Character Health & Fitness: Craig (9-1-1)

I think it's important to be as healthy as we can but I don't think anyone should feel pressure to do extreme things such as working out to the point they injure themselves trying to attain a certain look or weight. I feel like there is this pressure in our society to get "in shape" instead of being healthy. Which at times have some overexerting themselves in order to get "in shape".

Which brings me to my Character Health & Fitness post, in the 9-1-1 fifth season fifth episode Peer Pressure there was this guy Craig who was constantly seeing the commercials and ads for the workout mirror Narcissus. It's supposed to help you become the "more perfect you" and become "a Greek God". So of course he eventually bought one.

(Craig     9-1-1 season 5 episode 5: Peer Pressure)

Evan Buckley and the Relaxing Benefits of Coloring

In Monday night's 9-1-1 episode What's Your Fantasy?, Evan "Buck" Buckley was babysitting his adorable niece Jee-Yun Buckley-Han and one of the first activities they were doing was coloring. However, it didn't go so well with her being so active and energetic and running all over his apartment (it's a really funny scene) until she tired herself out and was sleeping upstairs in his bedroom.

(9-1-1 season 6 episode 8: What's Your Fantasy?)

Character Health & Fitness: Ben Tennyson

When I think of Ben Tennyson, I immediately think of his smoothie obsession. Throughout the various Ben 10 animated series sequels: Alien Force to Omniverse, Ben was always drinking all types of different and sometimes weird smoothie combinations that he would get from his favorite drink café, Mr. Smoothy.

I love drinking smoothies, they're a good way to get in healthy nutrients like vitamins, fiber, protein, calcium and more. I know drinking smoothies can be healthy but Ben drinks several daily and I'm sure whatever health benefit he got from drinking the first smoothie was cancelled out from drinking so many throughout the day. And not to mention, he also likes to eat a lot of chili fries and other fast and junk food as well.

Ben might be a hero but he's certainly not one of the healthiest ones. I wouldn't follow his approach to health and fitness because the only exercise he seems to get is when he's fighting villains. Otherwise, he's mainly either at home lounging on the sofa playing his favorite Sumo Slammer video games, watching Sumo Slammer TV shows and movies or at Mr. Smoothy drinking numerous smoothies.

Below are a few health and fitness tips, I would recommend for Ben:

- He should work out at least 30 to 60 minutes a day. Although, Ben is active whenever he's fighting various villains, he's still not getting enough exercise because he's not always fighting crime or stopping galactic invasions. So, exercising or training daily would increase his stamina and strength and keep him in shape to protect the universe.

- Drinking Smoothies and eating fast food should not be his main source of food. He definitely needs to drink more water and eat a variety of healthy food which includes plenty of fruits and vegetables. He should also take a multivitamin, since he's probably not getting enough nutrients.

- Since Ben has a stressful life as a superhero and I found that he does relax by playing video games and watching TV. However, you don't want to spend too many hours not being active. I would recommend adding other activities to reduce stress such as yoga, bike riding and meditation.

These are just some suggestions I had for Ben but considering he can be a tad lazy and stubborn, I highly doubt he would do any of these things.

Rory Gilmore and the Health Benefits of Dancing

I finally watched Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life and I loved watching every minute of the four episodes: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Throughout each episode, Rory Gilmore was experiencing a setback not only career wise but in her life in general. She was stressing out which is understandable because her life wasn't turning out the way she had hoped. Journalism is a tough career even more so as a freelance writer which is what she was doing. You could tell that she loves writing (and she's great at it) but she was having a difficult time finding work.

In the episode Winter, Rory was dealing with some of her stress by tap dancing albeit in the middle of the night in her mother's kitchen. She said tap dancing was the only way to shut off her brain from constantly over-thinking. It also lessen her anxieties which allowed her to relax.

Dancing does have a lot of health benefits such as improved cardio, muscle strength and toning; reduce stress and it boost your self-confidence. Rory was right, it is a great way to shut off your brain because you will be so focused on dancing that you will not worry about anything else.

If you're looking for a stress relief option perhaps try dancing. To get the health benefits, you don't have to take dance classes (unless you want to), all you have to do is turn on some music and dance for about 20 to 30 minutes.

(Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life - Winter)