Motion Health & Fitness

Tag: exercise

  • Exercise to Be Happier and More Fulfilled

    Exercise to Be Happier and More Fulfilled

    There are many reasons that people exercise. In my view — and this is what I try to impart to my clients — it’s not about having the best butt or bigger biceps; it’s about being a happier, more fulfilled, more self-satisfied person.  

    I’ve been in the been in the business of health, wellness and fitness for over 20 years, and I have to admit that my definition of health and wellness has certainly broadened over the years. Once upon a time, if you asked me to define health, I would have listed these parameters: an absence of chronic disease (i.e. coronary artery disease; hypertension; metabolic syndrome; diabetes, etc.), a healthy resting heart rate, low triglycerides, and an absence of obesity. 
     
    However, over the years, I’ve come to recognize that physical wellbeing is only part of the health equation. Mental and emotional wellbeing are vitally important, and our social wellbeing plays a significant role in both.
     
    First, let’s define these terms:
     
    Physical well-being relates to vigor and vitality, feeling very healthy and full of energy.
     
    Mental well-being includes being satisfied with one’s life; balancing positive and negative emotions; accepting one’s self; finding purpose and meaning in one’s life; seeking personal growth, autonomy and competence; believing one’s life and circumstances are under one’s control; and generally experiencing optimism.
     
    Social well-being involves providing and receiving quality support from family, friends and others.
     
    When assessing overall wellbeing, it’s important to assess: the quality of our relationships; our positive emotions and resilience; whether we’re realizing our potential; and our overall satisfaction with life.
     
    Though there are many factors that can contribute to our overall wellness, exercise is critical. There is abundant scientific research showing that exercise improves mood and makes participants happier. 
     
    Exercise promotes chemicals in the brain that improve your mood and make you more relaxed. Specifically, the brain releases feel-good chemicals called endorphins throughout the body. Physical activity also reduces anxiety and depressed mood.
     
    Exercise provides numerous other psychological benefits, such as better sleep, reduced stress, improved self-esteem and greater confidence.
     
    There are so many behaviors that can lead us to feelings of guilt: eating too many sweets or too much junk food; overeating in general; drinking too much; smoking; drug use; sleeping too little; being sedentary; not exercising, etc. With any of the aforementioned, it’s easy to say afterward, “I shouldn’t have done that.” Regrets are not fun. 
     
    But, other than the rare instance of injury, no one ever finishes a workout and says, “Man, I shouldn’t have done that.” Nobody feels guilty after a workout.
     
    There is an undeniable positive-emotion component to exercise. It makes us feel like we did something very worthwhile for ourselves, when so many of our other behaviors can make us feel unworthy. 
     
    Many adults may feel that their lives are in service to others: their kids, their spouse, their aging parents, their boss, etc. When we exercise, we feel that we are in service to ourselves; it’s our time for ourselves.
     
    Regular exercise is a great confidence and morale booster. You don’t necessarily need to aim for a particular weight-loss goal. Just aim for just feeling better about yourself, physically and emotionally.
     
    Exercise even helps your brain grow new neurons. In this process, called neurogenesis, new neurons (brain cells) develop in the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for learning information, storing long-term memories, and regulating emotions.
     
    Exercise also promotes brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells in many important cortical areas of the brain. 
     
    Yes, exercise leads to a happier, healthier brain!
     
    A regular exercise program may also have a domino effect, leading you to other healthier habits, such as eating more whole foods. Those two behaviors, in tandem, will ultimately change your physique, but they will also make you feel better physically and mentally. Everyone would feel better if they knew they were taking positive steps in their lives and working on self-improvement.
     
    So, don’t set a specific weight-loss target or make sculpted arms or chiseled abs your goal. Simply set a goal to feel happier, more positive and better about yourself. Exercise can serve those agendas.
     
    What better goals could anyone have? After all, there’s so much more to exercise than just how you look.
  • Your Mighty Mitochondria

    Your Mighty Mitochondria

    The benefits of exercise are numerous and they extend all the way down to the cellular level.

    Mitochondria are often referred to as the powerhouses of the cell. They absorb nutrients, break them down and create energy-rich molecules for the cell, a process known as cellular respiration.

    In essence, mitochondria convert chemical energy from the food we eat into an energy form that the cell can use. Mitochondria generate heat, a process known as thermogenesis, and they also store calcium, which is vital for a number of cellular processes, including proper muscle function.

    Mitochondria float freely throughout the cell. Some cells have several thousand mitochondria, while others have none. Muscle cells, which need lots of energy, are loaded with mitochondria. For example, about 40 percent of the cytoplasm in heart muscle cells is made up of mitochondria.

    It is well established that exercise increases the formation and function of skeletal-muscle mitochondria. Research indicates that exercise even increases brain mitochondria. The more you exercise, the more mitochondria you’ll make. Scientists say that improved mitochondrial function is a major factor in exercise-associated health benefits, including prevention of chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

    The ability of cells to create additional mitochondria to deliver extra energy is particularly important for working muscles. Mitochondria generate the majority of our adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the cellular fuel that powers all of our metabolic processes.

    So, the more mitochondria you have, the more ATP your body produces, which creates a greater capacity for repeated muscular contractions, such as during exercise. Increased muscle mitochondria increase resistance to fatigue and improve endurance, allowing for better performance and longer bouts of exercise. It also allows for greater fat-burning capacity.

    Yet, as we age, the capacity of mitochondria to generate energy slowly decreases. The good news is that physical activity manages to reduce aging on a cellular level.

    Studies have shown that exercise increases mitochondrial capacity and muscle growth (hypertrophy). Current research indicates that high-load resistance exercise can stimulate the creation of muscle mitochondria and improve their function.

    High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has proven to be particularly effective at increasing mitochondria in muscle cells. In the simplest sense, the harder you work out, the more mitochondria you create.

    A recent study at the Mayo Clinic found that HITT causes cells to make more proteins for their mitochondria and their protein-building ribosomes, effectively stopping aging at the cellular level. This discovery is the closest science has ever come to discovering the “Fountain of Youth.”

    As Sreekumaran Nair, senior author of the study, said, “These things we are seeing cannot be done by any medicine.”

    “There are substantial basic science data to support the idea that exercise is critically important to prevent or delay aging,” said Nair. “There’s no substitute for that.”

    However, you need to remain committed to your exercise program. Your mitochondrial levels will quickly decrease when you stop exercising. In fact, they return to normal levels within about a month.

    Get in Motion. Stay in Motion.

     

  • The Bad and Good News About Fat Cells

    The Bad and Good News About Fat Cells

    The CDC reported in 2016 that obesity affected about 93.3 million US adults, or 40 percent of the adult population, and trend is worsening. The Harvard School of Public Health projects the obesity rate will rise to around 50 percent by 2030. In all, 72 precent (yes, nearly three-quarters) of the adult population is either overweight or obese. This has made weight loss a very big business.

    The number of active dieters in the US is estimated at 97 million, and the total US weight loss industry hit a new peak of $72 billion in 2018, according to MarketResearch.com. Clearly, the desire for weight loss is widespread.

    But those aren’t the only expenses. The CDC estimated the cost of obesity at $147 billion In 2008. A decade later, it’s surely higher.

    With obesity reaching epidemic proportions, many have surely wondered if the problem is hereditary. Could obesity be passed down from parent to child? The CDC has answered that question: “Genetic changes in human populations occur too slowly to be responsible for the obesity epidemic.”

    However, overweight and obese parents may pass on to their children the habits of physical inactivity and the tendency to eat high-calorie, processed foods. Conversely, active, healthy eaters may also pass on these same positive tendencies to their children.

    Scientists are still learning about fat and not all of it is bad. At its core, body fat (aka, adipose tissue), is comprised of cells, just like everything else in your body.

    It was once believed that adults could not create new fat cells. However, researchers have shown that adults constantly produce new fat cells, regardless of their body-weight status, sex or age. 

    Though the number of fat cells in a person’s body increases through childhood and adolescence, it remains fairly constant throughout your adult life, regardless of whether or not you diet or are thin or fat, say researchers at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

    However, the scientists found that we continually create new fat cells (aka, adipocytes) to replace those that break down and die. Yes, when fat cells die, as all cells do, the body simply creates new ones in its effort to keep the number constant. About 10 percent of adipocytes die each year and they are replaced at the same rate.

    The scientists at the Karolinska Institute found that obese people produce approximately twice as many new fat cells annually as lean people. They also found that fat cell death in obese people happens at twice the rate as lean people.

    Other studies have shown that obese and overweight individuals have a greater number of fat cells than “naturally thin” people. When we slim down, fat cells shrink in size, but the total number of fat cells does not decrease. So, an obese person who loses weight will still have more fat cells than the person who never gained weight. The greater number of fat cells in formerly obese people may be a factor in their tendency to regain the weight they lost. 

    When we gain weight, we store the extra lipids we don’t use in our fat cells, which makes them grow in size. As we lose weight, these cells shrink, but they never disappear. Weight loss is attributed to fat cells shrinking, not losing them entirely.

    Though excess body fat increases the risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, stroke, osteoarthritis and certain cancers, not all body fat is the same.

    Brown fat helps to maintain your body temperature and is activated when you get cold. While white fat stores calories, brown fat contains many more mitochondria (cellular engines), which burn calories to produce heat. In fact, brown fat even burns calories from white fat. The mitochondria in brown fat provide its color. Though brown and white fat cells are often mixed in together in fat tissue, white fat is much more prevalent.

    Researchers have found that people with lower body mass indexes (BMIs) tend to have more brown fat. There is also evidence that brown fat activity declines with age, which may cause people to gain weight as they grow older, aside from the natural decline in muscle mass that lowers metabolic rate.

    Additionally, researchers believe that exercise may stimulate hormones that activate brown fat, and that spending time in the cold may also cause the growth of new brown-fat cells.

    It is believed that brown fat is activated and proliferates in response to overfeeding (aka, consuming too many calories). Since it takes energy to digest food, calorie burning usually increases at mealtimes. However, studies in humans have shown dramatic differences between individuals in the energy cost of overfeeding. These studies have shown that individuals with similar dietary intake and exercise patterns exhibit dramatic differences in their tendency to gain weight.

    Researchers are looking into whether increasing the amount of brown fat could be a safe and effective therapy to limit obesity.

    Though body fat is often viewed as our enemy, it has many useful purposes, such as: storing energy, storing fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D and K), keeping us warm (fat is an insulator), and providing padding around our organs that protects us from physical trauma.

    Clearly, some body-fat is necessary, even vital. The problem is that too many Americans have too much of it — sometimes far too much — to be healthy.

    To determine healthy body-fat percentage ranges, based on your fitness level, follow these guidelines:

    Eat well. Get in Motion. Stay in Motion.

  • Are You Meeting Exercise Guidelines?

    Are You Meeting Exercise Guidelines?

    Most Americans Are Not Meeting Exercise Guidelines

    The American College of Sports Medicine, considered a top fitness authority, recommends that adults accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week (i.e., 5 days for 30 minutes a session) for basic fitness. The Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association all agree.

    If you up the ante to vigorous exercise intensity, 30 minutes, three days per week will get the job done. 

    Your heart rate offers an objective view of your exercise intensity. In general, the higher your heart rate during physical activity, the higher the exercise intensity.

    The American Heart Association and the CDC offer the following definitions:

    • Moderate exercise intensity: 50 to about 70% of your maximum heart rate

    • Vigorous exercise intensity: 70 to about 85% of your maximum heart rate

    If you have goals beyond just achieving basic fitness, such as weight loss or sports enhancement, you’ll need to put in more exercise time. Additionally, people should round out a basic fitness routine with resistance training.

    The CDC and Surgeon General note that, “Adults should also do muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity and that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these activities provide additional health benefits.”

    However, most Americans are not meeting these recommendations.

    In a 2017 survey, more than three-quarters of U.S. adults said being in shape and looking good are “very important” to them, yet less than a third (31%) exercise regularly and nearly half (45%) admitted they are not active at all.

    According to the CDC’s 2016 National Health Interview Survey, only 51.7% of adults aged 18 and over met the Physical Activity Guidelines for aerobic physical activity, and just 21.7% met the Physical Activity Guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity.

    It’s long been established that most American adults fall short of physical activity recommendations. Again, only about a fifth of Americans meet exercise guidelines, according to the CDC.

    Health outcomes, not simply appearance, should be your main motivation. The health benefits of exercise go beyond the physical. Once you make exercise part of your routine, you may notice a host of psychological benefits, such as feeling more energized, less stressed and sleeping better.

    As exercise becomes a habit and you notice how good you feel, the more you’ll want to do it. What’s most important is to perform the activities you really enjoy. That helps with adherence to your program.

    Get in Motion and stay in Motion.

     

  • How Many Calories Do You Need? How Many Do You Consume?

    How Many Calories Do You Need? How Many Do You Consume?

    The total number of calories a person needs each day depends on a number of factors, including the person’s age, sex, height, weight and level of physical activity.

    The number of calories you habitually consume each day determines whether you lose, maintain or gain weight.

    How many calories a day should you consume?

    The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans estimates the number of calories needed to maintain caloric balance according to sex, age group and three different levels of physical activity: sedentary, moderately active and active.

    Estimates range from 1,600-2,400 calories per day for adult women and 2,000-3,000 calories per day for adult men. Within each sex and age category, the low end of the range is for sedentary individuals; the high end of the range is for active individuals. Due to the reductions in basal metabolic rate that occur with aging, caloric needs generally decrease for adults as they age.

    The physical activity categories are: sedentary, moderately active, active

    Males

    • Estimated calorie needs for males in their 20s: 2,400; 2,800; 3,000

    • Estimated calorie needs for males in their 30s: 2,400; 2,600; 2,800/3,000

    • Estimated calorie needs for males in their 40s: 2,200/2,400; 2,400/2,600; 2,800

    • Estimated calorie needs for males in their 50s: 2,200; 2,400; 2,600/2,800

    • Estimated calorie needs for males in their 60s: 2,000; 2,200/2,400; 2,600

    • Estimated calorie needs for males in their 70s and above: 2,000; 2,200; 2,400/2,600

    Females

    • Estimated calorie needs for females in their 20s: 1,800/2,000; 2,000/2,200; 2,400

    • Estimated calorie needs for females in their 30s: 1,800; 2,000; 2,200

    • Estimated calorie needs for females in their 40s: 1,800; 2,000; 2,200

    • Estimated calorie needs for females in their 50s: 1,600; 1,800; 2,200

    • Estimated calorie needs for females in their 60s: 1,600; 1,800; 2,000

    • Estimated calorie needs for females in their 70s and above: 1,600; 1,800; 2,000

    For adults, the reference man is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 154 pounds. The reference woman is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 126 pounds. If those seem like low weights, that’s because by today’s standards they are.

    The average American man is just over 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 195.7 pounds, according to the CDC. The average male’s waist circumference is 40 inches.

    By comparison, the average American woman is just under 5 feet 4 inches tall weighs 168.5 pounds. Her average waist circumference is 38.1 inches.

    Americans have gotten a lot bigger in recent decades. In 1960, the average man weighed 166.3 pounds; the average woman weighed 140 pounds. The growth in waist size is particularly troubling.

    Waist size is a good measure for the risk for certain diseases, including stroke, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Studies have found that overweight people with large waists — more than 35 inches for women and more than 40 inches for men — are at greater risk of risk of developing type 2 diabetes and are more likely to have a heart attack.

    We can change these lifestyle diseases by changing our lifestyle. One of the best changes would be limiting our excess calorie consumption.

    The average American consumes more than 3,600 calories daily, according to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which is a 24% increase from 1961, when the average was just 2,880 calories. For some healthy adults, who want to maintain their weight, that’s nearly double the daily recommended requirement.

    The problem is that, on average, people underestimate their caloric consumption by about 500 calories. So, if you think you’re eating 2,000 calories per day, you may be getting about 2,500. That adds up to plenty of unwanted weight gain by the end of the year.

    If you want to maintain your weight, you need to eat according to your true physical activity level. If you want to lose weight, you’ll need to eat even less, and you’ll also need to perform weight training.

    But that’s another story for another day. Feel free to ask me about it.

  • Six Reasons Why Water is So Critical to Your Health

    Six Reasons Why Water is So Critical to Your Health

    Water is the single most critical nutrient to your body. Therefore, drinking sufficient water is essential to your health and, because it is excreted by the body in various ways all day long, it’s important to replace it throughout the day. When your water intake does not equal your output, you become dehydrated.

    Fluid losses occur continuously — from skin evaporation, breathing, urine and stool — and these losses must be replaced daily to maintain good health. Even mild dehydration can cause daytime fatigue.

    I’ve long been a proponent of drinking a tall glass of water upon waking each morning, before breakfast or even coffee. Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it increases your urine output. For roughly every 100 milligrams of caffeine you consume – the approximate amount in one cup of coffee or two cups of black tea – you should drink an additional cup of water to compensate for the drug’s diuretic effect (yes, caffeine is a drug).

    Your body also excretes water while you sleep, through perspiration and breathing. So even if you’re not a coffee drinker, this lost water should be replaced immediately each morning.

    Fluid losses are heightened during strenuous exercise, in warmer climates, at high altitudes and in older adults, whose sense of thirst may not be as discerning.

    Here are six prime reasons to make sure you’re drinking enough water every day:

    1. Drinking Water Helps Maintain Every System in Your Body

    Your body is composed of about 60% water. The lungs are about 83% water; the muscles and kidneys are 79% water; the brain and heart are composed of 73% water; and even the bones are 31% water.

    Your body fluids are critical to digestion, absorption, circulation, transportation of nutrients, creation of saliva and maintenance of body temperature.

    Body fluids transport waste products in and out of cells. The main toxin in the body is blood-urea nitrogen, a water-soluble waste that is able to pass through the kidneys to be excreted in the urine.

    When you’re getting enough fluids, urine flows freely, is light in color and free of odor. When your body is not getting enough fluids, urine concentration, color and odor increase because the kidneys trap extra fluid for bodily functions.

    2. Water Can Aid Weight Loss

    Water is a great appetite suppressant because it makes you feel fuller. Drinking a glass of water before meals can curb your appetite, helping you eat less without feeling hungry. Since water is 100% calorie-free, substituting it for higher-calorie beverages can help with weight loss.

    Water also helps you burn more calories. The amount of calories burned by the body at rest is known as resting energy expenditure. In adults, resting energy expenditure has been shown to increase by 24–30% within 10 minutes of drinking water. This lasts at least 60 minutes. The effects are heightened by cold water. When you drink cold water, your body uses extra calories to warm up the water to body temperature.

    Two separate studies showed that increasing water intake to over 1 liter (34 oz) per day resulted in an extra 4.4 pounds of weight loss over a 12-month period. That’s roughly 17,000 additional calories burned annually.

    Water also increases the body’s ability to metabolize stored fat. Inadequate water intake can cause fat deposits to increase, while sufficient water intake can actually reduce fat deposits.

    3. Water Helps Build Muscles

    Muscle cells need to maintain a balance of fluids and electrolytes to avoid fatigue, weakness and shrinking. In short, inadequate fluid intake can cause performance to suffer. Again, your muscles are 79% water.

    Research has shown that when cells lose water, protein production can slow down and protein breakdown can speed up. This could hamper post-exercise muscle protein synthesis. Greater muscle breakdown results in less new-muscle growth.

    Aerobic performance, such as running or cycling, can decrease when body weight drops just 2-3% as a result of dehydration. Power generation can also become compromised with the loss of just 3% in body weight.

    Researchers determined that when test subjects were dehydrated by 3%, total repetitions performed were significantly lower. The subjects also perceived the exercises as more difficult and they needed longer for their heart rates to recover.

    4. Water is Critical to a Healthy Digestive Process

    Adequate water helps to maintain a normal digestive tract. It helps to properly metabolize food and transport nutrients.

    Water also helps to maintain normal bowel function; adequate hydration can prevent constipation.

    5. Water is Vital to Healthy, Good-Looking Skin

    Your skin contains 64% water. Dehydration makes your skin look dry and wrinkled. Proper hydration may help prevent wrinkles and may even decrease some. Being well hydrated can also help rid the skin and body of toxins.

    Healthy, well-hydrated skin also easily absorbs water from moisturizers and creams, increasing the benefit of skincare products.

    6. Sufficient Water Intake is Important for Your Heart

    Your heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood a day and it is able to pump blood more easily when well-hydrated, allowing it to work more easily and efficiently. Water also helps maintain blood pressure. Dehydration can cause blood to become thicker, increasing blood pressure.

    Dehydration causes strain on your heart because your blood volume decreases when you are dehydrated. This results in your heart beating faster and working harder. Water delivers oxygen throughout the body. Blood, which is more than 90 percent water, carries oxygen to all parts of the body.

    How Much Water Should You Drink?

    The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) recommends a total daily water intake of 3.7 liters (15 cups) for the average adult male and 2.7 liters (11 cups) for the average adult female.

    Water needs vary tremendously, according to the individual, and are dependent on factors such as temperature, altitude and activity level. If you’re exercising, you need more water than when you’re sedentary. People who exercise regularly may need more daily water intake than those who are not very active.

    The American College of Sports Medicine’s guidelines recommend that people drink about 17 ounces of fluid roughly two hours before exercise. During exercise, they recommend that people start drinking fluids early, and drink them at regular intervals to replace fluids lost by sweating.

    Eating more fruits and vegetables can aid hydration due to their high water content. About 20% of our fluid intake comes from foods. Having a beverage with every snack and meal will increase hydration.

    Drink plenty of water. Eat healthy. Sleep plentifully. Stay healthy.

     

  • Don’t Be Fooled by Calorie Counters

    Don’t Be Fooled by Calorie Counters

    How accurate are the calorie counters on the cardio machines (treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, rowers, etc.) that you use at the gym and at home?

    Not very, it turns out. Numerous studies have shown that calorie counters on cardio machines are overstated.

    For example, one University of California, San Francisco experiment conducted for Good Morning America, found that elliptical machines were the most optimistic, overestimating one exerciser’s calorie expenditures by 42 percent. Meanwhile, treadmills overestimated by 13 percent, stair climbers by 12 percent, and stationary bikes by seven percent.

    Another issue to consider is the age of the equipment. Newer machines tend to be more accurate; older machines, less so.

    Caloric expenditure varies based on gender, age, weight and fitness level — which includes aerobic capacity, metabolism and ratio of muscle to fat (more muscular bodies burn more fat).

    Most cardio machines allow you to enter the first three variables — your gender, age and weight — so make sure to do it. That will give you a much more accurate portrayal of calories burned. We burn fewer calories as we age, and men generally burn more calories than women.

    Many treadmills use a reference weight of about 155 pounds. If you don’t weigh 155 pounds, the reading at the end of your workout is not accurate. Enter your true weight. Heavier bodies burn more calories in any given workout.

    Additionally, relying on the handrails—especially during higher inclines or while running at high speeds—can throw off your reading by as much as 40 percent. Avoid the handrails. When you walk outside, there aren’t any.

    Your heart rate will also determine how many calories you burn, so make sure the machine can synch to your heart monitor, assuming you have one.

    When it comes to burning calories, the greater your exertion, the greater the rate at which calories are burned. Working out at 60% to 75% of your maximum heart rate burns fewer calories than working out at 75% to 85% of your maximum heart rate.

    As always, get in Motion; stay in Motion.

  • Don’t Fall Prey to Sitting Disease!

    Don’t Fall Prey to Sitting Disease!

     

    The Benefits of Standing vs Sitting

    The Mayo Clinic conducted a 10-year, $20 million research study on nutrition, activity and behavior related to weight management and obesity prevention.
     
    The research determined that sedentary environments are a primary contributor to the rise in obesity that increases health costs and takes a toll on quality of life.
     
    This research supported the value of N.E.A.T. (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), which is all the calories one burns while doing normal, non-exercise activity.
     
    Much of our health depends upon adequate, regular movement. In fact, all movement counts toward our health, and non-exercise activity is crucial. Our bodies were designed to move and when we don’t, our physical health deteriorates.
     
    One culprit driving the obesity epidemic is “sitting disease.” Most of us spend 10-15 hours a day just sitting!
     
    No matter how much you exercise, sitting for excessively long periods of time is a risk factor for early death, according to a 2017 study in Annals of Internal Medicine.
     
    There’s a direct relationship between time spent sitting and your risk of early mortality of any cause, researchers said, based on a study of nearly 8,000 adults. As your total sitting time increases, so does your risk of an early death.
     
    The positive news: people who sat for less than 30 minutes at a time had the lowest risk of early death.
     
    Replacing a few hours of sitting at your desk with standing can lead to significant health benefits over time. In addition to the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal benefits, there is also a significant difference in calories burned.
     
    A study by the BBC and the University of Chester found remarkable health benefits of standing versus sitting. Standing caused participants to have a much higher heart rate (around 10 beats per minute higher), which adds up to burning about 50 calories more per hour versus sitting. Over a year, that adds up to about 30,000 more calories or 8 pounds of fat.
     
    There are many documented benefits of standing, such as reducing your risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer and back pain.
     
    The general rule is to not sit more than 30 minutes without standing or getting up and moving. Set an alarm on your watch, phone or computer to remind you to get up after you’ve been sitting for 30 minutes. Move around or walk for five minutes to help reduce the health risks from all that sitting.
     
    Get in Motion. Stay in Motion.
  • Exercise Can Help Relieve Depression And Anxiety

    Exercise Can Help Relieve Depression And Anxiety

     

    Exercise — it’s good for your mind too.
     
    Depression is widespread, affecting people of all backgrounds. Globally, more than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, says WHO, and at its worst can lead to suicide.
     
    In the US, nearly 16 million Americans have experienced depression at some point in their lives. Women may be more susceptible than men, though the latter are less likely to report depression to their doctors. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) found that approximately 8.2 percent of women and 4.8 percent of men in the United States are depressed during a 12-month period.
     
    According to the 2014 NSDUH data, depression is most likely to strike adults aged 18 to 25, though there is a second bump in depression rates among the elderly.
     
    Though antidepressant medications are commonly prescribed to treat the condition, research shows that exercise is also an effective treatment. For some people, it works as well as antidepressants, according to Harvard Medical School. Like depression, anxiety symptoms also often improve with exercise, as does stress.
     
    Regular exercise releases feel-good substances — such as endorphins, seratonin and other natural brain chemicals — that can lift your mood and enhance your sense of well-being. Exercise also spurs the release of proteins called growth factors, which cause nerve cells to grow and make new connections. The resulting improvement in brain function makes you feel better.
     
    Though many people begin to feel better after just a few weeks of regular exercise, it is a long-term treatment that cannot be abandoned as soon as you begin feeling well.
     
    Aside from improving mood and reducing anxiety, exercise can have other psychological benefits too. It can make you feel accomplished and good about yourself. No one ever regrets or feels guilty about exercising. But we can experience those feelings as a result of not exercising. It’s easy to have regrets about drinking too much, eating too much sugar or other junk foods or just eating too much in general. But no one ever feels guilty about exercising; it’s positive and uplifting.
     
    Doing 30 or more minutes of exercise a day, three to five days a week, may significantly improve depression or anxiety symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic. More-vigorous activities, such as running or stair climbing, may make a difference in as little as 10 to 15 minutes at a time.
     
    Performing exercises you enjoy, and a variety of them, will make you more likely to follow through and stick with the program. Simply put, enjoyment will lead to adherence and positive outcomes. Make sure to put exercise into your daily schedule, just as you would with anything that is truly important in your life.
     
    Finding a personal trainer can help keep you accountable and dedicated to a well-structured program, which will in turn make you feel better physically, emotionally and psychologically.
     
    If you exercise regularly but depression or anxiety symptoms still interfere with your daily living, see your doctor or mental health professional.
  • Train to Maintain Strong, Healthy, Stable Shoulders

    Train to Maintain Strong, Healthy, Stable Shoulders

    One of the consequences of modern living is that many people have poor posture — most notably, rounded, internally rotated shoulders. This poor posture results in pain, limited movement, and also diminished, shallow breathing, which leaves people oxygen deprived and tired.
     
    Everyday things — such as using a smartphone, using a computer, sitting for extended periods, writing, drawing, cooking, driving and carrying heavy objects (including babies and children) — can all lead to rounded shoulders (aka, poor posture) and poor shoulder function.
     
    Being hunched forward not only affects appearance (ever see a clothing model or a mannequin with slumped shoulders?), it also increases stress on the shoulder joints and can cause pain around the neck and upper back.
     
    A person standing with their arms at their sides has a natural inward arm rotation of about 15 degrees. This is the neutral position of the arm. Problems arise when the arm rotates too far inward, disrupting the shoulder and causing joint pain and injury. Indeed, excessive internal arm rotation is one of the most common musculoskeletal imbalances of the shoulder girdle.
     
    Exercises that focus on external rotation of the arm at the shoulder socket (the glenohumeral joint) can help alleviate rounded shoulders, while building strength and stability in the joint.
     
    The rotator cuff is a very critical muscle group, but it is also very vulnerable. Many middle-aged and older people have very poor shoulder function because they have a faulty rotator cuff. This is usually attributed to weak rotator cuff muscles (particularly the external rotators) and relatively strong deltoid muscles.
     
    In addition to rotating the humerus (upper arm), the rotator cuff is also responsible for stabilization of the humerus inside the shoulder joint.
     
    There’s an old axiom about joints: the more stable they are, the less mobile they are (think of your elbow). Conversely, the more mobile they are, the less stable they are (think of your shoulder).
     
    One of the primary problems with the shoulder is that it is a highly mobile ball-and-socket joint. Another problem is that the internal rotators of the shoulder are much bigger and stronger than the external rotators. Consequently, the external rotators are typically the weakest link in the shoulder joint.
     
    The rotator cuff muscles predominantly stabilize the glenohumeral joint, but also contribute significantly to movement.
     
    The four rotator cuff muscles are:
     
    • Supraspinatus (the most frequently torn tendon in the shoulder)
    • Infraspinatus
    • Teres minor
    • Subscapularis
     
    The external rotators of the shoulder are the infraspinatus, teres minor and posterior deltoid, the latter of which is not part of the rotor cuff. So, just two of the four rotator cuff muscles perform external rotation of the upper arm.
     
    Subscapularis is the main internal rotator of the shoulder. It is also the largest and strongest cuff muscle.
     
    The other internal rotators are the latissimus dorsi (the widest muscle in the human body), pectoralis major (a large, powerful muscle), teres major and anterior deltoid.
     
    So, the internal rotators outnumber the external rotators five to three.
     
    Given the size and strength of the internal rotators, they easily overpower the smaller (and fewer) external rotators. For this reason, regularly strengthening the external rotators is critical to good shoulder health and injury prevention.
     
     
    However, since the external rotators of the shoulder joint are located on the posterior aspect (back) of the body, many people neglect them when training (out of sight, out of mind).
     
    Regular and consistent strengthening of the latissimus dorsi and pectoralis major can result in a shortening and tightening of these internal rotators and, over time, a weakening of the external rotators, particularly if they are ignored. This leads to dysfunctional, imbalanced shoulders.
     
    A sound exercise program should include exercises that strengthen the external rotators, which will create joint balance and lessen the chances of shoulder injury. Ideally, your exercises should stabilize, strengthen and protect your shoulder joints, giving you pain-free movement and healthy, highly functional shoulders.