Live Younger Now!

Some say there is no need for supplementing the diet with vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplements.  The Metzenbaum Congressional study revealed that every age group had nutrient deficiencies below the recommended level.  The “no need for supplement” naysayers base their position on the belief that we can get all of our nutrition from food.  That statement is perhaps true but no one, according to Metzenbaum, eats properly and if we did the daily caloric intake would be more than our lifestyle could burn off.  Finally, the challenge:  Plan three well balanced meals per day based on the current food guide pyramid for one week.  Then go to your favorite grocery store and shop, on paper, for the items needed for the menus planned.  You will discover that the cost is prohibitive.  Food supplements provide nutritional insurance.  They are not a substitute for eating as well as we can.

“Older people who walk 72 blocks a week, or roughly 6 to 9 miles, don’t lose as much brain function or gray-matter tissue as seniors who walk less, a study found.  Previous research has shown that brains shrink with age, which may cause memory loss.  It’s long been hypothesized that exercise may help prevent mental deterioration with age; this study suggests that gray matter may be the key to that protection.  Study participants (average age: 78) needed to walk the full 72 blocks to get the benefit, but walking more didn’t provide an additional help.”  Source: Neurology, published online Oct. 13, 2010  For information on anti-aging products click here.

“Walking boosted brain function in a study of formerly sedentary individuals who had gotten almost non exercise in the previous six months.  During the study, they walked for 40 minutes three times a week for a year.  Over that time, regions of their brains that previously had little to do with one another began to interact.  Since connectivity is a hallmark of your healthy brains, the results suggest that exercise may help turn back the brain’s clock.” -Source: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, August 2101-  For addition information on anti-aging click here.

“Having good friends and a close family may prolong life according to an analysis of 148 studies that focused on relationships.  The studies assessed the strength of a person’s social ties by looking at factors including marital status, household size, participation in group activities, number of social contacts, and self-reporting levels of support or isolation.  Overall, participants (average age: 64) with strong social ties increased their odds of survival by 50 percent, over an average 7 year period, compared with those who were more isolated.  The authors found that healthy social relation relationships are as good for you as quitting smoking and better for you than exercising or losing weight.  Of course, doing all those health promoting things while friends and family support you would be better still.” source: PLoS Mdicine, July 27, 2010

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“Both short bursts of exercise and lengthy endurance tests can boost cell health, two studies report.  Stress can shorten bits of DNA called telomeres, which cap and protect chromosomes.  In one study, short telomeres were observed in sedentary postmenopausal women who reported being stressed out, but those who vigorously exercised for 40 minutes over three days had long, healthy telomeres despite high stress.  Another study showed that cells may live longer in marathon runners.  Researchers found that a natural process called apoptosis, or programmed cell death, was suppressed in men who had just run a morning marathon.”  Sources: PLoS ONE, May 2010; BMC Physiology, May 12, 2010

“Feeling down?  Go outside.  Researchers analyzed 10 studies involving 1,252 people and learned that five minutes of light exercise outdoors can boost self-esteem and brighten mood.  The effects were even greater if the time was spent over water.  All participants–but especially kids and the mentally ill–benefited from walking, gardening, biking, or other outdoor activities.” Source, Environmental Science & Technology, published online March 25, 2010

“To maintain a healthy weight, women need to exercise more than current recommendations suggest, say researchers who studied more than 34,000 middle-aged women for 13 years.  Normal-weight women who gained less than 5 pounds during the study did moderate-intensity exercise, such as running, for an hour a day, seven days a week. Even as little as 5 pounds of weight gain, the researchers say, is enough to worsen health.  Still, if you can’t commit to stepping up your workout schedule, the researchers noted that the recommended 30 minutes of exercise, five days a week, is enough to reduce the risk of many chronic illnesses.”  -Source: JAMA, March 24/31, 2010

Certain activities have been proven to strengthen bone.  These include: basketball, dancing, hiking, walking, skating, jogging, running, soccer, softball and  resistance activities such as weight training and and using resistance bands.  While swimming and biking are good for your health, they are not the best activities to build strong bones.  Why not?  The water or bike bear your weight, so the bones aren’t benefiting from the impact of the activity. -source: St Luke’s Hospital news letter, April 2010

“Getting active may be good for your brain.  In a study of o9ver 1,300 adults, researchers learned that those who exercised moderately in midlife were 39 percent less likely than other to have mild cognitive impairment, a state between dementia and the normal mental decline that happens with age.  And in participants who did moderate exercise later in life, the odds of having the condition dropped by 32 percent.  Another study found that high-intensity aerobic exercise helped adults with mild cognitive impairment improve their condition more than a stretching program did.”  Source: Archives of Neurology, Jan 2010