Matters of the Heart....

Been busy trying to clock in more hours ( with my baby cos he's also my personal fitness coach ) doing interval training which comprises of short to moderate periods of running, alternated with short to moderate periods of rest or reduced activity (to help improve my cardiovascular system without overtraining).

Also did continuous training which involves running continuously at a certain intensity and duration to fit my goal ( to improve my endurance for upcoming marathons : currently my goal is to achieve > 70% of my MHR for at least an hour to increase my anaerobic threshold ) and strength training at the gym...

MHR : Maximum heart rate, which is 220 - your age

Anaerobic threshold : the amount of time your body can endure lactic acid
build up in your muscles before you cannot go any further

Most of my friends will comment that I'm a fitness freak, but considering my family history of ailments, I think it's my best bet to exercise before the doctor tells me to do so... ( of course there will be days I will feel lazy to run... dun worry I know how it feels like too...)

There's a holistic range of health, emotional, psychological and beauty benefits that comes along with exercising... ( of course I wun bore readers with the whole list coz there's just too many ) you have to try it yourself to believe the effects of exercising regularly...

Maybe here's some....

1. Reduce the chances of contracting any cardiovascular-related diseases or problems.
Research done from Harvard Medical School shows that

- as few as 1-2 hrs a week of moderate physical activity reduce the risk of heart disease by 27 %.

- 2-5 hrs a week of exercise resulted in a 32% decrease

- >5 hrs a week of exercise resulted in a 41% decrease

2. Reduce stress ( due to feel-good hormones released )

3. Reduce antioxidants and thus strengthen immune system

4. Reduce fat content

5. Makes you feel BETTER about yourself

book review... Surviving The Extremes

Besides being committed to work and spending quality time with my hubby for leisure and health purposes, as well as hang out with friends after working hours... I also slotted in some personal reading time for myself... and just finished a fantastic book, I will never forget for the rest of my life...



It's called 'Surviving the Extremes' by Kenneth Kamler, a doctor and always a curious observer cum adventurer, yet also conscientiously practising extreme medicine in environments so extreme and demanding on normal human limits... He proved himself indisposable to his teams...

What made me fell in love with this book is the manner it was written...simple yet captivating... the content overflows with knowledge, mostly biological concepts, yet told in such an engaging and humorous manner I wish all biology textbooks can be written as such...

It is truly worth of your time to pick up this book and be transported to several great adventures - from surviving the Amazon rainforest, to the underwater, desert, high seas and outer space ( the most frightening experience to my opinion ) . You may never know when the knowledge gained can come in handy in the future... :)

Rating = 5 stars

life is so hectic if u live it to the fullest...

I'm currently posted to the immunology bench to be trained this whole week - but ended up all alone to fend for myself and to ask only when in doubt... other than that, I have to religiously follow the work instructions, rely on my gut instincts and time management skills... More or less, I get to feel how an orphan feels...I feel so vulnerable to attacks by the docs...

It can't be helped as we're frequently short of staff... one of my seniors mending the haematology bench kept falling sick... ( most of the med techs are sick anyway, mayb the air in lab isn't too good ) whilst the rest of my seniors have other responsibilities to attend to...

It's okay... I will survive through it all, it just takes more practice and getting familiar with the immunology benchwork... which takes a LOT of hard work, patience and you really, really need to be meticulous... because on this bench, I need to perform tests that will allow me to monitor drug assays...such as tacrolimus,cyclosporine, vancomycin, digoxin,etc...u name it...




It means I am in charge of informing the doc with my results whether the drug he's administering to his patients is within the safe range, whether the dosage needs to be reduced or increased... I can also determine whether warded patients are dengue positive or not, confirm whethr a woman is pregnant or not by the level of beta-HCG in her bld ( more accurate than urine test ) and whether the level of important growth hormones are within the safe zone in newly born babies...

More responsibilities I can foresee... but it's part and parcel of growing better in my workplace... :)




On the other hand, I try to reduce my stress hormones by reading engaging books and comics... such as this one from Babyblues 21 compilation I just finished...( by Rick Kirkman & Jerry Scott )

by the way, hope this song makes my hubby's day... it's so pure and full of love it's is current favourite now... enjoy...