Fight Disease, Aging with Fitness

through physical activity, we can improve our quality of life by preventing or delaying development of health problems. The ISSA technical support staff reveals the five principle physical components of fitness.

Carpinteria, CA (PRWEB) June 5, 2007 -- Several studies have explored the relationship between physical activity and the overall quality of life. In 1996, the Surgeon General's Office released its Report on Physical Activity and Health. This report reviews the evidence relating physical activity to reduced risks of a variety of health problems. Evidence shows that physical activity is related to a lower risk of premature development of many health problems such as anxiety, arthritis, back pain, cancer, depression, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, insomnia, lung disease, memory problems and osteoporosis.

According to the experts at the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA), a personal training certification organization that teaches the nation's personal trainers how to get their clients into shape, "total fitness involves an integrated approach that is dynamic, multidimensional and also relates to heredity and environmental factors."

total fitness involves an integrated approach that is dynamic, multidimensional and also relates to heredity and environmental factors.

"Although heredity influences physical fitness and health, we can all lead healthy or unhealthy lives regardless of our genetic makeup," reports Patrick Gamboa, ISSA Director of Technical and Educational Support. "Since it isn't possible to establish the relative portion of an individual's health or fitness that is determined through heredity, your genetic background neither dooms nor guarantees success in achieving total fitness." One of the major components of fitness involves personal choices: time spent in the sun, smoking, drinking, arguing and worrying. People who, over a lifetime, have neglected health and fitness practices suffer higher levels of "disease" (maladies, ailments, injuries -- the absence of ease) compared to those who have lived a fitness lifestyle.

Through physical activity, we can improve our quality of life by preventing or delaying development of health problems. The ISSA technical support staff reveals the five principle physical components of fitness:

1. Cardiovascular endurance is an important (most physicians would state categorically that it is the most important) component of physical fitness. When your muscles need oxygen, your aerobic (cardiovascular) system must be able to efficiently deliver it to them. When your body has waste products that need to be expelled (e.g. carbon dioxide and metabolic waste products), your heart-lung complex must be up to the task. These two tasks form the functional basis of aerobic fitness.

2. Strength is your ability to exert musculoskeletal force against an external object, such as a barbell, the ground or an opponent, and it stems from four main sources: structural, physiological, psychoneural and environmental factors. A lack of adequate muscular strength in conjunction with a decrease in bone density is a definite health concern of our general population and can lead to a decrease in our musculoskeletal functions. Strength developed through resistance training helps to develop our musculoskeletal system, which is what gives us the ability to physically move using our muscles and bones.

3. Sound nutrition is the consumption of food that provides your body with all the nutrients it needs to remain healthy and active. The six major nutrients necessary for a healthy body are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. A deficiency in any one of these nutrients can reduce your chances of success in reaching your fitness goals. Considerable data indicates that the safest and most effective way to accomplish weight control is to combine sensible eating habits with a program of sound exercise that includes both aerobic and weight training.

4. Flexibility is the ability to flex, extend, or circumduct the joints through their full intended range of motion. The term "flexibility" actually refers to the mobility of your joints and how muscles, ligaments, tendons, or other soft tissues affect it -- not to the "suppleness" of those soft tissues themselves. How much flexibility do you need? Although the answer varies from individual to individual, it can safely be said that you need enough flexibility to meet the demands of your daily activities with ease, plus a little bit more to spare for life's little emergencies (e.g., falling on ice, tripping, etc.). It is important to remember that flexibility and strength training programs must occur concurrently. Significantly improving your joints' range of motion without also improving the strength of your surrounding musculature (especially at its new range of motion) can be an invitation for injury.

5. A positive attitude may seem like a mental component of fitness, but this element of physical fitness is the most important of all! Adopted from the Native Americans, the points of the YMCA triangle stand for "mind," "body" and "spirit." All religions in one way or another recognize the importance of this Mind-Body-Spirit link. To realize your full potential, it is necessary to focus on your overall happiness with life and the healthy lifestyle choices that you make everyday.

fight osteoporosis

Rising Aging Population Drives Advances In DEXA

osteoporosis population

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled Advances in DEXA provides the reader with an overview of some of the present and the future trends witnessed in the osteoporosis business. It also includes a section on technology drivers and challenges faced by the technology.

Increased Awareness of Osteoporosis Drives Research on Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA)

DEXA is the established standard for measuring bone mineral density (BMD) to diagnose osteoporosis, which afflicts most of the population beyond age 65. Mass screening has proven very uneconomical and a requirement for risk-based screening does not exist in most countries. "Moreover, the high cost of screening has prevented federal structures across the continents to take initiatives to implement screening," according to the analyst of the study. "The lobbying efforts of certain eminent bodies and pharmaceutical companies have yielded very little effect and pale into insignificance in certain instances."

In general, the osteoporosis market is a very passive market. Vendors are looking into assessing fracture risk rather than diagnosing BMD therefore, a cost-effective solution in diagnosing the disease is essential. With many manufacturers making a foray into this particular segment with newer technologies at a cheaper rate, the awareness about the disease has greatly increased. From a community perspective, this has encouraged the growth of the market in a larger sense.

Rising Aging Population Drives Advances in DEXA

Although the costs associated with screening can be reduced, the initial start-up costs are likely to remain substantial. The industry is still stuck on the capital expenditure model and one of its problems is the availability of capital for competing technologies. With the economic equation positioned at a big time high, the ability to diagnose osteoporosis has risen dramatically. Early screening of patients is likely to aid in the doctors diagnosing any bone anomalies, but a need to increase awareness among patients can pose a challenge. Though a number of treatment options are available for diagnosing this disease, the main issue is that patients who are offered an osteoporosis evaluation are far too little. This however hikes the revenue potential of this market.

Also, a majority of the X-ray market drivers are applicable to the bone densitometry market as well. One of the key drivers for this market is the increase in the aging population. "Incidentally, women who were associated with a greater risk of developing osteoporosis due to a multitude of factors and parameters, are at par with men, with the incidence of osteoporosis expected to rise significantly in men," explains the analyst. "As the aging population grows, the prevalence and incidence rate have substantially increased, due to which the costs associated with osteoporosis-related fractures have risen dramatically thus boosting the market."

Here are the ABCs of vitamin D

information 'bout osteporosis

I love our sunny spring (almost summer) days. It's so nice to walk outside without a coat or sweater and the temperature is just right, not too hot and not too cold.

Besides being very good for the soul, there are benefits we can gain from these days. Vitamin D, formed when your body contacts sunshine, is making the news lately as an important and often overlooked vitamin. Since we only get the sunshine-vitamin D benefit between now and October, it's a good time to pay attention to all that's good about getting your D.

It's well known that vitamin D is important for bone health. Along with calcium, it helps keep your bones strong, lowers risk of osteoporosis and reduces risk of fractures in older adults. Vitamin D also helps your body absorb the calcium you eat.

There are many studies that look at other benefits for consuming this key vitamin.

A recent study showed calcium and vitamin D supplements may play a role in effective weight management in postmenopausal women. It was found that the benefit is greater in women who had not previously been getting the daily recommended amount of calcium.

The good news about this study is that calcium and vitamin D are already very important for bone health in the diets of postmenopausal women and this can be a bonus benefit.

Another recent study suggest that higher intakes of calcium and vitamin D from dietary plus supplemental sources may be associated with a lower risk of breast cancer among premenopausal women. Other studies have linked vitamin D with lower risk of colorectal and prostate cancer.

And yet another study showed that people with higher levels of vitamin D may have a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in older adults. This same study linked higher levels of omega-3 fats with protection.

For adults, current recommendations are 200 IU/day up to age 50, 400 IU for 50-70 and 600IU over age 70. Some experts feel this is too low. For example, the Osteoporosis Society of Canada recommends that adults over 50 who are at risk for osteoporosis need 800 IU per day.

The newly released Canada's Food Guide addresses the importance of vitamin D for men and women over 50. Your vitamin D needs increase after 50 partly because with age, the skin has a reduced capacity to produce D.

The recommendation is: After 50, people's D needs are higher than can be obtained from food even when following the Food Guide. Adults over 50 should take a D supplement of 10 mcg (400 IU) in addition to following Canada's Food Guide.

What if you don't drink milk? Where do you get D?

Fatty fish such as salmon or sardines are the main natural sources but most of the dietary D comes from fortified foods. Besides cows' milk, there is D in margarine, fortified plant-based beverages and some fortified orange juice. Although vitamin D is added to milk, it is not found in milk products such as ice cream or cheese.

One cup (250 mL) of fluid milk contains 100 IU; one cup (250 mL) fortified rice or soy beverage contains about 88 IU; 3.5 oz (100 g) salmon contains 370 IU; 3.5 oz (100 g) sardines contains 275 IU; 2 tsp margarine 34 IU; 1 egg 15 IU; and 1 tsp. cod liver oil contains 450 IU.

Researchers say that 10-15 minutes of sun exposure during summer is adequate to get your D. However, with the need to be more careful with sun exposure and the diligent use of sunscreen, many people may not get their vitamin D from the sun.

Depression is a risk factor for osteoporosis

osteoporosis causes

Evidence is accumulating that depression is a risk factor for osteoporosis, reports the June 2007 issue of Harvard Women's Health Watch.

A recent study found that people ages 50 and over who regularly took antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) had double the rate of fractures as people not using such medications. Other research points to depression itself as a source of endocrine changes that can damage bone.

Whether the danger comes from depression, the drugs used to treat it, or something else, doctors are paying more attention to this association. During the 1990s, depression began to emerge as a possible cause of bone loss, rather than a result. Scientists studied women who didn't have osteoporosis symptoms or even know they had the condition. They found lower bone mineral density in those who were depressed. Moreover, the link was found in both younger women and women past menopause. Other studies have found a similar relationship, so investigators have been looking at hormones and brain chemicals potentially involved in both depression and bone loss.

Researchers working with an animal model found that depression triggers the release of noradrenaline, which interferes with bone-building cells. Moreover, they found that imipramine-a member of an older class of drugs called tricyclic antidepressants-reversed both depression and depression-induced bone loss.

It may be a long time before the depression-osteoporosis connection is fully clarified. In the meantime, Harvard Women's Health Watch suggests that you continue taking an antidepressant if you already use one; depression is a serious illness that can have profound consequences. You may also want to talk to your doctor about getting a bone density test, and make sure you get adequate calcium.

Also in this issue:

* Update on treating IBS
* Driving safety and aging
* Simpler CPR for cardiac arrest
* By the way doctor: Tamoxifen versus aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer

Harvard Women's Health Watch is available from Harvard Health Publications, the publishing division of Harvard Medical School, for $24 per year. Subscribe at http://www.health.harvard.edu/women or by calling 1-877-649-9457 (toll free).

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Products provides high potency of Osteoporosis calcium from a single source

osteoporosis sources

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Oestrogen is the number one hormone for healthy bones in women and if a woman misses her periods for six months or more it is a warning sigh that her body is lacking this essential hormone. The best sources of this are milk. Including at least half of those ages and older. SCOTLAND and the rest of the UK is facing an epidemic of falls and fractures as more older people suffer from osteoporosis. Participants must be ages to with mild. Mobile takes aim at the iPhone with the first device to offer Windows Mobile to smart phone buyers in the U.

There are no studies that would support such a claim. The operation can take up to four hours with an average hospital stay of three days. Maina stocking.

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Tens of thousands of women have already. They are more likely to break or fracture. Developing the medical condition in the future. Get medical news headlines weekly with our. Understand Clinical And Environmental Unmet Needs In The Osteoporosis Market Based On Key Opinion Leader Comments. Approval to market the drug under the brand. It is not intended to provide an alternative to professional treatment or to replace the services of a physician. Black reports receiving grant support and honoraria from Novartis and Merck.

National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month really opens a great opportunity for us. The new treatment is also deemed as a promising alternative to oral medication. Albania?

The data showed the drug to be as effective or more effective than anything else on the market. They found lower bone mineral density in those who were depressed. The link was found in both younger women and women past menopause. To aid in the digestion of dairy foods. Just enter your name and other important information and get a handful of approval values and rates in return. Threatens New Measures Unless Iran Halts Nuclear Enrichment. Global Head of Development at Novartis Pharma AG. Technics.

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The trial found that women who took the placebo lost a clinically small amount of bone density. Be treated with hGH injections to achieve a. Label lists osteoporosis as a potential but rare side effect. Zachery?

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Osteoporosis Affects Both Men and Women

Osteoporosis is not a loss of bone density, but a loss of bone mass. It happens when the cells that make bone decrease and bone tissue deteriorates. About ten million people in the U.S. have the disease.

Dr. Darwin Clark, Memorial hospital staff radiologist, said, "You slip and fall or you do something trivial like making up the bed and you can fracture your spine. Those things in and of themselves or not horrible problems, but they lead to other problems - hospitalization, pneumonia and those sort of things - and the affects of it can be the beginning of a downward spiral in functioning for many women and men."

There are often no signs or symptoms of osteoporosis, so by the time most women find out they have it, they are already at a higher risk for fractures.

"You feel healthy, you look healthy," said Dr. Clark. "Over the years, you may notice an elderly person begin to have a slump or walk a little bent over and that is a late indication they may have had something go wrong in their spine - they've lost bone height and are shorter than they used to be - but other than those things, you have no real sign or symptom of it until something happens."

Osteoporosis usually affects older white women after menopause, but men can also get the disease if they are taking certain medications or have other health problems. If you are in your mid to late 50s, you should have regular bone density tests. The x-ray measures bone mass and density. It is not painful and only takes five minutes from start to finish.

Hortencia Delacruz, Memorial hospital mammographer, said, "If they're on any kind of medication for bone loss like calcium [or] Oscal [or] they're smokers, that puts them at a little bit of a higher risk. We ask them if they have a history of fracture [and] at what age they went through menopause."

The disease is beatable and treatable with injectable medicine or pills that rebuild bone mass. Over the counter medications can help prevent further bone loss but do not rebuild bone mass as well as prescribed medicines.

Women in their teens and 20s can prevent osteoporosis by getting plenty of exercise and eating foods rich in calcium to strengthen their bones.

osteoporosis Affects both men and women

by Ramonica R. Jones

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become fragile and more likely to break. If not prevented or if left untreated, osteoporosis can progress painlessly until a bone breaks. These broken bones, also known as fractures, occur typically in the hip, spine, and wrist.

Any bone can be affected, but of special concern are fractures of the hip and spine. A hip fracture almost always requires hospitalization and major surgery. It can impair a person's ability to walk unassisted and may cause prolonged or permanent disability or even death. Spinal or vertebral fractures also have serious consequences, including loss of height, severe back pain, and deformity.

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