You can turn your living room into an effective workout environment with the correct props and instructions.
Although exercising at home is more convenient and cost-effective than going to the gym, you must still generate the motivation to work out.
Thousands of individuals join fitness clubs each year, expecting that the bright lights, glittery machines, and upbeat instructors will motivate them to exercise. However, after a month or so, a large percentage of new members stop going to the gym, having shrunk their wallets but not their waistlines.
Because aerobic exercise is so critical for heart health, you'll need to find a different strategy to stay motivated to exercise on a regular basis. Setting up a home gym may be a more practical and cost-effective choice for certain people.
Make a schedule for yourself.
Dr. Elizabeth Frates, director of wellness programming at Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, says, "An effective workout plan has to be pleasant as well as meet your basic fitness requirements." At least 150 minutes of aerobic activity each week, severe enough to speed up your rate and produce a light sweat, is required for maximum health. In addition, at least twice a week on nonconsecutive days, you should follow a strength-training regimen that works all of your major muscle groups. Finally, including stretching and balance exercises in your routine might help you keep flexible and avoid falling.
Choose your props.
While there's nothing like a brisk stroll in the fresh air to get your heart rate up and running, the weather doesn't always cooperate. Working your legs using a small pedalling machine that fits neatly beneath a table or desk might help you duplicate the feeling at home. Other entertaining activities to work up a sweat include skipping rope, jumping on a little trampoline, and spinning your hips with an old-fashioned hula hoop. While working at the computer or watching TV, bouncing on a stability ball might help you reduce inactive time and increase your heart rate.
If you have more space in your home and money to spend, a dedicated aerobics machine like a treadmill, stationary bike, or elliptical stepper can be a good option. Dr. Frates advises that you make sure you actually enjoy an activity like running or bicycling before investing in a significant piece of equipment because these devices are notorious for becoming dust collectors.
Begin with the basics.
When it comes to strength training, the same advice applies. Begin with simple, low-cost things like a couple of sets of small barbells in various weights. To strengthen your lower body, wear weighted ankle cuffs when doing leg lifts or step-ups. "Mastering appropriate form is the key to efficient strength training with weights," explains Dr. Frates. As a result, she strongly advises including a how-to video in your training gear. Many nice options can be found online at places like these:
•The American Council on Exercise is a non-profit organization that promotes physical activity (www.acefitness.org; click on "Exercise Library")
•The National Institute on Aging's Go4Life program (https://go4life.nia.nih.gov; click on "Get Free Stuff")
An elastic workout band, which uses your own body weight to improve muscle strength, is another useful piece of equipment for resistance training. These bands are usually sold in pairs of four or five and range in stiffness from very elastic to very stiff. A foam pad or yoga mat will help you feel more comfortable when doing floor exercises like push-ups or stretches.
If you're a seasoned weightlifter with extra cash and floor space, a so-called home gym unit might be the way to go. Using a system of cables and piled weights, these small devices provide a wide range of upper- and lower-body strengthening workouts. If you take it this way, hiring a personal trainer for a few sessions to help you create your exercise and learn good form and technique with each aspect of the machine may be useful.
Make a contribution.
"Before you begin setting up your home gym, you must first prepare your mentality," Dr. Frates advises. Knowing your specific objectives—whether it's to lower your cholesterol, spend more time with your grandchildren, or improve your golf game—is the first step toward a successful program. In the end, it'll be your commitment to improving your habit, not your flashy new workout equipment, that will keep you going. "Just because you acquire the most up-to-date fitness equipment doesn't mean you'll use it."
Two often occurring shoulder injuries and how to prevent them
These hardworking joints are more susceptible to damage than you may think. Now is the time to safeguard them in order to maintain their independence.
Once we reach our fifties, shoulder issues are common. By that time, the shoulder muscles and tendons have weakened, the cartilage has deteriorated, and the bones have begun to lose density. Two distinct types of shoulder injuries are prevalent in older people.
Injuries to the rotator cuff
The rotator cuff—a set of muscles and tendons that support the shoulder and assist in arm movement—is prone to inflammation and tear.
These injuries frequently occur while carrying a large object above your shoulders, such as when loading luggage into an aeroplane's overhead bin or reaching up to trim tree branches. You rely heavily on your rotator cuff for movement and strength, but those muscles are quite small and weak. They can tear if you apply too much power to them, "Dr Evan O'Donnell, a shoulder surgeon affiliated with Harvard Medical School, concurs.
Other possible causes of rotator cuff injuries include a hard accident or irregular bone growth that pinches tendons when the shoulder moves.
How can you know if you have a rotator cuff injury? "Your range of motion will stay the same, but you will feel pain on the outside of your upper arm, especially when you reach overhead," says Dr. O'Donnell.
He observes that rotator cuff discomfort is typically worse at night. This could be because your body releases inflammatory substances during sleep. Additionally, it could be that you're sleeping on your shoulder and having difficulty finding a comfortable position, "Dr O'Donnell provides clarification.
Corticosteroid injections into the shoulder, anti-inflammatory drugs, and physical therapy to stretch and strengthen the shoulder muscles and tendons are all used to treat rotator cuff tears. If such treatments are ineffective in relieving discomfort, we can replace the shoulder joint or even harvest tendons from your back to produce a new rotator cuff, Dr O'Donnell explains.
Try this shoulder stretch
Internal rotation stretch for the shoulders: Stand straight with your feet hip-width apart and your hands by your sides. At your waist, place the back of your right hand against the small of your back. Raise your index and middle fingers. Slide your right hand as far up your back as possible. Extend your limbs to the point of mild tension. Ten to twenty seconds later, repeat with the other hand.
Certain Southern meals, such as barbecued pork, fried chicken, and mashed potatoes, are not exactly healthful. Indeed, research has connected Southern-style meals strong in meat and fried foods to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
However, traditional Southern food includes a variety of side dishes made with nutritious components such as vegetables, beans, and whole grains. They can be combined to create a complete, meatless dinner that is both filling and enjoyable. Serve two or more of the following concurrently.
Greens. Collard greens are traditional, but you can substitute other robust greens such as kale, chard, or cabbage. Stir-fry in olive oil with garlic cloves. To enhance the flavour, add a splash of your favourite vinegar and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.
So many physical attributes deteriorate with normal ageing, including strength, swiftness, and stamina. In addition to these muscle-related reductions, there are additional alterations that occur in coordinating the motions of the body. As a result of these changes, you may find that you are unable to accomplish activities like as dashing to catch a bus, walking around the garden, going grocery shopping and bringing them inside the house, maintaining your balance on a slippery surface, or playing catch with your grandchildren as well as you once could. However, must these activities deteriorate? Consider why these reductions occur — and what you might do to reclaim your strength and coordination.
Changes in your strength
Age-related declines in strength, speed, and stamina are all connected with decreased muscle mass. Although muscle mass does not diminish significantly between the ages of 20 and 40, after age 40, lean body mass and strength can decline by 1% to 2% per year.
Muscle mass loss is associated with both a decrease in the number of muscle fibres and a decrease in fiber size. They die if the fibers become too tiny. Fast-twitch muscle fibers contract and die at a faster rate than other muscle fibers, resulting in a loss of muscular speed. Additionally, the ability of muscles to repair itself reduces with age. One element contributing to these changes is a decrease in muscle-building hormones and growth factors such as testosterone, estrogen, dehydroepiandrosterone (often referred to as DHEA), growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factors.
Coordination changes
Coordination changes are less a function of muscles and more a function of the brain and neurological system. Multiple brain centers must be linked in order for you to perform tasks ranging from golfing to holding a coffee cup steady as you walk across a room. This emphasizes the critical nature of the brain's wiring, the so-called white matter that connects the various brain regions.
Unfortunately, the majority of persons over the age of 60 who consume a western diet and do not exercise regularly have some small "ministrokes" (also known as microvascular or small vessel disease) in their white matter. Although the strokes are unnoticeable when they occur, they can damage connections between critical brain coordination centres such as the frontal lobe (which directs movement) and the cerebellum (which provides on-the-fly corrections to those movements as needed).
Additionally, as you age, you lose dopamine-producing cells, which can delay your movements and impair your coordination; thus, even if you do not get Parkinson's disease, many people develop some of the movement abnormalities associated with Parkinson's.
Finally, vision changes — the "eye" aspect of hand-eye coordination — is critical. Eye problems such as cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration are substantially more prevalent in older persons. Additionally, modest visual impairment might be the first indicator of ageing-related cognitive problems, such as Lewy body disease and Alzheimer's disease.
Those who visit our cognitive clinic are among the 22 per cent to 32 per cent of COVID-19 survivors who still have brain fog as a result of their long COVID, or post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC), as experts refer to it.
What exactly is the meaning of brain fog?
Brain fog is a phrase for slow or sluggish thinking that can occur in a variety of situations, such as when a person is sleep-deprived or sick, or as a side effect of drowsy medicines. Following chemotherapy or a concussion, you may experience brain fog.
Brain fog is frequently transitory and resolves on its own. However, we don't exactly know why brain fog occurs after COVID-19 or how long these symptoms will continue. However, we do know that this type of brain fog can have an impact on other facets of cognition.
What is cognition?
The mechanisms in the brain that allow us to think, read, learn, remember, reason, and pay attention are referred to as cognition. A loss in your capacity to perform one or more thinking processes is referred to as cognitive impairment.
A wide spectrum of cognitive issues has been recorded among persons who have been hospitalized for COVID. Among them are issues with
Our brains may actively digest information that is happening around us while ignoring other aspects if we pay attention. Attention functions similarly to a spotlight on a stage during a performance, allowing performers to stand out from the crowd.
The ability to learn, store, retain, and recall knowledge is known as memory.
More complicated skills like planning, directing attention, remembering instructions, and juggling many tasks are part of executive function.
Long-term COVID sufferers may experience noticeable difficulties with attention, memory, and executive function. These difficulties have been reported in studies of patients who were not hospitalized with COVID and those who were, as well as those who had severe cases. These findings raise crucial questions concerning the impact of COVID-19 infection on cognition.
Even with mild COVID, less visible lapses in memory and attention may occur.
After recovering from a mild incidence of COVID-19, according to a recent study conducted by a group of German researchers, even persons who don't show evidence of cognitive impairment can have memory and attention problems.
A total of 136 people were recruited for the study through a website that advertised it as a brain game to evaluate how well people could perform. The average age of the participants was roughly 30 years old. Nearly 40% of the participants had recovered from COVID without needing to be admitted to the hospital, while the rest had never had COVID. All of the subjects said they had no memory or cognitive issues.
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