Running can slow ageing process
Running on a regular basis can slow the effects of ageing, a study by US researchers shows.
Elderly joggers were half as likely to die prematurely from conditions like cancer than non-runners.
They also enjoyed a healthier life with fewer disabilities, the Stanford University Medical Center team found.
Experts said the findings in Archives of Internal Medicine reinforced the importance that older people exercise regularly.
Survival of the fittest
The work tracked 500 older runners for more than 20 years, comparing them to a similar group of non-runners. All were in their 50s at the start of the study.
Nineteen years into the study, 34% of the non-runners had died compared to only 15% of the runners.
Both groups became more disabled with age, but for the runners the onset of disability started later - an average of 16 years later.
The health gap between the runners and non-runners continued to widen even as the subjects entered their ninth decade of life.
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If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise 
Running not only appeared to slow the rate of heart and artery related deaths, but was also associated with fewer early deaths from cancer, neurological disease, infections and other causes.
And there was no evidence that runners were more likely to suffer osteoarthritis or need total knee replacements than non-runners - something scientists have feared.
At the beginning of the study, the runners ran for about four hours a week on average. After 21 years, their weekly running time had reduced to around 76 minutes, but they were still seeing health benefits from taking regular exercise.
Lead author Professor James Fries, from the University of California at Stanford, said: “The study has a very pro-exercise message. If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise.
“The health benefits of exercise are greater than we thought.”
Age Concern says many older people do not exercise enough.
Figures show more than 90% of people in the UK over 75 fail to meet international guidelines of half-an-hour moderate intensity exercise at least five times a week.
Gordon Lishman, director general, said: “This research re-confirms the clear benefits of regular exercise for older people.
“Exercise can help older people to stay mobile and independent, ensure a healthy heart, keep weight and stress levels under control, and promote better sleep.
“While younger people are barraged with encouragement to lead healthier lifestyles, the health needs of older people are often overlooked.”
Source: BBCNews.co.uk
Drinking too much water?
WARNING: Drinking too much water is bad for your health
Water is the body’s most vital nutrient - and most people don’t drink enough. However, you can drink too much, as the recent case of a woman who claims to have been advised to drink 5 litres of water on a dodgy ‘detox’ diet, and suffered brain damage for overhydration as a result, illustrates.Drinking 10 litres in an hour can even kill you.Some ecstasy-related deaths have occurred due to people, paranoid about dehydrating, actually overhydrating. This dilutes the blood and causes water to flood cells and organs.Cells in the brain can then swell up, increasing pressure inside the skull. If vital regions of the brain are compressed this can cause symptoms ranging from headaches to problems with breathing or seizures.
But equally dangerous is drinking too little.
Drinking eight glasses of water - the equivalent of about 1.5 litres (2.75 pints) - makes an enormous difference to how you feel, especially your energy and mental clarity. Water does help to dilute toxic by-products of food metabolism in the blood, for elimination via the kidneys, so drinking water helps support kidney function. It’s also important to keep your body hydrated so that toxins are not reabsorbed into your body from the bowel.
In this hot weather 1.5 litres (2.75 pints) of water a day is really a minimum, especially if you exercise, you will need this much water to replace the liquid you are losing as sweat. The maximum amount of liquids drunk should be equal to the amount the kidneys can reasonably excrete in 24 hours, and in adults this is about 2 litres (3.5 pints) per day.
So, be aware that drinking more than you need, which is about 1.5-2 litres (2.75-3.5 pints) a day under normal circumstances, isn’t better for you and may actually be worse.
Source: Patrick Holford.com
Snacking is good for you
To keep your metabolism running high and your energy levels optimum, ensure you have a healthy snack whenever you feel hungry. One mid morning and mid afternoon is usually about right. Here are some healthy suggestions:
* Oatcakes or rice crackers with hummus or tahini
* Rye crispbreads with a little Manuka honey or nut butter
* Any type of fresh fruit (bananas in moderation, say every other day)
* Crudites: florets of broccoli and cauliflower, pepper, cucumber, carrot and celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, mangetout, baby sweetcorn, radishes, spring onions - dipped in hummus if preferred
* A few dried dates, apricots, mango pieces, apple rings, or figs (unsweetened and unsulphured varieties)
* A small handful of sultanas or raisins
* An avocado, halved, stoned and mashed in it’s skin
* A small handful of nuts: almonds, walnuts, peanuts, cashews, pistachios, brazils, pecans
* A small handful of seeds: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds
* A few olives
Happy snacking!!
Bouncing Boobs!
This will shock you!!! Click on the link below for a demonstration on what happens when you exercise without a sports bra:
http://www.shockabsorber.co.uk/bounceometer/shock.html
We are always happy to give advice about wearing the correct sports clothing and trainers when exercising, please ask us for details..
PLUS, dont forget that all Miss Fit Clients are entitled to 20% off Shock Absorber Bras through Sweaty Betty. I’m off to get a new one now!!
Smoking Beliefs
As a personal trainer, I often meet people who smoke, want to give up but haven’t yet found a way to kick the habit for good. For the determined few that finally do give up, I find they admit to having spent a long time in denial about the harmful effects of smoking, even though they knew in the back of their minds they had to finally face it in the end. I’m not saying it’s easy to quit, you can be a stong person and still be a smoker, but my advice for anyone who is smoking right now is - DON’T STAY IN DENIAL. If you smoke 20 a day, you have a 1 in 2 chance of dying from a smoking related illness. Just a social smoker? 1-4 cigarettes a day increases this risk by 3 x more than a non smoker.
An effective way to give up smoking is to start doing regular cardiovascular exercise. This focuses your attention into how your lungs feel when you are out of breath whilst running, jogging, cycling, hill walking and the need to be able to breath deeply and clearly. Try setting a goal of not smoking on the days you exercise and gradually you’ll find as the exercise increases, the amount you smoke will decrease. I’ve seen this work many times, after all ,when you feel fit you are less likely to want to go and spoil it by having a fag!
Here are some common beliefs and arguments, extracted from a smoking hypnotherapy article:
- It’s not the smoking that’s giving me this cough
No, of course not – nothing to do with how much nicotine is clogging up your lungs then - Smokers are more interesting/creative/exciting/cool/bohemian/etc – Smoking is part of my identity!
Where are we – high school? Was no one interesting, cool etc before tobacco was introduced? - I’ll give up when I choose to. I just haven’t chosen to.
Yeah, yeah! Just do it. - I could be run over by a bus tomorrow
One in 14,000 people are run over; one in two 20-a-day smokers are killed by their cigarettes. - It’s my friend/companion/’secret vice’. It ‘looks after me’ when I’m stressed/upset/disappointed/bored
Yeah, weakening your gums, destroying your serotonin so you get more depression and pain, slowing blood flow into your penis (if you’re a man) and shrivelling your ovaries (if you’re a woman), dimming your vision, and making you look 10 years older. If a person did this to me I wouldn’t be sending them Christmas cards. - I only smoke one to four cigarettes a day. Where’s the harm?
Compared with those who have never smoked, men and women who smoke between one and four cigarettes a day are almost three times as likely to die of coronary artery disease. - My Uncle Fred smoked every day of his life and ran marathons until he was 110!
Good! Was he insane? The average smoker pays seven years of life for their habit. - If I didn’t smoke, what would I do with my hands?
Go and look at some non-smokers or people who haven’t started yet - I use smoking to relax, concentrate etc.
So which is it – relaxation or stimulation? It can’t do both. Do non-smokers never relax/concentrate? That’s your reason for sacrificing yourself for the tobacco company? - I’m completely physically addicted and there’s nothing I can do.
Ah – so smokers never go on long haul flights or sleep eight hours without waking up to smoke? Conditioned association to certain times and activities is not physical addiction.
Source: http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/articles/quit-smoking.html
Is Stress Making You Fat?
A recent study by Kalms has found that 44% of us admit to over-eating when we are stressed. Another link between stress and weight gain is down to the adrenal glands. The basic task of these glands is to rush all your body’s resources into ‘fight or flight’ mode in response to feeling under attack or stressed. In this high alert mode, the production of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol are stepped up. Adrenaline gives rise to those unpleasant symptoms of increased heart rate and raised blood pressure that you experience when you are anxious, while high levels of cortisol can lead to a number of health problems.
Stress can result in the inability to lose weight, particularly around the tummy area, poor skin quality, rapid ageing, digestive problems and lowered immunity.
Amanda Hamilton, GMTV’s expert nutritionist, has devised some top tips designed to counter the negative effects of stress. Here is her advice:
1. Ditch the chemicals
If you can’t pronounce the name of certain processed foods’ ingredients, they probably contain toxins that can lead to weight gain. If you do buy processed foods such as tinned tomatoes, buy organic.
2. Avoid eating when stressed
Make a cup of herbal tea instead. Liquorice tea is great for stalling your appetite.
3. Only eat when you’re hungry
If you’re tempted to reach for a sugary snack, drink a glass of water and then wait 10 minutes - chances are, you’re simply thirsty.
4. Digestion starts in your mouth
Chew food properly and eat slowly. And always sit down to eat, even if it’s just for 10 minutes.
5. Be prepared
Ensure that you have the ingredients for quick nutritious meals such as stir fries and salads.
6. Eat and drink regularly
You must have breakfast, lunch and dinner each day and have two or three cleansing drinks daily (warm water and lemon). These will boost your digestion.
7. Stock up on snacks
Like nuts, seeds, dried fruit. This will stop you reaching for the biscuits.
8. Eat one treat desert a week
This will stop you binging.
9. Drink at least 4 large glasses of water each day
These can be herbal or green tea. Avoid caffeine. If you need a coffee fix, go for decaf. Or go for Miso soup.
10. Eat limitless vegetables
Pile up your plate with as many different varieties as possible.
Source: She Magazine June 2008
Top Tips for Sticking to Exercise
Need some motivation to exercise? Follow our top tips…
1. Put a ’slim you’ photo on the fridge
- you CAN be this gorgeous confident women
2. Buy colourful new workout gear
- you feel awful in those baggy trackies and if you look the part, you feel the part. Ditch the black!
3. Reduce the amount of meals you have out
- this could be undoing all your hard work so aim to keep meals out to a minimum. Home cooked is best as you are in control of every ingredient. Of course every now and then is a lovely treat.
4. Put your workouts in your diary
- and do them, every time, no excuses whatsoever. Go girl!
5. Set achievable goals
- you can always up the tempo as the weeks progress and you get fitter
6. Treat yourself
- but only if you did EVERY workout that week
7. Stop putting it off
- ”I’ll start exercising when my workload gets lighter / kids start school / the weather is better / I’ve come back from holiday ”. We’ve helped the busiest people squeeze in their workouts and if they can do it, so can you!
8. Do something you enjoy
- hate swimming? Don’t do it! Love being outside in the fresh air? Try jogging!
9. Know the facts
- fitness levels start to decline after 48 hours of inactivity but this works the other way round too. You will be suprised how quickly you can feel fitter. Start slowly, build up and after a few weeks you will be feeling fantastic.
10. Ask a friend to train with you to maintain motivation
- we also offer personal training for friends wanting to exercise together. Healthily competitive, fun and cost effective. Please see ‘Miss Fit Mate’ for more details.
Good luck!
Hay Fever advice
Want some good advice about treating Hay Fever?For those of you who suffer from the uncomfortable and inconvenient symptoms of Hay Fever, please see the following video clip from GMTV’s Dr Hilary Jones for some tips about the various treatments available. Simply click here and select ‘Play’.
Say No to Alzheimer’s
I went to the Vitality Show at the London Olympia last Friday and saw a talk by top nutritionist Patrick Holford on Alzheimer’s. Wow, what a revealing hour that was. Do you know that this is the fate of 1 in 10 of us over the age of 75? Well the good news is that 9 out of 10 of us can do something to avoid it, mainly through making certain dietary changes.
In case you haven’t heard of him, Patrick is a leading spokesman on nutrition and mental health issues, often appearing on GMTV, international seminars and press publications, discussing health related issues and advice on achieving optimum health. Here are his top ten golden rules to follow to make sure your diet is maximising your mental health.
- Eat wholefoods – wholegrains, lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, fresh fruit and vegetables – and avoid refined, white and overcooked foods.
- Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables. Choose dark green, leafy and root vegetables such as watercress, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach, green beans or peppers, raw or lightly cooked. Choose fresh fruit such as apples, pears, berries, melon or citrus fruit. Have bananas in moderation. Dilute fruit juices and only eat dried fruits infrequently in small quantities, preferably soaked.
- Eat four or more servings of whole grain such as rice, millet, rye, oats, wholewheat, corn or quinoa as cereal, breads and pasta.
- Avoid any form of sugar, and foods with added sugar.
- Combine protein foods with carbohydrate foods by eating cereals and fruit with nuts or seeds, and ensuring you eat starch foods (potato, bread, pasta or rice) with fish, lentils, beans or tofu.
- Eat cold-water carnivorous fish. A serving of herring, mackerel, salmon or fresh tuna two or three times a week provides a good source of omega-3 fats – or good vegetable protein sources, including beans, lentils, quinoa, tofu (soya) and ‘seed’ vegetables. If eating animal protein, choose lean meat or preferably fish, organic whenever possible.
- Eat eggs – preferably free-range, organic and high in omega-3s.
- Eat seeds and nuts. The best seeds are flax, hemp, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame. You get more goodness out of them by grinding them first and sprinkling on cereal, soups and salads.
- Use cold-pressed seed oils. Choose an oil blend containing flaxseed oil or hemp oil for salad dressings and cold uses, such as drizzling on vegetables instead of butter.
- Minimise your intake of fried food, processed food and saturated fat from meat and dairy.
Really want to change?
People often have misguided perceptions about what we should look like in order to fit in with what society calls ‘an acceptable image’. The media talks so much about faddy diets and the latest exercise craze, what’s good for you (expensive ‘health’ food), what’s bad for you (everything that tastes lovely). We are permanently being made to feel that we simply don’t have the right ‘look’ and this often results in someone like myself receiving enquiries from people that actually don’t need to improve the look their bodies at all. At least not for aesthetic purposes.
Julia Roberts once said she’s been hungry her entire adult life (in order to maintain her figure). This is neither healthy, fun or particularly sane and certainly not practical for us lesser mortals. In addition to it being generally depressing to see women with arms the size of matchsticks, most of the media hype is neither accurate nor appropriate for us average Joe’s who hold down full time jobs, co-ordinate families and partners, maintain a home and seek to spend time with friends at some point duing our hectic weekly schedule. The celebs we all see flogging their latest fitness videos are often lucky enough to be able to receive personal training at least 5 times a week (I would also love this!!) however, this is simply not realistic or affordable to most, nor an easy regime to maintain in the longer term.
Sooooo, what’s the answer? Well, take a good hard look at what you really need to change about yourself…and perhaps start to see what is actually pretty OK as it is too. Think your bum’s too big? I bet your partner doesn’t think so. Waist measurement above 32 inches? Well maybe it would be good to lose a few pounds for your health…
Then when you’ve figured out seriously what you want to improve upon, make the commitment and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT NOW. Make the commitment today, go on!! Read my article ’Find your inner Miss Fit’ for more tips about getting started….
