More good reasons to exercise regularly
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A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences led by Scott Small shows that exercise can lead to new brain cell growth in the hippocampus. The hippocampus is part of the limbic system of the brain and is involved in memory and spatial navigation. Previous research had shown that exercise can result in the growth of new brain cells in mice in their equivalent of the human dentate gyrus (which is part of the hippocampus). In this study 11 people had MRI’s of their brains done and then participated for 3 months in a cardiovascular exercise program. An MRI was was then performed again and it showed an increase in new cell growth in the dentate gyrus of the people’s hippocampus. The new cell growth was measured by detecting an increased blood flow in the dentate gyrus through the MRI.
A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine presented evidence that vigorous cardiovascular exercise seems to decrease the chances of developing breast cancer in some women. This study involved examining data from over 100,000 women. Those that reported that they had exercised for more than 5 hours a week had a 20% less chance of developing invasive breast cancer and a 31% lower risk of early stage breast cancer compared to women who said they only exercised less than a half an hour a day. (I guess if House saw this study he would say that women who lie have a 20% less chance of getting breast cancer )
A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology a while back suggests that women who exercise more have lower chance of getting uterine fibroids. Uterine fibroids – also known as uterine leiomyomas – are benign tumors in the uterus and can result in problems with fertility and pregnancy and well as cause bleeding and pain. Donna Day Baird and her group at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina report that of the more than 1000 women they screened for fibroids that the women who were more active were less likely to have them. More specifically they found that women who exercised for 7 or more hours a week had a 40% lower chance of having them compared to those who exercised less than 2 hours a week. Even women who exercised 4 hours a week had a somewhat lower chance of having them.
The American Heart Association also recently released new guidelines for women to help prevent cardiovascular disease. One the new recommendations is for women to exercise 60 to 90 minutes everyday.
It seems we are always hearing about how regular exercise is good for our health. I wonder how many people really do exercise on a regular basis? And why or why not? I have been for a while now, but not as much as is recommended – maybe only 3-4 hours of cardiovascular exercise a week. I’d like to increase that a bit – but how to find the time?
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March 3, 2006
Better watch out or you might end up looking strong and capable!
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Building up muscle mass is really important for women to help avoid developing osteoporosis and yet, many men’s sexist attitudes discourage women from doing so. A great example is here in the post: Hey Lady, You’re a Freak! (Link removed – blog no longer there).
In this post Liz talks about how once in the gym some guy commented to his girlfriend about her muscles and says ‘Better watch out or you might end up looking like that’.
Those kind of comments and attitudes just perpetuate the belief women are and are supposed to be weak and helpless. And is just one more example of how we still live in a very sexist society.
Some of the other things that men have said to Liz, sexualizing her strength, are just disgusting, as if it is ok for any man to just come up to a woman and comment about whether or not he finds her body sexy. Just another example of how men see women as sexual objects rather than equal human beings.
I’ll admit though, I do have some of those small pink weights, but I don’t use them so much anymore. I’m a small sized person so I doubt I will ever be ever to use really heavy weights, but I do do some strength training exercise – and I would love to be stronger and have muscles big enough to be seen!
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Related Posts:
- The importance of strength training exercise for women’s health
- 3 Exercises Every Woman Should Do
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February 16, 2006
How to buy a bicycle to stay fit and safe!
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Spring is on its way and bicycling is a great way to get or stay fit!
Heather over at HealthBee has a great post about bicycling the right way so that you stay safe and injury free.
She points out right away that you need to make sure that you get a bike that fits you right to help avoid knee pain and other problems. She suggests going to a bicycle shop and have them help you adjust things like the seat height and handle bars correctly.
She also suggests buying a helmet, bicycle pants, shoes, pedals and gloves and explains why for each.
I never learned how to ride a bicycle when I was a kid – I was always too afraid. I would like to learn now though, and this article has all the information I need to know how to buy a bicycle – and now I just need to figure out how to actually ride one!
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January 12, 2006
Want to be more fit this year?
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Many women hope to lose weight and be more fit this year. Not an easy goal to accomplish is it? Finding time to exercise can be very difficult.
Exercising at home helps with the time problem – a little anyway!
Treadmills are expensive but a very good way to exercise! They now even make some with little TV’s built in so you can watch while you walk or run. Personally, I just watch our regular TV while using ours. But, since treadmills take up a lot of space you may not have room to put it where you can see the TV while using it. The built in TV’s can help then if you need to put it in a room that otherwise wouldn’t give you much to look at while exercising.
A great review of different treadmills can be found at Treadmill Doctor. Or if you want to learn more general information about treadmills first – try the articles on this site: Treadmill Buying Guide.
If you can’t afford a treadmill, can’t make it to a gym and live somewhere with weather that makes it too difficult to walk outside, you may want to consider a stationary bicycle. They are also a great way to exercise, but don’t cost as much as treadmills.
If you are not sure how to get started, buying a book about fitness is a good place to start. Last year I bought two of the Dummies books – ‘Fitness for Dummies’ and ‘Strength Training for Dummies’. Both of these books are very good and explain what you need to do. The ‘Fitness’ one goes through cardiovascular exercise, strength training and stretching type exercises. The other has a little bit of repetition from the first (they were written by the same people) but does go into more detail about different exercises you can do to get stronger.
But what about when you are away from home? Well, many hotels now have gyms and improving them quite a bit.
Some have lots of cardiovascular equipment to choose from including treadmills, stationary bicycles and elliptical trainers – sometimes yoga and tai chi classes are even available!
Hyatt hotels, as an example, have been upgrading many of their gyms. Many now have newer equipment – some even have separate TV screens for each of their cardiovascular machines!
Westin Hotels & Resorts and Holiday Inn Selects have also make many recent upgrades. Many have made deals with companies like Nautilus and Reebok to improve their gyms.
So whether you are at home or away – there are ways to make time for exercise!
Or am I full of it? I can imagine a mom of young children shaking her head thinking I don’t know what I’m talking about – between laundry and cooking and everything else involved with taking care of a family maybe it isn’t so easy?
Kids or not – have you been able to find the time to exercise regularly?
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Related Posts:
- Exercise for your heart with WOMAN Challenge
- The importance of strength training exercise for women’s health
- 3 Exercises Every Woman Should Do
November 18, 2005
The secret to living a longer, healthier and happier life!
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The secret is no secret really – and I think most of us know that!
It has long been known that when people engage in even a moderate amount of exercise it can prevent heart disease and prolong life.
The Framingham Heart study has followed 5,200 people living in Framingham, Massachusetts for the past 46 years. New data from the study involving people over 50 indicates that more physical activity increase life span more and decreases risk of heart disease more.
Specifically the study found that those who at 50 years old started engaging in moderate physical activity lived 1.3 years longer and were free of heart disease 1.1 more years. And people who engaged in high levels of physical activity lived 3.5 years longer and were free of heart disease 3.2 more years.
And recently some researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) led by Edward McAuley have shown that senior citizens who started exercising also gained many psychological benefits!
This study was done with a sample of 174 adults over 65 years old, lasted 6 months and involved walking and stretching/toning exercises.
It found that older adults who exercise have improved levels of affect, physical self-esteem, self-efficacy.
Do you exercise regularly? Why or why not? Do studies like these influence your behavior? If you have kids do you feel like they are a good motivator to exercise so you will live longer to be there for them? Or do you find that with kids you no longer have time to exercise?
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