Home > Exercise > May
2008
Posted on May 30, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
This is why I stick to yoga!
Apparently the beating you take while playing football can temporarily reduce your height. More from
WebMD:
Researchers report that repetitive blocking and tackling -- coupled with the weight of helmets and pads - can temporarily shave nearly half an inch off of players' heights.
They studied 10 high school football players -- lineman, defensive tackles, and others whose positions involved repetitive blocking and tackling. The average height of players before the game was 69.5 inches. Afterward, it was 69.2 inches.
Brian J. Campbell, PhD, an assistant professor of biomechanics at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, headed the study. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
Defensive Maneuvers Compress Spinal Cord
Campbell says that it's well known that people shrink over the course of a day. "If you think of your body as an accordion, gravity squeezes you together as the day goes on," he says.
I’m already only 5’5, good thing I never played football—good grief!
Posted on May 28, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
I have to admit,
Wii has got me intrigued—I’m not going to buy it—but it is interesting and
some people believe Wii Fit could help solve our obesity woes? Anna Boyd of
eFluxMedia reports:
For only $89.99, the package includes the Wii Fit software disc and the hefty balance board, which measures the user’s body mass index before setting players on diverse workout routines. This board senses the user’s weight as he steps on it and uses the information to control and synchronize the onscreen games and exercises designed to improve your balance, posture and fitness. And the more you play, the more progress you make and the more games you can unlock.
What could be better for your health than Wii Fit? If you’re the lazy kind of person who doesn’t often go out and exercise with other people, then this is the perfect way to lose weight. The game gives you the chance to look and feel better by exercising in your own bedroom, with other users encouraging you to reach your goals.
It seems like Nintendo has planned it all well, as the game will be more likely to have more women among its players than men. Women seem to be more attentive to their obesity problem and are more willing to lose weight and look and feel better. Wii Fit fits them perfectly as time appears to be one of countless enemies in their effort to lose weight.
In a society where time plays an essential factor and they have to balance a family life with a career, going to fitness clubs and keeping fit is not a top priority for them. Now, the problem is solved, as their bedroom could become the perfect place to keep in shape and healthy. Moreover, they could do that involving their families, which could have significant outcomes in solving problems resulting from obesity.
As a Yoga devotee, I’m not sure
Wii Fit can deliver the intangibles of the practice; such as inner peace and developing a sense of community. What do you think?
Posted on May 27, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
New research claims that athletes who “bulk up” increase their chances of developing heart disease. Joene Hendry of
Reuters reports:
"Our work demonstrates a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome, an established cardiovascular risk factor, among retired National Football League (NFL) linemen," said Dr. Marc A. Miller, of Mount Sinai Medical Center, in New York. Football linemen are position players commonly of large body size.
A clustering of heart disease and diabetes risk factors including high blood pressure, low levels of 'good' cholesterol, high levels of blood lipids (fats), and elevated blood sugar and body weight make up the metabolic syndrome.
When Miller and colleagues compared metabolic syndrome rates among 510 retired NFL players, they found that nearly 60 percent of linemen had metabolic syndrome, compared with 30 percent of those playing other positions.
Moreover, greater than 85 percent of the linemen were obese, as opposed to half of the non-linemen, the researchers report in The American Journal of Cardiology.
We’ve seen this before:
Personally, I think all professional sports should discourage this kind of training. Clearly, bigger is NOT better.
Posted on May 23, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
According to a new study drinking less alcohol, eating more veggies, and exercising can hold off diabetes. Michael Kahn of
Reuters reports:
Diet and exercise reduced the incidence of diabetes by about 43 percent over 20 years among 577 high-risk Chinese adults, the researchers reported in the journal Lancet.
At the end of the 20 years, 80 percent of those who changed what they ate and exercised more had diabetes, compared with 93 percent who made no changes, said Guangwei Li of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing and Ping Zhang at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The findings came as part of a series of studies addressing new research about diabetes, which affects 246 million adults worldwide, and accounts for 6 percent of all global deaths.
"The challenge is to translate research findings into substantial clinical improvements for patients. Although prospects are hopeful, they are not assured," the Lancet wrote in a commentary.
Sometimes the answers are SO obvious, but still overlooked—sigh.
Posted on May 20, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
My gym advertises Zumba classes all the time. Zumba, sounds like a strain of flesh eating disease to me, but apparently it’s great a mix of aerobics and Latin dance. Heather Newman of
The Detroit Free Press investigates:
"It truly feels like you're dancing with your friends," said Lori Fera, 24, of Farmington Hills. She loves Zumba classes so much she's training to be an instructor. "Everyone's laughing and talking and having a good time. I started going to it and got addicted."
Zumba is a hot fusion of Latin dance and floor aerobics, and it's hitting fitness clubs and YMCAs and recreation centers all over metro Detroit. Invented in Colombia in the 1990s when aerobics instructor Beto Perez forgot his music and had to use the salsa tapes he had in his car, Zumba invaded the United States in 1999. It's not quite a dance class, not quite aerobics, but something very fast-paced and hip-heavy in between…
…In practice, Zumba is like an interval workout, said instructor Debbie Lim: You alternate high impact with low, and the enforced breaks of a couple of seconds between songs give people a chance to rest briefly.
Steven Keteyian, program director of preventive cardiology at Henry Ford Hospital, said the classes are appropriate for men younger than 40-45 and women younger than 50-55 who don't have any health risks.
If you're older, or have preexisting conditions -- back pain, osteoarthritis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, history of stroke or heart disease -- you know the drill. Check with your doctor first.
Now, as much as I love an intense workout, I am way too uncoordinated and dorky to handle this. Do any of you Zumba?
Posted on May 16, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
After much ado,
Oscar Pistorius a double-amputee sprinter, who runs on specially designed metal blades, has been cleared to compete for a place in the Beijing Olympics. The
Associated Press reports:
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the 21-year-old South African is eligible to race against able-bodied athletes, overturning a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
CAS said the unanimous ruling goes into effect immediately.
"I am ecstatic," Pistorius told reporters in Milan, Italy. "When I found out, I cried. It is a battle that has been going on for far too long. It's a great day for sport. I think this day is going to go down in history for the equality of disabled people."
Pistorius still must reach a qualifying time to run in the individual 400 meters at the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games. However, he can be picked for the South African relay squad without qualifying. That relay squad has not yet qualified for the Olympics.
Pistorius appealed to CAS, world sport's highest tribunal, to overturn a Jan. 14 ruling by the IAAF that banned him from competing. The IAAF said his carbon fiber blades give him a mechanical advantage.
I’ve been following Oscar’s situation and he’s become a hero of mine—GO BLADE RUNNER! Check out
Oscar in action at the 2007 Golden Gala in Rome:
If you ever needed inspiration to get out there and exercise—be it running or anything else—just think of Oscar Pistorius.
DiseaseProof is rooting for you Oscar!
Posted on May 15, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
According to new research girls who start exercising at a young age protect themselves against breast cancer later in life. The
Associated Press is on it:
Middle-aged women have long been advised to get active to lower their risk of breast cancer after menopause.
What's new: That starting so young pays off, too.
"This really points to the benefit of sustained physical activity from adolescence through the adult years, to get the maximum benefit," said Dr. Graham Colditz of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the study's lead author.
Researchers tracked nearly 65,000 nurses ages 24 to 42 who enrolled in a major health study. They answered detailed questionnaires about their physical activity dating back to age 12. Within six years of enrolling, 550 were found to have breast cancer before menopause. A quarter of all breast cancer is diagnosed at these younger ages, when it is typically more aggressive.
Maybe if you’re a mother or father of a young girl the two of you could get out and exercise together!
Posted on May 15, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
DSFanBoy has reviewed Wii’s new interactive game, Let’s Yoga. Take a look:
Setting up Let's Yoga is simple. You can choose between a few models who will work through the poses with you, and select their outfits from mix-and-match pieces. There are even unlockable items, though why such a title needs unlockables is beyond me. Unlike most games, simply succeeding here seems a reward unto itself! Once you've informed the game of your name and gender, and chosen your model, you're ready to get started with the basic course: the Master's Lesson. There's also the option to go through a basic guide to yoga, which explains some of the principles of the practice, and includes a few tips for success. It's highly recommended you take the time to navigate these few screens. We'll save looking at the other modes for a later day.
Of course, before you get into the actual yoga, you need a workout space. I started out in my office, but quickly realized that between the cluttered wraparound desk and the playpen, the tiny leftover floor space wouldn't be enough. I recommend an area large enough for you to lie flat on your back with arms and legs extended in all directions. Test this by moving your arms and legs around as though creating a snow angel (protip: do this when no one is around, or they might just wonder if you've lost your damn mind). You also need both a low and high place to keep your DS, in case you need to move it closer while working through various poses. I recommend a mid-sized shelf or a chair with arms for higher poses, so that you have somewhere to put your handheld so that you can see both screens. For lower poses, of course, you can put it on the floor. Once you're set up, you're ready to begin the first lesson.
(via That’sFit)
This scares me. I sweat a lot when I do yoga and standing on an electric pad worries man. This Yoga is more my speed:
Although, the heights in that video make me nervous too—EEP!
Posted on May 14, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports is set to introduce an adult fitness test. The
Associated Press reports:
The test involves three basic components: aerobic fitness, muscular strength and flexibility. The test is for people 18 and older who are in good health. It was inspired by scores of baby boomers who kept asking council members whether there was a fitness test available today that was similar to the ones they took as students, Johnson said.
The aerobic component of the tests consists of a one-mile walk or 1.5-mile run. The run is not recommended for those who don't run for at least 20 minutes, three times a week.
Push-ups and half sit-ups make up the strength test. The push-ups are done until failure. The sit-ups are done for one minute.
A stretching exercise called the "sit-and-reach" is used to measure flexibility.
The scores from all four of the fitness tests can be entered online. Other information, such as age, gender, height and weight are also part of the equation.
You won't get a presidential certificate, but the results will then show where you rank among people of the same age. For example, if someone scores in the 75th percentile for push-ups, that means 75 percent of the scores fall below your score.
I’m not sure what this is going to accomplish, but if you’re interested, check out:
http://www.adultfitnesstest.org/adultFitnesstestLanding.aspx.
Posted on May 14, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
Summer is right around the corner, so shape up and hit the beach! These folks figured out how to do BOTH at the same time. From
The Los Angeles Times:
Benefits: Executing a push-up like this ratchets up the difficulty level, since the center of gravity shifts and the arm bears much more of the body’s weight. Similar to a bench press, muscles used include the triceps, pectorals and deltoids. Raising and lowering the body on one or both arms also engages the entire arm, including the biceps, and shoulder muscles. Calories burned per hour (based on vigorous calisthenics): 550.
Benefits: Slack-lining, walking a thin, flat nylon rope between two points, improves balance training, which is part of functional fitness, or training the body for real-life situations. A strong core and fit leg muscles help react to the line as it moves.
Benefits: This Brazilian blend of martial arts and dance targets the upper and lower body, plus core muscles. Incorporates kicks and arm swings that don’t strengthen muscles, but stimulate and tone them. Also promotes flexibility. Good cardio benefits from continuous, rhythmic movement. Calories burned per hour (vigorous activity, based on martial arts movements): 600
Benefits: Increased muscle strength and power in lower body muscles, because of the dynamic nature of back flips and other stunts. Development of fast twitch muscle fibers. Good for balance training. Limited cardio benefits. Calories burned per hour (based on gymnastics): 280
Just look at those blue skies and palm trees. Imagine going for a run with that all around you—I’m jealous! Be sure to check out the article for more:
Exercises fit for Muscle Beach.
Posted on May 13, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
Researchers seem to think diet and exercise has something to do with prostate cancer.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
Age, genetics and hormones are the usual causal suspects in benign prostatic hyperplasia, but now some data suggest that the condition is a consequence of our Western lifestyle. In a 2006 study of 422 men published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Dr. J. Kellogg Parsons, a urologist at UC San Diego, found that men who were obese had an increased risk of prostate enlargement, with severely obese men at 3.5 times higher risk.
In another paper published this year in European Urology, Parsons pooled data from 11 studies involving about 43,000 men and found that those who engaged in regular physical activity had about a 25% lowered risk of enlarged prostates.
It's emerging evidence, Parsons says, "that the same risk factors that are contributing to cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes likely are contributing in some way to [benign prostatic hyperplasia]."
Kind of a no-brainer here, but in case you need to read more. Check out Dr. Fuhrman talking about prostate cancer and exercise:
Prostate cancer is now the single most common cancer among men in the United States. With the spread of our meat- and dairy-centered diet, it is on the rise in almost every country in the world. A meta-analysis of the best independent studies indicated that milk-drinking men seem to have a 70 percent greater chance of developing cancer of the prostate.1 This evidence exists in spite of the multiple studies that show that Vitamin D deficiency also increases the risk of prostate cancer. Since milk is fortified with Vitamin D, using it must have a significant negative effect that overwhelms the benefits from the added vitamin…
…Exercise should be a part of your daily routine like brushing your teeth and taking a shower. If you have a busy work schedule and commute, get in fifteen minutes of exercise every day before your morning shower. For example, if you routinely shower every morning, work up a sweat with some abdominal crunches, back extensions, toe raises, walk up and down the stairs in your home, mock jump rope, and then take your shower. Keep in mind; it is important to exercise your lower back frequently. Get in the habit of exercising the same time every day. Make the days where you do not exercise the exception, not the rule.
I’m not a betting man, but I bet a lot of America’s health woes could be solved by improved diet and exercise habits—what do you think?
Continue Reading...
Posted on May 12, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
I’m an exercise junky and when I go, I go hard! And
That’s Fit reminds us that when you exercise, it’s all about intensity, intensity, intensity! Take a look:
Statistics show that 90-95 percent of overweight people who lose weight will regain it all (and in some cases, even more) within five years.
So, what's a person to do to stay slim? Work out harder, say researchers from Brown University. This may seem like a no-brainer at first, but what their study found was that duration during exercise does not matter as much as intensity when it comes to maintaining weight loss over time.
The good news is that you won't have to spend as long in the gym; the data shows that around 25 minutes per day is perfect. The bad news is that you won't be spending long, leisurely walks while reading a book on the treadmill anymore, because you're going to have to kick your workout into high gear.
I agree. At my gym I see so many people reading a book and lazily peddling along on an exercise bike and after months of doing this, they still look out of shape.
Posted on May 9, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
York company voluntarily recalled more than 286,000 pounds of its products.
Officials said certain products labeled Gourmet Boutique, Jan's and Archer Farms may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, although there were no reports of illness before the recall.
Listeria can cause a potentially fatal disease that it is rarely contracted by healthy people, the Monterey County Health Department reported. Symptoms include high fever, severe headaches, neck stiffness and nausea. Rare but serious symptoms can occur in those with compromised immune systems. Pregnant women make up about a third of listeriosis cases, health officials said.
Arthritis strikes more than half of the 20.6 million American adults who have diabetes, and the painful joint condition may be a barrier to exercise among these patients, a new government report shows.
Being physically active helps people manage both diseases better by controlling blood sugar levels and reducing joint pain, according to the report in the May 9 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The prevalence of arthritis is astoundingly high in people with diabetes," said Dr. John H. Klippel, president and CEO of the Arthritis Foundation. "Over half the people with diabetes have arthritis."
Nudging reluctant seniors to take physical fitness classes represents just one strategy to reduce the risk of falling. It's also vital to evaluate their vision and the medications they're taking. Aged pupils, for example, don't dilate as well in darkness or constrict as well in brightness.
One study showed that falls decreased 34 percent among seniors who had the milky opaqueness of a cataract removed from their eyes. Some specialists also point to bifocals and trifocals, which can blur vision, as potentially contributing to falls.
It's also common for lighting to be so inadequate that navigation of hallways and rooms can be treacherous, said Dr. Gary Chu, vice president for community collaborations at the New England Eye Institute.
"I've asked all the presidential candidates whether America should be smoke-free," he told a Senate committee hearing on how to tackle cancer.
"The consensus is that it's better left to the cities and states," he said, agreeing that state- or community-level bans were "the way to go."
"Second-hand smoking is something I'm very passionate about," he told the committee.
Young children who live in neighborhoods with lots of trees have lower rates of asthma than children who reside in areas with fewer trees, a new study finds. Researchers looked at asthma rates among children age 4 to 5 in New York City. Asthma rates decreased by almost one-quarter for every standard deviation increase in tree density, equivalent to 343 trees per square kilometer, the study found. The researchers said that trees may help reduce asthma rates by encouraging children to play outdoors more or by improving air quality.
Male postpartum depression may have more negative effects on some aspects of a child's development than its female counterpart, says James F. Paulson, PhD, of the Center for Pediatric Research at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va.
Paulson and colleagues reviewed data on more than 5,000 two-parent families with children aged 9 months.
They found that one in 10 new dads met standard criteria for moderate to severe postpartum depression.
That's a "striking increase" from the 3% to 5% of men in the general population that have depression, Paulson tells WebMD.
In the current study, researchers found that professional firefighters had higher-than-expected rates of colon cancer and brain cancer. There was also evidence, albeit weaker, that they had elevated risks of bladder and kidney cancers, as well as Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Dr. Letitia Davis with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues report the findings in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.
Firefighters are exposed to many potentially cancer-causing chemicals released from burning materials. At the scene of the fire, toxic substances such as benzene, lead, uranium and asbestos can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
A drug from a new class of weight-loss treatments disrupted wiring needed for brain development in young mice, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday, raising concerns about using such medications in children.
Mark Bear and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studied the effects of a chemical that suppresses appetite by blocking cannabinoid receptors in the brain, the same brain mechanisms that make people hungry when they smoke marijuana.
"I think that the cautionary note is that these mechanisms play an important role in ... brain development," said Bear, whose study appears in the journal Neuron.
Even a benign lesion on a mammogram makes women and doctors nervous, and doctors sometimes recommend a biopsy anyway. But new data show that waiting six months for a follow-up mammogram is a safe option.
Researchers tracked more than 45,000 women who were given six-month follow-up mammograms after an initial scan found lesions that were “probably” benign. In most cases, they were. Only about one in 100 women were eventually diagnosed with cancer six to 12 months later, according to the study, which appears in the May issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.
It is well known that high blood sugar levels indicative of the diabetes that occurs during pregnancy present risks for expectant mothers and their infants. The current study is believed to be the first to show that higher blood sugar levels -- not high enough to be considered diabetes -- also convey these increased risks.
In a study of nearly 24,000 pregnant women who had their blood sugar levels tested between 24 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, researchers found that the higher the mother's blood sugar level, the greater the chances that she would require Caesarean delivery and deliver an abnormally large baby.
Posted on May 8, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
According to the CDC either lack of sleep or oversleeping is linked to illness. Mike Stobbe of the
Associated Press reports:
The research adds weight to a stream of studies that have found obesity and other health problems in those who don't get proper shuteye, said Dr. Ron Kramer, a Colorado physician and a spokesman for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
"The data is all coming together that short sleepers and long sleepers don't do so well," Kramer said.
The study is based on door-to-door surveys of 87,000 U.S. adults from 2004 through 2006 conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
…Results were similar, though a bit less dramatic, for obesity: About 33 percent of those who slept less than six hours were obese, and 26 percent for those who got nine or more. Normal sleepers were the thinnest group, with obesity at 22 percent.
For alcohol use, those who slept the least were the biggest drinkers. However, alcohol use for those who slept seven to eight hours and those who slept nine hours or more was similar.
In another measure, nearly half of those who slept nine hours or more each night were physically inactive in their leisure time, which was worse even than the lightest sleepers and the proper sleepers. Many of those who sleep nine hours or more may have serious health problems that make exercise difficult.
Well, I guess set your alarm, but not TOO early!
Posted on May 7, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
Anahad O’Connor of
The New York Times wants to know,
does running outdoors burn more calories than running on a treadmill? Find out:
According to several studies, the answer is not so simple. Researchers have found in general that while outdoor running tends to promote a more intense exercise, running on a treadmill helps reduce the likelihood of injury, and thus may allow some people to run longer and farther.
A number of studies have shown that in general, outdoor running burns about 5 percent more calories than treadmills do, in part because there is greater wind resistance and no assistance from the treadmill belt. Some studies show, for example, that when adults are allowed to set their own paces on treadmills and on tracks, they move more slowly and with shorter strides when they train on treadmills.
I prefer running outside, but, I run on the treadmill A LOT; although my treadmill skills pale in comparison to these guys. Take a look:
If I tried those moves I’d be blogging from a hospital bed—EEK!
Posted on May 6, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
Do you want to live forever? I do. I plan on sticking around for as long as possible and
Dan Buettner of The Huffington Post has compiled a list of nine healthy habits that’ll help get you to 100. Take a look:
For the the last five years, I've been taking teams of scientists to five pockets around the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives. We call these places the Blue Zones. We found a Bronze-age mountain culture in Sardinia, Italy, that has 20 times as many 100-year-olds as the U.S. does, proportionally. In Okinawa, Japan, we found people with the longest disability-free life expectancy in the world. In the Blue Zones (Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, Calif.; and the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica), people live 10 years longer, experience a sixth the rate of cardiovascular disease and a fifth the rate of major cancers.
- Move naturally: Be active without thinking about it. Identify activities you enjoy and make them a part of your day. Cut calories by 20 percent.
- Cut calories by 20 percent: Practice "Hara hachi bi," the Okinawan reminder to stop eating once their stomachs are 80 percent full.
- Plant-based diet: No, you don't need to become a vegetarian, but do bump up your intake of fruits and veggies.
- Drink red wine: In moderation.
- Plan de Vida: Determine your life purpose. Why do you get up in the morning?
- Down shift: Take time to relieve stress. You may have to literally schedule it into your day, but relaxation is key.
- Belong/participate in a spiritual community.
- Put loved ones first/make family a priority.
- Pick the right tribe: The people surrounding you influence your health more than almost any other factor.
These are fantastic suggestions. Be active, eat plants, and relax—perfect! You won’t get much argument out of Dr. Fuhrman:
Increasing the consumption of vegetables, legumes, fruits, and raw nuts and seeds (and greatly decreasing the consumption of animal products) offers profound increased longevity potential, due in large part to broad symphony of life-extending phytochemical nutrients that a vegetable-based diet contains…
… Centenarian studies in Europe illustrate that those individuals living into their hundreds were likely to have consumed a plant-based diet consisting of fewer than 2000 calories per day. Multiple studies have confirmed that the thinnest people live the longest…
… As we condition our muscles and gain strength, our bones thicken and strengthen along with the muscle. Without regular exercise along the way, your bone structure can deteriorate as you get older. Some people survive with weak bones, but their quality of life suffers when they are immobilized by arthritis and osteoporosis…
…A safe and satisfying work environment, a happy marriage, a satisfying social and/or family life, and activities you enjoy are all related to positive health outcomes. Emotional wellness starts right here your finger tips end. As you respect and appreciate the value in the world around you and develop interests in other people and in such things as art, music, entertainment, sports, nature, and physical activity, you can respect yourself more for your ability and desire to appreciate the value of things not yourself.
Okinawans are fascinating people. These avid plant-eaters live a long-long time. In fact, they made
John Robbins’s list of longest-lived people in his book Healthy at 100. Check it out:
- Abkhasia: Ancients of the Caucasus, where people are healthier at ninety than most of us are at middle age.
- Vilcabamba: The Valley of Eternal Youth, where heart disease and dementia do not exist.
- Hunza: A People Who Dance in Their Nineties, where cancer, diabetes, and asthma are unknown.
- The Centenarians of Okinawa: Where more people live to 100 than anywhere else in the world.
Now, for the flipside,
primitive people like Inuit Greenlanders and Kenyan Maasai have short life expectancies—why? Too much meat in their diets. More from Dr. Fuhrman:
Inuit Greenlanders, who historically have had limited access to fruits and vegetables, have the worst longevity statistics in North America. Research from the past and present shows that they die on the average about 10 years younger and have a higher rate of cancer than the overall Canadian population.1
Similar statistics are available for the high meat-consuming Maasai in Kenya. They eat a diet high in wild hunted meats and have the worst life expectancy in the modern world. Life expectancy is 45 years for women and 42 years for men. African researchers report that, historically, Maasai rarely lived beyond age 60. Adult mortality figures on the Kenyan Maasai show that they have a 50% chance of dying before the age of 59.2
I guess the same can be said about us; between all the fast food, beef jerky, potato chips, cheese pizza, and no exercise, Americans start dying at middle-age. We’d learn a lot from our foreign neighbors.
Continue Reading...
Posted on May 5, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
A lot of attention gets paid to women’s health, but guys have plenty of hang-ups too.
Some of dudes won’t even go to the doctor. Chris Sparling of
That’s Fit tells us why:
A 2007 survey, conducted for the American Academy of Family Physicians, revealed what some guys' reasons are for not seeing a doctor. This is where I'd like to insert some fancy pie chart, but since I can't, I'll stick to bullet points.
- 36% of men only go to the doctor when they are extremely sick
- 23% of men say they are healthy and don't need to see a doctor
- 11% of men say lack of insurance prevents them from seeing a doctor
- 8% of men say they don't like doctors
- 7% of men don't go to the doctor because they are afraid of finding out that something is wrong with them
Look guys, if you're not feeling well, go see a doctor. Even if you're feeling fine, and it's simply time you had an annual check-up, go see the damn doctor, will you? If your car is making a strange rattling noise or even driving the slightest bit off, you'd have it looked at, wouldn't you? Afford your body the same respect and care.
And that’s not all.
A lot of guys have a warped sense of body image. Mike Howard of
Diet Blog explains:
Dr. David Giles surveyed 161 men aged between 18 and 36, and found that those who regularly read the magazines were more likely to be influenced by the imagery within.
A more pressing concern, according to Giles, is the steps a young man might take to look "the part". This may include obsessive exercise and/or the use of anabolic steroids.
He goes on to say: "The message in typical lads' magazines is that you need to develop a muscular physique in order to attract a quality mate. Readers internalize this message, which creates anxieties about their actual bodies and leads to increasingly desperate attempts to modify them."
Professor Naomi Fineberg, a consultant psychiatrist cautions that "we can't say for sure whether these magazines might be causing it, but it's very persuasive that cultural factors are important."
Let this be a lesson to you ladies. Men are just as crazy as you are—commence scowling now.
Posted on May 1, 2008 by Gerald Pugliese
Virginia Linn of
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers up some
fitness tips to get you prepared to hit the garden. Take a look:
With temperatures finally warming up, many folks already have dived into the dirt to get their garden going, but the season really takes off next month.
Are you ready?
As with any sport -- and yes, gardening is a sport, as it requires endurance, flexibility and strength -- people should get in shape for gardening. In fact, the average person can burn 250 calories an hour when planting and up to 500 calories an hour when digging.
Upper body stretch: Stand with your back straight and arms to your sides. Stretch arms straight out in front of you and hold for a count of 5. Return arms to sides. Repeat 10 times.
If they make gardening an Olympic sport, you’ll be all set.
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