Online Pilates for Virtual (and real) Exercise

Getting more exercise is usually one of the most popular New Year Resolutions, but what kind and can you get to weekly classes or a nearby gym on a regular basis? If finding time is a problem then you might be interested in a new concept which from Vitalflow which offers the first downloadable Pilates classes. If you have just got into exercise dvd’s, then this is the next step in the technological revolution as the online clips are downloadable to a laptop, MP3 player, or mobile phone.

It’s claimed to be the perfect way to practise Pilates from the convenience of your home or office at a time that suits you and most importantly, at your own pace. Not sure about the mobile phone, but certainly Pilates is a very popular and safe form of exercise that works on strengthening your core muscles in the abdomen to provide a strong natural ‘girdle’ to support your back. It is taken at a slow, concentrated pace and the small movements involved make it ideally suited to online tuition where the audio and visual instruction ensures you are doing everything properly and safely.

The clips are demonstrated by Josie McKenlay, a fully qualified fitness, Pilates and yoga instructor with 25 years experience in leading health clubs. A series of beginner and improver classes are being offered first, at a cost of US$24.99 (around £20) each, as well as a one off intermediate class for US$4.99 (less than £5).

The Vitalflow six minute work out video has achieved a five star rating on YouTube and attracted over 45,000 views. It’s not for beginners, but if you would like to have a look at it go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ-pDuwN4pU and for more information on the beginner’s pilates online go to www.vitalflow.tv.

Health Bite – Get Active For Autism Research

The National Autistic Society (NAS) is inviting people to join its 2010 active challenge team and raise vital funds to help and support people affected by autism. Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people and how they make sense of the world around them. It is a spectrum condition, which means that, while all people with autism share certain difficulties, their condition will affect them in different ways. Some people with autism are able to live relatively independent lives but others may have accompanying learning disabilities and need a lifetime of specialist support. Asperger syndrome is a form of autism where people are often of average or above average intelligence. They have fewer problems with speech but may still have difficulties with understanding and processing language.

Whatever your ability there really is something for everyone, from 5k fun runs to 500k cycles. Last year over 970 supporters raised an amazing £750k and you can walk, jog, run or cycle in any organised event and you’ll receive training and fundraising support every step of the way. All funds raised through active challenges will be used to support NAS services including Advocacy for Education service, Befriending scheme, Parent to Parent support service and help! programme.

For information on NAS active challenge events call the events team on 08450 509 001 or visit www.autism.org.uk/events and if you need help or support then the NAS Autism Services Directory is the UK’s most comprehensive directory of services and events for people with autism. Visit http://www.autism.org.uk/autismdirectory to find autism services and support networks in your area

Nintendo Wii Fit or Not?

Did you get a Nintendo Wii Fit for Christmas with the intention that it will be an easy way to get fit? Well sadly, University of Mississippi study seems to show that it may be great entertainment, but has little effect on family fitness.

The study was conducted by Scott Owens who is an associate professor of health and exercise science. Obesity is a nationwide problem, both in the US and UK, so he was curious as to whether the Nintendo Wii Fit console could help families get more physical activity, increase the amount of exercise they did, and ultimately improve family fitness.

It must be admitted this is a very small study of only eight families over a six month period who were loaned a Nintendo Wii Fit to use for three months. The study was broken into two parts so that each family’s physical activity was charted during three months without a Nintendo Wii Fit and three months with it in the home.

Before the study each family’s fitness was measured by using an accelerator that charted their movement and physical activity over a period of five days. During the time they had the Wii Fit, each family was evaluated for aerobic fitness, balance and body composition. Software on the game consoles used individual profiles to track how much each family member used the games and how much movement was involved in that use.

What the study found was that children benefited, but not their parents. The children showed a significant increase in aerobic fitness after three months with the Wii Fit but after three months of home use produced the study found no significant changes in daily physical activity, muscular fitness, flexibility, balance or body composition for families as a whole.

A familiar scenario occurred which is seen in the annual sign up for the gym that takes place in the first week of January, in that daily Wii Fit use per household declined by 82 percent over the three month period. It went from 22 minutes a day during the first six weeks right down to only four minutes a day during the second six weeks.

It seems that the psychology is the same whether it’s the gym or the latest gadget – it’s great at first, but what needs working on is staying power and discipline – which if you had then you wouldn’t need an expensive gym membership or high priced electronic trainer!

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How To Get A Good Night’s Sleep

Everyone occasionally has trouble sleeping, but if it becomes a habit then it a very damaging one for your health. You need a certain level of deep, uninterrupted sleep to help your body do its essential maintenance during the night and if you don’t get it then you definitely will suffer – ask any new mother!

New research has shown that an amazing 64% of us have a bad night’s sleep at least once a wee

k, with nearly one in five of us having sleep problems every night of the week and one in three of us is getting a minimal three to six hours a night. The main reason for sleep difficulties is usually down anxiety and stress and sadly most people put up with it, just lying there hoping to eventually fall asleep.

There are some six simple tips that can help, so let’s see if any of these work for you:

1 Pretend you are a child again and have a regular, enforced, bedtime.

2 Establish another routine in helping you unwind and relax before bed – not watching an adrenalin fuelled movie on tv, but maybe a relaxing bath or quietly meditating to or thinking of what you have to be grateful for that day. It will all help you let go of the stress of the day and be able to relax into sleep.

3 Keep the last hour of the day totally non tech and don’t watch TV, use the computer, mobile phone or iPod. However pleasurable, these will all over stimulate your brain and that’s the last thing you need when you are trying to get to sleep.

4 Make your bedroom a relaxing place that is just where you sleep and not where you keep books or TV or computers.

5 If your worries are keeping you awake, try writing them down before you go to sleep and tell yourself they are taken care of until the morning. Just doing this will help you put anxiety to one side during the night.

6 Spend some time and thought in making your bedroom a really calm, comforting sanctuary. It is your retreat from the world so make it a real pleasure to be in there.

Extra Help

If you still have trouble, before you resort to sleeping pills, do try these natural ways to encourage a good night’s sleep. I use them to combat the effects of the wind and rain which are making me anxious at the moment!

Lavender is very soothing so try having a lavender oil bath, or spray lavender in your bedroom to help you unwind.

Valerian and Hops are two herbs traditionally used to help sleep and there are two herbal remedies from Lane’s you might try. One is called Quiet Life which is particularly helpful if your sleeplessness is due to anxiety and worry and another called Kalms, especially for night time use.

Honey is used in India, just add two teaspoons to a cup of hot water and drink before bedtime.

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland that helps regulate the body’s biological clock. When your sleep pattern is disturbed then this rhythm is thrown off and supplementing with melatonin may help.

LightSleeper is a new product from a student who used to have terrible sleep problems. It uses the fact that the way the eyes track a book when reading can be soothing and she has mimicked that movement by using a light source instead. LightSleeper projects a light onto the ceiling and it moves in a controlled, circular motion, and it is claimed that following it encourages the mind to relax into a good night’s sleep. I am trying it myself so I will let you know how I get on, but if you want more information go to the website at www.lightsleeper.co.uk and you can also find it online at www.boots.com

Tight turbans Can Cause Premature Baldness

According to Sikh religious laws, the turban is required to cover a man’s long, uncut hair, which is wound into a knot, along with a turban, on top of the head. Ironically, the long hair required by Sikhs to create the ‘rishi’ knot is being put at risk by the practice itself, as the knot pulls on the hair, resulting in hair loss.

Male Sikhs start to wear their hair wound into a knot from as young as 5-years-old, which then continues when they begin to wear a turban. Permanent removal of the turban is then forbidden. Accordingly, most Sikhs wear this style for 24 hours a day, leading to noticeable premature hair loss – particularly in the frontal scalp area. The turban is steeped in 400 years of history, meaning that the majority of the 10 million male Sikhs worldwide aren’t aware of the problems that can arise from wearing one.

They need to loosen the turban as apparently more Sikh men, as young as 20, are seeking hair transplant treatment for this type of traction alopecia and it can also be caused by hair braiding, hair extensions, tight ponytails and wearing tight fitting hats.

Attention Cruise Ship Travellers

I travel a fair bit on cruise ships as a speaker, and I know a number of my readers enjoy this form of holiday – after all many of us met when you came to one of my talks onboard! The fear of any traveller is being ill while away and the Norovirus has been a real challenge over the past couple of years with many ships, and passengers succumbing to outbreaks.
Now a new report in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases last week on a combined research project from Boston University School of Medicine, Carney Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance and Tufts University School of Medicine, has worrying news for us.
They have found that widespread poor compliance with regular cleaning of public bathrooms on cruise ships may predict subsequent norovirus infection outbreaks. This is the first study of environmental hygiene on cruise ships where outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis often occur because of the close proximity of such a large group of people. Recent studies into outbreaks of gastroenteritis have confirmed that 95 percent of cruise ship outbreaks are caused by norovirus. It should be said that all this research was done on 66 ships monitored by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention so is US based, but I think we can learn a lesson from it .

The problem seems to be mainly around how thoroughly everything in a public bathroom is cleaned and disinfected as only 37 percent of the 273 randomly selected onboard bathrooms were thoroughly cleaned daily.
The most neglected area for cleaning was any handles on stall doors, or entrance and the researchers found that the stand of cleaning did not vary by cruise line and did not meet the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Vessel Sanitation Program inspection scores.
Washing your hands is of course essential, but this is no help if the bathroom doors are not clean. The solution as ever is preventive action so carry antibacterial gel and handwipes and do not touch the doors with your bare hands – use a barrier such as a handwipe of tissue to cut down the possibility of infection.
It’s not generally realised that one of the biggest sources of infection in public areas are the handrails – whether on a ship, or anywhere else. Avoid using them if you can, and if you have to put your bare hand on them then always use an antibacterial wipe of gel before touching food or drink, or your own face.
The good news is that although the thoroughness of disinfection cleaning was 30 percent on more than half of the ships, near-perfect cleaning was documented on several vessels, so it can be done and is being done on ships that maintain high standards of cleaning and monitoring.

Natural Help For Cold Feet

If you suffer from that partnership-threatening condition known as cold feet in the back during the night then copy this out and show it to your partner.

Sometimes it is just a simple matter of not being warm enough and a cosy pair of bedsocks in a natural fibre like wool, cotton or – best of all – cashmere.  For many this can solve the problem, but for others it is a year round problem and tends to be related to circulation issues.  Certain conditions such as anaemia, diabetes and Raynaud’s disease (a circulatory problem in which the hands and feet are hypersensitive to the cold) may be to blame, and it’s advisable to discuss it with your doctor.

In the meantime, these natural tips might help – however bizarre they may seem!
1. Sprinkle a small amount of ground cayenne pepper in your socks and shoes.
2. Exercise regularly as it will help improve your circulation.
3. Don’t smoke as nicotine constricts blood vessels which affects normal circulation.
4. Comfort footwear comes first as if your shoes are too tight that will also restrict circulation.
5. Before bed have a relaxing foot soak in warm (not hot) water and put on those socks!

Tai Chi Reduces Knee Osteoarthritis Pain

I am a fan of Tai Chi for many reasons: it benefits health, stamina, flexibility, co-ordination and reduces stress.  Now it seems it can also help with osteoarthritis – particularly if you are over 65 years of age.
Researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine in the USA studied a group of people of that age with knee osteoarthritis and found that if performed regularly Tai Chi exercise improved physical function and they experienced less pain.
Tai Chi, if you haven’t come across it before, is a traditional style of Chinese martial arts that features slow, rhythmic movements and there are five major styles, each named after the Chinese family from which it originated: Chen, Yang, Wu, Wu/Hao and Sun.
The study was reported in the November issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology. For the study each participant was asked to take part in 60-minute Yang style Tai Chi sessions twice weekly for 12 weeks. Each session included: a 10-minute self-massage and a review of Tai Chi principles; 30 minutes of Tai Chi movement; 10 minutes of breathing technique; and 10 minutes of relaxation.

This is good preventive news, because as we get older we are most risk for developing knee osteoarthritis, which results in pain, functional limitations or disabilities and a reduced quality of life.  In the US there are 4.3 million adults over age 60 diagnosed with it and they predict that half of American adults may develop symptoms in at least one knee by age 85.  Figures for the UK are probably similar
Because Tai Chi works on the mental and emotional/spiritual aspects, as well as the physical, the researchers believe these address the negative effects of chronic pain by promoting psychological wellbeing, life satisfaction, and more positive perceptions of health.
At the end of the 12-week period, patients practicing Tai Chi exhibited a significant decrease in knee pain compared with those in a control group as well as noting improved physical function, self-efficacy, better health and less depression.
Finding a teacher
A personal recommendation is always best and you will find teachers listed usually in natural health centres and often run classes from church halls and similar venues.

These websites can help you find someone locally to you:
The Tai Chi Union of Great Britain at www.taichiunion.com
Tai chi listings by place and at www.taichifinder.co.uk
If you can’t find a class near you, there are also instruction DVD’s.  Not really the ideal way to learn, but one I have heard recommended for a short programme is from the US at www.easytaichi.com

Sunshine in a Box for SAD People

Well the clocks have gone back and the feeling of the having few hours of daylight is a reality that most of us shrug and learn to live with. We may miss having so much light, but for people suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) it is much more serious.

The symptoms of winter blues can affect an estimated half a million people in the UK every year according to SADA, the UK charity who offer help and advice. Symptoms include: low mood, increased mental and physical fatigue, stress, lack of concentration, weight-gain, loss of libido, and poor immune health.

SAD is thought to be caused by a biochemical imbalance in the brain which controls daily rhythms and mood, due to the shortening of daylight hours and lack of sunlight between September and April. There are special light boxes which mimic daylight that many sufferer find very helpful, but a less expensive option worth trying is a new offering from

Solgar supplements are used by many health professionals and they have come up with what they call their limited edition Sunshine in a box kit which contains the ultimate ‘feel-good’ nutrition essentials. These include:

** Vitamin D3 is also known as the sunshine vitamin as it strengthens immune health and has been shown to help brighten mood.

** 5HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) which increases the brain’s serotonin levels that help stabilise mood, promote relaxation, support restful sleep, as well as damping down cravings for carbohydrate and sugar.

** Rhodiola is an adaptogenic herb and a traditional remedy that may enhance mental and physical energy, help the body adapt to stress, and increase dopamine levels which help us feel more optimistic. It is often suggesdted as alternative to St John’s Wort for mood balancing.

The Sunshine Box also includes a book on the benefits of Vitamin D as well as the supplements and is a limited edition offering for the start of the SAD season and costs £25.00. If you can’t find it in your local health store, then call Solgar on 01442 890 355 for a local stockist or via their website at www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk

Help and information on the SADA charity at www.sada.org.uk

Varicose Veins Linked to DVT

Varicose veins are generally harmless, though not considered attractive, but a new study in Graz, Austria reveals that danger may be lurking under your skin.

There are any number of reasons to get varicose veins including family history, jobs where you are standing for long periods such as hairdressers and teachers, being very overweight and of course in pregnancy.   The most common form generally seen is superficial vein thrombosis (SVT), where the veins become inflamed and swollen.  It can be a painful condition, but most doctors don’t regard it as a major problem.
However this new research looked at a potential link between varicose veins and DVT (deep vein thrombosis) which a dangerous condition that prompts blood clotting in the legs.  Clots that break away can cause thromboembolism (restricted blood flow), and even death if the clot reaches the lungs and triggers a pulmonary embolism.

Of the 50 patients examined who had confirmed SVT it was found that one in four of them had DVT, although none had shown any symptoms.   This suggests those with varicose veins need to be alert and ask for a sonagraph screening to establish if they are at risk.

Varicose veins and Vitamin K link
One factor in keeping your veins healthy is to have a good intake of vitamin K as its importance for circulatory health is already well known.
There was an important study done in France in 2007, only on male subjects, with and without varicose veins. They found a link between getting varicose veins and low levels or no activity of a protein called matrix GLA protein.  This protein is only properly activated when vitamin K levels are adequate, so the researchers at Nantes University concluded that a dood intake of the vitamin may play a role in varicose vein prevention.

If you have any history of narrowing of the arteries in your family, then some nutritionists 5 to 15 mg of vitamin K per day, but that is considerably higher than the recommended daily allowance.
If you want to increase it in your diet then it’s mostly found in dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower, also in cheddar cheese and oats.

WARNING!!! Vitamin K needs to be carefully monitored if you are on blood thinning or anticoagulant drugs after a stroke or surgery and a limited intake is suggested.

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