DOES OUR CIRCADIAN CLOCK PROMOTE HEALTHY EATING? Lately, I’ve been seeing more news on circadian rhythm. For instance, the July 2018 issue of Scientific American—The Clocks Within Our Cells and the July-August 2018 issue of Fitness Journal—Is it Time to Eat Yet? Often referred to as the “body clock,” circadian rhythm is a cycle that tells our bodies when to sleep and eat and regulates many physiological processes. This internal body clock is affected by environmental cues, like sunlight and temperature. A growing body of research is examining the adverse health effects a disrupted circadian rhythm can have. In fact, researchers studying chronobiology...
WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW YOUR “FITNESS AGE”? You know your chronological age, but how about your “fitness age”? Studies of fitness and lifespan suggest that a person’s fitness age, which is primarily a measure of cardiovascular endurance, might be a better predictor of longevity than chronological age. Your body’s capacity to transport and use oxygen during exercise is based on the concept of VO2 max, which is the most precise measure of overall cardiovascular fitness. Here’s more information on how your fitness age is measured and what it says about your lifespan excerpted from the July 17, 2015 issue...
FIT! SENIOR FITNESS CLUB For the past year I’ve gathered background knowledge on a variety of different fitness gyms and programs. I’ve been a member of several larger California gyms over the years including the Channel Islands YMCA in Ventura and recently 24 Hour Fitness in Oxnard. These facilities are open to all ages and, of course, include seniors as members. Especially at the Y, certain aqua classes, Golden Zumba, Silver Sneakers and core & balance classes are aimed at seniors. BodyPump and tai chi classes also attract a large number of older members. As part of my research into...
NOTHING LIKE A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP Lately, I’ve had trouble getting a full night’s sleep. It seems that if I go right to sleep after lying down, I wake up at 2:30 am and lie there for an hour before finally dozing off again. If it takes me half an hour to fall asleep, maybe I can go to 3 am before waking. Anyway, it’s hard to get those 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night that I keep hearing I should have. So now I take over-the-counter sleep aids like Unisom Sleep Tabs (doxylamine succinate), which is an...
SKIN CANCER—KEEPING YOUR SKIN IN THE GAME Yesterday I saw my dermatologist for my quarterly skin checkup. Nothing new, thank goodness. Besides these regular appointments, I keep a continual skin watch on myself. You see I had melanoma 20 years ago. I lived in Portugal for three years in the mid 1990s and didn’t bother having a physical exam. When I got home and finally went in, the doc spotted a lesion with an irregular border on my back. “Oh, oh, we need to biopsy this,” he said. Sure enough it was the melanoma variety of skin cancer and it...
STRENGTH TRAINING—GROWING STRONG & LOOKING GOOD I’m certain you know that as us seniors put on the years, we need both aerobic (cardio) activity and strength training. With aerobic exercise you breathe faster and deeper and your heart beats at a higher rate. The better your aerobic fitness, the more efficiently your heart, lungs and blood vessels transport oxygen throughout your body. Aerobic activities include walking, running, jogging, biking, dancing, swimming (and other aqua exercises). It’s recommended we get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week. Strength training is the...
LOWERING YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE—FOODS THAT HELP & FOODS TO AVOID Last week I posted Your Blood Pressure: Where Do You Place in the New Guidelines? I included updated recommendations from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association giving a new normal blood pressure of under 120/80 whereas before, normal was under 140/90. Thus, if you didn’t previously have high blood pressure, there’s a chance you do now. The post included suggestions on how you can lower blood pressure without medication. This week I’m adding in specific foods that will help you control blood pressure, a few to...
YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE: WHERE DO YOU PLACE IN THE NEW GUIDELINES If you didn’t previously have high blood pressure, there’s a chance you do now. That’s my case—suddenly my blood pressure isn’t “normal” any longer. Six months ago the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association released updated blood pressure guidelines. I thought I was doing pretty good with a blood pressure reading of 127/70, however this is now considered elevated. Here’s info on what’s new from Monique Tello, MD, MPH in the November, 2017 Harvard Medical School article New high blood pressure guidelines: Think your blood pressure...
ORANGETHEORY FITNESS: NOT YOUR ORDINARY GYM I attended my first Orangetheory® Fitness class today. It was an intense—but enjoyable—one hour workout. I had read enough about it online to pretty much know what to expect. Still, it was quicker paced and more challenging than I had anticipated—especially for this older guy. I’d been hearing about Orangetheory for a while as an alternative to a regular gym and regular gym group classes. Doing a bit of research, I found that Orangetheory Fitness is a privately owned fitness franchise based in South Florida. It has grown rapidly since beginning in 2010 to...
GOOD POSTURE: IT WILL IMPROVE YOUR CONFIDENCE & YOUR HEALTH When I was young my mother often told me to stand up straight. Or, when we were out, would point out certain folks who obviously had better posture than me—“Look at that man, he must be in the military, look how straight he stands and walks.” Of course she was right in trying to correct my slouching. Yet, after all these years, my posture still ain’t that great. I think I’ve finally improved my stance in running—neck up, chin down—and I’m trying to carry it over to my everyday sitting,...
