Disease Prevention

The Best Thing You Can Do to Improve Health: Get Moving
healthy living

Top Way to Improve Your Health: 30 Minutes of Cardio Daily

Eating enough fiber, saying no to cigarettes, limiting your alcohol intake, and seeing your doctor for annual cancer screenings are all ways to encourage a long, healthy life.
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Eating enough fiber, saying no to cigarettes, limiting your alcohol intake, and seeing your doctor for annual cancer screenings are all ways to encourage a long, healthy life. But according to Dr. Mike Evans, associate professor of family medicine and public health at the University of Toronto, the single best thing you can do to take care of yourself is move your body 30 minutes every day.

We're not talking high intensity marathon training by any means. While it's great to get your heart rate up with intense cardio, just 30 minutes of simple walking does the trick when it comes to your health. Do it all at once, or break it up throughout your day, but fitting in 30 minutes of cardio every single day is proven to reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, anxiety, knee arthritis, depression, and once you get older, hip fractures, dementia, Alzheimer's, and early death. Convinced yet?

It can be tough to squeeze in a daily workout, but with all those amazing health benefits, exercise should be a priority no matter what. Tell me, are you getting in your daily half-hour workouts?

How Exercise Helps Prevent Diabetes, Cancer, Other Diseases
health news

Studies Confirm Exercise's Disease-Fighting Benefits

More reasons to exercise for your health!
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More reasons to exercise for your health! A few recent studies have found just how much adopting a regular exercise routine can help prevent and treat certain diseases.

A new report has found that there's a definite link to inactivity and Type 2 diabetes, even if you're otherwise healthy. The study, from the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, looked at 50 healthy and moderately active adults and found that once they reduced their activity level by half (without any other changes to diet or lifestyle) they had increased levels of blood glucose after eating, which meant they could be at risk for developing diabetes and heart disease. "Even in the short term, reducing daily activity and ceasing regular exercise causes acute changes in the body associated with diabetes that can occur before weight gain and the development of obesity," the lead researcher said.

Read on for more about just how important staying active is.

Physical Traits Give Clues About Your Health Risks
healthy living

Physical Traits Give Clues About Your Health Risks

There are many things we can do to enhance our health and prevent illness.
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There are many things we can do to enhance our health and prevent illness. Exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, not smoking, limiting your alcohol intake, and reducing your stress can add years to your life. Who knew that your appearance and physical characteristics such as finger length and your sense of smell could let you know what health risks you might be prone to? Check out the list below from Prevention magazine.

  • Finger length: For women, if your index finger is shorter than your ring finger, then it means you have double the risk of osteoarthritis of the knee. If yours is longer or even with your ring finger, you're in the clear, but if it's not, do exercises to strengthen your knees, such as squats and lunges. Arthritis and finger length are both related to low levels of estrogen, so that's why the two are connected.
  • Arm length: Extend your arms in T-position out to the sides and measure the distance form fingertip to fingertip. If the distance is less than 60 inches, you're at a higher risk for Alzheimer's. So do activities that stimulate your brain and your body. Take a painting class, learn to play a musical instrument, play chess, or take dance lessons.

There's more, so keep reading

Why Cardio Still Matters
healthy living

Why Cardio Still Matters

Just in case you were planning on using the news that exercise doesn't help you burn fat when you stop exercising I have a few reminders of why cardio matters.
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Just in case you were planning on using the news that exercise doesn't help you burn fat when you stop exercising I have a few reminders of why cardio matters.

  1. Aerobic exercise greatly reduces your risk of heart disease and increases your life expectancy. It is like strength training for your heart, which one could argue is the most important muscle of your body.
  2. Vigorous cardio has been shown to help prevent cancer. So work your interval training and bike up those hills.
  3. Regular moderate cardio exercise boosts your immune system. Along with strengthening your heart, aerobic exercise creates physiological changes to your immune system making it stronger.
  4. Light to moderate cardio can not only improve your mood, it decreases the symptoms of depression. Feeling gloomy? Go for a walk, run, or bike ride and sweat your blues away.
  5. Moderate aerobic exercise eases insomnia. If you don't suffer from insomnia, getting your heart rate up can still improve your sleep, helping you fall asleep more quickly and have better quality sleep as well.

If you are now in need of a plan, check out these cardio routines for all types of aerobic exercise and cardio equipment. Tell me, why do you do cardio?

Source

Top Five Ways to Prevent Diabetes
healthy living

Top Five Ways to Prevent Diabetes

I just read that the rate of diabetes in the US has doubled in the last decade.
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I just read that the rate of diabetes in the US has doubled in the last decade. If you thought diabetes was a disease that only older people needed to worry about, you should think again. About 90 percent of the new cases of diabetes are the type 2 variety, which is the form of diabetes linked to obesity. There are many ways you can cut your risk, by up to half, by being a little proactive. Here are some suggestions from Care2.

  1. Get as close to your ideal weight as possible. Carrying extra pounds poses a huge risk when it comes to developing diabetes. More than 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.
  2. Include regular exercise in your schedule. Not only will exercising keep your weight down, but it also strengthens your immune system. Working out regularly, at least four hours a week, can significantly lower your risk for diabetes.
  3. Watch those hot dogs and cheese. A diet high in saturated fat can raise the LDL (bad) levels of cholesterol in your body. This can lead to heart disease and also affect blood sugar levels for some people. So limit the animal products you consume.

To find out what else you can do, read more