Let me preface this by saying I had (kind of still do) a huge fear of needles from all the shots/blood type tests growing up. Then I met acupuncture, and I knew I had to learn it and do it, but oh man I hated needles. In fact my fear of needles almost kept me from experiencing the benefits of acupuncture.⠀ (more…)
Knowing how to meal prep and when and where to start with the process can be daunting. Studies show that up to 80% of us…yes 80%…don’t know what we’re having for dinner by 4pm the same day. What?! It’s because a lot of people don’t know how to meal prep for the week. But that’s okay! (more…)
Welcome to the holiday season — the whirlwind time of buying gifts, having too many holiday parties on the calendar, and facing unhealthy food options galore. If you’re more stressed out than usual during this time of year, you’re not alone. But don’t despair! We have good news and tips for how to reduce holiday stress so you can maximize the fun this season!
Did you know that there are two different parts of your nervous system? (Yes, you’ve heard us talk about it before!) One is your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the other is your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).
The SNS is also known as our “fight or flight mode.” It’s what we tap into when we’re stressed, overwhelmed, and our body is just trying to find a way to survive. Back in the day when our ancestors experienced life-threatening situations, like being faced with a saber-toothed tiger, they relied on their SNS. When it fires up, our heart rate and breathing speeds up, stress hormones like cortisol start pumping through our bloodstreams, preparing our body to face a threat.
Our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), on the other hand, helps us thrive. It’s what helps us rest, relax, digest, and reproduce. When the parasympathetic system is dominant, our breathing slows, our heart rate drops, our blood pressure lowers as the blood vessels relax, and our body is put into a state of calm and healing. Acupuncture is a fantastic way to get us into our PNS!
Studies show that acupuncture stimulates the release of oxytocin, a hormone that signals and regulates the parasympathetic nervous system. Acupuncture also addresses the side effects of stress, like high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose levels, and insomnia. At TMB, our clients have coined a term for the physiological effects they experience post-treatment…acu-stoned! Get in touch with us today to book an appointment!
So step one to combat holiday stress, get yourself to an acupuncture appointment to help you relax. No time for an appointment? That’s okay! The good news is that holiday stress is only temporary. We know when it will begin and end, so we can set the intention for how to reduce holiday stress by calling in tools we know will support us.
Here are some tips you can try to help reduce holiday stress before it begins so that the fun can stay festive and bright!
Deep breathing exercises are scientifically proven to have health benefits, some of which include increased clarity, a stronger mind/body connection, better sleep quality, lowered blood pressure, enhanced mood, and reduced stress! Find yourself overwhelmed over the holidays? Take a few deep breaths.
Along with nutrition and exercise and other important lifestyle factors, sleep is a key pillar for our mental and emotional health. In fact, sleep is when our bodies repair so we can be ready for whatever the following day brings! So while late nights over the holidays may sound like fun and games, a good night’s rest will help you better reduce holiday stress.
A walk or hike in nature is a great form of moving meditation and exercise. Being exposed to nature has been shown to increase memory, boost mood, reduce stress, improve productivity and naturally give you a boost of energy! The benefits also include decreasing cortisol levels in the body, naturally boosting your immune system, and helping you tame your sympathetic nervous system.
Believe it or not, we don’t have to say “yes” to every holiday party invitation! It can be down right uncomfortable to enforce our boundaries when we’re with friends or family– after all, we tend to prioritize the comfort of others over our own. However, saying no to a triggering conversation or another helping of food/wine is one way to honour your values and goals first.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way! And there’s always a way to reduce the items on our to-do lists. From ordering your groceries to hiring a cleaning company or organizing catering, empower yourself to lighten your workload and ask for help when you need it.
The holidays are infamous for overindulgence (another rosé, anyone?) Now, we’re all about enjoying the holiday season and the treats it has to offer, however, in the case of alcohol, overdoing it can be dangerous to our bodies. It’s always important to remember quality over quantity. Create some healthy drinking habits for yourself. You can drink, but drink the good stuff. We recommend opting for an organic/biodynamic wine or a gluten free liquor.
We know you’re busy as ever, but try to keep up with your supplement routine. Stay on top of nourishing your body so you can feel optimal. We recommend Vitamin C and Vitamin D for vitality, our Insomnitol Chewables for a guaranteed restful sleep, and NAC (a fan favourite) for preventing those nasty holiday hangovers!
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Did you know that bone broth is one of the most beneficial foods to restore gut health? Since up to 80% of our immune system lives in the gut, it’s extremely helpful when it comes to boosting out immunity too – AKA it’s a delicious way to show a cold or flu who’s boss! You could say that bone broth is one of the easiest to make immune boosting recipes!
Bone broth contains collagen, gelatin and amino acids that help seal openings in the gut lining and support digestive and tissue integrity.
Other benefits of this immune boosting recipe…
Ingredients:
**feel free to add it any other raw veggies you have on hand!
How to make this immune boosting bone broth:
Note: When it is left in the fridge it will become gelatinous, but not to worry, this is the good stuff! It will become liquid again when you reheat!
**If you use an instant pot/slow cooker, pressure cook for 2 hours.
Want more healthy immune boosting recipes, tips and biohacks? Sign up for our newsletter and mailing list on the homepage of our website or follow us on Instagram!
Located on Yonge Street in Toronto, The Movement Boutique serves the areas of Summerhill, Rosedale and Yorkdale with Pilates classes and much more. Our philosophy is centred on a holistic, multimodal approach to health, grounded in the latest therapeutic techniques and clinical research. Our approach: Optimal health cannot be attained through a single therapeutic lens; injuries are often the result of a constellation of lifestyle issues, including dysfunctional movement patterns, trauma, nutritional deficiencies or destructive habits of mind.
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Jet lag is basically our body’s own way of letting us know that it’s out of sync with local time. And it can be a real pain in the you know what when you’re trying to embark on a lovely holiday. After all, planning a vacation is stressful enough without worrying about how to beat jet lag too. Between coordinating everyone’s calendars, packing, planning excursions and booking hotels, we don’t want to throw jet lag in the mix on top of it all! We want to make sure that jet lag doesn’t get in the way of you enjoying your next holiday!
Why does jet lag happen?
Jet lag happens when the body’s natural circadian rhythm doesn’t match up with the external environment. This happens as a result of travel across time zones. Essentially, jet lag happens when changes in our environmental cues (such as light, temperature and meal times) conflict with our body’s existing patterns. In a way, it’s our body’s response to something unnatural. Sure, it’s common these days to hop on a plane and travel long distances, but that doesn’t mean it’s normal to our physiology. When you think about it, we’ve only had the opportunity to travel across time zones via airplanes for a few decades. This means that humans haven’t evolved to be able to adjust quickly to these rapid changes in time. Even a quick trip across one time zone can cause jet lag and affect our body!
Jet lag can show up in many different ways. It can mess with our sleep, hormones, appetite, energy levels, immunity, stress, digestion, sex drive and more. Changes in our sleep cycle can also throw off our circadian rhythm, aka our internal body clocks!
Here are some tips for how to beat jet lag when you next travel:
Research has shown that light exposure before, during, and after you fly can affect your ability to sleep. As a result, this impacts the severity of our jet lag. To optimally synchronize our body clocks when we arrive at our destination we should stare at the sun when it’s rising, have it directly above our head at 12pm each day, and watch the sunset. Watching the sunset while on vacation? Is there anything more relaxing anyway? Doing this is actually strategic, as it sends the correct signals to our brain, thus alerting our body that it’s either time to be awake or asleep.
Sleep hygiene refers to the things you implement to promote a healthy sleep. In preparation for our new time zone, we want to make sure that we’re not exposed to light during night time in our new destination and are awake in the morning of our new destination. Since light exposure at specific times can help regulate our circadian rhythm, we can slowly start to train our body’s a few days before our travel plans. This may look like staying up a little later or go to bed a little earlier. We can also do this on the plane ride over. To help us sleep, we recommend doing things like getting a sleep mask and ear plugs, avoiding blue light (aka staring at a screen) a few hours before you plan on going to bed, and practicing relaxation techniques.
Ever notice how on a plane you tend to get dehydrated? Dehydration can worsen the symptoms of jet lag. Dehydration is very common while traveling by air, so make sure to stay adequately hydrated when you travel. Moreover, try to avoid caffeine and alcohol before, during and after your flight. Contrary to popular belief, alcohol actually disturbs our sleep. And since you might be adjusting to a new sleep schedule, caffeine will also keep you awake, in addition to dehydrating you! Our favourite way to take our hydration “to go” is by using a Berkey water bottle to filter out any impurities from the water fountains at the airport. PLUS, it saves us from buying the over-priced plastic bottles!
Many people, especially frequent travelers, take melatonin to support their sleep in order to beat jet lag. If you’re not familiar with it, melatonin is the hormone in our body that is released at night to help us sleep (that is, if our circadian rhythm is in check). For an external temporary sleep support, we recommend Insomnitol Chewables to support a deeper, restorative sleep. These tablets also contain vitamin B6, inositol and l-theanine to further help calm brain activity to help you fall asleep and STAY asleep.
When traveling to a different time zone, changing the time we eat and the amount of food we eat is important. Try planning your meals to coincide with your new time zone as much as possible. In the first few days of traveling, we recommend sticking with smaller meals – It’s important to avoid having large meals because our digestive enzymes, which help break down and digest food, are also on a circadian clock so our digestive system might not be primed to digest a huge portion when our body thinks it’s the middle of the night.
Another great idea for how to beat jet lag is grounding. Grounding, also known as “earthing”, refers to making direct contact between your bare feet and the ground. According to many wellness experts, the benefits include helping you soak up the earth’s negative charge. This in turn is known to reduce inflammation, refresh our mind and body, promote better quality sleep and even help with jet lag. So needless to say, if you’re going somewhere warm, going for a barefoot walk on the beach is a good idea! If you’re not traveling any time soon, don’t worry! There are other grounding techniques like eating root veggies or listening to relaxing, calm nature sounds such as waves crashing or birds chirping that have similar benefits!
If you implement any of these tips, let us know how it goes!
Located on Yonge Street in Toronto, The Movement Boutique serves the areas of Summerhill, Rosedale and Yorkdale with Pilates classes and much more. Our philosophy is centred on a holistic, multimodal approach to health, grounded in the latest therapeutic techniques and clinical research. Our approach: Optimal health cannot be attained through a single therapeutic lens; injuries are often the result of a constellation of lifestyle issues, including dysfunctional movement patterns, trauma, nutritional deficiencies or destructive habits of mind.
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We’ve all heard the saying “too much of a good thing.” Well, sometimes cardio can be one of those things. Cardio is amazing for our heart health and for other parts of our body as well. It supports weight loss, increases lung capacity, improves memory and focus, and even enhances mood. However, it is best consumed frequently in small doses, mixed with resistance training and active rest, such as stretching. Take it from this Toronto Pilates studio and Toronto functional medicine practice, we know what we’re talking about.
A cardio workout is anything that increases our heart-rate. Whether it’s a spin class, running on a treadmill, hiking outdoors, a Toronto Pilates studio reformer class (hint hint) or interval training, cardio strengthens our heart. After all, our heart is a muscle and it needs to be worked just like any other muscle in our body to stay healthy. When our hearts and cardiovascular systems get stronger, more oxygen is delivered to our cells. This supports muscle recovery, boosts our metabolism and allows our body to function more efficiently. According to the Centre For Disease Control, only 1 in 3 American adults get enough physical activity. But just because you’re an avid cardio junkie doesn’t mean you’re exercising optimally!
The idea that we need to “go hard” with cardio and limit calories is outdated and old school! Excessive cardio and limiting calorie intake can tax the adrenals and cause a shift in cortisol levels, which signals your body to enter “fat conservation mode.” We’re not saying your workouts shouldn’t include cardio. No, no. Here at our Toronto Pilates studio every workout includes what we call cardio bursts. And workouts definitely should include cardio! But there are factors we need to be mindful of to ensure we’re getting the most of our cardio efforts.
In order to repair micro-tears, restore glycogen fuel stores and ensure our muscles are recovering properly, it’s essential that our body rests. If we don’t, our muscles can weaken from being tight and overused. This makes us more susceptible to injuries. It also makes us more depleted of energy when it’s time for our next workout. But a rest day doesn’t have to mean being a couch potato. A rest day can still include moving our body. Opt for lower intensity physical activities, such as walking, gentle Pilates, yoga, stretching or foam rolling. This is what we call active recovery!
In addition to physical benefits, there are many mental benefits to exercise. Exercise reduces stress, increases memory and concentration, and boosts our mood. When we exercise, our brain’s pleasure circuit activates (aka endorphins, dopamine, and other “happy” neurotransmitters!) If you’re anxious at the thought of taking a rest day for this reason, there are other mood-boosting activities you can try. Studies show that even just going for a walk gets our blood flowing, our muscles engaged and also triggers the release of dopamine. Other things like meditation and deep breathing exercises are scientifically proven to effectively reduce stress, clear our mind, build positivity and balance cortisol levels.
Let’s be honest, cardio culture is often built around tapping into our body insecurities to get us to lose more, get “skinnier” and sweat ourselves away. What if instead of focusing on losing, we focused on gaining? If cardio is something you truly enjoy doing, try switching your mindset away from that negative “less-than” self-talk to empowering reasons like building endurance, releasing endorphins and fostering mobility.
The quality of your sleep is important to supporting digestion, managing stress and balancing our hormones. It’s also essential when it comes to fitness and muscle recovery. When we sleep, growth hormone is released, our brain recharges and it’s the time when our muscles recover, repair and rebuild. Achieving a high quality of sleep helps increase our energy levels and prevent fatigue. So you’ll feel more motivated and revitalized for your next sweat session!
Did you know that regular exercise can also promote a deeper, more restorative sleep? The problem is, we have to be careful of the timing of our exercise. If we exercise too close to bedtime (especially if it’s a high-intensity workout like cardio), it will get our adrenaline pumping, which can actually keep us awake and interfere with our sleep. While here at TMB, a well known Toronto Pilates studio, we always promote moving your body on a daily basis, we also encourage exercising earlier in the day. An early day workout will prevent adrenaline and cortisol from affecting you at night, so save the lighter exercises, like yoga and stretching, for the evening.
Ladies, listen up! Did you know that you can have more successful workouts if you plan them according to your cycle? The type of exercise you should be doing when you’re ovulating is different to what you should be doing in the days before your period. Studies show that days 7-14 of our cycle are when we have the most energy, so this is when we should engage in more intense workouts. Days 1-7 (menstruation), we’re better off practicing low intensity movements and sneaking in some active rest days.
Many athletes and active individuals rely on acupuncture to support the function of their body. Not only does it minimize muscle and joint pain, but it also reduces inflammation. Acupuncture also improves circulation, enhances energy, builds endurance and shifts us from our sympathetic state into a parasympathetic state. The former is the part of the nervous system responsible for our “fight or flight” functions. The latter is our body’s “rest, digest and heal” mode. Acupuncture can also allow you to have a deeper, higher quality of sleep. As we mentioned, better sleep can help you out in the long-run when it comes to your fitness regime.
Did we mention we have killer Toronto Pilates classes and private Pilates sessions at TMB that combine the best cardio, three dimensional toning and strengthening movements? Check out what they’re all about!
Located on Yonge Street in Toronto, The Movement Boutique serves the areas of Summerhill, Rosedale and Yorkdale with Pilates classes and much more. Our philosophy is centred on a holistic, multimodal approach to health, grounded in the latest therapeutic techniques and clinical research. Our approach: Optimal health cannot be attained through a single therapeutic lens; injuries are often the result of a constellation of lifestyle issues, including dysfunctional movement patterns, trauma, nutritional deficiencies or destructive habits of mind.
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