Most days I blast through the day…training, work, eating, time with friends or family, sleep…a full 24-hour schedule. I forget to think about or express gratitude for how amazing my life is and the wonderful people that enrich each day. There is this deep sense of appreciation, that the world is dynamic, moving, morphing, and alive and that I can share in this alivenenss that surrounds me.

As you go through your day be aware of little reminders – of the importance of being appreciative of life and the people in your life.

Today I am sincerely grateful for the amazing staff I have at DSWFitness. They continuously amaze me as they configure a way to get it done and on time. Thank you Tish, Connie, Karen, Lisa, Nancy, Treva, Karen R, and Colleen. You ROCK and have fun doing it!

Researchers at Ohio State University reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, that women who regularly practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their blood. IL-6 is an important part of the body’s inflammatory response and has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and a host of other age-related debilitating diseases.  Reducing inflammation may provide substantial short- and long-term health benefits.

So grab your yoga mat and head to class or enjoy a relaxing set of poses in a quiet space in you home.

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/yogastress.htm

Do you know what the recommended physical activity gudelines for American adults are published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and supported by the American College of Sporst Medicine and the American Heart Association? Here are some choices:

a. 20 minutes, 3 times per week – moderate or high intensity exercise

b. 60 minutes, 6 times per week moderate intensity exerice

c. 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise

d. 300 minutes a week of moderate or high intensity exerice

If you answered C you are correct!  Yup, 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise is all it takes to reduce the risk of many adverse health outcomes – that’s just 2 hours and 30 minutes per week folks. And keep in mind that some activity is better then no activity! Plus, activity bouts of at least 10 minutes in duration count towards meeting the guidelines. And yes, additional benefits can be gained as the amount of physical activity increases through higher intensity, greater frequency, and/or longer duration.

So what are you waiting for – your goal this week is 150 minutes physical activity – pass it on!

healthierus.gov

Yes, one of the risks of cycling is crashing. OUCH! If you ride enough miles it is bound to happen at some point in time. Most long time cyclists each have a personal crash tail of woe. Lots of variables…traffic, close proximity of other riders, wind, rain, ice, road  debris and road conditions, visibility, bike handling skills, attentiveness and yes,  riding on those skinny tires.

Watching one of your cycling team mates or friends go down is a painful experience…and a horrific sight. So do be careful out there on the road, stay alert, and ride safe. Joe…sending you good vibes – heal strong, heal fast. You’ve got a goal buddy – 27 pull-ups – March 14th!

Body scan of 250# woman vs. 120# woman

There are two primary types of body fat – subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat lies just below the surface of the skin and insulates the body. Visceral fat, which accumulates around the organs deep inside the belly, is linked to insulin resistance, heart disease, and diabetes. In 2005, Cris Slentz, an exercise physiologist at the Duke University Medical Center, and his colleagues reported that sedentary overweight men and women who followed an exercise program equivalent to a 30-minute walk six times a week for eight months stopped gaining visceral fat. If they increased their exercise routine to the equivalent of jogging 20 miles a week, they lost seven percent of their abdominal fat as well. Surprisingly though, people in the control group, who were not told to increase their exercise, saw their visceral fat increase by nine percent after six months.

Just another go reason to be active every day! Pass it on.

You can’t argue with the research…

• Researchers have long known that people who have frequent sex are generally healthier
• Most health benefits seem to be linked to penile-vaginal intercourse
• Frequent sex may also bring longer life, fewer coronary events, lower blood pressure

Researchers have long known that not only is sex fun (when done with the right person, of course), but that people who have frequent sex tend to live longer and have healthier hearts and lower rates of certain cancers. These studies also show that men with an active sex life have healthier sperm, and sexually active women have fewer menopause symptoms.

The possible health benefits of sex are spelled out in a soon-to-be-published article in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. The editor-in-chief of that journal, Dr. Irwin Goldstein, says that when you read about the physical benefits of sex, “you can’t help but say, ‘Holy God! Sexual activity is a very important thing to do. Human beings were really meant to do this.’ ” Goldstein is also the director of sexual medicine at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego, California.

In the article, which reviews several decades’ worth of studies on sex and health, researcher Stuart Brody concludes that penile-vaginal intercourse — and not other types of sexual activity — confer the most health benefits. For example, five years ago, Brody, now a professor of psychology at the University of the West of Scotland, asked 46 people to give a stressful speech to a nasty audience. His team measured parameters such as blood pressure and levels of stress hormones while the participants prepared for the speech and directly after giving it. He found that the study subjects who’d had intercourse in the two weeks preceding the speech had markedly lower blood pressure and lower levels of stress hormones. The same wasn’t true for people who’d participated in other forms of sexual activities. Brody says “evolution strongly rewards behaviors that increase the likelihood of successful gene propagation, and only one behavior — penile-vaginal intercourse — is potentially reproductive.”

But sex researcher Beverly Whipple, who wrote an article in 2003 titled “The Health Benefits of Sexual Expression,” disagrees, saying that other types of sexual activity are also associated with physical health benefits. She adds that it’s not entirely clear whether sex makes people healthier, or whether healthy people tend to have more sex. Whipple, professor emerita of psychology at Rutgers University, in New Jersey, states “We can’t definitively say there’s a cause-and-effect relationship between sex and better health.”

While the underlying reasons might be unclear, here’s a list of health benefits that people who have frequent sex enjoy.

1. A longer life
In a British study, men who had intercourse at least twice a week lived longer than men who had sex less than once a month. A U.S. study had similar findings, and a Swedish study examining the sex lives of 70-year-olds found that men who died before their 75th birthday had ceased having sexual intercourse at earlier ages.
The Swedish study didn’t find that women lived longer if they had sex more frequently, and neither did a study in North Carolina. However, in the North Carolina study, women who reported enjoying sex more lived longer than those who didn’t report enjoyment.
2. A healthier heart
In a British study, people who had intercourse twice a week or more were less likely to have heart attacks and other fatal coronary events. Those who had sex less than once a month had twice the rates of fatal coronary events, compared with those with the highest frequency of intercourse.
3. Lower blood pressure
In a study published in the journal Biological Psychology, people who had sex more often tended to have lower diastolic blood pressure, or the bottom number in a blood pressure reading. Brody’s experiment, in which more sexually active study subjects had markedly less dramatic blood pressure spikes <http://topics.cnn.com/topics/High_Blood_Pressure>  when they were put under stress, also supports the benefit.
4. Lower risk of breast cancer
A French study found that women who have vaginal intercourse not at all or infrequently had three times the risk of breast cancer, compared with women who had intercourse more often.
5. Lower risk of prostate cancer
A Minnesota study found that men who’d had intercourse more than 3,000 times in their lives had half the prostate cancer <http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Prostate_Cancer>  risk of those who had not. While it’s not clear why this would be true, studies have found that men who had more intercourse tended to have better prostate function and eliminated more waste products in their semen. “These differences could conceivably impact prostate cancer risk,” Brody writes in his article.
6. Pain relief
Whipple and others have conducted studies suggesting that more sexual activity helps relieve lower back pain and migraines.
7. A slimmer physique
A study of healthy German adults revealed that men and women who had sex more frequently tended to be slimmer than folks who didn’t have as much sex. Sex burns 50 to 60 calories per encounter, Whipple says, so sex three times a week for a month would burn about 700 calories — or the equivalent of jogging about seven miles.
8. Better testosterone levels
A group of men being treated for erectile problems saw greater increases in testosterone when, along with the treatments, they had frequent sex. Specifically, men who had sex at least eight times per month had greater increases than those who had sex less than eight times per month.
9. Fewer menopause symptoms
Menopausal women in Nigeria experienced fewer hot flashes when they had sex more frequently. Brody says this may be because sexual activity helps regulate hormonal levels, which in turn affect the symptoms of menopause <http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Menopause> .
10. Healthier semen
In three studies, men who had frequent intercourse had a higher volume of semen, a higher sperm count and a higher percentage of healthier sperm, compared with men who tended to participate in other sexual activities.

adapted from Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent

http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Sexuality

January 7th in Tucson, Arizona…70 degrees, water temperature 80. It’s another one of those “why would you want to live anywhere else days”. Changing up my swim venue for 2010. Just one of the many things I plan on changing up in life this year.

How about you? What are you going to rearrange to keep your life moving forward and to live life fully?

When it comes to exercise and staying fit good DNA may lay a foundation, but you will need more than luck or a fortune cookie to maintain a strong, fit, and vibrant mind and body, especially as you age.  Maintaining good health requires resposibility and purpose, plus a plan to carry out or implement what it is you want to accomplish. Strategies that will lead to results.

So what are your intentions for 2010 and how are you going to design your roadmap to achieve your goals? Eat that fortune cookie and then map out your plan and implement it today!