FitSugar

Surfing the Web Slows Down Dementia

FitSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:00:22 -0700

Spending an hour or two a day online might not be so bad after all. A new study suggests that spending time on the Internet increases brain activity in areas of the brain related to memory and cognition.

The study followed 24 volunteers between the ages of 55 to 78. Half of the participants were familiar with the Internet, while the other half had little to no Web experience.The study showed that amongst the participants, surfing the web stimulated the brain more than reading a book. Results also showed that the positive effects extended long after the web activity ended. Brain activation patterns of patients that had little knowledge of the Internet was that over time their grew with their experience.

Researchers speculate that not any old surfing will do.The lesson here is that it's important to keep the mind engaged and challenged whether it's surfing the Internet, doing crossword puzzles, or even playing video games.

Fight Aging With Wine?

FitSugar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:30:00 -0700

Are you looking for the fountain of youth? So is GlaxoSmithKline, and the pharmaceutical company is betting that it has found it - in red wine no less. Researchers have found a compound in red wine that slows the aging process, possibly prolonging life. American biotechnology company Sirtris discovered the compound, but Glaxo wants to own it and plans to buy the pharmaceutical start up for $720 million in cash. The company is gambling that this compound really works and hopes to reap the profits on many types of antiaging products.

Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School isolated the longevity compound resveratrol when experimenting with yeast. While helping yeast live longer may not seem that exciting, that same compound also countered the effects of a high-fat diet in mice and lengthened their little mouse life spans. Drugs modeled after this compound might help safely treat many deadly diseases that shorten our lives. So far, preliminary tests have shown the compound could lower blood sugar for people with diabetes. Sirtris hopes to develop compounds that have even stronger effects on slowing aging. Pretty cool, huh? Scientists are not encouraging us to drink more red wine, but this seems like pretty great reason to drink a glass tonight - just one glass, of course.

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FDA Warning: Think Before You Botox

FitSugar — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:45:00 -0800

A while back, remember how Botox injections were approved to help with excessive sweating? Well you may want to put a hold on using Botox for anything, because the FDA has issued a warning against Botox, since 16 deaths have been reportedly caused by it.

In case you didn't know it, Botox is made from the botulinum toxin, and it's often injected into the face to relax muscles and make wrinkles disappear. In rare instances the toxin can spread to other parts of the body, causing the muscles used for breathing and swallowing to weaken and become paralyzed, potentially proving fatal.

If you're thinking about getting Botox injections for cosmetic reasons, talk to your doctor about the FDA warnings. If I were you, I'd learn to embrace my old age since it's undeniably better than dying trying to stop it.

Want to see a video about this? Then read more

Warning: Don't watch this if you have a thing against needles.

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Another Reason To Get Off the Couch: It Ages You

FitSugar — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:00:00 -0800

We all have our couch potato moments. Winter means hibernation, right? Well don't make chilling out on the couch your long term hobby because doing so could put a decade on your life.

In a recent study researchers measured telomeres, the DNA that bookends our chromosomes, of 2041 identical twins. Telomeres act as a kind of chromosomal clock, since they shorten each time a cell divides. Shorter telomeres indicate an older biological age, as opposed to actual age. Kind of like the inverse of tree rings – the more rings the older the tree; the shorter your telomeres the older you seem biologically.

In the twin telomere study, researchers found that folks getting on average 16 minutes exercise were about 10 years biologically older (having 200 base pairs of shorter telomeres) than the most active participants who exercised for three hours a week. So far, no research has proven that shorter telomeres means shorter life expectancy, but they do lead to more age related disease, like Alzheimer's. Bottom line: turn off the telly and go walk the doggie.

If you are spending time on the couch, you can always try this invigorating, yet relaxing back stretch on your couch.

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Healthy Dose Link Time!

FitSugar — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:30:00 -0700

About: Yoga has the yoga RX for seasonal allergies.

Health Bolt asks: Is Pilates hype or here to stay? You know I vote for the latter!

Back in Skinny Jeans tells us that Helen Mirren blames our fair sex for the size zero problem.

fitPod has a music mix up: "Painkiller" is a 30 minute plus joyride. Download it today for free.

iFit&Healthy declares boiled veggies nutritionally useless. Steam that broccoli, baby!

The Skinny Website tells us that Brittany Snow, of Hairspray, had an eating disorder as a teenager. Will spreading this message help keep teenagers from starving themselves?

Mark's Daily Apple shares the ten rules of aging well. Are you following them?

Elastic Waist announces their new show. Help them name it!

YumSugar has a tasty slow cooker recipe for pork roast for you to try.

Bodies by Glamour shares that Lezlye of "THE BL" avoids the scale but uses bi weekly photos as motivation.

Fitness Fixation tells you 11 things she has learned from exercise. These things will get you out of your seat and moving!

Leslie at The Weighting Game discusses the shocking anti-anorexia ad from Milan fashion week.

That's Fit knows you are curious if chatting on your cell phone for hours will harm your hearing.

Complete Running Network wants you to know a thing or two if you are running for two.

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Being Lonely is Bad for Your Health

FitSugar — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:00:00 -0700

No one likes to be lonely. Now, not only is it not fun, it's also really bad for you, healthwise.

It is being reported that loneliness may accelerate the rate of physical decline that occurs naturally with age. Later in life, lonely people appear to have significantly higher blood pressure than the non-lonely. What's more? Being lonely may also affect the quality of your sleep. Jeez, talk about a big bummer.

I don't know about you, but I'm certainly not looking to speed up the aging process anytime soon so let's get out and start moving to combat aging and loneliness. Socialize. Go to the gym. Join a group exercise class or mommy stroller group. And if helping yourself doesn't work, then help somebody else -- Volunteer. Instead of trying to fill your own needs, you may even find that your needs are met by meeting somebody else's needs. There are lots of ways you can be active all while helping out somebody else, so check out all my "ACT"ivism ideas here.

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Relax Already: Chronic Worrying Can Lead to Memory Loss

FitSugar — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:00:00 -0700

If you feel like a stress case now, I just want to let you know that it could affect how well your memory functions in your future. Not that I want to add to your worries, I just provide another reason why it is important to keep your attitude in check.

A recent study followed 1,256 men and women, all who were nearly 77 years old for over 12 years. Participants received medical and mental evaluations annually. Those participants with the highest degree of psychological distress (negative emotions) were about 42% more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment. The impairment was not severe enough to be diagnosed as dementia, but marked enough to be noticed and labeled "develop mild cognitive impairment." The connection between stress and memory was more marked in men than women, although the reasons for the difference remain unclear.

Since people's basic tendency toward negative emotions doesn't shift drastically over short periods of time, it is good to start cultivating a positive attitude and learning techniques for dealing with stress. If you are looking for some ideas on how to relax, here are a few different ideas for you to check out.

Fountain of Youth, Right There in Your Gym

FitSugar — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:30:00 -0700

I don't know about you, but I am dying for them to find a fountain of youth. Turns out that there is something you can do in the gym to help ward off aging: Weight lifting.

Weight lifting is not only great for keeping you looking good, but it is also great for keeping you youthful too! A new study on Prevention.com has found that women who strength-train 3 times a week have more of a type of growth hormone that counteracts age-related muscle loss and protects bone density. Producing growth hormone gets harder with age, and pumping iron is the best way to slow the decline.

So get to it and pump some iron -- You can thank me down the road. Here's a great starter arms workout video so you can begin today!!!

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Yoga for Your Face...Seriously

FitSugar — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 03:30:00 -0700

I showed you all that Naked Yoga does really exist, and now I bring you a new trend - Yoga for the Face. It goes by many names: Revita-Yoga (NYC), Happy Face yoga facial toning (Atlanta), and the Yoga Face Lift (Northern CA).

Muscle tension in the face contributes to lines and wrinkles while sagging jowls are caused by weak muscles. Face toning regimens have appeared for years in ladies magazines, and now that yoga is really taking off this is the latest trend to ride its coat tails.

Here are some of the exercises:

Crow's Feet: Open the eyes wide, as if startled or scared to decrease unwanted lines around the eyes.
Wide Nose: Alternate nostril breathing to create a more narrow and symmetrical nose.
Plumper Lips: Tap lips 5 times with your index finger.

While I agree we all hold unnoticed tension in our faces and relaxing the face can help decrease tension that causes headaches and neck pain, I am not sure that this is the panacea for an aging face. Let's face it (sorry for the pun) aging happens. Making a more flexible face seems like a better alternative to paralyzing it with Botox and way less of an invasion than plastic surgery. Yet, I don't think yoga for the face will be keeping anyone looking younger. I do think it will definitely make folks feel younger since making all those faces will certainly make you feel goofy and childlike. So go ahead, stick out your tongue then pucker your lips. Chances are you will end up smiling like my 2 year old after she blows a raspberry.

Want to see some more "poses"? Then read more

View 3 Photos ›

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UVA vs. UVB Sun Rays

FitSugar — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:00:00 -0700

We all know that the sun is bad for our skin. Here's a quiz to test your knowledge on UVA and UVB rays.