health Archives - Beth Daigle

Spin class photo by Pixabay — Outdoor Spin Class – Nice!

In my case, the “out ” preceded the “in,” because, as so many have reported, summer 2016 was out of control with regard to eating, drinking and socializing. It was bad, really bad! I don’t know if it was the never-ending string of warm, dry weather or the fact that we, as a country, are looking to drown our sorrows as we face one of the worst elections in American history. Either way, and I speak for myself, I ate and drank with reckless abandon and now it’s almost October and I’m just getting around to undoing the damage.

Folks, this is not my first time at this rodeo – I do this all the time. I’m always trying to get back on track after having fallen off the healthy horse. Back in March, I blogged about this very thing and crossed my fingers that I would stay on track (Back on Track, 3/2016). Oh well!

So here I go again, looking to get motivated. First things first, I need to cut back on the cocktails. I actually don’t even drink very much, but what little I do really slows me down. I’ve committed to be alcohol free until Halloween. Halloween is random, but I chose it to give myself some structure and also, I don’t have that much on the calendar for October so I thought it was doable. I love Halloween so that seemed a reasonable end date and an opportunity to celebrate what I hope to be good behavior for a month.

Next up – stop eating everything in sight. No fancy diet this time, just dialing back my general consumption habits -bigtime. I once had a facial by a tiny, adorable Swedish woman who told me the best way a woman can lose weight is to “shut her mouth.” OK, I’ll give this a try.

Finally – back to the gym. I don’t know what I was thinking this summer, but I didn’t exercise at all. This was probably the biggest contributor to my downfall.

Thankfully, I’m motivated once again and I’m at a new gym that happens to offer some good Spin classes. I’ve always liked Spinning, but my old gym didn’t have classes that worked with my schedule. Now, after just a few Spin classes, I’m remembering why I like it.

Benefits of Spin Class

It’s a great workout – I sweat like crazy and, for me, that’s a good thing. I totally appreciate the cleansing factor of a good sweat.

The Spin classes I’m doing are 45 minutes long. This is genius. I’ve always done hour long classes and I can’t get over how quickly these 45 minutes classes fly by.

The new Spin bikes have a display that shows RPMs (rotations per minute) and the instructor calls out the exact RPM you should be striving for at each interval. It’s really nice knowing if you should push harder or back off.

Spin class puts me in control and there are days when that really matters. Spinning is an activity that allows you to progress at your own pace without everyone in the class knowing when you aren’t keeping up.

Finally, Spinning is easy on my back and joints – after Spin class I don’t feel quite as achy as I do after higher impact activities. This really helps me to keep going back.

So for now, I spin, I sweat and I swear I will try to keep this going, at least until Halloween. After that, I’ll re-assess -we’ll be closing in on the holidays after all.

The Long Hall: Tufts Floating Hospital for Children

Children's Hospital -Tufts Floating Hospital for Children — 7th floor hallway at Tufts Floating Hospital for Children

The long hall in the photo represents the start of one long week. Last Sunday, my oldest daughter, Julia, spent the night in the hospital. Everything is perfectly fine! Turns out she was dehydrated, had a touch of the flu and, mostly, exhausted (note to self: all-night fundraisers in the high school gym sound like fun, but not a good idea for a teenage girl who desperately needs her sleep). As any parent would be – I was a wreck, but for the most part I knew our hospital experience was for precautionary purposes. Although both Julia and I wanted nothing more than to go home, I was impressed with the medical team’s determination to ensure absolutely everything checked out OK. My mindset at the children’s hospital was the same as with airport security – I’d rather deal with the inconvenience than ever feel that something may have slipped by unnoticed. I’m a big fan of “better safe than sorry.”

We were at the Tufts Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center overlooking Boston’s Chinatown. The buzz just outside the hospital doors was electric.

Inside, the patient care Julia received was exceptional. I was most impressed with the kind and considerate bedside manner of every single nurse, doctor, aide and student that we encountered. Never did someone snap or act brusquely. I could tell that Julia felt comfortable and unafraid – as a parent; that made me feel good.

As anyone knows who has spent time in a hospital, there is a lot of time waiting for things to happen. In that time, I couldn’t help but observe the youth and energy of this teaching hospital. There were so many young, attractive people in scrubs and lab coats that it felt like we were on the set of “Grey’s Anatomy” – without all the drama and absurdity. When I popped down to Au Bon Pain, at all hours of the day or night, I was surprised to see it was active and busy no matter what the time. And again, it seemed I was always surrounded by young, good looking people. While, of course, healthcare should have been top of mind, I admit I was slightly distracted and mesmerized by the entire scene.

When we left Tufts Floating Hospital, I was glad we had taken advantage of the top-notch Boston medical system. How fortunate we are that our local hospitals are among the best in the world. The 45 minute ride from home was worth the peace of mind knowing that such a reputable medical institute had given us the all clear. And while Julia spent most of her time there sleeping, I was not surprised a few days later when she said, “After seeing everything that goes on in a hospital like that – I think I want to be a doctor.”

Thank you Tufts Floating 7. You did a great job – in more ways than one.