For January 27, 2012

• Tips for Exercising Success
  Tips for Exercising Success

  Weight lifting, swimming, cycling, jogging, skiing, aerobic dancing, walking or any of dozens of other activities can improve your health. Whether it is a structured exercise program or just part of your daily routine, all exercise adds up to a healthier heart and mind. Here are some tips for exercising success:

  • If you have been sedentary for a long time, are overweight, have a high risk of coronary heart disease or some other chronic health problem, see your doctor for a medical evaluation before beginning a physical activity program.
  • Choose activities that are fun, not exhausting.
  • Add variety. Try not to rely too much on one activity or repeating workout, but develop a repertoire of several that you can enjoy. That way, exercise will never seem boring or routine.
  • Wear comfortable, properly fitted footwear and comfortable, loose-fitting clothing that is appropriate for the weather and the activity.
  • Find a convenient time and place to do activities. Try to make it a habit, but be flexible. If you miss an exercise opportunity, work activity into your day another way.
  • Use music to keep you entertained.
  • Surround yourself with supportive people. Decide what kind of support you need. Do you want them to remind you to exercise? Ask about your progress? Participate with you regularly or occasionally? Allow you time to exercise by yourself? Go with you to a special event, such as a 10K walk/run? Be understanding when you get up early to exercise? Spend time with the children while you exercise? Try not to ask you to change your exercise routine?
  • Share your activity time with others. Make a date with a family member, friend or co-worker. Be an active role model for your children.
  • Don't overdo it. Do low- to moderate-level activities, especially at first. You can slowly increase the duration and intensity of your activities as you become more fit. Over time, work up to exercising three or four times per week for 30-60 minutes.
  • Keep a record of your activities. Reward yourself at special milestones. Nothing motivates like success!

  Copyright 1998 American Heart Association, Inc. All rights reserved.

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• Self-Confidence Tied To Exercise 'high'
  Self-Confidence Tied To Exercise 'high'

  by MEDICAL TRIBUNE NEWS

  NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters Health) -- Part of the well-being or 'high' some people feel after a good exercise workout may be related to their sense of mastery over their exercise routines, report researchers in the May issue of the journal Health Psychology.

  The findings suggest that increasing people's self-confidence about exercise may encourage them to stick to exercise regimens, the investigators conclude.

  Edward McAuley, professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and colleagues recruited 46 women undergraduates and divided them into two random groups. None of the young women exercised more than once a week and all were categorized as 'low-active.'

  All were given individual fitness tests on a stationary bicycle. Regardless of how they actually performed, women in one group were told that their test results were excellent, while the other group was told that their performance was below average.

  Several days later, the women were asked to exercise again, and each woman was reminded of how well or poorly she had done previously. At intervals during the 20-minute workout on the Stairmaster, researchers asked how the study participants felt.

  McAuley's team found that women who believed they had performed well the first time responded far more positively than the women who had been told they had performed poorly.

  The findings suggest that the exercise experience can be improved by providing information that enhances self-confidence, say the researchers -- and this may help people stick to an exercise program. 'That becomes important particularly if the enjoyment, the emotions that are expericenced in exercise, are implicated in getting people to do it again,' McAuley said in a statement.

  SOURCE: Health Psychology 1999;18:1-7.

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• Safe and effective dieting.
  Safe and effective dieting.

  Permanent weight loss means understanding that your body functions optimally when it is exercised regularly and fed sensibly. The "fed sensibly" part means following U.S. Dietary Goals which include eating less fat, sugar and salt, and choosing more foods high in fiber and complex carbohydrates.

  "Canned" diets can be confusing and misleading unless you know how to spot false promises. The following questions will help you scrutinize diet plans and choose one that can help you lose fat and not your mind:

  • Does the diet promise quick weight loss results? Remember: It is virtually impossible to lose more than two pounds of fat per week. Any weight loss greater than two pounds per week can be attributed to either the breakdown of muscle mass or fluid loss.
  • Does the diet depend on one food or product to work? A healthy, well-balanced diet includes a variety of foods.
  • Does the diet have sufficient calories to provide the nutrients you need daily? While dieting, women need at least 1,200 calories per day; men 1,500. Please remember that when exercising there will be an increased need for calories on a daily basis.
  • Does the diet demand you eat certain foods at certain times of the day? This kind of diet ignores your lifestyle and food preferences and may prove too difficult or inconvenient to follow.
  • Who promotes or endorses the diet? Look for endorsement by a reputable dietitian, nutrition educator or physician.
  • Does the author or ad claim to have found the diet secret that no one else has ever discovered? If so, the diet is either ignoring or is ignorant of the great amount of solid scientific research about weight loss.
  • Are behavior issues addressed in the plan? Although learning to choose foods more healthily is helpful to most people, food is rarely the issue for those who struggle with their weight on a daily basis. Addressing behavior issues is often the key to permanent weight loss.

  Webster defines "diet" as "a choice of foods." Wise choices, without binges or deprivation, are the keys to long term success.

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• How Muscles Work
  How Muscles Work

  Every muscle is actually a wrapped package, containing other smaller wrapped packages of long, slender cells known as muscle fibers. The outer wrapping, made of connective tissue, is called the muscle fasica. The smaller packages are called muscle fasciculi, and each one contains a bundle of up to 150 muscle fibers. The muscle turns into a tendon, which attaches the muscle to a bone. When the muscle contracts, it pulls on the tendon, and this causes the bone to move. The bigger the muscle, the more force it can generate on the bone.

  At both ends of every muscle, the fascia covering the muscle tapers to form a strong, rope-like length of connective tissue called a tendon, which is connected directly to one of your bones. One end, which connects to a relatively unmoving skeletal part, is the origin of the muscle. The point where it's attached to a moving bone is the insertion of the muscle. (The bicep's insertion is in the forearm, near the elbow.)

  When a muscle contracts, it pulls its origin and insertion closer together. Often a muscle is attached to two adjacent bones whose ends are joined together in a closed, fluid-filled capsule known as a joint (your knees, elbows, shoulders and knuckles are all examples of joints). Contraction of the muscle creates movement around the joint, allowing the pushing and pulling motions that make up physical movement.

  Each muscle fiber shares a nerve ending with other nearby fibers, making up a group of fibers known as a motor unit. Every time the master motor nerve fires (sends an impulse to a muscle), this motor unit contracts simultaneously. This effect is called the "all-or-nothing" principle of muscle contraction.

  How many fibers are in a motor unit? It depends on whether the muscles are used for large, powerful movements, which require less nerve control, or for intricate activities, which call for more nervous system input. A typical finger muscle contains 40,000 muscle fibers divided into 120 motor units � a ratio of 340 fibers per nerve ending. The eye muscles are even more finely controlled, with 10 fibers per nerve. On the other hand, each of the 580 motor units in the large muscle of the calf is much bigger � averaging about 2,000 muscle fibers per nerve ending.

  Every time a nerve ending fires, a burst of energy is released in each individual muscle fiber, causing tiny filaments to slide toward each other. The result is a significant shortening of the muscle fiber. When the fibers in a motor unit contract in unison, the result is a muscle contraction. Whatever form of exercise you're doing, from swimming to bicycling, your movements depend on the repeated, coordinated firing of the appropriate motor units. Improved coordination of this firing sequence is a major reason you get more skilled at any physical activity with practice.

  From John Hopkins Health
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• Tips for Good Sleep
  Tips for Good Sleep

  (AP) - Having trouble getting to sleep at night, or awakening too early in the morning? Experts have these tips, based, in part, on a new study:

  • Maintain a regular sleep-wake cycle, even on weekends. Staying up late, with the lights burning, tends to reset the brain's sleep clock, making the body cry out for more sleep when the alarm sounds Monday morning.
  • If awakened during the night, try to remain in bed, with the lights out and your eyes closed. This will help sleep return and will not affect your normal sleep-wake cycle.
  • If you must get up, keep the lights as dim as possible. Bright lights tend to reset the brain's sleep clock. One hour of bright light exposure at night shifts the clock forward by about 10 minutes.
  • Avoid alcohol, tobacco and caffeine before bedtime.
  • If sleeplessness is caused by a disorder, treat that disorder specifically instead of trying to force sleep with pills.
  • Afternoon or early evening naps may make it harder to fall asleep at the regular time.
  • American travelers who fly overnight to Europe should try to nap immediately upon arrival. After a few hours of sleep, get up and walk in the sunlight. This will help reset the body clock to European time.

  Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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• Tips and Tricks for Off-Road Running
  Tips and Tricks for Off-Road Running

  Andrea Moore, a 36-year-old optometrist and lifelong road runner, hit the trails of the Santa Monica Mountains one day five years ago to give her pavement-pounded knees a break. She's never looked back. "I fell in love with the dirt," Moore says. "On trails it's such an adventure every time you run that it doesn't even seem like exercise." Now she gets her runner's high higher up, logging 30 miles a week, all off-road.

  There are thousands of stories like Moore's. Combining the exhilaration of the great outdoors with the promise of softer landings, trail running has become one of America's fastest-growing sports. With off-road hot spots in California, Colorado and the Northeast leading the way, the number of trail races has doubled over the last two years, to nearly 600.

  But while embracing the dirt would seem as easy as lacing up a pair of off-road shoes, trail running is as different from road running as mountain biking is from road cycling. To get the most out of trail time, you actually need to relearn the world's easiest sport. "You've got to run with a different technique and a different attitude," says Ann Trason, the nine-time winner of the Western States 100, one of the most prestigious off-road races. Below are some pointers to hit the ground running:

  • Narrow your vision. Roadies can space out, but since trails aren't made of perfectly groomed asphalt, off-roaders need to stay focused. Look two steps ahead and down on rolling terrain. Crouch while running. Keep legs slightly bent to lower your center of gravity � it keeps you from falling and lets you move easily around obstacles. "I think of it like dancing," says Danelle Ballengee, one of the nation's best high-altitude racers.
  • Heads up on climbs. They're an uphill struggle unless you keep your head tilted up, allowing maximum oxygen into your lungs, critical at high elevation.
  • Toes down on descents. Watch the ground carefully and land each step on toes and forefoot for optimum control.
  • Water is life. With no 7-Elevens in the mountains, runners need to pack hydration systems to keep the vultures from circling.
  • Time, not mileage. Roadies measure performance by miles pounded, but trail runners should gauge theirs by time spent on the trail. "It's a change of mind-set," says Ben Hian, a top trail racer. Translation: If basking in nature doesn't change your mileage mentality, the lack of markers in the woods most definitely will.

  Adapted from Cond� Nast Sports for Women, February 1998

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