(15-02-10) How Regular Exercise can Help with Diabetes

Regular exercise could be a natural and effective way to help treat diabetes. A study conducted with diabetic Hispanic men and women undergoing a strength training routine found that within 16 weeks there was dramatic improvement with their sugar control. With its positive impact on blood sugar, weight, and blood pressure, exercise is an activity that should be included in any routine.

Besides its beneficial properties regarding blood sugar, weight loss, and blood pressure, diabetics who exercise regularly have been found less likely to experience a heart attack or stroke than those who do not. This exercise is not specific to strength training or anaerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise, such as walking or jogging, is similarly effective. Both of these exercises, whether combined or isolated, have been found to aid in the fight against diabetes.

How much exercise is too much? Over-exercising could cause your blood sugar to rise. Obviously, this is not something that is desirable for a diabetic. Be sure to start your exercise program very slowly in order for your body to adapt to the new regiment that it is going through. Start your exercise routine out by going on brisk walks or lifting weights. Always make sure to consult your physician.

The length of the exercise is also rather important. Most experts agree that roughly 45 minutes of exercise is enough. This prevents over-exercising, and therefore prevents the negative effects on your blood sugar levels. While it is recommended that you exercise for no more than 45 minutes, exercising for a shorter period of time is acceptable.

Warming up is very important as well. Always warm up before you start training in order to prevent too much stress on your body. Doing 10-15 very light repetitions of any exercise will increase blood flow, and eventually get your body ready for the exercise that you are about to perform. This is an important step that many often overlook.

When should you not exercise? If your blood sugar is above 250 mg/dL and you are ketones positive then it is considered a bad idea to exercise. Exercise could do more harm to your body than good at these levels. If your blood sugar is above 300 mg/dL but you are not ketones positive, then it would be advisable to exercise carefully. While exercise is certainly a great method of natural improvement, you do not want to do it when your body cannot handle the stress.

Exercising can help those suffering from diabetes improve their health. When following the guidelines and techniques outlined in this article, exercise can be a powerful tool against diabetes. Always be sure to also monitor your diet, ensuring it is full of living foods and super-foods.

Sources: NaturalNews

http://www.diabetesmellitus-informa...
http://diabetes.webmd.com/guide/exe...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release...
http://www.time.com/time/health/art...





(17-02-10) Too ManyHysterectomies Being Unnecessarily Performed
by David Gutierrez

Too many doctors are resorting to hysterectomies as a cure for a condition known as menorrhagia when other treatments are still available, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Menorrhagia refers to chronic abnormally heavy menstrual bleeding that lasts for longer than a normal period. It may be caused by underlying health problems such as blood clotting, endometriosis, hormonal imbalance, and uterine tumors. The condition can be treated with drugs or, if those fail, with a minor surgery known as endometrial ablation, in which the inner layer of the uterus is removed. Hysterectomy, or the removal of the entire uterus, is recommended as a last resort only.

An estimated one in 20 British women between the ages of 30 and 49 visits a doctor each year because of heavy menstrual bleeding.

The researchers found, however, that rates of hysterectomy and endometrial ablation varied widely between different primary care facilities across England between 2003 and 2006. Rates of endometrial ablation for treatment of menorrhagia varied between 46 and 75 percent, while the rates of hysterectomy varied fourfold.

"The rates of hysterectomy have gone down in recent years but what we still find concerning is this fourfold variation between the regions," said David Cromwell, from the Health Services Research Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

According to Tamir Mahmood of the same institution, the study shows that informed consent guidelines set down by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are not always being followed. According to the NICE rules, women must be informed of all their treatment options before giving consent to any irreversible procedure.

"Women need to be informed of the risks and benefits of each surgical option before decisions are made," Mahmood said.

Sources: news.bbc.co.uk.





(18-02-10) Receive Anti-Aging Benefits with Exercise
by Steve Kirschne


According to a new study, funded by The German Research Association and the University of Saarland, and published in "Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association," intense exercise acts to help prevent the shortening of telomeres. The gradual shortening of telomeres through cell divisions leads to aging at the cellular level. The study findings were released online Nov. 30, 2009 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of "Circulation". It follows up on the work done by Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine for their work in showing how during cell division, telomere length is shortened.

Telomeres are the protective ends of chromosomes. They have been compared to sort of a plastic tip found at the end of a shoelace that over time becomes worn and frayed with every cell division. When the telomeres become critically short, the cell undergoes death. Short telomeres limit the number of cell divisions.

In this clinical study, blood samples were taken from two groups of professional athletes and two groups who were healthy nonsmokers but not regular exercisers. Professional runners from the German National Team of Track and Field were evaluated against nonsmokers who were healthy but did not work out regularly.

The athletes in this study showed significantly longer telomere length versus the non-exercise group.

According to Ulrich Laufs, M.D., the study`s lead author and professor of clinical and experimental medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at Saarland University in Homburg, Germany, "The most significant finding of this study is that physical exercise of the professional athletes leads to activation of the important enzyme telomerase and stabilizes the telomere. Furthermore, he concluded, "This is direct evidence of an anti-aging effect of physical exercise. Physical exercise could prevent the aging of the cardiovascular system, reflecting this molecular principle." Laufs went on to say, "Our data improves the molecular understanding of the protective effects of exercise on the vessel wall and underlines the potency of physical training in reducing the impact of age-related disease."

So, how much exercise is needed to prevent telomere shortening? Must one be a marathon runner, or is the standard advice of walking for at least 30 minutes, most days of the week enough?

According to Dr. Annabelle Volgman, a Cardiologist and Director of the Heart Center for Women at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, "Not everyone has the makeup to be an elite athlete. The safest thing to say is that people do need that aerobic exercise. But there are so many factors that impact aging."

Because no one really knows the answer, Volgman said, the best advice is to do some sort of exercise regularly. Previous research has shown even moderate activity can be beneficial to the telomeres.

Exercise intensity should be guided by fitness level and age. In other words, if you`re used to doing vigorous exercise, keep it up. If not, do what you can without overdoing it.

Sources : www.lef.org
www.sciencedaily.com
www.healthfinder.gov



(19-02-10) Pistachios Slash Lung Cancer Risk
by Frank Mangano


People who want to avoid the leading cancer killer have a pal in the pistachio. According to the latest research on this nutritional nut, pistachios help reduce the risk of developing lung cancer because of their high gamma-tocopherol content. Gamma-tocopherol is a form of vitamin E that has been proven to be an effective cancer deterrent.

The pistachio likes to keep a "low" profile. For example, Penn State researchers say a daily dose of pistachios "lowers" cholesterol levels by as much as 11 percent; nutritionists recommend them to people who want to "lower" their calorie intake (i.e., pistachios are the lowest calorie nut); and a 2008 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says pistachios "lower" the risk for cardiovascular disease.

How "low" can the pistachio go? Well, when it comes to how at risk someone is for lung cancer, pretty darn low.

Researchers from Texas Woman`s University in Houston supplied a group of 18 healthy participants (who were chosen at random) with two ounces of pistachios. The pistachios were to be eaten every day for a period of one month (two ounces = about 117 pistachio kernels). The other group of 18 did not eat pistachios but, other than that fact, ate the same diet as the first group.

Through various testing procedures that analyzed their vitamin E levels, the researchers found that the pistachio-munching group had higher levels of gamma-tocopherol. As aforementioned, prior studies have found gamma-tocopherol to be effective in protecting men from prostate cancer. And based on this latest round of findings, the gamma-tocopherol in pistachios are every bit as effective in warding off lung cancer.

Lung cancer kills more people per year than breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer combined.

Now, 117 pistachios per day may sound like a lot, but according to the study`s lead researcher, two ounces of pistachios should not lead to any significant changes in body mass.

If you`re not jazzed about the pistachio, there are other ways to get your gamma-tocopherol fill besides supplementing. Nuts are the most abundant source of gamma-tocopherol (both nuts and nut oils), but another especially rich source is wheat germ oil. One-hundred grams of wheat germ oil contains a whopping 215 milligrams! This is important to note, because even though gamma-tocopherol is the major source of vitamin E in the diet, the blood retains more alpha-tocopherol than gamma-tocopherol.

Sources:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release...
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/stat...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tocopherol
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocent...



Losing weight cures sleep apnea, scientists discover
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) A recent study conducted by scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found that simple weight loss is an effective treatment for sleep apnea in obese men. Published in the British Medical Journal, the study revealed a 50-percent reduction in sleep apnea cases following a rigorous weight-loss regimen where each participant lost an average of nearly 42 pounds throughout the course of the study.

A common disease in overweight people, particularly in men, sleep apnea is a disorder where breathing is interrupted during one's sleep due to a blocked or collapsed airway. Most people with sleep apnea must sleep with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine in order to insure healthy breathing and to alleviate associated symptoms.

Rather than have to use a machine, however, scientists have found that the best way to eliminate sleep apnea is by losing weight. Nearly 20 percent of study participants who lost significant amounts of weight were declared to be completely cured from sleep apnea. Participants with the most severe cases of sleep apnea benefitted the most from the weight loss program and they experienced the greatest results.

Significant weight loss was achieved by placing participants on a very low calorie diet (VLCD) which was composed of a low-calorie food powder. When mixed with water, the powder was used as a meal replacement for every meal of the day, resulting in rapid weight loss. Following the study, participants were invited to participate in a behavioral change program designed to help them maintain a healthy weight.
Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
It's no surprise that being extremely overweight might interview with the physical movement of air through the trachea and into the lungs. That so many people suffer from this problem is a statement about the very large problem of obesity in the western world. Sleep apnea is virtually unheard of in developing nations where far fewer people are obese.

The good news is that resolving obesity to cure sleep apnea also provides a wealth of other health benefits: Reduced risks of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, asthma and even the risk of catching influenza. Maintaining a healthy body weight is probably the single most important thing a person can do to improve their health.

And yet the lifestyles we pursue today in modern society make it virtually impossible to lose weight and keep it off. When people work 12 hours a day, commute 2 hours a day, eat processed food on the run and spend most of their lives indoors under artificial light, staying fit and trim is all but impossible. The only real solution to maintaining a healthy body weight is to change our lifestyles by giving up the long work days, the processed fast food and the city life.

To be healthy, you've got to live closer to nature. Live a simpler life with more sunlight and less stress. More time outdoors and less time in a cubicle. These are the things that can make a real difference. The curing of sleep apnea is just a side effect of choosing to pursue a healthier lifestyle.

Sources for this story include:
http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?l=...

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