Modern lifestyle is fast-paced, there is always pressure to fulfill our potential, whether that be in a sport, sweating it out at the gym for the perfect beach body, or putting long hours into projects at work, all the while trying to enjoy a social life. In fact, there is pressure to excel in all areas, all of the time from both people, social media, and usually ourselves.

It’s safe to say that irrespective of our individual goals, all of us try to invest time in improving our health. My experience with preventative health and fitness has given me some key insights into the ways in which CBD can help with that.

It was early 2018 and I had been a pescetarian (vegetarian eating fish) for over 20 years. That may sound like quite a healthy diet, but I had been dissatisfied with the food I was eating for years. With a young family, my partner and I had found ourselves tailoring our meals more and more to our children’s tastes, eating the same meals again and again that we knew the kids would eat, eating more and more salmon and cheese sauce because they liked it, and compensating for sleep deficits with unhealthy snacks. I’d been wanting to give up animal products for a long time for ethical reasons, but thought it would be impossible to organise family meals. I also found that middle-aged spread had set in – even though I did what most people would regard as a lot of exercise (four or five times a week), my weight had crept up higher than it had been when I was at my heaviest when pregnant, 180 pounds or 81kg.

When someone mentions ‘health’ what do you immediately think of? Is it your physical health? Perhaps it is your mental health or spiritual wellbeing – maybe you think of all of the above.

Running is frequently discussed in association with physical fitness, physical improvement, physical performance, and physical autonomy. Although all of these areas are influenced by running, the mindful aspects of the activity are only just starting to surface, and they are as fascinating to study as the impact running has on our bodies. It will come as no surprise to you that running has a variety of positive benefits on everything from the muscles in our legs to the condition of our hearts and even our metabolism. The ways running influences our anatomy varies on how long a run is, how often the running takes place and other factors that are subjective to each person’s personal body type. That being said, a very cool thing about the impact of running on our bodies is that sometimes it can continue to benefit us for a period of time even after we have stopped running.

•  Although it is regarded as a high-impact activity, running is actually proven to improve backs and joints. During a study of 44 first-time marathon runners (17 men and 27 women), researchers observed that post-marathon: “the knees of novice runners achieved sustained improvement, for at least 6 months post-marathon, in the condition of their bone marrow and articular cartilage.” The same effect was seen for the lower back.
• In addition to this, running can actually boost the body’s immune system (think Vitamin C but like an activity) – in a 2019 paper, Nieman and Laurel M. Wentz summarised defens.
• The activity has actually been proven to improve glucose regulation and lower the risk of diabetes and pre-diabetes. The most recent report on runners and diabetes-risk was published in late 2019. It followed more than 19,000 adults for more than six years and compared rates of diabetes in runners vs. non-runners. The result was most interesting: The runners had a 72 percent lower rate of diabetes development.

Now that you have a preview of how great running can be for your body, it is time to share the all-important info on what running can do for your mental health. At Lupa, we want to build a community that revolves around the holistic side of running and goes beyond just the act of putting one foot in front of another. We want to change the existing run culture of focusing on personal bests and take the time to talk about the transformative power of running across all planes of our lives.

When it comes to mindfulness, running is incredibly capable of holding some truly positive and almost medicinal qualities. The activity creates a rhythm that flows through your feet, up through your legs, and to waves through your body to your mind. A result of this energy spreading, in the short term, can include a great night’s sleep while in the long term it has been proven to improve memory and cognitive thinking as well as reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Here are some of the pretty awesome ways running goes from being just a physical activity to being a mindful one: 

Running is probably among the best ways to beat nagging Monday (or lockdown) blues. If you are feeling low, 20 minutes of running can work like antidepressant and lift your mood

The activity can elevate your mood in the same way as recreational drugs because it stimulates the same pleasure and reward receptors. This is also one of the reasons why many addiction therapies include a lot of exercise.

• Running has been known to trigger the production of endocannabinoids that make you happier and more focused.
• Going for a run will make you think highly of yourself. A meta analysis of 57 studies found that exercise boosts people’s confidence and improves their body image.
• It leads to increased cortisol levels that are needed for better memorisation and information retention. Another study has shown that aerobic exercise increases BDNF that boosts memory.
• It doesn’t stop there, research has shown that running stimulates growth of fresh grey matter in our brains. Just a month of running will result in thousands of new brain cells. This means you will learn new stuff a lot more quickly and easily. Not to mention that you will adapt to changes and deal with new challenges more efficiently.
• On a deeper level, running results in a kind of connectivity that allows your brain to have higher-level thoughts. Thinking out of the box isn’t that hard because you can analyze and solve problems in a refreshed way.
• Stress management. Running can control stress and boost the body’s ability to deal with existing mental tension. Exercise also increases concentrations of norepinephrine, a chemical that helps moderate the brain’s response to stress.
• A heart-pumping run can boost creativity for up to two hours afterward. Rather than staring at the blank page waiting for an exceptional idea to fall from the sky, get those legs moving and refresh your body and brain at the same time.

Did we miss something? We would love to know what you think of running and its mental benefits as well as its physical benefits. Our community comes from you and is being shaped for you so join the Lupa beta and get involved in shaping the future of running culture!

In a progressively aging population sarcopenia is set to become a major topic of interest among the medical community, a global health concern for the governments, and a strong source of motivation for a healthy lifestyle, particularly to the elderly, who are most at risk.

Defined as an age-related loss of muscle mass and strength (Greek, Sarx for “flesh” and Penia for “loss”), this condition starts manifesting itself as early as the 5th decade of life, producing a linear loss of muscles which can result in up to 50% loss by the 8th decade of life. The result is a decreasing ability to perform every task that is muscle-powered such as lifting objects, standing up, or walking, thus increasing the risk of injury especially related to the loss of balance and fall. It affects men and women of all ethnicities, often manifesting in association with other conditions either acute or chronic, as well as often promoting inflammation. Obesity and fat infiltration into skeletal muscle are also considered to be important factors of sarcopenia.

Written by Vicky Sham of Mile and Bite Health Coaching.

How are you coping with several rounds of on-off social distancing? Are you one of the rare exceptions who have managed to sleep well and keep to a healthy routine? Or are you still battling with semi-remote working, not enough social life, too much drinking and too little exercise? Have you been over indulging on late night treats and Netflix binge but not quite absolve yourself with half-hearted workouts?

Whether you are feeling fantastic or total garbage or somewhere in between, there are many things you can do to feel better. Health should always be a priority regardless of good or bad times. Both your physical health and mental wellbeing are ever more important during the current pandemic. Here are a few ideas for you to build a strong immune system and resilience with a few simple and accessible actions.

Simple Actions These are actions that you can take right now. The key is to slowly build these habits into your routine. Some are easier to establish if you can find support and accountability from your family and friends. Or if you’d like to have a more structured and informed approach, try health coaching!

Written by Neelam Harjani, Founder of Inspire Yoga and Tracy Tsang, Founder of T for Teams.

Big organizations have recognized that workplace wellness initiatives have had a significant improvement to business metrics, enhancing personal wellbeing enhances team performance. How does that relate to SMEs and startups? Without sophisticated systems. branding and structures of multinationals, aren’t the people more integral to driving business growth? With a greater emphasis on team members to determine the success of the company, can business today afford the risk of burnout, high attrition rates, chronic stress levels? It’s time this responsibility is taken by leaders and managers to help individuals collectively, happy and healthy people make more effective teams.

Given the current climate of unprecedented uncertainty and change since Covid-19, there has been a global increase in burnout since Covid-19 according to a recent global survey by Ogilvy with 7000 consumers in 14 countries. 80% of respondents are looking for wellness solutions and 77% recognizing that wellness is extremely important for them personally.

Management consultants purport that the surest way to keep your customers happy is by having a team that is happy to work and serve the business objectives. Burnout, stress, and anxiety leads to problems including a decrease in productivity, in the long run, poor communication, disengaged employees, low energy and team morale, depression, increased medical leave, inability to have the mental clarity required for good decision making, and ultimately this results in team performance, client satisfaction, and business results. 

Startup entrepreneurs and employees are more prone and end up absorbing more pressure as the survival of their business vision is in their hands despite the small teams and limited resources they have to work with. Stress hormones are experienced when we see circumstances as a threat to our survival, doesn’t that ring true when navigating the changing landscape of the world with Coronavirus? The more sustained stress levels become the more the workplace engenders that ‘flight or flight’ mechanism hindering communication, cooperation and problem-solving, wellbeing, and team development become a critical component to increase the resilience of the team and protect the continuity of business operations.

Rather than waiting until it turns into a mental health issue, what if we consider the ideal outcome for your team and business and work towards that instead by prioritizing wellbeing, personal/professional growth, and purpose? 

What you can expect to gain from wellness programs clearly impact the bottom line, what would the ROI of such initiatives be for your firm? Thriving as a team means better business results, happy clients, a joyful and productive working environment, your team constantly growing into the best version of themselves with incredible synergy, reducing the need for taking sick leave (absenteeism), increased employee engagement & retention, and attracting high-quality employees who want to work for your company because of the strong team culture and a sense of purpose. According to a Cigna survey in 2018 92% of the workforce suffer from daily stress and 87% receive inadequate support from their company, it’s time to change what it means to provide as an employer, there is a clear need to contribute to employee health; financial, physical, emotional and mental.

The stresses of everyday life are present in everyone’s life. Getting away seems like the ideal solution, a holiday the most obvious choice. But how often do you return with the same feeling within a month, week, day? Kapuhala is not your average holiday resort, it gives you a space to make do with it what you please.

Upon arrival to Catania Airport I was greeted with one of the most torrential downpours I have ever witnessed. So much rain the car was sliding to our destination, with meagre visibility to say the least. I was later informed that it is rare to have such a blessing of rain for the farmers in Sicily and that it was sign of good luck.