More Stress=Less Sex

to read the rest of my articles visit Keizer's Clinic Site at http://www.keizerclinic.com/Wire_Articles/Wire_Articles.html

In the last column, I gave you several tips on how to help your body optimize your body’s natural production of testosterone and we will finish that discussion this week. However, as sometimes happens, I need to inform you of a product recall that effects many of you. The popular “cold-prevention” zinc supplement Zicam has been recalled. Zicam is zinc in a gel form which is applied to the inside of your nostril to boost immune support. While much research exists linking zinc to proper immune function, it appears that application in this way was actually causing people to lose COMPLETE sense of smell! No joke, over 130 reports of complete, seemingly permanent, loss of smell due using Zicam as little as one time.

So, assuming you stop using Zicam, you may actually still have the ability to literally “Stop and smell the roses”, which leads us into the second part of our testosterone discussion: the importance of limiting stress. At the mention of stress reduction, most people listen in a very particular way…they glaze over and mentally check out. So, let me interest you in the subject once more with this statement: “Your stress may be screwing up your sex life.” Ok, got your attention? Good.

I’m going to try to explain a lot of biochemistry in a short space without putting you into a coma so forgive the simplicity. I hope it helps you to understand this very important subject for yourself.

I consider a client’s natural sex drive to be the “canary in the coal mine.” Generally it is the FIRST thing to suffer if lifestyle is out of whack and stress is building. You have to understand that a functional hormonal system (endocrine system) produces whatever your body needs most in order to survive. In good times, your body is healthy, fed and stress-free and your body can focus on things like procreation…sex. This means you have plenty of “raw material” to produce your testosterone and you should be frisky and having a lot of fun with all this extra sex hormone. However, when life get complicated and you start continually producing stress hormones in response to what your body deems to be fight or flight scenarios (which may actually be as benign as money, job or relationship issues), your body doesn’t have the luxury of worrying about sex. In short, if your body thinks that you are constantly running from an imaginary tiger because you are stressed all the time, it doesn’t really care if you have what it takes have fun in the sack.

This trade-off comes from the way our bodies produce testosterone and the stress hormone cortisol. Your adrenal cortex and pituitary gland perform a complex series of conversions utilizing cholesterols to produce androgens and stress hormones. Long story short, you use some of the same building blocks to produce both hormones. If your body needs to choose between producing stress hormones and sex hormones, it will always produce the stress hormones deemed immediately necessary for survival.

The real problem is that this cycle builds so quickly. You may start off working a little too much which causes stress which makes you less open sexually to your partner which creates relationship stress which makes you a bit depressed and further suppresses your hormones ensuring even less sex, more stress and lower testosterone. Before you know it, you have a ton of stress, mild depression and not enough testosterone to maintain decent energy. So, you seek a therapist and hormone replacement.

While seeking the medical help you may need, start taking care of your stress. Take a vacation, set aside time for what is important in your life. People, friends, love, helping others. This is, in my opinion, where the juice in life lies. Find a way to have everything you want in life without sacrificing your health, libido and the people who matter to you. Really, how much fun is having everyTHING when you don’t have anyONE to share with? And how much money do you really need to make it OK that you have to pop a dozen different medications to hold your body together from the years of abuse you inflicted while accumulating your wealth? You can have it ALL; just don’t forget that your body and health IS part of having it all. And remember that lagging testosterone and libido will be one of the first warnings that you are starting to drop the ball.
to read the rest of my articles visit Keizer's Clinic Site at http://www.keizerclinic.com/Wire_Articles/Wire_Articles.html

Banking On Fitness

Banking on Fitness

To view the rest of my articles visit keizer's clinic site at :http://www.keizerclinic.com/Wire_Articles/Archive.html

By Jim Keizer

The good people at the Wire have generously given me the opportunity to do my own fitness column and you are probably wondering why. So here is where I tell you about my impressive credentials and build my credibility. It is true that I own my own exercise and nutrition clinic here in south beach. Yes, I have advanced certification in personal training, corrective exercise, post-rehabilitation, exercise coaching, advanced supplementation protocols and holistic lifestyle coaching. It is also true that the programs my business partner and I design yield measurable, consistent and permanent results for our clients.

However, the reason I love what I do and am jumping at the opportunity to write this column is that the more I learn, the more awestruck I am by the perfection that is the human body. The number of systems, chemical processes, and functions that must be coordinated every given second to just have me sitting here writing this column is mind-boggling. When I see someone who is down on his body because of weight gain, low energy or illness, I also see a body that has done a remarkable job of damage control for years before getting to that point. I hope that each time you read my column, you are left with a new appreciation for your body, while learning to cooperate with it to cultivate your health.

My actual degree is not in fitness but in Economics. When I began my fitness career nearly 9 years ago, I feared that this would always hinder my practice. To my surprise, I found that there really are more similarities than differences between the industries.

Like the financial industry, we have brilliant and ethical people in the fitness world to help you chart your fitness path and, like Bernie Madoff, we have our share of conmen. Unfortunately, you are caught in the middle and likely skeptical and more than a little resigned about ever unraveling the mystery of getting (and keeping) the health and physique you want. You may turn to reading the fitness magazines, getting tips from friends, and buying contraptions from pony-tailed pitchmen in the infomercials. For most people, this just adds to the frustration and the perception that nothing “works.”

Finding what works just isn’t that difficult if you can learn HOW to filter the information. Most of my clients know a lot about health and exercise before our first meeting. My job is to help them sort through fact and fiction and put it all together in a framework that they can follow for the rest of their lives.

I believe that the natural state of a healthy body is lean, strong, and attractive. You can get these results, temporarily, with steroids, fad diets, and a million other gimmicks but the results are always temporary and come at a cost to some other system in your body, eventually leaving you more aged and essentially less healthy.

It helps to think about your fitness as an asset, just like you’re the balance of money in your bank account. So if it is an asset, the trick is to accumulate more health and spend it wisely. The more you have saved, the better you look and feel. Just like making and spending money, there are so many ways of making and spending health. You may exercise every day (making a deposit toward your healthy and attractive body), meditate, practice yoga, or play with the kids. Then there are the things that drain your fitness savings: drinking a little too much, staying out all night dancing, working 60 hours per week and sleeping 5 hours per night. These are all drains on your health reserve.

I have studied under many different teachers, many different philosophies and have found what works best for me as a coach. It goes something like this: “You can be a neurotic saver your entire life, do everything right, pinch every penny, avoid most costs, and live to be a 100. BUT you can’t take it with you!” I have studied with people who live avoiding every unhealthy influence and, frankly, it’s not for me. I respect their decision to live in such a restricted fashion but I LIKE to spend. I also know that because I like to spend, I have to work hard in other places to bank enough in my account to keep looking and feeling the way I want.

By eliminating moral judgments around fitness and giving you the facts about what helps you bank fitness and what drains your account, you can make the choices that best fit your life. Twice a month, I will add a piece to the puzzle, covering new research, current events, and your questions about food, supplementation, and exercise. Your questions will shape this column.

Nothing kills the long-term effectiveness of a fitness program as quickly as being told what you “have to do.” I have learned through my years of coaching that the solution to your fitness goals is as individual as you are and must be chosen by YOU. I look forward to being your source of information about food, exercise, and supplementation, so that you too can find the solution that is right for you and your lifestyle.

To view the rest of my articles visit keizer's clinic site at :http://www.keizerclinic.com/Wire_Articles/Archive.html

Jim Keizer