FINAL WEEK!

Final Spring Challenge Postings.

WEEK FIVE - May 8th - 14th

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK!

On Saturday, while riding with us at Grand Beach, Kevin jokingly (maybe not so jokingly) asked what would happen if someone had a heart attack in the wilderness.

Since I am always desperate for content on this blog, I thought it might be an interesting topic. The resulting tips come from a variety of websites including the Boy Scouts of America.

Have fun and exercise safe ( I should talk).

"In a heart emergency, you must make crucial decisions under stress. Even if you ultimately make wise choices, you waste valuable minutes if you spend time weighing your options. If you do insist on waiting to see what happens, allot yourself only five minutes. But not a minute more.

"As heart attack is a common medical emergency, the signs are often part of first aid courses. General management in the acute setting is calling for help as soon as possible; giving aspirin (300-500 mg), which inhibits formation of further blood clots; being prepared to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in case of arrhythmia or cardiac arrest.

"Since the publication of data that availability of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public places may significantly increase chances of survival, many of these have been installed in public buildings, public transport facilities and in non-ambulance emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars and fire engines). AEDs analyze the rhythm and determine whether the arrhythmia is amenable to defibrillation ("shockable").

"CPR is performed if there is no satisfactory cardiac output. About 20% of patients die before they reach the hospital; the cause of death is often ventricular fibrillation.

"Wilderness first aid: In wilderness first aid, a possible heart attack justifies medical evacuation by the fastest available means, including MEDEVAC, even in the earliest or precursor stages. The patient will rapidly be incapable of further exertion and have to be carried out. Immediately make the patient comfortable, raise up their feet and administer aspirins if available.

"Fast action is crucial. A heart attack occurs when an artery supplying your heart with blood and oxygen becomes blocked. With each passing minute, more heart tissue is deprived of oxygen and sustains permanent damage or dies. It's crucial to restore blood flow within the first hour, when most damage occurs.

"In the initial minutes, a heart attack can trigger ventricular fibrillation. This unstable heart rhythm produces an ineffective heartbeat, causing insufficient blood flow to vital organs. What this means, of course, is that if a patient having a heart attack tries to "ride it out" for a while, hoping the symptoms are due to indigestion or muscle strain, or if the medical personnel delay instituting therapy for any reason, the delay can lead to devastating and permanent results.

WEEK FOUR - May 1 - May 7th

Sedentary lifestyle causes more deaths than smoking!

Following a sedentary lifestyle is more dangerous for your health than smoking, says a new study carried out by the University of Hong Kong and the Department of Health. In the study, researchers looked at the level of physical activity in people who died and were able to correlate their level of physical activity with their risk of dying.

The results are fascinating: 20% of all deaths of people 35 and older were attributed to a lack of physical activity. That's more deaths than can be attributed to smoking.

Looking at specific diseases, the risk of dying from cancer increased 45% for men and 28% for women due to lack of physical activity. The risk of dying from respiratory ailments was 92% higher for men and 75% higher for women. The risk of dying from heart disease was 52% higher for men and 28% higher for women, all due to a lack of physical activity.

It turns out your television viewing may also be slowly killing you.
(from an article by Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, Director,Chronic Disease Control, Alaska Division of Public Health.)


On average, American adults now watch more than four hours of television per day. That's four hours wasted every day, four hours squandered on gaping into the vapid, make-believe world of the 'boob tube'.

That's four hours not spent talking with loved ones, helping kids with homework, volunteering in one's community or doing any of the wonderful things that bring meaning to life. That's one-sixth of your time on earth.

Can it be any surprise that more than half of American adults are now overweight, and nearly one-third are clinically obese?

Television viewing is our number-one cause of physical inactivity, and physical inactivity is now our number-two preventable cause of death, behind smoking.

This is really no surprise to physicians, physical activity is absolutely critical for the health of the human body. In fact, it's fair to say that the human body was designed to be used. There are a lot of misleading metaphors in modern medicine that compare the human body to an automobile. These metaphors propose the idea that the body wears out with use. People say their knee joints have worn out, for example, and that's why they have knee pain.

But I have news for you on this: joints don't "wear out" like car parts, and the human body actually gets healthier with use -- unlike your automobile.

In fact, the more you use your body, the healthier it gets -- up to a point of course; you don't want to overexert yourself and cause injury, but very few people run the risk of actually doing too much exercise in modern society.

Sadly, in today's world, a lot of people just sit around. They spend endless hour watching TV, and they hold jobs that require them to sit behind a desk for 8 or 9 or 10 hours a day engaging in virtually no physical movement at all. As a result, they are being diagnosed with chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory ailments -- all related to a lack of regular physical exercise.

These diseases can be prevented and even frequently reversed through physical exercise alone. Looking at why physical exercise makes individuals so much healthier gives us an interesting perspective on how the human body really works. The human body is designed to move around. And by moving the muscles, ligaments and limbs, you actually massage the tissues and organs of the body, bringing them oxygen and enhancing their flexibility. You also move lymph fluid around the body, and lymph must be moved through physical activity alone since there is no "lymph heart" to circulate lymph fluid regardless of your physical activity like there is with your cardiovascular system. (In other words, your heart pumps your blood even if you're sitting in a chair. But there's nothing to pump your lymph fluid other than sloshing your body around through regular movement.)
Physical activity gets everything moving in your body -- the blood, the oxygen, the nutrients, the cellular respiration, the nervous system, and so on.

Sweating is good for you as well -- you sweat out toxins and replace the lost liquids by drinking fresh, clean water. Physical exercise, if done outside, also exposes you to the healing effects of natural sunlight, an essential nutrient for the human body that is deficient in most people. Getting enough sunlight on your skin can prevent and even reverse an astounding number of chronic diseases such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, osteoporosis and more.

If you put all of this together, you see that physical exercise is extremely beneficial to the human body, and in fact the body won't live nearly as long without it. Studies also show that it doesn't take an enormous amount of physical exercise to achieve health-enhancing results. A mere 30 minutes a day of walking, swimming, jogging, cycling or other cardiovascular exercise can have astounding positive health effects.

Based on web articles by Mike Adams from Health Ranger.

WEEK THREE - April 24th - April 30th

Q. Why is it that some people get "hooked" on exercise?

A. People do get addicted to exercise and suffer withdrawal when they must be inactive, even for a few days. Some go so far as to compare a good workout to a spiritual experience, like meditation.

An avid runner put it this way:

"It means much more than just keeping my body in shape. Running is the major focus of my life. It is the one thing I have complete control over. Every day I can count on my run for a quiet time alone when I can be outside moving, breathing hard. It fills me with a sense of power and confidence as I move quickly through the streets. After the run, I feel very relaxed, confident, satisfied, and in my own world."


This is your brain on exercise compared to sedentary. Research on humans suggests that exercise can not only change brain chemistry but also maintain or improve brain plasticity. Learning, a high-order of brain plasticity, facilitates learning. This predicts that exercise can enhance learning. Indeed, running for example has been proven to improve spatial learning.

For most of us, regular exercise is somewhat less than the focus of our life. Still, along with the physical benefits, we get a definite and persistent psychological bonus -- an improved sense of well-being -- following the activity. Studies consistently show that exercise can lower anxiety and improve mood in healthy, as well as clinically depressed individuals. Why this is so is not clear. But the theories are interesting.

For example:

Physiological Factors.

Researchers have shown that during exercise a morphine-like substance, beta-endorphin, is released by the pituitary gland. Some scientists speculate that this release of beta-endorphin may be responsible for the feeling of euphoria following physical activity. However, studies over two decades have yet to make a clear connection between this substance and an exercise "high." One reason for the uncertainty is that beta-endorphin is hard to measure in the body. Some of it is discharged into the blood and some into the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). And it’s very difficult to assess the amount in the central nervous system and to separate the total beta-endorphin effect from other possible causal factors.

Lately, researchers have been investigating the relationship between exercise and serotonin. Serotonin is found in high concentrations in the hypothalamus (a gland that sits at the top of the brain stem) and helps to transmit messages across nerve cells in the brain. This chemical can suppress appetite and affect a wide range of conditions, including migraine headaches, depression, aggression, sleep disturbances, mood shifts, and anxiety. A recent report suggests, for instance, that exercise may have an effect similar to that of the prescription drug Prozac. That is, exercise may increase the activity of serotonin in the brain, thus benefiting mood and well-being. But here again, the jury is still out.

Psychological Factors.

Some psychologists downplay the possible mood-altering physiological effects of exercise and say that the good feeling we have after exercise is simply due to distraction -- a timeout from our normal activities and concerns. Moreover, they say, exercise provides a sense of mastery and self-esteem. It makes us feel slimmer, firmer, stronger, and more together. And it is a way to help liberate pent-up frustrations, anger and hostility. In addition, the ability to eat more freely without gaining weight also increases pleasure, satisfaction and sense of self-control. Yet, despite the intuitive appeal of this approach, only a limited amount of solid research supports these notions.

Bottom Line.

Certainly, exercise is not a panacea for our psychological problems . But most people do feel better after the activity. Why this is so will probably remain unclear for the foreseeable future, due to the complex interactions of mind and body. Still, we do know that something pleasant happens to the psyche of the active person. "Even if the day ever dawns in which it will not be needed for fighting the old heavy battles against Nature, muscular vigor will still always be needed to furnish the background of sanity, serenity, and cheerfulness of life, to give moral elasticity to our disposition, to round off the wiry edge of our fretfulness, and make us good humored and easy of approach." James Williams

From a FAQ by Patrick J. Bird, Ph.D.Keeping, University of Florida

WEEK TWO - April 17th - 23rd/2006!

Is Peanut Butter a GOOD FOOD or a BAD FOOD?

Canada has just set standards on the content of Trans Fats in food. On August 10, 2005, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) asked City restaurateurs and food suppliers to voluntarily eliminate partially hydrogenated vegetable oils from their kitchens. Why? Because research shows that trans fats are more dangerous than saturated (animal) fats and have been linked to heart disease, cancer, etc.

Unsaturated fats (derived from plants) promote the production of HDL's in the bloodstream. HDL's or high density lipoproteins, are often called 'good' cholesterol because they are associated with lowering cholesterol production in the body.

Saturated fats (derived from animals) promote LDL's - the protiens linked to hardening and blocking of arterial walls that lead to heart attack and stroke. The American Heart Association recommends that saturated fat intake should be less than 10% of the total daily intake of calories.

So that makes Peanut Butter a good food right? Well, it depends on the kind of peanut butter you choose.

Processed peanut butters like Skippy Creamy and Squirrel Creamy play a few tricks with good old fashioned peanut butter. They take natural, unsaturated peanut oil, loaded with good HDL's and Omega 3 and they bubble hydrogen gas through the mixture. The hydrogen atoms grab on to the oil molecules to form new longer molecular strings that make for a creamier product - with no oil seperation.

But the simple act of adding hydrogen turns the beneficial unsaturated fats into dangerous saturated fats. We now call these fats 'trans fats' because they have been transformed. Guess what else? The hydrogenation process removes the Omega 3's as well. Plus - the processed peanut butters also contain loads of sugar.


That's why peanut butter is included in many medically endorsed weight loss and diabetic diets. Natural peanut butter, that is, which contains, well, just peanuts. No sugar. No salt. Nothing else.

Between 82 and 274 deaths every single day from trans fats!!!

"By our most conservative estimate, replacement of partially hydrogenated fat in the U.S. diet with natural unhydrogenated vegetable oils would prevent approximately 30,000 premature coronary deaths per year, and epidemiologic evidence suggests this number is closer to 100,000 premature deaths annually." Harvard School of Public Health report.

WEEK ONE!

The secret to never having a sore back again . . .

OK, that's quite a promise. But a set of muscles getting a lot of attention lately is the transverse abdominals or TVA's. TVA's are key to core strength and provide much of the support that holds us up while we walk or work out. It is an extremely important muscle when it comes to stability, functionality and, yes, even how you look.

In the exercise descriptions below, the TVA is the muscle referred to whenever you see the term “tighten your torso.” To activate your TVA, pretend you are about to cough. The tightening you feel in your torso is your TVA, which wraps around your midsection, much like a deep, internal girdle being activated. When it contracts, it pulls your belly button in toward your spine, tightening, but not sucking in your belly. You should be able to breathe, talk and move while your TVA is working. Practice activating it, as it will help improve your posture, balance and appearance. This action is the start or “bracing” position of nearly every movement and exercise.

TVA plays such a big role in 'back problems' because is a key stabilizer of the low-back. It is the deepest of the abdominal muscles and the only one that runs horizontal. It activates prior to the muscles of the hips and thorax. When contracted it flattens the abdominal wall and compresses the viscera. The TVA is required for all integrated movements. If the TVA is weak it will allow bulging of the anterior abdominal wall increasing lordosis in the low-back and will also create a lateral bulge in (forward bending) or extension (back bending).

Researchers used EMG activity to identify the contraction timing of the TVA, compared to other abdominal muscles, during movement of the upper limbs in response to visual stimuli. They found that, in subjects without lower back pain, the first active muscle was the transverse abdominis contracting prior to the upper limb. The model they developed "identified a consistent dysfunction of transverse abdominis in people with low-back pain.

Note, the research didn't show that people with low back pain had poorly developed TVA's - in fact, these muscles hadn't been activated or 'called into action'. Exercise causes these muscles to fire and become available.

THE WORKOUTS

Always do your ab/core workout after other resistance training or cardiovascular exercise. Because the core supports your entire body during all movement, fatiguing it before you lift can place you at risk for injury. Do make sure you’ve warmed up for five to 10 minutes before doing any of these exercises.

Butt-ups - This exercise not only works your abs, but utilizes the whole core.Starting position: Lie on a bench with legs straight up in the air and arms holding the back of the bench (or any stable object, such as a couch leg).The exercise: Slowly draw in your abdominals and raise your hips off the bench, exhaling. Visualize rotating your hips in toward your chest instead of simply pushing them straight up, and keep the soles of your feet pointing to the ceiling. Hold at the top, then slowly return to starting position, inhaling. Repeat.

TIP: Don’t raise your hips too high, which can put pressure on your neck. Concentrate and focus on slow, controlled motions.

Leg Crosses - This exercise is critical in re-estabilishing good communication between the brain and the key stabilizer muscles (TVA). Lie on your back and cross your left leg over right leg. Your left heel should be next to the right knee. Rotate right approx 30 degrees your left hip will come off the ground several inches. Push knee into the ball or wall 6 times for 6 seconds. Start lightly and increase pressure each time. If you feel cramping in the inner thigh you are pressing too hard. This exercise will activate the TVA and should be followed up by regular abdominal exercises.

Everyday - Once you get a feel for contracting your TVA's, you can carry out mini exercies all through the day. Short periods of contraction (15-30 seconds at a time) are great for building that brain/muscle connection. You can do these sitting, standing or walking.

By the way, according to the experts what's the best overall exercise for working all abdominal muscles? Why biking of course!