Following a sedentary lifestyle is more dangerous for your health than smoking, says a new study reported in the

South China Morning Post, and carried out by the University of Hong Kong and the Department of Health. In the study, researchers looked at the level of physical activity in people who died and were able to correlate their level of physical activity with their risk of dying. The results are fascinating: 20% of all deaths of people 35 and older were attributed to a lack of physical activity. That's more deaths than can be attributed to smoking. Looking at specific diseases, the risk of dying from cancer increased 45% for men and 28% for women due to lack of physical activity. The risk of dying from respiratory ailments was 92% higher for men and 75% higher for women. The risk of dying from heart disease was 52% higher for men and 28% higher for women, all due to a lack of physical activity. It turns out that being a couch potato can kill you, literally. This is really no surprise to naturopathic physicians, holistic healers, holistic nutritionists, and other people in the natural healing fields: physical activity is absolutely critical for the health of the human body. In fact, it's fair to say that the human body was designed to be used. There are a lot of misleading metaphors in modern medicine that compare the human body to an automobile. These metaphors propose the idea that the body wears out with use. People say their knee joints have worn out, for example, and that's why they have knee pain. But I have news for you on this: joints don't "wear out" like car parts, and the human body actually gets healthier with use -- unlike your automobile. In fact, the more you use your body, the healthier it gets -- up to a point of course; you don't want to overexert yourself and cause injury, but very few people run the risk of actually doing too much exercise in modern society. Sadly, in today's world, a lot of people just sit around. They spend endless hour watching TV, and they hold jobs that require them to sit behind a desk for 8 or 9 or 10 hours a day engaging in virtually no physical movement at all. As a result, they are being diagnosed with chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory ailments -- all related to a lack of regular physical exercise. These diseases can be prevented and even frequently reversed through physical exercise alone. Looking at why physical exercise makes individuals so much healthier gives us an interesting perspective on how the human body really works. The human body is designed to move around. And by moving the muscles, ligaments and limbs, you actually massage the tissues and organs of the body, bringing them oxygen and enhancing their flexibility. You also move lymph fluid around the body, and lymph must be moved through physical activity alone since there is no "lymph heart" to circulate lymph fluid regardless of your physical activity like there is with your cardiovascular system. (In other words, your heart pumps your blood even if you're

sitting in a chair. But there's nothing to pump your lymph fluid other than sloshing your body around through regular movement.) Physical activity gets everything moving in your body -- the blood, the oxygen, the nutrients, the cellular respiration, the nervous system, and so on. Sweating is good for you as well -- you sweat out toxins and replace the lost liquids by drinking fresh, clean water. Physical exercise, if done outside, also exposes you to the healing effects of natural sunlight, an essential nutrient for the human body that is deficient in most people. Getting enough sunlight on your skin can prevent and even reverse an astounding number of chronic diseases such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, osteoporosis and more. If you put all of this together, you see that physical exercise is extremely beneficial to the human body, and in fact the body won't live nearly as long without it. Studies also show that it doesn't take an enormous amount of physical exercise to achieve healthenhancing results. A mere 30 minutes a day of walking, swimming, jogging, cycling or other cardiovascular exercise can have astounding positive health effects. But exercising seems to remain a low priority for many. People ask, how can I avoid all of these diseases without actually having to do the exercises? Is there a way that I can get the benefits of this physical exercise without having to move my body? And the answer to that is simply, no. You have to actually do it if you want to get the benefits from it. No one can do it for you, no prescription drugs can give you the same effects, no surgical procedure can create the health that your body would create on its own when you engage in regular physical exercise. This is something you must pursue on your own if you desire to experience the positive health results it offers.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/001547.html#ixzz1ygAzkes8

ScienceDaily (July 23, 2010) A new study by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Cambridge University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has found that even light or moderate intensity physical activity, such as walking or cycling, can substantially reduced the risk of early death.
See Also: Health & Medicine Fitness Sports Medicine Alternative Medicine Workplace Health Health Policy Children's Health

Living Well Reference Anaerobic exercise Physical exercise Aerobic exercise Sports medicine

The study, published by theInternational Journal of Epidemiology, combined the results from the largest studies around the world on the health impact of light and moderate intensity physical activity. It showed that the largest health benefits from light or moderate activity (such as walking and cycling) were in people who do hardly any physical activity at all. Although more activity is better -- the benefits of even a small amount of physical activity are very large in the least physically active. The good news from this study is that you don't have to be an exercise freak to benefit from physical activity. Just achieving the recommended levels of physical activity (equivalent to 30 minutes daily of moderate intensity activity on 5 days a week) reduces the risk of death by 19% [95%confidence interval 15% to 24%], while 7 hours per week of moderate activity (compared with no activity) reduces the risk of death by 24% (95% CI 19% to 29%). Lead researcher, James Woodcock said, "This research confirms that is not just exercising hard that is good for you but even moderate everyday activities, like walking and cycling, can have major health benefits. Just walking to the shops or walking the children to school can lengthen your life -- as well as bringing other benefits for well-being and the environment."

It seems that everyone is concerned about high cholesterol. High cholesterol can cause clogged blood vessels, leading to heart attack and stroke. According to health experts, total cholesterol should be under 200 mg./dl. Between 200 and 239 is considered borderline high, and over 240 or above is considered high. These numbers are measures of total cholesterol, which is an indicator of cardiovascular health. However, in addition to total cholesterol, it is important that both the LDL or bad cholesterol be at a low level and that HDL or good cholesterol be at a higher level. LDL Cholesterol is known as low density lipo-protein cholesterol. This type of cholesterol is bad for the body because it circulates in the blood stream and settles as plaque on the artery walls. Over a long period plaque can build up to a point where the artieries can narrow or close, leading to a heart attack or stroke. LDL cholesterol should be lower than 100 mg./dl. Good cholesterol is known as HDL or high density lipo-protein cholesterol. This type of lipoprotein picks up cholesterol in the blood and brings it to the liver where it is broken down and passes out of the body. For this reason, it is desirable to have a high level of HDL. The desired level of HDL cholesterol differs in men and women. For men, the desired level of HDL is above 40 and in women the level should be above 50. Ideally HDL cholesterol should be at 60 or above for optimal health. Eating the proper foods can go a long way in preventing high cholesterol. Choosing lots of fresh vegetables and fruit can help lower the cholesterol because they contain fiber. Beans and legumes are also good choices. Whole grains like whole wheat and oats also help keep cholesterol low. It is also important to consume less high fat foods and organ meats. Eggs are higher in cholesterol than most foods because of the yolk, however unless an individual has high cholesterol, it is possible to enjoy an egg several times a week. When eating eggs, consider eating other low cholesterol foods.
In some cases high cholesterol may be hereditary and no amount of healthy eating may work. For those who have inherited high cholesterol, statins or cholesterol lowering drugs may be prescribed. For most people statins are safe, but periodic blood tests are required to determine if statins are affecting the liver.

What Is High Blood Pressure?

High blood pressure (HBP) is a serious condition that can lead to coronary heart disease (also called coronary artery disease), heart failure, stroke, kidney failure , and other health problems. "Blood pressure" is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps blood. If this pressure rises and stays high over time, it can damage the body in many ways.

Overview
About 1 in 3 adults in the United States has HBP. The condition itself usually has no symptoms. You can have it for years without knowing it. During this time, though, HBP can damage the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, and other parts of your body. Knowing your blood pressure numbers is important, even when you're feeling fine. If your blood pressure is normal, you can work with your health care team to keep it that way. If your blood pressure is too high, treatment may help prevent damage to your body's organs.

Blood Pressure Numbers

Blood pressure is measured as systolic (sis-TOL-ik) and diastolic (di-a-STOL-ik) pressures. "Systolic" refers to blood pressure when the heart beats while pumping blood. "Diastolic" refers to blood pressure when the heart is at rest between beats. You most often will see blood pressure numbers written with the systolic number above or before the diastolic number, such as 120/80 mmHg. (The mmHg is millimeters of mercury the units used to measure blood pressure.) The table below shows normal blood pressure numbers for adults. It also shows which numbers put you at greater risk for health problems.

Categories for Blood Pressure Levels in Adults (measured in millimeters of mercury, or mmHg)
Category Normal Prehypertension High blood pressure Stage 1 Stage 2 140159 160 or higher Or Or 9099 100 or higher Systolic (top number) Less than 120 120139 And Or Diastolic (bottom number) Less than 80 8089

The ranges in the table apply to most adults (aged 18 and older) who don't have short-term serious illnesses. Blood pressure doesn't stay the same all the time. It lowers as you sleep and rises when you wake up. Blood pressure also rises when you're excited, nervous, or active. If your numbers stay above normal most of the time, you're at risk for health problems.

All levels above 120/80 mmHg raise your risk, and the risk grows as blood pressure numbers rise. "Prehypertension" means you're likely to end up with HBP, unless you take steps to prevent it. If you're being treated for HBP and have repeat readings in the normal range, your blood pressure is under control. However, you still have the condition. You should see your doctor and follow your treatment plan to keep your blood pressure under control. Your systolic and diastolic numbers may not be in the same blood pressure category. In this case, the more severe category is the one you're in. For example, if your systolic number is 160 and your diastolic number is 80, you have stage 2 HBP. If your systolic number is 120 and your diastolic number is 95, you have stage 1 HBP. If you have diabetes or chronic kidney disease, HBP is defined as 130/80 mmHg or higher. HBP numbers also differ for children and teens. (For more information, go to "How Is High Blood Pressure Diagnosed?")

Outlook
Blood pressure tends to rise with age. Following a healthy lifestyle helps some people delay or prevent this rise in blood pressure. People who have HBP can take steps to control it and reduce their risk of related health problems. Key steps include following a healthy lifestyle, having ongoing medical care, and following your treatment plan.

Your chair is your enemy. It doesnt matter if you go running every morning, or youre a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest of the day sitting in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home you are putting yourself at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you. That, at least, is the conclusion of several recent studies. Indeed, if you consider only healthy people who exercise regularly, those who sit the most during the rest of the day have larger waists and worse profiles of blood pressure and blood sugar than those who sit less. Among people who sit in front of the television for more than three hours each day, those who exercise are as fat as those who dont: sitting a lot appears to offset some of the benefits of jogging a lot. So whats wrong with sitting? The answer seems to have two parts. The first is that sitting is one of the most passive things you can do. You burn more energy by chewing gum or fidgeting than you do sitting still in a chair. Compared to sitting, standing in one place is hard work. To stand, you have to tense your leg muscles, and engage the

muscles of your back and shoulders; while standing, you often shift from leg to leg. All of this burns energy. For many people, weight gain is a matter of slow creep two pounds this year, three pounds next year. You can gain this much if, each day, you eat just 30 calories more than you burn. Thirty calories is hardly anything its a couple of mouthfuls of banana, or a few potato chips. Thus, a little more time on your feet today and tomorrow can easily make the difference between remaining lean and getting fat. You may think you have no choice about how much you sit. But this isnt true. Suppose you sleep for eight hours each day, and exercise for one. That still leaves 15 hours of activities. Even if you exercise, most of the energy you burn will be burnt during these 15 hours, so weight gain is often the cumulative effect of a series of small decisions: Do you take the stairs or the elevator? Do you e-mail your colleague down the hall, or get up and go and see her? When you get home, do you potter about in the garden or sit in front of the television? Do you walk to the corner store, or drive? Just to underscore the point that you do have a choice: a study of junior doctors doing the same job, the same week, on identical wards found that some individuals walked four

times farther than others at work each day. (No one in the study was overweight; but the long-distance doctors were thinner than the short-distance doctors.) So part of the problem with sitting a lot is that you dont use as much energy as those who spend more time on their feet. This makes it easier to gain weight, and makes you more prone to the health problems that fatness often brings. But it looks as though theres a more sinister aspect to sitting, too. Several strands of evidence suggest that theres a physiology of inactivity: that when you spend long periods sitting, your body actually does things that are bad for you. As an example, consider lipoprotein lipase. This is a molecule that plays a central role in how the body processes fats; its produced by many tissues, including muscles. Low levels of lipoprotein lipase are associated with a variety of health problems, including heart disease. Studies in rats show that leg muscles only produce this molecule when they are actively being flexed (for example, when the animal is standing up and ambling about). The implication is that when you sit, a crucial part of your metabolism slows down. Nor is lipoprotein lipase the only molecule affected by muscular inactivity. Actively contracting muscles produce a whole suite of

substances that have a beneficial effect on how the body uses and stores sugars and fats. Which might explain the following result. Men who normally walk a lot (about 10,000 steps per day, as measured by a pedometer) were asked to cut back (to about 1,350 steps per day) for two weeks, by using elevators instead of stairs, driving to work instead of walking and so on. By the end of the two weeks, all of them had became worse at metabolizing sugars and fats. Their distribution of body fat had also altered they had become fatter around the middle. Such changes are among the first steps on the road to diabetes. Conversely, a study of people who sit for many hours found that those who took frequent small breaks standing up to stretch or walk down the corridor had smaller waists and better profiles for sugar and fat metabolism than those who did their sitting in long, uninterrupted chunks. Some people have advanced radical solutions to the sitting syndrome: replace your sitdown desk with a stand-up desk, and equip this with a slow treadmill so that you walk while you work. (Talk about pacing the office.) Make sure that your television can only operate if you are pedaling furiously on an exercise bike. Or, watch television in a rocking chair: rocking also takes energy and

involves a continuous gentle flexing of the calf muscles. Get rid of your office chair and replace it with a therapy ball: this too uses more muscles, and hence more energy, than a normal chair, because you have to support your back and work to keep balanced. You also have the option of bouncing, if you like. Or you could take all this as a license to fidget. But whatever you choose, know this. The data are clear: beware your chair.

The more Americans engage in one of their favorite pastimes sitting around the shorter their average life span, a new study suggests. The effect remained even after researchers factored out obesity or the level of daily physical activity people were engaged in, according to a study of more than 120,000 American adults. Q&A: How to move while at work It's just one more reason to "get up and walk," said Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge "The message here is like everything in your life. People need to recognize that the things you do every day have consequences. And if you're in a job that does require sitting, that's fine, but any time you can expend energy is good. That's the key." The salutary effect of exercise on being overweight or obese, rates of which are at an all-time high, have been well documented. But according to background information in the study, which is published online July 22 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the effects of sitting per se are less well-studied. Although several studies have found a link between sitting time and obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease risk, and unhealthy diets in children, few had examined sitting and "total mortality," researchers noted. The authors of the study analyzed responses from questionnaires filled out by 123,216 people (53,440 men and 69,776 women) with no history of disease who were participating in the Cancer Prevention II study conducted by the American Cancer Society. Participants were followed for 14 years, from 1993 to 2006. In the study, people were more likely to die of heart disease than cancer. After adjusting for a number of risk factors, including body mass index (BMI) and smoking, women who spent six hours a day sitting had a 37% increased risk of dying versus those who spent less than three hours a day on their bottoms. For men the increased risk was 17%. Exercise, even a little per day, did tend to lower the mortality risk tied to sitting, the team noted. However, sitting's influence on death risk remained significant even when activity was factored in. On the other hand, people who sat a lot and did not exercise or stay active had an even higher mortality risk: 94% for women and 48% for men. Study lead author Dr. Alpa Patel, an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society, said that the obvious reason for the connection is that "the more time you spend sitting, the less total energy expended and you can have consequences such as weight gain and increased obesity." And that affects your metabolism as well as risk factors for various diseases, she said. But there could be other biological factors beyond simply getting fatter that explain the link. There's a burgeoning literature evolving around "inactivity physiology," Patel said. When muscles, especially those in the legs, are "sitting," they stimulate or suppress various hormones which then affect triglycerides, cholesterol and other markers for heart and other diseases, she explained.

Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?

By JAMES VLAHOS Published: April 14, 2011

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DR. LEVINES MAGIC UNDERWEAR resembled bicycle shorts, black and skintight, but with sensors mounted on the thighs and wires running to a fanny pack. The look was part Euro tourist, part cyborg. Twice a second, 24 hours a day, the magic underwears accelerometers and inclinometers would assess every movement I made, however small, and whether I was lying, walking, standing or sitting.
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Horacio Salinas for The New York Times

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James Levine, a researcher at theMayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., has an intense interest in how much people move and how much they dont. He is a leader of an emerging field that some call inactivity studies, which has challenged long-held beliefs about human health and obesity. To help me understand some of the key findings, he suggested that I become a mock research trial participant. First my body fat was measured inside a white, futuristic capsule called a Bod Pod. Next, one of Dr. Levines colleagues, Shelly McCrady-Spitzer, placed a hooded mask over my head to measure the content of my exhalations and gauge my bodys calorie-burning rate. After that, I donned

the magic underwear, then went down the hall to the laboratorys research kitchen for a breakfast whose calories were measured precisely. A weakness of traditional activity and obesity research is that it relies on self-reporting peoples flawed recollections of how much they ate or exercised. But the participants in a series of studies that Dr. Levine did beginning in 2005 were assessed and wired up the way I was; they consumed all of their food in the lab for two months and were told not to exercise. With nary a snack nor workout left to chance, Dr. Levine was able to plumb the mysteries of a closed metabolic universe in which every calorie, consumed as food or expended for energy, could be accounted for. His initial question which he first posed in a 1999 study was simple: Why do some people who consume the same amount of food as others gain more weight? After assessing how much food each of his subjects needed to maintain their current weight, Dr. Levine then began to ply them with an extra 1,000 calories per day. Sure enough, some of his subjects packed on the pounds, while others gained little to no weight. We measured everything, thinking we were going to find some magic metabolic factor that would explain why some people didnt gain weight, explains Dr. Michael Jensen, a Mayo Clinic researcher who collaborated with Dr. Levine on the studies. But that wasnt the case. Then six years later, with the help of the motion-tracking underwear, they discovered the answer. The people who didnt gain weight were unconsciously moving around more, Dr. Jensen says. They hadnt started exercising more that was prohibited by the study. Their bodies simply

responded naturally by making more little movements than they had before the overfeeding began, like taking the stairs, trotting down the hall to the office water cooler, bustling about with chores at home or simply fidgeting. On average, the subjects who gained weight sat two hours more per day than those who hadnt. People dont need the experts to tell them that sitting around too much could give them a sore back or a spare tire. The conventional wisdom, though, is that if you watch your dietand get aerobic exercise at least a few times a week, youll effectively offset your sedentary time. A growing body of inactivity research, however, suggests that this advice makes scarcely more sense than the notion that you could counter a pack-a-day smoking habit by jogging. Exercise is not a perfect antidote for sitting, says Marc Hamilton, an inactivity researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. The posture of sitting itself probably isnt worse than any other type of daytime physical inactivity, like lying on the couch watching Wheel of Fortune. But for most of us, when were awake and not moving, were sitting. This is your body on chairs: Electrical activity in the muscles drops the muscles go as silent as those of a dead horse, Hamilton says leading to a cascade of harmful metabolic effects. Your calorie-burning rate immediately plunges to about one per minute, a third of what it would be if you got up and walked. Insulin effectiveness drops within a single day, and the risk of developingType 2 diabetes rises. So does the risk of being obese. The enzymes responsible for breaking down lipids and triglycerides for vacuuming up fat out of the bloodstream, as Hamilton puts it

 plunge, which in turn causes the levels of good (HDL) cholesterol to fall. Hamiltons most recent work has examined how rapidly inactivity can cause harm. In studies of rats who were forced to be inactive, for example, he discovered that the leg muscles responsible for standing almost immediately lost more than 75 percent of their ability to remove harmful lipo-proteins from the blood. To show that the ill effects of sitting could have a rapid onset in humans too, Hamilton recruited 14 young, fit and thin volunteers and recorded a 40 percent reduction in insulins ability to uptake glucose in the subjects after 24 hours of being sedentary. Over a lifetime, the unhealthful effects of sitting add up. Alpa Patel, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society, tracked the health of 123,000 Americans between 1992 and 2006. The men in the study who spent six hours or more per day of their leisure time sitting had an overall death rate that was about 20 percent higher than the men who sat for three hours or less. The death rate for women who sat for more than six hours a day was about 40 percent higher. Patel estimates that on average, people who sit too much shave a few years off of their lives. Another study, published last year in the journal Circulation, looked at nearly 9,000 Australians and found that for each additional hour of television a person sat and watched per day, the risk of dying rose by 11 percent. The study author David Dunstan wanted to analyze whether the people who sat watching television had other unhealthful habits that caused them to die sooner. But after crunching the numbers, he reported that age,

sex, education, smoking, hypertension, waist circumference, body-mass index, glucose tolerance status and leisure-time exercise did not significantly modify the associations between television viewing and all-cause . . . mortality. Sitting, it would seem, is an independent pathology. Being sedentary for nine hours a day at the office is bad for your health whether you go home and watch television afterward or hit the gym. It is bad whether you are morbidly obese or marathonrunner thin. Excessive sitting, Dr. Levine says, is a lethal activity. The good news is that inactivitys peril can be countered. Working late one night at 3 a.m., Dr. Levine coined a name for the concept of reaping major benefits through thousands of minor movements each day: NEAT, which stands for NonExercise Activity Thermogenesis. In the world of NEAT, even the littlest stuff matters. McCrady-Spitzer showed me a chart that tracked my calorie-burning rate with zigzagging lines, like those of a seismograph. Whats that? I asked, pointing to one of the spikes, which indicated that the rate had shot up. Thats when you bent over to tie your shoes, she said. It took your body more energy than just sitting still. In a motion-tracking study, Dr. Levine found that obese subjects averaged only 1,500 daily movements and nearly 600 minutes sitting. In my trial with the magic underwear, I came out looking somewhat better 2,234 individual movements and 367 minutes sitting. But I was still nowhere near the farm workers Dr. Levine has studied in Jamaica, who average 5,000 daily movements and only 300 minutes sitting.

Dr. Levine knows that we cant all be farmers, so instead he is exploring ways for people to redesign their environments so that they encourage more movement. We visited a chairless firstgrade classroom where the students spent part of each day crawling along mats labeled with vocabulary words and jumping between platforms while reciting math problems. We stopped by a human-resources staffing agency where many of the employees worked on the move at treadmill desks a creation of Dr. Levines, later sold by a company called Steelcase. Dr. Levine was in a philosophical mood as we left the temp agency. For all of the hard science against sitting, he admits that his campaign against what he calls the chair-based lifestyle is not limited to simply a quest for better physical health. His is a war against inertia itself, which he believes sickens more than just our body. Go into cubeland in a tightly controlled corporate environment and you immediately sense that there is amalaise about being tied behind a computer screen seated all day, he said. The soul of the nation is sapped, and now its time for the soul of the nation to rise.

CHICAGO: Having a large belly in middle age nearly triples the risk of developing dementia in later life, according to a study in the journal Neurology. "Considering that 50 per cent of adults [in the U.S.] have abdominal obesity, this is a disturbing finding," said study author Rachel Whitmer of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California. Abdominal fat Being overweight in midlife and beyond has long been linked to increased risk for disease such as stroke, diabetes and heart disease. But this is the first study to link excess fat to dementia and, interestingly, excess abdominal fat increased the risk even among those who were of normal weight overall. Researchers measured the abdominal fat of 6,583 people age 40 to 45 in northern California and some 36 years later 16 per cent had developed dementia, the study found. Those who were overweight or obese but did not have a pot belly had an 80 per cent increase in the risk of dementia compared to people with a normal body weight and abdominal fat level. The risk increase jumped to 230 per cent among overweight people with a large belly and 360 per cent among the obese with large abdomens. "Where one carries the weight especially in midlife appears to be an important predictor for dementia risk," Whitmer said. Complex behaviours While more research is needed to understand why this link exists, it is possible that the abdominal obesity is part of a complex set of health-related behaviours that increase the risk of dementia. "Autopsies have shown that changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease may start in young to middle adulthood, and another study showed that high abdominal fat in elderly adults was tied to greater brain atrophy," she said. "These findings imply that the dangerous effects of abdominal obesity on the brain may start long before the signs of dementia appear."

As a personal trainer for the past 12 years, Ive heard em all. I am not without sympathy, some are truly justified. However, others well, are just excuses. A survey published in the October 2010 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine concluded that most people dont exercise daily. This was based on a 5 year study, polling participants on what theyve done in a 24 hour period: Only about 5% of respondents reported vigorous physical activities, including using cardiovascular exercise equipment (2.2%) and running (1.1%). Im not saying its easy to fit exercise into a hectic schedule. For those who hate it, I respect that. There are other ways to incorporate exercise into your life, like playing sports, dancing and working outdoors. As long as youre moving, it all counts. Research published in August from the National Health Research Institute in Taiwan surveyed the physical activity of more than 416,000 adults for eight years and concluded that even 15 minutes of exercise a day, or about 90 minutes a week, can add years to your life. Here are the excuses Ive heard, in no particular order of creativity, along with solutions. The excuses have been disguised in order to protect the innocent:

1. Its raining in Topeka, heat wave in Tucson, blizzard in New York, Im sleeping in.
I dont blame you. It takes a lot of discipline to venture out in horrid weather conditions. Solution: If you must exercise outdoors, Invest in foul weather gear, if its cold and exercise early or late if its hot. Or join a local gym.

2. Ive eaten Kung Pao and Im bloated; an entire box of Sara Lee frozen chocolate cake, all my kids leftover food, and I will not look fashionably svelte at the gym.
Solution: If you are self conscious, exercise at home-you may need some exercise DVDs, bands, hand weights and a ball there ya go!

3. I have 3 jobs and only 3 hours to sleep.

O.k. thats a tough one. Strive to do something on your day off. If you drive to work, park far from your office and walk; if you take mass transit get off a stop early and walk. If you have stairs in your home, go up and down them a few times. Pick up all the clothing left on the floor, one by one. Thats called functional training!

4. I am uncoordinated; I tried a Zumba class once, and fell as I tried to shimmy my hips while spinning around. I wont go back.
Solution: Dont do Zumba. If you like taking classes, try a conditioning class, or low impact aerobics, where the steps are fairly repetitive. At home, crank up the stereo and dance. No one will be watching as you get your groove on.

5. I used a personal trainer once who worked me so hard I couldnt get out of bed, and ended up with one huge right bicep, and a ginormous left tricep.
Solution: Get a less aggressive trainer; interview before you sign on. Or ask for a free trail session or a group training.

6. I once developed an embarrassing rash after using the equipment in the weight room.
Solution: carry your own towel and an anti-bacterial hand spray or geland wipe and spray!

7. I was laughed off the track once because small children and turtles where passing me by as I ran.
Solution: If the track is intimidating, take to the streets, if its available- youll never see the same people twice. Or at the track, wear sunglasses and do not maintain eye contact. No one will know youre even there!

8. I only do exercise w/friends and I have none.

Solution: Sign up for a group tennis lessons; group personal training, or a gym w/classesyou wont need friends (but you might make some!)

9. I love to bike, but my bike has training wheels/its the same bike I had 30 years ago, and is missing a pedal and brake. I fell off a bike once, bloodied my knees and cried like a baby.
Solution: Take an indoor spin classno investment in equipment, and no bleeding.

10. I have previous injuries..bad knees, bad shoulders, bad back..bad karma..I feel most comfortable sitting on the couch eating Cheetos.
Solution: If you have bad knees and cant do high impact exercise, walk, or do upper body workouts. If your upper body is impaired, concentrate on lower body workouts, leg extensions, squats, or walking on a treadmill or an elliptical machine. You can even do exercise with light weights while sitting in a chair and protecting your back.

11. I hate to sweat

Solution: Practice Yoga, pilates, or do gentle stretching exercises, take a tai chi class You may break a small sweat..take along a paper towel.

12 Too many medical conditions to name; My doctor says I need to take it easy; my exercise consists of munching on Oreos while watching The Biggest Loser.

Solution: Get another doctor! Fine one who will give you medical clearance to do something. In between, your doctor visits, find 15 minutes a day to walk your dog, garden, get on a stationary bike, or grab an exercise band while youre sitting and do some light resistance work. So, get creative. Elevate your heart rate, get moving, build some muscle, stay healthy, and step away from the computer or smart pad every 30 minutes or so and chase some butterflies.

Q: What is prediabetes? A: Prediabetes is when a person's blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be type 2 diabetes. People with prediabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and may have some problems from diabetes already. Q: If I have prediabetes, will I definitely develop type 2 diabetes? A: No. Research shows that you can lower your risk for type 2 diabetes by 58% by: Losing 7% of your body weight (or 15 pounds if you weigh 200 pounds) Exercising moderately (such as brisk walking) 30 minutes a day, five days a week Don't worry if you can't get to your ideal body weight. Losing just 10 to 15 pounds can make a huge difference. For some people with prediabetes, early treatment can actually return blood glucose levels to the normal range. Q: How do I know if I have prediabetes? A: Doctors can use a fasting plasma glucose test (FPG), oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), or an A1C test to detect prediabetes: FPG Requires a person to fast overnight. The blood glucose is measured first thing in the morning before eating. Normal FPG is below 100 mg/dl. A person with prediabetes has a fasting blood glucose level between 100 and 125 mg/dl. If the blood glucose level rises to 126 mg/dl or above, a person has diabetes. OGTT

Also requires a person to fast overnight. The person's blood glucose is checked after fasting and again 2 hours after drinking a glucose-rich drink. Normal blood glucose is below 140 mg/dl 2 hours after the drink. In prediabetes, the 2-hour blood glucose is 140 to 199 mg/dl. If the 2-hour blood glucose rises to 200 mg/dl or above, a person has diabetes.

A1C
A blood test that gives the average amount of glucose in the blood over the past 3-4 months. An A1C 5.6% or below is normal. In prediabetes, A1C levels range between 5.7%-6.4%. If the A1C is 6.5% or above, a person has diabetes. The American Diabetes Associations Diabetes Risk Test can you determine if you are at increased risk for diabetes or prediabetes. A high score may indicate that you have prediabetes or at risk for prediabetes. Q: Who should get tested for prediabetes? A:People in these groups should be tested:

If you are overweight and age 45 or older, you should be checked for prediabetes during your next routine medical office visit. If your weight is normal and you're over age 45, you should ask your doctor during a routine office visit if testing is appropriate. For adults younger than 45 and overweight, your doctor may recommend testing if you have any other risk factors for diabetes or prediabetes, including: o high blood pressure o low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides o a family history of diabetes o a history of gestational diabetes or giving birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds

belonging to an ethnic or minority group at high risk for diabetes Q: How often should I be tested? A: If your blood glucose levels are in the normal range, get checked every three years, or more often if your doctor recommends it. If you have prediabetes, you should be checked for type 2 diabetes every one or two years after you are told you have prediabetes. Q: What is the treatment for prediabetes? A: Treatment consists of losing a modest amount of weight (7% of total body weight) through healthy eating and moderate exercise, such as walking, 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Don't worry if you can't get to your ideal body weight. Losing just 10 to 15 pounds can make a big difference.
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If you have prediabetes, you are at a 50% increased risk for heart disease or stroke, so your doctor may wish to treat or counsel you about cardiovascular risk factors, such as tobacco use, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Q: Will my insurance cover testing and treatment? A: All insurance plans are different. However, Medicare and most insurance plans cover diabetes testing for people suspected of having diabetes. People at risk for diabetes are also at risk for prediabetes. Since the test is the same and the risk factors are the same for both conditions, a prediabetes test may be covered. Talk to your doctor and health insurance company to be sure. Q: Is prediabetes the same as Impaired Glucose Tolerance or Impaired Fasting Glucose? A: Yes. Doctors sometimes refer to high blood glucose levels as Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) or Imapired Fasting Glucose (IFG), depending on what test was used to detect it.

Q: How many people with prediabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes? A: One major study, the Diabetes Prevention Program, showed about 11% of people with prediabetes developed type 2 diabetes each year during the average three years of followup. Other studies show that many people with prediabetes develop type 2 diabetes in 10 years. Q: Could I have prediabetes and not know it? A: Absolutely. People with prediabetes don't often have symptoms. In fact, millions of people have diabetes and don't know it because symptoms develop so gradually, people often don't recognize them. Some people have no symptoms at all. Symptoms of diabetes include: unusual thirst frequent urination blurred vision extreme fatigue frequent infections cuts/bruises that are slow to heal tingling/numbness in the hands/feet recurring skin, gum, or bladder infections