Asthma and Exercise

Most people with Asthma can exercise and become fit. But the type, and intensity of exercise Asthmatics can do varies greatly from person to person. Here's a video that outlines the rules of thumb.

Asthmatic or not, be sure to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program. Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways. It causes bronchial passages to become inflamed and arrowed in response to triggers like cold, exercise, and stress, and allergens like dust mites, dander and smoke.

Breathing becomes labored and difficult, and in extreme cases, Asthma attacks can be fatal. Asthma is on the rise. Asthma affects about 25 million people in the U.S. according to the National Institutes of health.

The cause has been debated for decades. The hygiene hypothesis: it was thought that living in a too clean environment, like suburban America, and smaller family size decreased a child's exposure to bacteria and viruses, thus preventing the immune system from developing normally and allowing it to instead set its sights on allergic triggers like dust.

More recent studies in less clean urban areas suggest Asthma causes are more complex and no one explanation has come to the forefront.

There are many types and degrees of Asthma. There is no cure, but modern medicine has provided options that help keep most Asthma symptoms under control most of the time. They include, drugs, swallowed, inhaled and injected, and lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. Yes, people with Asthma can exercise.

The most common symptoms are wheezing, shortness of breath and coughing.
But exercising with Asthma is a two edged sword. Exercise is an irritant trigger.

It can induce Asthma. In fact, there is a whole category of asthmatics for which exercise induced Asthma, EIA for short, is the main issue. However this can be overcome. Studies show that exercising for fitness, particularly aerobic exercise, strengthens and builds the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems to the same extent as it does in non-asthmatics.

Asthmatics can become very fit. Many Olympic and professional athletes, have exercise-induced Asthma.

So what kinds of exercise can and should asthmatics do and, what precautions should they take.

Pick an exercise that gets your heart rate up without putting too much pressure on your breathing.

Generally, low intensity activities like walking, biking, moderate aerobics and swimming outdoors where fumes from pool chemicals are less of an irritant, are more easily tolerated. Activities like high intensity aerobics or calisthenics can be more problematic and should be approached gradually.

Exercise limitations; vary greatly from person to person. Some asthmatics have trouble with even low intensity exercise, while others can do almost anything most of the time.

First and foremost consult your doctor before you begin.

Rules of thumb:

· Depending on your particular condition, you may need to take medication, or take a puff or two from your inhaler before you begin.
· If you use a peak flow meter, test yourself and don't exercise unless you're in normal range.
· Keep your emergency inhaler handy during exercise just in case.
· Avoid triggers whenever possible.
· If it's too cold or the pollen count is high outside, exercise indoors.
· Exercise outside when the air is clear and humidity is higher.
· If you exercise in the cold, wear a scarf over your nose and mouth to warm and moisten the air as you breathe.
· Stay hydrated. Drink plenty of water before, during and after exercise.
· Take time to warm up with slow dynamic movements like marching in place or gentle stretching.
· Start slowly and monitor how the exercise is affecting you.
· Avoid sudden bouts of intense exercise.
· Breath through your nose if possible in a relaxed controlled pattern
· Try using pursed lip breathing. Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth with lips pursed as though whistling. It helps avoid hyperventilation and manages shortness of breath. It helps your airways relax and dilate so you can expel carbon dioxide and take in oxygen.
· If exercise induces your Asthma more severely, with your doctors approval, you may want to try easing in with gentle movements while seated in a chair.

The bottom line is exercising with Asthma is a very individual undertaking. One size does not fit all. Some people can do almost anything, while others have trouble with even light exercise.

Talk to your doctor, listen to your body, Start gently and build up. Stay in your comfort zone. Take precautions, get fit and live well.

How Regular Exercise Can Make You Look and Feel Younger

There are several daily habits that can keep you looking and feeling young, and exercise is one of them. Studies have shown that exercising can even turn back the clock on aging, reversing some of the effects of time, and restoring your youth, inside and out.

Youthful Skin

A recent study performed by McMasters University in Ontario found that the skin of people who exercised regularly was structurally much younger than those who don’t. Even people over 50 had a dermis and epidermis resembling someone in the 20-40 age range when they exercised vigorously at least twice a week.

Improved Posture

One of the sure signs of aging is a tired, stooped posture. Maintaining core strength through exercise gives you the posture of a much younger person. If your posture is already suffering from age, it can be improved through exercise. Yoga and pilates are particularly effective with improving posture.

An Underage Attitude

One of the top aging factors in our lives is stress. It hastens the signs of aging both physically and mentally. Exercising reduces stress, along with our risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. It also increases your energy levels, so you can live a high quality, youthful lifestyle. Those who exercise have a greater sense of self-confidence as well.

Increased Sex Drive

One of the greatest fears people have about aging is that they or their partner will lose interest in sex because of hormonal changes. Exercising has been shown to boost libido in a couple of ways. For one, it evens out hormone levels, leaving you feeling in the mood more often. The second thing exercise does for you in this area is to make you feel more attractive and comfortable in your own skin, which will make you feel more open to birthday suit time. Regular exercise is often the key to maintaining a youthful sex life.

Start Living the Younger You Today!

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Continue Here: http://www.good4utah.com/story/d/story/how-regular-exercise-can-make-you-look-and-feel-yo/28900/7rgSNFNzIkS33utZlhdWjg

Can Exercise Cause A.L.S.?

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has been all over the news lately because of the ubiquitous A.L.S. ice bucket challenge. That attention has also reinvigorated a long-simmering scientific debate about whether participating in contact sports or even vigorous exercise might somehow contribute to the development of the fatal neurodegenerative disease, an issue that two important new studies attempt to answer.

Ever since the great Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig died of A.L.S. in 1941 at age 37, many Americans have vaguely connected A.L.S. with athletes and sports. In Europe, the possible linkage has been more overtly discussed. In the past decade, several widely publicized studies indicated that professional Italian soccer players were disproportionately prone to A.L.S., with about a sixfold higher incidence than would have been expected numerically. Players were often diagnosed while in their 30s; the normal onset is after 60.

These findings prompted some small, follow-up epidemiological studies of A.L.S. patients in Europe. To the surprise and likely consternation of the researchers, they found weak but measurable associations between playing contact sports and a heightened risk for A.L.S. The data even showed links between being physically active — meaning exercising regularly — and contracting the disease, raising concerns among scientists that exercise might somehow be inducing A.L.S. in susceptible people, perhaps by affecting brain neurons or increasing bodily stress.

But these studies were extremely small and had methodological problems. So to better determine what role sports and exercise might play in the risk for A.L.S., researchers from across Europe recently combined their efforts into two major new studies.

The more impressive of these, which was published in May in Annals of Neurology, involved almost two dozen researchers from five nations, who developed a deceptively simple but scientifically rigorous research approach. They asked 652 A.L.S. patients if they’d be willing to talk about their lives and activities and did the same with 1,166 people of matching ages, genders and nationalities. They conducted extensive in-person interviews with each volunteer, asking them how active they had been in professional or amateur sports, at their jobs and during leisure time. They also asked about past histories of injuries and accidents, including concussions and other head trauma but also other injuries.

They then compared answers from the people with A.L.S. to those of healthier people.

The results should reassure those of us who exercise. The numbers showed that physical activity — whether at work, in sports or during exercise — did not increase people’s risk of developing A.L.S. Instead, exercise actually appeared to offer some protection against the disease. Even pro athletes showed no heightened risk, although they represented such a tiny subset of the patients with A.L.S. that firm conclusions cannot be drawn, the researchers say.

One aspect of people’s lives did significantly increase their risk of developing A.L.S.: a history of multiple hits to the head. Men and women who had sustained at least two concussions or other serious head injuries were much more likely than other people, including never-concussed athletes, to develop A.L.S.

These results coincide closely with those of the other new study, a review article published in July in the European Journal of Epidemiology, which gathered data from 50 years’ worth of epidemiological studies related to A.L.S. risk (including the other new study) and teased out the effects of physical activity. Most of the studies were limited in scope, but they amplified one another’s validity when combined, the researchers thought.

And their main finding was that “in the general population, physical activity is not a risk factor for A.L.S.,” said Dr. Benoit Marin, a neuroepidemiologist at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris who oversaw the new review.

But as Dr. Marin also pointed out, the studies involved were all associational, meaning that they cannot establish cause and effect. Exercise and a reduced risk for A.L.S. might be linked to other lifestyle factors, such as a healthy diet, and not to each other.

The new studies also cannot dispel the lingering and troubling questions about the effects of head injuries from contact sports.

“I would not consider this issue settled,” said Ettore Beghi, a neuroscientist at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan and senior author of the study published in May in Annals of Neurology.

In the United States, a few researchers have begun to look at football and A.L.S. risk, a plausible research concern, Dr. Beghi said, given evidence that head trauma sustained playing football might contribute to neurodegenerative diseases. But to date, the football data has been inconclusive.

For now, he and other scientists are continuing to study Italian soccer players, as well as athletes in other sports, including rugby, which, for some reason, confers no increased risk of A.L.S., although it involves considerable contact. Such research may ultimately “shed some light on the underlying mechanisms of the disease, which are still poorly understood,” Dr. Beghi said.

The greatest obstacle to advancing the research, he added, is “the lack of funding,” a situation that could be ameliorated, somewhat, with all of that ice dousing.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/can-exercise-cause-a-l-s/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

How To Have A Healthy Heart

Here are “life’s simple seven “develop by the American Heart Association to enhance heart health and improve total well being.

1 Get active: All you need is thirty minutes a day of moderate exercise to lower your chances of having a heart disease. Aerobic activity improves your heart and makes your blood pressure drop, increase good HDL cholesterol, fights stress, curbs blood sugar,  reduce weight and improves confidence.

"Walking is a great way to improve heart health and it's free, easy and almost anyone can do it. Remember to include weekly strength training, flexibility and balance exercises.

2. Control cholesterol: the safe cholesterol level must be below 200 mg/dL. Cholesterol clogs the arteries and increases your risk getting a heart attack and stroke.

"The cholesterol, saturated fat and trans fat in your food spikes up your cholesterol, together with amount the body makes naturally,

3. Eat better. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables is the best way to make your body healthy. The American Heart Association also suggest consuming fish at least twice a week—Salmon and mackerel has omega 3 fatty acids that help lessens blood clothing in the arteries and help protect arteries  from being stiff.

4. Manage blood pressure. One of three adults suffers from blood pressure and most don’t know they have it. . High blood pressure is the most important factor that can lead to heart disease. The safe blood pressure should be less than 120 over 80. If your blood pressure is normal, your heart don’t work hard as much to pump blood through your arteries, arteries are elastic and are not over stretched and all your body tissues receives the right nutrients from a correct blood flow.

5. Lose weight: having an extra weight can increase your chances of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Reducing the pounds helps lower your risk.

6. Reduce blood sugar: Diabetes is a big factor for cardiovascular disease.  Having a healthy blood sugar level avoids diabetes which reduces your risk for heart disease. Diabetics should watch out for their blood sugar to avoid problems like heart disease.

7. Stop smoking: Smoking can lead to a lot of health problems such as heart disease, stroke and heart attacks.

Exercise may help alleviate depression

Exercise may help ease symptoms of depression, according to a fresh look at past research.

Researchers who analyzed data from previous studies found people who exercised experienced a "moderate" reduction in their depressive symptoms compared to those who did other activities, such as using relaxation techniques, or received no treatment.

Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health, US scientists warn

Fruit juices and smoothies represent a new risk to our health because of the amount of sugar the apparently healthy drinks contain, warn the US scientists who blew the whistle on corn syrup in soft drinks a decade ago.

The Shocking Truth About Protein Bars, Shakes & ‘Enhanced’ Foods

“Protein-enhanced” is the new catch-all phrase by food and beverage manufacturers. Everywhere I turn I see another product boasting that it contains protein. But is this growing trend actually beneficial? Not only is it not beneficial, it may actually be harmful, for multiple reasons.  Here are nine reasons to be cautious of protein bars, shakes, and other protein-enhanced foods:

On your bike, Runners

Once you’re hooked on running it can be hard to be convinced of the merits of doing anything different, but in fact variety is the key to making you run better and for longer.

Exercise that is different to running, but enhances it, is called cross training. There’s nothing not to like about cross training if you consider what it’s good for: injury prevention, rehabilitation, improving fitness, promoting recovery, boosting motivation - to name a few.

Womens Sports Bra

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