sleep!

Since I am a college student, this blog about sleep was a must have topic for me!

We as humans spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping!

Now, according to a study,
individuals with severe sleep deprivation ( staying awake 19-24 hrs ) scored worse on performance and alertness tests than people who are legally too drunk to drive (0.1 % )

Symptoms of Sleep Deprivation:

• day time drowsiness
• sleepy while reading
• sleepy while watching tv
• if you fall asleep the instant your head hits the pillow ( a well rested person only takes 15/20 minutes to fall asleep)

NREM sleep ( non rapid eye movement ) 75% of sleep time

• stage 1- relaxed/ half awake (10 sec-10 mins)
• stage 2- brain activity slows, you stop moving (10-20 mins) beginning of your actual sleep

^ - people awaken during these two stages say that they weren't really sleeping

• stage 3/4- blood pressure drops, heart rate and respiration slow, blood to brain shorten (20-40 mins)

^- people awaken in stage 4 feel groggy,  your in a "deep sleep"

REM sleep ( rapid eye movement ) 70-90 minutes after falling asleep

• breathing and heart rate go up
• brain activity is similar if you were awake
• experience first dream ( although you can in all stages )
• no muscle tone
• body can't move
• ideas are filed in long term storage

- if you sleep for 8 hours, your body cycles 5 times in the sleep cycle of NREM & REM

** IMPORTANT**

- memory may be impaired if sleep time is insufficient, as a result to memory impairment, the ability to learn new skills is also impaired. performance in learning a new skill does not improve until an individual has had 6 hours of sleep; performance improves even more after 8 hours of sleep!

  

things to remember when trying to get a good nights rest!

1. ideal sleep temperature is 62-65, temps above 75 and below 54 cause people to awaken
2. caffeine doubles sleep time
3. take no longer than 45 minutes of naps, you'll enter stage 4 of deep sleep and it will be more difficult to wake you up and you will feel more groggy
4. 7-9 hours of sleep a night is ideal for optimal health and growth 

Email me if you have any questions and need help on falling asleep and how to get a propers nights rest!

hope you were somewhat informed!!

Protein... because the natural way is gooood

Here is a giant shout out to all those protein shake companies who have the buyers fooled into thinking that their products are health beneficial to our bodies!! Please, do not get my words mixed up.
Protein shakes WILL give you bulk-age.
but
Protein shakes WILL shorten your life.

Yes, you read it correctly, SHORTEN YOUR LIFE.

Now now now.Protein shakes are made for your body to put on the added weight, and they do put on the added weight you want to obtain, but, they are also adding toxic to your intestine.
Anything that says " amino acids added" is BAD for you.
Your body NATURALLY will take the amino acids from food and NATURALLY break it down.
If you consume any products that take away that natural function of the body, your body can't break it down.
But its already broken down jenna, why does it mess up your intestines?
well, my little minions ,   because your body can't naturally go through its natural process to take and break down the amino acids from the food, everything just sits and stays in your intestines.
which, in the long run, is staying right where it started.
So yes, you are adding weight to your body, but the weight you are adding is actually harming your body rather than helping it.
Just because your results are helping you on the outside and you are looking fit and fab, DOES NOT mean that your insides are fit and fab as well.

THINK ABOUT THAT !
....and if you don't care about your over all body outside AND in than, DONT READ MY BLOG, because i believe and know that good health is all about mental, physical, and emotional, all inside and out body functions!
... now back to my topic!

stay smart, save your money on the supplements and eat the real thing!
buy natural chicken, meat and fish and double up on your intake to increase lean muscle mass, or muscle mass in general. ( aa-duhhhh!)
This will not only save you money on supplements,but down the road when they realize you need a liver transplant from not being able to break down any food and cause of build up, you wont have to pay thousands of dollars to get the surgery, instead, you'll hear via facebook how that one idiot friend DID NOT LISTEN, they just wanted the fast approach, well guess whose laughing at your now stupid rabbit, all of the turtles who took the time, had patience to get their results, and thought about the smart, healthier way to add on muscle mass! :) ;)

**Keep in mind about protein**

1. if you eat meat, you wont have to worry about getting all your amino acids or b-12 vitamins!
2.protein helps with our pH balance (acid balance)
3.if you eat meat, you absorb 90% of the proper protein and nutrients your body needs to survive.
  if you take supplements and chemicals, your body only absorbs 20%
4.excess protein, harmful on kidney stones
5. acts as a buffer, regulates body functions
6. very important for immune system
7. building blocks for hormones

If you want to figure out how much protein you should be getting, here is a basic equation to figure out your daily amount!

 body weight/ 2.2 x .8 ( this is for the average person who doesn't work out )

if you do work out, and be true to how intense you work out, here is the rank of low intensity to high
1.2-1.8

so, say you work out a lot at your highest efforts, and your weight was 190 lbs. your equation would look like this :
190 / 2.2 = 86.36
86.36 x 1.8 = 155.5 grams of protein daily!!!

You should be having protein with every meal and or snack!

Proteins help control glucose in the body, storing glucose in the body after working out.
so,you should always team up carbs with protein.

- apple and cheese/ apple and peanut butter
- steak and brown rice

Tips for the herbivore eaters out there : 

plant sources dont contain all the amino acids for the body ( incomplete proteins )
take two or more and come up with the amino acids to form one , eat beans and rice ( complementary proteins )