Bubble Wrap

Today I want to discuss bubble wrap. That’s right the packing material.

You might be thinking, “Oh, this guy has gone over the edge.”

Well, I haven’t, at least not completely over the edge, maybe teetering.

How can bubble wrap help you?

One of my patients’s been trying to quit smoking and was gaining weight because he was sitting in front of the television eating instead of smoking. Weight gain is very common for those who are refraining from smoking.

The answer to his problem was to occupy his hands. I told him to get bubble paper. As you can imagine he thought that was a very strange idea.

Maybe it was but it worked. The act of popping the little plastic bubbles kept his hands busy (plus it is fun) while he was watching television. Obviously, his craving for nicotine was not any less but the bubble paper acted as a distraction.

Using this same thought process I recommend bubble wrap to many patients who are on a diet as sitting in front of the television is often associated with eating snacks. So the answer was to keep the hands busy by popping the bubble wrap.

So that’s how bubble wrap helps my patients. Try it!

Since we are talking about TV watching I want to share how you can use TV watching to your advantage.

In these two case scenarios sitting and watching the television was detrimental. I often request my patients to keep physically busy while they are watching television.

While TV viewing you can perform exercises such as marching in place during commercials, stretching the muscles of the lower back and the hamstrings (back of legs), alternate between stretches for the upper and lower body, perform abdominal conditioning with proper technique and do pushups. You can even grab some dumbbells for arm and shoulder work.

How much TV do we watch? According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), kids in the United States watch about 4 hours of TV a day. Some studies indicate that American adults watch 3-4 hours of TV per night.

To summarize, if you are dieting or trying to quit smoking (or if you are not on a diet or trying to quit smoking) and you find that sitting in front of the TV is your worst enemy try bubble wrap. In addition to keeping your hands busy consider exercising when watching television. If you watch a minimum of two hours of TV per night and you devote 30 minutes (in 5-10 increments) you will have exercised for 3.5 hours for the week.

That’s it for now. Stay Well! Stay Healthy!

Dr. Michael J. Kaye
Knowledge, Action, Results

P.S. To learn more on how to create a life of health, wealth
and happiness log onto http://tinyurl.com/2hqf44