Saffola Life - Keep Your Heart young

Most of us aspire for a size zero figure or six pack abs and more often than not imagine working out in the gym on a treadmill or lifting weights. How about getting your dose of exercise through outdoor games, using the stairs instead of an elevator, walking across the road for shopping, go cycling or swimming with our friend? The whole idea is to make 'being active' a habit and not just another unpleasant chore.

Exercise simply means physical activity that is a structured movement of the body designed to enhance physical fitness. But remember exercise has so many benefits that any amount is better than none.

A good exercise program must include the following three stages:

• Flexibility and Warm up: Start every workout with a warm-up. A warm up involves stretching of the muscles. Stretching improve the range of motion of muscles and joints. Spend 5 to 10 minutes doing some stretching exercises, marching, spot jogging, and touching toes.
• Aerobic exercises such as cycling, walking, running, hiking, and playing tennis focus on increasing cardiovascular endurance. The goal is to be working hard enough that the heart is beating faster than at rest. An ideal intensity level would be somewhere between 60 and 75 percent of your maximum heart rate. You need to do aerobic activity at around that intensity level at least three times a week for 20 minutes at a time, in order to get results.

• A resistance-training regimen strengthens and tone major muscle groups, such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, chest, biceps, triceps, back, and abdominal area.

  The rule of thumb is that if one can lift the weight only 8 to 10 times before one becomes overly fatigued, then that is a good strengthening exercise. You need to do strengthening exercises two to three times a week to get a significant benefit.

• Stretching at the end of a workout (cool down) is just as important as at the beginning. It helps reduce the heart rate to resting levels.

Why Exercise?

• Physical Exercise helps in weight management by burning fat first and storing carbohydrates for use later in the day and thus slows weight regain. It may also minimize overeating by inducing a feeling of fullness to the brain.
• Exercise prevents the increase in the number of fat cells that occurs during weight regain.
• People who exercise regularly lower their risk of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, depression, anxiety, sleep problems and frailty.

Aerobic activity is the most important exercise for young and middle-aged adults because it helps with weight control and cardiovascular health. However, in recent times, strengthening exercises have become even more important than aerobic activity because of their ability to improve resistance, reduce the risks of having falls, and generally help people maintain their independence.

Here are some tips that will help you include exercise into your day:

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Walk up to the railway station/ bus stop instead of taking a rickshaw.
• Take a walk after having lunch and dinner.
• Get 1-2 stops before your destination and then walk it out.
• Indulge in household works like mopping, sweeping, gardening.

So what you are waiting for... make a move right away!!!

Exercise is physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive for the purpose of conditioning one or more parts of the body. But there has always been the confusion about what type of exercise is the best way to do so.

An important part is the way one performs an exercise. Exercise is to be done with common sense and in moderation. Overdoing it increases the risk of injury and can cause more harm than benefits.

Take care of the following before you embarking on an exercise program:

• Talk to your doctor about what type and how much exercise is right for you, especially if you have any health problems, or if you're pregnant or elderly
• Do not overexert yourself. Stop exercising if you feel breathless, dizzy, faint, nauseated, pressure in the center of your chest, arm or have joint or muscle pain.
• Exercise only when feeling well. Wait until symptoms and signs of a cold or the flu (including fever) have been absent 2 days or more before resuming activity
• Do not exercise vigorously immediately after a meal. Wait at least 2 hours. Eating increases the blood flow requirements of the intestinal tract. During vigorous exercise, the demand of the muscles for blood may exceed the ability of the circulation to supply both the bowel and the muscles, depriving organs of blood, resulting in cramps, nausea, or faintness.
• Hydrate yourself well: Plain water is best!
• Right Outfit

  . Dress in loose-fitting, comfortable clothes made of porous material appropriate for the weather. Never use exercise clothing made of rubberized, nonporous material.

  . In direct sunlight, wear light-colored clothing and a cap.

  . Wear shoes designed for exercise (e.g., walking or jogging shoes).

• Stretching before and after you exercise: Spend 5 to 10 minutes doing some light stretching exercises. Do the same when you're done working out, until your heart rate returns to normal. Stretching at the end of a workout is just as important as at the beginning to release out muscle tension
• A Warm-up before workout is important because it helps to prepare the body for a strenuous workout, may help to reduce the risk of injury, increase the elasticity of the ligaments, tendons and other connective tissues and warms the muscles.
• Cool down after exercise reduces the occurrence of painful muscle spasms and may also decrease frequency and intensity of muscle stiffness the day following any exercise program.
• Before you lift weights...

  Exercise equipment must be chosen as per one's body weight and shapes. If you've never lifted weights before, you must work with a certified personal trainer for a few sessions. Gradually with his help develop a safe and effective routine that you can continue on your own.

  It is also important that you wear the proper body supporters like knee cap, ankle and wrist band, waist band when exercising.

Don't exercise if-

• If you have any injury
• If, your blood pressure is 250 mm systolic or 120 mm diastolic or more. In such a situation the Blood Pressure needs to be controlled first before you start exercising.
• If, you have advanced eye disease consult your doctor before getting into it.

• If, your plasma glucose levels are more than 250 mg/dl. In such a situation blood glucose needs to be controlled first.

  Start slowly and progress gradually. Allow time to adapt.

Posture isn't something we care for, very often, but in today's world of sedentary and inactive lifestyle due to more and more desk jobs, there is an increasing trend towards poor posture...

Why is a right posture important?

When the segments of our body are not aligned the way they are supposed to be, changes and compensations take place within the body - affecting the way our body moves, functions, grows and develops.

Poor posture places a lot of stress on joints, bones, ligaments and muscles. Over a period of time this stress can lead to breakdown of the concerned structures within the joints and vary the way the muscles operate.

So, what's the right way to sit?

If you work on a computer:

• The monitor should be square in front of you so that you don't have to look down. Looking up and down puts strain on your neck and muscles to your head leading to headaches.
• The Keyboard should be straight in front of you and should be easily reachable without you having to bend forward. Your wrists should be fairly straight; you can use wrist support, which lies in front of the keyboard.
• Keep the mouse close to your keyboard. Your lower arm should ideally be about parallel to your desk with your elbows just a little lower. Make sure you don't let the weight of your arm rest on the underside of your wrist. This may result in wrist injuries over time.

Your desk should be at the level of your belly button such that your elbows are just below the top of the desk. Raise your desk if it lies low or if it is too high then raise your chair and use a footrest.

Ensure that everything you need on your desk is within reach.

It is a good idea to invest in a headset rather than perching the telephone or mobile between your ear and shoulder!

Ideally, you should be sitting right back in your chair not bending forward to work. Pull your chair closer to your work table so that your fingers comfortably reach the keyboard and so that your back and shoulders are straight (not stiff!) and supported by the back of your chair.

Tilt your chair forward and in case you do not have a tilt option on your chair then sit on a wedge cushion to give some extra height at the back of your seat.

Try and get up from your desk at least once every hour. Walk around in your office or do a small chore to give your body some movement.

If you have to sit for prolonged periods, change the position of your feet or rock about in your seat as much as you can. This helps prevent tiredness.

Make sure you are able to plant your feet firmly on the floor slightly in front of you. If your feet are hanging, investing in a foot rest may be a good idea.

Surprisingly, poor posture may feel more comfortable than good posture but only
because you're habituated to it. If your "comfort feeling" is associated with
poor posture, resolve to change for better... TODAY!

One of the biggest challenges for most of us today is maintaining good health. Following a healthy lifestyle is nearly impossible for most of us due to long working hours, frequent travelling, pressures to socialize etc to name a few . The constantly growing technology and modern living have not only brought us a lot of comfort, they have posed a huge threat to our health.

Due to the above cited reasons and many more, we are not able to consume enough nutrients as per the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) guidelines. Thanks to the growing field of medicine, we have the advantage of the numerous food supplements available to us. A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids or amino acids that are missing or are not consumed in sufficient quantity in a person's diet.

Essential nutrients in the proper doses are usually packaged in capsule or tablet forms, although some do come as powdered mixes and drinks. Using food supplements can be very beneficial in terms of ensuring that we get the right amount of nutrients required by our body.

In this article we have discussed about nutritional supplements which complement fitness regime. The right balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, water, vitamins and minerals is necessary to get and maintain the best fitness results.

Protein Supplements

Protein levels are depleted through workouts. The benefits of protein supplements are:

• Supply the body with many essential amino acids.
• Repair and build muscles after a tough workout

Most of the protein supplements available in the market use one or more of the following protein sources: whey protein, whey isolate, egg, peanuts or soy isolates.

Whey protein powder contains high quality proteins that come from milk. There are two main proteins in milk: casein and whey proteins. Whey protein is derived from the process where milk is turned into cheese - the liquid whey is separated from the casein protein.

Casein protein is an ideal pre workout supplement while whey is fast absorbed, (due to its high biological value) giving it a reputation of the best post workout supplement. Compared to milk protein supplements, soya supplements fall shorter in taste and biological value prospect.

Creatine supplements They are the most popular and commonly used sports and fitness supplement available today. Creatine supplements increases fat free mass and improve anaerobic and possibly aerobic performance.

Weight Gainers Supplements

Weight gainers are protein shakes whose protein source consists mainly of whey proteins. Some also include other proteins such as milk proteins and/or egg. These products are characterized by their extremely high carbohydrate content; typically high glycemic index, complex carbohydrates and fructose (simple sugar found in fruits). Recommended for body builders who have 10% or lesser body fat; these products can be very useful to provide good quality calories required to gain quality muscle.

Need of Antioxidants-

Muscular exercise promotes the production of radicals and other reactive oxygen species in the working muscle. Reactive oxygen species are responsible for exercise-induced protein oxidation and contribute to muscle fatigue. Supplementation of the diet with antioxidant nutrients has been proposed as a possible way of further reducing the harmful effects of exercise.

Before you consume any supplement, always consult your physician to assess
the dosage and frequency of supplementation, to prevent harmful side effects.