Healthy Fitness Zone

Archive for November, 2011

Most often my friend whines that he was depressed because of his girlfriend, who fails to respond to his leads. If not there is no such reason for long-drawn-out depressive disposition at young age. However, depression has a propensity to grow with age; this is not to be disregarded as something due to situations in life.  A broader perception involving both health and situation must be taken into consideration while tackling problems due to depression at older age. Studies conducted by WHO and Harvard Universities have indicated that the most common cause of lost days of  work in United Sates is depression . Further, it has indicated that adults above 65 years and over, even in better primary care are found to have significant depression symptoms.

Testosterone levels steadily declines from age of 50 and for those over 65 years the level goes well below the normal level. Late life depression has a long term negative effect on health involving cardiovascular and immune systems. People with depression are more prone to coronary diseases three times more than the normal people. Both medication and psychotherapy is to be administered in combination to tackle depression, so that the patients are not dependent on psychotropic medication only and are assured emotionally. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy that addresses ways and means of solving current situation and does not ponder too much on the past life of individual’s. Apart from medication simple physical activity like walking and a good family or family like environment would help a lot in reducing depression for a better life, free of ailments. After all, depression is best fought by you and your family than medication and doctor.

Physical stress usually translate in to mental stress and the vice versa is also factual. The pace and social life of human form has contributed to more stress affecting men and women differently. Stress studies indicate that men and women respond differently under stress conditions biologically. This is due to the release of different hormones released in men and women during stressful situations, hence they obtain different styles of coping with it. Men usually respond more aggressively and the mechanism behind this is the release of large amount of testosterone further enhanced by estrogen. On the contrary women manage stress through bonding activities like calling up friends and relatives and the calming effect aggression is brought in by the release of oxytoxin.

It is also revealed that women feel more stress than men due to the structure of the emotional environment. Women play a greater role than men – as a mother, career woman, housekeeper and supporter of many other women while men are fathers and sole bread winner. Naturally women are more emotionally sensitive and are designed for child rearing, thus they are more sensitive to their environment than men. Some of the tips to handle stress are,

• Sleep enough at night
• Always have three square meals a day
• Exercise regularly
• Women should practice meditation or deep-breathing exercises and men should take up some recreational sport
• Make time for yourself
• Build your self esteem and keep you at front in the crowd

Are you a person who often forgets and have lapses in attention or one who feels that enough result is not achieved for the amount of work out you do? If the answer is yes than you are deprived of adequate rest/sleep. Sleep is indispensable for the health and well being of a human body. Surveys indicate that about 40 million Americans suffer different sleep disorders. The body needs time to rejuvenate and energize which is achieved though adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to trodden emotional responses, and impaired memory. They may get into micro sleeps causing lapse in concentration and experience hallucinations. Regular physical activity improves the blood circulation in your body and sleep. Muscle fiber breakage due to exercises is accelerated by cell growth stimulated by hormones which are secreted naturally while sleeping. Thus better muscle growth is achieved by proper sleep and rest.

The need for sleep varies from individual to individual. On an average 8 hours of sleep is requisite for individuals. But even with six hours of sleep some individuals can function effectively without lethargy. But all is not good when taken than that which is required. Over sleeping is connected by researches to a variety of medical ailments like diabetes and heart diseases. Over sleeping not only aids these diseases but also it could be sign for some undiagnosed diseases. Sleep right for a better health!

The odds of developing diabetes are about one in 48 for those in the age group of 18 to 44, but after that it jumps to one in 9. Researches’ say that more than 90% of the people who suffer from diabetes belong to the Type 2 category. Now let’s see the grounds of diabetes.

Causes of Diabetes

• Poor food habits which comprises intake of refined products and inadequate protein and fiber content in the food. Intake of junk foods is one of the major causes of diabetes
• It is said that diabetes is a genetic disease as the genes pass from one generation to another. The child has jeopardy of acquiring diabetes, if both the parents are diabetic.
• Obesity is also a major reason for diabetes
• Mental depression and anxiety leads to diabetes
• Couch potatoes have the risk of acquiring diabetes as they are hardly into exercise
• Hypertension
• Women have a few specific factors too: anyone who’s had gestational diabetes, a supersize baby(more than 9 pounds) or polycystic ovarian syndrome which all often come with insulin resistance is at increased risk

How to stay safe

• Regular exercise increases your body’s sensitivity to insulin
• Eat less! It doesn’t even have to be a lot less. Include foods rich in protein and fiber
• Have a low carbohydrate, low cholesterol vegetarian diet
• It is best to avoid sugar, sugary products and potatoes.

When blood can’t get to your heart, you have a heart attack. When blood can’t get to your brain because a vessel in it ruptures or clogs, you have a stroke. The role DNA plays in causing these brain attacks varies among the different types of stroke, but a healthy diet and exercise are great at protecting you against all of them. In general, the average risk for people 18 to 44 is one in 218; for individuals 45 to 64, it’s one in 51. But if a parent had a stroke before 55, your risk is likely higher.

Having high blood pressure triples your odds. Smoking a pack a day increases your probability for one type of stroke as much as tenfold. If waking up is your idea of exercise or martini olives your preferred vegetable, your chances are also greater.

How to stay safe

• Smoking affects your blood platelets enough to cause a clot. So it is better to quit smoking
• Chomp on spinach, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, cauliflower or leafy greens. For every serving of these foods you eat per day, your risk of ischemic stroke (when a vessel clogs rather than bursts) drops by 7 per cent. The foods fiber, folate, flavanoids, magnesium and potassium all offer protection.
• Eat yogurt! Two to three servings of nonfat or low fat yogurt or other dairy a day can protect your brain. Calcium helps in reducing blood pressure and cholesterol
• Adopt a dog or cat. High blood pressure, one of the biggest stroke predicators, is strongly linked to stress. But having a pet may help you cope with both. In nail-biting situations, the blood pressure of someone who’s pet is nearby rises only half as much as the pressure of someone without pets.

You may not hear about colon cancer quite as often as lung, but it’s a big killer. Like any tumor, colon cancer can occur when poor diet, environmental toxins, chronic inflammatory, age or genetics, alone or together, triggers DNA mutations that cause cells to grow out of control. If a grandparent, aunt or uncle or cousin had colon cancer, your risk is higher than average but its two to three times higher if a parent or sibling was diagnosed or even had a larger polyp at any age.

The older you are, the more time your genes have to mutate, which may be why 9 out of 10 of these tumors form after the age of 50. Smoking may increase DNA mutations, while having more than one alcoholic drink a day can rob your body of folate, a cancer fighting B vitamin. If you’ve had polyps or uterine cancer, which appears to be triggered by the same gene as colon cancer, your chances are also greater.

How to stay safe

• Work out! Exercise revs your body, which keeps your digestive system humming. Because waste may contain potentially cancer-causing substances, the less time it’s in you, the better
• Get screened! Experts recommend that everyone should have a colonoscopy at age 50. But if you have a family history of colon cancer or even large polyps, ask to be screened 10 years before the age your relative was diagnosed.
• Eat fiber! Low carb dieters: this means you! Most people swallow about 12 grams of fiber a day, only half of what they need. Fiber binds to cancer-causing toxins and moves them out of your body faster. Good sources: cereals, beans, whole-wheat pasta, pears, apples, potatoes(with the skin) and any cracker or bread so dense it tastes like wall-to-wall carpet
• The vitamin D-calcium combo in milk may decrease cell overgrowth. Aim for 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day, which you can get in 3 cups of milk
• A multi vitamin helps ensure that your 400 micrograms of folate a day, which can help you, cut your risk by as much as half. It doesn’t get easier that that!

The pinworm is a very widespread parasite, found throughout the world in all classes of people. One in five children is infected at any given time. Because they are so common, some doctors consider them to be normal inhabitants of the intestinal tract of children.

People with pinworms are without any warning sign; sometimes there is slight itching around the anus and the buttocks. Rarely it is a strong itching and however sporadic the itching may, it disturbs you during sleep. The only indication is, finding of worms around the anus especially at night. In girls the worms may accidentally enter the vagina or into the opening of the bladder and this may cause vaginal irritation with itching and discharge and sometimes pain or urination. Untreated infections can continue indefinitely.

A number of drugs are accessible to treat the infection. Since only the adult worms are skilled, a second course is prescribed after 2 weeks to kill the new worms that have hatched from the eggs. Since the treatment is very effective, any recurrence is a reinjection rather than a failure of medication. Sometimes the entire family needs to be treated if the doctor suspects there are other members of the family who may harbor the infection.

Prevention of pinworms

The infestation with pinworm is so common amongst children that preventing its spread is unfeasible. Reasonable control measures are cleaning of fingernails and keeping them short, good hand washing after the use of toilet.