BodySense Blog

Alternative Exercises That Provide Arthritis Pain Relief

If your arthritis pain is limiting your ability to work out and pain medication isn't doing enough, alternatives like yoga, tai chi, and hydrotherapy may improve your mobility and provide needed exercise.

Exercise usually isn’t the first thing you feel like doing when experiencing joint pain. But several studies have shown that physical activity can serve as a natural pain reliever for people suffering from arthritis pain.

“Any physical activity that involves stretching and strengthening is good for alleviating arthritis pain,” says Patience White, MD, chief public health officer of the Arthritis Foundation. However, “it is possible to overdo it. So, it’s important to clear it with your doctor and to exercise under the supervision of someone who knows if what you’re doing is appropriate for people with arthritis pain. Overall, we know that the benefits of physical activity far outweigh the risks.”

Meeting the Demand for Arthritis Treatment Options
A 2006 study showed that nearly 46 million people in the United States were living with arthritis — that’s 1 in 5 adults. According to the Arthritis Foundation, 67 million Americans are projected to be diagnosed with arthritis in the next two decades.

More people with arthritis pain means more demand for arthritis treatment options, beyond pain medication. And the demand for more natural pain remedies means an expanded idea of what constitutes physical activity. Besides traditional exercises like walking and weightlifting, Americans are developing a growing interest in alternative exercises, such as yoga, tai chi, and hydrotherapy. And research has shown that these forms of exercise can be a great help in providing arthritis pain relief.

Arthritis Pain Relief Studies
At a recent American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific meeting, research was presented showing that yoga can offer significant rheumatoid arthritis pain relief by reducing joint tenderness and swelling.

In this study, scientists from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore randomly divided 30 sedentary adults suffering from rheumatoid arthritis pain into two groups. One group participated in an eight-week yoga program that included yoga poses as well as deep- breathing, relaxation, and meditation techniques. The control group did not practice yoga during the eight weeks.

Members of the yoga group took two one-hour classes per week and were instructed to also practice the poses and breathing exercises at home. The research team found that those who participated in eight weeks of yoga classes had significantly less arthritis pain and fewer tender and swollen joints than they did before starting class. Those in the control group experienced no change in their arthritis pain.

Another recent study sought to uncover similar benefits for patients suffering from osteoarthritis. This study focused on tai chi and hydrotherapy, or exercises performed in water.

In the study, more than 150 sedentary people over the age of 60 who had chronic arthritis pain were divided into three groups:

• Group one participated in a 12-week regimen of tai chi
• Group two participated in 12 weeks of hydrotherapy classes
• Group three was a control group that did neither.

Researchers assessed how much pain the participants were having after 24 weeks, and found that members of both the tai chi and hydrotherapy groups achieved significant arthritis pain relief. Those people with both hip and knee arthritis felt better when they participated in one of these programs.

By Sara Calabro

Medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH
2009 EverydayHealth.com

10 Steps to Manage Your Weight

Practice these simple, everyday food and fitness smarts to keep your hard-fought new weight.

You've just lost weight and you don't want to see that number go back up on your scale. With these 10 tricks from dietitians and successful dieters, you'll be able to maintain your weight with ease.

1. Build more lean muscle. Maintain, or even increase, your metabolism by continuing to build lean muscle. "Muscle has a higher metabolism than fat does," explains Emily Banes, RD, clinical dietitian at Houston Northwest Medical Center. If you don't yet train with weights, add this type of exercise to your overall program now. If you do, increase the amount of weight you're working with to keep yourself challenged.
   
2. Fight off hunger with more filling foods. A three-year University of Pittsburgh study of 284 women between the ages of 25 and 45 found that those who avoided weight gain the best were the ones whose meals kept them feeling full. "Keeping that feeling of fullness can be done with foods high in fiber — think fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein," says Jenna Anding, PhD, RD, of the department of nutrition and food science at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
   
3. Avoid temptation. The University of Pittsburgh study also found that women who best controlled their weight were good at resisting the temptation to binge on forbidden treats. This doesn't mean never indulging in a gooey dessert again, but rather picking — and limiting — your moments. There are many ways to avoid daily temptations, including planning ahead when eating out and banning your worst weaknesses from the house.
   
4. Count calories. Another hallmark of successful weight maintenance, according to the University of Pittsburgh study, is regularly counting calories. Use your calculator to keep a running total throughout the day if that helps you keeps track of calorie consumption. Maintaining weight loss is hard; it's okay to be as careful as you were during the weight- loss phase of your diet.
   
5. Plan your meals in advance. A maintenance diet has a lot of the same components as a weight-loss diet. Having a meal-by-meal plan that you can stick to, although it has more calories than your diet plan did, can act as a guide to keep you on track.
   
6. Consider adding minutes to your exercise plan. Experts recommend at least 30 minutes of physical activity five days a week, but emphasize that the more you exercise, the better able you are to maintain a weight loss. You should aim for 60 to 90 minutes of physical activity every day.
   
7. Measure your portions. According to a Center for Disease Control (CDC) study of more than 4,000 U.S. adults, the biggest factors in success were measuring portions and fats, the most caloric foods, in particular. This doesn't mean you have to carry a food scale everywhere you go, but using it as often as possible at home will teach you how to eyeball portion sizes at restaurants and immediately know how much to eat, and how much to take home in a doggie bag.
   
8. Weigh yourself daily. The same CDC study reported that people who weigh themselves once a day are twice as successful at keeping off lost weight as those who don't step on the scale as often. Daily weigh-ins, which can be discouraging when you're on a diet, can be a boon during maintenance; they let you see, and stop, any slow creep upward as soon as it happens.
   
9. Include dairy in your diet. According to a study of 338 adults, those who ate three or more servings of low-fat dairy daily were more likely to keep off the weight than those who ate one serving or less. For women in particular, this has the additional benefit of improving bone health.
   
10.   Let your plate be your guide. When you can't count calories or measure portions accurately, Banes recommends using the "plate method" as a way to control the amount you're eating. A great tip for dieters, it works just as well for people on a maintenance plan. Simply put, when you serve yourself using this method, at least half your plate should be vegetables and the remaining space should be divided evenly between lean protein and whole grains. If you go back for seconds, limit yourself to vegetables, fruit or low-fat dairy.

By Madeline Vann, MPH

Medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH

How Exercise Helps Osteoarthritis

While researchers still don’t know the exact cause of osteoarthritis, we do know that being over the age of 60, carrying excess weight, and being out of shape all significantly increase your risk. If you already have osteoarthritis, or you want to decrease your risk of getting it, a regular exercise program can help.

Osteoarthritis: The Benefits of Exercise
There are many benefits to starting an exercise program — whether you have osteoarthritis or not — but for people with arthritis pain, there's added incentive to get moving. Regular exercise can help to:

• Reduce joint pain. Osteoarthritis destroys cartilage, special tissue that cushions our joints. “Exercise increases the lubrication to the cartilage of the joint, thus reducing osteoarthritis symptoms of pain and stiffness,” says Anne Menz, PhD, a physical therapist at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, Mass. It may seem counterintuitive, but not exercising actually leads to stiffer joints and worse osteoarthritis.
• Strengthen muscles. As we get older the muscles and tendons that support our joints tend to get weaker. “Exercise strengthens the muscles around the joints to protect the joints and provide [extra] support,” says Menz.
• Decrease pressure on joints. Studies show that being even 10 pounds overweight greatly increases the stress across your knee joints with every step you take. “Exercise can aid in weight loss to decrease pressure on joints,” Menz says.
• Improve overall health. Osteoarthritis symptoms can keep you from being active, which not only aggravates your osteoarthritis, but is also bad for your heart. “Exercise decreases all the health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle,” like high blood pressure, diabetes, certain cancers, heart disease, and stroke, notes Menz.

Osteoarthritis: Starting an Exercise Routine
“First, check with your doctor to get the green light,” advises Menz. She suggests starting slowly and finding enjoyable ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. “Start a walking program in your neighborhood, take ballroom dancing lessons with your spouse, or join an exercise class,” she advises. The more you enjoy the activity you choose, the more likely you are to stick with it.

Menz also recommends keeping an exercise journal; “A log will help keep you accountable and also provide motivation as you see you can do more each week.” For people who have not exercised in a long time or whose osteoarthritis symptoms make it too painful to jog or walk long distances, low impact exercise in a swimming pool can be very effective. “A water aerobics exercise class causes less stress on the joints, and most people can tolerate this type of exercise. Later on you can progress to land-based exercise,” says Menz.

Osteoarthritis: The Best Types of Exercise
People with osteoarthritis should consider adding the following types of exercise to their workout routine:

• Range of motion exercise. Stretching exercises are effective in preventing the osteoarthritis symptom of joint stiffness. You can get this type of conditioning exercise in a yoga or Pilates class.
• Aerobic exercise. Jogging, brisk walking, and swimming are all examples of exercises that get your heart rate up and increase blood flow to your muscles. They are very effective in helping to control the symptoms of osteoarthritis.
• Resistance training. Weightlifting and resistance-band training are strengthening exercises that help build up the muscles and tendons that support your joints.

“Your goal with osteoarthritis exercise training is to eventually work your way up to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five days a week. This could be a stationary bike, walking, swimming, or dancing. You should also do strength training two to three days a week in an exercise class, or weights at the gym,” advises Menz.

If you are having trouble getting started, ask your doctor for a referral to a physical therapist. “A physical therapist can put together a program for you that includes pain relief strategies, range of motion exercises, stretching, and strength training,” says Menz.

Research shows that a good exercise program can slow down the progression of osteoarthritis and relieve osteoarthritis symptoms like pain and stiffness. Unfortunately, research also shows more than half the people who start an exercise program for osteoarthritis drop out within one year.

Ask your doctor or a physical therapist for tips on getting started and sticking with the program you choose. Then get out there and do your best to commit! “The most important thing is to be consistent. It may take six to eight weeks to see results. Listen to your body and balance activity with a good amount of rest,” says Menz. Remember that a good exercise program is one of the best ways to manage your osteoarthritis symptoms.

Everyday Health - Healthy Aging on 12/30/2008

                                       

Everyday Tips for Living With Hip Pain

Conditions like arthritis and bursitis can make it hard to get around. Follow these tips to keep you on the go.

Exercising Without Stressing Your Hips and Knees

If you like to exercise regularly but need to give your hip or knee a rest while an injury heals, here are some exercises you can do in the meantime. You can combine these exercises to create a routine lasting 30 minutes or longer:

• floor exercises, including abdominal curls, crunches, push-ups, or leg lifts
• hand weight routines, including repeated lifting in different directions with small hand weights
• exercise ball routines, including stretches, abdominal curls, or leg lifts
• swimming
• gentle yoga

Everyday Health - Healthy Aging on 12/30/2008

Alternative Approaches to ADD/ADHD Treatment

Over the past two decades, diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)/attention deficit disorder (ADD) have continued to rise. According to Blair Hammond, M.D., Pediatric Clerkship Director in the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, this increase is "in part because doctors are more aware of the diagnosis, and also because parents are more aware of the condition and bring up the issue more frequently with their doctors/teachers." It's no wonder, then, that prescriptions for ADD/ADHD medications have also seen a sharp increase. In fact, more than half of children diagnosed with ADHD receive some form of prescription medication. Although experts claim the combination of behavioral intervention with prescription medication is the Cadillac treatment for ADD/ADHD, there's some evidence for the effectiveness of several alternative therapies.

• Biofeedback. ADD/ADHD kids spend more time in theta brainwaves (a daydream-like state) than beta brainwaves (the type that keep us alert). But children can learn to stay in the appropriate brainwaves by playing video games with a controller governed by their brains. "If they're playing a racecar game, for example, the speed of the car slows down or even comes to a halt when the child's brainwaves shift outside of the appropriate range," says L. Eugene Arnold, M.D., MEd., professor emeritus of psychiatry at Ohio State University and interim director of the university's Nisonger Center. "But, if they're in the right brainwaves, they can go as fast as they want." The goal: To permanently change the underlying abnormal electrical brain activity associated with ADHD.
• Meditative activities, guided imagery, and hypnosis. "Similar to biofeedback, imagery can help soothe, calm and focus an impulsive brain," says Donna Fremon-Powell, a certified guided imagery therapist and hypnotherapist in La Habra, California. "Plus, since ADHD children spend a lot of time in theta brainwaves, repetitive positive affirmations — both audible and subliminal (like on a CD while they sleep) — are readily accepted by the subconscious mind."
• Herbs and supplements. St. John's wort is among the most commonly used herbs for ADHD, but the latest research shows that children who take St. John's wort to control symptoms are no better off than those taking a dummy pill. In fact, there's no evidence to support the use of herbs in ADHD treatment, and there may be dangerous interactions for kids with ADHD taking herbs along with prescription medications. However, one supplement that may be effective is melatonin, a natural sleep hormone. "Melatonin probably has no direct effect on symptoms of ADHD," claims Arnold, "but it may help children with ADHD initiate sleep."
• Mirrors. Researchers claim that having a child complete tasks in front of a mirror may help children with ADHD stay focused. "The mirrors act as a coach to remind them they're getting off task," says Arnold. In one study, the more time ADHD kids spent looking in the mirror, the better they were at completing the puzzle they were given. The caveat: The mirror method only works if the child has a clear diagnosis of ADHD. In normal children, the mirrors may actually decrease attention and performance.
• Massage. It's no surprise that massage can help boost mood, but there's some evidence to suggest it can also help children focus. In one study of 28 teenage boys with ADHD, those who received 15 minutes of massage for 10 consecutive days had better concentration than those who underwent a guided muscle relaxation exercise for the same amount of time.
• Exercise. Exercise is good for the brain as well as the body, and it may improve ADD/ADHD symptoms as well as mood and anxiety. "Yoga, tai chi, or qi gong may be your best bets, but any form of exercise is likely to do the trick," says Fremon-Powell. "It helps kids with ADHD release energy in a healthy, constructive way." One study even suggests that exercising in open, green spaces boosts brain function. And while one study doesn't meet the burden of proof, a walk in the park may be good for the soul — even if it doesn't help ADHD.

By Amy Paturel, M.S., M.P.H.
Everyday Health

Walking Is Good for Blocked Leg Arteries

Anyone looking for proof that a planned program of walking is good for people with the leg blood-vessel blockage called peripheral arterial disease (PAD) should check the results of a new U.S. government-funded study.

The study of 156 people with PAD -- many of whom didn't have the pain that is the classic symptom of artery blockage -- showed that regular six-minute walks on a treadmill improved their endurance and quality of life.

While walking is a standard recommendation for people with PAD, the study was different in two ways, said study lead author Dr. Mary M. McDermott, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

"All prior studies have focused on patients with intermittent claudicating -- the symptom of PAD," McDermott said. "Some of the patients in this study were asymptomatic. Also, we included testing of leg strength. This is the largest trial to do so."

The findings were published in the Jan. 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Over the six months of the study, the participants who did their regular six-minute treadmill walks increased their walking distance by about 69 feet, while those who did not walk regularly saw a decrease of 49 feet.

There are several reasons for the increase in performance, said Ronald Terjung, professor of physiology at the University of Missouri, who has done a series of animal studies that looked at the basic science involved with PAD.

"There is the potential for greater oxygen extraction from the blood under maximum exercise conditions," Terjung said. "The muscles can make better use of blood flow and the oxygen release that comes from it."

The animal studies also showed that such exercise leads to improvement in "collateral circulation" -- growth in the number of blood vessels supplying the legs, Terjung said. "There was clearly a dramatic increase in collateral circulation in animal studies," he said.

Improved collateral circulation has not been seen in many human PAD studies of walking, he acknowledged, "but it can be very difficult to measure this kind of blood flow in patients."

Whatever the reason for improvement seen in the new study, McDermott said, "clinicians should urge all PAD patients, whether or not they have symptoms, to engage in a regular, supervised exercise program."

A recommended regimen is a 40-minute walk three times a week for at least six months, McDermott said. The walking can be done on a treadmill or a sidewalk, but it is best done with a trainer standing by, she said.

"You need a trainer, because if you start to get symptoms, you can stop and then start again until you have done the 40 minutes," she said.

Identifying PAD can be difficult for the average person. One recent study found that three-quarters of adult Americans know little or nothing about the condition, which is estimated to affect one of every 16 Americans 40 or older.

Persistent leg pain is an indication that help is needed, McDermott said. In the absence of that symptom, physicians can test for PAD by measuring the difference in blood pressure between an ankle and an arm, she said.

Everyday Health - Healthy Aging on 12/30/2008

The Benefits of Group Exercise: Get Fit With Friends

Working out in a class or with a buddy can lead to better results.

Sabrina Scott appreciates the benefit of working out in a group. The 48-year-old New Yorker lost about 40 pounds in a year by attending Francesca Meccariello's fitness classes at Equinox gym. "I like the camaraderie and support of a class," says Scott. "Working out at home doesn't work for me." Scott's classmates not only encourage her to come to class, they compliment her on her new figure and tell her she is an inspiration to them. "I can't tell you how good that makes me feel, especially when I've been working so hard at it."

Experts agree that group exercise can be beneficial. "Working out in a group provides support, accountability, and structure," says Lynne Vaughan, Chief Innovation Officer of the national YMCA. "People don't want to let their buddy or group down, which is terrific in terms of adherence to an exercise routine."

Patient information published in 2005 in the Journal of American Academy of Physician Assistants also recommends that people exercise with a partner or group because they "are more likely to stay on track." The group encourages exercisers to involve family members, friends, and even pets, as "dogs need exercise too."

Other benefits of group fitness: You're more likely to complete a well-rounded exercise routine and get a potentially tougher workout. "In a class, the instructor can say, 'let's pick up the pace,'" says Vaughan. "A class can help you move past a plateau — if you want to push yourself a little bit and improve."

And Vaughan notes that working out in a group can be flat-out fun. "Groups, especially when they include children, give a sense of play to exercise." In particular, you may want to seek out an organized team for a sport you played as a kid, like softball or soccer.

The Challenges of Group Exercise

There are some downsides to working out in a group, however, says Jeff Halevy, a New York City-based National Academy of Sports Medicine-certified fitness trainer. If a group is too big, it can make you feel anonymous, he notes. You may not get the direction you need to learn proper form for exercises like push-ups or squats, and that can result in an injury. And if you're in the back of a big class, it can be easy to slack off.

To avoid the potential negatives, Vaughan encourages new exercisers to introduce themselves to the instructor or team captain when they join a group. "Tell him or her that you're new and declare your goals, and say that you want to stick with the program," she says. In response, a good instructor should introduce you to people in the class and offer exercises for your skill level.

By Anne L. Fritz
Everyday Health - Women's Health on 12/30/2008

Easy Strategies for Boosting Immunity

Eat right, get enough sleep, stay hydrated, and exercise to maintain a strong immune system and avoid colds

Many of us accept catching colds, flu, and other bugs as inevitable. But what about people who rarely get sick or shrug off minor maladies without missing a day of work? How do they do that? Here are simple tips for reducing your risk of getting sick.

Health experts recommend washing your hands — with soap and warm water for about 20 seconds or longer — periodically throughout the day. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers when soap and water are not available. Getting a yearly flu shot, which exposes your body to dead flu viruses so it builds immunity against them, is one of the best things you can do to avoid influenza each year.

Sleep, Eat, and Drink to Prevent Colds

"The most important things in terms of improving immunity are rest and good sleep," said Dr. Ronald Stram, founder of the Center for Integrative Health and Healing in Delmar, N.Y. While individual needs vary, most experts recommend at least seven hours a night. A healthy diet is also vital. Nutritionist Lona Sandon says the best foods for supporting immunity come from Mother Nature.

For immune system health, "Research shows that a whole foods approach is best," said Sandon, an American Dietetic Association spokeswoman who recommends a diet packed with whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. That's because, for normal people without severe vitamin deficiencies, taking extra vitamins, supplements or herbs has never been shown to lower the risk of developing an infection.

Foods like oranges, kiwi, pineapple, and colorful peppers are packed with vitamin C, which helps your body produce infection-fighting antibodies, Sandon says.

Most fast food, on the other hand, offers little nutritional boost. A lack of key nutrients could mean the difference between getting and avoiding a cold. If a little vitamin C is good, then a lot is better, right? Not necessarily. With the exception of people who are subject to extreme cold or extreme physical activity, large doses of vitamin C do not appear to lower risk for colds or other illnesses.

Protect Your Skin and Stay Hydrated

Vitamin A helps keep skin and mucous membranes in the nose and mouth healthy, so they can act as a protective barrier against bacteria and viruses. Sources include orange, red, yellow, and dark green fruits and vegetables as well as liver, said Sandon.

Other nutrients that support immunity, Sandon says, include vitamin E, found in whole grains; selenium, found in many plant and animal foods (levels vary depending on selenium levels in the soil); and zinc, contained in foods ranging from whole wheat bread to lean meats, milk, and yogurt.

Staying hydrated is key, Stram says. Most people need half an ounce of non-caffeinated fluids for each pound of body weight daily to maintain proper hydration, most, if not all, of which comes from the foods we eat. This keeps mucous membranes moist, which lowers the chance of a cold or flu taking hold in your nose or lungs. Avoid sodas and other heavily sweetened drinks; the added sugar has little nutritional value.

Avoid Stress to Avoid Colds

"Serious stresses do influence the immune system," said Frances Cohen, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco.

Since stress is unavoidable for most of us, Dr. Cohen suggests that people adopt coping methods or, when appropriate, find ways to exit stressful situations.

Moderate exercise (30 or more minutes a day, according to the American Heart Association) bolsters immunity and reduces stress, while hobbies and spending time with friends can improve well-being and ease worries.

To manage stress, Cohen advises viewing situations from a different point of view or taking time to enjoy beautiful scenery or art.

"I think of it as putting on a different pair of glasses," she says.

December 2, 2008  EverydayHealth.com.

Stressed? Shrug It Off

The aches are all too familiar — you're sitting at your desk, standing in line, or maybe driving in traffic when that tightness in your shoulders and nagging pain in your neck come calling. Your body is sending another of its not-so-friendly reminders: You're stressed out. Relaxation exercises can help you feel less tense in as little as 60 seconds, and you can do them almost anywhere, anytime you need a quick dose of physical and emotional relief. Try one of these exercises:

• Shoulder shrugs and head rolls: Raise your shoulders up to your ears and hold them there for four seconds. Drop your shoulders back down. Rotate your head and neck. Mix it up by slowly alternating rotating your shoulders up and down with turning your head and neck
• Whole-body tension: Try to tighten every muscle in your body and hold that tension as long as you can without feeling pain. Very slowly release your muscles and breathe, feeling the pressure leaving your body. Repeat three times.
• Deep breathing: Inhale, then slowly exhale. Focus on relaxing your muscles. Try an affirmation like, "I feel the tension flowing out of my body." Repeat several times.

Everyday Health - Healthy Living

Oh, Those Aching Muscles

If you've been working out a bit too hard, or if you're just getting into exercise, you might have minor muscle soreness.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers these suggestions to help manage minor muscle pain:

• Allow your muscles to rest. Don't engage in any heavy exercise while they recover.
• Take acetaminophen or ibuprofen to ease pain.
• For the first few days, ice the area. After the first two to three days, apply heat to the sore muscles.
• As you recover, try low-impact exercises such as swimming, biking and walking. Gradually work your way up to longer and tougher exercises.
• Sleep, stretch and avoid stress.

HealthDay News

Staying Active at Any Age

Looking for the fountain of youth? Increasingly, experts are telling us that it's all about lifestyle, the choices you make, and, especially, staying active by engaging in regular physical exercise in your sixties, seventies, eighties, and beyond. Research on the subject is striking: Regular exercise may prevent or delay such serious health problems as heart disease and diabetes. It can boost energy and mood, reduce arthritis pain, and help you get a good night's sleep. And — maybe most important — regular exercise can help you maintain the physical health you need to continue living independently. "The best thing we know to ensure a good quality of life is to be physically active," says Dr. Tim Church, director of Preventive Medicine Research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Staying active, however, is often not quite as straightforward as it sounds. As you get older, wear and tear on joints and muscles can turn a once enjoyable exercise regimen into a painful experience, or make it difficult for you to start a new routine if you don't already exercise regularly. This doesn't mean that you should just forget about fitness in your later years, however. Whether you're a competitive athlete or a workout novice, you can still get the benefits of exercise simply by adapting what you like to do to your capabilities.

Staying Active: Time's Natural Impact

With each passing decade, our bodies lose more muscle mass and bone density, and, in turn, strength and flexibility. Fortunately, this process can be reversed at any stage in your life by revving up your physical activity. "You're never too old to exercise," says Dr. Rosanne Leipzig, professor and vice-chair of Geriatrics at Mount Sinai Medical Center, in New York City. "There are clinical trials, even in nursing home patients over age 90, showing that you can improve your health and well-being by starting to exercise at any age."

Most people in good health don't need their doctor's okay to start a moderate exercise program, such as daily walking. Under certain circumstances, however, a visit to the doctor's office is in order. "If you're past age 60 and have a serious chronic disease, let your doctor know before you begin exercising," says Dr. Church. "And if you're planning anything more rigorous than walking — say, biking, rowing, or swimming — certainly check with your doctor first."

Staying Active: The Exercise Rx

For overall health and well-being, it's important to incorporate four types of exercise into your routine:

Aerobic, or cardiovascular, activities, to make the heart and lungs work harder. Try to spend at least 30 minutes a day engaging in activities like biking, walking briskly, dancing, swimming, or taking a water aerobics class. You can also raise your heart rate simply doing chores around the house: vacuuming, gardening, raking leaves, or washing the car.

Strengthening exercises, to build bone density and strengthen muscles used for daily activities, such as climbing stairs. Aim to do strengthening exercises two to three times a week, using dumbbells, resistance bands, weight machines, or foam weights in a pool. To learn correct form and prevent injury, take a class at a gym, YMCA, or senior center.

Stretching, to increase flexibility and allow easier movement. Stretch on your own for 10 minutes a day, or sign up for a stretching class. Yoga and Pilates also incorporate many stretching techniques.

Balance exercises, to reduce the risk of falling. Tai chi and yoga can improve your equilibrium. Or practice standing on one foot, then the other — if possible, without holding onto a support.

Staying Active: Safely First

The following pointers can help keep you safe while you're exercising:

• Gear. Use proper equipment, such as well-fitting, supportive shoes for walking.
• Timing. Exercise in the cool of morning or during the evening on hot days.
• Hydration. Drink water or a sports drink before, during, and after you exercise. How much? "Your body will tell you," says Dr. Church. "If you feel thirsty, drink."
• Pacing. Start with light weights if you're new to strength building, and slowly add more weight.
• Injury. Stop if you feel any pain. "'No pain, no gain' does not apply to people in their sixties, seventies, and eighties," says Dr. Leipzig. "It can mean that you're hurting yourself."

If you experience any of the following warning signs of a problem, stop your workout and call your doctor:

• Pain or pressure in your chest
• Trouble breathing
• Light-headedness or dizziness
• Excessive difficulty balancing
• Nausea

Staying Active: Choosing a Trainer

If you're new to exercise or you'd like help reaching your fitness goals, consider hiring a personal trainer who has experience working with people in your age group. Look for someone who understands your fitness goals and any limitations you may have and who'll be able to motivate you effectively. You can start by asking friends and family members your own age for recommendations. It's helpful to schedule a "tryout" session with the trainer before signing a contract — if the fit isn't right, don't hesitate to ask him or her for a referral to someone else.

Staying Active: Fitness Gear

Exercise can be easier and more fun when you incorporate appropriate fitness tools:

• Pedometer, to count your daily steps.
• BOSU Balance Trainer, a half exercise ball with a platform on the bottom, for balancing and strengthening exercises (available with a balance bar).
• Mini trampoline, also known as a rebounder (some also come with a balance bar), for increasing stability or for an aerobic workout that's easy on the joints.
• Heart rate monitor, a chest strap that transmits your heart rate to a wristwatch so you can continuously monitor your heart rate during an aerobic workout. Some athletic shirts, tank tops, and sports bras now have chest straps built right in.

No matter what workout form you choose or what routines you prefer for staying active, "just keep doing it," advises Dr. Leipzig. "Get a friend to join you and choose forms of exercise that you enjoy so you can do them for life."

EverydayHealth.com

8 Good-for-You Indulgences

Ever think that maintaining good health is more about what you can't do that what you can? Here are 8 pointers that will debunk that myth--stat!

Nibble before dinner
Having about 70 calories of healthy fat 20 minutes before you eat—that’s six walnuts, 12 almonds or 20 peanuts—can trick you into thinking you’re full faster. This works because good fats stimulate the production of a hormone that sends the signal to your brain that you’ve eaten enough.

Have pizza night
Pizza is often dismissed as unhealthy, but if you use whole-wheat crust and lowfat cheese, and pile on the veggies (skip the pepperoni and ground beef), it’s one of the most nutritionally sound meals around.

Juice it up
So long to its reputation as a sugar and calorie bomb. New research has found that drinking fruit and vegetable juices can reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 76 percent and help lower cholesterol. Just make sure you go for 100 percent juice (read labels carefully).

Put pasta on the menu
Choose multigrain varieties, says Jennifer Vimbor, R.D., a Chicago-based nutritionist. “They’re loaded with fiber to help you get the recommended 25 grams per day.”

Drink a fruity cocktail
Research shows that alcohol can increase the level of antioxidants in certain fruits, including strawberries and blackberries.

Express yourself
When people wrote affectionately about their close friends and family in three 20-minute sessions, their cholesterol levels dropped an average of 11 points.

Go shopping
Buying something as small as a lipstick can give your mood a lift, plus you can burn up to 160 extra calories walking around the mall (as always, be sure to choose a parking spot in the last row).

Do the dishes
Increasing light physical activity—such as washing dishes and ironing—can lower blood glucose levels and may reduce the risk of diabetes, according to research published in the journal Diabetes Care.

By Anna Roufos Posted December 09, 2008 from Woman's Day

Alternative Exercise Part 5: Climbing Stairs

A simple and free exercise that may be just a room away is climbing stairs. Even if you are lucky enough to have stairs in your home, take your new fitness goals with you and take the stairs instead of using elevators and escalators. Up the ante by adding more flights in tall buildings as your condition improves.

Additionally, look for a stair climber at your fitness club, or consider one for the home. Even using this machine at relatively slow speed, you will be working hard to complete a thirty-minute climb. Skip this exercise if you are significantly overweight - it can be too much effort for your heart and can traumatize your joints. A newer version, the elliptical trainer, offers a much smoother workout that is easier on knees and adds arm motion.

DrWeil.com

10 Natural Ways to Relax and Rejuvenate

Easy Ways to Manage Stress and Build Immunity

Protecting the immune system and managing stress are vital aspects of living longer, feeling younger, and being healthy. Here are 10 ways to reduce stress, boost your immune system, and slow down the hands of time.

Physical activity. Regular exercise -- whether it's walking or dancing -- strengthens your cardiovascular system, heart, muscles, and bones. It also stimulates the release of endorphins, improves mental functioning, concentration/attention, and cognitive performance, and lowers cholesterol, blood pressure, cortisol, and other stress hormones.

Yoga and stretching. The slow movements and controlled postures of yoga improve muscle strength, flexibility, balance, circulation, mental focus, and calmness.

Hand hygiene. The most effective measure in preventing the spread of germs is good hand hygiene. Washing your hands as soon as you come home, and always before you eat, greatly reduces your exposure to bacterial and viral infections. Carry alcohol-based hand wipes to control exposures away from home.

Laughter and humor. There is truth to the saying that laughter is the best medicine. Laughing reduces stress hormones like adrenaline (epinephrine) and cortisol and benefits the immune system.

High nutrient diet. Eat foods rich in antioxidants (strawberries, oranges, tomatoes), omega-3 fatty acids (walnuts, salmon, soybeans), and folate (dark green, leafy vegetables). Antioxidants neutralize molecules that can cause heart disease, cancer, and premature aging. Omega-3 fatty acids have anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular-enhancing, and immune-regulating properties. Folate prevents age-related cognitive decline, ensures DNA integrity (important during
pregnancy), and promotes healthy red blood cells.

Music. Listening to your favorite music is a great method of reducing stress and relieving anxiety.

Sleep. Sound sleep has a profound impact on stress
levels, immune function, and disease resistance. Your body and immune system do most of their repairs during sleep, so strive to get in seven to eight hours each night.

Positive thinking. Optimism can counteract the negative impact stress, tension, and anxiety have on your immune system and well-being. Often it is how you perceive things that determine if you get overwhelmed, both mentally and physically.

Tea. Regularly drinking green and black teas throughout the day can help strengthen your immune system and your body's ability to fight off germs and infections.

Hydrotherapy. Relaxing in a hot bath relieves sore muscles and joints, reduces stress and tension, and promotes sleep. Add music, soft lighting, and scented oils to create a spa experience in the privacy of your own home.

By Monique N. Gilbert
Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals

Stress and Pain Age the Body and Brain

Chronic stress ages the body and can make cells appear up to 17 years older than they really are, according to a recent study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While researchers and healthcare practitioners have long thought as much, this study reveals exactly how stress takes its biological toll on the body.

The researchers compared 39 healthy mothers who were raising chronically ill children to 19 mothers of the same age whose children were healthy. The mothers' ages ranged from 20 to 50. Through blood and urine samples, researchers found that women with the highest stress levels had weaker immune cell function, higher oxidative stress, and a shorter life span of cells, significantly increasing risk of age-related diseases. This was the case even after adjusting for lifestyle factors such as obesity, smoking, and age.

Researchers note it is the perceived stress that matters. When two people are given the same stressor and one discerns it as manageable while the other is overwhelmed, it is the latter who suffers more on a biological level. Consequently, stress management techniques such as massage, yoga, meditation, breath work, exercise, and counseling are key to health.

By Lara Evans Bracciante
Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals

Holiday Stress

Tips to Stay On Top

Here "it" comes -- holiday stress. As families negotiating where to spend Thanksgiving and millions of us are making the empty promise to ourselves to start early on holiday shopping, the anxiety begins to build. And it only gets crazier from here. Choir practice for the kids, family gatherings at every turn, office parties, treks to the mall, baking...you know where this is headed. So what can you do about it? You may not be able to control the chaos of the season, but there are some steps to make sure you survive it unscathed.

1.Take time for yourself. YES, get a massage. Soak in a mineral bath. Listen to the silence of a snowfall. Even if there seems no possible moment you can claim as your own, close your eyes, breathe deep from your belly several times, exhaling the air loudly from your mouth. Do this whenever you need a "moment."

2. Utilize catalog/online shopping. Don't fight the crowds. From the convenience of your home or during an office lunch hour, catalog and online shopping can eliminate the headache of holiday stress tenfold.

3. Eat right. Some of the best goodies come out this time of year. While you shouldn't deny yourself the opportunity to have a piece of grandma's pumpkin pie, don't overdo it. Remember to eat plenty of vegies and fruits to help stave off the winter's bombardment of colds.

4. Give yourself the advantage. Consumption of alcohol, nicotine, drugs and caffeine elicit the body's stress reaction. Remember moderation, you'll be happier and calmer in the long run.

5. Don't skimp on the exercise...but allow yourself to be excused from the routine when need be. Exercise helps melt the stress away and can provide that moment of clarity in a hectic day.

6. Don't try to be Martha Stuart. It's easy to get caught up in the spirit of the holidays with new decorating ideas, fancy dinners and the whim to make all your gifts this year. Be realistic and honest with yourself. Don't set yourself up for failure. Hire a caterer. Have friends help by having a craft day. Forgo making the gift wreath and give a gift you'll know they'll appreciate -- a massage.

7. Remember the spirit. When it's all said and done, no one will remember that the turkey was a little dry, that the sweater didn't fit, or that you were a few minutes late for rehearsal. What do they remember? The precious moments with family and friends.

Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals

A Surefire Way to Lose Weight

Want to shed some unwanted pounds, increase your energy and even improve your mental outlook? It’s simpler than you probably think. Just turn off the television and take a walk. I recommend walking 30-45 minutes a day as a way to maintain a healthy body and weight. I also recommend taking a break from television. Local news focuses on crime, violence and death, and its images and message can lead to feelings of fear and depression. Start by swapping out 30 minutes of television-watching a week for a walk, and work your way up to making it a daily activity. You will soon feel better in body, mind and spirit!

DrWeil.com

Lose Weight with Yoga?

While any form of physical exercise will help to burn calories and thus support weight-loss efforts, some forms of exercise are gentler on the body than others. Yoga is a great way to burn calories, increase muscle mass (which in turn burns more calories) and enhance stretching, which is important for keeping joints limber and preventing injury. If yoga classes seem too intimidating, read up on the practice of yoga and begin doing poses on your own. You may consider renting or buying a yoga video as well. Then, once you feel comfortable, look around for a yoga studio in your area. You are sure to feel the benefits - both physical and mental - that yoga provides.

DrWeil.com

Health Tip: Blood Pressure Too High?

High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease -- so to help your heart, you should get your blood pressure under control.

While medications can help, the American Academy of Family Physicians offers these additional suggestions to help lower your blood pressure:

• Stop using any tobacco products.
• Boost your diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables.
• Reduce your consumption of alcohol and caffeine.
• Stick to a low-fat, low-sodium diet.
• Get plenty of regular exercise.
• Maintain a healthy body weight.
• Try relaxation techniques to reduce stress.

Health Day

4 Ways to Beat Bloat

Many of us are familiar with the abdominal bloating and swollen fingers that accompanies water retention. Whether you retain fluid due to hormonal changes or after eating too much salty food, don't reach for prescription diuretics. Even over-the-counter diuretics are likely to be harder on the system than retained fluid. Instead, try the following:

1. Eat sensibly, and watch your salt intake.
2. Get regular exercise.
3. Drink black tea, which is a safe, natural diuretic.
4. Try an herbal diuretic such as cornsilk tea or freeze-dried dandelion leaf. Both are mild and nontoxic. You can get cornsilk tea in health-food stores or make it yourself if you have access to fresh corn by steeping the silks in boiling water for ten minutes. Drink one cup two to four times a day. The dose for freeze-dried dandelion is one or two capsules two to four times a day.

DrWeil.com

3 Natural Therapies for Adult ADHD

Workers who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) perform 22 days less work per year than people who don’t have the disorder, according to a research consortium at Harvard Medical School.

More than 7,000 employed and self-employed adults were screened for ADHD as part of the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Survey Initiative. They were also asked about their performance at work in the last month. On average, 3.5 per cent of workers had ADHD. By extrapolating the data, those with ADHD were found to spend 22.1 more days per year not doing work compared to others without the disorder. This was made up of 8.4 days when they were unable to work or carry out their normal activities, 21.7 days of reduced work quantity and 13.6 days of reduced work quality.

Fortunately, adult ADHD can be addressed through natural therapies, including:

• Fish Oil: Omega 3 fatty acids, abundant in fish oil, are crucial for proper brain function. I recommend two to three grams daily.
• Meditation: Mindfulness meditation has been shown to help both adults and teens with ADHD.
• Exercise: Regular physical activity has been shown to raise levels of dopamine, which can improve concentration and focus.

Feeling occasionally distracted, disorganized or forgetful is common in today’s sensory-overload culture, but if such feelings are continuous or severely impacting your life, consider consulting a mental health professional to see if you meet the clinical criteria for ADHD.

DrWeil.com

Vitamin-enhanced Water: Is It Worth the Money?

VitaminWater. Propel. Aquafina. Dasani. The list goes on. Vitamin-enhanced waters are available in many flavor combinations and promise health benefits beyond rehydration. The problem is that their manufacturers' claims of increased endurance and energy aren't backed by science. In fact, these drinks may do more harm than good, particularly if you're trying to lose weight.

"But I like VitaminWater, and besides, it's better than drinking soda," you say. The 15 or so varieties of VitaminWater and the myriad flavors of Propel, Aquafina and other brands certainly taste great. They usually taste better than plain water. There's a reason for that: sugar.

The facts

There are about 13 grams of sugar per serving of VitaminWater. A 20-ounce bottle of VitaminWater, though, contains about 2 1/2 servings. So 13 grams of sugar can quickly turn into more than 30 grams.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) advises people who eat a 2,000-calorie diet to consume no more than 10 teaspoons or 44 grams of added sugar per day. So, a regular Coke, with its 39 grams of sugar, almost meets the daily limit of sugar. VitaminWater isn't too far behind Coke in terms of its sugar content.

VitaminWater contains a form of sugar called crystalline fructose, which is really just an iteration of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a refined sugar that turns into fat when it's not used by the body.

Most vitamin-enhanced waters contain very small amounts of vitamins -- less than what you'd get in a typical multivitamin, according to Adam Perlman, M.D., M.P.H., executive director of the Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (ICAM) at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey.

It's better to get calories and vitamins from the foods you eat, Perlman says, than to rely on a drink to provide them.

OK in moderation

"It's better to swallow a vitamin pill and drink some regular water" than to drink so-called vitamin-enhanced water, advises Keith-Thomas Ayoob, Ed.D., a registered dietitian and nutritionist who sits on the advisory board of the Washington, D.C.-based American Council for Fitness and Nutrition.

But if you're doing an hour or more of exercise, sports drinks like vitamin-enhanced water or Gatorade are fine. If you consume these drinks while exercising, you're probably not going to gain weight from them. But if you drink one with dinner, you're just increasing your caloric intake.

"Be aware of added calories, especially if you're focusing on total health and weight loss," Ayoob warns.

Low-tech rehydration

"A terrific way to rehydrate after a workout is low-fat chocolate milk," Ayoob says. "It has protein and the right amount of carbohydrates. Most people need more calcium and vitamin D anyway." Both are present in low-fat milk.

If your vitamin-enhanced water contains more than 60 calories per serving, it's not as effective for hydration, Ayoob says. Instead, he recommends drinking a 4-ounce glass of fruit juice to rehydrate. Unlike vitamin-enhanced waters, fruit juice contains antioxidants and minerals from a natural source.

Caffeine jitters?

Some vitamin-enhanced waters contain forms of caffeine like the amino acid taurine or the plant guarana. VitaminWater's Dragonfruit, for example, boasts that its taurine content is an energy booster.

There's a lot of hype and not enough research on taurine to support the claims of its health benefits, according to Perlman. Fortunately, there's not enough taurine in these drinks to be harmful either, he says.

Ayoob issues a strong warning on the use of caffeine or caffeine-like substances like taurine and guarana as performance-enhancers. "If the drink is giving you 50 to 80 milligrams of caffeine, that's too much. And it might cause sleep disturbances." The use of stimulants "is a slippery slope," he adds. "It's OK to use caffeine to win a race, but I wouldn't want to rely on it."

If you take any medication, particularly heart medications, you should speak with your doctor about drinking beverages containing stimulants like caffeine, the experts say.

"Only serious athletes should use these drinks for a boost," Ayoob says. "And drinking these drinks doesn't make you a serious athlete."

Worth the money?

In a word, no.

"There are plusses and minuses to everything, depending on your goals," Perlman says.

So, if weight loss is your goal, don't drink these vitamin-enhanced waters. If your goal is balancing your budget, they aren't recommended for that either.

Revolution Health Group

Five Ways to Prevent Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in men. Scientists have estimated that lifestyle factors account for about 75 percent of advanced prostate cancer cases. Of all the environmental factors, diet appears to be the most influential. So what can you do about prostate cancer? Try the following:

1. Watch your diet. Avoid a diet high in red meat, saturated fat and dairy products, all of which may increase the risk for prostate cancer. Instead, eat more tomatoes, especially tomatoes in sauces - they contain lycopene, a carotenoid linked to a lower risk of prostate cancer. Also include whole soy foods, which contain genistein, an isoflavone that helps normalize hormone levels; fish, which may lower the risk of prostate cancer; and fiber, which influences the elimination of hormones such as testosterone and estrogen.
2. Drink green tea. Lab studies indicate that an antioxidant compound in green tea called EGCG kills prostate cancer. Another compound in green tea blocks the actions of an enzyme that promotes prostate cancer.
3. Exercise. Regular aerobic exercise is associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
4. Take a multivitamin that includes vitamin D and antioxidants, especially selenium.
5. Have regular screenings. Rectal exams can provide early detection of problems with the prostate gland.

DrWeil.com

Obese But Healthy?

A surprisingly large proportion of overweight and obese people appear to have no increase in heart disease risk. At the same time, a surprisingly large percentage of normal-weight people have a cluster of heart risks. That’s according to a report in the August, 2008, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

In the study, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y., and colleagues assessed body weight and metabolic abnormalities (including high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides and low HDL or "good" cholesterol) in 5,440 people. Participants were considered metabolically healthy if they had none or one abnormality and metabolically abnormal if they had two or more abnormalities. The result:

• About 23 percent of normal-weight adults were metabolically abnormal.
• About 51 percent of overweight adults were metabolically normal.
• About 31 percent obese adults were metabolically normal.

Normal-weight people with metabolic abnormalities tended to be older, less physically active and have larger waists than healthy normal-weight individuals. Obese people with no metabolic abnormalities were more likely to be younger, black, more physically active and have smaller waists than those with metabolic risk factors.

The bottom line recapitulates what other data show: it’s far better to be active and overweight, even obese, than sedentary and normal weight. The goal of optimum health is not to be thin, but to be as healthy as you can, regardless of weight. It’s very clear to me that some people are genetically programmed to carry extra pounds, and as long as they maintain their cardiovascular health through exercise, they should indeed be considered healthy.

DrWeil.com

Lack of joy in life ups early death risk: study

People who don't think life is worth living are more likely to die within the next few years, research from Japan shows.

The increased death risk was mainly due to cardiovascular disease and external causes --most commonly, suicide.

The research is the largest to date to investigate how "ikigai," or "joy and a sense of well-being from being alive," affects mortality risk, and only the second to examine death from specific causes, according to Dr. Toshimasa Sone and colleagues from the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in Sendai.

The investigators looked at 43,391 men and women 40 to 79 years old living in the Ohsaki region who were followed for seven years, during which time 3,048 died. All were asked, "Do you have ikigai in your life?" Fifty-nine percent said yes, 36.4 percent said they weren't sure, and 4.6 percent said no.

Those who didn't have a sense of ikigai were less likely to be married or employed, and were also less educated, in worse health, more mentally stressed, and in more bodily pain. They were also more likely to have limited physical function.

But even after the researchers used statistical techniques to adjust for these factors, people with no sense of ikigai were still at increased risk of dying over the follow-up period compared to people who did have ikigai. The relationship also was independent of history of illness and alcohol use.

Overall, people with no sense of ikigai were 50 percent more likely to die from any cause during follow-up compared to those who did have a sense that life was worth living. They had a 60 percent greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease, most commonly stroke, and were 90 percent more likely to die of "external" causes.

Of the 186 deaths due to external causes among study participants, 90 were suicides.

Reuters

Choosing a Yoga Class

Finding the Best One for You

Fitness studios, health clubs and wellness centers around the world are adding yoga classes to their schedules, but which one is right for you? Yoga styles today range from very gentle and meditative to vigorous and technically demanding, says Mara Carrico, the San Diego-based author of Yoga Journal's Yoga Basics -- The Essential Beginner's Guide to Yoga for a Lifetime of Health and Fitness. Selecting a class that fits your goals, physical condition and fitness level is very important. Carrico offers these 10 tips for finding a safe, effective yoga class to include in your workout:

1. Determine Your Goals. Potential health and fitness benefits of yoga include strength, flexibility, balance and improved breathing and posture. However, yoga is also an internally focused exercise that may help you calm your mind and increase your concentration skills. You may want to explore yoga as a philosophy, meditative practice or spiritual discipline. Understanding your objectives and level of interest will help you find the right program.

2. Consider the Different Types of Yoga Available. The physical component of yoga -- called hatha yoga -- consists of poses and breathing techniques that prepare the body for stillness, creating physical strength and stamina, while allowing the mind to remain calm. There are numerous styles of hatha yoga. For example, Ashtanga (power) yoga is very vigorous, with moves and postures similar to acrobatics, this style is not recommended for beginners. Iyengar is a detailed, technically demanding style of yoga that challenges participants to perform postures with great precision. Viniyoga, Kripalu and Ananda yoga are less detailed in technique and more suited to novices looking for stretching and relaxation.

3. Consider How and Where You Want to Take Yoga. If your goals are primarily fitness-related, you may want to take yoga at a fitness facility. For more in-depth training from master teachers, look for an ashram, an academy or a studio that is dedicated entirely to yoga. If you prefer individualized attention, you may want to study with a yoga teacher or yoga-trained personal trainer.

4. Consider Your Physical Limitations. Always check with your doctor before beginning a new fitness program. Most educated, experienced yoga instructors are sensitive to their students' physical limitations and knowledgeable of the contraindications that might be applicable. However, you also need to recognize that your physical condition should influence the type of yoga you choose to practice. For example, if you have sciatica, you should avoid forward bends and intense hamstring stretches. If you are pregnant or have high blood pressure, ear congestion or eye problems, you should avoid holding your breath or doing inverted poses, such as shoulder stands and headstands. Problems with your neck, shoulders, wrists, knees, back, feet or ankles may also require modified techniques. Fully inform your instructor of any physical problems you have.

5. Find Out About Your Instructor's Experience and Credentials. Ask your instructor about his or her yoga training and teaching experience. Many different certifications are available. Your teacher's education and experience should demonstrate a commitment to safety, professionalism and ongoing education.

6. Ask Lots of Questions in Advance. Before beginning a class, ask the instructor if it is appropriate for you and will help you meet your specific goals.

7. Listen to Your Body. During class, do not force or strain, and remember to breathe. Do not attempt poses that feel uncomfortable or painful.

8. Discuss Your Experience With Your Instructor. Inform your instructor if certain postures or exercises are problematic for you. He or she should be able to offer an explanation and suitable modifications.

9. Try a Variety of Classes. Don't be reluctant to admit that a certain style of yoga or yoga instruction is not for you. Try as many classes and instructors as necessary.

10. Be Patient With Your Progress. Mastering yoga takes time. Don't be discouraged if you do not learn as quickly as you would like. The more you practice, the more you will realize the many benefits of this discipline.

By IDEA

Exercise: a Key to Healthy Aging

In 2006, the first Baby Boomers—people born in the United States, Canada, and the UK between 1946 and 1964—turn 60 years old. But this group has made it clear they don’t plan on sitting around in rocking chairs. If you’re a senior interested in staying young, agile, and healthy, be sure to get regular exercise and support it with a wellness lifestyle.

Your exercise program—what’s your pleasure?

Choose exercises or physical activities that you enjoy, that get you outdoors, and that you can do with friends. Some ideas:

• Walking is one of your best options for aerobic exercises. It requires no special equipment other than good footwear and a water bottle. Put on sunscreen, sunglasses, and perhaps a hat or scarf to protect yourself from the sun’s rays, especially if you go walking after 10 a.m. and before 3 p.m. For extra motivation, walk with a friend.

• Swimming is another great aerobic exercise, especially if your joints don’t like walking. Bring a water bottle with you to the pool. Ear plugs made for swimming can prevent ear irritation or infections.

• Tai chi maintains balance, flexibility, and strength. Dr. Jim Concotelli, the vice president of programs and services at Horizon Bay Senior Communities in Tampa, Florida, has documented that regular tai chi practice in older adults reduces falls by 50%. “Tai chi at any age can be fulfilling,” says Concotelli. Tai chi also lowers blood pressure, strengthens the heart, increases oxygen intake, calms a stressed nervous system, and improves immune function.

Give your workout a boost

Maintain vitality and get the energy you need for regular exercise by maintaining a wellness lifestyle:

• Eating balanced meals provides you with the fuel for exercise. If you exercise in the morning, make sure you eat breakfast. Combine carbohydrates with protein for sustained energy, such as fortified cereal with milk and fruit.

• Keep healthy snacks on hand to keep your energy up. Nuts, fruits, energy bars, flavored rice cakes, yogurt, and the like make delicious pick-me-ups.

• Sufficient sleep also gives you added energy. Get to sleep quicker by winding down before you go to bed. Tips include dimming the lights, reading a book, taking a bubble bath, or sipping some milk or warm herbal tea such as chamomile.

Healthnotes

Fitness protects brain in Alzheimer's patients

People in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease who are more physically fit had less shrinkage in areas of the brain that are important for memory, researchers said on Sunday.

Fitness and exercise have been shown to slow age-related changes in the brain in healthy people. The latest finding suggests people with early Alzheimer's disease may still benefit.

"The message is essentially if you have Alzheimer's disease, it's not too late to become physically fit," Dr. Sam Gandy, chairman of the Alzheimer's Association's Medical and Scientific Advisory Council, said in a statement.

Researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City studied the relationship between fitness and brain volume in 56 healthy adults and 60 adults with early Alzheimer's disease. All were over the age of 60.

The researchers measured cardiovascular fitness based on treadmill tests that measured oxygen consumption. And they measured brain volume using magnetic resonance imaging or MRI scan, looking specifically at the size of key brain areas associated with memory, including the hippocampus. In Alzheimer's, the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to sustain damage.

They found that people who had early-stage Alzheimer's disease and were physically fit had more brain volume in areas that are important to memory that people with the disease who were less fit.

The results were presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Chicago.

"This is the first study to get an inside look into specifically where these changes occur in the brain. We're able to locate the changes associated with fitness to the actual memory region, the hippocampus, which is a key area for Alzheimer's-related atrophy," Robyn Honea, who led the study, said in a statement.

The same group earlier this month reported that exercise helped preserve overall brain volume in people with Alzheimer's disease.

In a separate study, Australian researchers found people with dementia who took part in a 12-month home exercise program directed by their caregivers had fewer falls and better quality of life.

Researchers from Western Medicine, Nedlands, Western Australia, found that people who took part in an exercise group fell significantly less often and had better balance than people who got ordinary care.

"Targeting this high-risk group may be a relatively cost-effective way of having a significant impact on the overall rate of falling in the elderly," Megan Wraith, who led the study, said in a statement.

Four Ways to Start a Fitness Routine

Busy lives, stressful schedules, poor diets, inadequate sleep, not enough down time and lack of energy: Sound familiar? With all there is to do in life, something has got to give, and often it's your fitness regime.  
It can be challenging to find time to work out, but the long- and short-term health benefits make it a necessary aspect of achieving optimum health. Here are some tips to help you get back on the track to making positive changes:

1. Change your daily habits. We've all heard the advice to park farther away or take the stairs, because it works. Set a goal to take the stairs at work every other day.
2. Pace yourself at the gym. Everyone is there for the same reason, so don't be embarrassed if you're going a little slower. Use light weights for strength training, and limit yourself to 2-10 minutes on the stationary bike when you first start out. You'll find that your stamina will quickly improve.
3. Take care of yourself. Wear the proper footwear, removable layers or light clothing, and avoid dehydration by drinking more water than you think you need.
4. Get encouragement. Join an exercise class, hire a personal trainer, or enlist a friend for morning walks. It's more fun if you don't go it alone.

DrWeil.com

Why you don't lose weight where you want

Reflecting the eternal triumph of hope over experience, many wonder how to target fat loss: "How do I lose flab from my thighs?" "I want to slim down my waist." "I need to lose these unsightly man-boobs. " That sort of thing.

Alas, we (and that includes you) cannot get rid of fat in specific places. Here's why:

We consume calories. What we don't use for daily energy needs or discharge as waste gets stored as fat. Men tend to amass that fat first in the belly, then elsewhere around the middle, then in the thighs and the upper arms and so on, explains William O. Roberts, an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School and a past president of the American College of Sports Medicine. For women, fat accumulates first in the butt and thighs and then settles elsewhere.

When we need energy, our bodies turn first not to those stores but to the glycogen in our bloodstream that we have produced from recently consumed calories. When that's used up, we tap into our fat stores (oh, the unfairness!) in reverse order: For women, the fat disappears from the perimeter before the mother lode around the hips gets tapped. For guys, the fat disappears first from the upper arms, then the thighs, then the midsection.

"Essentially, the fat stores are like your bank and [the glycogen] is like your wallet," Roberts says. "You go to your wallet before you go to your bank." And when you get to the bank, you withdraw your most recent deposits before your oldest ones.

So even if you're a guy who does, say, 12,000 crunches, your body will not start to access the insulation surrounding your abs until other, more recently deposited fat is expended. Ladies who do butt-blasters will lose the rim under the chin before thigh circumference.

Bummer, yes, but there is hope: To lose fat you simply (let's make that "simply") must burn more calories than you consume. If you want to lose weight, shoot for a daily deficit of 200 to 300 calories -- achievable, Roberts says, by consuming 100 fewer calories and burning 100 to 200 more per day than usual. A pound of fat equals 3,500 calories, meaning you can safely lose a couple to a few pounds per month.

Don't try to outsmart the system by, say, running a deficit of 2,000 calories a day. "The body works to hold onto fat if you try to starve it," Roberts notes.

He prescribes 40 to 60 minutes of "fairly intense exercise" -- boosting your heart rate to 60 to 80 percent of maximum -- three or four days a week. (Maximum heart rate in beats per minute is roughly estimated by subtracting your age from 220.)

On the other days, Roberts says, you can go a little shorter and less intense -- take a 20-minute walk or do some light physical work. "You should be getting some activity almost every day."

As for what's underneath the weight you'd rather not carry: You can, and should, target muscles for strength building, whether they are protected by a sheath of adipose or not.

Strength training causes small tears in the fibers of the muscles employed and, when the body shuttles protein to the muscles in response to the stress, those fibers grow.

So: Cut calories and exercise more to lose weight all over. Build muscle to tone what's underneath. Continue until satisfied. In the meantime? We think you look great.

Revolution Health Group

Exercises To Help Prevent Osteoporosis

Johns Hopkins Medicine produces "Health Alerts" for the public. The topics cover a wide range of important health issues for Americans...a few deal with the musculoskeletal system. A recent alert reviewed exercises to strengthen bones and help in the treatment/prevention of osteoporosis. I have written blogs in the past for Revolution Health on the benefits of adequate calcium and vitamin D intake as well as exercises...especially weight bearing type exercises, i.e. against gravity. I found a new specific list of exercises very informative and wanted to share them with our readers.

Exercises are important to build bone and muscle strength, hopefully limit bone loss with aging, improve balance and co-ordination and help us stand and sit upright. Results of a recent "University of Arizona's BEST (Bone-Estrogen Strength Training) study show that those women who followed a regime of weight-bearing and resistive exercises faithfully for 4 years, while taking calcium citrate supplements, had significant improvement in bone mineral density...whether or not they were taking hormone replacement therapy".

Here are the 6 exercises recommended:

"Exercise 1 - Wall Squat. Stand with your feet shoulder - width apart, back against a wall. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms at your sides, palms facing inward. Slowly bend your knees and lower your buttocks 8 inches or more (but do not allow your hips to sink below knee level). Pause, then slowly return to the starting position.

Exercise 2 - Back Extension. Lie face down on the floor with your legs straight, arms extended flat on the floor above your head, palms down. Keep your nose pointed downward and slowly raise your right leg and left arm off the floor (reach out as well as up). Keep your head and neck in line with your arm. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position. Now slowly raise your left leg and right arm together. Change sides and repeat.

Exercise 3 - One-arm Military Press. Lie with your back on a bed or bench with your feet flat on the floor, holding a dumbbell in each hand on top of your chest. Press the weight straight up with one hand. Pause, then return it back down. Barely touch your chest, then repeat with the other hand. Alternate sides and repeat.

Exercise 4 - Seated Row. Sit on the floor with your legs fully extended. Hook a resistance band on the balls of your feet. Wrap each end of the band around your hands. Keeping your back straight, pull the band toward you with both arms. Pause, then slowly release your arms straight in front of you again.

Exercise 5 - Leg Press. Lie on the floor, flat on your back, with your knees hugged into your chest. Place the center of a resistance band on the balls of your feet. Wrap each end of the band around your hands. Keep your elbows close to your sides and squeeze your inner thighs together as you press your legs up toward the ceiling. Pause, then draw your legs back down.

Exercise 6 - Lat Pull - down. Stand with your feet shoulder - width apart, knees unlocked, and abdominals tight. Grasp a resistance band with your hands slightly wider than shoulder - width apart. Lift your arms just above your head, palms facing forward as you look straight ahead. Extend your arms out to the sides at shoulder height, with your wrists firm and your elbows slightly bent. Pull your shoulder blades back and together and expand your chest. Return to starting position. Repeat."

Johns Hopkins suggests that as you start these exercises..."do one set of 6 to 8 repetitions of each exercise and gradually build up to doing 2 sets. Once you can easily do 2 sets of 6 to 8 repetitions, increase the weight by small increments, or move up to a higher - resistance band."

This exercise regime is beneficial because it stresses the bones with "against gravity" and resistive exercises. It is, also, unique because it builds bone in the specific areas that people with osteoporosis fracture..."the wrist, hip and spine". They, also, suggest that one "round out the regime" with standing stretches and "17 minutes of cardiovascular weight bearing activity such as stair climbing or treadmill walking". But, please speak to your doctor to make sure each of these exercises is appropriate for you...he/she may suggest some and not others depending on your age and health status.

www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/reports/back_pain_osteoporosis/2022-1.html?type

Diabetes linked to depression risk and vice versa

People being treated for type 2 diabetes are at increased risk for depression, according to a new report, and individuals with depression have a moderately increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

To explore the relationship between diabetes and depression, Dr. Sherita Hill Golden at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and colleagues analyzed data on 6814 subjects who underwent three examinations between 2000 and 2005.

Among 4847 participants without depression at the start of the study, the researchers report, rates of occurrence of depression symptoms during follow-up were similar for people without diabetes and those with untreated type 2 diabetes, but about twice as high in people being treated for type 2 diabetes.

"The psychological stress associated with diabetes management may lead to elevated depressive symptoms," Golden's team suggests in their report in Journal of the American Medical Association.

They also found that participants who had symptoms of depression were about 30 percent more likely to develop diabetes during the study than people without depression.

The link between depression and diabetes onset was partially due to lifestyle factors, such as caloric intake and physical activity.

"Future studies should determine whether interventions aimed at modifying behavioral factors associated with depression will complement current type 2 diabetes prevention strategies," Golden and her colleagues write.

Their finding also suggest, they add, "that clinicians should be aware of increased risk of elevated depressive symptoms in individuals with treated type 2 diabetes and consider routine screening for depressive symptoms among these patients."

Reuters

Aerobic exercise increases protein that may suppress appetite

In a small study of overweight and obese adults, 3 months of aerobic exercise, with no change in diet, led to a significant decrease in body fat and a spontaneous decrease in caloric intake. The percentage of weight loss and the reduction in caloric intake correlated positively and significantly with concentrations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

"The reduction in caloric intake could be related to the effect of BDNF in appetite regulation," Dr. Henry Anhalt of the Animas Corporation, West Chester, Pennsylvania told the Endocrine Society's 90th annual meeting in San Francisco.

"It is possible that the increases in this compound in fact suppress appetite; however, this was not directly tested," added Dr. Anhalt, who moderated a press conference where the study was reported.

In the study, Dr. A. Veronica Araya and colleagues from University of Chile Clinical Hospital in Santiago evaluated blood levels of BDNF before and after 3 months of aerobic exercise in 15 overweight or obese men and women. The 7 men and 8 women, ages 26 to 51 years, exercised on a treadmill and bicycle.

At the end of the 3-month exercise period, study subjects experienced a significant decrease in BMI (from 30.6 to 30.1; p = 0.01), waist circumference (from 108.1 to 105.1 cm; p = 0.003) and percentage body fat (35.2 to 33.3%; p = 0.0029).

They also experienced a fall in systolic blood pressure (128.7 to 122.6 mmHg; p = 0.05) and diastolic blood pressure (82.3 to 72.6 mmHg; (p = 0.007), and spontaneously consumed fewer calories each day (2142 to 1805 cal; p = 0.01).

Serum BDNF rose from 2.4 ng/mL before exercise to 7.8 ng/mL after exercise (p = 0.001), and "the concentration of BDNF was correlated positively with the percentage of weight loss to a fairly high degree," Dr. Anhalt reported for Dr. Araya, who was unable to attend the press conference where the findings were released.

In a statement issued through the Endocrine Society, Dr. Araya said: "It is important to clarify the factors involved in the response to different weight loss therapies, because we could find a marker to predict response to the intervention."

Reuters

Healthy Changes for Staying Young

Time takes its toll on a body, but you don't have to sit back and let the effects of aging take place without a fight.

"You have the power to control how much and how fast the aging process works on your body. You can even reverse some of the damage that has already been done," says Tom Monte, author of many health and wellness books, including "Staying Young: How To Prevent, Slow or Reverse More than 60 Signs of Aging."

The aging process is caused by oxidation, the breakdown of cells and tissues as they mingle with oxygen. "It's just like the rust in a car," Mr. Monte says.

You can fight that process by adopting healthful lifestyle habits that:

• Help your immune system fight disease.
• Build up reserves of lean muscle mass.
• Prevent or slow degenerative changes.
• Rebuild damaged tissue and restore lost function.

Help yourself

Anti-aging strategies can add to the quality of your life and health no matter how old you are, Mr. Monte says. Studies have found people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who start strength-training programs gain increased protection from injury.

Here are Mr. Monte's top 12 strategies for staying younger, longer:

Don't smoke. Each puff hastens aging's degenerative processes. Plus, smoking lowers your aerobic capacity, making it harder for you to do the things you enjoy and making you feel old before your time.

Eat foods rich in antioxidants. Vitamins A, C and E fight free-radical formation, the oxidation process that damages tissues. Eating 5½ cups of fruits and vegetables daily will help you get enough of these vitamins. Among the best sources are broccoli, cauliflower, red peppers and other red, yellow and green vegetables.

Eat lots of fiber. Dietary fiber found in beans, broccoli, bran and other complex carbohydrates helps lower cholesterol, aids digestion and defends against some kinds of cancers.

Maintain healthful cholesterol levels. Keep your total cholesterol level below 200 and your percentage of protective HDL cholesterol high. Following a diet that limits your fat intake to 30 percent or less of your total calories will help. Maintaining a healthful weight also is beneficial.

Exercise regularly. Age robs you of aerobic capacity. Performing 30 minutes of moderate activity three to four times a week can help you retain your capacity.

Build strength. As you age, you lose muscle mass; this weighs you down and reduces your ability to burn calories efficiently. Regular strength training can help reverse this trend.

Be flexible. Tight muscles limit your range of motion and increase your injury risk. A daily stretching routine that works each of your major muscle groups will help you stay supple.

Get enough sleep. While you rest, your body uses the nutrients you've consumed that day to repair the damage done by the day's activities. Not getting enough sleep keeps your immune system from doing its job and keeps your body in a state of disrepair.

Take care of your back. Keep muscles that support the spine strong and supple with cardiovascular and flexibility exercises. Use good body mechanics while lifting, standing or sitting for long periods of time.

Deal with stress. Stress is linked to many diseases and degenerative conditions associated with aging. Learn to look at problems as challenges and accept situations you can't change.

Stay close to your friends and family. A circle of support helps you deal with problems better, feel healthier and live longer.

Be nice. There's a relationship between hostility, heart disease and other stress-related problems. Look for reasons to be pleasant and to forgive people who make you angry. You may live longer as a result, and you'll probably enjoy life more.

Staywell Custom Communications

The Burning Questions About Metabolism

On the topic of metabolism and weight loss, conflicting information abounds. To help you cut through the, um, fat, we asked 6 scientists to answer 5 burning questions. Our panel includes:

• Steven Aldana, Ph.D., professor of lifestyle medicine in Brigham Young University’s Department of Exercise Sciences in Provo, Utah
• Cedric Bryant, Ph.D., chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise in San Diego, Calif.
• Glenn Gaesser, Ph.D., associate professor of exercise physiology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
• Gerard Mullin, M.D., director of Gastrointestinal Complementary and Alternative Medicine at The John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md.
• Shawn Talbott, Ph.D., research director for SupplementWatch, a supplement review and rating service based in Draper, Utah.

In general, their responses to our questions were in agreement — although their reasoning varied. Here are highlights from their answers:

Does too much restriction of food intake really slow one’s metabolism? If so, how much and at what level of calorie reduction does this kick in?

On the first question: Yes, which is among the many reasons why starvation diets don’t work. “Any time a person drops below 1,200 calories [a day], the body shows signs of slower basal metabolism,” Aldana says. Talbott cites research that shows anything less than 1,000 calories per day would prompt slower metabolism. Bryant puts the range at 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day.

Don’t worry too much about that minor discrepancy. Most of us would have to use incredible restraint to keep our caloric intake that low. “As soon as you cut calories [significantly], you’re not the same person metabolically,” Gaesser says.

Does the number of meals you eat impact your metabolic rate?

No, but it can impact hunger and energy levels. “This has been studied,” says Larson, who cites a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition.¹ “There is no effect. Eating 7 meals a day was the same as eating 2 meals a day [regarding metabolic rate], so long as total calorie intake was the same.”

Talbott, Bryant, Gaesser and Mullin agree but also cite evidence that small, frequent meals stabilize glucose levels — which in turn can control hunger.² “Keeping insulin and glucose at a steady state is the best way to maintain a ‘healthy’ metabolism,” Mullin says.

Does working out harder extend your metabolic burn beyond the time of the workout itself? For example, does it extend the calorie burn deeper into the day if you work out hard for 20 minutes rather than for 20 minutes moderately?

Yes, Gaesser says. The exercise afterburn effect, also known as excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), directly affects metabolism and is stronger after a hard workout. “Intensity is more important than duration,” he says, citing a 2003 Norwegian study.³ Gaesser says that for a few hours after a hard workout, your hourly calorie burn rate would equal 15% to 20% of the total calories used during the workout. A moderate workout would yield only a 10% EPOC-related calorie burn.

For instance, someone who did step aerobics for 30 minutes and expended 400 calories would have an afterburn effect of 60 to 80 calories per hour. And a  person who walked for an hour and burned 500 calories would have an afterburn effect of about 50 calories. Interesting stuff, but that’s still a fairly paltry calorie burn you’re getting after exercise (vs. during), so don’t think you can use EPOC to justify a cheeseburger and fries.

Are there supplements and herbs that can increase metabolism?

Yes, but there’s not a lot of solid science behind them, Bryant says. Green tea and caffeine are the most studied supplements in terms of metabolic boost. Mullin cites a 2007 study in the journal Obesity that found drinking a beverage containing green tea catechin, caffeine and calcium 3 times a day increased 24-hour energy expenditure by 4.6% in healthy, young, lean men and women.⁴ Talbott recommends green tea, calcium and thiamine to control metabolism. “The real value of these supplements is not that they ‘increase’ metabolism but rather that they help to prevent metabolism from dropping as you lose weight,” he says.

Are there really foods that increase metabolic burn?

No. “No foods have the magical quality to burn the calories away,” Gaesser says. However, there is a thermic effect to food — the digestion process burns calories and boosts metabolism.

Gaesser cites an article he wrote scheduled to be published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in the summer of 2007. He reviewed information from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Iowa Women’s Health Study and found that protein has the highest thermic effect, followed by carbohydrates. “Fat has almost no thermic effect,” he says.

But Larson cites a Dutch study that concluded that eating omega-3 fats can boost metabolism, while saturated fat consumption slows metabolism.⁵ “Foods close to their natural form such as fruits, veggies and whole grains do take longer to digest,” Aldana points out. “As compared to refined, processed foods, whole foods require 10 to 20 more calories to be burned just to digest the food.”

Again, don’t let the scientific sparring distract you from the bottom line: Fresh produce, whole grains, lean protein and low-fat dairy are better for you than processed, sugary foods. And to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume.

Revolution Health Group

Poetry in Motion

Moving Our Body

Our bodies love movement. When we stretch or dance, our bodies adjust, realign and start to become fluid with the rhythm of life. Our mood lifts and we feel more connected with the world around us. If you are feeling stuck, ready to release old energy, or eager to feel more alive, try moving your body. By giving your muscles a chance to do what they were created for, you may find that all areas of your body and your life benefit as well.

Many times we can be so busy that we forget moving our body is even an option. Some of us remain seated at our computer for hours every day or rush from task to task with robotic precision. When we are caught up in crossing items off our to-do lists, we tend to neglect all the opportunities there are to enjoy our bodies in the process of living. If this is true for you, begin looking for opportunities to move. You might try dancing or moving about freely as you clean your home, tend your garden or care for your children. If you are able to devote a set amount of time to self-care, practices such as yoga, dance, tai chi and walking are all great ways to keep your body in motion.

Imagine how freeing it would feel to trust your body’s movements completely, knowing it has a perfect strength and rhythm of its own. See if you can sense your bones providing graceful support, your muscles and tendons expanding and contracting in just the right measure, your lungs changing pace to fill deeply with fresh air. Movement is a vital celebration of life. It is a way to proclaim your own existence and relish in the joy of being alive. Today, and into the future, give yourself the gift of your body in motion.

Move to Boost Mood

What would you say about a remedy for depression that lifted your mood, restored your energy, realigned your brain chemistry, improved your sense of self--and cost nothing?

Then put on your walking shoes or find a workout class. Researchers are finding that physical activity works at least as well against mild to moderate depression as any other treatment. It may be an alternative to current forms of treatment or a complement to them, even in severe cases.

Right now, mental health experts are carefully building a scientific dossier on exercise as therapy for depression. Already, mounting evidence indicates that regular activity combats depression on many fronts:

• Animal studies show that exercise alters neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine in the brain's frontal cortex and the hippocampus, both involved in circuits of emotion; the changes are similar to those produced by antidepressants.

• It appears to stimulate the vagus nerve, improving function of the brain's emotion-sensing network as well as of the heart. The vagus nerve is increasingly recognized as an important pathway of depression.

• By acting on neurohormones that govern the stress response, exercise seems to improve the ability of the body to tolerate stress and to meet changing demands. A dysregulated stress response, perhaps stemming from early psychological trauma, is implicated as a cause of depression.

• Exercise has definite cognitive effects; it changes people's perception of themselves, providing a sense of personal mastery and positive self-regard. It also reduces negative thinking.

• Exercise keeps on working, making it especially promising for preventing depression recurrences. People who continue to exercise have continuing reductions in symptoms.

A push to document the effect of exercise in depression began after a report by the U.S. Surgeon General linked physical inactivity to numerous modern diseases. James Blumenthal, Ph.D., professor of medical psychology at Duke University, was one of the first to step up to the plate, testing a four-month program of aerobic exercise in people diagnosed with moderate to severe depression.

The patients, sedentary men and women over 50, worked out for 30 minutes three times a week in groups. Their response was compared with that of similarly depressed patients who received either standard therapy with Zoloft or drug and exercise combined.

Patients in all three groups experienced equally significant reductions in depression symptoms, and remission rates were comparable--60% to 65%. Surprisingly, combining two effective treatments, drug and exercise, added no benefit.

In fact, the only difference among the groups was in speed of response. The medication-alone group began improving within a few weeks; the exercisers took a few weeks longer.

But the effects of exercise lasted longer. Six months after treatment ended, fewer patients in the exercise group had relapsed into depression. Among the patients no longer depressed, only 8% of the exercisers relapsed, compared with over 30% in the medication group. "That was a big surprise," Dr. Blumenthal confides.

Contrary to his own expectations, he found that exercise was beneficial against severe depression. "Those with moderate to severe depression responded as well as those with mild depression," he says.

Adherence rates to exercise programs turn out to be at least as good among the depressed as among the general population, and they are comparable among those getting medication and those exercising. Only 20% of patients dropped out of the Duke exercise program sometime before the full 16 weeks.

There is a large pool of people looking for an alternative to current therapies, says Andrea Dunn Ph.D., exercise psychologist at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics in Dallas. In recruiting patients for a study, she found "many people who knew they had symptoms of depression but didn't want to take drugs." Besides, medication doesn't work in 30% to 35% of cases.

How exercise works against depression may be tied to its effect in improving aerobic capacity of heart and lungs. Depression and heart disease are linked through many channels. Even mild depression is a serious risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. Depression increases the mortality of pre-existing heart disease. People with depression have low heart-rate variability, indicating diminished ability of the heart to respond to stress. And exercise lowers mortality of heart patients.

Exercise undertaken to combat depression improves aerobic capacity and cardiovascular fitness, and Dr. Blumenthal makes a strong case for aerobic activities such as walking and jogging. "It was a surprise to us but we found that the largest improvements in aerobic capacity correlated with the greatest reductions in depression."

Still, there's more to the effect of exercise than fitness level. Several studies show that resistance exercise, or weight training, is as effective against depression as aerobic activity. At the very least, both likely restore a sense of personal effectiveness. Both may also act on neurotransmitters and on the vagus nerve.

So to help yourself or someone you love, together take a 30-minute walk daily.

Psychology Today

7 Lifestyle Tips from Harvard Health Letter

As a Harvard alum, I was heartened to read the April, 2008 issue of the Harvard Health Letter, which looked at how to manage seven common medical conditions through simple lifestyle changes rather than via medication. Here’s a summary:

1. Arthritis: Losing weight often makes arthritis less painful, and exercise can also improve mobility.
2. Poor Cholesterol Ratio: Your LDL level may drop by 5% if you avoid foods that are high in saturated fat. Additional soluble fiber may reduce LDL levels as well.
3. Cognitive Decline: Memory training and other “brain exercises” seem to help, but physical exercise may benefit the brain in healthy older adults even more.
4. Depression: Regular physical activity has been shown to have a potent antidepressant effect.
5. Diabetes: Regular physical activity exerts powerful control over blood sugar levels. Reason: the exercised muscle becomes more receptive to insulin, which in turn helps it pull sugar in from the bloodstream. Eating foods with lower glycemic loads also helps.
6. High Blood Pressure: Weight loss, exercise, and consuming less sodium all lower blood pressure.
7. Osteoporosis: Weight-bearing exercise stimulates bones to deposit more minerals and become stronger.

I was delighted to see such sensible advice in this excellent publication. Diet and exercise are indeed not only wonderful, proven ways to begin reversing many common health conditions; they are also excellent lifelong strategies to help prevent them from manifesting in the first place.

Dr. Weil on Healthy Aging

How Women Can Improve Heart Health: 5 Steps

Pop quiz: What disease kills more women every year than any other condition?

No, it’s not breast cancer. It’s heart disease. But simply knowing that won’t make you any less susceptible to this killer. You have to learn and manage your risk.

Here are 5 things women should do to improve their odds against heart disease, says Frank Smart, M.D., chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine and chief of cardiology at Gagnon Heart Hospital at Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, N.J.

1.    Learn your risk profile. “Are you hypertensive? Are your lipids good, bad or ugly?” Smart asks. By age 40, everyone (male and female) should have a lipid assessment, he says. This test “is not the same as a cholesterol test at the mall.” You need to see your doctor. Get your blood pressure checked at least once a year — and more frequently if you gain significant weight, change your diet, start smoking or slip into other bad habits. Other key risk factors include diabetes, smoking, metabolic syndrome, being overweight or obese, and your family history. Your risk profile will help you and your doctor develop a strategy to best protect you from heart disease.

2.    Exercise. Numerous clinical studies have shown that moderate-intensity exercise on most days of the week helps lower blood pressure in people with hypertension. It also carries numerous other heart-health benefits. Smart says: Even 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 4 times a week “helps recharge the batteries, lowers blood sugar, helps control weight [and] releases endorphins.” Furthermore, it forces women to focus on themselves, at least for a brief period. “It’s like 30 minutes of downtime.” Not everyone is fit enough to launch into an unsupervised exercise regimen, especially people who are significantly overweight or have been sedentary for years. If you do not already exercise, discuss this with your doctor before starting.

3.    Make your health a priority. Lifestyle modifications such as an improved diet and exercise take time and effort, and many women insist that they are too busy to embrace those changes due to the demands of child rearing, career and other obligations. “That statement [about lacking time] is made to me by 99% of my patients. I tell them it is absolutely essential that you find time” to exercise and eat right. “Otherwise, I tell them, ‘They can put that [statement] on your headstone.’ ” He recounts the story of a 69-year-old patient who was pouring her energy into caring for her ill husband. “She was totally ignoring herself.” In such cases, he reminds patients: “If you die, no one’s around” to assume your caregiver role.

4.    Don’t ignore symptoms. “Women don’t complain of chest pain” as often as men do, Smart says. “I do think they’re tougher [than men], and I think they’re not wired to react the same to chest pain.” Women often say they feel “a little nauseated” or they cite some other explanation for their discomfort. “If you feel like something is wrong, don’t just assume ‘I’m getting older’ or ‘I’m having gallstones.’ ” See your doctor and get cardiac tests.

5.    Remember: The doctor works for you. Many doctors reflexively attribute chest pain in women to anxiety. If your doctor does this — without first running standard cardiac health tests — “go to another doctor,” Smart advises. Envision the interaction as one you might have with a plumber: “If the pipes are backed up and there’s sewage flowing all over the house and the plumber comes and says, ‘Everything is OK,’ you’re going to say: ‘No, it’s not.’ ” You should hold your doctor to at least the same standard. “The doctor works for you, not the other way around,” he says.

Revolution Health Group

Is There a Fat Gene?

You choose fruit instead of fries, put in your hour at the gym 3 times a week and take the stairs instead of the elevator. Yet those 10 or 20 extra pounds stubbornly refuse to disappear.

"Hey, it's not my fault," you'd like to say. "It's just the way I'm wired."

If only it were that simple. While it is true that your parents are partly to blame — if one or both is obese, you have a greater chance of being overweight¹ — genetics alone are not solely responsible for weight issues. Nor, it turns out, is there one specific genetic culprit.

"There are many different genes that regulate body weight," says Andrew S. Greenberg, M.D., director of the Obesity and Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University in Boston, Mass., and one of the world's foremost authorities on fat-cell metabolism.

According to Greenberg, scientists are still trying to get a better idea of the role that genes might play in weight gain. "We're at least 10 years away from finding more specific answers," he says.

In 1991, while a fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Greenberg and his colleagues made a groundbreaking discovery — a new protein within fat cells called perilipin.

"It coats the surface of fat that's stored in fat cells," he says. "And its level seems to regulate the breakdown of fat." The more perilipin in your fat cells, the more fat that gets stored rather than broken down.

"Probably a current estimate is 30 to 60% of weight gain is heredity," says Michael L. Goran, Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine, physiology and biophysics at the University of Southern California's (USC) Keck School of Medicine, and associate director of the medical school's Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research.

To illustrate, he recalls a classic experiment in which identical twins with the same genes were overfed by the same amount. Certain twin pairs gained a lot of weight, while some pairs didn't gain at all. Within each twin pair, however, they gained about the same.

Of course, environment and lifestyle also greatly affect weight issues. "If you try to link when [the epidemic of] obesity started, there's a pretty good relationship to when cars became popular — around the '50s and '60s," says Robert Girandola, Ph.D., a USC associate professor of kinesiology, and a nutrition and obesity expert.

The advent of television just made us even more sedentary. And we're not getting any thinner. "Since 1990, the level of overweight people in the United States has gone from 51% to 65%," he says. "People are eating all day long. And, at the same time, our activity has gone down."

Our genetics are at odds with our diet and environment. "Essentially, the whole body is engineered to survive with limited nutrients," says Zhaoping Li, M.D., associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Human Nutrition, and its director for clinical research. "And we're genetically built for being active 12 hours a day."

Since most of us are tied to our desks, Li recommends being as consciously active as possible — apart from a set exercise schedule.

"Never stop moving around," she says. "Burn calories by cleaning the house yourself instead of hiring a maid. Walk around while you're on the phone. And," she adds, citing a 2005 Mayo Clinic study that monitored weight loss from fidgeting and other spontaneous movement, "if you can stand, don't sit."

Led by endocrinologist James Levine, M.D., the study tracked the body postures and movements of 20 people — 10 obese, 10 lean — at half-second intervals around the clock for a total of 10 days. On average, the obese subjects sat 150 minutes more per day than the lean subjects — which translated to 350 fewer calories being burned daily than the lean subjects.

But since losing weight didn't cause the obese subjects to spend more time standing, Levine concluded that their behavior was due to a brain chemical difference rather than a lack of motivation.²

This means that if you gain weight easily, you need to force yourself to park further away from the store or take a walk during your lunch hour. And, of course, eat less while making smart, healthful food choices. "Eat fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, very limited treats," Li recommends.

"Obesity is driven by acquired behavior," Goran says. "Unlike smoking, we have to eat. That's the irony and what makes it more challenging. Humans are designed to hunt for calories, and body fat is the only way that the body can store calories."

But our hunting days are long gone. In today's society — with drive-thru and delivery — we sit in our cars or houses, and the food comes directly to us.

Finding a balance between your weight goals and your lifestyle is key. And anyone who has tried to lose weight knows that's a difficult goal. "You can always exercise and eat less," says Greenberg, who's been studying fat genes for the past 15 years. "But in reality, people are busy, so it's not easy to do."

Revolution Health Group

Nurturing techniques to improve learning and attention

The following are suggestions for nurturing your child to help improve his or her learning and attention.

• Give frequent physical contact. Touch and hold your baby as much as possible during the first 6 months of his or her life. You will not spoil your baby. Your baby needs frequent physical contact to grow and develop.
• Limit exposure to television as much as possible before age 2. When your child is age 2 and older, one hour or less of TV a day is plenty. Make sure the programs your child watches are appropriate for his or her age.
• Choose age-appropriate toys, and provide a safe play environment. Toys that stimulate the brain are recommended, such as books, blocks, and puzzles. Use a playpen or gate to ensure the play area is safe from potential hazards, such as stairs or pets.
• Encourage your child to play. Find some time each day to play with your child. Choose games and play activities that encourage conversation, such as reading and board games. Also, allow your child some time to play alone.
• Make sure your child gets enough sleep and rest each day. Don't interrupt your child's sleep unless it is necessary. You may want to use soft music to help your child relax; some people suggest playing soft music that does not contain words for 30 minutes each day.
• Encourage your child to eat healthy foods and to develop healthy eating habits. Limit the amount of sugar and fat in your child's diet. Also, don't allow your child to have juices, sports drinks, or soda pop before a meal.

Healthwise

 

Adaptive Equipment

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Sensory Tools

Helping Kids Cope With Stress

Kids get to play and they don't have jobs, but they still have plenty to worry about. Stress from things like school and social situations can feel overwhelming for kids, particularly if they don't have healthy strategies to cope with strong feelings and solve everyday problems.

A recent KidsHealth® KidsPoll showed that kids deal with stress in both healthy and unhealthy ways, and while they may not initiate a conversation about what's bothering them, they do want their parents to reach out and help them cope with their feelings.

But it's not always easy for parents to know how to connect with a child who's feeling stressed.

Here are a few ideas:

Notice out loud. Tell your child when you notice something he or she might be feeling. ("It seems like you're still mad about what happened at the playground"). This shouldn't sound like an accusation (as in, "OK, what happened now? Are you still mad about that?") or put a child on the spot. It's just a casual observation that you're interested in hearing more about your child's concern.

Listen to your child. Ask your child to tell you what's wrong. Listen attentively and calmly -- with interest, patience, openness, and caring. Avoid any urge to judge, blame, lecture, or say what you think your child should have done instead. The idea is to let your child's concerns (and feelings) be heard. Try to get the whole story by asking questions like "And then what happened?" Take your time. And let your child take his or her time, too.

Comment briefly on the feelings you think your child was experiencing. For example, you might say "That must have been upsetting," "No wonder you felt mad when they wouldn't let you in the game," or "That must have seemed unfair to you." Doing this shows that you understand what your child felt, why, and that you care. Feeling understood and listened to helps your child feel connected to you, and that is especially important in times of stress.

Put a label on it. Many kids do not yet have words for their feelings. If your child seems angry or frustrated, use those words to help him or her learn to identify the emotions by name. Putting feelings into words helps your child communicate and develop emotional awareness -- the ability to recognize his or her own emotional states. A child who can do so is less likely to reach the behavioral boiling point where strong emotions get demonstrated through behaviors rather than communicated with words.

Help your child think of things to do. Suggest activities your child can do to feel better now and to solve the problem at hand. Encourage your child to think of a couple of ideas. You can get the brainstorm started if necessary, but don't do all the work. Your child's active participation will build confidence. Support the good ideas and add to them as needed. Ask, "How do you think this will work?" Sometimes talking and listening and feeling understood is all that's needed to help a child's frustrations begin to melt away. Other times try changing the subject and moving on to something more positive and relaxing. Don't give the problem more attention than it deserves.

Just be there. Sometimes kids don't feel like talking about what's bothering them. Respect that, give your child space, and still make it clear that you'll be there when he or she does feel like talking. Even when kids don't communicate, they usually don't want parents to leave them alone. You can help your child feel better just by being there -- keeping him or her company, spending time together. So if you notice that your child seems to be down in the dumps, stressed, or having a bad day -- but doesn't feel like talking -- initiate something you can do together. Take a walk, watch a movie, shoot some hoops, or bake some cookies. Isn't it nice to know that your presence really counts?

Be patient. As a parent, it hurts to see your child unhappy or worried. But try to resist the urge to fix every problem. Instead, focus on helping your child, slowly but surely, grow into a good problem-solver -- a kid who knows how to roll with life's ups and downs, put feelings into words, calm down when needed, and bounce back to try again.

Remember that you can't fix everything, and that you won't be there to solve every problem as your child goes through life. But by teaching healthy coping strategies, you prepare your child to manage whatever stresses come in the future.

KidsHealth

5 Ways to Ward Off Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are the most common form of mental illness in America, affecting more than 40 million Americans ages 18 and older, according to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.

As with most mental health problems, people experience degrees of anxiety ranging from the normal situational variety — which arises from financial, work, health or relationship problems — to more severe panic or post-traumatic stress disorders and specific debilitating phobias. 

Some anxiety is healthy, appropriate and motivating (e.g., when studying for a test or preparing for an athletic competition). This type of anxiety has been called eustress. But anxiety becomes a problem when it is crippling or sends you into a state of distress. If left unaddressed, even milder levels of anxiety can take a physical toll and cause fatigue, insomnia, drug and alcohol problems, and the corrosive effect of the fight-or-flight hormone cortisol.

Here are five things you can do daily to better manage your day-to-day anxiety. If your feelings of anxiety become debilitating or don’t respond to these interventions below, seek help from a trained professional.

1. Have a cup of tea. For centuries, herbalists have touted the calming action of chamomile. This gentle herb soothes the stomach as well as the mind, so brew up a cup and let its warmth and aroma melt away your mild anxiety. Green tea also calms the mind, most likely because it contains significant amounts of L-theanine, an amino acid that increases the brain’s production of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). A 2006 study published in the journal Biofactors described GABA as a natural relaxant that diminishes anxiety. Be aware that green tea contains caffeine, albeit in small amounts compared to coffee. So if you’re sensitive to caffeine, look for decaffeinated green tea.

2. Get some aerobic exercise. Raising heart and breathing rates can help people to burn off nervous energy and to reduce generalized anxiety. A study published in the February 2004 edition of Behavior and Research Therapy found that both low- and high-intensity treadmill workouts (20 minutes) reduced anxiety in subjects with elevated anxiety  scores. In this case, more was better — high-intensity workouts brought about more rapid reductions of anxiety and a higher number of positive responses.

3. Practice yoga. Regular yoga practitioners often say that they feel more self-assured and positive about themselves after class, and numerous studies have identified physiological proof (reduced blood pressure, heart rate and respiraton) to these improved emotional and mental states. Studies have shown that yoga can help people with cancer and AIDS to overcome disease-associated anxiety. In fact, Peter M. Wolsko, M.D., M.P.H., of Harvard Medical School has a National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine-funded study underway that is examining yoga’s effect on generalized anxiety disorder. While almost any type of yoga and series of poses can help to relieve symptoms of anxiety, restorative yoga — which uses bolsters, blankets and other props to support the body and encourage relaxation — may offer beginners an easy way to get started. More adept practitioners should try forward bends, supported chest openers or even upside-down poses like headstands.

4. Breathe. As anxiety takes hold, our breathing becomes more rapid and shallow — a natural reaction that is linked to our nervous system’s adaptive “fight or flight” response. This instinctual response helps us to calculate and manage the risk of any potential danger, either real or imagined. A study in the February 2005 issue of The Journal of Complementary Medicine reports that “a sequence of specific breathing techniques … can alleviate anxiety, depression, everyday stress, post-traumatic stress and stress-related medical illnesses.” Similar studies have shown that any kind of rhythmic or conscious breathing — whether it’s linked to yoga (pranayama) or religious ritual (saying the rosary) — can have a beneficial effect on stress and anxiety levels.

Linda Sparrowe, author of A Woman’s Book of Yoga and Health (Shambhala Publishing, 2002), suggests these simple breathing techniques:

•    Breathe to relax. Find a comfortable position (sitting or lying down) and breathe deeply into your belly. As you inhale, say the words “I am” to yourself. As you exhale, silently say the word “relaxed.” Repeat this mantra with each complete breath and feel yourself relax.

•    Count your breaths. Focus on your breath and count each complete cycle (inhale and exhale) until you reach 10. Don’t fret if you lose count. That’s normal. Simply start again.

5. Take your B’s. A number of studies conducted from the 1980s to the present have demonstrated that various B vitamins have a positive effect on anxiety. Naturopathic doctor John Neustadt, medical director of Montana Integrative Medicine in Bozeman, suggests taking 50 milligrams of vitamin B complex one to three times a day. He also says that additional supplementation with the following four Bs may also help:

•    Inositol. In an article published in the June 2001 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Israeli researchers found that inositol (up to 18 grams a day for a month) produced improvements in various anxiety measures that were comparable to fluvoxamine (Luvox), a drug prescribed for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and it didn’t have unwanted side effects.

•    Thiamine. Prolonged vitamin B1 deficiency can produce elevated levels of lactate and symptoms of anxiety. Take 50 milligrams three times a day with meals.

•    Vitamin B6. This is a key nutrient involved in the synthesis of GABA, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate anxiety. Also, the body cannot convert tryptophan to serotonin (another anxiety-related neurotransmitter) without B6. Take 50 milligrams three times a day.

•    Niacinamide. A more bioavailable (absorbent) form of vitamin B3, niacinamide compares with benzodiazepine drugs (Valium, Xanax) in alleviating anxiety, according to a number of studies completed during the last two decades. Recommended doses vary from 100 to 1,000 milligrams three times a day, or just below the amount that produces nausea.

According to Neustadt, the best way to take B vitamins is orally — except for B12, which is best taken under the tongue in an easy-to-dissolve tablet or liquid form.

He says he tests for vitamin B deficiencies “when stress starts manifesting itself clinically with insomnia, fatigue or depression,” but that he also looks at amino acids, minerals and fats “because biochemistry is a web of interaction, and you need more than just B vitamins.”

Not everyone needs testing, however. Neustadt says it’s OK if someone experiencing anxiety or stress takes a high-quality and high-dose B complex supplement to see if it helps bring relief. Besides, he says: “My assumption is that the majority of people need a good multivitamin with high doses of B’s just as an insurance policy.”

What now?
What if the above interventions do not work, or if they only provide temporary relief?  Symptoms of anxiety are multidimensional and can range from shortness of breath and nausea to a feeling of dread, panic or losing one’s mind. Anxiety is like the mind’s fever, an indication that something is not well.

In order to treat a fever correctly, the doctor must determine the underlying cause of the condition, and the same principle holds true for anxiety. Some fevers go away on their own relatively quickly or with anti-inflammatory medication — while some do not. If your anxiety persists, you will do well to seek the appropriate help.

A good place to start always is with your primary care doctor.  He or she will be able to evaluate you and make sure that you are in good physical health and not suffering from an underlying thyroid problem or an undiagnosed medication reaction or medical  condition that has anxiety as a primary symptom. If you have not had a checkup in a while, it’s a good idea to do this anyway.

If you are medically healthy, your primary care doctor will be able to refer you to see a psychiatrist or a therapist. Sometimes taking an antidepressant medication that also treats anxiety can help in the short term, as can an immediate-acting  anti-anxiety medication or sleeping aid. 

However, more than anything else, taking the leap of faith to see a trained professional can endow you with a sense that you are taking this problem seriously and are trusting someone safe with a burden you may have been carrying for some time. If this is so, talking therapy might do wonders for you — with or without any kind of anxiety medication. When in doubt, play it safe and go see a trained professional.

Revolution Health Group

Relaxation Techniques

Relaxation techniques are a great way to help you beat stress and sustain good health.

Try these suggestions to help you unwind, courtesy of AARP:

• Invigorate muscles with a visit to a massage therapist.
• Meditate. Sit quietly or listen to soft music.
• Practice deep breathing.
• Imagine yourself in a relaxing place, such as in the mountains or on the beach.
• Stop stressful thoughts before they spin out of control.
• When you feel stress, your muscles tense up. Learn to relax your muscles to release stress.
• Practice yoga or tai chi.

Health Day

Using Yoga to Relieve Stress

To combat stress, many people turn to meditation or other mental stress reduction tools. But stress also creates physical response in the body and, as such, can be managed with exercise -- in particular, with yoga.

"Stress sends the entire physical system into overdrive," says Garrett Sarley, president and CEO of the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, Mass. "The muscles tense, the heart beats faster, breathing patterns change, and if the cause of stress isn't discontinued, the body secretes more hormones that increase blood sugar levels, raising blood pressure. Yoga is one of the few stress-relief tools that has a positive effect on all the body systems involved."

Recognizing the detrimental effects of stress, especially in the area of heart disease, the preventive and rehabilitative cardiac center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles began offering yoga to their patients more than 10 years ago.

"Over the years, yoga has become one of our primary therapies for stress management," says C. Noel Bairey Merz, M.D., director of the preventive and rehabilitative cardiac center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Understanding yoga

In the past 5,000 years, yoga has undergone various adaptations and now is practiced in four major ways:

• As a method of maintaining physical fitness and health
• As therapy to restore health or relieve ailments
• As a lifestyle
• As a spiritual discipline

All share several important fundamental practices. The first is cultivation of awareness: the ability to focus on exactly what you're doing in the present moment. The second, relaxation, encourages the release of unnecessary tension in the body. Conscious breathing is another vital part of yoga; the breathing exercises build lung strength and capacity and unite the body and mind.

"Without these elements, yoga would be simply exercises," says Mr. Sarley.

Getting started

There are several ways you can give yoga a try. Attending a yoga retreat for several days will teach you how to practice and what style suits you best. Numerous centers throughout the country offer a sampling of different types and levels of yoga. To find a center near you, try doing a Web search for "yoga retreat."

Or, locate a suitable yoga class or teacher in your area. Even if you intend to practice on your own, it's important to start with some basic training. Adult education centers, YMCAs, health clubs, hospitals and yoga studios all offer group classes. But ask how much training the instructor has had; a few hours isn't adequate.

Beginners should look for beginner or "gentle" yoga classes. Expect the classes to be relaxing and noncompetitive. Wear loose, comfortable clothing and take along a mat or blanket to sit on. Don't be intimidated by pictures you may have seen of people twisted into difficult poses. There are dozens of gentle, easy poses, and all students are encouraged to do only what's comfortable for their bodies. If a class you try doesn't feel like a good fit, try a different one.

You also can learn yoga from audio or video programs or books and magazines, but getting personal instruction first tends to result in a better experience, and you're more likely to continue. At all levels, yoga is about taking care of and being good to yourself.

"By being more sensitive to your body and mind, you learn to see stress coming and can take preventive measures," says Mr. Sarley. "Yoga teaches nurturing of one's body, mind and spirit, which leads to a healthier way of being."

Staywell Custom Communications

Beat Stress, Live Longer

Over the past decade or so, it's become increasingly clear that stress can harm our health. But now a study shows the damage is even more profound than we'd thought: Stress, it seems, can actually make your cells age quicker.

The study, from researchers at the University of California at San Francisco, shows that prolonged high stress speeds up age-related cellular changes by a decade or more. These changes have been associated with serious health problems, including heart attacks and increased vulnera-bility to infection.

All 58 women in the study were mothers between 20 and 50 years old -- certainly a group that knows stress. But the 39 women in the highest-stress group were also caring for a chronically ill child, and the scientists found a direct correlation between the number of years the child had been ill and the extent of premature aging in the mother's cells.

While researchers look for "treatment interventions" -- doctorspeak for ways to chill out -- do yourself a favor and start taking breaks now.

Alternative Medicine Magazine

The three kinds of fitness

There are three kinds of fitness:

• Aerobic fitness. Aerobic activities condition your heart and lungs. Aerobic means "with oxygen." The purpose of aerobic conditioning is to increase the amount of oxygen that is delivered to your muscles, which allows them to work longer. Any activity that raises your heart rate and keeps it up for an extended period of time will improve your aerobic conditioning.
• Muscle strengthening. Stronger muscles can mean either more powerful muscles that can do bigger jobs (such as lifting heavier weights) or muscles that will work longer before becoming exhausted (endurance). Weight training (resistance training) or simple exercises such as push-ups are two examples of ways to focus on muscle strengthening.
• Flexibility. Like aerobic fitness and muscle strengthening, flexibility is a result of physical activity. Flexibility comes from stretching. Your muscles are repeatedly shortened when they are used, especially when exercising. They need to be slowly and regularly stretched to counteract the repeated shortening that happens through other activities.

Understanding the differences between each kind of fitness will help you set your fitness goals. Reaching a balance between the three is important because they affect each other, and each contributes to total fitness.

Some physical activities involve more than one kind of fitness. Some activities that are thought of as aerobic exercise, for example, also strengthen muscles (swimming, cycling, skiing).

Healthwise

Exercise: 7 benefits of regular physical activity

Want to feel better, have more energy and perhaps even live longer? Look no further than old-fashioned exercise.

The merits of exercise - from preventing chronic health conditions to boosting confidence and self-esteem - are hard to ignore. And the benefits are yours for the taking, regardless of age, sex or physical ability. Need more convincing? Check out seven specific ways exercise can improve your life.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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!

MayoClinic.com

Yoga Program May Help Prevent Falls in Elderly

A specific type of yoga may help improve stability and balance in women over age 65, possibly helping them to avoid falls, a preliminary study reports.

After nine weeks of participating in an Iyengar yoga program designed for senior citizens, 24 elderly females had a faster stride, an increased flexibility in the lower extremities, an improved single-leg stance and increased confidence in walking and balance, according to the findings of researchers at Temple University's Gait Study Center.

The researchers, scheduled to present their findings Friday at the Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society's annual meeting in Richmond, Va., suggested that improving balance and stability through yoga could help reduce the risk of falling.

"We were very impressed at the progress our participants made by the end of the program," principal investigator Dr. Jinsup Song, director of the Gait Study Center, said in a prepared statement. "Subjects demonstrated improved muscle strength in lower extremities, which helps with stability. There was also a pronounced difference in how pressure was distributed on the bottom of the foot, which helps to maintain balance."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that falls are the leading cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma among people aged 65 and older. Almost a third of older adults suffer some type of fall each year, the CDC reported.

The program was crafted specifically for elderly people who have had little or no yoga experience. The Iyengar technique, which is known for the use of props such as belts and blocks, was chosen to help participants gradually master the poses while building their confidence.

"In the past, similar studies have been done that look at gait and balance improvement in elderly females using a more aggressive form of yoga," Song said. "For this study, we worked to create a very basic regimen that taught participants proper ways to breathe, stand and pose."

Researchers also found that some participants who had unrelated back and knee pain were pain-free by the end of the study.

Song said he hoped the work will pave the way for a larger study on how Iyengar yoga affects the function of the foot to improve balance and stability and prevent falls.

Health Day

Massage Eases Pain of Knee Arthritis

A regular massage may do more than just relax your body: It also appears to reduce pain and improve function in people suffering from osteoarthritis of the knee, a new study suggests.

The authors of the study, the first of its kind, are now embarking on larger studies to confirm the findings and see if massage is a viable alternative or adjunct to drugs and other existing treatments.

"This is a very happy outcome, but it's a pilot study in that the duration is short and the population is small," said senior author Dr. David Katz, associate adjunct professor of public health and director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. "We think that the primary role for massage therapy will be to reduce dependence on pharmacotherapy, rather than replace it outright, and to delay any functional decline rather than reverse the disease. So, the question then becomes, what is the bang for the buck?"

Katz and his colleagues are now researching the cost of massage, in the hopes of convincing insurance companies that it can take its place as a legitimate therapy for this disease.

Osteoarthritis is caused by a progressive degeneration of bone cartilage and is the most common type of arthritis in the United States. The condition affects some 21 million people and is associated with aging.

Conventional treatments include pain medication, exercise, hot and cold therapy, corticosteroid injections and, possibly, surgery.

The medications used for osteoarthritis, however, are problematic. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, can cause serious gastrointestinal side effects. The cox-2 inhibitors such as Vioxx that were developed to bypass those side effects are now known to cause cardiovascular problems, and some, including Vioxx, have been taken off the market.

"Primarily therapy is NSAIDs, but the target population is the very group that is least tolerant of those drugs," Katz said. "The cox-2s were developed as alternatives to NSAIDs to offer less toxicity, and look at how that turned out. We've kind of left folks high and dry."

While massage has been shown to relieve chronic lower back pain and musculoskeletal disorders, there has been no research on massage to help osteoarthritis sufferers. At least until now.

For this study, appearing in the Dec. 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, 68 adults with osteoarthritis of the knee were randomly assigned to receive either standard Swedish massage therapy or to a wait-list control group that started massage eight weeks after the first group. All participants were encouraged to continue with their previous treatments and medications.

Individuals in the massage group received a one-hour Swedish massage twice a week for four weeks, then once a week for the following four weeks.

After the first eight weeks, participants receiving massage had improved flexibility and range of motion and reduced pain.

Those in the control group showed no changes in symptoms until they, too, started receiving massage. Then, during weeks nine through 16, they experienced benefits similar to the first group.

Interestingly, the benefits did not go away even when the massages were stopped.

"The very significant therapeutic response over eight weeks of therapy persisted eight weeks later," Katz said. "Two months after the last massage, they were still significantly better than baseline and significantly better than the control group. That exceeded our expectations."

There are two possible explanations for the improvements.

In the immediate time frame, Katz explained, "sensory input [the massage] competes with pain input in the spinal cord, travels faster and blocks pain symptoms."

Massage may also enhance blood flow to the region affected by osteoarthritis. "Since the acute pain of osteoarthritis is related to inflammation, increased perfusion brings an influx of cells to clean out the debris and facilitates, to whatever extent possible, bone and cartilage remodeling," Katz explained.

More studies are needed before doctors, patients and insurance companies can be persuaded to accept this as common practice, he said.

"The end game would be that this would be something people with osteoarthritis would be able to access routinely," Katz said. "We ultimately want to change the standard of practice, but we don't do that with one study."

Health Day