Walking a Dog Keeps You Fit

You may be aware that government guidelines for keeping healthy are for you to get 150 minutes of moderate exercise every week. One way to do that and do even more is to get a dog.

A study involving hundreds of British households found that dog owners are four times more likely than other people to meet this standard. They also found that most dog owners will far exceed this standard by the walking close to 300 minutes a week with their dogs.

When the researchers compared the dog walkers with non-dog walkers, the dog walkers had 200 more minutes a week that they were doing.

Personally, I’ve had 2 dogs in my life and my last one, Kan’e (a Bichon), was 16 when we had to put him down a month ago. I’ve made a commitment to continue walking without him. So…every afternoon and again late at night, I take myself for a walk in his honor and for my health!
(Reported The New York Times, Special Advertising Supplement, January 12, 2020)

Docs are catching up with my recommendations for preventing Alzheimer's Disease

Welcome to my blog. I’ll be posting blurbs once or twice a week similar to what I was publishing in my monthly Teplitz Report.

For years, I’ve been writing about the benefits of exercise, nutrition, relationships, sleep and mental activities including meditation to keep us healthier, living longer, being more productive and having enjoyable lives. It’s been fun for me to see the medical profession as its been catching up with what I’ve been recommending.

The latest “catch-up” is Alzheimer’s disease. In the December 2018 issue of Discover Magazine, the featured article was reporting on researchers using lifestyle changes to fight Alzheimer’s. What are the lifestyle changes that they are recommending? How about reducing chronic stress, getting more exercise and restorative sleep, eliminating toxins from molds, eliminating fast foods that are fat-laden and reducing sugar.

By using Big Data, the researchers are now able to validate how powerful these lifestyle changes can be. Years ago, I wrote how beta amyloids might not be the key to solving Alzheimer’s disease, which is what recent research is now confirming. As a matter of fact, 99% of the drugs targeting the reduction of amyloids have failed to stop Alzheimer’s even if they reduced the amount of amyloids in the brain

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There is an approach called The Bredesen Protocol that is a comprehensive personalized program aimed to reverse Alzheimer’s by doing a lot of testing which includes blood tests, genetic evaluations, cognitive assessments and an MRI. All this is crunched in a computer which comes up with a plan to reverse inflammation, insulin resistance and the destruction of vital brain functions. The recommendations are where healthy living is recommended rather than drugs. The results border on miraculous!

So…having the medical profession catching up to my recommendations is a very rewarding feeling. I’m looking forward to other catch-ups happening.

Exercise Can Help Your Perform Better At Work

A study reported at the website www.Mercola.com had 200 professionals in a computer company, a life insurance agency, and a university keep records on job performance and mood as it related to exercise they did at work. Most spent 30-60 minutes at lunch doing everything from yoga to strength training to basketball.

The results: 6 out of 10 reported their mental skills and ability to meet deadlines improved on days they exercised; their moods were far better; they were less likely to experience the "post lunch dip", and they felt more satisfied when going home at the end of the day. So... a little exercise will result in happier and more productive employees. Is that worth exercising at work?

Kids Aren't Walking & It's Hurting Their School Performance

A young child, before they go to school, seems to never slow down. In this state of activity, they learn languages, social skills, and mathematics. Once they hit school age, they spend more time sitting than moving. After school they're not moving either. They are playing video games, doing instant messaging, and surfing the internet. By the time they get to high school, around one third of the students aren't even getting the minimum of an hour a day in exercise.

Not exercising contributes to weight gain, as well as future susceptibility to diabetes and heart disease. New research from the University of Illinois reports that children who scored low on physical fitness ranked further down the scale on state achievement tests than did kids who scored high in fitness.

So…worried about your kids grades? Then, have them close the book and get their bodies moving.

Music And Exercise Really Do Mix

A study reported in Heart & Lung found that 33 cardiac patients who exercised to music did twice as well on a test of cognitive abilities as compared to a group who exercised in silence. So…get that portable CD player out and start your exercising.

Speaking Of Satisfaction In Your Life..

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A survey of 336 entrepreneurs by Ball State University found that business owners who exercised daily were 14% more likely to have reached their income goals and 10% more likely to feel personal satisfaction at work. People who ran and lifted weights were 3 to 4% more likely to hit sales targets and feel content.

While this study was of entrepreneurs, everyone can have more satisfaction at work just by adding some exercise to their lives. In other words, it may really pay to exercise!

Treadmill Tests for Heart Function Missing A Key Piece

The New England Journal of Medicine reported that Doctors evaluating treadmill examinations for heart function are missing a key element in determining how effective the heart is working. That element is looking at the way the heart is beating during the recovery period after the work-out. The Journal reported that looking at the irregular heart beats during recovery is a better indicator of the risk of death over the next five years.

So...if you're going to be having a stress test on a treadmill, make sure the Doctor records and analyses what happens during the recovery period.

If You Have Become a Care Giver, You've Have Got To Exercise

Researchers at Stanford University had 51 women who were taking care of family members with Alzheimer's disease exercise 3 to 4 times a week for 30 minutes. Most of them chose walking. A number of these women were working outside the house as well as spending 71 hours per week in care giving. The women reported less stress, more energy, and lower blood pressure.

So.even though finding the time can be difficult, fitting exercise into your day can make a real difference in how you handle the stress of care giving. 

WOMEN NEED EXERCISE FOR HEART DISEASE

In Prevention Magazine, Dr. Nieca Goldberg, spokesperson for the American Heart Association, reported that doctors aren't referring women patients with heart disease to exercise and lifestyle programs. There appears to be gender bias in not referring women.

So, if you are a woman and have heart disease or know someone who does, make sure to talk with your doctor about the need to be in a cardiac rehabilitation program.

REDUCE BACK PAIN

Tai Chi is a form of exercise that uses very slow, almost dance-like movements. A study in "Alternative Therapies" had two groups of 26 people each with back pain. The group which did Tai Chi for six weeks reported less pain and improved moods as compared to the controls. Tai Chi is also considered a moving meditation, so you also get the benefits of meditation, too!

Your local Rec Center may have courses you can take.

THE POWER OF 60 SECONDS

While running stimulates bone growth three times better than walking, a researcher found that just 60 seconds of running in the middle of your walk would be enough to signal your bones to add mass. Even jumping jacks, swing dance or step aerobics for 60 seconds can trigger the building of bones. So...Flash Dance anyone.

PEOPLE WITH ASTHMA CAN EXERCISE

If you have asthma you can exercise without triggering an attack if you do the following:

 Do warm-up and cool down timesDrink plenty of water before, during and after exercisingKeep salt under 2,000 mg per dayIncrease Vitamin C to 2,000 mg per dayDo swimming and water aerobicsAvoid weather extremesKeep your inhaler handy just in case

And don't forget to have fun!

A LITTLE EXERCISE GOES A LONG WAY

So, how little exercise can you do that would reduce your risk of diabetes and breast cancer? Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., fitness research director for the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, MA reports that moderate exercise, meaning breaking into a sweat once a week, can lower the risk of diabetes by 30%. An hour of walking a day can lower the risk of breast cancer by 20% and three hours of brisk walking a week can cut the risk of heart disease by 40%.

 A little exercise anyone?

KIDS GET HIGHER SCORES ON STATE EXAMS

A recent study had one class of school children using Brain Gym® Movement Exercises a few minutes each time they were focusing on preparing for their state wide tests. The scores of these kids were compared with a control group that didn't do the exercises. The kids using the Brain Gym experienced their scores doubling. For information on finding a Brain Gym Practitioner in your area call the Educational Kinesiology Foundation or you can go to their web site at www.braingym.org.

One of the books I've written apply these exercises in the business area and is called Brain Gym For Business. You can find it on my web site at www.teplitz.com and comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee.

GET THE MOST FROM YOUR WEIGHT TRAINING

Is it better to lift weights 1 day or 3 days a week?  In a study where two groups lifted the same total amount of weights, one group did all 3 reps on one day while the other did one set of reps per day over the 3 days a week. The results were pretty amazing. The people who lifted 3 days a week improved their strength 60% more than the once-a-week exercisers. So lift those weights but don't work too hard.

ELDERLY BENEFIT FROM TAI CHI

Tai Chi consists of breathing exercises performed in conjunction with a series of body postures. In a recent issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, researchers found that tai chi "may be beneficial to elderly individuals for muscular strength and endurance enhancement," and that it is safer, more cost-effective and easier to perform than other forms of exercise. Every session consisted of a 20-minute warm-up period, 24 minutes of Yang tai chi training, and 10 minutes of cool down exercises. Both men and women appeared to show "significant" increased in muscle strength after participating in the tai chi program.

EXERCISE AND THE HEART

One of the ways of preventing heart disease is to get physically active.  One study showed women who were physically active had a 60 to 70% lower risk of heart disease.  Something as simple as a brisk walk is great to do.  If you can't get 30 minutes in at one time, you can even do 10 minutes three times a day.

To Stretch Or Not To Stretch Before You Exercise

The wisdom has been to stretch before you run so that you reduce injuries caused by not being warmed up.

A recent study reported by George Washington University is challenging that wisdom. They divided runners into two groups. One stretched before running and the other didn’t.

The researchers found that injury rate was the same for both groups, about 16%.

However, they did find that runners who were regular stretchers before being put into the non-stretch group had a 40% higher chance of injury.

For the non-stretchers who were part of the stretching group, their risk of an injury went up 22%.

What this means to me is if you are a stretcher, keep stretching and if you’re a non-stretcher, don’t.

The Power Of Exercise For Curing Cancer And Preventing Its Recurrence

When you get cancer and are going through treatment, doctors have been recommending that you take it easy and don’t exercise much. Well, it turns out that this advice is wrong and that exercise can reduce the risk of dying from cancer and also minimize the side effects caused by the treatment. This recommendation comes from a report by Macmillan Cancer Support. The report says getting active can help you overcome the effects of cancer and its treatments, such as fatigue and weight gain. Previous research has shown that exercising to the recommended levels can reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence by up to 30 percent. Bowel cancer patients’ risk of dying from the disease can be cut by around 50 percent by doing around six hours of moderate physical activity a week. Harvard Medical School researchers found patients who exercise moderately, 3 to 5 hours a week, reduced their odds of dying from breast cancer by about 50% as compared to sedentary women. The benefit even remained constant regardless of whether women were diagnosed early on or after their cancer had spread. For men, 3 hours per week of moderate-intensity physical activity lowered the risk of prostate cancer death by about 30% and also lowered the rate of the disease progressing by 57%. Exercise can even reduce the side effects from conventional cancer treatments, such as: Reducing fatigue and improving energy levels Improving heart health Improving appetite Maintaining a healthy weight Sleeping better and even Preventing constipation As Jane Maher, chief medical officer of Macmillan Cancer Support and clinical oncologist said “if physical exercise were a drug, it would be hitting the headlines".  So…if you have a friend or loved one who has cancer, urge them to start getting active and getting a moderate level of exercise (including strengthen training).

Stopping Colds In Their Tracks By Exercising

Researchers reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that regular exercise can cut the odds of catching a cold by 50%.

The researchers asked healthy volunteers to keep a record of any coughs and sniffles they experienced over a three-month period during fall and winter. The volunteers who were physically active on five or more days of the week had colds that lasted a total of 5 days out of the 3-month period, while the control group, who did little or no exercise during the same period, were affected by colds and sniffles for nine days.

As a side benefit, the exercisers who did get a cold cut the severity of the symptoms by 31%.

Finally, if you do get a cold, continuing to exercise even at lower level of intensity and time can make you feel better. So…just put one foot in front of the other and keep exercising.