Exercising For Your Health

Many of you may believe that going to the gym means lifting heavy weights and sweating it out on the treadmill for an hour to make sure that you look good for the beach. What you may not realise is that, besides the physical changes that take place in terms of the appearance of your body, there are many more physiological changes taking place inside your body, improving your state of health.

Last week, I encouraged you to keep active on a daily basis and gave you tips on how to do that. Here, I will reiterate the importance of keeping active in order to improve your physical and mental health.

I have already explained that exercise is important in lowering blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure, or maintaining a healthy blood pressure in individuals with a normal blood pressure. High blood pressure increases your risk for a heart attack and stroke. Also, high cholesterol increases your risk for heart disease. As I have mentioned previously, exercise also plays an important role in lowering cholesterol levels. Thus, by controlling your blood pressure and cholesterol by exercising regularly, you will reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke.

Exercise also plays a vital role in the musculoskeletal system. With age, you lose muscle mass, which means that your fat percentage increases, putting you at a higher risk for heart disease. By performing light resistance exercises 2-3 times per week, you can maintain your muscle mass and thus keep your body fat percentage at a healthy level. These exercises will also help to maintain the strength of your muscles, allowing you to perform your daily activities with more ease for longer. By performing gentle stretching exercises, you maintain flexibility of the muscles and mobility around your joints, thereby reducing your risk for injury. Weight-bearing exercises (exercises performed using your own body weight) assist in maintaining bone strength and are thus essential in patients with osteopenia or osteoporosis. Moderate-intensity, low-impact exercises are recommended for individuals with arthritis and assist in maintaining mobility and reducing pain in arthritic joints.

Exercise is an essential component in the management of various chronic diseases, such as diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. For diabetic patients, exercise is, in fact, one of the primary treatments for the management of this condition. By keeping the diabetic patient active, you assist in maintaining reasonable glucose levels, reduce their risk for heart disease, and assist in weight management. Exercise is also important in reducing the risk for developing diabetes. In neurological conditions, exercise can assist in managing the progression of these diseases.

Exercise provides a wonderful means to manage stress levels and enhance mood. When you exercise, endorphins – ‘happy hormones’ – are released, which improve your mood, making you feel better about yourself. Cardiovascular exercise and aerobics result in greater release of endorphins. Exercise also enables you to relieve the stresses of daily life, as you make time for yourself to focus on you and your body. Yoga and stretching exercises are wonderful for relieving stress and tension.

So, next time you think about starting an exercise regimen, think about the health benefits you will gain, rather than the physical changes you expect to see. Although it may often feel like a struggle to exercise, you will quickly miss it when you can no longer do it or have to stop temporarily.

Remember: don’t exercise if you are sick or on an antibiotic! The additional physical strain of exercise may be too much for your body to cope with if you are already trying to fight off an infection. Also, your immunity drops immediately after exercise, which means that you are likely to get sicker if you continue to exercise when you are not well. Listen to your body and take a break!  

 

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Exercise or Illness?

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One of the most common excuses I hear from people who don’t exercise is that they don’t have time to exercise. I realise that it is hard to dedicate an hour a day to formal exercise; however, it is essential to keep active on a daily basis in order to maintain a healthy body and mind, especially if you are stuck behind a desk all day.

It is recommended that you do at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week, or about 30 minutes per day. This does not necessarily have to be spent sweating it out at the gym, but rather, it can be accumulated throughout the day. It is important to remember that the benefits of exercise are cumulative. This means that whether you do three 10-minute bouts of exercise throughout the day, or one 30-minute bout of exercise, the benefits are the same. But, in order to benefit from the exercise bout, your heart rate does need to increase, which means that a concerted effort does need to be made. Ideally, you want to exercise at least 3-5 times per week, for a minimum of 45-60 minutes. This does, however, depend on what your exercise goals are.

Having said that, a little bit is better than nothing. So, on the really hectic days when you simply cannot get to the gym to do an hour of formal exercise, here are some suggestions to get you active at work:

·         Go for a walk around the building as many times as possible during your lunch break – take a colleague to keep you company.

·         Always take the stairs instead of the lift.

·         Make sure you get up from your desk every hour and walk around a bit.

·         Fetch your own glass of water from the kitchen every hour; don’t have it brought to you.

·         Design your office so that you are forced to get up every now and then, for example, put your printer where you can’t reach it.

·         Walk to your colleagues offices instead of phoning them.

·         Choose simple exercises that you can do in your office, for example, stand up and sit down 10 times each hour.

At the practice where I work, we have a saying: “He who has no time for exercise must create time for illness!” I hope that you will think about this carefully and change now before it’s too late. Exercise is the best form of preventative medicine and it’s freely available to everyone! But, if you have not been active on a regular basis, please get medical clearance from your doctor before starting an exercise programme and consider starting under the supervision of a biokineticist.

Good luck and remember to keep moving! J

Cholesterol

Many of you have probably been told at some stage that you have high cholesterol and that you either need to start medication immediately or you need to adjust your diet and lifestyle to try and manage your cholesterol levels conservatively. Some of you may decide to take medication so that you can eat whatever you want; others may decide to eat whatever they want anyway and start medication when it becomes necessary. What you don’t realise is how detrimental to your health high cholesterol levels are.

It is important to mention that cholesterol is a vital component in cell structure, playing an important role in the functioning of the cells. Therefore, it is necessary in the body. However, high cholesterol levels put individuals at a much higher risk for cardiovascular disease than individuals with lower cholesterol levels. Ideally, total cholesterol levels should be below 5mmol/L. When testing cholesterol levels, it is essential that a total cholesterol profile is done using a vile of blood, as opposed to a simple finger-prick test, as there are various levels that need to be considered for diagnosis. Two important levels to consider are high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the ‘good’ cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the ‘bad’ cholesterol.

So why are high cholesterol levels so bad? Cholesterol is a thick, waxy substance that sticks to the inner surface of the blood vessels when there is too much of it. This causes a build up in the vessels, which results in a thickening and hardening of the vessel walls, which in turn results in narrowing of these vessels. This means that there is reduced blood flow through the vessels, putting an unnecessary strain on the cardiovascular system. Because the vessels become hardened, they lose their elasticity, which results in an increase in blood pressure through the vessels. As I mentioned last week, increased blood pressure also puts undue strain on the cardiovascular system.

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There are numerous factors that increase a person’s risk for high cholesterol, including:

·         Gender (men > women)

·         Age

·         Genetics

·         Obesity

·         Body fat distribution (fat carried mainly in the waist is a greater risk)

·         High blood pressure

·         Diabetes

·         Diet

·         Smoking

·         Stress

·         Lack of physical activity

Exercise plays an important role in lowering total cholesterol levels, as it increases the level of HDL (‘good’ cholesterol), which assists in lowering LDL levels. It is recommended to do at least 30 minutes of aerobic cardiovascular activity 5 times per week. This means that you must be able to breathe reasonably comfortably, but your heart rate must be elevated for the entire 30 minutes. This will help to keep the blood flow through the blood vessels strong, thereby lowering the risk for heart disease.

Resistance exercises (light weights) and stretching are also recommended for an overall improvement in body condition. Remember: you want to increase your calorie expenditure, so that excess calories are not stored as fat in the body, contributing to high cholesterol levels.

For those of you who think you are too young to worry about your cholesterol, remember – it runs in the family. So, start exercising regularly now to avoid high cholesterol levels later. Do as much as you can as often as you can and be careful of what you eat!

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Please visit the Good Life Dieticians blog for more information on how to maintain a healthy diet while still enjoying the good life!

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The Silent Killer

Hypertension, more commonly known as high blood pressure, has been nicknamed ‘the silent killer’ because there are no noticeable symptoms, but its presence can be fatal. An individual with hypertension is at an increased risk for renal (kidney) disease, cardiovascular disease and stroke. The table below classifies blood pressure for adults aged 18 years and older.

Category	Systolic BP (mmHg)	Diastolic BP (mmHg)
Optimal	< 120	< 80
Normal	< 130	< 85
High-normal	130-139	85-89
Hypertension      Stage 1      Stage 2      Stage 3	140-159 160-179 180	90-99 100-109 110

Adapted from ACSM’s Exercise Management for Persons with Chronic Diseases and Disabilities, Second Edition, 2003.

Systolic blood pressure refers to the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart is contracting. Diastolic blood pressure refers to the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart is relaxed. Hence, high blood pressure puts undue strain on the heart. ACSM identifies the following risk factors for hypertension: obesity, high sodium intake, smoking and inactivity. All efforts should be made to modify lifestyle first, but medication may be administered immediately when necessary. It is important to note that hypertension generally does not occur in isolation; often other pathologies exist, such as high cholesterol and insulin resistance.

Exercise plays an important role in managing cardiovascular disease and hypertension by improving cardiovascular fitness, increasing circulation and relieving stress. The following exercise guidelines can be used for persons with hypertension:

·         Increase aerobic activity (walking, jogging, cycling, rowing, etc.) – try to do at least 30-45 minutes 3-5 times per week

·         Avoid heavy weights

·         Avoid movements that involve lifting weights above your head

·         Remember to breathe throughout exercises – don’t hold your breath!

Remember: check your blood pressure on a regular basis so that preventative measures can be taken before the silent killer strikes!

Posture

I have discussed how lower back pain can be caused by poor ergonomics and suggested ways to improve how you sit at your desk. Now I will discuss standing posture and how poor posture can cause back and neck pain.

Most of you have probably been told at some stage in your life to “stand up straight and pull your shoulders back”. As a child, you might think that your parents are just nagging you, but actually, the poor postural habits you develop at a young age stick with you throughout your life. Most of you have also probably seen old men and women walking through a shopping centre completely hunched over, barely able to lift their heads. This is the result of poor postural habits.

Below is a picture illustrating what good and poor posture look like from side on. In good posture, the ear, shoulder, hand, knee and ankle should all be in the same line. In the picture showing poor posture, you will see that the head protrudes forward, the shoulders are rounded and there is a severe arch in the lower back. This ‘hunchback’ posture puts undue stress on various parts of the body, particularly the neck and lower back regions, resulting in pain.

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With age, the postural muscles become weaker, while other muscle groups become tighter, which often result in the ‘hunchback’ posture. Also, eye sight often deteriorates with age, resulting in elderly individuals looking down and therefore hunching over. Such age-related factors are inevitable. However, if individuals are educated at a young age about the importance of maintaining good posture, they will carry this with them throughout their lives and be able to maintain better posture for longer. It is never too late to improve poor postural habits. By strengthening certain areas and stretching others and by creating more awareness, poor posture can be improved.

Some tips:

·         Don’t simply say to your children: “Stand up straight and pull you shoulders back”. Explain why by pointing out the way the old lady next door walks.

·         Squeeze the muscles between the shoulder blades together.

·         Don’t lock your knees while standing; keep them slightly bent.

·         Pull your belly button in towards your spine at all times.

·         Grow tall – feel as though someone is lifting you up by a string attached to the top of your head.

Your posture – the way you carry yourself – says a lot about your character and attitude. Walk tall and feel proud of who you are!