SLimiting

Exercise and Body Heat

2009-03-06T03:17:00.001-08:00

Your body heats up when you exercise, and it will show on your skin. Your skin feels hotter to the touch and may look flushed, and you sweat. Although those things let you know how much heat your body is giving off, they are actually the ways that the body cools itself.
Working muscle produces heat in two ways:
The chemical energy used in muscles contracting is not efficiently turned into mechanical energy. (It is about 20 to 25 percent efficient.) The excess energy is lost as heat.
The various metabolic reactions (anaerobic, aerobic) also produce heat. Your body needs to remove this excess heat. The heat produced by exercising muscle causes blood vessels in the skin to dilate, which increases the blood flow to the skin. This elevated blood flow to the skin and the large surface area of the skin allows the excess heat to be lost to the surrounding air.
Also, receptors carry the message of excess heat to your body's thermostat, the hypothalamus in the brain. Nerve impulses from the hypothalamus stimulate sweat glands in the skin to produce sweat. The fluid for the sweat also comes from the increased skin blood flow. The sweat evaporates from the skin, removing heat and cooling the body. Evaporation of sweat removes fluid from the body, so it is important to maintain fluids for blood flow and sweat production by drinking water and/or sport drinks. Sports drinks also replace ions (sodium, potassium) that are lost in the sweat, and provide additional glucose to fuel anaerobic and aerobic respiration.

Eat your way to health

2009-03-06T03:03:00.000-08:00

Eating is one the most important events in everyone’s life. We enjoy eating - it’s part of who we are and part of our culture; in fact, eating is the hottest universal topic of all times. We depend on eating: the foods we eat are the sole source of our energy and nutrition. We know so much about eating: we are born with the desire to eat and grown up with rich traditions of eating. But we also know so little about eating - about how the foods we eat everyday affect our health. We are more confused than ever about the link between diet and health: margarine is healthier than butter or not; a little alcohol will keep heart attacks at bay but cause breast cancer; dietary vitamin antioxidants can prevent lung cancer or can not. Eating is a paradox and a mystery that our ancestors tried and modern scientists are trying to solve.

Aerobics

2009-03-06T02:48:00.000-08:00

Aerobic exercise is a moderate intensity workout that extends over a certain period of time and uses oxygen in this process. Well, in the present times, carrying out aerobics has become the most happening workout trend among the youth. Not only is performing aerobic exercise interesting, but also is very beneficial for health. There are different types of aerobics like fitness walking, jogging, swimming, kickboxing, fitness walking, inline skating, bicycling etc.

How to start exercising

2009-03-05T21:53:00.000-08:00

One of the main reasons for not exercising is not knowing where to start. Here are some tips on how to start exercising.

Each exercise session should follow this pattern: warm up, stretch, aerobic exercise, cool down and stretch.

Begin exercising for a short time (e.g. ten minutes) on non-consecutive days (e.g. three days a week) with a small amount of effort.

Gradually increase the frequency, time and/or intensity of your exercise; increase the length of time you exercise for before you increase the intensity; increase your exercise time by five to ten minute increments.

Exercise for Children

2009-03-05T21:33:00.000-08:00

Like adults, kids need exercise.
Most children need at least an hour of physical activity every day. Regular exercise helps children

Feel less stressed
Feel better about themselves
Feel more ready to learn in school
Keep a healthy weight
Build and keep healthy bones, muscles and joints
Sleep better at night
As kids spend more time watching TV, they spend less time running and playing. Parents should limit TV, video game and computer time. Parents can set a good example by being active themselves. Exercising together can be fun for everyone. Competitive sports can help kids stay fit. Walking or biking to school, dancing, bowling and yoga are some other ways for kids to get exercise.

Exercise and Physical Fitness

2009-03-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

There are 1,440 minutes in every day. Schedule 30 of them for physical activity!

Regular exercise is a critical part of staying healthy. People who are active live longer and feel better. Exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight. It can delay or prevent diabetes, some cancers and heart problems.

Most adults need at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five days per week. Examples include walking briskly, mowing the lawn, dancing, swimming for recreation or bicycling. Stretching and weight training can also strengthen your body and improve your fitness level.

The key is to find the right exercise for you. If it is fun, you are more likely to stay motivated. You may want to walk with a friend, join a class or plan a group bike ride. If you've been inactive for awhile, use a sensible approach and start out slowly.

Most Effective Ab Exercises

2009-02-27T03:52:00.000-08:00

Want to know the most effective ab exercises? The following ab exercises are the results of the American Council on Exercise's study to determine the most effective ab exercises. While ab exercises won't spot reduce fat from the belly, strong abs are important for keeping your body healthy and protecting your spine.

The Bicycle exercise is the best move to target the rectus abdominis (i.e., the 'six pack') and the obliques (the waist), according to a study done by the American Council on Exercise. To do this exercise correctly:
1. Lie face up on the floor and lace your fingers behind your head.2. Bring the knees in towards the chest and lift the shoulder blades off the ground without pulling on the neck.3. Straighten the left leg out while simultaneously turning the upper body to the right, bringing the left elbow towards the right knee.4. Switch sides, bringing the right elbow towards the left knee.5. Continue alternating sides in a 'pedaling' motion for 12-16 reps.

Energy needs and weight loss

2009-02-26T23:28:00.000-08:00

Your body uses food for energy. It stores any excess energy as fat. This means if you eat more food than your body needs for daily activities and cell maintenance, you will gain weight.To lose weight, you need to get your body to use up these stores of fat. The most effective way to do this is to:
reduce the amount of calories you eat
increase your levels of activity.This is why experts talk about weight loss in terms of diet and exercise.

The eatwell plate

2009-02-26T23:13:00.000-08:00

If you want to get the balance of your diet right, use the eatwell plate.The eatwell plate makes healthy eating easier to understand by showing the types and proportions of foods we need to have a healthy and well balanced diet.

The eatwell plate shows how much of what you eat should come from each food group. This includes everything you eat during the day, including snacks.