If It’s Monday, It’s Time to Move the Needle

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Hats off! Youmade it to week four of your Dream Big challenge (to get fresh air daily, tighten your core, or let go of anger). And guess what? By making it this far, you completed a bonus challenge and didn’t even know it. Patience—the art of delayed gratification—is a challenge for so many. But as the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Anything worthwhile takes concerted time and effort. And much like physical goals, mastering patience also requires a healthy dose of persistence.

当我们正式包装本月的挑战时，知道您不必在此停留。继续梦想，保持相信并继续前进！不要担心，如果你没有足够看到结果;练习耐心的另一个伟大的事情是，它迫使你在此时生活，以便您可以享受最小的胜利。

P.S.向我们展示你一直在努力Facebook（一定要标记我们@HealthCentral）和Instagram.（@HealthCentraldotcom）。我们为你感到骄傲！

Dream Big: Get 60 Minutes of Fresh Air Daily

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第4周：每天花60分钟

The Science:When you’re a kid, it’s natural to go play outside with your friends. When you’re an adult, not so much. But time and time again, research shows that doing things with a buddy—像锻炼一样orfollowing a weight loss program- 让我们更有可能实际上这样做。与朋友一起做活动不仅可以帮助您保持责任，但它只是让它更有趣，并为您提供社交化的额外利益。

Move-the-Needle Monday:与朋友制定计划或与您的孩子一起举行的游戏时间，户外可以使自然而然地获得更多新鲜空气更容易。如果你与其他人一起度过，它实际上要更容易时钟的时间更容易。此外，如果其他人正在计划您和您的日程安排，那么您将不太可能跳过它并保持内心。

计划：We’ve reached our final goal of 60 minutes of outdoor time each day this week. And while you’re out there, this is the perfect time to get social while doing it. Start a family hobby, like birdwatching or find a citizen science project you can participate in.公民科学项目are basically scientific experiments and observations that you can participate in—like this onethat asks you to take photos of the different animals and plant life in your backyard. We don’t have to totally demonize technology—in fact, it can play a role in outdoor fun if we use it the right way, Dr. Hasbach says. If you don’t have kids, schedule a walk or hour in the park with a friend. Go on a picnic for a date. Join a recreational sports league that has you outside playing a sport a few times a week.

Top Tip:For a triple threat of health benefits, get sweaty during your outdoor social time—whether that’s via a run, walk, or a bootcamp workout in the park. A research review published in the journalExtreme Physiology & Medicinesuggests that combining exercise and green space gets you the benefits of these things all at once, and can increase activity levels, reduce stress, restore mental fatigue, and improve mood, self-esteem, and perceived health. How cool is it that you can do all those things with just a simple walk around the block with a friend?

Dream Big: Get a Tighter Tummy (and Practice Pilates Daily)

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第4周：把它整合在一起

Here’s the Science:除了能够坐和站高since starting this challenge, you also might notice you are cognitively or mentally more focused. “When the mind is focused on the discomfort we create physically through poor posture and weak abs, our brain may not be able to focus on the tasks at hand,” says Washington D.C.-based yoga therapistSamantha Parker那who is CEO of Neoteric Movement Systems®, bestselling author ofYoga for Chronic Pain…WTF，以及这个月的梦想大健身挑战的教练。现在，一些核心和背部不适都消失了，所以一些大脑雾是。

Move-the-Needle Monday:Today you’re preparing for your Hundreds, building upon the breathing portion by adding to last Monday’s drill. Lay on your back with knees bent and feet under knees. Bring your belly button toward your spine. Inhale for five beats, focusing on bringing air into the intercostal muscles (those are the muscles that surround the lungs and hold our ribs together). Then, exhale the air for five beats. Repeat the cycle, 10 times (that’s double the reps from last week).

计划：

• Each day:While in the car, place your hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel and every time you are at a stop light (or stuck in traffic) draw your belly button to your spine, sit nice and tall with your back against the seat. Keep the muscles in an isometric contraction throughout the duration of the light and release when you resume driving.

  在家工作吗?设置一个定时器每小时快速眼动inds you to stand up nice and tall and do this: Draw your belly button toward your spine and then focus on rolling your shoulders back and down away from your ears. Hold this position for two minutes (don’t forget to breathe) by imagining that you’re holding an apple between your shoulder blades. “You may be surprised at how tiring you will feel at the end,” Parker says.

• 星期一，周三，星期五和星期天：Do the following exercises; keep doing them until you can no longer hold good form. Take note of how long you can do each one.

  • 一百：Lay on your back, arms straight at your sides, feet flat on the ground, ankles under knees. Draw your belly button to the spine. Keeping the feet on the ground, lift your neck and shoulders off the ground (try not to strain!), keeping your arms along the sides. Pulse arms up and down for 100 counts—inhale for five and exhaling for five. Lower back to the start position.

    If you feel comfortable, lift your legs to a 90-degree angle while pumping your arms. Then, progress by extending your legs straight up. The final progression, when you feel comfortable, is to extend your legs out towards the point where the wall meets the ceiling in front of you.

  • 板：握住一个完整的木板（基本上，用手和脚趾之间的俯卧撑平衡，你的身体是从你的头部到脚跟的董事会）。慢慢抬起一条腿并保持30秒钟，然后在另一边重复。随着尽可能多的代表继续交替腿。

  • 超人：Lay belly down on the floor, with your arms extending overhead in front of you and resting your legs on the floor straight behind you. Squeeze your glutes to lift your legs off the ground while simultaneously lifting your chest, shoulders, and arms a couple of inches off the ground. Hold for as long as you can, relax and then repeat once more.

  • Bicycle Crunch:这是您交叉紧缩的进展。躺在你的背上，脚在地上，脚踝下。把你的肚脐拉到你的脊柱上。抬起两条腿，使你的大腿用臀部制作90度角。将指尖轻轻放在耳朵后面。带上右肩，抬起左膝关节略微抬起地面，同时伸直右腿。暂停并保持一秒钟。反转运动返回开始并重复在另一边：左腿朝向右膝关节延伸出来。继续交替此动议20个总代表。提示：如果你开始感到疲惫而不是推进，请在没有旋转的情况下稍微拔出肩膀，在移动腿的同时，帕克说。

  • Standing Half Moon:Stand up tall. Lift collar bones towards the sky and then lift your arms up above your head and grasp your hands together. Holding this position, lean towards one side and hold for one to two minutes. Repeat on opposite side. Continue three times on each side. TIP: “Remember to keep your belly drawn in and tummy tight,” Parker says. “This will protect you from bending too far into your low back and causing strain.”

Dream Big: Learn to Let Go of Anger

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Week 4: Exhale Anger Out of Your Life

The Science:到目前为止，你知道愤怒地背负着你的心脏，你的血压，你的关系和心理健康是不好的。这是一个新的：慢性愤怒也直接与你在老年人那里等待它的呼吸能力的下降相关联，这是直接相关的，因为研究人员Harvard School of Public Health。在他们的2000多名男性的研究中，科学家发现肺功能下降和敌意增加之间的直接相关性。这只是适合的，据研究那but restore your breathing as well.

Move-the-Needle Monday:This week, it’s all about the practice of deep breathing and mindful meditation. As it turns out, the ancient yogis were onto something with their slow and rhythmic form of lung-filling inhales and powerful exhales—according to a study inFrontiers in Neuroscience那科学家已经找到了这种呼吸风格激活了副交感神经系统，你的大脑的一部分负责调节你的情绪。通过向您的能量引导和填充您的身体，然后用新鲜的O2-然后清空所有死亡空气的肺部，您将比您的门向上吹嘘愤怒。然而，在现实中，“当你在愤怒的围栏时，足够减缓以做深呼吸锻炼的挑战是挑战的，”玛丽弗兰克，达尔西队的授权顾问和愤怒管理专家CT。秘密？从单一呼吸开始。“告诉自己停下来，只是片刻，并呼吸深呼吸，”弗兰克说。“只有一口气可以帮助你变得更加接地，意识到发生了什么。”

计划：To get started with deep breathing, follow these steps, provided by密歇根大学健康。本周每天晚上尝试这项运动（它只需要5分钟）。

• Sit or lie flat in a comfortable position.

• 把一只手放在肋骨下方，另一只手放在胸前。

• Take a deep breath in through your nose, and let your belly push your hand out. Your chest should not move.

• Breathe out through pursed lips as if you were whistling. Feel the hand on your belly go in and use it to push all the air out.

• Do this breathing 3 to 10 times. Take your time with each breath.

• Notice how you feel at the end of the exercise.

Top Tip:If sitting quietly and breathing makes you all kinds of uncomfortable, hear this: You can reap similar benefits by practicing deep-breathing exercises while on a walk in the woods.日本研究人员have found that “forest bathing”—mindfully strolling in nature—can lower anger, decrease sadness, and improve stress levels.

贡献者：Amy Martulana Winderl，Carey Rossi和Julia Savacool

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