The Importance of Exercise! 8 Fitness Facts

Fitness Fact 1. Studies have suggested that walking at a brisk pace for three or more hours a week can reduce your risk for coronary heart disease by 65 percent.

Fitness Fact 2. No matter how poor your current level of fitness, you can start an exercise routine and become fitter and healthier. Even 90-year-old women who use walkers have been shown in studies to benefit from light weight training.

Fitness Fact 3. Simply adding movement into your daily routine can increase your level of fitness. For example, if you park in the last row of the parking lot and walk briskly five minutes each way between your office and your car, walk up and down the stairs at your office during your 10-minute afternoon coffee break, and walk the dog for 10 minutes when you get home, you've racked up 30 minutes of exercise for the day.

Fitness Fact 4. Women with heart disease or arthritis actually experience improved daily function from involvement in various modes of physical activity.

Fitness Fact 5. Fitness consists of four components: your body's ability to use oxygen as a source of energy, which translates into cardiovascular fitness; muscular strength and endurance; flexibility; and body composition.

Fitness Fact 6. To address all the components of fitness, an exercise program needs to include aerobic exercise, which is continuous repetitive movement of large muscle groups that raises your heart rate; weight lifting or strength training; and flexibility exercises or stretching.

Fitness Fact 7. Walking at a brisk pace (a 15-minute mile or 4 mph) burns almost as many calories as jogging for the same distance. The benefit of jogging is that it takes less time to cover the same distance and it benefits the bones; however, it may be too strenuous for some.

Fitness Fact 8. It can take about 12 weeks after starting an exercise program to see measurable changes in your body. However, before 12 weeks, you will notice an increase in your strength and endurance.

Exercise improves your mood.
Need to blow off some steam after a stressful day? A workout at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help you calm down. Exercise stimulates various brain chemicals, which may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed than you were before you worked out. You'll also look better and feel better when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem. Exercise even reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.

Exercise combats chronic diseases.
Worried about heart disease? Hoping to prevent osteoporosis? Regular exercise might be the ticket. Regular exercise can help you prevent — or manage — high blood pressure. Your cholesterol will benefit, too. Regular exercise boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol while decreasing low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly by lowering the buildup of plaques in your arteries.
And there's more. Regular exercise can help you prevent type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer.

Exercise helps you manage your weight.
Want to drop those excess pounds? Trade some couch time for walking or other physical activities. This one's a no-brainer. When you exercise, you burn calories. The more intensely you exercise, the more calories you burn — and the easier it is to keep your weight under control. You don't even need to set aside major chunks of time for working out. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk during your lunch break. Do jumping jacks during commercials. Better yet, turn off the TV and take a brisk walk. Dedicated workouts are great, but activity you accumulate throughout the day helps you burn calories, too.

Exercise strengthens your heart and lungs.
Winded by grocery shopping or household chores? Don't throw in the towel. Regular exercise can leave you breathing easier.
Exercise delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. In fact, regular exercise helps your entire cardiovascular system — the circulation of blood through your heart and blood vessels — work more efficiently. Big deal? You bet! When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you'll have more energy to do the things you enjoy.

Exercise promotes better sleep.
Struggling to fall asleep? Or stay asleep? It might help to boost your physical activity during the day. A good night's sleep can improve your concentration, productivity and mood. And, you guessed it, exercise is sometimes the key to better sleep. Regular exercise can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. The timing is up to you — but if you're having trouble sleeping, you might want to try late afternoon workouts. The natural dip in body temperature five to six hours after you exercise might help you fall asleep.

Exercise can put the spark back into your sex life.
Are you too tired to have sex? Or feeling too out of shape to enjoy physical intimacy? Exercise to the rescue. Regular exercise can leave you feeling energized and looking better, which may have a positive effect on your sex life. But there's more to it than that. Exercise improves your circulation, which can lead to more satisfying sex. And men who exercise regularly are less likely to have problems with erectile dysfunction than are men who don't exercise, especially as they get older.

Exercise can be — gasp — fun!
Wondering what to do on a Saturday afternoon? Looking for an activity that suits the entire family? Get physical! Exercise doesn't have to be drudgery. Take a ballroom dancing class. Check out a local climbing wall or hiking trail. Push your kids on the swings or climb with them on the jungle gym. Plan a neighborhood kickball or touch football game. Find an activity you enjoy, and go for it. If you get bored, try something new. If you're moving, it counts!

Are you convinced? Good. Start reaping the benefits of physical activity today!

Grace and Peace,

Ed

www.uriinternational.com/realfoodforlife

Diet For Brain Health

Oooops! I said I was going to write on this two days ago and it slipped my mind! :-) Here is a list of interventions that Dr. Amen has found helpful.

Many people with ADD do better on higher protein, lower "simple" carbohydrate diet.

Protein is found in meat, eggs, cheese, nuts, and beans

Decrease the amounts of simple carbohydrates, such as sugar, corn syrup, honey, candy, white bread, white flour, white rice, potatoes without the skin, white pasta

Eat more complex carbohydrates, such as fruits (oranges, tangerines, pears, grapefruit, apples, kiwi, but not grapes, dates or bananas) and vegetables

Increase the amounts of Omega 3 Fatty Acids in the diet and through supplements. Omega 3 Fatty Acids are found in cold water white fish, such as tuna and salmon, walnuts, Brazil nuts, olive and canola oil

Decrease artificial colors (especially red and yellow) and food additives (nitrites, MSG, aspartame, etc.)

Eliminate caffeine, nicotine

Evening carbohydrates help sleep, but increase weight

Intense aerobic exercise for 20-30 minutes 5-7 times a week

Diagphragmatic breathing - deep breaths in and out, for anger and anxiety control

Proper sleep (7-8 hours)

As I research and write this blog it becomes increasingly clear and obvious that there are a few universal truths about good health, proper nutrition, and productive longevity!

Eliminate or learn to release harmful, unnecessary stress! Good stress motivates, Bad stress deteriorates!

Eat a diet rich in Live, Full Spectrum, Organic Produce, Nuts, Seeds and sprouts.

Consume good sources of lean protein.

Get enough Omega 3's, sleep and a balanced exercise routine consisting of aerobics, strength training and stretching.

Breath deeply and drink plenty of pure filtered water.

Boring, old and VERY, VERY, TRUE! Back to the basics! Back to Nature!

Grace and Peace,

Ed

www.urilife.net/realfoodforlife

The Imprtance of Sleep and Weight Management

My wife and I were watching 60 minutes on CBS last night and they had a very interesting show on the effects of sleep deprivation. While anyone who has been awake, or had severely disturbed sleep, for over 48 hours knows first hand that there are some physical and mental changes that take place, the show had some interesting studies regarding the actual physiology involved when our body is deprived of deep restful sleep for prolonged periods of time.

Most interesting to me was the effect that sleep deprivation has on our weight! Here is an excerpt of an article found at http://www.sleep-deprivation.com/ :

Leptin and Grehlin are hormones that help the body control appetite and weight gain and loss. Leptin suppresses appetite, while Grehlin increases appetite and may prevent a person from losing weight.When lack of sleep becomes a chronic problem, levels of Grehlin increases, causing greater appetite, and levels of Leptin decrease. Regardless of diet and exercise, it's possible that some obesity is caused, or made worse, by sleep deprivation.

If you are experiencing problems sleeping and think your sleeping disorders might be causing you to gain weight, you should consider visiting a doctor, who can discuss ways to help restore your normal sleeping pattern. You may even want to consult a sleep lab for evaluation. There, you will spend the night hooked up to electrodes, which will monitor your brain activity during sleep. The process is painless and may be covered by your insurance.

Regular exercise will improve your quality of sleep, as will reducing or eliminating you intake of alcohol, caffeine and tobacco.If enlarged tonsils are obstructing your airway and causing sleep apnea, the doctor might want to surgically remove the organs. He or she also may prescribe sleep medications to help you sleep through the night. While some newer sleep medications may be used for long-term sleep problems, it's important for you and your doctor to weigh their risks and benefits. Remember to ask your doctor about Melatonin! Getting your sleep problems diagnosed and treated may be the first step in accomplishing your weight loss goals. If you've tried everything to lose weight and nothing seems to be working, don't give up. Lack of sleep may be keeping you from achieving weight loss success.

Another area of great concern to my wife and I was the relationship between sleep deprivation and Type II Diabetes. Here's an article I found at http://www.sciencedaily.com/ :

Science Daily (Jan. 2, 2008) — Suppression of slow-wave sleep in healthy young adults significantly decreases their ability to regulate blood-sugar levels and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, report researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The researchers studied nine lean, healthy volunteers, five men and four women between the ages of 20 and 31. The subjects spent two consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory, where they went to bed at 11 P.M., slept undisturbed but carefully monitored, and got out of bed 8.5 hours later, at 7:30 A.M.

The same subjects were also studied for three consecutive nights during which they followed identical nighttime routines. During this session, however, when their brain waves indicated that they were drifting into slow-wave sleep they were subtly disturbed by sounds administered through speakers beside the bed.

These sounds were loud enough to disrupt deep sleep but not so loud as to cause a full awakening. This technique enabled the researchers to decrease slow-wave sleep by about 90 percent, shifting the subjects from the onset of deep sleep (stage 3 or 4) to a lighter sleep (stage 2) without altering total sleep time.

"Our system proved quite effective," Tasali said. When asked about the sounds the next morning, study subjects vaguely recalled hearing a noise "three or four times," during the night. Some recalled as many as 10 to 15. On average, however, subjects required about 250-300 interventions each night, fewer the first night but more on subsequent nights as "slow-wave pressure," the body's need for deep sleep, accumulated night after night.

"This decrease in slow-wave sleep resembles the changes in sleep patterns caused by 40 years of aging," Tasali said. Young adults spend 80 to 100 minutes per night in slow-wave sleep, while people over age 60 generally have less than 20 minutes. "In this experiment," she said, "we gave people in their 20s the sleep of those in their 60s."

At the end of each study, the researchers gave intravenous glucose (a sugar solution) to each subject, then took blood samples every few minutes to measure the levels of glucose and insulin, the hormone that controls glucose uptake.

They found that when slow-wave sleep was suppressed for only three nights, young healthy subjects became about 25 percent less sensitive to insulin. As insulin sensitivity decreased, subjects needed more insulin to dispose of the same amount of glucose. But for eight of the nine subjects, insulin secretion did not go up to compensate for reduced effects. The result was a 23 percent increase in blood-glucose levels, comparable to older adults with impaired glucose tolerance.

Those with low baseline levels of slow-wave sleep had the lowest levels after having their sleep patterns disrupted and the greatest decrease in insulin sensitivity.

The alarming rise in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is generally attributed to the epidemic of obesity combined with the aging of the population. "Previous studies from our lab have demonstrated many connections between chronic, partial, sleep deprivation, changes in appetite, metabolic abnormalities, obesity, and diabetes risk," said Van Cauter. "These results solidify those links and add a new wrinkle, the role of poor sleep quality, which is also associated with aging."

Grace and Peace,

Ed