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Archive for the ‘Fitness’ Category

The thought of aging can be quite daunting, not only for natural reason that we wish to stay young forever but also because we know that aging will creep up on our health and fitness.

Over time, the body begins to slow down. All the hardcore fitness activity we performed when we are younger begins to suffer as the body changes. Reaction times are slower and the body’s muscle mass, balance, suppleness and flexibility all become reduced. High Impact cardiovascular work is too much for the body to constantly cope with. Wear and tear over time on the likes of the knee, hip and ankle joints make the body more susceptible to injury and breakage.

However, all is not lost! The good news is that there is equipment that offers a full body cardiovascular workout with a low impact, which an aging body will welcome with open arms. Elliptical Machines imitate the motion of walking, jogging and running. The smooth oscillating motion not only provides a cardiovascular workout with use of both arms and legs, but is also extremely forgiving on the joints and muscles.

Elliptical Machines have risen in popularity over the past five years with many recreational and commercial gyms using them as part of their aerobic equipment range. The other great thing about Elliptical equipment is that they can are readily available to be bought online for the ever more popular use in the home.

It is a common trend that the older people get, the more time they spend in the home. Many will be retired, some just prefer the piece and quiet of home but some may be housebound because they have lost all the self confidence they had and ultimately their health and fitness suffer. The joy of an Elliptical Machine in the home is that it plays advantage on all these situations. Whether it is morning, noon or night, or simply whenever you have the energy, the Elliptical can be in your next room ready for you to start using and enjoying. Just set to your favorite workout program or adjust the intensity and you can glide on quietly to your hearts content. It can even be in front of the TV while watching your favorite show.

It must be noted that before taking part in any aerobic activity, that you should consult your doctor, especially if you have suffered injury or have a history of heart or respiratory problems.

All the benefits mentioned with an Elliptical Machine make it extremely easy for keeping your body and mind fit and healthy without the stress and injury. Not only are they being used by the older generation all over the world, but it proves that Elliptical Machines really are an effective piece of equipment for keeping us fit, the older we get.

Planning an activity for an Alzheimer’s patient (or patients) can be difficult. You have to keep in mind that because of their condition, it can be difficult for them to perform tasks that you would find simple. However, Alzheimer’s statistics have found that, by having patients participate in activities, you can actually slow the progress of the disease in the brain because you are encouraging positive thinking and happiness within the mind of the patient. Assuming you are a caregiver, this article on Alzheimer’s is intended to show you some things you can do to make life easier for the person you are caring for.

A Simple Activity is Always Best

Though the cause of Alzheimer’s is unknown, the effects are very apparent. Alzheimer’s is a mental disease, not a physical disease, meaning that patients are physically capable of performing activities. Additionally, Alzheimer’s patients retain a childlike intelligence, meaning that they are capable of performing tasks that children can perform.

Caregivers should try to find out what the patient likes to do and design activities around their interests. For example, if the patient you are caring for enjoyed cooking before the disease set in, you should let them cut cookies with you, or make simple dishes (such as made-from-a-box cakes or salads). If your patient enjoyed gardening, let them weed or spade a garden. Perhaps you should let them play with toys or games, like building Lego’s or playing bingo.

It is important to keep in mind that a patient probably won’t want to stay on a task for a very long period of time, but you should constantly encourage your patient, as they need that positive reinforcement to make their lives seem more full. You do not want your patient thinking that they are a burden because it will only encourage the disease to progress more quickly.

Other Things to Keep in Mind as an Alzheimers Caregiver

Always make sure that your patient is taking their medication; this cannot be stressed enough. Each day, the disease will get worse and worse if proper care is not given. Additionally, you should research a good Alzheimer’s diet. The Alzheimer’s foundation has found that a diet consisting of low fat and low cholesterol meals slows the progress of this disease and, for those who do not have Alzheimer’s, this type of dietary habit can aid in preventing Alzheimer’s.

Also, consider supplements such as turmeric or glyconutrients. Both of these supplements have been statistically found to aid in the slowing of Alzheimer’s, which is always a positive benefit. Finally, make sure that your patient is receiving proper amounts of nutrition, as they are not always capable of performing this task on their own.

Being a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient can be a very exhausting task, I understand that. However, if you take on this responsibility, you must make sure that you are doing everything you can for them. If you follow the advice listed in this article, you will be a good caretaker.

Physical fitness means different things to different people. For some, it is the ability to engage in sports activities; for others, it is more about feeling and looking good. With obesity now considered to be a pandemic in our society, more and more people are seeking out diet plans, exercise programs, and holistic approaches to improve their lifestyle. Health is on everyone’s mind today; perhaps it is time. Why is physical fitness important?

Anyone who has been sedentary for a period of time knows how difficult it is to complete even the simplest of tasks. Your doctor probably tells you to lose weight; your nutritionist mandates you maintain a proper diet regimen; your gym instructor guides you in repetitive exercise programs to achieve a pre-planned fitness level. While everyone involved is focused on you becoming more fit and healthy; what are you contributing to the equation?

Let’s face it; dieting is hard and exercise is even harder. However, in order to become physically fit, there has to be a balance of proper nutrition, dental and health care, rest, and relaxation. It all begins within you. You must have the willingness, determination and drive to endure all of the hardships necessary to enhance your overall health. Physical fitness will give you more energy than you’ve ever had before, and allow you to enjoy life to its fullest. This requires goal-setting. No one is asking you to compete for gold medals; all that is required is a safe and effective method of physical exercise to improve your heart, lungs, and muscle development. Unused muscles lead to atrophy; which is why simple aerobic exercises are a great place to begin.

When you start an aerobic exercise, you’re heart, lungs and muscles work together to improve cardiovascular function. Whether you jog in place, walk for twenty minutes a day, or run; these exercises are an important part in physical fitness training. However, you must start slowly. If you have never exercised before, it will take time for your body to acclimate. It isn’t important what you do, but how you do it. Proper physical fitness training can mean the difference between a good exercise workout, and one which may lead to injury.

Joining a gym is an appropriate place to begin. There, professionals will walk you through each piece of equipment; explain its function; and demonstrate how to use the equipment properly. Perhaps the exercise bike may be a suitable place to begin. Twenty minutes, three times a week is a good exercise workout. Eventually, you will gain the confidence you need to pursue other more strenuous exercises. Ask a friend to join the gym with you. Having someone there to partner with allows each of you to enjoy the experience of exercising while, at the same time, encouraging each other to continue particularly when it becomes hard and frustrating.

Take out the five pound weights gathering dust in your closet, and begin using them at home. It’s time to stop others from telling you what you need to do; it’s time to look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Why is physical fitness important to me?” Once you answer that question, you are ready to begin a program designed especially for you. It’s a matter of health. Don’t wait! Just look in the mirror.

On Tuesday, October 7, 2008 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released new Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. The goal is to encourage the American population to add some type of physical activity to their daily routine.

Daily physical exercise is vital for achieving and maintaining a healthy body. Scientific studies have proven that regular workouts help reduce the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis. Regular exercise also decreases depression and improves the physical and mental consequences of aging.

For adults, the guidelines recommend any where from two and one half hours a week of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity, or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous physical activity. It also recommended that adults should incorporate some type of strength training into their workouts.

Training in the martial arts offers adults who would like to meet these federal guidelines a complete package. A typical martial arts class includes plenty of aerobic activity. Martial art warm-up routines may include a variety of calisthenics, light jogging around the classroom and jumping jacks. The class then turns to learning and practicing kicks, blocks and punches in repetition, which is a great way to get the heart pumping.

A martial arts class is also full of opportunities to build up your strength. Classes often include push-ups, sit-ups and light weight lifting. Bag work, sparring and self-defense practice with a partner helps develop both strength and cardiovascular health and can also be a lot of fun.

Another health benefit to martial arts training is stress relief. Taking your aggressions out on a kicking pad or punching bag helps you release those emotions. Over time, stress can affect one’s health and cause gastrointestinal problems, acne, weight loss/gain, headaches, insomnia, and addictions. Many martial art instructors incorporate some type of meditation into their classes to help students center the mind and relax. This means fewer trips to the doctor’s office!

As a martial artist, you will not only meet the federal guidelines for physical activity, but you also learn how to defend yourself. All it takes is a few martial arts classes a week. What you get at the end of the day is everything that the federal government has recommended to keep adults healthy as well as learning techniques that could one day save your life. Do you get these results from working out at the local fitness center?

The key to ensuring that your child participates in regular exercise is to make it fun and enjoyable. If your child feels as though it is a chore, or that they are being coerced into doing something, then they will run the opposite way. However, if you take the time to develop some kids fitness activities that are actually fun to do, then you will soon find that they will be asking to exercise. Below you will find some of fun activities that you can share with your children.

Play an Active Game

If your children already like to play board games, then why not interest them in an active one? Games such as twister are wonderful for getting kids up and moving. To make the activity even more enticing, offer to do it with your children. Kids of all age like to have their parents join in the fun every once in a while.

Pool Noodle Limbo

Drag your kids off the couch, and subject them to a fun game of pool noodle limbo. All you need is a pool noodle, the kind that floats in the water and some crazy limbo music if you can get your hands on some. Have two people hold the noodle while the others try to limbo underneath. Whoever can go the lowest wins, and gets first choice at the homemade popsicles?

Musical Chairs

This is an old time favorite, but also a great way to get your kids up and moving around. To play, you just need several chairs or hula hoops set next to each other. When the music starts, the kids walk around the hoops or chairs in a big circle. As the music stops, they all jump into a hoop or chair as quick as they can. The one left without a chair is sent to the cheering section, and a chair is taken away before the next round.

Different Types of Tag

Almost everyone has played tag at one point or another. If you have not introduced your kids to this wonderful game, then now is the perfect time. This is one of the most fun kids fitness activities there are. All that kids have to do is choose someone to be it, and then that person runs around tagging the others. When they are caught they have to freeze until a teammate comes and untags them. To put a fun twist on the game, give kids flashlights, and let them play tag in the dark.

There are a wide variety of kids fitness activities that can be done in a fun way. Children will be more open to exercise if they don’t even know that they are doing it. By introducing a child to fun activities and games, you are allowing them the chance to get active without making it feel like a chore or something that they have to do. If you do this correctly, then your children will be asking you to exercise in no time.

Of the four lifestyle changes prescribed to bariatric patients following weight loss surgery Rule #4, Daily Exercise, is the most difficult for patients to incorporate in their weight loss program. Patients who undergo weight loss surgery are morbidly obese at the time of surgery and most often have been living a sedentary lifestyle due to mobility complications caused by their weight. The surgeon’s advice to include daily exercise as part of a weight loss program can feel as daunting as the challenge to climb Mt. Everest. In addition to daily exercise weight loss surgery patients are prescribed a high protein diet, and they must drink lots of water and avoid snacking.

Patients are more likely to become physically active when they gently increase their Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) rather than a attempt a full-steam-ahead boot camp-style cardio and strength training regimen from the get-go. The well-known Duke Diet for healthy and lasting weight loss suggests that the first element of fitness is the ADLs which include everything from “waking up, getting out of bed, combing your hair, putting on your robe, stepping out to get the newspaper to doing household chores, taking care of the yard, and walking the dog.” According to the Duke Diet program ADLs accumulate throughout the day and burn calories with little or no conscious effort.

During the early days and weeks of recovering from bariatric surgeries, including gastric bypass, adjustable gastric banding (lap-band), and gastric sleeve, patients are encouraged to walk short distances several times a day as part of their recovery program. As a person heals from surgery they can mindfully seek opportunities throughout the day to increase their ADLs in ways that morbid obesity had limited them before surgery and the resulting weight loss. Patients should avoid the mistake many have fallen to, that is “waiting until I lose the weight before I start exercising.” Patients who wait to include exercise in their day or fail to increase their ADLs seldom achieve the desired goal weight or sustain the weight loss full term.

Consider these opportunities to increase Activities of Daily Living while recovering from gastric weight loss surgery:

Do moderate housework like vacuuming and sweeping more frequently and more energetically During TV commercial breaks stand and walk in place, do stretches, knee bends, or arm circles Take the dog for longer, more frequent walks Play actively with children and include brisk walking, bending, tossing or climbing movements at the park or playground Enthusiastically work in the garden mowing the lawn or raking leaves Use stairs instead of elevators or escalators going both up and down Take stretching breaks to loosen tight muscles during long working days at a desk or office job Stand for routine office tasks like sorting paperwork or filing and talking on the phone Do calf raises while standing on line or waiting for the bus Plan hometown walking tours for a leisurely afternoon and explore your neighborhood Bring groceries from the car into the house one bag at a time increasing steps, do arm curls with heavier items like canned goods before putting away Hand wash the car with a bucket of sudsy water and rinse with the garden hose instead of going to a drive through car wash to increase activity and save money

The benefits of increased Activities of Daily Living are twofold for weight loss surgery patients: the first benefit is that of increased physical mobility and stamina; the second benefit is enjoying activities which morbid obesity had prevented. As patients become stronger physically through increased ADLs and weight loss they can then, quite effectively, begin to add fitness-building activities to their healthy weight management routine.