Health Habits

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Posts Tagged ‘longevity’

Taizo the Japanese Fitness Robot

September 14th, 2009

Personal Trainers BEWARE!!!

In 2010, a Japanese Fitness Robot named Taizo will begin stealing all of your clients.

Initially designed as a rehabilitation robot for Japanese senior citizens, Taizo has performed well in its 5 test runs at group homes and community centers. During these tests, seniors found it easy and fun to mimic their robotic Richard Simmons.

In fact, company representaties were thrilled with how well Taizo interacted with the seniors.

Sadly, it was only after Taizo had left the building, did they find out that most of the seniors were senile and had confused Taizo for their grandchildren.

Taizo is expected to be ready for commercialization in 2010.

For more info about Taizo, go to PlasticPals

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The “I don’t have time to workout” Workout

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Filed under bodybuilding, exercise, fat, fat loss, fitness, health, hypertrophy, obesity, personal trainer, strength, toronto, weight loss, working out

Tags: aerobic, anaerobic, exercise, fat loss, fitness, health, high intensity interval training, hiit, hirt, intensity, obesity, physical fitness, power, strength, weight loss

August 24, 2009

Better Than The Biggest Loser

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Filed under diet/nutrition, exercise, fat, fat loss, fitness, healthy recipes, mental/emotional, nutrition, obesity, weight loss, working out

Tags: anaid productions, cardio, childhood obesity, diet, diet/nutrition, exercise, fat loss, fitness, food, health, healthy cooking, nutrition, nutritious, obese, obesity, paul plakas, slice, slice network, weight loss, workout, x-weighted

August 4, 2009

13 Training Mistakes You Need to Avoid

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Posted in Exercise, fitness, fitness - general, flexibility - exercise, health, working out

Tags: aist animatronic elderly Exercise fitness generalrobotix health japan longevity personal trainer quality of life robot senior senior citizen senior fitness taizen taizo trainer workout

Age is just a number, right?

July 10th, 2009

Yesterday, at the U.S. National Swimming Championships, a 42 year old mom with:

an arthritic and surgically repaired left knee,
a surgically repaired right shoulder,
and a surgically repaired left thumb…

won the U.S. national 50 meter freestyle championship.

42 years old

Fastest female swimmer in the U.S.

Mom

Dara Torres

Here’s a link to a video of the race.

Not too shabby for a 42 year old

So,what’s your excuse Mr. & Mrs. Couch Potato?

Too old just doesn’t cut it anymore.

You’re only as old, fat, tired and broken down as you choose to be.

Age is just a number.

Decide today if you want to be 42 like Dara Torres:

or 42 like this guy:

just kidding, Wilford was 43 when this pic was snapped

Once again…Dara Torres’ brand of 42

Typical American brand of 42

Your choice.

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Healing through Exercise

April 21st, 2009

We all know that exercise is good for our health.

Mind and body.

And yet, when we get sick, most of us reach for a bottle of pills.

Author Jorg Blech wants to change that approach to health and healing.

In his new book, Healing through Exercise, Jorg has taken on a very difficult task.

He has written a medical science text…for the masses.

He spent months and months combing through all of the medical research investigating exercise and human health. He selected the strongest studies…

And then he wrote a book that:

Makes a very strong scientific argument for an Exercise Prescription, and
Hopefully doesn’t put the average reader to sleep

I think he succeeded.

Here’s some of the science

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Exercise is the strongest known stimulus to growing new nerve cells in your brain
Children need active play in order to develop their mental abilities
Physically inactive men have reduced libidos (along with super-sized Viagra prescriptions)
Exercise has been shown to offset type 2 diabetes
Previously inactive senior citizens have been able to regain mobility and independence by following an exercise prescription
Exercise increases bone density
Aerobic exercise has been effective in reducing cholesterol and blood pressure
Exercise can induce cellular repair through the creation of stem cells
New blood vessels are created by aerobic exercise
Exercise reduces the effects of osteoarthritis
Exercise is being recommended for back pain sufferers
Children with ADHD have reduced symptoms with play therapy
Exercise therapy has been more effective than drugs in treating mild to moderate depression
Exercise protects the brain from Alzheimers
A number have cancers have responded well to exercise
Exercise plays a strong role in preventing obesity
Physical activity is common in societies known for their longevity, and
Exercise just make you feel better

My Review

I would have to give Healing through Exercise two thumbs up. (Darn that Ebert – never satisfied)

At the beginning of this post, I said that the author had taken on the difficult task of making a very technical book about exercise and health promotion accessible to the general public.

I think that he succeeded.

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If you need more info about the book:

Here is another book review, and
Here is a Podcast with the author

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The New Ultra-Longevity Diet

March 25th, 2009

Yesterday, Oprah devoted her show to Extreme Life Extension.

During the show, Oprah and Dr. Oz showcased some of the science and technology devoted to extending human life. And, for a health & fitness nerd like myself, it was fun to watch.

If you missed it, here is a synopsis.

Pretty cool, huh?

But what I found most interesting was the discussion about the Life Extension Diet.

For those of you who don’t know about the Life Extension Diet, here is the abridged version:

Restrict your caloric intake
Get those calories from highly nutritious foods

Simple.

Except, this is how Oprah’s viewers were introduced to the diet:

Click on the image to see a video showing what it's like to eat like our calorie restricting hero.

A skinny, middle aged guy weighing and measuring everything he eats….and if that wasn’t bad enough, he peels an apple for his breakfast.

And what’s so weird about that?

Because he threw out the apple and ate the peel.

Seriously

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, apple peel.

These people need to hire a better marketing company.

They need to:

Down play the caloric restriction – people don’t like being hungry
Upsell the sizzle of the steak

Make my mouth water over bowls of luscious fruit

And hire some sexy celebrity(ies) to glam things up a bit.

I mean, seriously, who is more likely to get America hooked onto the Longevity Diet?

Matthew McConaughey

or this guy…

and be honest.

You know that sex sells better than brains any day of the week.

So, with that in mind, here’s my attempt at marketing the new and improved…

Ultra-Longevity Diet

Endorsed by Matthew McConaughey
Loaded with sizzling steaks and fruit smoothies
Guaranteed to give you limitless energy & vitality
You’ll live longer than you can even imagine
And your sex life will be off the charts….

All for the low, low price of $19.99

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Why Do We Get OLD?

December 1st, 2008

Harvard researchers may have just found the “root cause of aging”: A group of proteins called sirtuins.

For a decade or so, scientists have known that these sirtuins are somehow involved in the aging process.

Their interest in these sirtuins really went wild when they discovered that:

a low calorie diet, or
the red wine super chemical resveratrol

would stimulate the sirtuins into having a positive effect on aging.

So What Exactly Do Sirtuins Do?

Sirtuins are like a genetic watch dog.

They keep an eye on select genes to see which are turned on and which are turned off. Kind of like a security guard monitoring motion alarms and video monitors.

Here’s why:

While all genes are present in all cells, only a select few need to be active at any given time.

If the wrong genes are switched on, this can harm the cell.

For example, in a kidney cell, there are liver genes present, but they are switched off. If these liver genes were to become active, that could damage the kidney.

The sirtuins guard the genes that are supposed to be off and ensure that they stay that way.

To do this, they help preserve the molecular packaging—called chromatin—that shrink-wraps these genes tight and keeps them idle.

However, sirtuins have another important job.

When your DNA gets damaged by UV light or free radicals, sirtuins stop their security guard duties and rush to the site of the damaged DNA and join in on the repair.

This leads us to…

The Latest Research

In this study, the researchers found that when the sirtuins left their guard posts and rushed towards the damaged DNA, the chromatin wrapping (or shrink-wrap) covering the sleeping genes could start to unravel, and the genes that were meant to be inactive (or regulated) could in fact become active (or un-regulated).

This isn’t good.

A Sirtuin re-wraps a Gene and puts it back to sleep

Luckily for us, the sirtuins are usually able to return to their post in time to get the awakened genes back under wraps before they cause any permanent damage.

However, the scientists found that as mice age, the rates of DNA damage increases.

This means that the sirtuins are being pulled away from their guard duties more and more often.

As a result, more and more sleeping genes wake up, break out of their shrink-wrap and break free before the sirtuins can return and put them back to sleep.

Once again, not good.

In fact, it’s really starting to sound a lot like the Pod People from that movie, The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.

And it gets even worse,

Scientists found that many of these haplessly activated genes are directly linked with aging, and that
They also found that older mice had higher numbers of these unregulated genes.

But don’t despair, it gets better:

The Good News

Discovery of the mechanism behind all of this bad news has led to a hypothesis on how to reverse this action and potentially reverse signs of aging.

Scientists began wondering what would happen if they put more of the sirtuin back into their aging test mice.

They believed that with more sirtuins on the job, DNA repair would be more efficient, and the aging mouse would maintain a youthful pattern of gene expression into old age.

And that’s precisely what happened.

Using a mouse genetically altered to model lymphoma, researcher Philipp Oberdoerffer administered extra copies of the sirtuin gene, or fed them the sirtuin activator resveratrol, which in turn extended their lifespan by 24 to 46 percent.

Conclusions

Because of this research, we now know that while DNA damage increases the rate of aging, it isn’t the actual cause of aging.

Un-regulated genes are the cause of aging.

And, because of this research, we also know that if we can help the sirtuins keep regulated genes from becoming un-regulated, the elements of aging can be reversed.

Big news people, big news.

.At least for the mice.

Tests on humans are yet to be scheduled.

Paul Giamatti (Sideways) loads up on his Resveratrol

So, for now, loading up on some resveratrol may be a good idea.

And if you have any questions….hang on for another 24 hours; tomorrow’s post will be dedicated to everything resveratrol.

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Want To Be Happier?

November 25th, 2008

HAPPINESS

We all want it and most of us have no idea how to get it.

But take a trip to your local bookstore or sit through a few hours of daytime talkshows, and I guarantee that you will find some expert willing to show you how to be happy…all for the low low cost of $19.99+s/h.

But not today.

Today, for one day only, I am going to hook you up with the latest research into generating happiness…all for the low low cost of…nothing, nada, rien, nichts, niente, 何もない, ничего, well, you get the point.

However, I would ask that you either pass this article onto your friends and family and/or share it with the world at large by submitting it to Digg / Stumbleupon / Reddit / Mixx / Propeller / etc…

Okay, on with the happiness.

THE RESEARCH

According to researcher Dr. Steven Toepfer, THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS IS GRATITUDE.

I can hear you asking…Gratidtude for what?

The economy is going down the tubes, we are running out of oil, I am working harder and longer than ever before and I still may lose my job, and on top of that, there’s the threats of terrorism and global warming.

Well, according to Kent State University’s Dr. Steven Toepfer, we have been going about it all wrong.

“Everyone is pursuing the American dream. We are wealthier than previous generations, consuming more and experiencing more, but yet so many of us are so unhappy,” Toepfer says.

“The question of ‘is there something simple we can do to be happier?‘ is one that he has been thinking about for many years and one that has interested people for much longer.”

With that question in mind, Toepfer enlisted a group of students to explore the effects of writing letters of gratitude to people who had positively impacted the students’ lives.

Over the course of a six-week period, students wrote one letter every two weeks with the simple ground rules that it had to be positively expressive, required some insight and reflection, were nontrivial and contained a high level of appreciation or gratitude.

After each letter, students completed a survey to gauge their moods, satisfaction with life and feelings of gratitude and happiness.

“I saw their happiness increase after each letter. The more they wrote, the better they felt,” says Toepfer, who also witnessed improvement in participants’ life satisfaction and gratitude throughout the study.

“The most powerful thing in our lives is our social network.

It doesn’t have to be large, and you don’t always need to be the life of the party, but just having one or two significant connections in your life has shown to have terrific psychological and physical benefits.”

In all, 75 percent of the students said they planned to continue to write letters of gratitude even when the course was over.

“We are all walking around with an amazing resource: gratitude,” says Toepfer. “It helps us express and enjoy, appreciate, be thankful and satisfied with a little effort.

We all have it, and we need to use it to improve our quality of life.”

An Extra Bonus

And if that wasn’t enough, there is a growing body of research showing that positive emotions such as happiness are linked to good health and increased longevity.

This 2006 study showed that a PES (Positive Emotional Style – or happiness for the non-science geeks reading this) was associated with an increased resistance to the common cold and the influenza virus.

Conclusion

I must admit that when it comes to making health claims, I need proof.

But when it comes to happiness, or examining the impact of happiness on my health / longevity, proof is a little hard to come by.

It is difficult to distinguish between the effects of positive and negative emotions. For example, do elderly living on their own or with family live longer because they are happy or because they are not sad?

It’s not a simple equation.

However, modern medicine has no problem stating that emotional stress is a very real threat to our health.

So, why shouldn’t happiness be a very real benefit to our health?

What Do You Think?

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Eat Whatever You Want And NEVER Gain A Pound

November 5th, 2008

Here we go again.

Researchers at Sirtis (owned by Glaxo-SmithKline) are testing a new diet drug that would allow the couch potatoes of the world to eat whatever they want and never gain an ounce.

Wait, it gets better.

It would also rid the planet of Type 2 Diabetes.

It gets even better.

They are developing other versions that promise to extend the average life span while preventing heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Wow!

This sounds great…Tell me more.

OK

This particular drug, SRT1720, fools the body into thinking food is scarce and it has to burn off fat to survive.

It does this by triggering a protein called SIRT1 that plays a key role in regulating the body’s supply of energy.

So how did they come up with the idea for this wonder drug?

Researchers discovered the importance of the SIRT1 protein by studying the metabolic effects shown by the natural supplement, Resveratrol.

But where Resveratrol affects many other systems in the body, SRT1720 targets “only the SIRT1 pathway, making it more selective and potent for achieving these metabolic benefits”.

Oh, and because it is a synthetic substance, designed by a pharmaceutical company, it can be patented.

And make billions and billions of dollars.

I wonder how the GSK execs reacted to that bit of good news.

But wait, let’s be fair here. It’s not like they could just produce a high dose Resveratrol supplement at 1/4 the price while still maintaining all of the heart healthy, anti-cancer, anti-Alzheimer’s effects.

Oh, wait a second.

They have.

Oh well, that’s the HEALTH CARE business.

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Health Promotion v.s Disease Prevention

July 10th, 2008

In an article printed in the BMJ (BMJ 2008;337:a399), Dr. Butler et al, are presenting a theory that is so revolutionary, so unbelievably insightful and paradigm shattering that it may signal an evolutionary shift in how medicine will be practiced for the next millenium:

The promotion of health and longevity may be more successful at preventing disease and improving both the quality and quantity of our lives than attacking individual diseases.

I like to call this the “An Apple a Day keeps the Doctor Away” theory.

But seriously folks, the authors of this study believe that a shift towards health promotion and disease prevention could pay off with social, economic and health benefits for present and future generations. We’re talking improved quality and duration of life. It’s a win-win.

In the study, they also note that since we all have biochemical mechanisms that influence how quickly we age, and that through lifestyle changes or possibly even genetic alteration, it is possible to extend lifespan by postponing or even eliminating (if Freddie Mercury is correct) aging-related processes and diseases.

As expected, research into how lifestyle interventions, such as exercise and improved nutrition, may provide us with the location of theis fountain of youth is ongoing.

Fingers crossed everybody.

But for now, turn your head and cough or click here and here and here.

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Exercise, In the News, Research, health

Tags: disease fitness health longevity

U.S. Surgeon General Issues Exercise Prescription

June 2nd, 2008

Rear Admiral Steven Galson, the U.S. acting Surgeon General, is calling on the nation’s doctors to prescribe exercise to patients who would benefit from being more physically active. Thanks to the support of the California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, over 2,000 doctors have just signed up to support this new initiative.

Brilliant.

Lunges instead of Lipitor. Vegetables instead of vasodilators. Healthy food instead of Hospitals. Alliteration instead of Alli.

Alright – Enough of that.

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I have a strong interest in this subject. While I don’t believe that government should even try to legislate exercise and healthy nutrition, if there are going to become involved with health care, health promotion is the way to go.

Hopefully, doctors still have enough credibility to effect a lifestyle change in their patients.

If you are interested in learning more about this subject, here are some articles that I have written: ( Diet and Exercise Trumps Diabetes , The Government Thinks You’re Fat , Disease Prevention with an Exercise Prescription , Energy System Training affects Heart Function & Structure )

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If you are interested in a better way to eat, click here or here or here.

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Exercise, In the News, health

Tags: california Exercise fitness governor health longevity obesity schwartzenegger surgeon general weight loss

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Posts Tagged ‘longevity’

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September 3, 2009

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Ultra-Longevity Diet

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So What Exactly Do Sirtuins Do?

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The Good News

Conclusions

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HAPPINESS

THE RESEARCH

An Extra Bonus

Conclusion

What Do You Think?

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Wow!

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The promotion of health and longevity may be more successful at preventing disease and improving both the quality and quantity of our lives than attacking individual diseases.