An environment conducive to sleep is very important. Lower the temperature a few degrees and dim the lights. I highly recommend upgrading your beddings to sheets with a 600 to 1000 thread count –it’s like sleeping on silky butter—and investing in an ergonomic pillow. You may also use a linen spray with pure essential oils, not artificial fragrances, which trigger our brains to help the body relax.

Drink Milk.

Have you ever observed how happily babies doze off after having their fill of milk? As adults, we can likewise benefit from drinking milk, even the skimmed kind, to help us sleep better. Milk contains the amino acid L-tryptophan, long known to help induce sleep. Avoid alcohol, which can knock you out into a superficial, disturbed sleep that leaves you barely rested.

Do Not Stimulate.

Baby experts warn us against stimulating babies close to bedtime, a good practice that we can carry on as adults. While watching TV or reading newspapers helps us wind down, doing this too close to bedtime can actually rouse our senses. Instead, choose easy bedside reading materials. Leave work-related materials outside your room.

Have A Sleep-Time Routine.

Nothing knocks my baby out better than a warm bath which lowers the body temperature. Have a warm shower, give yourself a relaxing self-massage, or slip into your most comfortable clothes. You can even put on soft music to lull you to sleep. Do this night after night, preferably at the same time, to prepare your mind and body for sleep. We are creatures of habit. Conditioning our minds and bodies through a sleep-time routine will help ensure that we get our much-needed seven to eight hours of shuteye.

Take Naps.

As children, we were asked to take naps to refresh our energy and avoid fussiness in the evening due to over-exhaustion. Research has now shown that these restorative naps are not only for the young. Adults benefit from taking a nap break in the middle of the day. You may be surprised how these power naps, if kept to a maximum of 20 to 30 minutes so as not to disturb our natural sleep-wake cycles, enhance the quality of our waking hours and, consequently, our sleeping hours.

Here’s something to chew on:

SIT UP STRAIGHT.

You instantly look taller and thinner, and the more “formal” posture makes you less likely to linger at the table. Many people eat way more than they need just because they’re too comfortable.

CHEW SLOWLY

It takes the brain several minutes to register that you’re full. By taking slower, longer bites, you actually savor the flavor and give your body time to tell you when you’re ready to stop.

TRY A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING

It’s not polite in Pinoy society to refuse food. Today’s diet gurus say that it may not be prudent. Many people fall off a diet because they feel deprived. So go ahead — satisfy a craving with one or two bites, then fill up the rest of our plate with the healthy stuff.

A: You can switch to yoga and consider it as your full body resistance training for the week. When you execute yoga moves, your body becomes the resistance. Do poses like warrior 1 and 2 in place of the typical lunges, chair pose for squats, and planks and downward facing dog for the shoulders. However, it is still recommended that you lif weights at least one a week to maintain the shape, size, and strength of other muscle groups taht you can’t isolate while doing yoga.

In Yoga, we use the isometric contraction where you develop strength in one position and angle only, unlike in resistance training where we use the concentric and eccentric contraction to strengthen he uscles at different angles upon movement.

You do not really get bulk when you do yoga because you just use your body as resistance and no weight progresson is involved to bulk up.

The calorie burn after doing a one-hour yoga session would still depend on your heart rate, intensity of the class, and your body weight. Just remember that the more you use your lower body during the workout, the higher your heart rate is, and the more calories you can burn.

Q: I’ve been lifting weights and running consistently for 5 months now. If I stop working out for one week what will happen to my body fat, muscle mass, and endurance? I am just worried since I really worked hard for y body and fitness level. I think I need some rest to recharge and relax for a moment.

A: One week of rest after 5 months of consistent workout would do no harm to what you’ve accomplished already. You can easily lose body fat even after a trip. I believe you’ve been trained as well to make the right food choices. We need to relax our mind and recharge our body so that we start working out again and bring our mind and body to the next level. After one week of no workouts and controlled food intake, the following should be expected:

• Body fat: Might go up a bit especially if you won’t insert any form of physical activity during the week. At least 30 minutes of walking a day is still recommended.
• Muscle mass: There will be no obvious changes.
• Endurance: A small decline in endurance that might be observed once you resume running after one week of rest, although it can still be easily recovered.

Q: I am getting bored with my sual gym workout and I am thinking of other ways to regain my excitement while exercising. Do you have any suggestions?

A: I can only suggest the factors that need to be considered to regain your excitement. I would still depend on the accessibility and availability of your exercise resources:

• You should make yourself aware of the different exercises, physical activities, or sports available. Plan a trial workout of what you think would interest you. A change of environment or workout type and routine will help you regain excitement and energy.
• Your level of motivation should be reassessed and reevaluated to match it to your choice of new exercises. What do you want right now? Lose fat? Reshape a particular body part? Improve endurance and sports performance? Or to relax and enjoy?
• The level of your new workout should be challenging enough for you to set a goal to improve after every session.
• A fitness consultant or personal trainer can help you design a program that you can do and progress on your own.