralis minor muscles (Figure 2). The result of this muscle tightness (and often imbalance) is a winging scapula and stressed rotator cup muscles that cause shoulder pain and other issues. Chances are, if you have shoulder pain, your muscle tightness (and imbalance) may be contributing to the symptoms.

Figure 2: Upper Cross Syndrome

Fortunately, I am here to help! As a student I spend the majority of my day studying and using the computer. Some techniques I use to improve my posture include stretching, strengthening, and optimizing ergonomics. These techniques are listed below.

Stretching routines (spend 10-20 minutes daily doing these):

- Mountain pose stretch (yoga pose, 2 minutes)

- Lacrosse ball myofascial pressure release (upper trap roll, pec minor roll, 8 minutes)

- Chest stretches (doorway stretch, 5 minutes)

- Doorway hangs (stretches lat muscles, and chest muscles, 5 minutes)

Strengthening routines (spend 10-20 minutes daily doing these as well):

- Lower trapezius exercises (5 minutes) -> (https://www.medbridgeeducation.com/h/blog-article-john-snyder-best-exercises-for-trapezius-muscle)

- Rowing exercises (15 minutes)

Another major contributing factor is what we do every minute of every day. From my personal experience, one can perform thousands of exercises at the gym, and spend countless hours of stretching with limited results due the other 11 hours each day spent doing other tasks. To improve posture significantly, pay attention to ergonomics during daily activities.

Ergonomic optimization (all day, every day):

- Alternate between a standing and sitting desk with appropriate keyboard and monitor height (Figure 2).

- When writing by hand, use a drafting table.

- When sitting in a chair (or on the couch) use a posture assist device that correctly facilitates posture cues.

- When driving, adjust seat and steering wheel correctly to keep chest up and head neutral.

- Avoid excessive smartphone usage (as looking at smartphones at waist-level tends to cause poor posture).

Standing Desk Ergonomics

Helmets

I have always been an advocate for wearing helmets when doing any outdoors sport. As many of you know, the University of Utah is a steep and hilly campus with lots of obstacles. Last academic year I witnessed several cyclists on campus crash resulting in bloody gashes on their heads and apparent concussions. None of these cyclists were wearing helmets. I wanted to examine in depth the potential reasons why these people were not wearing helmets and how to change the overall public image of helmets.

A common complaint of helmets that I always hear is "they are so inconvenient and look stupid." Although I would have to agree that helmets definitely are not aesthetically pleasing, the small amount of time spent wearing them is minuscule to the amount of time potentially spent in intensive care, in a comatose state or living with neuromuscular disfunction. In my opinion, the sacrifice of aesthetics becomes apparent when you are able to continue doing the activities you love even after intense accidents happen.

The nature of the word accident means just that; unpredictability. In almost every accident, the person involved is going about their daily life when some unforeseen event occurs causing physical, emotional or mental harm. In terms of biking this could be a stray dog, a patch of unplowed snow, a stick or even an oil spot that could potentially take even the most experienced cyclist down. To be realistic, no one goes about their day thinking, "today I will crash after my front wheel slips on a piece of gravel!"

Ultimately I have made the commitment to wear a helmet whenever I am biking or skiing to reduce the chance of traumatic brain injury in the event of an accident. Some tips I would give to those interested include always keeping a helmet in your ski bag or on your bike and wearing it frequently. If your helmet is nearby when you are preparing to hit the slopes or when you are hopping on your bike it is much easier to commit to wearing it. After days of wearing a helmet it begins to feel "unnatural" not to wear one.

Hope this helped! Let me know your opinion on helmet use.

The Depth of Life

"It is not length of life, but depth of life" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

These last few weeks have been incredibly busy. Balancing schoolwork and activities has been hard due to an increased workload. Fortunately, through all this chaos I have managed to stay healthy, active and most importantly illness free.

Last weekend, two ski resorts in Utah opened due to a large amount of early season snow. I managed to get up to Brighton resort yesterday and make some turns through untouched powder with a group of friends. Although blizzard conditions, the snow was absolutely amazing. Overall, the day started off great and ended on an even better note as the storm progressed bringing more and more snow.

This morning I went out to McCarthey track to do some training and clear my mind for the upcoming week. I started off doing a very basic warmup routine and finished doing 100m sprints with core work in between. I also dedicated a large portion of the workout to stretching and flexibility exercises to prevent fatigue and injury. If you are ever feeling stressed out I would highly recommend doing a quick track training routine to help relieve the stress.

Even though schoolwork occupies the majority of my time, I still manage to relish the depth of life. In a way this means living everyday to the fullest, but also being optimistic about the future. For example, although schoolwork or a job may be incredibly stressful at the moment, at the end of the semester all the hard work will pay off. Dedicating a small amount of time now towards schoolwork will have a large payoff 20 years from now.

Stay tuned for more motivational advice. I will try to update this blog more frequently now that the semester is winding down. Peace!

A Healthy Dinner Option

Its Monday night and the Red Sox game is on!

Instead of gravitating towards the typical deep fried wings and beer option (so good but unhealthy) for dinner tonight try this simple and fast recipe for a better diet.

Ingredients:

2 Large chicken breasts (8 ounces each)
6 Ounces of chopped lettuce (or spring mix)
Sufficient Olive Oil

Dressing (optional):

1 Tbsp of avocado oil (or olive oil)
1 Tsp of balsamic vinegar
Dash of black pepper

Preparation:

Begin by marinating chicken in tupperware container or ziplock bag with a sufficient amount of olive oil (should cover chicken completely). Add additional seasonings such as spices etc. if desired. After chicken has been sufficiently marinated you can either choose to grill the chicken or bake the chicken. If baking preheat oven to 400 degrees and place marinated chicken in bake-able glassware pan. If grilling simply add the chicken to the grill. After approximately 8 minutes of grilling (meat should not be pink if sliced open) or 30 minutes of baking remove the chicken and slice into multiple pieces.

Wash the lettuce thoroughly. After lettuce has dried chop lettuce into pieces and place on a plate.

Simple and delicious!

At this point you can either make your own dressing or try my easy to make balsamic/ avocado oil vinaigrette. Simply mix 1 Tbsp of avocado oil with 1 Tsp. of balsamic vinaigrette (more or less depending on personal preference) and add a dash of black pepper.

Arrange the sliced chicken on top of the washed lettuce and sprinkle on the vinaigrette.

If desired add additional ingredients such as tomatoes, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, cranberries.. really anything you prefer!

Study Habits

A wise man once said, "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." This wise man was Albert Einstein, the father of modern physics.

When I was taking Organic Chemistry over the summer I kept referring back to this quote to gain inspiration (and keep my sanity). As those of you know who have taken Organic Chemistry, the amount of errors you make trying a problem is unreal. Even after countless times doing similar problems, discussing the problem in question with the teacher and asking the teaching assistants for help the solution is still vague. Then slowly the solution becomes clear. After all the hard work and time devoted the problem is finally understandable. Then the next chapter of problems is assigned and the process repeats itself..

I wanted to share my successes in dealing with difficult and seemingly impossible problems albeit in school, work or life in general. I noticed freshman year that several peers chose to not study for tests relying solely on their ingenuity to get good grades. Remarkably this worked for their first year until the tests started to become more and more difficult. After failing multiple tests while still trying to maintain their current "no studying" approach most of these peers switched majors or pursued jobs after the first year. This example brings me to my first point of study success; the amount of time spent on a topic will determine how well you understand that topic.

Someone who regularly spends a good portion of their day researching, practicing and critically examining a challenging topic will have a greater understanding than someone who puts minimal effort into learning the topic. For example, imagine a typical scenario of two friends studying for a test that is two weeks away. The first friend who is academically inclined and also knows how to study puts around 2-3 hours each day into learning the material. The second friend who is also academically inclined but relies on the "cram before the test" approach puts minimal work into studying and decides to do an "all nighter" the night before the test. On test day the first friend is feeling confident due to all the studying and performs well on the test. The second friend is an absolute zombie showing up to the test feeling sick, lethargic and mentally unsound. The second friend performs poorly on the test due to lack of sleep and low retention of knowledge. The point of this scenario is that in order to succeed at a seemingly impossible problem, one has to plan ahead and devote a small portion of each and every day to working through the problem instead of postponing until the last minute. This technique of "planning ahead to succeed" works well with schoolwork, homework and life in general.

My second point of study success is to be highly organized in regards to scheduling. This may sound seemingly impossible for a college student who has to balance work, volunteering, studying and exercise but in truth it is actually easy if you utilize your resources. Every person I know has access to a computer, smartphone or pencil and paper. On each of these electronic devices (or the more retro pencil and paper route) people can record schedules to help organize their lives. I personally prefer to use a hard copy day planner as it is provided for free by the University of Utah and can be easily carried to classes. The trick to becoming organized in regards to scheduling is to record every event in the planner or on the electronic device. When a paper or project is assigned, record the due date in the planner. When volunteering schedules are published record your times in the planner (likewise for a job).

If you are feeling overburdened by midterms, a job or the weight of the world try these points of study success and see if they help you. If they do let me know! Peace!

The Balance of Fitness and Education

Good morning friends, family and followers! I have decided to finally create a blog spot to document my experiences, adventures and troubles of being a health enthusiast who also loves engineering. My inspiration for this blog came from the observation that it seems that most of my friends and colleagues are either incredibly devoted to maintaing a healthy lifestyle with little emphasis on their academic rigors or completely devoted to academics with no care for their individual health. I hope to give advice, share stories and chronicle events that have worked for me personally to hopefully benefit someone else who is facing similar situations.

To start off I have currently been focusing on training for the upcoming Utah ski season. Last season was injury free and a ton of fun but I did run into several friends who had torn their ACL and/or had surgery due to intermittent conditions. This season in order to stay injury free I have been attending the gym focusing on compound movements to strengthen all parts of my body. Hopefully all the hard work will pay off and I will be able to get outdoors and have a blast.

I have also been fly fishing and rock climbing every weekend. Living in Utah has its advantages and disadvantages (as with any place) and so far I have been focusing on the advantages of being incredibly close to isolated natural beauty. Last weekend a few friends and I drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and set up a fun top rope climbing spot on a slab of rock that was a short hike from the trail. Although we ran out of light it was an amazing experience to get into the wilderness and mentally clear our minds for the upcoming school week.

Later on this evening I will try to post about my current health trends, holiday ambitions and schoolwork goals for those who are interested. Right now I've got to make it to the train to get to the gym! Peace!