By Paula Jager CSCS as published in Natural Muscle magazine March 2012
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Good morningVietnam! Anyone my age and maybe even a little younger will remember that movie with Robin Williams. Well, sometimes that’s exactly how I feel when I hear the alarm go off in the morning. Do I have to worry about a bomb dropping or being gunned down by soldiers? Not likely but I do feel like I am off to battle some days. And I love my job.
Does the following scenario sound familiar? You got to bed late, the alarm goes off much earlier than you’d like—in fact you’d prefer to awaken at your leisure with no alarm and you have a 45 min commute to your “wonderful” job in Corporate America. Once there you sit in a cubicle all day and take orders from a snippy little moron. On route some idiot cuts you off in traffic; you slam on your brakes, the horn, flip him the bird and curse him out with a string of profanities that would do a sailor proud. This activates your fight or flight response causing a chain of physiological reactions such as a rise in blood pressure, heart rate and respiration, sight sharpens, impulses quicken and gastrointestinal activity decreases. Not good unless this really is life or death. After about 20 minutes into the drive you encounter a traffic stopping accident which causes you to be 30 minutes late for work. On the bright side, you were not involved in the accident.
When you arrive in corporate Americathe snippy little moron (your boss) is screaming at you because you are late. While none of these events were life threatening you’ve expended a lot of energy, perceived unnecessary stress and feel like you’ve been through the war zone. The day continues with endless deadlines, coworker challenges and family issues. Then it’s back on the road for the commute home, pick up the kids at daycare along with fast food or take out, homework with the children, get them ready for bed, clean up the kitchen and drop into the recliner exhausted at 9:30 pm with a glass or bottle of wine. Or maybe you search the internet, check emails or watch violent television then pop an ambien, get 6 hours or less of sleep and get up to do it all over again tomorrow morning. Wait, we didn’t get a workout in?
Not all of us have the commute or the children and some of us like our jobs but can relate nonetheless and many Americans feel like they live from crisis to crisis. Is it any wonder they are overweight, stressed out, diseased and overmedicated? Antidepressants and other drugs are handed out like candy by “doctors” everywhere. A common commercial on television shows a woman in traffic, on her cell phone rushing and appearing stressed and they have a name for her “condition”—Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD.
The symptoms can include: “constant worrying about small or large concerns, restlessness—feeling keyed up or on edge, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, feeling twitchy or easily startled, trouble sleeping, sweating, nausea or diarrhea, shortness of breath or rapid heartbeat.”
But wait, they have a pill for it and then went on to list several side effects such as but not limited to: “nausea, insomnia, anxiety, restlessness, decreased sex drive, dizziness, weight gain, tremors, sweating, sleepiness or fatigue, dry mouth, diarrhea or constipation, headaches and there is a danger that, in some people, antidepressant treatment will cause an increase, rather than a decrease, in depression—and with it, an increased risk of suicide.”
Well gee, let me just sprint to my nearest pharma cartel (I mean pharmacy) and get some.
Their “cure” is worse than their perceived “dis ease”. I don’t know about you but I would say it is safe to say we all experience some of the symptoms like those listed above from time to time. Do we have GAD? Do we need to be medicated? Hell no, it’s called reactions to life’s challenges. We need to bow up and deal with it—take actions to regain control of our lives. Whether we lived in 1612 or 2012 there are always going to be challenges; no matter if we are rich or poor, with or without children, farmer or executive we are going to have to deal with things on a day to day basis. Life doesn’t always go smoothly but it’s rarely a life or death situation. How you react to the situation is elemental and if you are fit, mentally and physically and properly nourished you are going to better handle whatever is thrown your way.
The right exercise and nutrition is our ammo in this war called life. As readers of this magazine you know these are the answers. Lifting heavy things, metabolic conditioning and a diet consisting primarily of meat, fish, fowl and their fats, vegetables and tubers, some fruit, little starch and no sugar is a necessity. Or at least 80% of the time, we all need the occasional “indulgence”.
Society, the medical establishment and the government need to realize this; the bottom line is not profit at the cost of health and well being. Until they do take control of what you can by implementing the right lifestyle choices and win the war in the concrete jungle.