Sedentary Lifestyle May be Linked to Dementia

Most of society understands that moving your body is an important component of staying healthy at any age. Weight control, cardiovascular health and other benefits are the main side effects to consistent exercise. Currently, doctors are even discovering that movement also helps patients with possible dementia in their future. Patients who remain sedentary for most of the day are at a high risk for Alzheimer's and other cognitive decline.

Oxygen's Role in the Body

Every cell in your body depends on oxygen for sustained life. As you breathe in deeply, the air molecules move quickly through your lungs and into the bloodstream. Your blood acts as a transport for oxygen, which forces this molecule to every part of your body. As you exercise, more oxygen saturates the blood. Researchers believe that consistent exercise allows this oxygen to permeate the brain, which leads to better cognitive functions into the senior years.

Questions Still Abound

Patients might ask their doctors about the right kind of exercises to perform that ward off dementia. However, researchers have yet to discover the perfect recipe of exercises that truly impact cognitive decline. Currently, the best advice is simply to get active. Taking a walk, playing tennis and other activities that increase your heart rate are smart choices. You simply want to get your blood flowing as you move around on a consistent basis. Make it a habit to exercise at least a little bit each day. Walking around the shopping mall can be a mild exercise that helps.

Hope With HIIT Exercises

Researchers are currently looking at HIIT or high-intensity training exercises as a means to improve cognitive abilities in seniors. This complex term simply means that you need to exercise with variations to the effort. Experienced runners might sprint for 30 seconds and walk for one minute. They can alternate this pattern to surprise the cells into working harder and then resting. Researchers believe that this effort might help with dementia because the controlled stress forces the heart and brain to work harder than before.

Considering Patients With Genetic Predisposition 

Dementia is known to move through families because of genetic predispositions. It's not a guarantee that the disease will arise in any one person, however. Those genes must be activated at some point. Patients with a genetic predisposition can fight off dementia with exercise too. The added oxygen into the body might cause that gene to remain inactive as the senior years progress. Patients must still work closely with their doctors so that any signs of cognitive decline are caught early on.

Other Mental Exercises

Physical exercise is critical to a high, quality of life in your senior years. However, you also need mental exercise as well. Take an art or academic class so that your mind is challenged. Take up a hobby that requires problem solving and other mental gymnastics. Playing intellectual games, such as advanced board games, can also help your mental sharpness. Exercising your brain on a variety of levels will only help it remain healthy with a doctor's care to back up any concerns.

Marked attitude changes in seniors are hallmarks of cognitive decline. If you notice that a loved one is struggling with everyday memory, such as locating the car keys, work with a medical professional as soon as possible. There are some therapies that can help patients before dementia sets in. Getting active is simply a basic solution that can ward off mental issues for many of the senior years.

Healthy Lifestyle Linked to Higher Intelligence

Healthy Lifestyle Linked to Higher Intelligence

When you lead a healthy lifestyle, you can look forward to all types of bodily benefits. Everything from an improved metabolism to better muscular growth, proper nutrition and dieting can have overt benefits on your sense of well-being. Research also shows that a healthy lifestyle could be linked to a higher intelligence.

Better Nutrition Leads to Stronger Cellular Performance

When the body has the proper level of nutrition it needs, all operations work better on a cellular level. The cells have the fuel and energy they need to carry out their tasks without being bogged down by any number of problems. This efficiency results in a better metabolic function that gets rid of waste materials more quickly and provides the body with more energy. This becomes crucial in the brain, where the removal of waste materials and better functioning of cells means that cognitive functions are sped up and optimized. Studies also show that a healthier lifestyle through nutrition can help get rid of mental sluggishness. Drinking more water can lead to reduced migraines as well, which can optimize mental activities in the future, particularly in those who struggle with migraines and similar issues.

Better Exercising Habits Leads to Circulatory Solutions

As you exercise more frequently, your metabolism speeds up and optimizes blood flow through your organs. This increased blood flow can allow nutrients to reach necessary processes much more quickly, which can result in better long-term functioning. This results in a compounding effect, where all of the benefits build on top of each other to provide the body with the boost it needs to provide the individual with better movements and health. This extends to the brain as well, as the better fed the mind is, the better cognitive function the individual retains. Those who lead a healthier lifestyle will find themselves enjoying greater mental clarity and better memory function. Like any other lifestyle changes, however, it is important to make sure that you take it slow at first. Make the gradual changes you need to lead into healthier routines for your future.

3 Myths about Your Health

It is important to understand what you need to do in order to stay healthy. However, separating health myths from facts can be challenging, and it is just as important to understand what health information is out there that is misleading. Here are three health myths that can actually be detrimental in some cases. 

Vitamin supplements are the answer

Like all three of the myths listed here, there is some truth to this one. Vitamin supplements can be critical for people who have certain shortages such as vitamin D and vitamin B-12, and your doctor may responsibly prescribe specific vitamins or a multivitamin. However, the danger arises when people begin to believe that vitamins can be a replacement for eating healthily and become overly reliant on supplements. Furthermore, overuse of some vitamins can be dangerous.

Most experts agree that for people who eat a healthy diet, a daily multivitamin is not necessary. Unfortunately, many people fail to eat a balanced diet. The problem is that the science is still unclear about how well the body absorbs nutrients from multivitamins versus food. Furthermore, when vitamins are obtained through food, other nutrients accompany them as well such as fiber. 

The supplement market is not well-regulated, so it can be difficult to know what you are actually putting into your body. Furthermore, megadoses of vitamins can be harmful with consequences ranges from an upset stomach to liver problems and more. You should follow your doctors' instructions regarding vitamin supplements. 

Other sweeteners are superior to sugar

As with vitamins, this myth has its origins in truth. Sugar is not particularly good for you. However, some people believe that sugar in other forms, such as honey or brown sugar, is less unhealthy than processed white sugar. This simply is not the case. The body responds to all of these sugars in the same way.

There are also a number of myths about the dangers of sugar. You may have heard that sugar is as addictive as heroin, but all scientists really know is that sugar stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain just as many activities do. There is little research to support the idea that sugar makes children more hyperactive.

Some people may choose artificial sweeteners over sugar. The main advantage of these sweeteners is that they may aid in weight loss. In general, it is best to avoid too much sugar in any form.

Organic food is healthier

Tens of thousands of studies have found no evidence that organically grown food is healthier than food that is grown conventionally. Furthermore, organic food is not even necessarily free of pesticides. Many states allow organic farmers to use so-called "organic" pesticides. This simply means that the pesticides used are made from natural rather than synthetic materials. The effects of organic pesticides have not been widely studied, so it is unclear what the health risks may be. Organic farming may be beneficial to the soil and environment in many ways, and buying organic produce may support smaller scale farmers, but being unable to afford organic food does not meaning having to eat a substandard diet. 

There is one health fact that arises from dispelling all of these myths, and it is that the best approach to a healthy lifestyle is eating a balanced diet with a variety of foods. Getting the recommended servings of vegetables and fruit daily and keeping the consumption of overly processed foods to a minimum are both key. 

A Cycling Lifestyle and the Benefits it Endows

There is plenty of scientific evidence that cycling is good for your health in general. It is a low-impact form of physical exercise that has many of the same benefits as other aerobic forms of exercise, such as walking and running. Unlike running, however, it is much easier on your joints and can be performed even in old age. This is because it causes less strain on your joints and muscles and is also associated with fewer injuries than other forms of physical exercise. There is very little equipment needed, and it can be a very inexpensive way to get in shape because it does not require a monthly gym fee.

One of the best things about cycling is that it is very easy to fit into your daily lifestyle. For example, you can replace a quick trip in your car to the market with a simple bike ride. It is a great way to sneak in extra exercise without being bored and losing your motivation at a traditional gym. In addition, cycling is a great way to work all of your major muscle groups at once. It is a much more comprehensive and engaging workout than simply going for a leisurely walk. 

Even if you consider yourself to be uncoordinated, it does not take much effort at all to be able to pick up on cycling and get the hang of it for good. In fact, even if you have not tried cycling for many years, you never lose the skills and can literally hop back on a bike again without a problem. 

The major aerobic benefits are that it increases your strength, stamina and general level of fitness. Along those lines, regular cycling can even make other forms of working out much easier if you are looking to mix it up every once in a while. You can also scale your level of cycling to your general fitness level. If you have not worked out in a while, you can build up your level of intensity while cycling over time so that you do not injure yourself or get burned out too quickly.

There are also many social benefits of cycling because it is easy to do as a group activity. Incorporating some socialization into your workout is a good way to stay fit and find some extra motivation to stay on track with your exercise program. If you develop a group of friends who all like cycling, you can plan to meet up to exercise, which will keep you stimulated and active for longer. 

Tips to Find the Tastiest Ways to Eat Healthy

As you get older, eating healthy becomes increasingly important. A lot of people view this as a dreaded chore and see it as the end of enjoying food, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can continue to enjoy food, even while learning to up your game nutritionally.

1) Learn to Shop
Learn how to choose good quality produce. Many fruits and veggies taste good raw or with minimum preparation, assuming they are of good quality to begin with. Melons can often be checked by feeling how firm the rind is. Generally speaking, the flesh of berries and other fruits should be firm, but not hard. If you aren't good at this, ask a friend to teach you all about it.

2) Learn to Store Food Properly
Fresh produce is best if consumed fairly promptly, but if you don't shop daily, you need to learn to store it so it stays fresh. Rinse fruits and vegetables before putting them in the fridge to remove any pesticide residue. Grapes should be pulled off the stem before being put away. Celery should be placed in a glass of water to keep it crisp. Bananas should be hung from a hook to forestall spoilage. Apples should be stored separately from other items because they give off a gas that can hasten spoilage for some items.

3) Learn to Stir Fry
Stir fry involves cutting foods up into relatively small pieces -- because small pieces cook quickly -- and cooking them on high heat for a short period of time. If you aren't a fan of oriental foods, you do not have to eat anything you find weird. You can use the same technique to make familiar foods healthier because stir frying involves less oil and less exposure to heat, thus helping to preserve nutrients and reduce the amount of fat in your diet. If you adapt familiar recipes to a stir fry version, you can improve your nutrition and cut fat from your diet without making big changes to the kinds of foods you like to eat.

4) Learn to Spice
Generally speaking, most healthy diets require you to cut fat and sugar. These are both big sources of flavor for many people. Learning to use spices can help add flavor to your diet so you don't miss the fats and sugars so much. Stir fry some sweet potato slices with cinnamon and nutmeg and you may be happy with just a pinch of brown sugar instead of a spoonful. Add onions, chives or black pepper to your baked potato and you may be less grumpy about cutting back on the butter, cheese and bacon.

Contrary to popular opinion, eating healthy does not have to be a fate worse than death. If you learn to up your game on food selection, storage, and preparation, it is possible to not only enjoy healthy foods, but to enjoy them even more than low quality junk food while also doing your body some good.

Finding the Right Food Plan and What it Means for You

We have all heard that eating right and getting enough exercise are the keys to maintaining a healthy weight and staying healthy in general. Rather than simply going on a crash diet plan or deciding that you are going to only eat a select few foods, the way to make sure you are starting out with a sustainable eating plan. While one of the reasons you may be considering ways to improve your diet is that you want to lose weight, there are also many other health benefits of sticking with healthy eating, such as higher energy levels, improved overall mood and lowering your risk for many preventable diseases.

When you are picking the right food plan, you need to do more than simply figure out the unhealthy foods to eliminate from your diet. In addition to this, you need to find the specific foods that will boost your nutrient intake and help you fight off cravings throughout the day. As you find foods to eliminate, make sure to replace them with healthy, low-calorie alternatives. Along with eliminating unhealthy foods, you should pay attention to your portion control. Eating too much of relatively healthy foods can still contribute to weight gain. If you need help with portion control, you can try preparing your meals ahead of time using containers with the correct proportion sizes for your needs.

You should also think about your daily schedule and ask yourself if you are eating at the right times during the day. For example, if you are skipping breakfast every day and then snacking before lunch, this could be an opportunity to adjust your meal time and save on unhealthy calories. One of the best methods for portion control and a healthy eating schedule is to make sure that you eat breakfast during the day and then consume more frequent, smaller-sized meals rather than a massive lunch and dinner. Another cardinal rule is to avoid eating late at night because your metabolism will be slower.

While everyone may have different specific nutrient needs, a good general rule of thumb is to reduce the amount of sugar that you are eating during the day. Consider replacing sugary drinks with water and sugary foods with fruit as healthier alternatives. This will also help you stay fuller longer and avoid snacking on unhealthy choices in between meals. If you need a good transition from sugary drinks like soda to water, try switching to unsweetened iced tea first.

Change can be Difficult, But it's Worth It!

Staying on top of your health is one of the most important things you can do during rough periods of time. No matter whether you are dealing with an illness or trying to stop the development of one, taking a proactive approach towards your health always yields results. If you are not sure where to begin, consider some of these easy exercises and lifestyle changes you can make to live better and enjoy change at a slow, comfortable pace.

One of the most important things that all people can do to improve the quality of their health is to eat better. This means taking the time to look into nutritional information to make sure that you only put what you want into your body. Look for foods that are high in proteins and fibers and low in fats and calories to make the most out of your lifestyle.

Always exercise whenever you have the chance as well. When exercising comes to mind, many people think that it means taking time out of the day to do an entire routine. While this can bring about the best and most desired results, the fact of the matter is that any amount of exercise can help. Take a walk instead of driving, and take the stairs instead of the elevator and see what a difference it can make.

Limit the amount of alcohol that you drink as well. Alcohol, in moderation, can be a great way to enjoy some additional health benefits. However, drinking in excess can have the opposite effect. Reducing the frequency of other bad habits, such as smoking and taking recreational drugs can also have a profoundly positive effect on your health.

Finally, be sure to stay social and reduce stress. Keeping your overall stress levels low is one of the best ways for you to achieve a longer life. Stress is directly linked to a number of different diseases, and taking the time to relax and enjoy a slower pace can be tremendously beneficial. Take some time out of your busy day to enjoy the activities that reduce your stress levels and be sure to keep up with friends to improve your efforts further.