Lincoln Daily News 2025-26 Health & Wellness Magazine Pg.25 bone density reduces. Women over 40 do not need to run for an hour to get the benefits. Shorter aerobic workouts of 8 to10 minutes provide benefits. Short interval workouts 8 to 12 minutes for cardiovascular exercise and walking everyday are best for women over 40, but not in lieu of weight lifting. Stacey Sims has done a lot of research on women and exercise. Hormone shifting loosens women's ligaments at different times. Girls do not have the same strength as boys and as hips widen during puberty, the geometry of the body changes. When D’Andrea was in college she could not find studies on women. Women are not “little men” and we need to shift how we lift. Research shows that girls in the first half of their menstrual cycle are stronger, achieve personal records, and need to eat differently. Young women often try to maintain a certain body weight, but what they need is muscle. Number 5. Daily Stress Management. Our culture thrives in comparing what bad things are happening to us. But this keeps the cortisol flowing. We cannot remove all the stressors, but we can manage the stressors and our response. One way to reduce stress is by humming, which stimulates the vagus nerve. Dancing and other movement reduces cortisol. Deep breathing helps manage stress and is easy to do anywhere, a doctor’s office, funeral, traffic jam, etc. Number 6. Sleep. Our whole body is on a circadian rhythm. To improve sleep, get up in the morning and get sunshine for 5-10 minutes. If a person’s circadian rhythm is messed up this will reset it. At lunch time, go outdoors and get sun again. At sunset, look toward the sun again which tells your body this is the rhythm. Get off the phone at night which disrupts melatonin. Set some boundaries. Number 7. Blood Sugar Regulation. Our bodies do not want blood sugar spiking and dropping throughout the day with crashes. Eat protein and vegetables and fruits that have fiber first. After these foods, eat the starchy foods or dessert at the end. Fill up on unprocessed fiber and proteins and healthy fats. Get big macronutrients, whole carbohydrates, and healthy fats, so foods that spike blood sugar will not spike it so much. Don't start with the cookie, get protein first. Number 8. Hydration. Drink half of your body weight in ounces each day. So if a person weighs 160 pounds then she should be drinking 80 ounces or ten cups per day. Use reverse osmosis cleaned water. Add a dash of sea salt (not table salt) to help the cells to absorb the water. Number 9. Be Kind to Yourself. Say nice things to yourself. Positive begets positive and negative begets negative. Be nice to yourself. Put the kind words in writing where you will see it if you need to. Positive thoughts create positive hormones, which create positive feelings. Change your conversation with yourself. It’s never too late to start. Start your journey toward health and wellness with one small step. [Stephanie Hall]
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