Tom Nikkola | VIGOR Training

Tom Nikkola | VIGOR Training

By Tom Nikkola | VIGOR TrainingHealth & FitnessNutritionMental HealthFitness
Download on the App Store

Tom Nikkola | VIGOR Training episodes

  • Curves Complete vs. Weight Watchers Momentum: Which is better for weight loss?
    Over the years, I've worked with countless numbers of women who'd previously followed Weight Watchers or who'd been members at Curves. If you've been looking for a good weight loss program, you've no doubt come across one, or both of these. While there are much better approaches to weight loss than either one, a recent study compared the effects of the two, which led to some interesting findings.
    In this blog post, I'll review the study and tease out some of the valuable findings.
    At the end, I'll give you my advice about whether either one is a good option, and if not, what would be better.
    Two Different Approaches to Weight Loss
    Weight Watchers Momentum™ is a social support-based diet program that encourages exercise. Curves® Complete is a program offered at Curves, a gym exclusively for women. Members at Curves start with exercise as a foundation and add a diet program, whereas Weight Watchers is a diet program that just suggests people exercise. That's a distinct difference.
    It's this difference that led a research group to study the effects of the two programs with 24 women who followed Curves Complete, and 27 who followed Weight Watchers Momentum. All women were overweight, with BMIs over 25 kg/m², and ages 18-50 years old.
    Curves Complete
    Those in the Curves Complete program followed a three-phase diet, as follows:
    Phase I: 1200 calories/day coming from 30% carbohydrates, 45% protein, 25% fat for 7 days
    Phase II: 1500 calories/day coming from 30% carbohydrates, 45% protein, 25% fat for 21 days
    Phase III: 2000-2500 calories per day coming from 45% carbohydrates, 30% protein, 25% fat for 14 days. During this phase, if a woman gained three pounds or more, they went back to 1200 calories per day for 2-3 days.
    The phases were cycled, with the women completing Phase 1 and Phase 2 three times, and Phase 3 twice.
    Read also: More Research Support for a High-Protein Diet for Weight Loss.
    Weight Watchers Momentum
    Though Weight Watchers has moved on from Momentum to Personal Points, many similarities still exist, making the new study relevant today.
    Participants had to attend one weekly meeting, on-site at a franchise location. There, they weighed in, participated in coaching sessions and group discussions, and received their support materials and recommended points by which to measure their food intake.
    Workout Program
    Curves is a gym first, a diet program second. The gyms have a variety of hydraulic resistance machines, which are to be used in a circuit style. Each set last 30 seconds, during which participants complete as many reps as possible, then rest for 30 seconds during which they perform calisthenics, in-place aerobic exercise, or Zumba, to maintain an elevated heart rate. Each circuit consists of 26 exercises and the women did this exercise format three times per week.
    Again, the Weight Watchers group was encouraged to exercise, just as they are in all other Weight Watchers programs. But there's no gym at a Weight Watchers facility unless that facility sits within a gym setting.
    Read also: 9 Reasons Strength Training is Critical for Long-Term Health, Fitness, and Longevity.
    Results: Weight Watchers vs. Curves
    Both groups lost the same amount of body weight.
    So, that means both programs are equally effective, right? No. Not at all.
    The following table details the differences in results between the two groups.
    Average ChangeWeight WatchersCurvesBody Weight-13.42 lbs-10.78 lbsFat Mass-6.38 lbs-14.08Lean Mass-5.5 lbs+2.86 lbsBody Fat %-1.4%-4.7%
    Those in the Curves group also experienced a drop in insulin, whereas the Weight Watchers group did not, and the Curves group saw a rise in HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol), whereas the Weight Watchers group saw a slight decrease.
    According to the study's authors:
    Results revealed that over time, both groups lost a similar amount of body weight. However,
    12 min
  • Curves Complete vs. Weight Watchers Momentum: Which is better for weight loss?
    Over the years, I've worked with countless numbers of women who'd previously followed Weight Watchers or who'd been members at Curves. If you've been looking for a good weight loss program, you've no doubt come across one, or both of these. While there are much better approaches to weight loss than either one, a recent study compared the effects of the two, which led to some interesting findings.
    In this blog post, I'll review the study and tease out some of the valuable findings.
    At the end, I'll give you my advice about whether either one is a good option, and if not, what would be better.
    Two Different Approaches to Weight Loss
    Weight Watchers Momentum™ is a social support-based diet program that encourages exercise. Curves® Complete is a program offered at Curves, a gym exclusively for women. Members at Curves start with exercise as a foundation and add a diet program, whereas Weight Watchers is a diet program that just suggests people exercise. That's a distinct difference.
    It's this difference that led a research group to study the effects of the two programs with 24 women who followed Curves Complete, and 27 who followed Weight Watchers Momentum. All women were overweight, with BMIs over 25 kg/m², and ages 18-50 years old.
    Curves Complete
    Those in the Curves Complete program followed a three-phase diet, as follows:
    Phase I: 1200 calories/day coming from 30% carbohydrates, 45% protein, 25% fat for 7 daysPhase II: 1500 calories/day coming from 30% carbohydrates, 45% protein, 25% fat for 21 daysPhase III: 2000-2500 calories per day coming from 45% carbohydrates, 30% protein, 25% fat for 14 days. During this phase, if a woman gained three pounds or more, they went back to 1200 calories per day for 2-3 days.
    The phases were cycled, with the women completing Phase 1 and Phase 2 three times, and Phase 3 twice.
    Read also: More Research Support for a High-Protein Diet for Weight Loss.
    Weight Watchers Momentum
    Though Weight Watchers has moved on from Momentum to Personal Points, many similarities still exist, making the new study relevant today.
    Participants had to attend one weekly meeting, on-site at a franchise location. There, they weighed in, participated in coaching sessions and group discussions, and received their support materials and recommended points by which to measure their food intake.
    Workout Program
    Curves is a gym first, a diet program second. The gyms have a variety of hydraulic resistance machines, which are to be used in a circuit style. Each set last 30 seconds, during which participants complete as many reps as possible, then rest for 30 seconds during which they perform calisthenics, in-place aerobic exercise, or Zumba, to maintain an elevated heart rate. Each circuit consists of 26 exercises and the women did this exercise format three times per week.
    Again, the Weight Watchers group was encouraged to exercise, just as they are in all other Weight Watchers programs. But there's no gym at a Weight Watchers facility unless that facility sits within a gym setting.
    Read also: 9 Reasons Strength Training is Critical for Long-Term Health, Fitness, and Longevity.
    Results: Weight Watchers vs. Curves
    Both groups lost the same amount of body weight.
    So, that means both programs are equally effective, right? No. Not at all.
    The following table details the differences in results between the two groups.
    Average ChangeWeight WatchersCurvesBody Weight-13.42 lbs-10.78 lbsFat Mass-6.38 lbs-14.08Lean Mass-5.5 lbs+2.86 lbsBody Fat %-1.4%-4.7%
    Those in the Curves group also experienced a drop in insulin, whereas the Weight Watchers group did not, and the Curves group saw a rise in HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol), whereas the Weight Watchers group saw a slight decrease.
    According to the study's authors:
    Results revealed that over time, both groups lost a similar amount of body weight. However, the CV (Curves) intervention led to a greater de...
    12 min
  • What are public schools doing to or for our children?
    Nelson Mandala once said,
    There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. 
    Nelson Mandela
    If you take some time to examine what’s going on in the public school system, and what it’s doing to our children, you’d think America’s soul had been sold to someone hellbent on destroying American values and virtues.
    Most of us have heard small soundbites or seen headlines warning parents of what’s going on in schools, but when you dig a little deeper, what you find is alarming and horrifying. It's as if there's a small, anti-American contingent that has control over our school systems.
    They understand that the way to remake America into something it wasn't intended to be is to change the minds of today's children, who will be voting and leading adults within the next two to three decades.
    Our Founding Fathers understood that well-educated citizens would protect the ideals and integrity of the United States, and that an ignorant or uneducated population would lead to America’s demise. They knew that our educational systems would either build or break our nation. 
    The Founding Fathers maintained that the success of the fragile American democracy would depend on the competency of its citizens. They believed strongly that preserving democracy would require an educated population that could understand political and social issues and would participate in civic life, vote wisely, protect their rights and freedoms, and resist tyrants and demagogues. Character and virtue were also considered essential to good citizenship, and education was seen as a means to provide moral instruction and build character.
    Center on Education Policy
    As extreme left-wing ideologies continue to entrench themselves in the public school system, prioritizing fundamental education, has taken a backseat to creating champions of those ideologies.
    The more I've delved into what's happening, the more concerned I've become as I consider a future where young adults were never taught basic educational skills, are unable to think critically, and fear voices that contradict the indoctrination they learned from their teachers as they grew up.
    In this brief essay, I can only touch on a few points every parent should consider as they send their kids off to school. At the end, I recommend a best-selling book that'll take you much deeper into how prevalent this issue is, and how deep-seated it is in the school system across the country.
    Equality of Outcome, Not Educational Excellence
    Our grandson learned to ski this past winter. Having skied since I was three years old, I understood the importance of learning how to ski the right way, rather than simply sending him down the hill to figure it out on his own, and end up developing bad habits along the way.
    For his first day on the slopes, we got him a lesson. For his second day, he started with a lesson and then we skied with him the rest of the day, reinforcing the lessons he learned. A couple of weeks later, we got him another lesson.
    Could he have gotten by without the lessons? Sure. He could have made it down the slopes without them, but just getting down the slopes isn't at all the same as learning to carve, pop, ski backwards, spin, or handle variations in terrain that go from soft snow to ice to unexpected grooves and bumps.
    I want him to become an excellent skier because it'll give him the freedom to ski wherever he wants, from hills here in the midwest to slopes in the rocky mountains. The better his skills, the more fun he'll have with the sport.
    Reading, writing, and math are a lot like that. Achieving a high standard in these fundamentals opens other opportunities to learn, think, and communicate. Unfortunately, over the past two decades, schools have prioritized getting kids graduated over holding them accountable to educational standards.
    In his best-selling book, Race to the Bottom,
    21 min
  • What are public schools doing to or for our children?
    Nelson Mandala once said,
    There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. Nelson Mandela
    If you take some time to examine what’s going on in the public school system, and what it’s doing to our children, you’d think America’s soul had been sold to someone hellbent on destroying American values and virtues.
    Most of us have heard small soundbites or seen headlines warning parents of what’s going on in schools, but when you dig a little deeper, what you find is alarming and horrifying. It's as if there's a small, anti-American contingent that has control over our school systems.
    They understand that the way to remake America into something it wasn't intended to be is to change the minds of today's children, who will be voting and leading adults within the next two to three decades.
    Our Founding Fathers understood that well-educated citizens would protect the ideals and integrity of the United States, and that an ignorant or uneducated population would lead to America’s demise. They knew that our educational systems would either build or break our nation. 
    The Founding Fathers maintained that the success of the fragile American democracy would depend on the competency of its citizens. They believed strongly that preserving democracy would require an educated population that could understand political and social issues and would participate in civic life, vote wisely, protect their rights and freedoms, and resist tyrants and demagogues. Character and virtue were also considered essential to good citizenship, and education was seen as a means to provide moral instruction and build character.Center on Education Policy
    As extreme left-wing ideologies continue to entrench themselves in the public school system, prioritizing fundamental education, has taken a backseat to creating champions of those ideologies.
    The more I've delved into what's happening, the more concerned I've become as I consider a future where young adults were never taught basic educational skills, are unable to think critically, and fear voices that contradict the indoctrination they learned from their teachers as they grew up.
    In this brief essay, I can only touch on a few points every parent should consider as they send their kids off to school. At the end, I recommend a best-selling book that'll take you much deeper into how prevalent this issue is, and how deep-seated it is in the school system across the country.
    Equality of Outcome, Not Educational Excellence
    Our grandson learned to ski this past winter. Having skied since I was three years old, I understood the importance of learning how to ski the right way, rather than simply sending him down the hill to figure it out on his own, and end up developing bad habits along the way.
    For his first day on the slopes, we got him a lesson. For his second day, he started with a lesson and then we skied with him the rest of the day, reinforcing the lessons he learned. A couple of weeks later, we got him another lesson.
    Could he have gotten by without the lessons? Sure. He could have made it down the slopes without them, but just getting down the slopes isn't at all the same as learning to carve, pop, ski backwards, spin, or handle variations in terrain that go from soft snow to ice to unexpected grooves and bumps.
    I want him to become an excellent skier because it'll give him the freedom to ski wherever he wants, from hills here in the midwest to slopes in the rocky mountains. The better his skills, the more fun he'll have with the sport.
    Reading, writing, and math are a lot like that. Achieving a high standard in these fundamentals opens other opportunities to learn, think, and communicate. Unfortunately, over the past two decades, schools have prioritized getting kids graduated over holding them accountable to educational standards.
    In his best-selling book, Race to the Bottom,
    21 min
  • Myokines: Pharmaceutical-Like Effects of Strength Training
    Strength training, along with optimal sleep and a high-protein diet, could be considered a preventative treatment as well as a medical therapy. Benefits of resistance training include:
    Reversing muscle loss (sarcopenia or cachexia)
    Restoring a healthy metabolism
    Reducing body fat
    Improving physical function, strength, coordination, and mobility
    Improving insulin sensitivity and reversing type II diabetes
    Enhancing cardiovascular health by reducing blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides while improving vascular tone
    Increasing bone density
    Enhancing mental health
    Reducing inflammation
    That’s quite a list of health benefits. If a drug did all that, it would be a bigger seller than a COVID-19 vaccine.
    Strength training does a lot more than make you look and perform better. It unleashes a plethora of health-inducing hormones, neurotransmitters, and compounds called myokines. Myokines play a pivotal role in maintaining healthy inflammation levels, among many other things.
    A recent paper summarized these compounds, which highlighted the powerful effects of hypertrophy (muscle-building) training.
    I’ll do my best to simplify what these compounds do. At the same time, I don’t want to lose sight of the fascinating way our bodies work in response to the right type of exercise.
    Cytokines, Myokines, and Contracting Muscles
    Cytokines are chemical messengers secreted by various cells throughout your body. 
    You might be familiar with the term “cytokine” from all of the attention on COVID-19 these past couple of years. We’ve heard how a COVID-19 infection or the vaccine itself can trigger a “cytokine storm,” a state of rapid and uncontrolled inflammation and pain.
    While the cytokines involved in this scary situation are bad news, that doesn’t mean all cytokines are bad. Many of them are anti-inflammatory. And even pro-inflammatory cytokines are essential for metabolic function, even though they can become problematic when things go awry.
    Muscle cells produce a certain category of cytokines called myokines when they contract with sufficient intensity. Myokines may affect the cells themselves (an autocrine effect), nearby cells (a paracrine effect), or affect cells far away from them (an endocrine effect).
    Myokines lead to many of the health and fitness benefits of resistance training.
    Myokines and Resistance Training
    For more than 20 years, researchers have understood numerous metabolic effects of strength training, resulting from myokine secretion.
    A 2007 research paper stated:
    Our research was originally driven by a curiosity as to whether exercise-induced cytokines would provide a mechanistic explanation to exercise-induced immune changes. However, the identification of skeletal muscle as a cytokine-producing organ soon led to the discovery that not only could muscle-derived cytokines account for exercise-associated immune changes but also that these muscle-derived cytokines played a role in mediating the exercise-associated metabolic changes, as well as the metabolic changes following training adaptation.
    Pederson BK, et al.
    For a muscle cell to secrete its strength, health, and fitness-enhancing effects, it you must stress it with at least one of the following:
    mechanical tension - a force that exceeds what it’s accustomed to, generated through an intense contraction or an excessive stretch
    muscle damage - microscopic muscle tears
    metabolic stress - a state that takes your muscle cells out of their normal cellular environment, such as a significant drop in pH (an increase in acidity)
    Muscle cells secrete different myokines depending on whether you’re training with high loads and low repetitions (hypertrophy training) or low load, high repetitions (strength endurance training).
    In the current block of VIGOR Strength Athlete, I’ve included both ends of the spectrum.
    To a certain extent, the phrase, “No pain, no gain,
    15 min
  • Myokines: Pharmaceutical-Like Effects of Strength Training
    Strength training, along with optimal sleep and a high-protein diet, could be considered a preventative treatment as well as a medical therapy. Benefits of resistance training include:
    Reversing muscle loss (sarcopenia or cachexia)Restoring a healthy metabolismReducing body fatImproving physical function, strength, coordination, and mobilityImproving insulin sensitivity and reversing type II diabetesEnhancing cardiovascular health by reducing blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides while improving vascular toneIncreasing bone densityEnhancing mental healthReducing inflammation
    That’s quite a list of health benefits. If a drug did all that, it would be a bigger seller than a COVID-19 vaccine.
    Strength training does a lot more than make you look and perform better. It unleashes a plethora of health-inducing hormones, neurotransmitters, and compounds called myokines. Myokines play a pivotal role in maintaining healthy inflammation levels, among many other things.
    A recent paper summarized these compounds, which highlighted the powerful effects of hypertrophy (muscle-building) training.
    I’ll do my best to simplify what these compounds do. At the same time, I don’t want to lose sight of the fascinating way our bodies work in response to the right type of exercise.
    Cytokines, Myokines, and Contracting Muscles
    Cytokines are chemical messengers secreted by various cells throughout your body. 
    You might be familiar with the term “cytokine” from all of the attention on COVID-19 these past couple of years. We’ve heard how a COVID-19 infection or the vaccine itself can trigger a “cytokine storm,” a state of rapid and uncontrolled inflammation and pain.
    While the cytokines involved in this scary situation are bad news, that doesn’t mean all cytokines are bad. Many of them are anti-inflammatory. And even pro-inflammatory cytokines are essential for metabolic function, even though they can become problematic when things go awry.
    Muscle cells produce a certain category of cytokines called myokines when they contract with sufficient intensity. Myokines may affect the cells themselves (an autocrine effect), nearby cells (a paracrine effect), or affect cells far away from them (an endocrine effect).
    Myokines lead to many of the health and fitness benefits of resistance training.
    Myokines and Resistance Training
    For more than 20 years, researchers have understood numerous metabolic effects of strength training, resulting from myokine secretion.
    A 2007 research paper stated:
    Our research was originally driven by a curiosity as to whether exercise-induced cytokines would provide a mechanistic explanation to exercise-induced immune changes. However, the identification of skeletal muscle as a cytokine-producing organ soon led to the discovery that not only could muscle-derived cytokines account for exercise-associated immune changes but also that these muscle-derived cytokines played a role in mediating the exercise-associated metabolic changes, as well as the metabolic changes following training adaptation.Pederson BK, et al.
    For a muscle cell to secrete its strength, health, and fitness-enhancing effects, it you must stress it with at least one of the following:
    mechanical tension - a force that exceeds what it’s accustomed to, generated through an intense contraction or an excessive stretchmuscle damage - microscopic muscle tearsmetabolic stress - a state that takes your muscle cells out of their normal cellular environment, such as a significant drop in pH (an increase in acidity)
    Muscle cells secrete different myokines depending on whether you’re training with high loads and low repetitions (hypertrophy training) or low load, high repetitions (strength endurance training).
    In the current block of VIGOR Strength Athlete, I’ve included both ends of the spectrum.
    To a certain extent, the phrase, “No pain, no gain,” accurately describes how you benefit from resistance training.
    15 min
  • The Effects of Neroli Essential Oil on Sleep in Postmenopausal Women
    Among several recent essential oil-related research papers published, I came across one titled The Effect of Citrus Aurantium Aroma on the Sleep Quality in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
    Poor sleep quality is one of the most common problems postmenopausal women deal with. This study looked at how inhalation of neroli essential oil might impact sleep quality.
    What is neroli?
    Neroli essential oil comes from the flowers of the Citrus aurantium, or bitter orange tree. This sometimes creates confusion in natural products, as the bitter orange itself is also used as a nutritional supplement. 
    Bitter orange contains synephrine, a close cousin of ephedrine, which has been shown to support fat loss without the adverse cardiovascular effects of ephedrine.
    A Citrus aurantium subspecies called Citrus aurantium bergamia is also useful in natural health. This is where we get bergamot from.
    With all that said, the focus of this blog post is on neroli, the essential oil from the flowers of the bitter orange tree.
    Previous research on neroli
    According to a 2018 review, neroli has the following biological properties in humans or animals:
    Biological Properties of Citrus Aurantium EssenceAnti-amnesicAntibacterialAntifungalAntioxidantAnti-inflammatoryAntiseizure and anticonvulsantAnxiolytic and antidepressantCentral and peripheral antinociceptive effectsEndothelium- and smooth muscle-dependent vasodilatorHypotensiveMenopausal symptoms reliefPremenstrual syndrome (PMS) reliefSedative, soothing, motor relaxantSexual desire enhancerAdapted from Biological Activities and Safety of Citrus spp. Essential Oils, Table 3
    The effects may vary based on whether neroli essential oil is used internally, topically, or aromatically. 
    Read also: Tangerine Essential Oil, Sedation, Sleep, and Focused Thinking.
    Postmenopausal Changes
    Post-menopause, women experience a variety of health challenges due to their significantly-reduced estrogen levels. Difficulty with sleep is the most common.
    Sleep problems arise due to a reduction in melatonin and serotonin that follows a large drop in estrogen. Hot flashes may also cause women to wake often during the night.
    Though the hormonal shift itself may lead to sleep loss and health problems, prolonged sleep debt may amplify these health problems as well.
    Conventional medicine offers some solutions, but with serious risks.
    Hormonal therapy, sedative and hypnotic drugs are the treatment methods for sleep disorders but they can cause harmful effects such as breast cancer, thrombosis, drowsiness, and impaired mental ability.
    Abbaspoor Z, et al.
    Neroli Essential Oil and Sleep in Postmenopausal Women
    As mentioned above, previous studies have shown that neroli essential oil helps with many menopausal symptoms. 
    As for sleep, aromatherapy with neroli essential oil improved sleep in studies with people who had type II diabetes, ischemic heart disease, or heart failure, and in female nursing students.
    In this recent, randomized, controlled trial, researchers divided 80 postmenopausal women, ages 45-60, with sleep problems into two groups: A control group and an intervention group.
    The control group received a bottle of almond oil. The intervention group received a bottle containing a 10% concentration of neroli essential oil.
    Researchers instructed both groups to put two drops of the oil they received on their left or right forearm skin, and hold their forearm 30 cm (about 1 ft.) from their nose for five minutes, twice per day, for four consecutive days per week for four weeks.
    They completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) before the trial and at the end of the four weeks.
    Consistent with other studies, the women who used the essential oil experienced a significant improvement in sleep quality.
    It’s also worth mentioning that no adverse events were reported. 
    Read also: Effects of Rose Essential Oil on Sleep and Feelings...
    9 min
  • The Effects of Neroli Essential Oil on Sleep in Postmenopausal Women
    Among several recent essential oil-related research papers published, I came across one titled The Effect of Citrus Aurantium Aroma on the Sleep Quality in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
    Poor sleep quality is one of the most common problems postmenopausal women deal with. This study looked at how inhalation of neroli essential oil might impact sleep quality.
    What is neroli?
    Neroli essential oil comes from the flowers of the Citrus aurantium, or bitter orange tree. This sometimes creates confusion in natural products, as the bitter orange itself is also used as a nutritional supplement. 
    Bitter orange contains synephrine, a close cousin of ephedrine, which has been shown to support fat loss without the adverse cardiovascular effects of ephedrine.
    A Citrus aurantium subspecies called Citrus aurantium bergamia is also useful in natural health. This is where we get bergamot from.
    With all that said, the focus of this blog post is on neroli, the essential oil from the flowers of the bitter orange tree.
    Previous research on neroli
    According to a 2018 review, neroli has the following biological properties in humans or animals:
    Biological Properties of Citrus Aurantium EssenceAnti-amnesicAntibacterialAntifungalAntioxidantAnti-inflammatoryAntiseizure and anticonvulsantAnxiolytic and antidepressantCentral and peripheral antinociceptive effectsEndothelium- and smooth muscle-dependent vasodilatorHypotensiveMenopausal symptoms reliefPremenstrual syndrome (PMS) reliefSedative, soothing, motor relaxantSexual desire enhancerAdapted from Biological Activities and Safety of Citrus spp. Essential Oils, Table 3
    The effects may vary based on whether neroli essential oil is used internally, topically, or aromatically. 
    Read also: Tangerine Essential Oil, Sedation, Sleep, and Focused Thinking.
    Postmenopausal Changes
    Post-menopause, women experience a variety of health challenges due to their significantly-reduced estrogen levels. Difficulty with sleep is the most common.
    Sleep problems arise due to a reduction in melatonin and serotonin that follows a large drop in estrogen. Hot flashes may also cause women to wake often during the night.
    Though the hormonal shift itself may lead to sleep loss and health problems, prolonged sleep debt may amplify these health problems as well.
    Conventional medicine offers some solutions, but with serious risks.
    Hormonal therapy, sedative and hypnotic drugs are the treatment methods for sleep disorders but they can cause harmful effects such as breast cancer, thrombosis, drowsiness, and impaired mental ability.Abbaspoor Z, et al.
    Neroli Essential Oil and Sleep in Postmenopausal Women
    As mentioned above, previous studies have shown that neroli essential oil helps with many menopausal symptoms. 
    As for sleep, aromatherapy with neroli essential oil improved sleep in studies with people who had type II diabetes, ischemic heart disease, or heart failure, and in female nursing students.
    In this recent, randomized, controlled trial, researchers divided 80 postmenopausal women, ages 45-60, with sleep problems into two groups: A control group and an intervention group.
    The control group received a bottle of almond oil. The intervention group received a bottle containing a 10% concentration of neroli essential oil.
    Researchers instructed both groups to put two drops of the oil they received on their left or right forearm skin, and hold their forearm 30 cm (about 1 ft.) from their nose for five minutes, twice per day, for four consecutive days per week for four weeks.
    They completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) before the trial and at the end of the four weeks.
    Consistent with other studies, the women who used the essential oil experienced a significant improvement in sleep quality.
    It’s also worth mentioning that no adverse events were reported. 
    Read also: Effects of Rose Essential Oil on Sleep and Feelings...
    9 min
  • A Practical Guide for PCOS: Exercise, Nutrition, and Lifestyle
    What is the best diet and lifestyle approach to reduce the effects of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)? What type of exercise is best?
    Is it possible to maintain normal hormone levels, or do women with PCOS need to maintain a fairly strict diet and lifestyle plan throughout their lives?
    PCOS affects 8-13% of women, leading to numerous symptoms that diet and lifestyle can help to correct.
    In this blog post, I’ll outline what the most current research suggests for improving how to look, feel, and function better if you're managing PCOS.
    How Doctors Diagnose PCOS
    In women with PCOS, the ovaries produce excessive levels of androgens, the hormones that lead to male sex characteristics. As of yet, doctors don’t know the exact cause.
    Women with PCOS may have abnormal levels of numerous sex hormones, including:
    androstenedionedehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)DHEA sulfatefree testosteroneluteinizing hormone (LH)sex hormone-binding globulintotal testosterone
    Healthcare practitioners use the Rotterdam criteria to diagnose women with PCOS. Two of the following three conditions must be present:
    Clinical or biochemical hyperandrogenism (high testosterone)Oligo- or anovulation (inconsistent or no ovulation)Polycystic ovaries (cysts on ovaries) on ultrasound
    The Androgen Excess and POCS Society suggests that women with high testosterone and either oligomenorrhea or polycystic ovaries should be diagnosed with PCOS.
    Obvious PCOS symptoms include:
    infertilityirregular menstrual cycleshirsutism (male-pattern hair growth)
    As PCOS progresses, it leads to numerous other health problems.
    PCOS, Metabolic Dysfunction, and Other Health Problems
    Two physical characteristics most often indicate excessive androgen hormones in women: facial hair growth and excess weight in the midsection.
    Weight gain around the midsection creates an “apple shape”  and is often the result of increased visceral fat. Visceral fat causes chronic, low-grade inflammation and significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. 
    Though the facial hair may become frustrating to deal with, the visceral fat could lead to life-threatening heart problems. Excess visceral fat also contributes to insulin resistance, which leads to even more visceral fat and total body fat.
    Unchecked, insulin resistance leads to type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
    Women with the disorder (PCOS) are more likely to develop obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and have a greater risk of developing anxiety, depression, and mood disorders.Shele G, et al.
    Aside from the hormonal imbalance itself, women with PCOS are more likely to have mitochondrial dysfunction and defects in skeletal muscle insulin signaling. 
    Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells, so if they don’t work right, you won’t be able to produce energy efficiently, burn fat effectively, or feel like exercising. 
    If your muscle cells become insulin resistant, they won’t store dietary carbs as glucose, which increases blood sugar and triglycerides.
    In short, PCOS can lead to several metabolic issues that ultimately make the symptoms worse. However, you don’t need to give in to the condition. You just need to manage it.
    Based on the most current evidence, here’s how to do just that.
    PCOS and Exercise
    Because of their higher testosterone levels, women with PCOS often build muscle easier. This deters many of them from sticking to a good strength training program.
    However, strength training may be the most essential form of exercise for managing PCOS.
    Muscle cells become insulin resistant with PCOS. Under normal circumstances, insulin triggers your muscle cells to store glucose, or blood sugar, as glycogen. Doing so helps lower circulating blood sugar and triglycerides.
    Because your muscle cells don’t store carbohydrates appropriately, blood sugar remains elevated, causing:
    17 min
  • The Effects of Essential Oils on Long-Haul COVID-19
    COVID-19 doesn't make headlines like it did six months ago. Most people are mentally and physically past infections, as well as the media's constant barrage of fear porn.
    Though the infections may be more rare today, many people continue to deal with long-lasting effects, a condition called long-haul COVID-19. When this was first discovered, many believed it to be a rare condition. However, some studies now suggest that up to 73% of people who had COVID-19 develop long-term symptoms. Among the symptoms, fatigue ranks at the top.
    A new study looked at how a specific blend of essential oils affected feelings of fatigue and vigor in a group of women dealing with long-haul COVID-19-related fatigue. The results were pretty impressive.
    Symptoms of Long-Haul COVID-19
    SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, affects vascular and nervous system tissues, though the specific tissues it impacts varies from person to person. The virus most commonly infects respiratory vessels, but does much more than harm your lungs.
    The following table outlines the more than 40 symptoms of long-haul COVID-19. I've listed them in the order of frequency.
    Symptoms of Long-Haul COVID-19FatigueHeadacheAttention disorderHair lossDyspnea (shortness of breath)Ageusia (loss of taste)Anosmia (loss of smell)Post-activity polypnea (rapid breathing)Joint painCoughSweatNausea or vomitingChest pain or discomfortWeight LossCutaneous signsResting heart rate increasePalpitationsPainIntermittent feverSleep disorderReduced pulmonary capacitySleep apneaChillsMental healthPsychiatric illnessRed eyesPulmonary fibrosisDiscontinuous flushingDiabetes mellitusSputum (thick mucus)Limb edemaDizzinessStrokeThroat painMood disordersDysphoriaOCDNew hypertensionMyocarditisRenal failurePTSDArrhythmia (irregular heart beat)Paranoia
    Though it wasn't on the list above, recent evidence shows that a COVID-19 infection can also lead to low testosterone in men.
    For those who've paid attention to the COVID-19 vaccine side effects, you'll see that many match those of actual infections. In fact, myocarditis seems to show up more often from the vaccine than from an infection, especially in healthy, young adults and children. Of course, you don't hear much about vaccine side effects from mainstream media.
    Getting back to long-haul COVID-19, 58% of people with it develop fatigue.
    The fatigue is a feeling of exhaustion in spite of good sleep quality and nutrition. In some, the fatigue may be connected with other symptoms, such as shortness of breath or the development of diabetes. In others, the fatigue could be connected to nervous system issues that also lead to fatigue, such as chronic pain.
    In either case, chronic fatigue compromises productivity and makes it less likely people will exercise or remain active, which can lead to additional health complications.
    As the study's authors explained:
    Fatigue differs from sleepiness in that it encompasses a feeling of exhaustion and tiredness regardless of sleep quantity and quality. It is a nonspecific symptom that leads to a reduced overall capacity to accomplish routine tasks. This may involve the inability to initiate activity, inability to continue routine activities, or difficulty focusing and concentrating, with symptoms worsening after physical or mental exertion.
    Hawkins J, et al.
    If there was a way to reduce feelings of fatigue, even if it didn't resolve the underlying issue, without compromising one's health, it could significantly improve your quality-of-life. The important point here is that a natural or pharmaceutical therapy that reduces fatigue and increases energy and vigor is only valuable if it doesn't lead to other side effects.
    For example, you could certainly boost your energy by drinking a couple of Red Bulls or taking an Adderall, but you'd do so while potentially causing other health complications.
    On the other hand, if you could boost your energy without sacrificing your heal...
    12 min

About Tom Nikkola | VIGOR Training

From the publisher's feed

Tune into the audio version of my written articles found at tomnikkola.com, read by yours truly. I candidly cover health and fitness,…