Selasa, 31 Januari 2012

You CAN Exercise Even If You Suffer From Asthma

If you suffer from asthma, you probably think that you can't exercise properly or safely. Contrary to what many think of this subject, there are ways that you can get in shape and exercise, even if you suffer from asthma.

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that is marked by characteristics such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. Asthma tends to occur with people who are genetically or environmentally presdisposed to the condition. 

Some of the triggers that may start or make an attack worse include exposure to allergens, viral respiratory infections, airway irritants, exercise, and exposure to things such as dust mites or cockroaches.

You can prevent asthma attacks by doing the following:

1. Bathe your pets weekly.

2. Don't smoke or permit smoking in your home.

3. When mold or pollent counts are high, you should stay inside with air conditioning.

4. Wash your bedding and any stuffed toys at least once per week in hot water.

5. Wash your hands every chance you get.

6. Get a flu shot.

7. Wear a scarf over your mouth and nose in the winter months.

8. Be proactive and know your triggers and how you should avoid them.

Now that you know what you know about asthma, you may be wondering where exercise fits in. As most doctors will tell you, you shouldn't give up on sports or exercise at all. You just have to be smart about how you play and take special pre cautions to avoid attacks.

Almost all doctors agree that the best way to prevent attacks during exercise is to keep your inhaler and medication close by. You should never use the inhaler more than 3 times during a game or exercise session. If you are up the previous night with coughing and wheezing, it's always best to go light with your exercise the next day.

For something known as IEA (Exercise Induced Asthma), the symptoms are somewhat different, in the fact that they appear after 6 - 10 minutes of exercise and will often be worse in cold or dry air.

If you have IEA, there are several activities that you can enjoy such as swimming, walking, biking, downhill skiing, and team based sports. There are many activities for you to choose from, to ensure you get the exercise you need as well.

Keep in mind that the condition of asthma isn't "all in your head", it is a real physiological medical treatment that will require treatment to prevent and treat. Even though your doctor will be your best friend in treating asthma, you are the one who can prevent your symptoms. 

Always be smart, take your medication, and be proactive. Don't let it put you in a life of misery - as you can enjoy exercise just like everyone else.

When Is The Best Time To Eat When Exercising?

Anytime you exercise, you do so in order to try and maintain good health. You also know that you have to eat well, so your body will have the energy it needs to exercise and maintain for the everyday tasks of life. For making the best of your exercise, what you eat before and after you workout is very important.

No matter if you are going to be doing a cardio workout or a resistance workout, you should always make it a point to eat a balanced mix of protein and carbohydrates. What makes that determining percentage of carbs and protein you consume is whether or not you are doing cardio or resistance exercise and the intensity level that you plan to work at.

The ideal time for you to eat your pre workout meal is an hour before you start. If you plan to work at a low intensity level, you should keep your pre workout meal down to 200 calories or so. If you plan to exercise at a high level of intensity, you will probably need your meal to be between 400 and 500 calories.

Those of you who are doing a cardio session will need to consume a mix of 2/3 carbs and 1/3 protein. Doing so will give you longer sustained energy from the extra carbs with enough protein to keep your muscle from breaking down while you exercise.

For resistance exercise, you'll need to eat a mix of 1/3 carbs and 2/3 protein, as this will help you get plenty of energy from the carbs to perform each set you do and the extra protein will help keep muscle breakdown to a minimum while you exercise. 

Eating after you exercise is just as important as your pre workout meal. Anytime you exercise, whether its cardio or resistance, you deplete energy in the form of glycogen. The brain and central nervous system rely on glycogen as their main source of fuel, so if you don't replace it after you exercise, your body will begin to break down muscle tissue into amino acids, and then convert them into usable fuel for the brain and the central nervous system.

Keep in mind that mostly during resistance exercise, you'll break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears. What this means, is that after a workout, your muscles will instantly go into repair mode. Protein is the key here for muscle repair, as you don't want muscle breaking down even further to create fuel instead of lost glycogen.

Once you have finished a cardio session, you'll need to consume mainly carbohydrates, preferably those with high fiber. Rice, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, and northern fruits are excellent sources. Also, try to consume 30 - 50 grams of there types of carbs after you exercise. After your cardio workout, it is fine to eat within 5 - 10 minutes.

Once you've finished a resistance workout, you will need to consume a combination of carbs and protein. Unlike cardio workouts, resistance workouts will break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears.

You'll need protein as this happens to build up and repair these tears so that the muscle can increase in size and strength. The carbs will not only replace the lost muscle glycogen, but will also help the protein get into muscle cells so it can synthesize into structural protein, or the muscle itself.

After your resistance exercise, you should wait up to 30 minutes before you eat, so that you won't take blood away from your muscles too fast. The blood in your muscles will help the repair process by removing the metabolic waste products.

Choosing The Right Exercise For You

The type of exercise you do all depends on you and what you like to do. What you hate doing, paying membership fees, and whether or not to buy equipment are all things you need to consider as well as answer.

If you choose something that you don't like to do, you aren't going to keep doing it for a long period of time. Give it some thought - if you don't like jogging, you aren't going to get up at 6 AM and go running. If you can't find something you like to do, choose something you hate the least, which will normally be walking.

Walking is great exercise, as it suits all levels of fitness. Anyone can start a walking program at any time, it's normally the intensity and duration that differs. Walking is also a social exercise, as it isn't difficult to find a training partner to chat with while you exercise. Walking with a partner will also make time go by faster.

No matter what exercise you choose, you should start at a low level of intensity and build it up over a period of weeks, which is essential to the longevity of your exercise program. If you start off too hard, you could end up with an injury which will require time off to get over.

If you are really in bad shape, you should start off by walking for 10 minutes each day. Then, increase it by 5 minutes every 2 weeks. To make things more interesting, you should try walking a different course every few days. You can also roster a different friend to walk with you each day of the week.

If walking isn't your thing, then you may want to try a fitness center. They have loads of variety and normally have trainers on hand to answer any questions you may have. When you choose a fitness center, make sure that they give good service.

If they aren't willing to treat you well before you join, then they certainly won't after you join. You should also make sure that the equipment they use is well taken care of. It's easy to find out, as all you have to do is listen to the machines. If they squeak a lot or make noise, then chances are they aren't being taken care of.

If you still aren't sure what you should do, then you should look into golf or tennis. Both are good social activities in most areas, and you can even meet new friends. Tennis is great for fitness although it isn't for someone who is just starting out. If you haven't exercised in a long time, then golf may be the best activity for you.

Should Chidren Weight Train For Exercise?

If you have a child of 6 to 8 years old that wants to start exercising and lifting weights, you may find yourself wondering what you should do. While some think it is perfectly fine for children to exercise, there are others that think differently.

The long and short of it is that yes, it is beneficial for your child to partake in exercise or a weight training regimen although there are a few things that you should keep in mind once this starts to happen.

No matter how you look at it, children aren't minature adults and therefore you can't use the same methods with growing children that you can use with adults, as children are different from adults emotionally, anatomically, and physiologically.

All children have immature skeletons, as their bones don't mature until they get 14 - 22 years of age. With girls, exercise during childhood can have very critical effects on bone health that can last for their entire lives.

Children are often times vulnerable to growth related overuse injuries such as Osgood schlatter disease. Children have immature temperature regulation systems due to their having a large surface area compared to their muscle mass which will cause them to be more susceptible to injury when they aren't properly warmed up.

Children don't sweat as much as adults do, so they will be more susceptible to heat exhaustion as well as a heat stroke. Due to their low muscle mass and immature hormone system, it makes it harder for them to develop strength and speed. Their breathing and heart response during exercise are also different from an adults, which will affect their capacity for exercise.

On the other hand, young boys and girls can drastically improve their strength with weight training although opposed to adults, neurological factors instead of muscle growth factors are mostly responsible. 

When you consider programs for children, first and foremost you should obtain a medical clearance. The first approach to designing a program is to establish a repetition range of 8 - 12 and keep the work load appropriate for the range.

You should ensure that workouts are spread out enough to have at least 1 - 2 full days of rest between workouts. The main focus when working out should be on the form of every exercise performed, and not on the amount of weight being lifted.

Before weight training, warm up and stretching should be done. Start your children off with light loads and then make adjustments accordingly. No more than 3 non consecutive exercise sessions should be done in a week. You should also see to it that they drink plenty of water before, during, and after exercise. Getting enough water is very important with exercise, as it is often times very easy to get dehydrated - especially with children.

How Excess Alcohol Affects Exercise

On Friday afternoon after you leave work, you probably think about going out and having a few drinks with friends to relax and wind down. Even though you may think you deserve to go out and have a few drinks, there are some things that you should certainly keep in mind.

Like any other day, tomorrow is going to be a day for exercise, and since you are exercising on a regular basis, a few drinks of alcohol won't really hurt anything, right? Before you decide to rush out to the local bar, there are a few things below that you should think about before you make your choice about going out to drink some alcohol.

Research has proven that even small amounts of alcohol will increase muscular endurance and the output of strength, although these types of benefits are very short lived. After 20 minutes or so, the problems will begin to surface. All of the negative side effects associated with alcohol will easily outweigh any possible benefits that it can have. No matter how you look at it, alcohol is a poison that can really harm your body if you aren't careful.

The negative side of alcohol can reduce your strength, endurance, aerobic capability, recovery time, ability to metabolize fat, and even your muscle growth as well. Alcohol will also have an effect on your nervous system and brain. If you use it long term, you can cause severe deterioration of your central nervous system. Even with short term use, nerve muscle interaction can be reduced which will result in a loss of strength.

Once alcohol reaches the blood cells, it can and probably will damage them. With alcohol users, inflammation of the muscle cells is a very common thing. Over periods of time, some of these cells that have been damaged can die which will result in less functional muscle contractions. Drinking alcohol will also leave you with more soreness of your muscles after you exercise, which means that it will take you a lot longer to recuperate.

Alcohol will also have many different effects on your heart and circulatory system as well. When you drink any type of alcohol, you may begin to see a reduction in your endurance capabilities. Anytime you drink, your heat loss will increase, due to the alcohol simulating your blood vessels to dilate. The loss in heat can cause your muscles to become quite cold, therefore become slower and weaker during your muscle contractions.

Drinking alcohol can also lead to digestive and nutrition problems as well. Alcohol cause a release of insulin that will increase the metabolism of glycogen, which spares fat and makes the loss of fat very hard. Due to alcohol interfering with the absorption of several key nutrients, you can also become anemic and deficient with B type vitamins. 

Because your liver is the organ that detoxifies alcohol, the more you drink, the harder your liver has to work. The extra stress alcohol places on your liver can cause serious damage and even destroy some of your liver cells.

Since alcohol is diuretic, drinking large amounts can put a lot of stress on your kidneys as well. During diuretic action, the hormones are secreted. This can lead to heightened water retention and no one who exercises will want this to happen.

If you must drink alcohol, you should do it in moderation and never drink before you exercise, as this will impair your balance, coordination, and also your judgement. Think about your health and how you exercise - and you may begin to look at things from a whole new prospective.