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If your parents have a history of high blood pressure, you can significantly reduce your risk of developing the disease through moderate exercise and increased cardiovascular fitness, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal “Hypertension.”

The study, led by researchers at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health, found that those who had a parent with high blood pressure but were highly fit had a 34 percent lower risk of developing high blood pressure themselves, compared to those with a low-fitness level who had the same parental history. The study involved more than 6,000 people.

“Understanding the roles that family history and fitness play in chronic diseases is critically important,” said Robin P. Shook, the study’s lead author and an Arnold School doctoral student.

“The results of this study send a very practical message, which is that even a very realistic, moderate amount of exercise — which we define as brisk walking for 150 minutes per week — can provide a huge health benefit, particularly to people predisposed to hypertension because of their family history,” he said.

Previous research indicates that parental history accounts for about 35 percent to 65 percent of the variability in blood pressure among offspring, with varying levels of risk based on which parent developed it and the age of onset.

Researchers followed a group of 6,278 predominantly Caucasian adults 20 to 80 years old for an average 4.7 years. The participants were patients of the Cooper Clinic, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventive medicine, research and education in Dallas.

Thirty-three percent of participants reported that a parent had hypertension. When the study began, all participants were healthy, reported no physician diagnosis of hypertension, and achieved an exercise test score of at least 85 percent of their age-predicted maximal heart rate. Researchers determined participants’ cardiorespiratory fitness using a maximal treadmill exercise test.

During the study, 1,545 participants reported they had developed hypertension.

Researchers found that:

• Combining those with and without a family history of high blood pressure, high levels of fitness were associated with a 42 percent lower risk of developing hypertension, and moderate levels of fitness with a 26 percent lower risk.

• People with both a low level of fitness and a parent with hypertension had a 70 percent higher risk for developing hypertension compared with highly fit people with no parental history.

• Those with a high level of fitness and a parent with hypertension experienced only a 16 percent higher risk of developing hypertension compared to those who were fit and had no parental history.

“The correlation between fitness levels, parental history and risk are impossible to ignore,” Shook said. “This awareness can serve the clinician and the patient, as they work together to find effective and reasonable ways to avoid the diseases that have affected their family members — in some cases, for generations.”

The research findings may not apply to all people because the majority of the study participants were relatively fit, well-educated, middle- to upper-class white men.

The findings support the American Heart Association’s recommendations of moderately intense physical activity, such as brisk walking, for 30 minutes or longer at least five days a week.

The study’s co-authors included Duck-chul Lee, Xumei Sui, Vivek Prasad and Steven N. Blair, all from the Arnold School; Steven P. Hooker of Arizona State University; and Timothy S. Church of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

I would love to hear your comments re this video and how you can pay it forward in 2012!!

IF A CHILD LIVES WITH CRITICISM:

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves
If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy
If children live with jealousy, they learn what envy is
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty

If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient
If children live with encouragement, they learn to be confident
If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves
If children live with acceptance, they learn to find love in the world
If children live with recognition, they learn to have a goal
If children live with sharing, they learn to be generous
If children live with honesty and fairness, they learn what truth and justice are
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those around them
If children live with friendliness, they learn that the world is a nice place in which to live
If children live with serenity, they learn to have peace of mind.

What are your children living with?

Focus on the Positive:

GET A HANDLE ON YOURSELF:

Once Handel, the great music composer, found himself in desperate straits: his right side paralyzed, his memory gone and his creditors threatening to have him sent to prison.
But in spite of his worries he spurred himself to the mightiest effort of his life.
Writing feverishly, almost without stopping, he composed THE MESSIAH, with its immortal “Hallelujah” chorus, in twenty four days.
He focused on what he wanted to do, instead of letting negative thoughts get him down.

“ Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. ”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
American poet

The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s Annual Meeting held in San Diego was the site of a presentation on July 10, 2011 of the finding of Michael Shindle, MD of Summit Medical Group and his colleagues of a higher incidence of vitamin D insufficiency among National Football League players with muscle injuries.

The current study included 89 NFL players aged 21 to 32 years. Fifty-eight subjects were African American and 31 were Caucasian. Sixteen of the players suffered from a muscle injury. Vitamin D levels were tested in the spring of 2010 during routine pre-season evaluations.

Vitamin D deficiency, defined as a level of less than 20 nanograms per milliliter, was identified in 27 participants and insufficient levels of 20 to 31.9 nanograms per milliliter were observed in 45 subjects. Caucasian players had an average level of 30.3 nanograms per milliliter, while African Americans averaged 20.4 nanograms per milliliter. Among those with muscle injury, vitamin D levels averaged 19.9 nanograms per milliliter, which is considered deficient. “Eighty percent of the football team we studied had vitamin D insufficiency,” commented Dr Shindle. “African American players and players who suffered muscle injuries had significantly lower levels.”

“Screening and treatment of vitamin D insufficiency in professional athletes may be a simple way to help prevent injuries,” added coauthor Scott A. Rodeo, MD, who is Co-Chief of the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

Joseph Lane, MD of the Hospital for Special Surgery, who also contributed to the study, concluded that “Further research also needs to be conducted in order to determine if increasing vitamin D leads to improved maximum muscle function.”

The list of people who could afford personal trainers used to be a short one: pro athletes, gym buffs, rich celebrities, and maybe – if they were really dedicated to it – supermodels. Now, however, as a life of fitness and health continues to enter the mainstream, and as gyms continue to multiply throughout the country, the demand for personal trainers has grown. The scope of fitness has also broadened: these trainers aren’t just here to offer bodybuilding guidance; they are also offering average people plenty of help on things like their diet, conditioning, yoga and Pilates exercises, and so much more.

Looking to develop a lifestyle that promotes fitness, health, and well-being? Take a step in the right direction by hiring your own personal trainer. Here are only some of the benefits of having one.

Motivation and accountability

Let’s not forget that fitness training requires significant physical work – work which you, if you were on your own, might be prone to put off. Having your own personal trainer not only gives you the motivation and encouragement needed to stay committed to your program; he or she will also provide a good measure of structure and accountability in your workouts. Believe us: it’s good to have someone who’ll scold you the minute you start cheating on your reps. And while it has gotten so much more affordable to have your own personal trainer, there is still a good financial motivation in showing up at the gym each week for a session with the trainer you just hired.

Program tailored to your individual needs

 Personal trainers are equipped with the professional knowledge necessary to tailor a fitness program that’s right for you. Do you have a health condition but still want to stay in good shape? Are you looking to improve a set of skills that allows you to excel at your favorite sport? Training for a marathon? A personal trainer will look closely at whatever your needs are and develop a safe, efficient program based on your workout objectives. He or she might even work with your healthcare provider to ensure that you can reach your goals in training – without posing unnecessary health risks.

Doing it right

 Information on how to keep yourself active and fit is best acquired from personal trainers – not from mere “Googling”. That way, you waste no time and effort performing workout routines that don’t do you any good. With the help of a personal trainer, you’ll be able to do things right – right at the very outset. You’ll learn the fundamentally correct ways of using gym equipment. All this will give you the knowledge and confidence you need to keep going. He or she will look at your form, your thresholds, your limits and strengths. A personal trainer, moreover, will also plan for training efficiency, so that every single day, with every single rep, you are able to work closer toward achieving your goals. A trainer is also someone you can count on to give expert advice on basic nutrition, training, and health.

Results-driven training and progress tracking

 Sometimes, you may find yourself working extremely hard only to discover that you are not close to seeing the results you envisioned for yourself. A personal trainer can fix that. He or she will look at your diet, as well as other aspects of your life (in and out of the gym) where you can make changes, so that you can perform more effective workouts or set more realistic goals for yourself. A trainer will also track your progress – thus giving you an objective look at how you’re doing while keeping you away from the temptation of cheating.

Safety

 We’re not just talking about the freakish things that can happen when you’re doing solo work at the weight room. Personal trainers are there, too, to make sure your workout routine is safe, and to determine whether you’re pushing far beyond your abilities or giving up too easily. He or she will know when to push you hard or when to slow you down.

Refreshing new routines

 Bored with the same old workout? Looking for a more interesting routine? You will certainly benefit from having a personal trainer who will introduce new exercises into your workout. Your trainer will also help sharpen your mental focus, as well as come up with new ideas on how to challenge your body and your mind more effectively.

Starvation Syndrome

The effects of starvation on the human body are well documented. When starved of calories, the human body responds in a way known as “Starvation Syndrome”. People with Anorexia Nervosa suffer from starvation as a result of severely restricting their calorie intake. In Bulimia Nervosa, purging and restricting behavior can also result in a depletion of caloric absorption, which can therefore lead to self-starvation.

The Minnesota Experiment

In the 1940s, there was an experiment involving a group of fit young men who had been drafted into the US army. They were conscientious objectors to military service and they had volunteered to be in a humanitarian program.  The Minnesota Experiment required them to reduce their calorie intake by half. After six months of this planned starvation, the men experienced not only the expected physical changes, but mental changes too.

• • Decrease in physical strength.
• • Giddiness and momentary blackouts.
• • Pale, cold, dry, and marked skin.
• • Tiredness.
• • Decrease in mental alertness.
• • Hair that is thin, dry and/or falling out.
• • Preoccupation with food, including persistent thoughts and dreams about food.
• • Change in mealtime behaviors. This can include toying with food, or being ritualistic about the way in which food is eaten.
• • Decrease in self-discipline.
• • Decrease in comprehension.
• • Loss in concentration.
• • Apathy.
• • Depression.
• • A loss of ambition.
• • Moodiness and irritability.

These symptoms are experienced by anyone who is starved of calories. If you recognize these symptoms in your own life, it is important to remember that they all stem from one thing: starvation.

Recovery from Starvation

The men in the Minnesota Experiment recovered from their physical and mental symptoms when they began to eat again.

The physical and mental changes you have experienced will also be reversed when you increase your food intake and supply your body with the energy it needs.

Through regular and healthy eating, your body can regain its strength and fight these symptoms of starvation. You may need to consult a medical practitioner or other health professional for support with this.

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Resource: http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/docs/starvation.pdf

The Longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on LIFE. Attitude to me is more important that facts, its more important than failures, than successes, than what other people think say or do. It is it more important thank appearance, giftedness or skill.

 It will make or break a company….A church…A home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day reguarding the attitude we will embrace that day. We can not change our past… We cannot change that people will act in a certain way. WE cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have and that is our attitude… I am convinced that LIFE is 10 Percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it, and so it is with you…. We are incharge of our attitudes.

“If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win.”
- Carl Lewis

Life’s a long, long journey” so we are told, and most of us would not set off on a journey, even a short one, without some idea of where we wanted to go. Yet many people travel on life’s journey with no sense of direction at all.

They travel the by-ways and highways of life taking side roads, detours, even re-tracing their tracks from time to time, and while they may have exciting experiences on their journey, while they may meet interesting fellow-travellers, learn a great deal and see some pretty scenery, they may also be disappointed when they reach their final destination in life.

On the other hand, those life travellers who do have a clear knowledge of where they want to go, who can point themselves in the right direction, and who know when they want to arrive, travel as the Romans did, in straight lines and with great efficiency.

Most of us have careers to think of, futures to secure, people to provide for, things to do. We need maps! We need direction. We need an itinerary. In other words, we need to set ourselves goals.

Goal setting is a very powerful technique that can yield strong returns in all areas of your life.

Benefits of personal goal setting:

• Clear and focused direction giving a sense of security and purpose.
• Maximum use of time.
• Enthusiasm is high for what you want.
• Moving steadily towards and achieving the results you really want and ultimate success.
• Boosted self-esteem, confidence and belief in your ability to make things happen and feel in control.

Research (Damon Burton, 1983) has shown that people who use goal setting effectively:

• suffer less from stress and anxiety
• concentrate better
• show more self-confidence
• perform better
• are happier and more satisfied.

Choosing Your Personal Goals

When you are developing your goals, you’ll want to give yourself a peaceful environment so you can brainstorm. And, you do want to brainstorm, which means: you write it ALL down, and you throw out nothing, no matter how ridiculous it sounds. When you try to mix brainstorming and practicality, you always lose the benefit of brainstorming. You’ll have time later to be practical with your list.

To learn rules of writing your goals down click here

Sometime during this brainstorming exercise, you ought to do like Steven Covey recommends and visualize your funeral. What would be said about you if it were held today, and how does that differ from what you really want to be said about you? Did you leave your family with a financial situation that you really want them to have? From my own experience, I mustily sadly suggest that you also visualize the funeral of your dearest loved ones. You may think you are being as good to your family as you can be, but I assure you that you will wish you had done far more for them if you lose one of them.

Dream of everything you want, and have always wanted in every facet of your life.

Consider what you would do if you had no limitations. Consider what you would do, be, have if money and health (for example) were not obstacles for you. Also, think about the people you admire and what it is that they have, do, and are that you want to emulate. Note that you might even want to consider one of these people to be your mentor, to help you think through these areas (at least partly), and to tell you what he/she has found to be effective for them.

One convenient way of creating your list of goals is to fill in the blanks under the following categories:

• What you want to BE
• What you want to DO
• What you want to HAVE
• What you want to GIVE
• What you Don’t want to BE, DO, HAVE, and GIVE

Click here to learn how to make your personal goals S.M.A.R.T.

To give a broad coverage of all important areas in your life, try to set goals in all of the following categories:

Financial and Career
Do you enjoy your work? Do you feel you are making a contribution to society? Are you living up to your potential? Have you achieved a satisfactory standard of living? Have you planned for your children’s education? What about your own retirement?

Social and Cultural
Does your circle of friends enrich your life and contribute to your sense of fulfillment and well-being? Is there at least one other person with whom you can discuss important life experiences? Do you have interests outside of your career and family (e.g., sports, theater, outdoor events)?

Spiritual and Ethical
Have you ever articulated specific personal values to yourself? Are you living up to those personal values? Is religion important to you? If so, are you happy with the way you are practicing your religion? If not, have you reconciled your relationship with a higher power or with the universe in general?

Family and Home
Have you realized your dream in terms of your home and family relationships? Be sure to use your own personal standards rather than society’s standards.

Mental and Educational
Did you accomplish the educational goals you set for yourself following high-school graduation? Are you still growing and learning? Do you invest in your continuing education on a regular basis?

Physical and Health
How satisfied are you with your current level of physical health? Are you living up to your own standards in terms of diet and exercise? Are you fit enough to do the things you want to do?

Once you’ve brainstormed your list of goals (which you may want to do over the course of a couple of days or weeks), then you can play Mr./Ms. Practical with the list and weed out the ones that just don’t make sense. One way of thinning out the list is to ask, for each goal, “Why do I want this and what good will it really accomplish?” When you find a goal that doesn’t have a good answer to this question, you’ve found a goal you can toss.

Also, as you go over your list of goals, you ought to think about how to prioritize them. Not all goals are going to be equally important. You can prioritize them by area (Personal, Family, Spiritual, Professional, Financial, so forth), with each area having a Priority 1 and a 2 and … Or, you can prioritize them absolutely, with respect for area, as 1 through 109 (or whatever). I vote for prioritizing by area, since priorities change too much as your life circumstances change. (It’s a lot easier to make minor mods to one or more areas than to have to redo your whole list of priorities based on changes in your circumstances and preferences.)

Be sure to set big goals as well as multiple goals. Big goals force you to reach in and use the potential that is inside of you. Long-range goals help you to overcome short-range failures. They can also help you to change your direction without going back on your decision.

Whether or not they ever reach the goals they have set, people who set big, long-range goals have been found to have higher self-confidence, higher self-esteem, and greater personal motivation. The bottom line is that more than half the rewards and benefits achieved from goal-setting comes from actually taking your first step in that direction, regardless of the consequences.

Develop The Plan

Then, it’s time to buckle down to turn the list into action steps.

Decide which goals are to be long-term goals and which are to be short-term and which fall somewhere in between. Then, starting with your short-term goals, visualize what it will take for you to accomplish the goal. This will help you in breaking the goal down into steps. Of course, you also need to set deadlines for each of these goals (and steps).

If any of your goals address making a change of habit, you should note that many researchers have found that it takes about 21 days to change a habit. You’ll want to factor this into your planning. Also, when changing a habit, you’ll want to find ways to give yourself positive reinforcement for making changes.

There is a very simple five step process that you can go through to set any goal whether personal or professional. To be effective, the goal you choose must include all five of the following steps:

• Identify your goal by writing it down
• Set a deadline for the achievement.
• List the obstacles to overcome in accomplishing your goal.
• List the skills and knowledge required to reach your goal. What do you need to know?
• Develop a plan of action to reach your goal.

Staying On Track

Once you have decided your first goal plans, keep the process going by reviewing and updating your to-do list on a daily basis. Some people recommend doing this as the last thing done the day before, others as the first thing done in the morning – this is up to you. Periodically review your other plans, and modify them to reflect your changing priorities.

Constantly Evaluate Your Progress
Having an action plan is not enough. The captain will have to constantly evaluate his progress in order to be sure he is on target. Unforeseen obstacles are sure to arise, such as a hailstorm, or increased southerly winds. As a result, he may have to increase his speed or guide the boat in a more westerly direction. In other words, notice what is working and what is not. If an approach is not working, don’t waste your time with it. Change your approach.

Never Lose Sight of Your Goal
Take the time to review your goals every morning when you get up and every night before you go to bed. This will keep them fresh in your mind. If you think reviewing your goals twice a day is too much to ask, maybe you should reevaluate what it is you want. Ask yourself, “How important is it to me that I attain my goals?”

Don’t Procrastinate

Procrastination is a “silent killer”. Understand that the only way to achieve your goals is to take action! Knowledge means nothing if you don’t apply it. How many people have you come across with an unbelievable amount of education working a mediocre job? The world is full of people who don’t apply their knowledge. On the other hand, chances are you know of people with less educational background who apply everything they learn. These people are usually the ones who are most successful in all areas of their lives.

Do something right now that will help you to achieve your goals. There is no time like the present! Get the ball rolling. Each step you take brings you one step closer to the life you want.

Remember the motto, “The road to Someday, leads to the town of Nowhere”. Someday is today!

Finally, you ought to have your key goals in front of you on a regular basis. You should look at them at least weekly to ensure you are making progress and to see if you need to modify your plans in anyway.

There are various ways of accomplishing this periodic review and planning activity. A simple one is to have a memo set up on your Palm or PocketPC in which you have listed your key goals, so that you can review the memo periodically. Of course, you should also have ToDo items set up for each of these key goals.

Another way of organizing your goals is to use a project planner or a database manager.

Achieving Goals

When you have achieved a goal, take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done so. Absorb the implications of the goal achievement, and observe the progress you have made towards other goals. If the goal was a significant one, reward yourself appropriately.

With the experience of having achieved this goal, review the rest of your goal plans:

• If you achieved the goal too easily, make your next goals harder
• If the goal took a dispiriting length of time to achieve, make the next goals a little easier
• If you learned something that would lead you to change other goals, do so
• If while achieving the goal you noticed a deficit in your skills, decide whether to set goals to fix this.

Failure to meet goals does not matter as long as you learn from it. Feed lessons learned back into your goal-setting program.

Remember too that your goals will change as you mature – adjust them regularly to reflect this growth in your personality. If goals do not hold any attraction any longer, then let them go. Goal-setting is your servant, not your master – it should bring you real pleasure, satisfaction and a sense of achievement.