Physical exercise

Exercise Can Cut Alzheimer’s By 50 Percent

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activity Regular physical activity, including gardening or dancing, may cut Alzheimer’s risk by as much as 50 percent, a new study suggests.

Researchers who analyzed lifestyle habits and brain scans of nearly 900 older adults found that any activity that gets you moving on a regular basis seems to help the brain increase gray matter. This, in turn, may keep dementia at bay, they suggested.

“Any type of physical activity that burns calories — from jogging to gardening to walking to dancing — is associated with more gray matter in the brain,” said lead researcher Dr. Cyrus Raji. He is a postdoctoral researcher in radiology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“The most important thing is that it’s regular,” Raji said.

More gray matter means a healthier brain and correlates with a reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease, Raji said.

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Elizabeth Renter ~ Energetic Walking Found To Increase Brain Size, Preserve Cognition

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NaturalSociety  March 30 2014

BriskWalkingTaking a brisk walk just a few times a week could be enough to increase the size of your brain and even help stave off age-related dementia, according to recent research. A new study from researchers with the University of Pittsburgh found those who walked for 40 minutes, three times a week reaped the benefits of a larger hippocampus—the brain’s “memory hub”.

“You don’t need highly vigorous physical activity to see these effects,” explained Dr. Kirk Ericson, lead researcher. “This may sound like a modest amount, but it’s like reversing the age clock by a couple of years.”

Previous research has associated walking in nature with a decreased risk of depression, prostate cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and more.

For the 120 participants aged 55 to 80 in this latest study, 40-minute walks three times a week resulted in hippocampus growth of up to 2 percent after one year. Another group, assigned to daily stretching exercises actually saw hippocampus shrinkage of 1.5 percent, coinciding with the natural age-related shrinkage that occurs in the brain. Continue reading →

Transform Your Life In 10 Minutes With Ancient ‘Youthing’ Practice

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If you need more zest and zip in your life, the secret to these states and more can be found in a set of simple (yet profound) yogic exercises known as the “Five Tibetans.” Developed by Buddhist monks and brought to the West in the 1930s, Tibetan yoga is a series of five movements that improve digestion and circulation while dispelling fatigue and depression. Advocates of the practice rave about the boundless energy, clarity and vitality the short daily sessions produce. And many also believe Tibetan yoga reverses the hands of time, promoting an ageless and disease free body.

Yoga and health

yogaYoga in general has long been associated with reduced tension, stress and anxiety in those who regularly practice. A study in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health found that a single 60-minute session of yoga once per week improved feelings of clarity, energy, confidence and resistance to workplace stress after six weeks of participation. Since stress strongly contributes to the development of disease, the health implications of yoga are impressive.

Tibetan yoga is unique, as the benefits are felt almost immediately with minimal time investment. The five yogic exercises are said to quickly balance the hormonal system, which, in turn, promotes longevity, deflects disease and slows aging.

Individuals who practice Tibetan yoga report: Continue reading →

The Amazing Power Of Walking

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Ben Hirshberg – Sometimes the best solutions are the most simple. This appears to be the case with walking, arguably the simplest form of exercise. Walking is gentle on the body and takes no special equipment to perform, making it also a very accessible way to exercise. There has been quite a bit of research done on the effectiveness of walking and the results are staggering.

Decreased pain and disability

Walking appears to make the body stronger and more resilient in addition to being therapeutic. When people suffering from knee arthritis walked for only three hours a week, their pain and disability went down by nearly half. Walking for only four hours per week decreased the risk of hip fracture in post-menopausal women by over 40 percent.

Walking and mental health

Though physical activity and mental health are not always put in the same breath, walking also appears to have a significant impact on our happiness levels. In one study, nearly a third of the depressed patients reported feeling better after only a small dose of walking. When that small dose was increased, the number of depressed patients who were feeling better jumped to about half. Similarly, walking has been shown to reduce anxiety in about half of all patients who implement it into their routine.

Decreased illness and disease

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How To Prevent Diabetes With Everyday Foods

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NaturalNews May 3 2013

Blood sugarAccording to the most recent statistics, about one-third of the entire U.S. population, or more than 100 million Americans, suffers from either diabetes or pre-diabetes, a blood sugar condition that can eventually lead to more serious health conditions and even death. And based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projections, this number is expected to double by 2050 if trends continue at current rates. But you and your family do not have to fall victim to this sweeping diabetes epidemic — here are some tips on how to alter your diet and lifestyle to avoid developing diabetes and potentially succumbing to premature death:

1) Eat more foods rich in quercetin. A member of the flavonoid family of antioxidants, quercetin has been shown to help lower blood glucose levels and improve plasma insulin levels, two factors commonly associated with diabetes (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19496084). Quercetin also helps neutralize damaging free radicals and inhibit inflammation, not to mention lower blood pressure in people with inflammation (http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/quercetin-000322.htm).

Foods that are high in quercetin include apples, citrus fruits, onions, parsley, sage, green tea, and red wine. Olive oil, grapes, dark cherries, and dark berries are also rick in quercetin and other flavonoids, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). And if dietary sources are not enough, quercetin is also available in supplement form, including in the Rejuvenate! Plus green superfood formula available at the NaturalNews store (http://store.naturalnews.com/Rejuvenate-Plus-500-g_p_95.html).

2) A teaspoon of cinnamon a day to keep the diabetes away. Cinnamon contains powerful blood sugar-stabilizing compounds that not only increase glucose metabolism by a significant amount, but also mimic the activity of insulin inside the body. Supplementing with cinnamon can also help slow the speed at which food empties from your stomach, inhibiting the blood sugar rush that often comes following a meal high in refined sugar and simple carbohydrates (http://www.huffingtonpost.com).

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