Alcohol And Exercise

On Friday afternoon after you leave work, you probably
think about going out and having a few drinks with
friends to relax and wind down.  Even though you
may think you deserve to go out and have a few drinks,
there are some things that you should certainly keep
in mind.

Like any other day, tomorrow is going to be a day
for exercise, and since you are exercising on a
regular basis, a few drinks of alcohol won't really
hurt anything, right?  Before you decide to rush out
to the local bar, there are a few things below that
you should think about before you make your choice
about going out to drink some alcohol.

Research has proven that even small amounts of
alcohol with increase muscular endurance and the output
of strength, although these types of benefits are
very short lived.  After 20 minutes or so, the
problems will begin to surface.  All of the negative
side effects associated with alcohol will easily
outweigh any possible benefits that it can have. 
No matter how you look at it, alcohol is a poison
that can really harm your body if you aren't careful.

The negative side of alcohol can reduce your
strength, endurance, aerobic capability, recovery
time, ability to metabolize fat, and even your
muscle growth as well.  Alcohol will also have an
effect on your nervous system and brain.  If you
use it long term, you can cause severe deterioration
of your central nervous system.   Even with short
term use, nerve muscle interaction can be reduced
which will result in a loss of strength.

Once alcohol reaches the blood cells, it can and
probably will damage them.  With alcohol users,
inflammation of the muscle cells is a very common
thing.  Over periods of time, some of these cells
that have been damaged can die which will result
in less functional muscle contractions.  Drinking
alcohol will also leave you with more soreness of
your muscles after you exercise, which means that
it will take you a lot longer to recuperate.

Alcohol will also have many different effects on
your heart and circulatory system as well.  When
you drink any type of alcohol, you may begin to
see a reduction in your endurance capabilities.
Anytime you drink, your heat loss will increase,
due to the alcohol simulating your blood vessels
to dilate.  The loss in heat can cause your
muscles to become quite cold, therefore become
slower and weaker during your muscle contractions.

Drinking alcohol can also lead to digestive and
nutrition problems as well.  Alcohol cause a
release of insulin that will increase the metabolism
of glycogen, which spares fat and makes the loss
of fat very hard.  Due to alcohol interfering
with the absorption of several key nutrients, you
can also become anemic and deficient with B type
vitamins. 

Because your liver is the organ that detoxifies
alcohol, the more you drink, the harder your liver
has to work.  The extra stress alcohol places on
your liver can cause serious damage and even
destroy some of your liver cells.

Since alcohol is diuretic, drinking large amounts
can put a lot of stress on your kidneys as well.
During diuretic action, the hormones are secreted.
This can lead to heightened water retention and no
one who exercises will want this to happen.

If you must drink alcohol, you should do it in
moderation and never drink before you exercise, as
this will impair your balance, coordination, and
also your judgement.  Think about your health and
how you exercise - and you may begin to look at
things from a whole new prospective.

Benefits of Cardio Interval Training

In a long-term study of the health of the people of in the United States, the U.S. Public Health Service documented the chances of developing heart disease among various groups in the population. Long before the any symptoms appeared, epidemiological research could identify high-risk groups.

Among the highest risk factors are male sex, age over 35, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high levels of certain blood fats, and a family history of cardiovascular disorders.

Other researchers have added to this list another risk factor: the compulsive, hard-driving, highly anxious personality. The greater the number of severity, the greater the person’s overall risk.

These threats to the heart can be divided into two main categories: those beyond individual control, such as age, sex, and heredity, and those that can be controlled, avoided, or even eliminated. Among those in the second category are what cardiologists call “the triple threat.” These are the high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and high cholesterol levels in the blood.

If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, your risk of having a heart attack is twice that of a nonsmoker. If you smoke, have hypertension, and eat a diet high in fats without any exercise at all, your risk is five times greater than normal.

The Healthy Heart

If these risk factors endanger the heart’s health, what enhances its well-being and improves its odds of working long and well?

Obviously, quitting cigarettes and eating a low-fat diet will help. The next best thing you can do for your heart’s sake is to give it what it needs: regular exercise or a complete cardio interval training.

The heart is a muscle, or, more accurately, a group or “package” of muscles, similar in many ways to the muscles of the arms and legs. And just as exercise strengthens and improves limb muscles, it enhances the health of the heart muscles as well.

Since World War II, several large-scale statistical studies have evaluated the relationship between physical activity and cardiovascular disease. One well-known survey compared 31,000 drivers and conductors of some bus companies. The more sedentary drivers had a significantly higher rate of heart disease than the conductors, who walked around the buses and climbed stairs to the upper level.

The why and how behind these statistics were bet explained by classic experiments with dogs whose coronary arteries were surgically narrowed to resemble those of humans with arteriosclerosis. Dogs who were exercised were had much better blood flow than those kept inactive.

The exercise seemed to stimulate the development of new connections between the impaired and the nearly normal blood vessels, so exercised dogs had a better blood supply to all the muscle tissue of the heart. The human heart reacts in the same way to provide blood to the portion that was damaged by the heart attack.

To enable the damaged heart muscle to heal, the heart relies on new small blood vessels for what is called collateral circulation. These new branches on the arterial tress can develop long before a heart attack — and can prevent a heart attack if the new network takes on enough of the function of the narrowed vessels.

With all these facts, it is now boiled down to a single question: What should be done in order to prevent such dilemmas?

Some studies showed that moderate exercise several times a week is more effective in building up these auxiliary pathways than extremely vigorous exercise done twice often.

The general rule is that exercise helps reduce the risk of harm to the heart. Some researches further attested the link between exercise and healthy heart based from the findings that the non-exercisers had a 49% greater risk of heart attack than the other people included in the study. The study attributed a third of that risk to sedentary lifestyle alone.

Hence, with employing the cardio interval training, you can absolutely expect positive results not only on areas that concerns your cardiovascular system but on the overall status of your health as well.

This particular activity that is definitely good for the heart is a cycle of “repeated segments” that is of intense nature. In this process, there is an interchange periods of recuperation. It can both be comprehensive activity and moderate motion.

Consequently, the benefits of merely engaging into this kind of activity can bring you more results that you have ever expected. These are:

1. The threats of heart attack are lessened, if not eliminated

2. Enhanced heart task

3. Increase metabolism, increase the chance of burning calories, therefore, assist you in losing weight

4. Improves lung capacity

5. Helps lessen or eliminate the cases of stress

Indeed, cardio interval training is the modern way of creating a healthy, happy heart and body.

CAUSES OF LOW BACK PAIN

Low back pain is a usual symptom among the modern civilized people.It affects mainly the middle aged and young adults of both sexes.People who work on the chair with out exercise and those who carry heavy loads regularly are prone to get this complaint.We can hardly find a person who has not suffered from back pain at least once in life.The causes of  low back-pain ranges from simple reasons like muscular strain to cancer of spine and hence backache should not be ignored.The pain is felt in lumbar and sacral region and may radiate to nearby sites.

The following are some causes for backache.

1) Backache due to diseases in the back.

2) Backache due to gynecological problems.

3) Backache due to problems in other parts of the body.


1) Backache due to diseases in the back:
                             
a) Injuries :

     1) Compression fracture of the vertebral column.
     2) Rupture of inter vertebral discs.
     3) Injuries to ligaments and muscles of back.
     4) Lumbosacral strain.
     5) Inter vertebral joint injuries.  
     6) Fracture of processes of vertebra.

b) Functional backache due to imbalance:

     1) During pregnancy.
     2) Pot belly.
     3) Diseases of the hip joint.
     4) Curvature in the spine due to congenital defect.
     5) Short leg in one side. 
  
c) Backache due to inflammatory conditions:

     1) Infection of the bone due to bacteria.
     2) Tuberculosis of the spine.
     3) Arthritis.
     4) Brucellosis.
     5) Lumbago or fibrositis.
     6) Inflamation of the muscles.
     7) Anchylosing spondylitis.

d) Backache due to degenerative diseases in the back.
 
     1) Osteoarthritis.
     2) Osteoporosis in old people.
     3) Degenaration of the intervertebral disc.

e) Tumour in the spine:

     1) Primary tumour of the bones in the spine.
     2) Metastatic tumours from other sites like prostate,lungs,kidneys,intestine ect.

2) Backache due to gynecological problems:

     a) After childbirth.
     b) After gynecological operations.
     c) Prolapse of the uterus.
     d) Pelvic inflammatory diseases.
     e) Cancerous lesions of the pelvic organs.
     f) Endometriosis.

3) Backache due to problems in other parts of the body:

     a) Renal stones.
     b) Ureteric stone.
     c) Cancer of prostate.
     d) Pancreatitis.
     e) Biliary stones.
     f) Peptic ulcer.
     g) Inflammations of pelvic organs.
     h) Occlusion of aorta and illiac arteries. 


Investigation of a case of backache:

1) Complete blood count.

2) Routine urine examination.

3) Ultrasonography of the abdomen and pelvis.

4) X-ray of the lumbar and sacral region.

5) MRI of the spine.

5) CT scan of abdomen and pelvic region.

6) Examination of rectum,prostate,genito urinary organs.


Treatment of back ache:

1) Removing the cause for backache.

2) Symptomatic treatment.

2) Back exercises.

3) Traction.

3) Yoga.

5) Surgery.

7) Homeopathy.

Becoming A Healthy Eater

Being a healthy eater requires you to become both

educated and smart about what healthy eating 

actually is.  Being food smart isn't about 

learning to calculate grams or fat, or is it 

about studying labels and counting calories.

Healthy eating is all about balanced and moderate

eating, consisting of healthy meals at least 

three times per day.  Healthy eaters eat many

different types of foods, not limiting themselves

to one specific food type or food group.

Eating healthy requires quite a bit of leeway.  You

might eat too much or not enough, consume 

foods that are sometimes more or less nutritious.

However, you should always fuel your body and 

your brain regularly with enough food to keep 

both your mind and body strong and alert.

A healthy eater is a good problem solver.  Healthy

eaters have learned to take care of themselves

and their eating with sound judgement and making

wise decisions.  Healthy eaters are always aware

of what they eat, and know the effect that it 

will have on their bodies.

When someone is unable to take control of their

eating, they are also likely to get out of control

with other aspects of life as well.  They could

end up spending too much, talking too much, even

going to bed later and later.  

You should always remember that restricting food

in any way is always a bad thing.  Healthy eating

is a way of life, something that you can do to

enhance your body or your lifestyle.  If you've

thought about making your life better, healthy

eating is just the place to start.  You'll make

life easier for yourself, those around you, and 

even your family.  

Your way to Health