Monday 11 March 2013
Sunday 10 March 2013
Exercise -Sitting Time =Good Sleep
Insomniacs looking for a good night's sleep may want to hit the
treadmill, take a walk or play a game of golf or tennis because a new
report released on Monday shows exercise promotes good sleep and the
more vigorous the workout the better.
Just 10 minutes of exercise a day could make a difference in the
duration and quality of sleep, the survey by the non-profit National
Sleep Foundation showed.
"We found that exercise and great sleep
go together, hand in hand," Max Hirshkowitz, a sleep researcher and the
chair of the poll task force, said in an interview.
"We also found a step-wise increase in how vigorous the quality is, in
terms of how much you exercise. So if you say you exercise a lot, we
found better sleep quality. For people who don't exercise at all we
found more sleep problems."
Earlier research studies have
shown the impact of exercise on sleep, but Hirshkowitz, who is a
professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said the survey is
the first to detail the benefits of exercise in a nationally
representative poll of this size.
People who described themselves as exercisers reported better sleep
than their more sedentary counterparts, although the amount of sleep, an
average of just under seven hours on weeknight, was the same.
More
than 75 percent of the 1,000 people questioned in the Internet and
telephone poll who described themselves as exercisers said they slept
well, compared to just over half of people who did no exercise.
Very
active people reported fewer sleep problems, dozed off quicker and
needed less shut eye a night to function at their best during the day.
Sitting, more than eight hours daily also had a negative impact on sleep, according to the poll.
NAPS, STRUGGLING TO STAY AWAKE
Nearly
half of Americans report experiencing insomnia occasionally, and 22
percent suffer from the condition, which can be caused by stress,
anxiety, pain and medication, every or almost every night, according to
the foundation.
In addition to poorer sleep, non-exercisers also
were less likely to report good or excellent health compared to active
people and had more trouble staying awake while driving and eating.
Nearly
three times as many sedentary people said they have trouble keeping
awake during the day than exercisers. They also took more naps and had
more symptoms of sleep apnea, a disorder that causes shallow breaths or
pauses in breathing during sleep, than exercisers,More than 44
percent of non-exercisers were at a moderate risk for sleep apnea, a
higher percentage than active people questioned in the poll.
The
survey also seemed to debunk the idea that exercising early or late in
the day would adversely impact sleep because it showed that being active
at any time of the day was better than being sedentary.
"Exercise
is beneficial to sleep," Dr. Barbara Phillips, a member of the poll
task force, said in a statement. "It's time to revise global
recommendations for improving sleep and put exercise - any time - at the
top of our list for healthy sleep habits."
Full Credit to Click Here
Pic Source: blogs.palmbeachpost.com / www.everydayhealth.com
Labels:
Excercise,
Good Sleep,
Health articles,
Health Information
Saturday 9 March 2013
Webinar : Cloud Computing in Health Care
In this webinar held February 13, 2013, Dennis Giokas and Ron Parker of
Canada Health Infoway talk about the significant opportunity that exists
to use cloud computing to deliver digital health to Canadians in a timely and effective manner.
Must Watch video for techies, who believes in Cloud computing technology and its implementation across various sectors.
Labels:
cloud computing,
Health articles,
Health Information,
Videos
Friday 8 March 2013
Positivity on life leads to maintain healthier cholesterol levels
U.S. researchers writing in The American Journal of Cardiology have
found better levels of "good cholesterol" and other markers of heart
health in the blood of middle-aged study subjects with a sunny outlook
on life.
At least some of the connection between optimism and
blood lipids in the new study appeared to result from the optimists'
tendency to have a healthy body weight and a "prudent" diet, according
to researchers.
"It is one additional piece of evidence suggesting that our
psychological health and physical health are intertwined, and that
viewing the world optimistically may have some tangible benefits for our
health," said lead author Julia Boehm, a research fellow at the Harvard
School of Public Health.
Previous research by Boehm and her
colleagues had shown a link between optimism and lowered heart attack
risk, so they decided to look at whether there was an independent
connection between optimistic or pessimistic outlooks and cholesterol,
which is known to play a role in heart attack risk.
The group analyzed data from the Midlife in the United States study,
which included phone interviews and lab tests for 990 people aged 40 to
70.
Based on the interviews, participants' levels of optimism
were rated on a scale from 6 to 30 depending on their agreement or
disagreement with statements like "in uncertain times I usually expect
the best."
People with higher optimism scores also had more
high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the desirable form of cholesterol that
is believed to protect against heart disease. They also had lower levels
of triglycerides, the fatty molecules involved in hardening of the
arteries.
There was no connection between optimism and total cholesterol
levels, or to low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol. Fore every increase of 5 points on the optimism scale, however, HDL in the blood increased by 1 milligram per deciliter.
That
same HDL increase would translated to a three percent reduction in the
risk for heart disease, experts said. For comparison, regular exercise
can decrease heart disease risk by six percent.
"Honestly, I'm
not surprised, this is what I expect," said Franz Messerli, a
cardiologist at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, who was not
involved in the study.
It's still impossible to say whether
optimism causes a change in cholesterol, or cholesterol influences
outlook, or both are subject to some third variable, Messerli said.
Boehm's
group did try to account for other influences, and when they factored
in lifestyles, including diet and alcohol consumption, and body weight -
the link between optimism and blood fats became weaker.
That
suggests that optimists' tendency to have healthier lifestyles and
weight may explain "in part" the differences in their blood lipids,
researchers said.
Conversely, the risk of heart attack and stroke
goes up in depressed people, Messerli said. "But nobody has shown the
opposite, that all of a sudden if you go from a pessimist to an optimist
your risk goes down," he added.
Full Credit to Reuters Health / Zawya.com
Kickstart Your Health By Neal Barnard,MD.
A Must watch Video, by Neal Barnard, MD. Although its a audio talk its worth listening .To all those who want to get control on what they eat and how to balance their diet will find a detailed explaination by Neal Barnard.
Author Neal Barnard, MD, is one of America's leading advocates for good
nutrition. A pioneering clinical researcher, Dr. Barnard has conducted
various studies on the ability of nutritional interventions to treat
high-cholesterol diets, hormone imbalances, diabetes, and other
conditions. His groundbreaking findings have appeared in numerous
scientific journals such as The American Journal of Cardiology, Diabetes
Care, and Preventive Medicine.
Dr. Barnard is the founder and president of the Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a nonprofit organization of doctors and
laypersons that promotes preventive medicine, especially good
nutrition, and addresses controversies in medicine, including ethical
issues in research. He is also an adjunct professor of medicine at
George Washington University as well as the president of The Cancer
Project, a PCRM subsidiary that advances cancer prevention and survival
through nutrition education and research.
Dr. Barnard is the author of 14 books, including Dr. Neal Barnard's
Program for Reversing Diabetes, Breaking the Food Seduction, Foods that
Fight Pain, and Eat Right, Live Longer. He is also the editor-in-chief
of Good Medicine and the author of hundreds of articles and opinion
pieces. Dr. Barnard is a regular guest on network talk and news shows
and a busy public speaker.
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