Tag Exercise | resveralife

June 15, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

Natural Ways To Fight Incontinence

For nearly 25 million American, 75 to 80 percent of which are ladies, incontinence is an inconvenient truth. There is nothing sexy about it, there is nothing fun about it, and there is nothing cool about it, but there are some things that can be done about it. While drugs and surgeries are options, they often come with inconveniences of their own. Here are some healthy alternatives you may want to consider.

Kegel Exercises
Kegel exercises involve flexing the muscles you use to stop the urinary flow. According to Philippe Zimmern, MD, and professor of urology,”Kegels are very useful for early stages of incontinence and after a surgical repair to maintain pelvic floor tone over time.” You can get a tutorial from a physical therapist and may see an improvement after 6 to 12 weeks of regular practice.

Lose Weight
Extra belly fat puts excess pressure on the pelvic muscles. Says Zimmern, “Losing weight if you are overweight is an important step toward reducing the severity of your incontinence.”

Bladder Control
The mind can be a very powerful tool. The idea is to learn how to delay urination. To start, try to put the need to rush to the bathroom off by ten minutes, gradually building toward twenty. The goal is to eventually increase the time between goes so that you can use the restroom comfortable every four hours.

Magnesium
Magnesium has often been linked to muscle and nerve function. In a study at Tel Aviv University at Israel involving 40 women, more than half of the participants who took magnesium hydroxide twice a day showed improvements in incontinence and did not wake up as many times during the night to use the toilet. Doctors believe magnesium reduces bladder muscle spasms, allowing the bladder to empty completely. Magnesium rich foods include potatoes, corn, and bananas, but consult your doctor before taking supplements.

Biofeedback
Biofeedback involves the monitoring of your body by electrical sensors, allowing you to get an idea of what’s happening inside you and make appropriate changes. Zimmern says, “Physical therapists use biofeedback to help patients understand what muscles they should contract during Kegel exercises, and/ or improve the performance of these muscles by providing a visual feedback to the patient during the training session.” However, he allows, “It’s very beneficial in general, but potentially a bit costly depending on insurance coverage, and requires perseverance on the part to the patient. ”

Pessary
A pessary is a ring like an instrument that is inserted into the vagina to lift and support the bladder. It can be helpful in lowering stress incontinence, associated with exercise and coughing. Zimmern explains, “Some vaginal devices have been designed to support the bladder neck, in the same way, a tampon can work. They require good local hygiene and sometimes the use of hormonal cream to avoid vaginal wall irritation.” Pessaries usually remain in place for about a week, and a may be used for an indefinite amount of time.

Acupuncture
Amber Addison, licensed acupuncture therapist recommends her treatments for incontinence patients. She believes that the imbalance can come not only from the kidneys and bladder but from other body parts, like the heart and lungs. “Most of the time it’s a combination of two or more system imbalances that causes overactive balance,” she says. While it may take some time for acupuncture to take effect, Addison assures, “I have had success with every person I have treated for incontinence.”

Are you suffering from incontinence? What do you think works best? Join the conversation and shed some light on an inconvenient truth.

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May 30, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

Here's How To Increase Your Stamina

So you’re all set. You’ve got your sports bra, your yoga pants, your sweatband, and your athletic sneakers. You’ve even got a cool pair of those cut-off gloves to help you grip the equipment better. You’ve got it all planned out. Ten minutes on the treadmill, a few lifts, ten minutes on the stationary bike, and a few reps on the elliptical. Start with a few stretches, check yourself in the mirror, you’ve got this. You step up on the treadmill, start it up, two minutes later, you’re ready to hit the showers. If you want to make your investments in workout gear and gym memberships pay off, it’s probably in your best interest to be able to use them for more than ten minutes at a time, and that means you need to build stamina. Stamina is the body’s ability to partake in physical activity without fatigue or having to quit before reaching your goals. If you need to increase your endurance and make your investments pay off, here are some exercises that may help.

Balance
Balance is key to endurance. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, improving balance is a crucial component of stamina building. Training tools like a balance pillow, balance disc, foam roller, balance board, or a stability board are all great for building balance. If you’re using a balance disc, try to stand or sit on it while keeping your body steady.

Woman lifting dumbbells

Free Weights
Free weights can increase stamina while increasing your muscles size and boosting overall health levels. Use hand-held barbells for lifts, focusing on the legs, torso, and upper body. One to three sets of 15 to 20 reps should help with building muscle endurance.

Intervals
Interval training entails alternating between short bouts of high-intensity exercise with longer bouts of lower intensity ones. Research published in the journal “Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise,” found that while subjects who engaged in moderate cycling for an hour a day for six weeks showed improved physical endurance, they showed no such change in anaerobic endurance. In contrast, cyclists performing eight sets of high-intensity 20-second intervals with 10 second rest periods for six weeks improved not only aerobic endurance but also increased anaerobic stamina by 28 percent.

Woman working out

Circuits
Circuit training refers to the use of three to twelve different exercise stations that combine strength training with cardiovascular exercise, putting all muscle groups to work. Because circuit training challenges both anaerobic and aerobic endurance, it is a great way to build stamina. Aim to perform each exercise for thirty seconds, giving yourself a 30-second break in-between. As your stamina increases, try reducing rest periods to 15 seconds while increasing work time to 45 seconds.

Medicine Balls
Working out with medicine balls is another way to lengthen staying power, and are great for doing V-ups. V-ups require lying on your back with your arms outstretched overhead holding a medicine ball with your legs down. Raise your legs into a V-position while using your arms to raise the medicine ball over your head. Lower your arms and legs and repeat.

How are you working to improve your stamina? Let us know how your lasting longer to reach your goals!

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May 23, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

Get Your Workout Without Hitting the Gym

If a tree falls in the forest with no one to hear it, does it make a noise? The same can be applied to real life situations. If we eat at home alone, did we really eat? If we drink at home alone, did we really get drunk? And if we exercise at home alone, did we really work out? Doing things publicly seems to affirm that they really happened, but they usually involve extra expense, extra energy, and, of course, leaving the house. Sometimes there can be advantages to eating without a restaurant, drinking without a bar, and working out without a gym. Here are some ways you can do the last, and when you see the results, there will be no doubt you had a great workout.

Running
You definitely don’t need a gym to take off running. And no one will deny the results. You’ll get fabulously toned legs and burn tons of calories. Plus, there is no shortage of places to do it. There are running and jogging trails all over the place, or you can run along the street to change up the scenery.

Walking
If running is too brutal for you, walking may be more your thing. You’ll get in your cardio and your calorie burn. You can join a walking club if you need some people to motivate you, or start your own.

Woman exercise to video

Exercise Videos and TV Shows
Videos are great because they provide you with a structured exercise that you can do in the privacy of your home at a time most convenient for you. They also cover every type of workout known to man, from yoga to high intensity, to step aerobics, so you can find the one best suited to your abilities and preferences.

At Home Exercise Equipment
Stationary bikes, treadmills, and stair masters are all great ways to workout without the gym. They can cost a pretty penny but are well worth it when considering what you may be saving in time and gym membership fees.

Woman swimming

Swimming
Swimming is an excellent way to burn calories without damaging your joints, and you don’t even have to break a sweat. While you may not have the luxury of an Olympic sized pool in your back yard, there may be a community center or park nearby that does.

Bicycling
Bikes are functional as well as beneficial to your health. You can get a quick workout while running an errand, or take a more intensity focused ride. Neighborhoods are making their streets more bike friendly, and, biking is a good way to exercise your environmental consciousness while you exercise your body.

Woman playing with pug

Play With Your Kids Or Pets
You’ll get a workout and your family will love you for it. See who lasts longer, you or the kids. Plus, it’s more entertaining than walking on a treadmill.

Public Courts
Public courts are ideal for cool summer nights and lazy summer Saturday mornings. Many parks offer tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts to the public. It’s BYO on the equipment, but space is free.

Are you working out without a gym this summer? Good for you? Let us know what you do when the gym is not an option?

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May 18, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

The Importance Of Choosing An Exercise Routine You Enjoy

Looking for a long term love connection is serious business. After all, this is the person you’re thinking of spending the rest of your life with, waking up next to every day, allowing to see you without your makeup. These things can’t be taken lightly; you need to find someone for the long haul. The same can be said of your exercise routine. When it comes to your workout, you need to find something you can see yourself doing on a regular basis; something built around you. The last thing you need is another short-lived fling. Here are some ways to help you pick the right one when it comes to the long haul.

Determine Your Goals
Give yourself a routine that will get you where you want to go. You don’t need to run several miles a day if you’re not planning to run a marathon. Think in terms of what it will take to get you to where you will be healthy and comfortable.

Train Your Whole Person
People tend to get so focused on muscle development that they forget about coordination, breathing, and circulation, even though these are really more important for long term health. Make sure you keep your perspective on achieving larger goals as well as immediate ones.

Separating Weight Loss From Fitness
If you try to equate burning calories directly with weight loss, you may end up very frustrated. According to science, you need to burn off 3,500 calories to lose one pound. Good luck jogging for six hours. Unrealistic goals of burning off a certain number of calories may motivate you to take on routines that are too demanding and may not even accomplish your weight loss goals. A pure recipe for disaster when it comes to formulating a comfortable routine.

Friends working out together

Fit Your Schedule
Remember, exercise is supposed to reduce stress, not create it. If getting to the gym is a problem, exercise at home. if you don’t have two hours to devote toward exercise, a focused twenty-minute workout in the living room is better than an interminable hour or more at the gym. Exercise too boring? Find a buddy to workout with. It may provide the fun and motivation your need to keep at it.

Look for Something With More Than One Training Benefit
Western thinking is often categorical. It ends to separate workouts into categories. Some are done for strength, others for meditation, others for cardio. Eastern disciplines, such as yoga, are more focused on whole person development. You may find that a workout that engages your whole person, mind, body and nervous system, may be more rewarding and stimulating.

Do Something That Fits Into Your Life
There is no reason for extreme exercise unless you’re lifestyle demands it. You don’t need a heavy weight lifting program or intense cardio if you’re not planning to fight in the UFC. Remember, your main goal should always be to live a happy and healthy life.

Have you found the right one? Let us know your exercise love story. We love happy endings.

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May 9, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

Tips For Starting A Summer Walking Routine

To some, high-intensity internal workouts are the most efficient way of exercising; to others, they are a bizarre three-minute self-torture ritual. Although at times it may seem like the world is being overtaken by the overachieving and impossibly healthy, there are some who still prefer to keep their exercise routines a bit more humane.

Most of us learn to walk by the time we’re eighteen months – so let’s talk about an exercise routine so easy that even a baby can do it. Here are some tips for beginning a summer walking routine.

How To Start
The first thing you need for walking is a good pair of shoes and some comfy clothes. Start out slow. Head out the door, walk for ten minutes and walk back. Repeat every day for a week. If you find yourself building stamina, add five minutes to next week’s walk. Keep increasing as is comfortable.

Posture
Keep good posture in mind when you walk. Walk tall. Keep your mind on elongating your body. Your head should be up, your eyes focused forward, Keep your shoulders down, relaxed and back, with your abdominal muscles and buttocks tight.

Preparation
Make sure to have water handy at all times. Be sure to get enough to drink before you walk, and take the water bottle along for mid walk hydration. Try adding stretches to your routine. For example, you might start at a slow pace and stop to do a few warm up drills for flexibility. Slow down your pace at the end of the walk and take some time for a few more stretches. This will help you to feel better while preventing injury.

Sticking with It
The toughest thing for most people starting a fitness routine is making it routine. You should try to walk daily, aiming for a minimum five days of exercise per week. Walk fast enough to increase your heart rate, but not so fast that you find yourself short of breath.

Three friends walking

How Much Should You Do?
Speed and distance should not be a priority in the beginning, but once the habit starts to stick, you may want to start developing goals. Here are some general health guidelines:

People walking for general health benefits should try and get in a half hour minimum each day, most days of the week, keeping to “talking pace,” or a comfortable pace at which you can still hold a conversation.

For improvement of cardiovascular fitness, three to four days a week are recommended, doing 20 to 30 minutes at a very fast pace. You will find your breathing is elevated, but you should not be gasping for air. Warming up and cooling down time should be additional to the time spent walking.

Those walking to lose weight should probably aim to do 45 to 60 minutes five days a week at a moderate to brisk rate. The faster you walk, the more calories you will burn. However, make sure to increase pace and mileage gradually to prevent injury.

Tips For Walking Faster
Once you become comfortable with your routine, you may want to speed it up a little. Here are some guidelines for walking faster:

Use good posture. Walk tall, keep your gaze forward, focused about 20 feet ahead of you, chin level and head up.
Your chest should be slightly raised with your shoulders down, back and relaxed.
Your arms should be bent at an angle slightly less severe than 90 degrees. Gently cup your hands and swing arms front to back. The faster you swing your arms, the faster your feet will go, but do not swing elbows higher than your breastbone.
Tighten abs and buttocks; keep back flat and pelvis slightly forward.
Visualize yourself walking in a straight line.Take smaller faster steps to go faster, trying not to elongate your stride.
Push off with your toes, concentrating on landing on your heel and rolling through the step. Use the spring of your calf to propel you.
Take deep rhythmic breaths to get the maximum amount of oxygen. Your breathing should be heightened, but not strained.

Have you started your summer exercise routine? How are you staying hot this summer? Let us know!

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Sign board that points to which direction you would like to go. Stressed or relaxed?

May 4, 2017August 27, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

Healthy Alternatives For Relieving Stress and Anxiety

Why is it that being bad feels so good? What is it inside of us that make us want to relieve our weekly stress by engaging in self-destructive behavior? Sure, after toeing the line all week, wanting to engage in a bit of weekend mayhem is totally understandable, but when being bad starts feeling bad, that might be a signal that you need to find a healthy alternative.

If you’re finding yourself having more downs than ups, here are a few things you might want to try.

Mind Relaxing Activities
Okay, so writing doesn’t sound like the most exciting way to spend a weekend, but leaving yourself some time to write might make it a little more relaxing. Writing about the things that are bothering you can help to put them into perspective. Aim to write for about 10 to 15 minutes each day about stressful events and how they affect you. Tracking your stress can help to locate the cause of it and find better ways of dealing with it.

Let It Out
Not very emotional? Maybe that’s the problem. Let yourself cry, laugh, talk and express anger when you need to. Seek support from family, friends, counselors, and even members of the clergy who are willing to provide a sympathetic ear.

Enjoy Yourself
A lot of the time, we see enjoyable activities as a barrier to getting things accomplished, but sometimes, they are just what you need to help you relax. You might try engaging in a hobby, such as gardening, a creative activity, volunteer work, or even caring and playing with pets.

Focus On The Now

Mediate
Meditation helps you to concentrate on things that are happening in the present, temporarily allowing you to release anxiety
caused by thoughts about future goals and past mistakes. Meditation can be achieved by focussing on breathing. Mindful-based
stress reduction is an especially effective form of meditation for coping with stress.
Guided Imagery
Guided imagery is a way that helps you imagine yourself in a setting in which you feel calm and relaxed. Audiotapes, books and teachers can all help guide you through the process.

Relaxing Your Body

Exercise
If you’re considering committing to a regular exercise routine, it may seem more likely to add to the chaos of the day than escape from it. However, exercise is one of the best ways to relief stress. If the daily workout is not for you, walking is a perfectly acceptable form of exercise, as are housecleaning and yard work. Even the briefest stretch can provide relief from muscle tension.

Techniques

Breathing exercises
Engaging in roll breathing and other types of deep breathing can help to beat stress.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
This is a way of reducing muscle tension by relaxing muscle groups separately.
Yoga, tai chi, qi gong
These are all techniques which combine meditation with exercise. It may take some training to learn how to practice these effectively. Books and videos can help you to learn at home.

How are you relieving your stress healthily? Does it keep your bad behavior in check? Let us know how it’s working, or not working, for you.

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April 28, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

Help The Girls In Your Life Glow With Confidence

You’ve had your highs and lows. Your walks of fame and your walks of shame. And if there’s one thing you’ve learned from your experiences, its that confidence is the key. There is no situation that cannot be handled by holding your head high and shaking what your mama gave you. And now, its time for you to pass the torch. You’ve got a niece or a daughter and, if you teach her anything in this life, you’re determined that it will be the power of confidence. But, how can you do it? How can you show this shy acne plagued girl that she has so much untapped power at her command? Here are a few ideas.

Manage Your Inner Critic
Your girl is probably pretty hard on herself. Teach her to take notice of her inner voice. Would her best friend talk to her like that? Teach her to work on changing negative thoughts into helpful feedback.

Focus On the Good Things
A lot of teens focus so much on their problems, that its hard for them to see all the things that are going well for them. Suggest that she write down three good things about herself everyday or three ways she’s able to bring about a positive change in her life daily.

Mother and daughter

Don’t Aim For Perfection
Teach her that any achievements are valid. Even if she doesn’t get a perfect mark on a test, it doesn’t mean that she didn’t do well. Encourage her to always put in her best effort.

Mistakes Are Learning Opportunities
Remind your teenager that if she can fix her mistakes, they are not mistakes at all, but victories. Don’t let her get down on herself for messing up and remind her to focus on what she can do better next time.

Don’t Compare Yourself To Others
Teach your girl that her own accomplishments are the only ones that matter. Trying to get ahead of other people will only leave her further behind them.

Accept Compliments
She’s great and needs to get used to people telling her so. Advise her to give herself time to absorb a compliment and take it seriously, and pass it on! Complements should be given and received.

Happy teenage girl

Exercise
Staying physically active always helps to improve self-esteem. She’ll look better and feel less stressed while staying healthy.

Take Pride In Your Thoughts
If she’s a chip off the old block, your girl probably has a lot of good ideas to offer. Tell her to be bold about them. If someone disagrees, it just means that they see things differently than she does.

Accept What You Can’t Change
Sure, there are going to be things about herself that she’s not completely happy with. If its something she can change, like reaching a healthy weight, she should start today. If its something she can’t change, she probably notices it more than anyone else, and its probably not worth obsessing over.

Contribute
Nothing builds self esteem like helping to make a positive change. When she sees how much she can accomplish, her self esteem will sky rocket.

if you have a girl in you’re life that you want to see flourish, tell us about her. Let us know what she’s doing to build confidence and how you’re helping her do it. We want to hear all about it.

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April 27, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

Tips For Getting Your Girls Into Yoga

If you remember correctly, one of the easiest ways to ensure that you wouldn’t do something was having your parents tell you to do it. Even if you were going to study for that test, clean up your room, not go out with that boy, your parents’ advice was probably the best way to ensure that you would do the opposite.

Well, now the roles are reversed – you’re the mom. And you want your girl to get involved in yoga. You dream daily of the coming home to find your little one in a tree position chanting “asanas.” It would be a great way to lower her stress, raise her physical activity level, and improve her awful posture. But how can you get her to start?

How Children Benefit From Yoga
We usually don’t think of children as being highly pressured. They don’t have nine to five jobs and they certainly don’t raise themselves. But they do have difficult tests, acne, and bullies, and that can be enough to make anyone stressed out. Yoga can help with these pressures. It’s a physical activity which promotes compassion, self-esteem, and body awareness. Plus, unlike so many other things in your teen’s life, it’s not competitive.

The experience of yoga can introduce children to new concepts and ways of assessing what is important in life. For example, when children assume the lion pose (Simhasana) they harness the power of the lion. This makes them aware of their own sense of power, when to be aggressive, and when to maintain control. Children also receive an introduction to the values of yoga: expression, union, honor for oneself, and the role one plays in life.

Yoga pose

Teaching Yoga to Your Kids
If you’re going to teach yoga to your kids, it’s important to realize that one of the greatest challenges you will have to deal with is figuring out a way to hold their attention. When you think of the benefits of yoga: balance, stillness, focus, and grace, children don’t exactly pop into your mind.

The best way to teach children is by encouraging them to actively participate. Most children will love the idea of imitating dogs, flowers and trees. Get them to bark in the dog pose, or hiss when they are doing the cobra. Sound is great for children and adds an auditory element to the physical discipline of yoga.

Don’t Be Demanding
Children like to discover things on their own. They may not respond well to criticism. Aim for providing a creative environment for them to explore. Spur them on, encouraging them to really imagine themselves as a cat stretching its spine, or a tree growing roots. It will make the experience fun for them while making connections between themselves and the environment.

Yoga Poses For Kids
Here are some easy poses for getting your kids started:

Boat Pose: Have children balance on their buttocks with their legs up. Then have them rock like a boat.
Bow Pose: Have children lie on their tummies, bend their knees, lift their chests, reach their arms toward their toes, and hold onto their feet.
Bridge Pose: Have children lie on their backs with their knees bent and their feet flat on the ground. Have hem rest their arms along their bodies, tuck their chins into their chests and lift up their buttocks and back to make a bridge.
Cat Pose: Have children come up on all fours, round their backs and tuck their chins into their chests.
Chair Pose: Have children stand tall with their feet hip-width apart, bend their knees, and hop like a kangaroo.

Are you getting your children into yoga? Let us know how it’s going. We love to know!

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April 25, 2017August 30, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

Exercises That Keep Your Pregnant Body In Great Shape

There was a time when pregnancy was thought of as the ultimate “get out of exercise-and-dieting free” card. Being with child entitled you to nine months of lying on the couch with your swollen ankles propped up surrounded by gallons of ice cream and jars of pickles. Well, that was all well and good until women began realizing that the more time they spent engaging in that behavior, the less likely they were to return to anything resembling their original shape. Although pregnancy should be a time to avoid strenuous activity, it is important for most pregnant women to remain moderately active to maintain healthy vital conditions. Here are some exercises to keep your pregnant body in great shape.

Stretching Exercises

Pregnant women in fitness class

Neck Rotation
Neck rotation can be helpful in relieving neck and shoulder tension. Drop your head forward and slowly rotate it toward your right shoulder. Bring it back to the middle, and then over to the left. Repeat four times slowly in each direction.

Thigh Shift
It is important to keep legs flexible to maintain balance during pregnancy. Start the thigh shift by standing with one foot about two feet in front of the other with your toes pointed forward. Lean forward supporting your body weight with your front thigh. Change sides and repeat, doing four stretches on each side.

Shoulder Rotation
Rotating your shoulder helps to maintain range of motion. Bring your shoulders forward, rotate them up toward the ears and back down again. Reverse direction pulling shoulders back up toward the ears and back down. Do four rotations in each direction.

Ankle Rotation
Ankle rotation is a good way to minimize swelling of the foot and ankle associated with pregnancy, increasing circulation and decreasing fluid buildup. Sit with legs extended. Rotate feet in large circles using your entire ankle and foot. Rotate four times on your right and four times on your left.

Leg Shake
Leg shakes are helpful in maintaining circulation in your lower body. Sit with legs and feet extended and move legs up and down in a shaking motion.

Swim
Swimming motions can help you to remain flexible while reducing tension. Begin with your arms at your sides. Bring your right arm up, stretching your body forward while twisting slightly to the side, as if you were swimming. Repeat using your left arm, completing the entire sequence 10 times.

Kegel Exercises

Tailor Sit
Sit on the floor in a cross legged position. Lean forward keeping your back relaxed and straight. Assume this position throughout the day as often as possible.

Tailor Press
Sit on the floor with the soles of your feet together. Hold ankles and pull feet toward your body gently. Put your hands under your knees and inhale. Press knees against your hands while pressing hands up against your knees to create counter pressure. Hold for a five count.

If you’re pregnant, congratulations! And let us know how your exercising to keep your pregnant body beautiful and healthy.

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Smiling woman standing on weighing scale

April 24, 2017 by Victoria Santalesa

Unusual Things That May Help You Lose Weight

We’ve all seen the ads: “Lose Weight Without Dieting,” “Exercise-Free Ways to Melt the Fat,” etc. Most of us just file these away under the ‘too good to be true’ category, along with the “Make Money By Sealing Envelopes” ads. However, every once in a while, something comes along that defies expectations. Something that is too good and true, like coffee and dark chocolate being healthy for you.

Ready to add to the list? Here are a few things that you might want to include.

Hot Baths For Weight Loss

The Study
There’ve been some interesting things happening lately at Loughborough University. According to research done by Dr Steven Faulkner, hot baths can have health benefits similar to exercise and can help prevent type 2 diabetes.

In a study involving 14 people, Dr Faulkner and his team investigated the effects of “passive heating” on blood sugar levels and number of calories burned. Participants soaked in an hour-long 40-degree bath before heading out for an hour of cycling. Each of the two tests was designed to raise core body temperature by one degree so that they amount of calories burned during each session could be measured.

The Results
Although more calories were burned during the cycling, results showed that the hot bath consumed as many calories as would be consumed during a thirty-minute walk. “The overall blood sugar response to both conditions was similar, but peak blood sugar after eating was about 10% lower when participants took a hot bath compared with when they exercised, “said Faulkner.

The doctor also explained that exercise prevents inflammation which can boost the immune system and fight disease. “This suggests that repeated passive heating may contribute to reducing chronic inflammation, which is often present with long-term diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.”

Turn Down The Heat
Another one for the “too good to be true” file? How about turning down the heat to lose weight. According to a recent trial published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, when we’re exposed to cooler temperature, our white fat converts to a darker color and we begin to burn calories. A British study from 2012 suggests that lowering the temp as little as two to four degree may be enough to activate fat loss.

Woman

Acupuncture
Acupuncture may also be a way to losing weight without exercising. A study published in Acupuncture in Medicine suggests that by targeting five points on the ear linked to digestion and hunger, acupuncturists can help overweight people to begin losing weight. Licensed acupuncturist Daniel Hsu, suggests the stress reduction of acupuncture may be responsible for the reduction of stress-related eating.

What do you think? Still a sceptic? A willing volunteer? Let us know. And tell us some other things belong on the “Good and True” list.

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