The prescription for wellness and being able to live an active and independent life is to keep moving.

Health is not just the absence of sickness, but it is an optimal balance of mental, physical, emotional and spiritual wellness. Most times, being healthy is a choice. While it is true that some have larger obstacles such as family history of chronic disease or obesity, lingering effects from past illness, or an accident or injury that may cause long-term deficits, we can and should take control of our own health.

A healthy lifestyle is a proactive approach to taking control of your health in an effort to improve your quality of life. Whether you are recovering from an illness, an accident, or working toward prevention and maintenance of good health, understanding the role physical activity and other healthy habits play is important.

Research from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention suggests up to 80 percent of chronic disease cases can be prevented through healthy living. The CDC says we should strive to meet the following healthy-living factors:

Maintain a healthy weight: A BMI of less than 30 is considered healthy.

Refrain from tobacco use: Do not start smoking, and quit if you actively engage in tobacco use.

Be active: Get 30 minutes or more of moderate to intense exercise to equal at least 150 minutes a week.

Diet: Include fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean protein sources in your diet

Following this guidance can decrease risk for diabetes, heart attack, stroke and cancers. Aside from prevention, exercise can also be used to rehab many illnesses, improve mental health, maintain weight, ease osteoporosis or arthritis, and much more. Exercise can also help those suffering from lingering effects of COVID-19 such as fatigue, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fast or pounding heartbeat, anxiety or depression, concentration, memory loss and joint discomfort.

As you begin to exercise, remember to start slow and monitor your progress while being aware of how the movement makes you feel. Start with a slow walk and gradually progress. Walking, biking and swimming are great ways to improve your cardiovascular condition and breathing. Once you feel comfortable with light to moderate exercise, more intense movement such as running, hiking or cardio classes might be appropriate.

Muscle strengthening exercises are also important. Sit to stands, squats, basic upper extremity movements and core conditioning is especially beneficial. Remember to stretch each muscle through its range of motion as this will ease joint discomfort and help improve general movement.

The Sam B. Cook Healthplex has a team of professionals that can help you get started in the right direction. Cardiac nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, athletic trainers and exercise specialists will work together to get you safely on your way to improved health through exercise and movement.

Whatever your reason, exercise is right for you! Think about it as insurance for good health.

Kay Benward is an exercise specialist and supervisor at the Sam B. Cook Healthplex Fitness Center in Jefferson City. She has been with Capital Region Medical Center for 30 years and inspired many people to lead healthy lives through exercise. She continues to teach classes and enjoys training the mature adult for balance, posture and functional strength, as well as educating her clients, staff and community on exercise as medicine.

Read more:
Get Moving: Exercise is insurance for good health - Jefferson City News Tribune

Sexual and reproductive health is a key component of our overall well-being but it is often a neglected and even taboo practice to discuss.

Maintaining good sexual health requires regular check-ups, exercise and evenoverall self-esteem and communication skills.

It is important to stay on top of your sexual health just as you would for other aspects of your health to ensure you are having safe and pleasurable experiences.

Here are three things to consider when you are assessing your sexual health:

Your sexual and reproductive health requires various types of attention throughout your life, such as:

You can find information, and resources and make an appointment to discuss the topics above at The Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago.

A healthy diet and regular exercise are integral components of a healthy life. However, they also affect sexual health. This includes:

Another aspect of your overall sexual health is your ability to know, value and accept yourself. Both in and out of your sexual relationships. A negative self-image can affect ones sex life and often requires some improvement to help with ones overall perception of self and sexual experiences. This can often be improved through therapy, exercise, hobbies, a new job and other factors that could be affecting someones self-esteem.

However, another key component is communication. To have fulfilling experiences it is important to have open and honest communication with partners where each person feels that they can communicate their preferences, taste and boundaries.

Some couples and individuals that struggle with either of these issues and are not sure what resources to access can reach out to couples' therapists and sex coaches such as O Henry.

Continued here:
Prioritising sexual and reproductive health | Loop Trinidad & Tobago - Loop News Trinidad & Tobago

Thanks to TikTok and Instagram, peeking into someone's lifenitty-gritty food choices includedhas become absurdly routine. Trends like "what I eat in a day videos and mini meal breakdown vlogs allow us to see what our favorite influencers, home cooks, dietitians, and personal trainers eat on a daily basis. And considering the fact that the #WhatIEatInaDay hashtag on TikTok has over 11.2 billion views, its safe to say this trend is gaining traction.

Many creators of these short-form videos started out providing meal prep tips or recipe ideas for those in search of inspiration for new dishes to cook at home. But over time, what I eat in a day videos have become increasingly focused on providing nutritional guidance for viewers looking to improve their health through food or adopt an entirely new dietary lifestyle. "Sharing a photo or video of a recipe is one thing, but coupling that with nutrition advice is entirely another," says Christine Byrne, MPH, RD, a Raleigh-based dietitian who specializes in eating disorders and intuitive eating. While some creators choose to just film their food choices, others may layer on descriptive captions or voiceovers dictating the precise number of calories (or grams of protein, carbs, or fat) they consumed or how long one must exercise to 'work it off.' Other videos even appear as if they're going to show how to make a delicious-looking dish, and then cut to sharing how eating it can result in weight loss or be incorporated into an intermittent fasting regimen.

Indeed, what may start as a bit of voyeuristic intriguewho knew that my favorite professional chef loves eating Lucky Charms for breakfast? or I can't believe the most energetic Peloton instructor completely avoids caffeinecan turn sour the second you start to wonder if you, too, should adopt the eating habits of those you admire. And while there is certainly no harm in finding new recipes through social media or even being fascinated to see how an ultra-marathon runner fuels up before a race (Well+Good formerly had such a recurring series known as "Food Diaries," which focused on the eating habits of fitness professionals), relying on what I eat in a day videos to determine how you should be eating can cause you to dismiss your own nutritional needs and compare your food choices to others. "A simple recipe video can be a great way to share something you enjoy with others, but a recipe video with nutrition or diet advice attached is problematic because it becomes prescriptive'eat this if you want this result'and can be triggering," says Byrne. This, she adds, can easily lead to disordered eating.

Regulating your [food] intake based on what somebody else is eating can be harmful and make it difficult to honor your own bodys unique cues, says Isabel Vasquez, RD, LDN, an anti-diet registered dietitian at Your Latina Nutritionist. "The truth is that no one on Instagram [or any social media platform], even if that person is a dietitian or a doctor, understands your unique health situation. What's healthy for one person may not be healthy for another," agrees Byrne.

Here, three registered dietitians share their take on this growing trend, and share their thoughts on why these videos should not serve as nutritional guidance.

"Addressing your nutritional needs requires taking account of far more than just ingredients themselvesyour activity levels, health conditions, hydration levels, stressors, environment, and so much more all play a role in what your body needs," Vasquez explains. There's also your own personal taste preferences and cultural customs, which matter just as much as the nutritional makeup of a meal. "Relying on a short video for nutritional guidance often dismisses all of these important factors to be aware of."

Vasquez adds that using someone elses food choices as a means of determining what (and how much) you should be eating takes you away from connecting with your own body. Failing to take your unique nutritional situation and requirements into account may also worsen symptoms caused by digestive disorders, like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), due to having different food triggers than other individuals. IBS food triggers can be different, so [uncritically] following someone elses food preferences fails to address your own situation as well as these triggers, adds Samina Qureshi, RD, LD, an intuitive eating registered dietitian and the founder of Wholesome Start, a telehealth nutrition coaching practice based in Houston, Texas. Healing, whether it be for IBS or strictly for your relationship with food, is a multifaceted process in which you have to think about other factors in your lifestyle that could be contributing to your digestive system or view on food.

Bottom line: Even if the person creating the videos experiences similar symptoms or is looking to accomplish a similar goal, your nutritional needs will most likely still be very different than theirs.

Getting an inside view of a persons food choices can breed comparison traps that leave you questioning your own decisions. Seeing a video clip [about someone else's eating habits] as short as 10 seconds can start to impact how you think about food, your body, and the choices you make, says Qureshi. Comparison truly is the thief of joy that can make you question everything you eat, as well as trigger disordered eating patterns.

Videos that fit within a very narrow moldwhich tends to be dominated by the eating habits of skinny white influencersmay also omit culturally relevant foods for communities of color, making it harder for members of these communities to view them as part of a balanced diet. Foods that carry history, tradition, and enjoyment can become quickly (and wrongfully) viewed as less-than due to the lack of representation. There is a significant lack of information out there about our cultural foods, which means many of my clients have to rebuild their relationships with their cultural foods. says Vasquez. [Cultural foods] are nutritionally valuable, and they also connect us to our families and our culture and that usually gets ignored or minimized in these videos.

Although the main intention of what I eat in a day videos is to highlight a persons meal choices throughout a 24-hour period, the opening scene often consists of a body shot of a thin and/or "fit" body. And because trim, toned bodies are perceived as healthier in American culture, viewers are primed to consider these people as healthy-eating authoritiesdespite the lack of schooling or extensive knowledge in dietetics. "When you take nutrition advice from an influencer, it's really hard to tell whether the advice is evidence-based or not," says Byrne. "An influencer might cite a study saying that X food helps with Y health issue, but who knows how rigorous or conclusive that study was? Plus, a single study doesn't make something evidence-based. An evidence-based recommendation is one that takes all studies on a particular topic into account."

Taking extreme, unhealthy, and unsubstantiated diet tips from anyoneespecially someone who is not a nutrition professionalcould easily cause a person to start fearing certain foods or having a disordered relationship with food, adds Qureshi.

Even if these videos advocate for intuitive eating, which calls for listening to (and responding to) your hunger cues and needs, they can still promote disordered eating. Intuitive eating is, in essence, all about breaking free from food "rules" and restrictions. It emphasizes nourishing yourself by tuning into what your body wants and needs to eat at any given moment. Rather than trying to follow a strict eating plan or co-opt an influencer's dietary habits, the goal is to be in touch with what your body is signaling physically, mentally, and emotionally at all times, and making food choices accordingly. Intuitive eating is designed to help people get out of the diet cycle and heal their relationship with food, rather than fixate on the food choices of another.

Theres a big difference between highlighting certain meals or approaches to nutrition for recipe inspiration and giving advice in the format of here's what I eat in a day.' The latter is basically a form of tracking, which is generally not supportive of intuitive eating, says Vasquez. To her point, even if a video host rallies against, say, counting calories, any form of closely monitoring one's own food intake (including the filming and breaking down of every morsel that went into one's mouth that day) is not considered intuitive eating. "Many of these videos are created by folks who have a disordered relationship with food. Someone who has a truly healthy relationship with food probably doesn't feel the need to post what they eat in a day, or to give unsolicited diet advice on social media," says Byrne. Again, comparison is the thief of joy, and it certainly goes against the healing ethos of intuitive eating.

Learn more about what healthy intuitive eating looking likeaccording to a dietitianby checking out this video:

Despite what you may see online, body diversity naturally exists, points out Qureshi. Even if we all ate, drank, slept, and exercised in the same way as one another, we would still have people living in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, she says.

[Seeing a persons body in these videos] can be so problematic because its furthering this idea that your body should look a certain way and it is further promoting the thin ideal, agrees Vasquez. It ties your eating directly to how you look, even if its not explicit. The correlation between your body and the food you consume often dismisses uncontrollable factors (like genetics) and can leave you comparing your body to others, resulting in feelings of dissatisfaction or body shame.

Despite the harmful impacts of this trend, it is one that is most likely not going to disappear anytime soon. But there are different ways to reduce the chances of coming across this trend on social media, such as unfollowing or blocking accounts that feel triggering and following accounts that promote intuitive eating from an authentic space.

Vasquez also suggests simply spending less time on social media. And when you do open the apps, she recommends creating a safe space to process your emotions after being triggered to help. I would advise noticing what thoughts these videos bring up for you, she says. If youre having thoughts about how you should change your eating habits or shame about your body, then self-reflect on those, says Vasquez. Self-awareness can make it easier to reframe your thoughts in a more positive light, whether it be celebrating cultural foods or showing compassion towards yourself. Speaking to a counselor or therapist may also be beneficial for those feeling triggered.

On the other hand, if what I eat in a day videos are helpful ways for you to discover new dishes, then thats also okay. The underlying message is to find a balance between inspiration and determining (or shifting) what you assume own body needs based upon another person's food choices. Ask yourself how hungry you are, what access to food you have, when was the last time you ate, what foods will satisfy you now, and start thinking about your own needs, Qureshi says. The answers to these questions can help you treat your body with compassion and address your unique nutritional requirements.

Additionally, Byrne emphasizes the fact that food choices should not dictate your happiness or self-worth. "The underlying assumption that eating a certain food or following a certain diet will drastically change your life for the better is a huge red flag that I see with influencers who give nutrition advice," she says. "That is a massive oversimplification, and it's just not true. Our overall health, and how we feel from day to day, is about so much more than what we eat. In general, nutrition advice on social media doesn't honor the fact that health and wellbeing are about more than just food."

Oh hi! You look like someone who loves free workouts, discounts for cutting-edge wellness brands, and exclusive Well+Good content. Sign up for Well+, our online community of wellness insiders, and unlock your rewards instantly.

Read more:
Why Experts Affirm That What I Eat in a Day Videos Should Not Be Anyones Guide to Nutrition - Well+Good

Bryant Stamford| Special to Courier Journal

Our health care system is amazing, the best the world has ever seen. Is it perfect? No, of course not, nothing ever is, which means it can be improved. How so?

For starters, we need to recognize the greatest challenges confronting our health care system that can be improved and take steps to improve them. Unfortunately,we continually depend on medical science to keep us a step ahead, but thats like trying to remove water from a boat with a hole in the bottom. Its time for us to wake up, acknowledge the problem, and take meaningful steps in the right direction.

Lets begin with recognizing that despite our wealth and prosperity, or perhaps because of it, we Americans live sicker and die quicker than virtually every other industrialized society.

Why? Our lifestyle seems to have been crafted to promote chronic diseases, and we keep getting better at it. Look at the American diet, loaded with processed foods high in saturated fat and sugar. In addition, because food is plentiful and readily accessible, we eat far too much. Combine our horrible diet with a sedentary lifestyle and the result is a fat society.

How fat are we? Recent data indicates that 32.5% of Americans are overweight, 37.7% are obese, and 7.7% are morbidly obese (100 or more pounds above ideal body weight). In total, 77.9% of Americans have a weight problem.

How sedentary are we? The latest data indicates that 77% of adult Americans are sedentary, and only 23% of Americans get sufficient regular exercise. Minimal guidelines suggest at least 150 minutes per week (about 20 minutes daily) of moderate aerobic exercise (brisk walking), or 75 minutes per week of vigorous workout exercise, plus twice a week resistance training to sustain muscle mass.

Too much body fat and too little exercise is the perfect formula for promoting prediabetes (also called metabolic syndrome). Prediabetes precedes Type 2 diabetes (T2d, and its important to understand what this means, and the distinction between Type 1 diabetes (T1d) versus T2d.

When it comes to diabetes, in general, it simply means that you are not regulating your blood glucose (sugar) concentration effectively, leading to an accumulation of glucose in the blood. Too much blood glucose causes all sorts of health problems, including the destruction of tiny blood vessels leading to blindness and amputations, plus its a key risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure.

You may like: Almost 20% of Americans suffer from fatty liver disease. Here's how you can avoid it

The problem of too much glucose in the blood can be caused in two different ways.

In T1d, the pancreas gland is not working properly to release insulin. Insulin is necessary to escort glucose into the cells, and without insulin, glucose remains in the blood. T1d typically is detected early in life, and the cause is an autoimmune disorder that destroys pancreas cells that produce insulin. Of all the diagnosed diabetics in the U.S., only about 5% (1.25 million) are T1d.

The vast majority of diabetics are T2d, with an estimated incidence of 34.2 million (10.5% of the U.S. population). Of these 34.2 million, only 26.9 million have been diagnosed, which means 7.3 million Americans have T2d and dont know it. T2d is caused by insulin resistance. This means that unlike Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas gland is doing its job to release an adequate amount of insulin, but the cells of the body are not responding.

While the number of Type 2 diabetics is alarming, it pales in comparison with the estimated 88 million (34.5% of adults in the U.S.) with pre-diabetes. Both pre-diabetes and T2d are caused by insulin resistance. The difference is that in T2d there is a more extreme resistance to insulin, resulting in a higher glucose concentration in the blood. If pre-diabetes is left untreated, odds are good it will eventually morph into T2d.

You may like: Chronic stress is destroying our physical, mental health. Here are 4 tips to help you cope

When there is too much glucose in the blood, an excessive amount attaches to proteins, making it harder for proteins to repair themselves, leading ultimately to cellular destruction in small blood vessels and elsewhere. A diagnostic test for both prediabetes and T2d is the hemoglobin A1c test which determines the amount of glucose attached to the proteins in hemoglobin (the main component of red blood cells). This offers an easy and convenient way to gauge how much glucose-to-protein binding is occurring throughout the body.

A normal A1c level is below 5.7% (the lower the better), whereas levels of 5.7% to 6.4% indicate pre-diabetes. When A1c levels exceed 6.4% (extreme insulin resistance), the diagnosis is T2d.

Is the future incidence of T2d a threat to bankrupt our health care system? Hard to say, but it certainly will impose major stress. Diabetes is a very expensive disease to treat, costing on average more than double the medical cost per patient without diabetes. Worse, when you project into the future and see the 88 million prediabetics progressing toward T2d, the magnitude of the problem is obvious. Add to this the scary fact that pre-diabetes and T2d are showing up in progressively younger Americans.

You may like: Here are 3 tips, tricks to change your diet, daily routine to help reduce inflammation

So, what can we do about this? Lets start with understanding the problem. Prediabetes and T2d are caused by insulin resistance, and the main factor driving insulin resistance is excess abdominal fat, specifically the visceral fat that lies beneath the layer of abdominal muscles and surrounding body organs.

An effective overall strategy for reversing prediabetes entails a short-term and long-term approach. Starting immediately, a brisk 20-30 minute walk is effective because it counteracts insulin resistance, making the cells of the body more insulin sensitive. But like a pill, the effects of exercise are acute and short-lived and must be renewed daily. In the long-term, take steps to reduce body fat, especially belly fat, to overcome insulin resistance.

And when prediabetes progresses to T2d, its important to know that the effects can possibly be reversed with the same short and long-term approach. However, if you ignore the problem for too long, it may not be reversible, so take action today.

Reach Bryant Stamford, a professor of kinesiology and integrative physiology at Hanover College, at stamford@hanover.edu.

See the rest here:
Will diabetes cripple our health care system? Maybe. Here's how to prevent the disease - Courier Journal

Do you ever go a bit red after exercising? Well, it turns out the same might be true for a certain type of bird!

New research shows that male crossbills grow redder feathers when they exercise harder.

Crossbills are a type of finch and have a beak - or bill - which is crossed over at the tip, giving them their name. This crossed bill is used to extract seeds from conifer cones.

Scientists from the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid have found a link between how hard a male crossbill has to work to fly, and how red his feathers are.

The bright colouring of some birds comes from things they eat in their diet - they take in special pigments from their food and use these to make the vibrant colours seen in their feathers.

For example, flamingos are born with grey feathers but the more they eat certain foods, the pinker their feathers get!

In an experiment to test this, between October 2019 and February 2020, scientists captured 295 male crossbills in central Spain, taking measurements of their colour, size and weight.

The researchers clipped some wing feathers from about half the crossbills to make flying more physically challenging.

When the team caught and checked the birds later on, they found that the birds with clipped wings had redder feathers.

This led the team to conclude that red feathers were partially a result of exercise and not just because of a bird's diet and foraging skills.

"We might conventionally assume that birds with impaired flight are 'lower quality', but here they are growing redder feathers," says Rebecca Koch at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, adding that study's approach is "breathing fresh life" into work on feather pigments.

Go here to see the original:
Crossbills: The bird that gets redder feathers, the more it exercises - BBC

So let's have an open dialogue, how old do you think is comfortable to live til? Is 70, 80, or 90 an age you think would be good for you? Is 100 too much? What about 150? Yes, I said 150 years old.

According to a recent New York Post article, a new study says it may be possible soon for humans to live to 150! So if you are 75 years old you would only be middle-aged lol

Unsplash.com Denys Nevozhai

In The NY Post article, "Researchers atGERO.AIconcluded the absolute limit of the human lifespan to be between 100 and 150 they came to this conclusion by analyzing 70,000 participants up to age 85 based on their ability to fight disease, risk of heart conditions and cognitive impairment."

I am thinking as I write this article if I would want to live to 150, I must admit I'm a bit torn. I mean until now I looked at 100 as a big feat, but 150 just seems crazy, right?

I think I wonder what they think the quality of life would be for 150-year-olds because let's face it if everyone that old is living a miserable life, why would you want that? If I want to live another 96 years I want to enjoy it lol

The Post article sites developments in medicine as a key to a longer life for humans and that makes sense. Think 100 to 200 years ago our life span was a lot shorter than now, so as we move forward with medical technology our lives will be longer.

I am currently trying to be as healthy as I can be these days watching my diet, exercising, and getting good sleep hopefully, that helps and gets me to 125 maybe?

KEEP READING: 15 Natural Ways to Improve Your Sleep

KEEP READING: See 25 natural ways to boost your immune system

More:
Ocean County Do You Think You Want To Live To 150? - wobm.com

Its one thing to play Superman on screen, but its another thing entirely to walk around looking like a Kryptonian in your everyday life. And the first thing youre likely to notice when staring at Henry Cavill on Zoom are his shouldersnot even his Clark Kent jawline can distract from the small mountain range erupting from his humerus and clavicle. None of this is exactly news, given the multiple high-profile roles in which Cavill has transformed his body forThe DC universe, The Witcher, extremely buff Sherlock in Enola Holmesbut you truly cannot prepare for how mesmerizing those deltoids are.

Which is why Cavills latest role, as an ambassador for the supplement company MuscleTech is perhaps the most natural line on his resume. GQ caught up with the 38-year-old actor to find out how supplements influence his diet, his thoughts on pre-workout, and just how many meals a day you need to eat if you ever want shoulders like his.

GQ: Supplements are such a huge part of the fitness world, but I think something that can often be misunderstood, especially when youre first starting out. What was your journey with using supplements like?

Henry Cavill: It's an interesting thing, because I've been very fortunate over my career to have pros guiding me. As useful as that has been when it comes to physical results and how the body looks when I'm taking my shirt off on camera or whatever the case may be, it does certainly hinder my growth in knowledge. And so over the past couple of years, I've been trying to quiz my trainer, Dave Rienzi, more and more about the why of everything. Why is that going in? Why this rather than that? Aren't they both carbohydrates? Why this protein versus that protein? What does it mean when you do this before or afterwards? And so my journey is still very much in process.

Once you started asking those questions, was there anything that you were surprised to learn?

So I have a protein shake before bed, and there would be times where Id go, you know what, I want to lose a few more pounds, so I'm just going to cut the pre-bed shake out and not tell my trainer Dave. And itll be fine, because I'll be losing a few pounds and then I'll get back to showing progress photos and people will be like, Oh wow, look at the progress you made! But if I took three weeks off, when I would send Dave a progress photo, he would go, Okay, cool. So are you still taking the pre-bed shake? And I go, No, because I wanted to lose a few pounds.

That's when I started asking these questions because he then informed me that the problem with that logic is that, yes, you do have fewer calories going into your body, but you also go into a catabolic state with how hard you're training and how hard you're working. So actually what you're doing is you're losing muscularity while you sleep. So your body won't be looking as good. And almost immediately when I went back to the pre-bed shake, I was like, Yeah, the body looks better already. And for me, that was a massive learning point and a real shock. I thought, I need to start asking more questions and stop thinking that I can pull a fast one and pull the wool over his eyes.

I love that Dave instantly knew, too. Like, Hey, are you skipping that? But I think that's the preconceived notion, right? Don't eat before bed.

Absolutely. The protein shakes before bed, they are a real lifesaver for me. Especially with the amount of work, with the amount of output I have. It's important to make sure that all the right stuff is getting in at the right time so you don't lose anything and you're not wasting any time at the gym.

So youve got the protein shake right before bed, but what does a typical day of eating look like?

Read the original:
Henry Cavill Is Happy to Eat the Same Thing Every Day - GQ

Sometimes your body notices things before your mind does: you might think youre so far away from the menopause that a hot flush is just a thing you can fake to get out of a boring situation, but your midriff knows better. Lucinda Meade, 57, is a physiotherapist and personal trainer. She has trained many clients through the menopause and says it tends to start with surreptitious weight gain around the middle, which they then cant shift. It may be accompanied by aches and pains in smaller joints, and an unappetising smrgsbord of mood changes, sleep changes, annoying visits to the GP to be given antidepressants.

All this makes perfect sense from a hormonal perspective, as another trainer, Sarah Overall, 51, describes: Oestrogen governs so many of your bodily processes, and one of the things its involved in is water regulation. Its a lot easier for tendons and ligaments and joints to become dehydrated. And that can also lead to a resurgence of old injuries. Plus, when your female hormones decrease, you go from having a gynoid shape, carrying fat on your hips and thighs, to android obesity, abdominal fat, which is a male shape.

But what are you supposed to do, fitness-wise? Should you power through the aches, pains and lethargy, or just give up on being fit until you are out the other side? Are there adjustments you can make to the way you exercise and eat? Can you make it any better by working up to it beforehand? Finally, are there any upsides to the menopause, or is it just an irksome creep towards death, only ameliorated by the fact that it happens to (half of) everyone?

Arj Thiruchelvam, a personal trainer who coaches elite athletes, says of this power-through or take-a-break dilemma: Always make the decision on a macro, rather than a micro, level. In macro terms, to give up exercise during your menopause would be a disaster as your muscle mass decreases with age at the rate of about 1% a year. For menopausal women, its much more substantial than that. You need muscle mass to protect your bones, not to mention, as Meade says, the fact that it decreases cell death, increases stem cells and decreases fat cells, which are a secretor of inflammatory markers. Ageing is all about chronic, low-level inflammation.

On a micro level, though, Thiruchelvam says, if youve had hot flushes throughout the night and not slept, its probably worth listening to your body and giving yourself a rest. Overall has a 10-minute rule: If I wake up and I dont feel like a workout, I think, Ill do 10 minutes and if I still feel rubbish, Im going to stop. Thats the biggest piece of advice I can give anyone 95% of the time youll feel fine after 10 minutes.

Its also important to have weekly rather than daily goals, and be flexible (mentally as well as physically): use your energy when you have it, rather than beating yourself up about the times you dont. This will mean prioritising yourself and flaking out of other obligations, but thats fine your oestrogens dropping, so hopefully youll be less of a people-pleaser, too.

Now all you have to do is completely change your perception of what kind of exercise you need and enjoy. Meade explains: A lot of women have done a lot of yoga and running and they really need to be coaxed into weight training. This will probably be different once millennials are menopausal, since they have a huge iron woman culture and are all over calisthenics (building strength using your own bodyweight). But women now in their late 40s and 50s will have had their formative years in the 1980s, when exercise was all about looking skinny and weight-training was unpopular. Younger readers may not believe it, but magazines were absolutely full of the perils of muscle-building, and how once youd given yourself huge beefy shoulders, thered be no going back.

But there is more than one way to skin this cat. Dancing, rock climbing, climbing trees, anything: find the thing that works for you, says Meade. But there must be some strength element. Elite athletes, being so body-literate, often notice sooner than the rest of us that something has to change. Jenny Stoute, 56, represented the UK in the Olympics in Seoul and Barcelona, taking bronze in the 4 x 400m relay, before she became Rebel, the Gladiator, in 1996. Her menopause started two years ago, and now she says she cant even jog. If I went out on the road, springing up and down, my hamstrings would be history. I know my lower back doesnt like too much impact. So Ill do weights and body-bearing stuff, go on the rower, go on the cross-trainer. To be fair, I dont really want to run 100 metres. I had my time. All I want to do is look after my body to the best of my abilities.

Its a really good idea to get ahead of this if possible. People go into the menopause like some ghastly blind date where you know its going to happen but you hope its going to be OK, Meade says. Everyone in their 40s should be thinking about getting themselves in tip-top shape so that when it happens, its as fine as it can be. Dont treat it like a lottery and dont wait until youre feeling crap and then try to make decisions in that state.

Besides strength training, what does this actually look like? Work on your diet, so that your blood sugar isnt fluctuating too much: this can stave off the worst of the hot flushes, and will also help with mood swings. Dont try a ketogenic diet but do use a protein calculator, as protein-rich meals can help in maintaining muscle mass. You might want to adjust your portion size to suit your reduced basal metabolic rate (this is the amount of energy you use at rest, doing basic tasks like breathing and keeping warm) or you might think, sod it, one thing at a time. Take vitamin D and calcium supplements, and omega-3s the first two for bone health, since the loss of oestrogen often causes osteoporosis, the third for mood.

Work on the dehydration, not just by gulping water when you remember but by learning to recognise your personal signs of being dehydrated, and figure out when in the day its at its worst. A lot of menopausal women say they suddenly have no tolerance for alcohol and start to see wine, especially, as a kind of kryptonite. But its essentially just that the concentration of alcohol in your blood is higher. Im not saying you have to drink just that, if you stay really well hydrated, maybe you can.

If you havent got a sympathetic GP, see a pelvic health physiotherapist. Your pelvic floor muscles weaken regardless of whether youve had children or not, so bladder control becomes an issue as well, Overall says. Trampolining is a famous no-no for the menopausal, but running can also highlight bladder-control issues. I personally wouldnt sweat it. Youre probably going to have a shower when you get home anyway. And thats not even the worst of it: A lot of women will have had untreated issues from childbirth and then the menopause hits, on top of maybe a tiny little prolapse vaginal atrophy is a nightmare, Meade says. Pilates, generally, and Kegels in particular will help. In addition, its a good idea to find out what your family history is, particularly with osteoporosis. The more likely you are to get it, the more important it is that you do the strength-building work that will protect your bones.

Everybody I speak to is of one mind on HRT: if it works for you, do it, and start as soon as you get symptoms dont wait until they are unbearable. There is a certain reticence about starting HRT, a misplaced stoicism, a sense that you only need it because youre weak. Most of the perceived risks of HRT are historical and have been substantially reduced by developments to the drug regimen; there is a negligible rise in the risk of breast cancer, for instance, with oestrogen-only HRT.

Menopause symptoms interact with one another in unhelpful ways: sleep deprivation because youre too hot doesnt help with the mood swings, and a low mood makes things look worse than they are. So many menopausal people, including fitness experts, take a harsh view of their changing bodies. The bloating is terrible, Overall says. People are looking at me for their fitness and I look like a Michelin man. Stoute says her own athletic past has made her more of a wreck. Anyone who used to be top of the tree in the sporting world is thinking, My whole body feels like its falling apart. Its almost like the fitter you are at your peak, the worse the other end becomes. I look her up on Instagram (@gorgeousfifties), and find she still looks incredible. Be kind to yourself sounds like a cliche, but its worth doing anyway.

And finally, is there anything good to be said for the experience? Meade delivers this rousing statement: Its a wake-up call. Youre likely to live until youre nearly 90. How do you want it to be? How do you want to feel? Make a plan for that. Its a reminder that you can make choices and change your life for the better. Dont be a victim; you can fix it. Im much fitter than I was before.

Overall agrees: Im not there yet, but friends whove come out the other side say its absolutely brilliant. You dont have to worry about periods any more, you dont have hormonal fluctuations, you feel great. Nobody has ever said to me, This is rubbish. I miss periods.

See the article here:
Work your muscles and rethink your diet: how fitness can help you through the menopause - The Guardian

Were not kidding about kids and Type 2 diabetes The youngest child ever diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes may be a 3-year-old who weighed 77 pounds and had a nutritionally bankrupt diet. Doctors provided nutritional education to the family and prescribed the toddler liquid metformin. The child increased physical activity, decreased caloric consumption and, in six months, had lost 25 percent of her body weight. Her blood glucose levels normalized, and she didnt need diabetes medication anymore.

We hope shes been able to maintain that healthful lifestyle. When kids get Type 2 diabetes, the consequences can be swift and severe.

The TODAY2 study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, tracked kids with diabetes for 15 years. The researchers found that over time, 67 percent developed high blood pressure; 52 percent had seriously elevated triglycerides and lousy LDL cholesterol levels; 55 percent had diabetes-related kidney disease; 51 percent had eye disease; and 32 percent had nerve disease. After 10 to 12 years of living with diabetes, young adults in their 20s were suffering strokes, kidney failure, heart attacks and amputations.

Dont let this happen to your kids. Find play groups and after-school teams for them to join. Upgrade your familys nutrition eliminate drinks with added sugars or syrups, fruit drinks, simple carbs, processed meats and highly processed or fast foods. Your childrens future is in your hands. Reach out for help if you need a hand. And check out the American Heart Associations Daily Tips to Help Your Family Eat Better at http://www.heart.org and http://www.PTA.org for Family Resources.

Are you a bonehead? Baseball player Fred Merkle was the youngest player in the National League in 1908 when he committed an infamous base-running error. When heading for third, he failed to tag second base and eventually left the field thinking his team, the New York Giants, had won the game. That mistake nullified the victory, and the goof became known as Merkels Boner. The nickname Bonehead stuck with him throughout his 19-year career.

You dont want to be a bonehead. But, according to a new study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, there is a definite association between what goes on in your bones and your head. When 1,741 women ages 65 and older were followed from 1997 to 2013, researchers found that cognitive decline during the first five years of the study was tied to more than a 16 percent increased risk of osteoporosis and fracture over the following decade.

It makes us think perhaps all the smart moves that protect against osteoporosis daily activity with aerobics (especially jumping) and weight-bearing exercise; a diet rich in plant-based calcium; supplemental vitamin D (most people are deficient); and not smoking turn out to be good for your brain health, too. And life habits that protect the brain not smoking, eating a plant-based, anti-inflammatory diet, walking 10,000 steps a day well, thats good for the bones.

So, bone up on what you need to do for good nutrition and exercise, and youll have a head start on enduring brain and bone health as you age.

Pasta-picking particulars Carbonara, alfredo, parmigiana the sauces that Americans slather over pasta are most often saturated-fat-laden, cheesy, creamy concoctions. And although we dont come close (no one does) to the 51 pounds of pasta each Italian downs annually, we consume about 20 pounds apiece. Even if every bite were topped with healthful marinara sauce, wed still be taking in more refined white-flour pasta than is good for blood sugar control or weight management.

So whats the smart pasta pick? Theres a whole pantry full to choose from:

Whole-wheat pasta retains most of its bran, which is loaded with thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. This pasta also delivers more than twice the fiber and iron of enriched refined pasta. Two ounces, uncooked (thats one serving) contains 8 grams of protein and 5.5 grams of fiber. Its great with hearty, steamed veggies tossed in garlic and olive oil.

Pasta made from lentils or black soybeans generally delivers a lot more protein than white or whole-wheat pasta. Two uncooked ounces of black soybean pasta has 25 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber. Top with roasted veggies, grated ginger and a touch of toasted sesame oil.

Chickpea and other bean pastas are packed with fiber and delicate enough for refined sauces think Vietnamese and Thai. Chickpea pasta (2 ounces uncooked) contains 6 grams protein, 5 grams fiber.

Tip: Pasta made from corn or rice isnt a step up from refined white flour. Look on the labels for 100 percent whole grains, lentils or beans as the first or only ingredient.

Is chronic pain altering your personality? In 1985, when quarterback Joe Theismann had his fibula and tibia shattered by a tackle, it ended his NFL career a career in which hed suffered seven broken noses, a broken collarbone and broken hands and ribs. People would say that it was a tragedy but it was a blessing, he said. Id become somewhat of a self-absorbed individual and didnt really care much about a lot of things except myself. And ever since that day Ive tried to be a better person.

All that physical pain can make it difficult to be your best self. Thats been confirmed by a study in the European Journal of Pain seems that people with chronic pain have very low levels of the personality-influencing neurotransmitter glutamate in their frontal cortex, triggering emotional dysregulation and increasing anxiety.

If youre one of the 50 million Americans who live with chronic pain and the emotional changes it triggers, the good news is you dont need opioids for relief (whew!).

Non-opioid pain relievers: To handle chronic back pain or osteoarthritis, one study found that nonopioid medications deliver as much relief as opioids. Anti-seizure medications ease fibromyalgia pain; antidepressants can help with migraine; and NSAIDs and topical creams can soothe aching joints, muscles and some nerve pain.

Alternatives to medications: Massage, acupuncture and high-tech radiofrequency ablation and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) also ease pain effectively.

Altered pain response: Pain causes tension, and that increases pain. An anti-inflammatory diet, and stress-reducing meditation, deep breathing and visualization, plus plenty of exercise can quiet the brains pain response center.

Enjoying your life-cycle On July 12 of this year, actress Rita Wilson took her husband Tom Hanks out for a bike ride to celebrate his 65th birthday. A great idea for many reasons including one we bet that Hanks, diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2013, didnt know about.

It turns out that for folks with diabetes, cycling is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of heart woes and death. Researchers conducted a multicountry study that looked at almost 7,500 adults who had diabetes. Their study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that doing some cycling is associated with at least a 24 percent lower rate of death from all causes, including cardiovascular disease, when compared with non-cyclists. And regular cycling (one to five-plus hours a week) over a five-year period is associated with at least a 35 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality when compared with noncyclists. This adds to the findings of an earlier Danish study that found a 40 percent decreased risk of mortality from regularly cycling to work.

There is one hazard associated with cycling that wed like to mention: not wearing a helmet. According to a study in the journal Brain Injury that analyzed 76,032 cycling mishaps from 2002 to 2012, 78 percent of adult cyclists who suffered head and neck injuries were not wearing helmets. So, make sure you have a top-quality helmet and then get out there or get an all-weather stationary bike and, diabetes or not, pedal your way to a longer, healthier life.

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of The Dr. Oz Show, and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into The Dr. Oz Show or visit http://www.sharecare.com.

Go here to read the rest:
Health tips from Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen for 8-24-21 - The Dispatch - The Commercial Dispatch

The height of a childs biological parents can be a good indicator of how tall a child will be, as genetics play a prominent role in determining height. However, this can vary, and siblings with the same parents may all reach different heights. Other factors, such as biological sex, overall health, nutrition, sleep, and exercise, during developmental years all factor into height and growth.

The height a person reaches by adulthood can depend on the genes they inherit from their biological parents, although some factors may mean a child does not reach their full potential height.

Nutrition and overall health during childhood and adolescence also affect human growth and height. Over hundreds of years, the average human height has increased due to improved nourishment in children and a reduction in illness and infections.

This article explores methods people may use to predict height, factors that affect growth in children and adolescents, and when to speak with a doctor if growth becomes a concern.

A combination of genetics and external factors can affect how tall a child will grow.

Health experts believe that 80% of a persons height is genetic. This means the height of biological parents can be an indicator of a childs height, although this is not always a reliable predictor.

Siblings with the same parents can vary in height, and one child in the family may be taller or shorter compared to the rest of the family.

Other factors, such as nutrition, illness, or premature birth, can also play a part in height and growth and may prevent a child from reaching their full potential height.

Learn more about which factors can influence a persons height.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, people may wish to try the following formula for predicting how tall a child will be:

However, note that predictive methods such as these are not concrete, and a childs adult height could change depending on different factors.

Learn how to measure height accurately.

According to the Society for Endocrinology, people can usually expect the following average growth patterns in children and adolescents:

Learn about the signs and stages of puberty.

Most females will have a growth spurt in the year before they start their first menstrual period. Their feet and hands will likely increase in size first, followed by the rest of the body.

Female growth slows down after their first menstrual period, but females will usually still grow 12 in after this time.

According to health experts, males usually have a growth spurt in puberty 2 years after most females. The peak time of growth is before sperm develops, and males will grow about 9 cm a year. Males also usually have longer growth spurts than females.

According to the Society for Endocrinology, there is no set age for when males and females will stop growing. Once a person has gone through all the stages of puberty to reach adult development, their growth will slow down and stop.

Additionally, growth plates in the bones fuse together at this stage, meaning individuals will not grow any taller.

Learn about when male children might stop growing.

Learn about when female children might stop growing.

Adolescents go through puberty at different stages, so variations in growth spurts can be normal. In some cases, going through puberty at a slower rate can be due to an inherited pattern, known as constitutional delay.

If there is too much variation, such as a growth spurt not occurring or females not menstruating by the age of 16 years, then it is important to speak with a doctor for a checkup.

In some cases, unusual growth or development in a young person may be the result of an underlying medical condition, such as:

Treating the underlying condition may help improve growth. In the case of a growth hormone deficiency, people may need treatment with artificial growth hormone.

Although genetics largely determine a persons height, proper nutrition is an important factor in healthy growth and development for children and adolescents.

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a balanced and nutritious diet for healthy growth and development includes:

According to a 2018 study, both exercise and good sleep can help increase height, as they elevate the release of growth hormones.

Sometimes, children or adolescents may face peer pressure or bullying for being a different height than those around them. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, or depression.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry provides the following advice for parents and caregivers to help young people deal with peer pressure:

Learn more about teen anxiety and depression.

How tall a child or teenager will grow largely depends on the genes they inherit from their biological parents.

Good nutrition, exercise, and sleep also all play an important role in healthy growth and development. Illness, infection, or premature birth may all affect whether a child reaches their potential full height or not.

In most cases, young people will not be able to have much impact on their height other than living a healthy and balanced lifestyle. In some cases, children or adolescents may have a deficiency in growth hormone, which may require medical treatment to resolve.

If a child or adolescent is not growing or developing as expected for their age and biological sex, misses a growth spurt, or females do not have their first period by 16 years, then individuals can consult with their doctor for a checkup.

Follow this link:
How tall will I be? A guide for parents and children - Medical News Today