Source(s):

Lauren Zander, cofounder and chairman, The Handel Group, www.thehandelgroup.com.

Joan Price

Lack of time is a primary reason people give for failing to get the recommended 30 to 60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise most days of the week. Admittedly, it can be tough to find such a big chunk of time in your busy schedule.
What helps: Instead of feeling compelled to cram an entire day’s worth of exercise into a single block of time, commit to fitting in little bursts of physical activity — two minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes — throughout the day. The more these “fitness minutes” add up, the more you reap the benefits of exercise, including improved health, better weight control, increased energy and a sense of well-being.

IN THE MORNING…

• When your alarm clock rings — instead of pressing the snooze button, get up and use those extra minutes to do some gentle yoga poses.
• While brushing your teeth — do calf raises. Standing, slowly rise onto the balls of your feet… hold for several seconds… return to the starting position. Repeat, continuing for two minutes.
• In the shower — give your upper back muscles a workout. Squeeze your shoulder blades together… hold for five to 10 seconds… rest for a moment. Repeat 10 to 15 times.
• While you style your hair — squeeze your buttocks muscles as hard as you can for 10 seconds… rest for several seconds… repeat five to 10 times.
• When going down stairs — turn around at the bottom of the stairs and go back up, making one or more extra up-and-down trips.
• As the coffee is brewing — hop on your right foot 10 times… then hop on the left foot. Repeat twice.
• When letting the dog out — go with him for a short walk.

OUT AND ABOUT…

• At the gas station — walk inside to pay rather than swiping a credit card at the pump. Instead of sitting in your car as the gas flows, clean all your windows, alternating the hand that holds the squeegee.
• At every red light — do shoulder shrugs and roll your shoulders… repeatedly tighten and release your thigh muscles… rotate one wrist, then the other wrist.
• When parking — instead of finding a spot close to your destination, get one a few blocks away.
• Upon entering a store — if all the items you need will fit in a shopping basket, choose a basket instead of a cart.
• As you shop — if you need a cart, do 10 bicep curls with weightier items — soup cans, juice jugs — before placing them in your cart. (If you feel silly doing this in public, do your bicep curls at home as you put the items in the pantry.)
• While waiting in line — work your abdominal muscles. Suck in your belly and tighten your abs… hold for 10 seconds… relax. Repeat five to 10 times.
• On a long car trip — stop every 50 miles or so, and take a walk around a rest stop or scenic area.
• When traveling by bus, plane or train — walk up and down the aisle for at least five minutes every hour.

AT YOUR DESK…

• While on the phone — march in place or pace around your office.
• As you read e-mail — lift your right foot several inches off the floor… rotate your ankle clockwise several times, then counterclockwise… lower the foot. Repeat on the left side.
• If you need to talk with a coworker — walk over to her office instead of phoning. When you get back to your own desk, before sitting down, hold your arms out to the side and circle them forward 15 times, then backward.
• Each time you finish a task — do “chair dips.” With feet flat on the floor, place your hands on the armrests and push your body up (so your rear end hovers above the seat)… hold for several seconds… lower yourself back into the chair. Repeat 10 times. (Skip this if your chair has wheels.)
• During your lunch break — take a walk through the office complex.
• In the restroom — stand and reach for the sky for 30 seconds… then do 10 jumping jacks.
• If you drop a pencil (or at least once a day) — do a variation on toe touches. Stand up, bend down, pick up the pencil, straighten up… drop the pencil again. Repeat 10 times.

IN THE EVENING…

• Before starting dinner — take a quick ride around the neighborhood on your bicycle.
• At the dinner table — do leg lifts. Sit with feet flat on the floor. Straighten your right leg to hold your right foot out in front of you… lift your right thigh a few inches off the chair and hold for several seconds… lower the foot. Repeat 10 times, then switch to the left leg.
• Doing laundry — when you grab a basket of clothes, tighten abdominal muscles and, with your back straight, lift the basket from hip height to chest height five times.
• Listening to the radio or a CD — dance around the room for one entire song. Repeat several times.
• While watching TV — pop an exercise video or DVD in your player. Every time the TV show cuts to a commercial break, turn on the player and follow along with the workout for several minutes.
• Climbing the stairs — take the steps two at a time. (Do not do this if you have balance problems.)
• After washing your face — tilt your head slowly from side to side, feeling a good stretch along your neck… try to touch your chin to your chest to stretch the back of your neck.
• Before climbing into bed — raise your arms overhead… tilt gently to the right, feeling the stretch along the left side of your torso… then tilt to the left. Repeat five times.
• When you lie down — do knee hugs. Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the mattress. Raise one leg, place your hands behind the thigh and draw the leg toward your chest. Hold for 30 seconds… return to starting position. Repeat with the other leg.
• Closing your eyes — breathe in and out deeply 10 time
  s, feeling grateful for all that your body was capable of doing during the day.

Source(s):

Bottom Line/Women’s Health interviewed Joan Price, a certified fitness instructor and motivational speaker based in Sebastopol, California, and author of six books, including “The Anytime, Anywhere Exercise Book” (iUniverse). She credits her commitment to exercise for her success in twice regaining the ability to walk and dance after two head-on car crashes. www.joanprice.com

Source(s):Tores Theorell, MD, PhD, professor emeritus, Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Sweden.Emil F. Coccaro, MD, E.C. Manning Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral neuroscience, Biological Sciences Division, The University of Chicago.

The list of celebrities getting toppled from their perches due to their human failings gets longer and longer… John Edwards, Tiger Woods and Kirstie Alley are just a few recently in the headlines. Not to mention that our fascination with human weakness has turned into a booming industry known as reality television shows.

But what’s even more fascinating than watching all these beautiful, successful people fall? Seeing how they return from the ruin. The drug abuser who comes clean and writes a book… the fitness trainer who was once obese… the philanderer who rebuilds his commitment to wife and family — these people serve as inspiration we love to embrace. According to life coach and Daily Health News regular contributor Lauren Zander, CEO of the Handel Group, there is a very good reason why we find them so entrancing: “Focusing on the failures of others allows us to hide from our own weaknesses, reassuring ourselves that we must be fine since we’d never do that.”

It’s Part of the Story

The truth is that our weaknesses (we all have them) are part of being human. Overcoming them is part of the adventure of life, whereas covering up and hiding from a simple weakness can transform it into an obstacle that holds back personal development, and perhaps even destroys your life.

Have you noticed that people who’ve taken charge of failings and turned them around exude more confidence? With their stronger sense of self, they’re better and more inspiring teachers than those who have never had to confront their demons. Since the entire world is facing challenges right now, Lauren says it’s an ideal time to unmask our own weaknesses and take a different approach — embrace them. She points out that everyone has positive and negative traits, adding “It’s better to be honest about your challenges than to make believe that they don’t exist, since, I promise you, the rest of the world is very aware of your shortcomings.”

Accepting and acknowledging our weaknesses makes us immediately more authentic and real. Furthermore, it is only by admitting to our negative traits that we can begin to work on changing them. “Inherent in the concept of making something better is that you have to acknowledge that it’s a problem,” says Lauren. “It’s the light emerging from the dark, the yin/yang of life.”

But when you acknowledge what is negative in your life you also introduce a crucial question — are you willing to do the work to make it better? “It isn’t easy to change the way you live — how you eat, how you talk to others, the routines of your life,” says Lauren. Making improvements requires awareness, adjustment and commitment. “Avoiding the conversation means that you don’t have to deal with it,” she says. “But once you figure out that it is possible to turn not-so-great into something you’re proud of, you have the inspiration that leads to making a better life.”

Picture This

Lauren suggests that one way to get good at admitting your flaws without feeling humiliated is to start a list of your weaknesses in a private journal. Be utterly honest — the whole point is to realize that we all have human frailties. What are yours? Write down the large and small ones, then review your list to choose what you most want to change. Use your journal to describe how your life will be transformed if you take control of them. For example, if you have a tendency to spend too much money, visualize and write about a growing balance in your bank account and how calm you’ll be if you no longer have to worry about whether you’ll be able to pay your bills.

Now that you can picture how your life would be improved if you could turn your weaknesses around, it’s time to decide how to get from here to there. Using the spending example again, what could you do that would force you to stop spending? Cut up credit cards? Allow yourself to buy things only with cash? Create a budget? Limit yourself to a certain number of fun purchases a month?

The task of laying out the steps required to change your behavior may lead to some introspection. Do you shop as a way to give to yourself? Maybe you need more attention from your significant other or to find another way to indulge your need for self-expression and pleasure. Recognizing such root causes allows you to figure out how to fix the problem, which will then make it easier to actually solve it by cutting back on spending.

Life Gets Better and Better

Life is all about problem solving, so the challenge of self-improvement never goes away. As Lauren points out, “Once you have managed to run one mile, you can now push yourself to run two. There is always a better way… more generous love… a deeper connection… more money… greater intimacy… better health… more.”

And since there is no such thing as human perfection, Lauren advises learning to enjoy the process of turning your weaknesses into strengths. Why not share this project with someone you love, perhaps your sibling or best friend or partner or spouse? Together you can discuss what change means, what you wish could be different and how you can achieve it. This can (and should) be accomplished with kindness and generosity, says Lauren — no poking fun or being snide about one another’s failings. “Accept as a fact that we all have negative traits, and try to get comfortable with the intimacy of talking about yours,” she says. “You can then allow that ease to liberate you by learning to love your failings, embracing them as yours and using them to grow better and stronger throughout the rest of your life.”

Source(s):

Lauren Zander, life coach, chairman and founder of Handel Group, www.thehandelgroup.com.

You’re probably aware of whether you tend toward a type A or type B personality, since those labels are part of our lexicon. What you may not know, however, is that there is a third type — type D — and it’s not a great category to find yourself in. The D stands for distress, and a growing body of research links this personality type with a variety of health risks and even early death — so it may be especially important for these inhibited and gloomy folks to do everything they can to lighten up.

Remember Eeyore — the sad, self-conscious donkey character in Winnie-the-Pooh? To my mind, he is a perfect illustration of the type D personality. He always expected the worst and therefore, that’s what he usually got. Traits associated with this personality type include social inhibition, a negative self-image, depressed mood, hostility, tension, chronic anger and a tendency to overreact to stressful events.

Type D & Death Risk

It’s already known that having this type D personality elevates risk for people who have had heart attacks, cardiac bypass surgery and/or stent implants. In new research from the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, scientists set out to determine the impact of these characteristics on people with a common condition called peripheral artery disease (PAD), a circulatory problem in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the limbs. People who have PAD have four to five times greater risk for heart attack and stroke.

Researchers asked 184 patients (average age 65) diagnosed with PAD to fill out a 14-item personality questionnaire to assess character traits, such as negativity and social inhibition. They rated statements such as “I would rather keep people at a distance” and “I often find myself worrying about something” as false or true on a scale of zero to four. During the next four years, 16 patients (9%) died — six of cardiovascular disease, seven of cancer and one each from emphysema, pneumonia and acute pancreatitis. After factoring in other variables such as age, gender, diabetes and kidney disease, investigators learned that those with type D personalities were more than three times as likely to have died as those who were Type A or B.

How Distress Raises Risk

There are numerous pathways linking this particular personality type with poor health outcomes, I learned from study coauthor Johan Denollet, PhD, a professor of medical psychology at Tilburg University. Some are physical, other behavioral. For instance, Type D individuals tend to…

• Experience chronic anxiety and negativity. Living in such a state has a variety of physical effects on your body, none beneficial. Chronic stress drives up levels of inflammatory proteins called cytokines, which leads to increased oxidative stress and contributes to disease. The adrenal glands respond to stress by pumping out cortisol, the hormone that helps us meet perceived threats. Having high and prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream causes serious problems, including blood sugar imbalances, reduced immunity, slower wound healing and increased abdominal fat.

• Have poor health habits. Research has shown that people with type D personalities often neglect their health by eating improperly, not having medical checkups and being sedentary.

• Are unlikely to be proactive in seeking medical care. Perhaps because they are unable to express their emotions and are tense, insecure and uncomfortable in social situations, type D individuals are often slow to seek the medical help they need. In one study, type D patients with chronic heart failure experienced more cardiac symptoms and worried more about them than other people but, paradoxically, were less likely to discuss them with health-care professionals. Other research demonstrates that heart failure patients with “inadequate consultation behavior” face a six-fold increased risk for impaired health.

What Can Help

Generally speaking, you can’t change your personality — but if you recognize these traits in yourself or a loved one, there are plenty of things you can do to address the issues and minimize the impact on your health. For example, Dr. Denollet notes that type D personalities are more likely to experience anxiety and depression — and points out that these can be managed to a significant degree with counseling and/or medication. Other strategies include…

• Adopting healthier lifestyle behaviors, such as better diet and regular exercise.

• Participating in programs or counseling to conquer addictions, such as smoking or alcohol abuse, or to improve social skills and learn to relax.

• Using techniques such as guided imagery, breathing exercises, meditation, tai chi and yoga to help manage stress and mood and learn to control anger and hostility.

While you can’t change who you are, if you have a type D personality, you can take these concrete steps to make yourself healthier and, I’llbet, happier.

Source(s):

Johan Denollet, PhD, professor of medical psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Do you know zilch about zinc? Let’s rectify that, as this essential trace element is vital to your health and well-being. According to some reports, as many as 12% of Americans may have a zinc deficiency, a figure that may rise to as much as 45% in people over age 60. Among the important functions of zinc in our bodies — it boosts the immune response… protects cell membranes from harmful oxidants and structural damage… repairs DNA… and supports nearly 100 different enzymes that regulate the chemistry of cells and organisms.

Regular Daily Health News contributor Mark Stengler, NMD, told me that zinc is also helpful in stabilizing blood glucose… contributes to neurological function… and helps the formation of testosterone, thereby potentially boosting sexual function. (So the reputation of oysters as an aphrodisiac has a scientific basis — they have more zinc than any other food.) And, of particular interest to the older population, says Dr. Stengler, is that zinc helps prevent or reduce the damage of age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in adults over age 60.

Why Do We Lack Zinc?

Our ability to absorb zinc may decline with age. On top of that, many older folks take medications known to deplete zinc, in particular thiazide diuretics and ACE inhibitors (used to control blood pressure) and acid-suppressing medications. Additionally, having a digestive disorder that prevents proper nutrient absorption — such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or Crohn’s disease — can contribute to deficiency. And since animal products are a primary source of zinc, eating a vegetarian diet can also mean that you don’t get enough.

With so many people at risk, you’d think there would be good tests to measure zinc levels, but alas, the only ones available are not sensitive enough to be useful — so it is important to be aware of deficiency symptoms. Severe deficiency causes severe problems (such as rashes, chronic diarrhea and night blindness), but that’s rare in developed countries. Lower level deficiency is far more common, but its symptoms can be troublesome, too — including depression, a loss of appetite and libido, and frequent colds and other infections.

Zinc and Colds

When you get a cold or respiratory infection, supplementing with zinc can help relieve your sore throat and shorten your suffering, a benefit that has been demonstrated in many studies. This has made zinc-based cold fighters, including the Zicam Cold Remedy line, quite popular. There was considerable concern last year when the FDA issued a warning about use of Zicam products delivered nasally (its gels and sprays). These are no longer being sold, and according to Dr. Stengler, Zicam lozenges are safe (a daily dose — six lozenges — has 80 mg of elemental zinc). Dr. Stengler likes even better lozenges that contain 15 mg to 25 mg of elemental zinc, and in particular the brands Bluebonnet and LifeExtension. At the first sign of a cold, have one every two hours away from meals, since zinc supplementation may also interfere with the absorption of iron and calcium, and competes with copper for uptake from the gut. Note: Zinc may hinder absorption of antibiotics, so if you’re on them, be sure to use it at least two hours before or after the time you take the drug.

For Health in General

The zinc Recommended Daily Allowance is 11 mg a day for men and 8 mg for women. You can obtain this much from food (see below), but if you have signs of deficiency or are not eating a zinc-rich diet, Dr. Stengler says 15 mg per day is generally a good supplemental dose. The upper limit for a zinc supplement is 40 mg — too much zinc has been associated with prostate cancer. Pregnant and nursing women should not take zinc unless instructed to do so by a doctor.

Zinc-rich foods include…

• Beef
• Crab
• Turkey
• Oysters
• Liver
• Dairy including milk, yogurt and cheddar cheese
• Cashews, almonds, peanuts
• Crimini mushrooms
• Spinach
• Pumpkin seeds

For most people at most times, he says, eating a varied, healthful diet and taking a daily multivitamin with zinc should be sufficient to prevent deficiency.

Source(s):

Mark A. Stengler, NMD, a naturopathic medical doctor and leading authority on the practice of alternative and integrated medicine. He is editor of Bottom Line’s Natural Healing newsletter, author of The Natural Physician’s Healing Therapies (Bottom Line Books), director of the La Jolla Whole Health Clinic in La Jolla, California, and adjunct clinical professor at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. To learn more about his work, visit www.drstengler.com and www.lajollawholehealth.com.

Russell K. Portenoy, MD
Beth Israel Medical Center

Every day, 36 million Americans take an over-the-counter (OTC) painkiller, usually acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or aspirin.

We take those medications to stop a headache… ease an arthritis flare-up… soothe a sore shoulder after a weekend of yard work… or relieve any one of the everyday aches and pains that inevitably disrupt our lives.

But do you know which painkiller to take first for maximum effectiveness and safety?

Here are the latest guidelines…

HOW painkillers WORK

All three of the most common pain relievers — acetaminophen, ibuprofen and aspirin — reduce the production of cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes. These enzymes play a key role in the formation of prostanoids, biochemicals that sensitize the nerve fibers that produce pain and trigger inflammation.

What you may not know: There is no “best” OTC painkiller for every pain problem. That’s because not everyone responds to pain relievers in the same way — none of these drugs works consistently for everyone or for every type of pain.

You may find that ibuprofen relieves your headaches, but it may do nothing for your spouse, who swears by aspirin when his/her temples start to throb.

Even if ibuprofen works for both your and your spouse’s headaches, the amount each of you needs for pain relief may be different — and the amount that one person needs may cause a distressing side effect that never troubles the other. How can you determine the right drug and dose for you, and you alone? Follow the three-step plan below.

Important: This self-care plan is best for relief of mild-to-moderate acute pain, such as a toothache or headache. It is not appropriate for chronic pain. Long-term use of any painkiller should be monitored by a doctor because of the risk for side effects. All dosages listed are for adults. Also, don’t use products that combine two or more of these ingredients, such as Extra-Strength Excedrin, which includes acetaminophen and aspirin. Combination products have not been proven to work any better and may have an increased risk for side effects.

START WITH ACETAMINOPHEN

Because there’s no way to tell which OTC painkiller will work best for you, it’s sensible for most people (though not all) to start with the safest — the one that decades of clinical use has shown poses the lowest risk for side effects. That drug is acetaminophen.

Starting dosage: 500 milligrams (mg) to 1,000 mg.

Maximum dosage: Two extra-strength 500-mg capsules, four times daily. If you take acetaminophen repeatedly over many days, don’t exceed 4,000 mg a day.

Warning: The biggest risk from acetaminophen is liver damage, which can occur when more than the maximum dosage is taken. Don’t use acetaminophen at any dosage without a physician’s supervision if you have a liver disease, such as hepatitis C, or a history of heavy drinking (three or more drinks a day). Although ibuprofen generally would be preferred over the other painkillers in these cases, all painkillers have added risks for people who have liver disease or who are heavy drinkers.

If you haven’t been drinking heavily for several months, it is probably safe to use acetaminophen unless there is a history of liver damage.

NEXT, TRY IBUPROFEN

If acetaminophen doesn’t relieve your acute pain, switch to ibuprofen or one of the other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as naproxen (Aleve) or ketoprofen (Actron).

Starting dosage: 200 mg to 400 mg.

Maximum dosage: Use of more than 2,400 mg daily requires monitoring by a physician because high dosages can cause serious side effects.

Precautions: Like all NSAIDs, regular use of ibuprofen can damage the gastrointestinal tract, causing problems ranging from heartburn to bleeding ulcers. Other possible side effects…

• Kidney damage, with swelling of the legs, worsening of high blood pressure and/or kidney failure.

• Risk for blood clots, which increase the likelihood of angina, heart attack and/or stroke. If you have unstable angina (not effectively controlled with medical care), PAD (narrowing of the arteries in the legs) or have had a heart attack, a transient ischemic attack or a stroke, or have otherwise been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, do not take ibuprofen regularly. The more severe the circulatory disease, the greater the need for caution with ibuprofen. Acetaminophen is probably the better choice, but talk to your doctor.

ASPIRIN IS the LAST choice

If acetaminophen and ibuprofen don’t work, you can try switching to aspirin, with the understanding that aspirin is the most likely of these drugs to cause side effects in most people.

Starting dosage: Two 325-mg tablets.

Maximum dosage: Do not exceed 4,000 mg daily.

Precautions: The greatest risk with aspirin is bleeding ulcers.