Eggs are a great source of rich, high quality protein.  In addition, they contain a plethora of nutrients like Vitamin A, B1, B12, D and E as well as zinc, iron, phosphorus and folate.  However, the yellow yolk within eggs contains 250-300mg of cholesterol (depending on egg size).  The National Heart Foundation prescribes a daily intake of no more than 300mg of cholesterol a day.  To bring you some perspective on this number, a cup of whole milk contains 30mg of cholesterol, a 100g serving of ground beef has 85g of cholesterol.  Thus, just one whole egg puts you at or atleast close to the recommended daily cholesterol intake.
 
But here is the deal:

1. We as individuals react differently to certain foods.  Individuals with existingly high cholesterol levels are more likely to realize an elevation in cholesterol levels from eggs (or other high cholesterol foods) than individuals with lower healthy cholesterol levels
   
   
2. Your diet plays an important factor in your cholesterol level.  A diet comprising of high saturated fat is one to see an elevation in cholesterol levels from excessive egg consumption than a diet that is low in saturated fat. 
   
   

What this means

If you are an individual with a healthy cholesterol level (<5mmol/l) and one that maintains a well balanced diet  that is low in saturated fat and were to have an egg or two daily, you should be alright, and your cholesterol levels would continue to be within the acceptable range.

However, if your diet comprises of high intake of saturated fats (butter, meat, dairy), you could realize higher cholesterol levels because your overall quantity of fat would be higher than your overall cholesterol consumption.  This is because saturated fat can be easily converted into cholesterol in the body (given existing high cholesterol levels).

Let me remind you that the yolk in an egg only contains 1.5g of saturated fat.  Thus, it would not necessarily fall under high ‘fatty foods’.

To further prove this, take a moment to look at the mortality rates from heart disease and diseases induced by high cholesterol levels in Japan and France.  Both countries contain a high egg-eating population and compared to other developed nations their mortality rates are low. 

Studies have been performed where there was no significant correlation between egg consumption and cardiovascular disease among healthy individuals free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia or cancer

So how many eggs a week?

Check you cholesterol level:

• If you’re cholesterol is within healthy levels (<5mmol/l) and maintain a well balanced diet, you can have 1-2 eggs daily.
  
  
• If you suffer from diabetes and/or are at risk of cardiovascular disease (smoking, hypertension etc.) and have a cholesterol level higher than 7mmol/l, limit your intake to 1-2 eggs a week.

Depriving your body of its minimum sleep requirement can cause several health problems.  

How do you know your sleep deprived?

If you start experiencing:

• Fatigue
• Daytime sleepiness
• Poor motor and cognitive skills
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficulty getting out of bed and/or waking up groggy constantly

The short term implications of sleep deprivation include poor performance of day-to-day tasks, bad decisions, inattention leading to accidents.  In the long run, depriving your body of sleep can seriously affect ones health.  Weight gain, weakened immune system, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, depression are all health conditions that doctors have linked directly to sleep deprivation.

How can I get away with less sleep?

Albeit, sleep is a personal matter and its minimum requirement varies from one individual to another.  Some people may only need 4-6 hours of sleep a night to function optimally.  The extraneous factors that come into play with getting away with less sleep here are:

1.      Amount of stress in your lifestyle
2.      Quality of sleep

People with fewer obligations and living a generally relaxed lifestyle may actually get away with 6 hours or sleep and feel great day-after-day and lead an overall healthy life.  However, as you take on more responsibilities and make your life hectic, your body is going to command a certain number of hours greater than just six…

Unless, you become an efficient sleeper and get what you need from sleep in a short duration of time.  This efficiency is realized by maximizing Deep Sleep.  See, when you enter sleep, you go through different sleep stages – Deep Sleep being one of the last and most important stages.

You know you are in deep sleep when you are difficult to awaken and if awakened, you can’t adjust immediately and so feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes.  What essentially happens in deep sleep is that blood flow to the brain decreases and redirects itself towards muscles, restoring physical energy.  It is also the stage where the body begins to recover when sleep deprived.

How do I maximize deep sleep and become an efficient sleeper?

Make sure your sleep environment is comfortable and outside noise is minimized.  Any excess noise or excessive light can disrupt you from maximizing deep sleep and leave you in disruptive sleep.  In addition, avoid alcohol and nicotine as these are also factors that disrupt deep sleep.

So how much sleep do I really need?

To establish this, you would first need to eradicate your sleep ‘debt’.  Sleep debt is accrued by consecutively depriving your body of the required amount of sleep.  

Thus, you would first need to set aside a week or two, free of any disruptions so that you can focus on your sleep schedule.  Allow yourself to sleep in for as long as you want and wake up naturally without an alarm clock.  Once your sleep debt is paid off, it will be easier for you to determine the average amount of sleep needed by your body. This could be determined by evaluating how you feel after getting x number of sleep hours.  If you still experience any grogginess, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, trouble concentrating or poor motor skill, you may have to increase the amount of sleep.

Try setting a typical bedtime that you could stick to effectively and one that allows you the sleep you need.

Please note, it is a common misnomer that by paying off your sleep debt, you would have eradicated any effects of sleep deprivation.  Keep in mind, by allowing yourself to catch up on lost sleep hours you can eliminate some of the negative signs of sleep deprivation; however, the effects from long term sleep deprivation will not be eradicated. The damage has already been done!

The more popular approach is weight training.  This encompasses the movement of weights in a series of sets, each comprising of repetitions.  Equipment used includes dumbbells, barbells, cable pulleys, machines.

Another approach is resistance training.  The basic principle is the same as weight training; however, the equipment used differs.  Elastic bands (resistance bands) or hydraulic resistance is involved to force muscle contraction rather than gravity (as applicable in weight training). 

An effective strength training approach is calesthenics.  The primary means of resistance in this approach is your own bodyweight.  Calesthenics encompass movements such as pushups, standing squats, situps, pullups etc.

Isometric training is a strength building approach that strengthens the muscle at a  specific joint angle.  Some examples for Isometric training are wall sit, the plank
 
Plyometrics is another effective strength training regimen that is often overlooked.  It involves fast and powerful movements that improve ones overall explosiveness.  Some plyometric moves include box jumps, clean and jerks, a dumbbell snatch

Also noteworthy is that all these aforementioned strength training approaches involve different techniques/routines within.  Some of these include:

Super-setting:  This technique involves performing one strength training exercise after another without any breaks in between.  The muscle groups worked in the 2 consecutive exercises could be the same or different.  An example of super-setting would be performing a flat bench press followed by dumbbell chest flys

Drop-setting:  This kind of routine encompasses performing the same strength training exercise successively (with no breaks) but with a lighter load.  This works well with weight training. An example of drop-setting would be performing a flat barbell bench press at 145 lbs for 10 reps and then doing another 10 reps successively at 90lbs

Circuit training: It is a combination of cardiovascular activity and strength training activity.  Minimal to no break is involved when transitioning from one to another.  When one circuit is finished, you rest and move on to the next circuit. An example of a circuit could be 10 pushups followed by 10 lunges followed by 10 pullups, with minimal to no rest between exercises.

Ideally, you would want to incorporate as many of these strength training approaches and techniques into your own exercise routine.  Sticking to one single training regimen for an extended period of time will eventually result in you reaching a plateau.  Your body is going to get very efficient at performing repetitive exercises.  In addition,   changing your routine from time-to-time will keep things fresh mentally and keep your excitement and motivation up! 

You would need to incorporate a muscle building regimen (resistance/weight training) such that you will be expending calories even after you have finished your workout.  Remember, your body burns calories while it repairs and builds muscle.  Every time you partake in any form of resistance training, the recruited muscle groups in the activity incur micro ‘tears’.  The repair and healing window of these muscle micro tears is about 24-48 hours.  During this muscle building window, calories are burnt and your body fat is targeted

Therefore, the goal should be to continuously place your body in this fat burning/muscle building window; whereas, when you workout, you should focus on burning as many calories as possible while performing exercises inducing maximum muscle formation.

Cardiovascular activities should an integral part of your exercise regimen and not your entire exercise regimen!

Partake in a weight/resistance training routine 3-4 times a week.  Perform cardiovascular exercises 2-3 times a week.

What sort of cardio should you do?