Yoga, Thyroid, and the (potential) dangers if you push too far

Today's NYTimes has an article on the dangers of yoga, for men, as written by the man who wrote this year's "Science of Yoga," (who is also a yogi and a writer for the NYTimes). He talks about competitive yoga (sounds like an oxymoron to me) and other ways in which men either push themselves or their instructors push them too hard (btw, he doesn't ignore women in the article, but the focus is men).

When I teach, one of the first things I say to my classes (after we warm up, because, doggone it, I don't believe you can do yoga without being thoroughly warmed up) is that they need to listen to their bodies. If it even feels like it might start *thinking* about hurting, they need to stop and not do it or pull way back to try it safely.

To me, yoga is about being where you are today. It won't be where you were yesterday and it won't be where you will be tomorrow. So, the important thing is to pay attention to what is happening in your body, mind, and spirit right now. If you consistently practice, you will see benefits, and likely, poses that are challenging or impossible to you now will become easier in time. That is the point. Yoga (imo) isn't something to do once a week. It is really something like brushing your teeth. When I get up, I brush my teeth, every single day. That is how I do yoga. Every single day. It's not always an intense hour-long practice. Sometimes, it's five or ten minutes, but I step on the mat, at least for a little while. Every single day.

Being hypothyroid means that I need to do less exercise (very little aerobic because that messes with my thyroid's calm and makes me dip more into hypothyroid land) but I have found that yoga helps me retain balance, strength, and flexibility and even heart health since yes I do raise my heart rate with some of the more challenging poses even if I am not running or jumping to get my aerobics in. Try plank pose on your elbows and toes and try holding it for a minute. (Keep breathing naturally and make sure your elbows are directly below your shoulders. Make sure your butt doesn't rise and that your shoulder blades are broad along your back. Keep your neck aligned with the rest of your spine, your butt flat, and your legs straight so as to not injure yourself. Push your heels toward the back of the room. And remember, if it even feels like it might start thinking about hurting, lower down and rest. Don't overdo. That's not what this is about.) By the end of that minute, you will be very grateful and your heart will be pounding hard.

Even if you do a little but do it every day, you will reap enormous benefits and not just physically. But, pushing yourself can definitely lead to injury so that is the less optimal way to practice. Do it today and tomorrow and the next day and pay attention to what your body is trying to tell you as you sit or stand or lie in a pose and you will be present and eventually by being present, you will progress.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/sunday-review/the-perils-of-yoga-for-men.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&smid=tw-share&pagewanted=2&adxnnlx=1356268466-1IMHsxS8ZQ9G/W5m6rmvTQ 

http://IzoldaT.com

Weight gain. Yep, I worried about it. I started getting heavy in my teens (right around when I likely became hypothyroid. Coincidence? Don't think so). I worked out. I tried to eat well. I did all the stuff you're supposed to do to stay in shape. In my early 20s, I became a vegetarian, I regularly did aerobics. I rode my bike. You get the picture.

But still the weight piled on like I was secretly eating four slices of cheesecake a night. And no matter what I did, I could not get the weight to come back off. When I got diagnosed with the hypothyroidism (I just realized I wrote it like it's a major epidemic like, The Plague, or the Black Death and heck maybe it is), it started to make sense. It wasn't my fault the weight had piled on. My thyroid was sluggish and the weight gain was one of the major symptoms. My metabolic rate firmly sat in the toilet and refused to budge. And exercising and eating healthfully made no difference whatsoever. (And the heavy exercising made things worse by taxing my already distressed thyroid.)

Now that I knew what the problem was, I was faced with a decision. Meds or no meds (oh and another thing they don't tell you: even if you go on meds, that doesn't mean that you will lose any weight at all. And you know, if you have read any other posts here, that I chose the non-meds method.)

You have to understand, the weight gain wasn't the main reason I finally went to the doctor to figure out what the problem was (the lack of energy and a menstrual cycle that wouldn't turn off was what did me in), but it was up there. I didn't like that my body hurt. I hated some of my other symptoms, but the weight gain and the accompanying issues pressed on me as if I was doing something wrong by not taking the weight off.

That's the thing, I think. Somehow, I felt guilty for not being effective enough in my effort to control my weight and my body. To top it off, as I gained more weight, people started commenting on my appearance. "Lose some weight!" or "Why don't you get some exercise?" were just two of the milder things I heard in the street from complete strangers (of course any friend that said something like that to me would stop being a friend immediately, but that's another story). The people who took it upon themselves to "advise" me on my weight/health/appearance had no idea about my efforts to maintain or lose weight. The only thing they saw was a fat girl/woman and for some bizarre reason they felt it was within their purview to harass me about it (sometimes under the guise of "caring." One particular woman said, "You're so pretty. If only you would lose some weight.")

I am sure there are some people out there who would like nothing better than to lie around, eat cheesecake and gain weight. I am sure there are people out there who are perfectly happy with their weight (no matter their size) and who don't give a da*n about the fact that they are fat. And I'd love it if we lived in a world where people of different sizes were just that, people of different sizes. And no one would say jack to them about it. But the perception persists that if you are fat or heavy that you are only that way because you don't care enough to get off your fat butt and do something about it (and that they get to talk to you about it). Is that perception appropriate? No. Is it still prevalent? You bet.

The idea that I didn't/don't care about my health and my weight, is patently untrue. I tried. I tried, hard, to lose the weight, but with hypothyroidism, it wasn't going to happen. So, I have had to deal with the lack of energy in combination with weighing more. And here's the thing, when you weigh more, it takes even more energy/effort to do the simplest things. So, it's a double-edged sword. Not only does the hypothyroidism make you gain weight, but you also have no energy, and then because you are heavier, it takes even more of that already scant energy to accomplish just about any task. It's enough to make you want to tear your hair out. Oh wait, the hypothyroidism takes care of hair loss for you, because, yes, that's another symptom.

Here's an image of a typical hypothyroidic.

This body shape often characterizes people with hypothyroidism. Often, the person will be barrel-shaped with smaller arms and legs but with a big, rounded torso. The upper abdomen will sometimes protrude further than than the lower.

We tend to carry our weight in the middle. Often, the upper part of the belly is big while other parts of the body are well within what would be considered a normal range by the CDC. They say that the stress hormone, Cortisol can be responsible for fat that gets stored in the middle of the upper belly. (Here is more information on Cortisol: http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/cortisol-14668 and here is information on Cortisol and belly fat: http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-body-shape?page=3). This is the way I am shaped as well. Because of this, I have been asked many times when I'm due, as if I am pregnant. It's quite shocking really that people don't realize that this isn't something they ought to be asking about.

For some reason, a person's weight (or reproductive status) seems to still be a subject up for discussion.  It boggles my mind.

Regardless, what can we EZH* do about the weight gain? There are things. First and foremost, get more sleep. I don't care what you have to do. Figure out a way to get more shut-eye. First, it will help you relax and release some of the burden on your thyroid. Second, it will give your body a chance to repair itself. Third, fourth, fifth ... there are lots of reasons. It might sound counterintuitive but it's so very true. So, get more sleep.

Second, keep your exercise consistent but minimal. That means no major heart-blasting super nuclear aerobics that blow the top off your head. The most important thing you can do for your thyroid and your metabolic rate is to give it time to recharge. Big, explosive exercise will kick your metabolic rate's butt straight into that commode from above. Do a little bit of exercise every day and consider doing whatever exercise will make you calm. Raise your heart rate a little but not too much. (More on all this at a later time.)

Third, regarding your food intake. Oh boy does it matter what you eat! EZHs tend to crave fast carbs and sugar. I think we do that because we desperately need energy, at all times. It is crucial that you stop eating white sugar (and all sugar, if you can). It fools your body into thinking you have more energy than you do. Don't trust the energy you get from it. It's pulling its sucrose-y wool over your eyes. Here's another counter-intuitive idea. Eat slower foods, in general. Instead of white rice, eat brown rice. Instead of white bread, try not to eat any bread and if you must, make it the really crunchy whole grain stuff. It will take longer to digest but it will give you better long-term energy. No, it won't be the quick fix, but the quick fix just leaves you desperately burning for more quick-fixes.

And that's the crux of it. Dealing with my thyroid issues naturally is a long-term proposition. There is no quick fix. Even meds won't be a quick fix. It takes consistent, daily work. I find that it's taken a daily commitment to myself. It takes me away from other things I could be doing, but it's worth it. The changes in my exercise regimen, awareness of what and how I eat, sleep patterns, and stress levels have raised my energy, brought the weight down, and gotten me *this* close to normal range. Oh how I will celebrate when I get there.

Until next time. Izolda http://IzoldaT.com

*Exhausted Zombie Hypothyroidics

Stress: the Thyroid's Enemy #1

Stress! It kicks all our butts. They've done studies about which countries are the most stressed out and hey the USA is close to the top of the pack (I'm shocked. Shocked, I say! Not.). Here are some numbers from the Expat Channel. A list of the four most stressful locations to move to: South Africa, USA, Australia, Southern Cyprus. According to Forbes, the most stressed out cities in the USA won't surprise us: They are (in order): Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Washington, DC. There are also studies on the most stressful jobs. 

People are out there studying stress because let's face it, it's a killer. (In case you need more proof, here's a list of scholarly work on stress and heart disease. I know I could find other ways in which stress kills, but I'm sure you get the point.) Here's an American Psychological Association study that links stress directly with depression and obesity. "And respondents who reported higher levels of stress were more likely to be obese or suffering from depression." (This is from a yahoo article about the study.) Another shocker: stress leaves you depressed and makes you gain weight.

Here's the thing: Two of the most prominent symptoms of hypothyroidism: (unexplained) weight gain and depression. So far, no studies have confirmed the direct link between stress and hypothyroidism. But, I'm here to tell you that I think it just hasn't been discovered yet. In my personal tale, the only time I ever go deeply hypothyroid is during stressful times in my life. At my most stressed out, my TSH level hit an all-time high 83 (remember normal range is somewhere around 0.1-~4.5).

I believe stress kicks the butts of people with the potential to become hypothyroid straight into the desolate land of the Exhausted, Zombie Hypothyroidics (yes, I know it's not a real word, and no I don't care, because I've written "people with hypothyroidism" way too many times already. In fact, I think from here on in, I will refer to us as EZHs.)

EZHs tend to gain weight easily and they have a hard time taking it off regardless of their exercise level or healthy eating habits. In my opinion, a lot of exercise (depending on the type you choose to do), will lower a EZH's metabolic rate even further. That will lead to less energy and more weight gain. Talk about irony... So, even when you do all the right things, if you are a EZH, you might just be making yourself worse, rather than better.

For example, they say that we should get 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise five times a week for optimal health (Here's the CDC list of recommendations on that). Or they want an hour and 15 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise a week. But, and this is a big "but," intense aerobic exercise when the thyroid is already sluggish, makes the thyroid go into a tale spin (at least it does to mine and I don't know about studies on that so this is my opinion, here). Depending on what's causing your pituitary to pump out TSH (testing for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone [TSH] levels is the usual way medical professionals first test you for hypothyroidism and often what the diagnosis is then based on), you could be doing yourself damage by keeping up with a lot of exercise if you are an EZH. 

What's good for the goose, isn't necessarily good for the gander, here. EZHs need to look at what they are doing to raise their heart rate extremely carefully. Yes, we all need to exercise our hearts and our entire cardiovascular systems. No question. But, EZHs need to monitor themselves and not do too much (and that is going to be based on the individual) because I believe they will knock themselves further down the EZH Hole of Doom.

The same goes for the food we eat. We are told: eat dark, leafy greens. Yes! Let's do that. Let's eat lots of spinach. If you are an EZH, however, you need to watch your spinach intake. Spinach is a goitrogen. It contains substances that interfere with the production of thyroid hormones. Read more on foods to eat or not to eat, here. So, while regular people can and ought to eat spinach, EZHs might want to be wary of it. And the same can be said for other foods that regular people can and ought to eat. More on that later.

So, when EZHs are stressed or have gained weight or are depressed, we might reach out to exercise to help with that. We might start eating those dark, leafy greens. After all, that's what we're told to do. But, those very things can make things worse for us. So, then, we need to figure out what we can do.

First and foremost, Deal. With. The Stress. Alleviate what you can and try to handle what you can't. And breathe. Keep coming back to your breath when you start to feel like you are in that never ending loop of craptastic stress. Your breath can calm you down and get your nerves and stress levels under control. So, next time you find yourself in that "Crap! I'm perpetually reenacting the Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader fight scene from the end of "The Empire Strikes Back," (You know. It's the one where Vader tosses too many things at Luke and Luke just ends up flailing and failing.) just stop and take three, full, deep breaths. Stand or sit still for a minute and just breathe. You will feel a trickle of your own power and (dare I say it) sanity, return. That will alleviate some of the immediate pressure on your thyroid and your adrenals and that will help you take the reins again more calmly. Then, you can take this opportunity to take a stand for your own health, to lay claim to your own well being.

Take the power into your own hands to look at what you and your body need. It's incredibly empowering and can also be really frightening to stand up and take our own health in hand. I'm not saying ignore your medical professionals. I'm saying work with them. I'm saying educate yourself on the literature. I'm saying check in, really check in with your body. No one, and I mean no one, knows your body better than you. You live in it every day and you know your aches, your pains, your issues, your victories, your everything better than anyone else on the planet can possibly know. The thing is that sometimes, exactly because we live only in our own bodies, we start accepting our aches, pains, and issues as normal. This is my life, we might think, and this pain/pressure/fatigue, etc. is just how it is. 

Maybe other people experience it the same way and maybe they don't, but it doesn't matter. Your pain is your pain and your thyroid is your thyroid and ultimately, the person responsible for the state of your health is you. The doctors, the medical professionals, physical therapists, nurses, acupuncturists, faith healers, whatever - they can tell you the diagnosis, they can prescribe the meds, they can lay out your options, they can suggest what you should do. They can even tell you strongly. But ultimately, the decision on whether or not to follow the advice, take the meds, go on the regimen, get the treatment, stop eating high-fat food, stop eating sugar, start eating carrots, start exercising, read up on your condition, or do none of the above? It rests with you.

So what to do? I'm going to ask you to sit down, right now, and make a list. Write down the things that you enjoy doing, the things that relax you. Are they: reading? Walking? Listening to or making music? Seeing a movie? Meditating? Write them all down. Make the list as comprehensive as you can. Write down anything you can think of that makes you feel peaceful and relaxed. 

Are watching television, surfing the internet, or drinking alcohol on the list? If so, those are the three biggies, I would advise against doing. They all get you out of your body and what you need to do when trying to do things naturally is be absolutely in your body so you can note and acknowledge (and perhaps act on) your status and any changes. (If you want to share some of your relaxation activities, please comment here and let me know. I'd love to see them.)

Once you have your list, start choosing one or perhaps two to do every day. Do only what you can. Remember, you don't ever want to put unnecessary pressure on yourself or your thyroid. Take it slowly. Start small. If you only spend two minutes dancing like a crazed marionette in your living room (one of my relaxing rituals), you will reap incredible benefits by opening the steam valve, even a little. (More on opening the steam valve at later date.) Do the things that will help you relax and remove some of the stress on your thyroid. It will thank you. Mine has thanked me by coming down to a TSH level of only 4.79. I am this close, .04, from being in the normal range. And I'm going to keep working on getting it completely back to being smack dab in the middle of that range. It's more work but it's worth it.

http://IzoldaT.com