Live Longer Through Cardiovascular Health

Aching muscles, heavy breathing, sweat poring off you. You ask yourself, "how will I get through this"? It's the sacrifice needed to stay healthy, strong and functional. When you really think about it, it's no different than any other kind of work. Getting up early, into the office, meetings at 8AM, paperwork to complete, staff to discipline, inventory to check, budgets to keep. How will I get through this? You did it and you did it well. You might be retired now and all the effort paid off. Your life is more secure because you decided to sacrifice and achieve goals. 

This weeks Motivational Moment

Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.
Viktor Frankl

If you are fit enough to run or jog, continue to do so but make sure you have supportive shoes. If not, get up and go for a walk. Now, I don't mean a gentle stroll to take in the evening air. I mean a power walk. Get your breathing up, take big steps at a brisk pace and swing your arms. Some controllable hand weights would be a good idea too. Wear good fitting shoes with shock absorbing soles.  Start around the block, then around the neighborhood and then just keep walking around. Your body loves oxygen. The more you take in the healthier you get. Your heart is a muscle. When you put it to work it gets larger and stronger just like a bicep when lifting weights. This makes it pump more blood that's full of oxygen through your body even when you are at rest. Sweat releases toxins from the body and acts as a natural coolant.  A big glass of cool water before and after a walk helps to keep you properly hydrated.

Why walk? Every person over 90 is always asked, "How'd you do it"? And every person over 90 responds, "I kept moving, kept working and didn't smoke and drink myself into oblivion. That's it". Your body is a biological machine. If you let it sit around for years unused and neglected, then try to start it up it's going to cough, wheeze, sputter and come to grinding halt. But if you work it, maintain it, nourish it with premium fuels, it will stand the test of time. 

Healthiest blessings,

Suzanne Andrews 

10 Top Anti-Aging Tips for a Youthful Mind, Body, Spirit

Suzanne Andrews, star of Functional Fitness on PBS TV shares how you can become empowered with an age defying mind/body and spirit with these 10 top anti-aging tips.

The desire for youthful energy never leaves and is capable of staying with you well until your later years. Boomers are, however, faced with the old adage, “use it or lose it.”   It’s no wonder boomers are keen to put passion back into their lives and fight the effects of aging.  True we are living in a society with an obesity epidemic and what a better motivator than  living an independent life well into ones retirement with an increased zest and ability to perform activities of daily living with greater ease and function.

How do function and aging co-exist and blend with fitness?  They are a twin-ship, even if we don’t see them that way.  No one wants to feel and look old before their time. Much of what we blame on aging: weakness, decreased range of motion and obesity can be reversed in 30 days.  How do we look and feel younger in 30 days? Through a blissful discipline called Functional Fitness.  

Americans are getting older every minute and life expectancy is ever-increasing.   People leading full productive lives after the age of retirement are no longer a “wow.”  Most baby boomers want to live active lives and learn how to enjoy a fulfilling active life.  You’re as fit as your body is functional.  Contrary to popular opinion, not even all young people are limber, for keeping flexibility relies on regular stretching. However flexibility, one of the three primary components of physical fitness, is extremely important to attaining a healthy life.  Without flexibility, simple activities, such as reaching and bending become painful. True, muscles shorten with age, but according to the National Foundation for anti-aging, “most aging is premature.”  Here are 10 tips to help you stay younger, fitter and functional. 

1- Drink six to eight glasses of water each day. Hydrate skin, nourish it, and prevent wrinkles. 

2- Stretch and strengthen your legs. Doing calf raises and tiptoe walking every other day improves circulation and helps prevents spider veins. 

3- Incorporate upper-body exercises. Lift mini dumbbells, and stretch back muscles. This protects against osteoporosis. 

4- Strengthen your abs five days a week. Sit-ups enhance blood flow to vital organs, repairing tissue damage.

5- Add aerobic exercise. Keep your heart and lungs youthful and fit. 

6 – Choose aerobics that enhance brain power. Jogging, bicycling, and speed walking sharpen memory and increase attention span. 

7- Use diaphragmatic breathing. Inhale through your nose so debris and pollutants are filtered from the air. Make your belly rise, and then fall slowly, exhaling through pursed lips. Relaxed breathing decreases levels of stress hormones that accelerate aging. 

8- Eat baked, broiled, or grilled salmon two times per week. Its omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins combat disease-causing free radicals.

9- Try colorful vegetables. Dr. Roy Vartabedian, author of “Nutripoints,” and Nutrition Expert for Functional Fitness starring Suzanne Andrews, ® recommends spinach, broccoli and romaine lettuce daily with lunch and dinner.  Dark green vegetables have cancer-fighting properties and vitamin C to boost your immune system. Tomatoes are also on this “fighter veggies” list.

 10- Enjoy fresh fruit for dessert.  Dr. Vartabedian suggests cantaloupe, guava, and papaya. These also combat the cell damage that causes premature aging.

Learn More about Anti Aging Exercise

Yoga Improves New Year's Resolution Success

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Yoga Chi for Energy, which is an ancient system consisting of both physical exercises,  postures and meditation can be a real motivator. In fact, it can help you keep your New Year’s Resolutions this year. Yoga Improves Weight Loss On of the most common New Year’s Resolutions is the resolution to lose weight. This is often a difficult resolution for people to keep, but yoga chi for energy practice can help. Yoga, poses (called asanas) and meditation reduce stress that may lead to overeating or other bad habits. The relaxed, focused state that comes from this ancient discipline tends to fall right in line with better choices such as eating healthier foods and exercising more.   In addition to this are the practical fat burning and muscle building qualities of yoga practice. Yoga asanas can be quite muscularly demanding and are thus similar to many fat burning regimens that give muscles relatively short periods of intensive work. This is well known to be one of the fastest ways to burn fat.   Even gentle Yoga Chi for Energy postures also stimulate and massage organs in the body and in so doing improve things like digestive function, kidney and liver health, and circulation, all of which help to purify the system and burn unwanted fact. Meditation and Motivation Meditation is well known to create a sense of relaxation as well as focus. As such, it can help greatly with motivation and will power. In the meditative state, things tend to become clearer and less jumbled and confused. The meditator can see more clearly what the issues with motivation are and act on them more consciously. All of this can be a great advantage when trying to keep a New Year’s Resolution, or any other resolution or goal for that matter. Whether it is a weight loss resolution, a resolution to find an exciting new career, or to find romance, meditation focuses an individual’s attention and creates the relaxed confidence that is beneficial for pursuing goals. Statistical Support These are not merely glittering generalities. There is direct statistical evidence to support the role of yoga in increasing focus and motivation. A study conducted by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) set out to show that yoga is more than just exercise. Traci A. Statler and Ami Wheeler, both PhDs tested the motivation, concentration, and anxiety levels of students Cal State San Bernadino during the course of 10 week Hatha Yoga class. They gave the students standard assessments 2 weeks into the course and again at 9 weeks. They discovered marked increases in motivation and concentration on the part of students, and a clear decrease in students’ anxiety. New Year’s Resolution Success New Year’s Resolution Success can thus be a natural, even spontaneous, result of practicing yoga. The ability for an individual to manifest what he or she wants is a natural part of yoga. The practice exercises and tones the physical body while at the same time creating a sense of purified and relaxed focus that tends to make sticking to resolutions much easier. So it is in the interests of almost anyone trying to keep a new year’s resolution to at least consider taking up yoga.

 

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