Fitness After Menopause
It’s inevitable for all women, and causes many changes. Triggered by low levels of the female hormone oestrogen, menopause symptoms range from mental (sadness, depression) to physical (chronic back pain, stiffness, insomnia, irregularity, poor circulation, weak muscles, shortness of breath, and loss of bone mass). Although it cannot be prevented, some of its negative effects can be minimized with exercise and relaxation techniques.
Exercise can do a lot more than we could ever imagine. For starters, a minimum of four 30-minute exercise sessions each week will help to keep a women’s body to produce a little oestrogen by stimulating the adrenal glands to convert the male hormone androstenedione into oestrogen. When continued over several months, exercise helps build stronger bones and lowers the risk of osteoporosis as compared with non-exercisers. Although every woman is different, most women lose upwards of 25 percent of bone mass by the age of 65. This is accompanied by reduced muscle strength and flexibility, making the body less adaptive and more prone to injuries. In fact, scientists have proved that bone loss begins around the age of 35, proceeds slowly up to the menopause, and then accelerates during the five to seven years after the menopause, when oestrogen levels are low.
THE IMPORTANCE OF REGULAR EXERCISE
A reduced risk of heart disease – The risk of heart disease increases for women after menopause due to a deficiency of oestrogen, which has a protective effect on the heart. A lower chance of developing diabetes mellitus – Blood sugar imbalance is likely after menopause. Maintenance of muscle tone and strength – To safeguard against the loss of muscle mass post menopause.
WHICH TYPE OF EXERCISE IS BEST?
The type of exercise that you take obviously depends largely on resources, how much time you have to devote to exercise and your own personal preference. One can choose from a gym, fitness classes, sports centers and local YMCAs. For those who would rather exercise at home, there are many excellent exercise videos another publications on the market.
Studies show that women performing aerobic activity or muscle-strength training reduced mortality from cardio vascular disease and cancer. Activities like walking, cycling swimming and rowing work well.
DEEP MUSCLE RELAXATION
Try yoga, meditation, deep breathing, peaceful environments. This simple exercise can be very useful -
Find a peaceful place. Lie on your back, or sit in a comfortable chair, and close your eyes. Tense your right hand (or left, if your are left-handed), then let it go loose. Imagine it feels heavy and warm. Repeat with your right forearm, upper arm and shoulder, then move on to the right foot, lower leg, upper leg. Now do exactly the same thing with the left side of your body. By the time you have finished, your hands, arms and legs should feel heavy, relaxed and warm.
For more information about these exercises and to get free full color exercise routines, diet plans and grocery lists, visit
Diabetes and Fitness
There are two main types of diabetes, type I and type II. Type I diabetes is characterized by the pancreas making too little or no insulin. An individual with diabetes type I will have to inject insulin throughout the day in order to control glucose levels. Type II diabetes, also known as adult onset diabetes, is characterized by the pancreas not producing enough insulin to control glucose levels or the cells not responding to insulin. When a cell does not respond to insulin, it is known as insulin resistance. When a subject is diagnosed with type II diabetes, exercise and weight control are prescribed as measures to help with insulin resistance. If this does not control glucose levels, then medication is prescribed. The risk factors for type II diabetes include: inactivity, high cholesterol, obesity, and hypertension. Inactivity alone is a very strong risk factor that has been proven to lead to diabetes type II. Exercise will have a positive effect on diabetes type II while improving insulin sensitivity while type I cannot be controlled be an exercise program. Over 90% of individuals with diabetes have type II.
Exercise causes the body to process glucose faster, which lowers blood sugar. The more intense the exercise, the faster the body will utilize glucose. Therefore it is important to understand the differences in training with type I and type II diabetes. It is important for an individual who has diabetes to check with a physician before beginning an exercise program. When training with a diabetic, it is important to understand the dangers of injecting insulin immediately prior to exercise. An individual with type I diabetes injecting their normal amount of insulin for a sedentary situation can pose the risk of hypoglycemia or insulin shock during exercise. General exercise guidelines for type I are as follows: allow adequate rest during exercise sessions to prevent high blood pressure, use low impact exercises and avoid heavy weight lifting, and always have a supply of carbohydrates nearby. If blood sugar levels get too low, the individual may feel shaky, disoriented, hungry, anxious, become irritable or experience trembling. Consuming a carbohydrate snack or beverage will alleviate these symptoms in a matter of minutes.
Before engaging in exercise, it is important for blood sugar levels to be tested to make sure that they are not below 80 to 100 mg/dl range and not above 250 mg/dl. Glucose levels should also be tested before, during, after and three to five hours after exercise. During this recovery period (3-5 hours after exercise), it is important for diabetics to consume ample carbohydrates in order to prevent hypoglycemia.
Exercise will greatly benefit an individual with type II diabetes because of its positive effects on insulin sensitivity. Proper exercise and nutrition are the best forms of prevention for type II diabetics. It is important for training protocols to be repeated almost daily to help with sustaining insulin sensitivity. To prevent hypoglycemia, progressively work up to strenuous activity.
As with individuals with type I diabetes, carbohydrates should also be present during training to assist in raising blood sugar levels if the individual becomes low.
William is a personal trainer and runs stopsmoking.e-moma.org stopsmoking.e-moma.org
How to Get Rid of Bad Breath
Bad Breath…An Embarrassing Dilemma
Having bad breath is a dilemma shared by millions of people around the world. Bad breath is the very general terminology and halitosis is the word used in the medical arena, but generally speaking, there is no difference between the two.
Bad Breath is generally caused by the breakdown of proteins by the bacteria in the mouth. Bad breath and how to get rid of bad breath is a very common problem, which is very often not noticeable to the person who has it. Bad breath can also be associated with a sinus infection due to nasal discharge from the sinuses to the back of the throat may cause odor in the mouth. In many cases, bad breath or halitosis may be the result of an infection in the mouth. Whatever you may call it, the occurrence of bad breath unmistakable and very embarrassing.
Bacteria and Bad Breath
Bacteria, just as people, go through life consuming food and discharging waste. The majority of bad breath or halitosis will come from bacteria on the tongue, not necessarily due to plaque on the teeth. There are well over 600 different types of bacteria that can be found in the average person’s mouth. The complex microbial structure of your tongue dorsum will provide a perfect locality for anaerobic bacteria, which will flourish under a continuously forming tongue coating of food particles, dead departed cells, post nasal drip, as well as overlying bacteria, living or dead.
Your Tongue and How It Relates To Bad Breath
When there is no infection that can be found, you may want to attempt brushing your tongue. As bacteria may be collecting volatile sulfur compounds on the tongue’s exterior surface and causing bad breath. Food that may also collect between the teeth, on the tongue and around your gums may decay, also leaving a distasteful odor. Use of a tongue cleaner may also help with the bad breath condition. Your gums, tongue as well as teeth may be harboring odor causing bacteria. If so, you will want to adopt a rigid daily hygiene habit to discourage bacteria growth. Be sure to also brush the back of your tongue, not only the front.
Bad Breath Treatment Ideas
The more common treatments like mouthwashes, peppermints, chewing gum, oral sprays, and intestinal cleansing, will simply be inadequate. There are hundreds of web sites making available magic breath freshening products that have been found to be nothing but ineffective.
If you find that your bad breath is persistent, and you have ruled out all other medical or dental possible causes, specialized testing or treatment may be required. As of now, chronic halitosis is not understood very well by many physicians and dentists, therefore effective treatment may not be easy to locate.
Bad Breath…Is There Any Hope?
Bad breath is a common problem for a good many people around the world, in light of the great variety of things traversing our mouths on a daily. It really is no surprise. Bad breath is not a subject that is talked about between most people. It is still one of those taboo subjects.
Bad breath is also prevalent in both healthy and sick people. The most effective treatment for bad breath is to find the cause and treat it. Beings that bad breath is generally caused by bacterial putrefaction in the mouth, it can generally be treated by better cleansing of the mouth.
My name is Charlene Rhodes, I am an avid natural health enthusiast. When I can use natural, that’s where I go. I research and write articles on various health disorders and the best way to deal with them naturally. I have a how to get rid of bad breath site for this particular topic located here. squidoo.com/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-breath/” target=”_blank How To Get Rid of Bad Breath
All About Laser Hair Removal, Permanent Hair Removal, and Electrolysis
As we get older, we tend to get more wrinkles, lines and unwanted hair growing in places it shouldn’t. Our goal is to provide you with some straight facts about laser hair removal. The first question most people ask is will they make a good candidate for this type of treatment. The number one requirement is that one’s hair must be darker than the surrounding skin. So if you are fair skinned and have dark, unwanted hair, you would indeed be a good candidate. Dark skinned people tend to absorb too much laser energy and therefore are not considered candidates for this procedure. People also want to know about permanent hair removal and the difference between laser hair removal and electrolysis.
One thing to keep in mind is that laser hair removal or electrolysis is not cheap. It can range in price from a few hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the size of area being treated. The average treatment cost is approximately $500 and most people require about 4 treatments. Your best bet is to go and speak with a consultant who will be able to give your more specific pricing information. Shaving, waxing and plucking are hair removal techniques used, however, they are not effective at permanent hair removal. There is better and better equipment entering the market with greater results. Even though more treatments lead to longer lasting results, there is no way to precisely predict for any given person.
The most common areas people look to have hair removal take place is the bikini line, legs, face, upper lip, chest, underarms, back and abdomen. This can be done using the laser hair removal or electrolysis procedure which claims to be a permanent hair removal process. It does tend to be painful, but most people consider it tolerable. There may be some temporary post treatment swelling and redness but this will quickly subside. Others have experienced permanent pitting or scarring so before you begin any treatment you must gather as much information as you can to make an informed decision. No matter which hair removal process you choose, you will likely feel more confident and happy with your appearance.
Amy-Jo Strutt is a successful health and beauty writer and regular contributor to anti-aging-skin-carecentral.com an online resource to help you find the very best anti aging skin care products. anti-aging-skin-carecentral.com/hair-removal.html anti-aging-skin-carecentral.com/hair-removal.html