Diet, exercise, and sleep are three pillars of a healthy life. While improving just one of these lifestyle factors can help people lead longer lives, several recent studies have suggested that improving all three may be a better way to improve both physical and mental health1.
Diet, exercise, and sleep influence one another in complex and innumerable ways. Learning about how these activities affect one another is an important part of understanding why research has shown that the more of these lifestyle behaviors you improve, the better your well-being2.
Diet
Diet and nutrition affect virtually all aspects of our health. Eating a healthy, balanced diet has been shown to reduce the risk of a myriad of health conditions3, from heart disease and stroke, to diabetes and obesity. Diet can also affect our mental health4, with several studies suggesting that certain diets may reduce the risk of developing depression and anxiety, try out carbofix.
Food can either fuel or foil a workout, and research shows that combining a healthy diet with adequate exercise offers more benefits than improving diet alone5. The right combination of fluids, carbohydrates and protein, eaten at the right time, can improve athletic performance and decrease fatigue6. Poor dietary choices, like eating right before a high-intensity cardio workout, can lead to increased nausea 7 and make exercise more challenging.
What we eat also also impacts sleep quality and duration. Caffeine is notorious for making it more difficult to fall asleep and eating too close to bedtime can lead to sleep disruptions8. Most health experts recommend avoiding caffeine prior to sleeping. Having too much calories or fat in your diet may make it harder to get enough sleep9, as do diets lacking key nutrients10, like calcium, magnesium, and vitamins A, C, D, and E.
Exercise
Exercise is a cornerstone of health and benefits nearly every system in the body. Many of the benefits are seen immediately, like reduced anxiety, lowered blood pressure, and better sleep. Consistent exercise offers even more long term benefits11, including better weight management, stronger bones, and a reduced risk of more than 35 diseases12. This is how Gluconite works as a healthy natural supplement.
High intensity exercise decreases appetite13, often for at least 30 to 60 minutes after finishing a workout. Additionally, incorporating a massage after such workouts, like a CrossFit session, can further enhance recovery. Physical activity can also help you feel more satisfied and full after a meal14. Unfortunately, sedentary activities appear to have the opposite effect. Research has shown that people who spend more time watching television consume more calories and are more likely to be overweight15.
A substantial amount of research has shown that getting regular exercise, particularly with the guidance of a personal trainer (CPT), can improve sleep. Both aerobic exercise, such as cardio and running, and resistance exercise, like weightlifting, can enhance sleep quality. Any amount of movement may improve sleep, although younger people usually require more exercise than older people to see the same benefits. Generally, engaging in exercise in the afternoon or early evening is conducive to better sleep. It’s important to note that exercise done just before sleep can increase stress hormones, potentially worsening sleep problems.
Working out can also reduce the risk of sleep problems, like insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and restless leg syndrome (RLS). Multiple studies have shown that exercise can reduce pre-sleep anxiety and improve sleep quality in people with insomnia18. One study found that a 12-week regimen of aerobic and resistance training led to a 25% reduction in the severity of OSA19, while also improving sleep quality and reducing daytime fatigue. A similar study in people diagnosed with RLS found that a 12-week exercise regimen reduced the severity of this condition by 39%20
I’m so with you about disliking DPSing with other people in my same class! I play a ret pally and I GET SO COMPETITIVE with them. Though only one consistently topped me with any frequency, ugh, grouping makes me so bothered.
Pshaw the dps version of this has been circling the blogocube for days now!
The pet buffing thing isn’t ever going to get better until Blizz makes it more convenient. Warlocks want their imp buffed but oh darn, it was phase shifted when kings went out. Mages and shaman bug for buffs for their temporary pets, Death Knights want might, no they want kings, no wait my ghoul needs AI!
Its a big huge extremely annoying mess.
The fact that improved paladin buffs on pets also override the warrior buffs is terrible.
My least used ability is probably Scorpid Sting. I don’t even have it on my bars — though I think I probably should for my Marks offspec if I ever used it on fights like Gormok (for the disarm).
Outside of ToC, Tranq shot was much less used (by me), but now that we’re doing ToC, I feel like I’m using it constantly. (The other one you didn’t mention is normal-Icehowl, to turn “AUGH RUN YOU GET A SPEED BUFF *splat*” into “Tranq shot tranq sh… thanks Tetron.”)
DPS is still something I’m working on but I have found myself getting quite emotional in situations where my pet dies. Kinda like “how dare you!!!” and revive and pewpew twice as hard if I can – Revenge will be mine!!
I did one! I was surprised at some of the answers I provided on my own blog. I never think about these things normally.
Similarly, all those quests where you get to pick a reward item of either “gain back health on physical attack!” or “gain back mana on spellcast!” … can there be one for “gain back mana on physical attack”? Please? /puppy dog eyes
That bugs me too! I just remembered there was talk of hunters getting focus in Cataclysm… I wonder if that will make the situation better or worse? There might be a new suite of “gains focus on physical attack” items. Ooh. Maybe it will apply to hunters and pets! *gleeful speculating*
“That hunter is about /send pet and /afk auto shot. ” I actually teamed with a hunter that did only that for an Ony last night. It was a mainly guild run that we had to pug a few spots for. I was in total disbelief and shock when I saw that.
I’m bm/surv and I am #1 in my guild’s raids regardless of the spec (well to be honest if there is another high dps I get competitive and pull out my surv spec and Dave my wolf), but as it stands I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in a 10 man raid outdps my hunter by any substantial amount at all. Oh and yes my pet is a refernce to a scifi movie “what are you doing Dave?”
@Donovitch
Which I’m sure is a phrase your raid NEVER wants to hear from you. 😉
I was going to say distracting shot, but I actually do use it once in a while, mostly when I’m emergency taunting something angry of a squishy caster (I’ve been tanking recently on my pally it stays with you >_> )
scorpid sting, I actually kinda forgot it existed o_o
hunters are killing the meters in my guild as well. we have this one amazing mage and this one amazing rogue and occasional DK shoots ahead (when they show up for the raids that is) but then its out 3 hunters. and half the time, one of them outdpses the mage too O_o
Thanks for taking the time, Pike!
I’ve really enjoyed reading all of these!
I’ll add a linkie for you and Shagrat on my follow up post. 🙂
I definitely agree with the ‘buff fights our pets get no love’ thing. I’ve raided as lock and DK now (usually with my perma-ghoul) and our pets need help! It’s looking somewhat promising for 3.3 btw. Our pets do need to scale with the fight.
Good luck with your word count!
My wife the resto druid also hates it when I don’t immediately and instanteously rez my pet upon zoning in. “Where’s Howlsalot?” “Dead. I’m–” “REZ HIM NAO!” “–rezzing him. 10 second cast ftl.”
People get too caught up with WMO and the like. So some mage got lucky and crit 25 times in a row. So a rogue in full BiS gear got tricked and also hit a lucky streak. Who cares? If you’re good, you’ll top the meters.
I am a reletively new hunter (formely pally Tank) I use the tern new loosley cause I have a 46 hunter (marksman spec) I must be or used to be one of the few pally tanks that buff hunter pets all the time. I figure if I buff them it makes my job a little easier. Now that i am almost a full time hunter I have yet to exp. a dungeon with my hunter and have never seen someone randomly go by and buff me and then my Pet. I love random buffs while leveling. Pets need to get more love. As far as the other DPS stuff I learned some from this particular post. keep up the work Pike (just found your blog about 2 weeks ago) wish I found it a lot sooner I would have done things differently on my Dwarf hunter
I don’t like playing with ppl with my own spec mostly because my feral Druid an 80 for almost a year sucks with 1k dps so I’m giving up on her for a while and going to try to lvl a hunter past lvl 46 so good thing your marksman now cuz I think that’s her spec but idk havn’t played her for 2-3 years btw love your blog only hunter one I read
People get too caught up with WMO and the like.
When the same classes (which aren’t Hunters) are routinely topping WORLD RECORD SCOREBOARDS, it infers that there is an issue, especially if they are not pure classes.
An SV response on my Grease Trap: http://kittenliberationarmy.com/TheGreaseTrap/2009/11/14/the-dps-chain-circle/
Thanks to DG! Hadn’t thought about many of these issues in quite a while!
Oilcan
My pet peeve is generally with pallies buffing. All the guilds I’ve been in have a high number of pallies on the runs. but hunters are lucky to get 2 buffs, hopefully those two are kings and might, but there are 5 or 6 pallies.
I think the solution of the pet buffing would be that pet and owner share buffs. Sadly I don’t think it bliz will implement it. But how I think it should works is any buff that is in affect on the pet owner should also be working for the pet, that way if a pet dies and gets brought back it still gets buffs, also the temp pets (trees, water elem, ghoul) would get buffs too!
Syland: Sv Hunter, and every other class.
i am with u all the way about newbes in the hunters class learning about pet management. I am also noticeing a differance between my hunter and a rouge, blizz really needs to do something 2 even the playing field