10 Essential Health Tips

1. Move More: Make it a daily challenge to find ways to move your body. Climb stairs if given a choice between that and escalators or elevators. Walk your dog; chase your kids; toss balls with friends, mow the lawn. Anything that moves your limbs is not only a fitness tool, it's a stress buster. Think 'move' in small increments of time. It doesn't have to be an hour in the gym or a 45-minute aerobic dance class or tai chi or kickboxing. But that's great when you're up to it. Meanwhile, move more. Thought for the day: Cha, Cha, Cha…. Then do it!

2. Cut Fat: Avoid the obvious such as fried foods, burgers and other fatty meats (i.e. pork, bacon, ham, salami, ribs and sausage). Dairy products such as cheese, cottage cheese, milk and cream should be eaten in low fat versions. Nuts and sandwich meats, mayonnaise, margarine, butter and sauces should be eaten in limited amounts. Most are available in lower fat versions such as substitute butter, fat free cheeses and mayonnaise. Thought for the day: Lean, mean, fat-burning machine…. Then be one!

3. Quit Smoking: The jury is definitely in on this verdict. Ever since 1960 when the Surgeon General announced that smoking was harmful to your health, Americans have been reducing their use of tobacco products that kill. Just recently, we've seen a surge in smoking in adolescents and teens. Could it be the Hollywood influence? It seems the stars in every movie of late smoke cigarettes. Beware. Warn your children of the false romance or 'tough guy' stance of Hollywood smokers. Thought for the day: Give up just one cigarette…. the next one.

4. Reduce Stress: Easier said than done, stress busters come in many forms. Some techniques recommended by experts are to think positive thoughts. Spend 30 minutes a day doing something you like. (i.e.,Soak in a hot tub; walk on the beach or in a park; read a good book; visit a friend; play with your dog; listen to soothing music; watch a funny movie. Get a massage, a facial or a haircut. Meditate. Count to ten before losing your temper or getting aggravated. Avoid difficult people when possible. Thought for the day: When seeing red, think pink clouds….then float on them.

5. Protect Yourself from Pollution: If you can't live in a smog-free environment, at least avoid smoke-filled rooms, high traffic areas, breathing in highway fumes and exercising near busy thoroughfares. Exercise outside when the smog rating is low. Exercise indoors in air conditioning when air quality is good. Plant lots of shrubbery in your yard. It's a good pollution and dirt from the street deterrent. Thought for the day: 'Smoke gets in your eyes'…and your mouth, and your nose and your lungs as do pollutants….hum the tune daily.

6. Wear Your Seat Belt: Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes. Thought for the day: Buckle down and buckle up.

7. Floss Your Teeth: Recent studies make a direct connection between longevity and teeth flossing. Nobody knows exactly why. Perhaps it's because people who floss tend to be more health conscious than people who don't? Thought for the day: Floss and be your body's boss.

8. Avoid Excessive Drinking: While recent studies show a glass of wine or one drink a day (two for men) can help protect against heart disease, more than that can cause other health problems such as liver and kidney disease and cancer. Thought for the day: A jug of wine should last a long time.

9. Keep a Positive Mental Outlook: There's a definitive connection between living well and healthfully and having a cheerful outlook on life. Thought for the day: You can't be unhappy when you're smiling or singing.

10. Choose Your Parents Well: The link between genetics and health is a powerful one. But just because one or both of your parents died young in ill health doesn't mean you cannot counteract the genetic pool handed you. Thought for the day: Follow these basic tips for healthy living and you can better control your own destiny.

Source: http://www.health-fitness-tips.com/features/10-essential-health-tips.htm

~ Gangadhar Kotu

Heavy snore burns more cal

Washington, Dec 16 (ANI): The heavier your snores are, the more calories you burn, that's the conclusion of a new study, which claims that snoring is an healthy habit.

According to the study, heavy snorers burn more fat than light counterparts, even while they are awake and resting.

The study has been published in the December issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Sleep-related breathing disorders include snoring, pauses in breathing (sleep apnea) and other conditions in which airways are partially or completely obstructed during sleep.

"Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of sleep-disordered breathing, and changes in body weight are associated with changes in sleep-disordered breathing severity," the researchers write as background information in the article.

"It is unclear whether weight gain is simply a cause of sleep-disordered breathing or whether sleep-disordered breathing may be associated with alterations in energy metabolism that, in turn, lead to weight gain and complicate the treatment of these two disorders that often coexist," they added.

Body weight is based on the balance between energy or calorie intake and expenditure, the authors note. Resting energy expenditure, or the number of calories burned while resting, is one component of total daily energy expenditure.

To reach the conclusion, Eric J. Kezirian, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues assessed the resting energy expenditure in 212 adults with signs or symptoms of sleep-related breathing disorders.

Participants' medical history was taken, and they underwent a physical examination, sleep monitoring through polysomnography and determination of resting energy expenditure using a device known as an indirect calorimeter.

The calorimeter measures oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production, which can be used to determine resting energy expenditure in calories per day.

Among the 212 participants, the average resting energy expenditure was 1,763 calories per day. Several measures of sleep-disordered breathing severity were associated with increases in resting energy expenditure. For example, those who scored the highest on a scale of apnea and hypopnea (disruptions in breathing) had a resting energy expenditure of 1,999, while those who scored the lowest expended an average of 1,626 calories per day resting.

Resting energy expenditure may be affected by responses of the nervous system that occur during sleep-related breathing disorders and has been previously shown to increase when sleep has been disrupted.

"This study advances our knowledge concerning sleep-disordered breathing and metabolic rates, but it does not define the connection between sleep-disordered breathing and body weight," the authors write.

"Body weight is determined by the balance between energy intake and expenditure. Although the findings of this study suggest that sleep-disordered breathing increases energy expenditure, it ignored two important aspects of this balance," they added.

"First, sleep-disordered breathing often results in fatigue and other decrements in daytime functioning that can limit physical activity. Second, this work does not specifically incorporate the emerging evidence that suggests that sleep-disordered breathing may alter energy intake, whether through hormonal or other mechanisms. Future research considering the effect of sleep-disordered breathing on body weight can include the effects on energy intake and expenditure," they said. (ANI)

Source Link

~ Gangadhar Kotu