IMPORTANCE OF EXERCISE #2

EXERCISE  IS  KEY  TO  BETTER  HEALTH,  BETTER  ENERGY,  AND  A  BETTER  MOOD, From Dr. Amen.........................PART  TWO 

Exercise promotes better health and helps you live longer. Regular exercise increases the chemical nitric oxide, which tells the smooth muscles in your blood vessels to relax and open, allowing blood to flow more freely throughout your body. You probably never think of your blood vessels as having muscles, but they do. Every time you exercise, you give your blood vessels a workout too. With consistent exercise, your blood vessels become more robust. That helps keep blood pulsing to your heart, organs, and tissues. This boosts the health of vital organs and reduces the risk for high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease all of which have been linked to cognitive decline.

Physical activity also enhances insulin's ability to prevent high blood sugar levels, thereby reducing the risk of diabetes. In addition, exercise increases the production of glutathione, which is the major antioxidant in all cells. Pumping up the levels of glutathione protects muscles and other tissues from free radical damage and premature aging. Research has also shown that mild to moderate exercise reduces your risk of developing osteoporosis, breast cancer, and colon cancer. For the elderly, physical activity improves muscle tone and endurance, which lowers the risk of falling. When you make exercise a habit, it also pumps up your energy levels and keeps you from feeling lethargic. Instead of sprawling on the couch all day, you will have a good helping of get-up-and-go. That makes you more likely to go out and do the things you love to do, which burns even more calories and keeps you looking and feeling good.

ADD EXERCISE TO YOUR BEAUTY REGIMEN

What's good for the brain is good for the heart is good for the genitals is good for the skin. Exercise improves blood flow to every organ in your body, so it makes sense that it would benefit your skin, which is the largest organ. Thanks to increased circulation, greater amounts of oxygen and nutrients are delivered to your skin cells. This encourages cell renewal and the production of collagen, the supportive protein that helps keep your skin from sagging and wrinkling. It also helps skin battle back against the daily assaults from pollution and other environmental toxins. Some forms of exercise, such as yoga, help keep acne breakouts at bay. How? Yoga and other types of exercise reduce stress, which ndnimizes the production of stress hormones that are often associated with acne flare-ups. Improved blood flow also gives your skin a rosy-looking glow. According to a team of researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, people perceive a rosier complexion as healthier and potentially more attractive. The study, featured in the journal Psychological Science., involved having college-age participants alter the color of faces in digital photos to make them appear healthier. The researchers found that the students almost invariably added redness to the faces to enhance the appearance. This is more evidence that exercising does more than just improve your shape-—-it makes you more attractive. In an animal study conducted at the University of Illinois, researchers found that moderate regular exercise has another benefit for the skin: it speeds the wound-healing process. The researchers concluded that exercise speeded healing times by decreasing inflammation. For people such as diabetics who typically have poor wound healing, this study shows that exercise can be especially beneficial.

GET MOVING TO BURN FAT

To melt away fat, you need to burn more calories than you consume, and exercise can help. A quick review of the scientific literature on the effect,of exercise on fat reveals thousands of studies showing that physical activity helps you lose weight. Engaging in aerobic exercise also increases your body's metabolism, which boosts your calorie-burning power. Metabolism is a complex process that converts the foods you eat into energy and also determines how quickly you burn that energy. Daily exercise and activity that builds muscle tissue help you burn more calories, which allows you to prevent weight gain or to shed a few pounds if that's your goal. When you exercise, your body looks and feels better, which makes you feel better about yourself. Other physical benefits include better coordination, agility, speed, and flexibility.

EXERCISING LEADS TO MORE BRAIN- AND BODY-HEALTH

Did you know that when you are physically active, you are more likely to eat foods that are good for you, to get more sleep, and to take better care of your health in general? One study examined the effects of a twelve-week exercise program on sixty-two university students. At the end of three months, the students who engaged in physical activity reported eating a healthier diet, taking more responsibility for their own health, seeking out more social support, and managing stress better.

In a remarkable study that was published in a 2006 issue of Pediatrics, researchers found that compared to teens who watch a lot of TV, those who take part in a wide variety of physical activities are less likely to engage in risky behavior, such as drinking, smoking, drugs, violence, sex, and delinquency. This fascinating study also revealed that teens who participated in physical activities with their parents were the least likely to get into trouble with such behavior. These teens also tended to have higher self-esteem than both sedentary teens and active adolescents who didn't exercise or play sports with their parents. Conversely, the study showed that teens who spent a lot of time watching TV or playing video games tended to be at higher risk for engaging in all of these risky behaviors and had lower self-esteem.

This research reinforces what I've been advocating for years: Turn off the TV and the video games, and get active.

WHY COUCH POTATO SYNDROME IS BAD FOR YOUR BRAIN AND BODY

Adopting a sedentary lifestyle is one of the worst things you can do for your brain, your overall health, and your body. Lack of physical exercise negatively affects blood flow in the body. When you don't get your blood pumping thanks to aerobic activities, the levels of nitric oxide drop. This causes the blood vessel walls to become distorted, which limits blood's ability to pulse freely. This puts you at increased risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke.

Without adequate blood flow, the blood vessels in the deep areas of the brain also become distorted, increasing the risk of tiny strokes. As the years go by, these tiny strokes accumulate and cause these deep brain areas to shut off and stop working. The deep brain areas control leg movement, coordinated body movement, and speed of minking and behaving. These are some of the areas of the brain that are affected by Parkinson s disease, which explains why these strokes produce a clinical picture that closely resembles this disease. This explains why people over the age of forty who don't exercise aren't as mentally sharp as those who are physically active.

Being a couch potato also makes you more vulnerable to high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of developing other brain-related health problems. New research in the journal Neurology shows that people as young as forty-five with hypertension are more likely to experience problems with memory and minking skills. In particular, middle-aged people with high diastolic blood pressure (the number on the bottom) are at greater risk than people with normal readings. For every 10-percent increase in the diastolic reading, the odds of an individual having cognitive problems jumped by about 7 percent. With nearly twenty thousand people involved in this study, it is the largest to investigate the link between hypertension and memory problems. These findings support those of the Honolulu Study of Aging, which concluded that middle-aged people between the ages of forty and sixty who have untreated high blood pressure are at greater risk for developing dementia. For middle-aged people with a systolic blood pressure of 160 mmHg or higher, or a diastolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg or higher, the risk of dementia after age seventy was 3.8 to 4.8 times greater than for those whose hypertension was treated. The damage from inactivity can be devastating. Basically,when you shun exercise, you can say good-bye to all the brain, health, and body benefits you read about earlier in this chapter.

BEST KINDS OF EXERCISE

The best exercises combine aerobic activity to raise your heart rate and get your blood pumping, resistance to strengthen muscles, and coordination to activate your brain.

Cardiovascular exercise Aerobic exercise is one of the keys to brain health and plays a role in neurogenesis, or new cell growth. Ideally, aerobic exercise involves a brief warm-up period, twenty to forty-five minutes of sustained moderate to intense activity, and a cool-down. Some evidence suggests that higher-intensity activity-—-even for shorter periods of time—is also beneficial to the brain. Running, fast walking, swimming, rowing, and stair climbing are just some of the many aerobic exercise options available.

Your brain will benefit whether you get your heart pumping outdoors or in the gym. Animal studies show that running on a treadmill produced a significant enhancement in memory, similar to the cognitive improvements seen in outdoor aerobic activities. One of the best things about many aerobic activities is they don't require a lot of expensive equipment—you just throw on a pair of running shoes and go.

Resistance training For many years, experts have been touting the benefits of aerobic activity on the brain. According to a new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it appears that resistance training may also have protective powers for the brain. After a review of three exercise trials, researchers concluded that resistance training may prevent cognitive decline in older adults. Resistance training builds strength and tones muscles by working against any type of resistance, such as dumbbells, medicine balls, resistance tubing, or your own body weight. For example, you can use your own body weight to build strength by doing push-ups, pull-ups, or squats. Some resistance-training exercises-—rowing, swimming, and stair climbing—double as aerobic activities, which makes them even more beneficial to your brain.

(THE "CHARLES  ATLAS  COURSE"  I'VE  TALKED  ABOUT  BEFORE,  IS  ALL  DONE  ON  WHAT  ATLAS  CALLED  "DYNAMIC  TENSION" - ONE MUSCLE  AGAINST  ANOTHER.  A  GREAT  HEALTH  AND  FITNESS  COURSE,  STILL  AVAILABLE.....JUST  TYPE  "CHALES  ATLAS"  INTO  YOUR  SEARCH  ENGINE,  AND  UP  IT  WILL  COME - Keith Hunt)

Coordination activities Exercise that requires coordination activates the cerebellum, which is located at the back of the brain and enhances thinking, cognitive flexibility, and processing speed. This means that participating in activities like dancing, tennis, and basketball, which require coordination, can make you smarter! And that's not all. Animal studies have shown that physical exercise that involves the planning and execution of complex movements actually changes the brain's structure.

Researchers from Brazil put this theory to the test when they compared the.brains of competitive judo players and non-judo participants. Judo is a form of martial arts that relies on quick reactions and cunning to outsmart and outmaneuver an opponent. (I think judo is a wonderful activity as long as you don't engage in any sort of contact that could result in a brain injury.) Results of the study showed that the judo players had significantly higher gray matter tissue density than people who didn't practice judo. More gray matter translates into more brain cell bodies, which equals better brain function.

Combo exercises It is a good idea to engage in various types of exercises. Aerobic activity spawns new brain cells, which might make you think that if you want to boost your brainpower, you should limit your workouts to high-intensity aerobics. But it is coordination exercises that strengthen the connections between those new cells so your brain can recruit them for other purposes, such as thinking, learning, and remembering.......

YES  MAKE  YOUR  EXERCISE  PROGRAM  A  VARIETY  SO  YOU  NEVER  

GET  BORED,  VARIETY  IS  INDEED  THE  SPICE  OF  LIFE  -  Keith Hunt

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