TIME OF DAY	ACTIVITY
Midnight-06:30 am	sleeping
06:30-07:30 am	Preparing for work
Continue with your schedule

As an acupuncturist, I am often asked which points are also effective for acupressure techniques. Undoubtedly , Large Intestine 4 ( LI 4 ) would have to rank as one of my favorites.   The point has many traditional associations such as being “ the command point of the head and face” meaning that it sends large amount of energy to this part of the body . The point is also designated as a “ Yuan Source “ point which means that the point is strongly connected to our source or core energies. The point is easily located  on the back of the hand between the thumb and first finger in the fleshy part of the hand. DO NOT USE DURING PREGNANCY !!



The wonderful thing about LI4 is that it can also be used for allergy symptoms, toothaches, and generally stress relief. It is a drug free alternative and you always have it available!

So next time you would like to combat seasonal allergies , cold and flu season , or just “ get a boost” , think Huang Qi for me !!

For this third segment, I’d like to share this KQED Radio Forum MP3 “The Trouble with Sugar”. In this episode, host Dave Iverson interviews UCSF professor Claire Brindis, Stanford professor Fredric Kraemer, and Registered Dietician Jo Ann Hattner. In this engrossing interview, the participants discuss the health, economic, social, and political issues surrounding sugar.

The Trouble with Sugar

I hope all of you enjoyed your walk this morning and are eager to learn yet more strategies that make exercise an activity you do have time for. 

Let's recap.  Why don't people exercise (and I'm ignoring those people who just don't "like" it, c'mon, that's almost all of is)?  Number one, because they don't have time.  Number two, because they don't have a gym membership/equipment/fancy exercising stuff.  Number three...well, I know there is a number three, but it doesn't help strengthen my blog post arguments, so I'm stopping at two.

We saw that walking is something you can do anytime, anywhere.  But what about strength training and higher intensity stuff?  Now that's something that requires machines, gyms, trainers, spandex and smoothie bars, yes?  No.  Even strength training and higher intensity exercises can be done at home, with zero or minimal equipment.  Impossible you say?  Read on.

Remember in grade school when you had to take a fitness test?  Then again, maybe you were out "sick" that day.  Well then remember PE in general?  What did you do?  Fancy stuff with bells and whistles?  I doubt it, if you went to a school like mine.  I went to public school, we didn't have a budget for fancy stuff.  We did old-fashioned drills, sprints, jump rope and the like.  And guess what?  These exercises still work today, they didn't become obsolete like last year's smart phone.

What you need for a strength training program you can do at home.

1) Your body.
2) See: 1

Now here's your program.  Choose from this list:

Body weight squats
Walking lunges
Pushups
Sit Ups
Pull Ups
Flutter Kicks
Box Jumps (jump or step on something high and stable, like a ledge or stairs)
Mountain Climbers
Jumping
Sprinting
Jump Rope (yes, I understand it isn't just your body weight, but a jump rope is an excellent tool to have at home and adds a whole new element to workouts)
Burpees

That's enough.

Choose 3 or so of the exercises and do them in succession.

For example:
100 jump ropes
15 pushups
20 flutter kicks
Repeat 3-5 times

or

35 Mountain Climbers
10 box jumps (or step ups)
15 sit ups
1 20 meter sprint
Repeat 3-5 times

Or, just choose a few exercises to work on each day.  For example, try to do as many pushup repetitions as you can.  Every-other day, try to do two more reps.  By the end of the month, BOOM, you're doing 50. 

The best part of exercising at home is, wait for it, you're at home.  Chances are, you spend a lot of time at home, probably watching TV.  So while the TV is on, take 15 minutes and choose from the menu above and get your exercise in at the same time.  It's what I call "multitasking".  You do have time to exercise.  You do have time to improve your health and with these at-home classic moves, get fit at the same time.

I think part of the reason why many American adults don't get enough (any) exercise, is because they think it was to be exhaustive, requires many hours per week (per day?) and is expensive by nature of gym memberships, home fitness equipment and the like.  But walking is the exception to those rules.  Here's why I walk:

1) Walking is actually enjoyable.  It's relaxing, unlike running, which leaves me asking the question, "Haven't I gone far enough?"

According to Healthy People 2020, 80% of American adults do not meet the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.  80 percent!  Dude, that's like, almost everybody!  Does this statistic mean that 80% of American adults are unaware that exercise is good for them?  Does it mean that the majority of us don't have a clue that moderate intensity exercise helps protect us from mean and nasty diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, osteoporosis and depression?  Does it mean that throughout their entire lives most people have been told, and thus believe, that sitting (or riding, elevator'ing, escalator'ing, moving-walkway'ing...) are healthier than moving more?  No.  In fact, I would be willing to bet that all 80% of those Americans not meeting the recommended amount of exercise know, for a fact, that exercise is good for them and they should be doing it regularly.

So why aren't they?  Why are 80% of people not getting the recommended amount of exercise?  Well I can't speak for every individual who constitutes that 80%, but I can take a guess at what they would tell you.  They would tell you they "don't have time." 

Sound familiar? 

I'm not going to lecture about how we all get 24 hours, how you need to prioritize your time and make your health more important.  What I am going to tell you is how to workout efficiently, at home, so you do have more time. 

I think in today's fast-paced, high-tech world, we think our exercise routine has to also be fast-paced and high-tech.  We think we need bells and whistles, muscle-bound trainers who scream "ONE MORE REP" while we flounder on the mat.  We think we need to drive somewhere to workout, that we need machines on which to exercise and places with smoothie bars.  Definitely need the smoothie bars.  And when we think we need fast-paced, high-tech, what we really think is, "I don't have time for that."  And honestly, you probably don't.  Who has time for personal training sessions, driving to and from the gym (in traffic!), time to wait for the fancy machine, time to take the group fitness class du jour?  Certainly not me.  And I'm guessing, probably not you, and 80% of adults.

On this week's blogs, I'm going to bust your "I don't have time" barrier.  I'm going to convince you that you do have time to exercise, because you're going to do it efficiently, and you're not going to drive anywhere to do it. 

Posted by Rachel L. May
Adjunct Faculty, College of Health Sciences