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04/18/11
Exercise and the Brain’s Performance
If having a strong healthy body isn’t enough to get out of your seat, then
consider how exercise affects your cognitive ability by raising your IQ,
warding off Alzheimer’s and dementia, preventing and treating depression
and slowing the effects of aging!
Clary and I were fortunate enough to attend a lecture by Dr. John Ratey, a
Harvard Medical School psychiatrist and author of Spark who visited
Charlotte this past Thursday.
Dr. Ratey ascertains that exercise is overwhelmingly more beneficial for
the brain – improving memory, focus, cognitive functioning, and mood— and
the physical changes we see from exercise are more of a side effect. In
his new book Spark, Dr. Ratey writes that exercise improves our ability to
learn and actually makes us smarter, even as we age by increasing blood
flow to the brain, creating a surge in protective neurochemicals and
allowing the brain to grow.
The effects of physical exercise on the brain are dramatically more
beneficial than memory exercises such as sudoku and crossword puzzles that
doctors have prescribed in the past. New research illustrates that women
who regularly engage in moderate exercise have a 50% decrease risk of
dementia and men and women who already have dementia or Alzheimer’s have
higher cognitive functioning when they exercise than those who are
sedentary. Dr. Ratey says the equation for brain health looks like this:
Healthy Brain = keeping your weight down + exercise for the brain +
exercise for the body* (by far the most robust factor in the equation.)
Studies also indicate the positive effects exercise has on mood, hormonal
changes in women and overall state of happiness. One study he referenced
showed that a brisk 20-minute walk a day is just as effective to treat
mild depression as taking Zoloft.
The effects of exercise go well beyond what we see in our physical
changes. For more information on exercise and its effects on your brain,
please visit
http://sparkinglife.org
04/10/11
Health Tip: Looking Good On the Inside and Out!
Besides gaining the lean trim bod you’ve always dreamed of by working out
at HSM, working out for just 20 minutes a day will dramatically cut your
chances of getting sick with some very nasty diseases. This is according
to the International Journal of Clinical Practice which states that just
20 minutes of exercise a day will reduce your chance of breast cancer by
30%, colon cancer by 40%, heart disease by 50%, and depression by 28%. So
not only will you live longer and have a better chance of being disease
free but will have a smokin’ hot body to boot! |
04/03/11
Health Tip: More
Confirmation on the Benefits of Resistance Training:
The
Charlotte Observer recently
published an article called “Fooling the Fitness Buffs” where it took five
wide-spread fitness myths and explained why they are just that, myths.
We were particularly excited about the article’s focus on resistance
training because of its relevance to all of us. Here are two excerpts
from the March 22 article:
Myth No.
1 Weight
training bulks you up.
Women seem especially
afraid of this, as if regular weight lifting will make them look like NFL
linebackers. The fact is, if you want to change the way your body looks
and performs, you need weight training. If you want to prevent
degenerative conditions such as osteoporosis as you get older, you need
weight training.
"Bulk" is bunk. Two things
make you bulky: your diet and your training method.
Myth No.
4 Cardio
burns the most fat.
Not true. Resistance
training, which often involves the use of elastic bands, burns the most
calories overall. When you do cardio, you're burning calories during the
activity. With resistance training, you burn calories during the activity
but keep burning them up to 48 hours afterward. This is known as excess
post-exercise oxygen consumption, or the more well-known afterburn.
Resistance training also jacks up your metabolism, improves
insulin
resistance and shuts down the fat-storing enzymes in your body.
Exercise is never a bad
thing, but make sure you add variety.
Click
here to read the full article from
the
Charlotte Observer.
Since Hilliard
Studio Method’s inception, we have been writing and talking about the
power of resistance training to burn fat and literally transform your
body. If you would like to read more from us, please check out our
Health
Tips Index, particularly
the following articles:
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*The
nutritional information contained herein is based upon information Hilliard
Studio Method reasonably believes to be accurate. We are not responsible
for any adverse effects related to following this information.
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