Sunday, February 7, 2010

Standing on one foot can test your aging degree

Very often, we believe that health is the state of the body in everyday life. Once the need to complete a certain amount of movement, our body is less likely to obey the. This issue will introduce some simple and practical method of self-rated health to help you learn more about their fitness, to see which is the weak link can be targeted to enhance training.

Abdominal muscles can be trained to live longer

Some studies have shown that abdominal obesity were more vulnerable to excess fat, shortened life expectancy. If the abdominal subcutaneous fat than the normal standard of 15% to 25%, then the mortality rate would increase by 30%. And close the abdominal muscles, their endurance is considered resistant to chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. Would like to know your abdominal muscles aging it? May wish to come to a self-test:

Supine, knees 90 degrees, feet flat on the ground. Arms stretched on the side of the body, palms down. Note that the entire process, we must keep the arm parallel with the ground, his legs are not off the ground. 5 seconds with a slow movement upward tuck until the sitting position, pause 1 second, and then 5 seconds to restore. If you can not pause to complete more than 10 times, can be regarded as qualified. If it can not be completed 10 times, or to 30 degrees will not be able to continue to complete the move by expressing serious abdominal aging, the need to strengthen abdominal muscles exercise.

The heart of brisk walking proficiency test

If you can within 10 minutes has completed 1 km, indicating good health; if it has completed in 20 minutes, 2 km, indicating good health; and if they can in 30 minutes has completed three kilometers, then your physical condition is as good as with the young man. This is the U.S. medical experts recommend using a walking self-rated health status of the formula.

Moderate exercise three hours a week, or brisk walking at 23 kilometers a day can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease risk. Per month to spend three hours fast walking, or a half-hour jogging and other dynamic warm-up exercise (such as aerobics), would enable the women’s risk of heart disease decreased by 35% to 40%.

Needs to be emphasized that the stroll-style walk, no matter how long you stick to every day and multiple long-distance, are to reduce heart disease risk is negligible. On the cardiac movement, this research suggests that with a strong heart for the purpose of physical exercise, there must be a certain strength.

Do not let your premature aging

Medical University in Kyoto, Japan proposed a simple method of measuring aging you: your hands close to the thigh on both sides, closes his eyes, one leg standing, according to a stable standing time can be roughly determined with the age-related aging of speed – 50 to 59-year-old as 7.4 seconds, 60 to 69 in 5.8 seconds, 70 to 79 years was 3.3 seconds, below the statement of this standard aging too fast. As for women than men could be calculated for 10-year-old. The longer standing, of aging more slowly.

Long-term adherence were moderate physical activity decreased lung capacity is very slow, even after 60 years of age, vital capacity than normal. You can check lung function by breath-hold time. Took a deep breath, then breath-hold, the longer the better, and then slowly exhale, exhale as the best time of 3 seconds. The maximum breath-holding, a 20-year-old, state of health very good people, and sustainable to 120 seconds. And a over 50 years old, about 30 seconds.

Aerobic exercise can persist in the human physiological aging delay for 12 years. Middle age, the body’s maximum oxygen intake began to once every 10 years about 5 ml of the speed continued to decline. A very small movement of men, its 60 at the age of maximal aerobic capacity will fall to about 25 milliliters, almost half the age of only 20. However, regular jogging and other aerobic exercise can delay or reverse the aging process of people. Research shows that a long period of relatively high-intensity aerobic exercise can make a person’s maximum aerobic capacity increased 25%, equivalent to minus the 10-year-old to 12-year-old biological age.



Standing on one foot can test your aging degree « Fast Weight Loss & Weight Loss Tips

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Low Carb Diet = Lower Blood Pressure

By Madeline Ellis

Fad diets come and go, but one weight-loss trend that has lasted for nearly five decades is the low-carbohydrate diet. Many types of low-carb diets exist, each with varying restrictions on the types and amounts of carbohydrates, although the theory behind them is essentially the same: by restricting daily carbohydrate intake, the body is forced to break down fat to use as energy, a state known as ketosis. But researchers are discovering that the health benefits of a low-carb diet may extend beyond weight loss. For example, a 2007 study found that a diet low in carbohydrates improved HDL (good) cholesterol and triglyceride levels better than a low-fat diet. And recently, in one of the first studies to compare the benefits of diet alone to taking weight loss drugs, researchers found that a low-carb diet was more effective in lowering hypertension than the drug orlistat—without the side effects.

The study included 146 adults with an average body mass index (BMI) of 39 (30 and above is considered obese) and an average age of 52 who were randomly assigned to a low-carbohydrate diet or orlistat (Xenical) with a low-fat diet. Participants on the low-carb diet were restricted to a carbohydrate intake of less than 20 grams per day, while the group taking orlistat received three 120 milligram doses daily and got less than 30 percent of their calories from fat.

Over 48 weeks, both groups experienced similar weight loss; 9.5 percent in the low-carb group compared to 8.5 percent in the orlistat group. However, nearly half (47 percent) of those in the low-carb group were able to reduce or eliminate their blood pressure medication during the study, compared with about one-fifth (21 percent) of those in the orlistat group. Overall, systolic blood pressure (the top number) dropped an average of 5.9 points among the low-carb group, compared to 1.5 points in the orlistat group. Similar reductions were seen for diastolic blood pressure.

“I expected the weight loss to be considerable with both therapies but we were surprised to see blood pressure improve so much more with the low-carbohydrate diet than with orlistat,” lead researcher Dr. William S. Yancy, Jr., an associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center and a staff physician at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, said in a news release.

Yancy says that while weight loss itself typically produces a reduction in blood pressure, the study results suggest that a low-carb diet may have an additional blood-pressure lowering effect, making it a better option than weight loss medication for people who have high blood pressure and a weight problem. “It’s important to know you can try a diet instead of medication and get the same weight loss results with fewer costs and potentially fewer side effects.” Side effects of medication can include nausea and diarrhea.

“This small study reinforces the message that weight loss in obese individuals will have a significant impact on the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease,” the British Heart Foundation said. “Identifying that you need to lose weight, finding a dietary approach that suits you individually combined with a regular physical activity program will help to reduce your risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.”

Yancy says there are plenty of weight loss options out there, but notes the trick is to choose one you think you “could stick to better,” and work with your doctor to help “target the right intervention for you.” HealthNews has already done the research for you, reviewing some of the most popular diets, including the low-carb Atkins and Zone. Choosing one, of course, is entirely up to you!

The study was published in the January 25 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

http://www.healthnews.com/nutrition-diet/low-carb-diet-lower-blood-pressure-4066.html