*Go Red For Women Day and FREE WV Health Screening

Friday February 3rd 2012 is Go Red for Women Day.  The American Heart Association created this initiative to help raise awareness of cardiovascular disease and empower women to take charge of their health.  Heart health is a big deal and 500,000 women loose their lives to this disease each year.  Know your risk and take steps today to lead a healthy life. Check out the American Heart Association to learn more about this important health issue. 

Some of the things you can to do reduce your risk of heart disease include:

• Do not smoke or stop smoking
• Get  at least 2 1/2 hours of moderate exercise a week
• Do muscle strengthening exercises 2 days a week
• Eat a diet high in fruits and veggies
• Keep your BMI below 25 (calculate yours here)
• Keep you waist size less than 35 inches
• Maintain an optimal blood pressure of 120/80 mm Hg

For those of you who live in West Virginia, the WVU Heart Institute will be having a free health screening day on February 3rd to measure some of the risk factors associated with heart disease.  Check out the details here.  

Help celebrate Go Red For Women by learning more about heart disease.  Start tomorrow by wearing red and taking steps to improve your health and that of women around you.  

~Research: Wii Fit (TM) Video Games Shown to Improve Health and Fitness

A lot of people have video games at home and use them to have fun and relax.  Most people also know that they should be exercising for the health benefits but often don't feel they have the time. Wouldn't it be great to combine the two? A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that you may be able to have your fun and exercise too.  

The study looked at two games that come with Wii Fit^TM videogame system, Step and Hula. Both "games" were shown to provide enough exercise to improve health and fitness according to the researchers. They looked at a variety of different measurements associated with the benefits of exercise including oxygen consumption, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), and calorie expenditure. At the beginner levels of the games there weren't significant levels of oxygen consumption or perceived exercise intensity (how hard you feel you are working). However in the intermediate to advanced levels, these exercises produce the energy expenditure equivalent to a brisk walking pace of 3.5 mile-per-hour. Of the two games, Hula was the best aerobic activity, and burned the most calories. 

While the study involved only a small number of healthy women, it does suggest some overall benefits of short periods of exercise using the Wii Fit^TM games. The exercises were performed in three short bouts of 10 minutes.  Ten minutes of exercise is usually a "doable" amount of activity for someone who is unfit or dealing with pain.  For example, one of the things that has been shown to significantly help people with fibromyalgia is aerobic exercise.  Due to the pain involved in doing too much exercise, most people with this condition do not like to exercise.  It must also be done on a consistent basis.  Commonly they will overdo an exercise program, increase their pain, and decide never to do it again.  The exercises could be done in a slowly progressive manner to prevent the painful aftermath and then built up slowly over time.  This would be easier for someone with pain to do so that they get the benefits without the drawbacks.

 A good way for someone in pain to use these games is to start with the beginner levels for 2 minutes.  Then progress as tolerated up to 10 minutes.  When this gets easy, start at the intermediate level for 2 minutes and progress up in time as tolerated.  Repeat with the advanced stages.  You could also do multiple short bouts of exercise at the same time with rest periods in between or do several short periods of exercise multiple times a day.  The convenience of having this type of game at home makes it easy to do.   If you have an increase in pain that lasts more than a day after exercising, this is your body telling you it is not ready for that much exercise yet.  Do not give up, just dial the intensity or frequency down and then slowly work your way back up again as you can tolerate. 

The Hula and Step programs on the Wii Fit^TM are fun and can be done in the comfort of your own home. This means even if it is raining or snowing outside, you can still get the aerobic benefits of that brisk walk mentioned above.   If progressed slowly and consistently, they can potentially improve fitness, burn calories, and help people with pain increase their activity levels.  As with all exercise, it is good to check with your health care practitioner to determine if you are safe to begin this or any exercise program.  Once you get the go-ahead, start stepping or hula-ing your way to a better you.  

~West Virginia Rated # 1 in Lack of Sleep

West Virginia has made number one on a top 10 list again, and not for a good reason.  Two different reports place our state at the top of a list of both states and cities lacking in good sleep.  The Center for Disease Control (CDC) compiled a report that was based on people reporting if they had slept well in the past 30 days.  West Virginia claimed the top spot at 19.3% of those saying they had poor sleep.  The next highest rated state was Tennessee at 14.8%.  Apparently North Dakota contains the best snoozers at the lowest rate of 7.4%.  Surprisingly even people in DC and California are good sleepers at 8.5% and 8.0% respectively.   The factors most commonly found in people reporting the poorest quality sleep were:

•  age 25-34
•  female
• unemployed
• below high school education
• divorced, widowed , or separated.

As far as cities go, Charleston, WV ranked number one as a top 10 town for insomniacs as reported in Newsweeks's The Daily Beast.  The list was complied from the number of people who take pain relievers for a sleep disorders. Cities in Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia also top the list.  

So what is the big deal about sleep quality?  It is known to be related to health risk factors for heart attacks, strokes, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.  Pain significantly affects getting good, restful, recuperative sleep.  Common causes of sleep loss include headaches, temporomandibular pain (tmj-jaw), fibromyalgia, and back and neck pain.  Seek medical help if you have difficulty sleeping multiple nights in a week or routinely wake and are unable to return to sleep.  Unrelenting pain that wakes you and won't allow you to return to sleep can be a serious problem and needs to be checked out by your physician.  

Some easy steps to try on your own for improved sleep include:

• reduce or eliminate caffeine
• practice deep breathing daily, especially prior to bedtime
• sleep in a comfortably cool room
• sleep in a completely dark room (this includes covering the light from your alarm clock)
• get regular, moderate exercise (but not right before bed)

~ Herbal Helper for IBS and IC

Did you ever wonder why peppermint seems to be around a lot at Christmas?  Maybe Santa  is on to something.  Since he has to fly around the world in one night he can't afford to make frequ  ent pit stops due to abdominal cramping or pee breaks. I bet he spends the night with a peppermint stick.  

 

Peppermint is a great help to sufferers of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Interstitial Cystitis (IC).  These conditions often cause cramping and spasms of the muscle in the bowel and bladder system.  Recently peppermint capsules have been found to help IBS sufferers by acting on pain sensors in the GI system.  Peppermint also acts as a muscle relaxant, especially in the gut.  This, along with mint's breath freshening properties, is why some restaurant meals end with the staff giving you a hard mint.  

 

Unike typical tea, such as black and green tea made from the   Camellia sinensis plant, peppermint is a herbal "tea" or tisane.  Most IC sufferers cannot tolerate typical black and green tea but often can drink herbal teas without trouble. 

Peppermint tea is easy to make.  Most grocery tea sections carry it in the herbal teas.  It is also very easy to grow.  Here is a page on how to grow mint if you enjoy the idea of cultivating your own.  If you grow mint, you can either use the fresh leaves, or freeze or dry the leaves for later use.  The tea is then made by steeping the leaves for a couple of minutes in boiling water.  Then sweeten it (or not) to taste and enjoy either hot or chilled with ice. 

Wether you grow your own or buy the prepared tea bags or hard mints,  it is nice to have a non-prescription tummy-tamer when you have an IBS or IC flare.  Brew a cup or pop a mint in your mouth and enjoy it's belly relaxing properties. 

~ 98 Year Old Judo Black Belt Proves Women Can Be Awesome At Any Age

In a world that seems to focus on youth, I just love stories that show the other side.  I know women can be powerful and strong into their elder years but the media does not often show this, instead focusing on the young and glamorous.  Beauty and strength come in all ages and sizes.  Check out this story about Sensei Keiko Fukudaa, a 98 year old 9th dan in Judo (9th degree black belt).  Make sure to watch the video.  It shows her in her younger days and also still teaching Judo class at age 95.  This story is inspiring not just because of her age, but that she persevered throughout her entire life in a male dominated martial art.  As a second degree black belt in Aikido, I understand the drive, dedication, and pure strength of body and mind that it must take to achieve what she has achieved in her long life.  The next time I feel bad about a new wrinkle or gray hair, I'll just watch the video for inspiration!