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TATTOO BIOSENSOR HELPS ATHLETES AVOID BONK

Scientists are working on a new biosensor, applied to the human skin like a temporary tattoo, that can alert marathoners, competitive bikers and other “extreme” athletes that they’re about to “bonk,” or “hit the wall.” The study, in ACS’ journal Analytical Chemistry, describes the first human tests of this sensor, which also could help soldiers and others who engage in intense exercise — and their trainers — monitor stamina and fitness.

MINDING MUSCLES
The sensor monitors lactate, a form of lactic acid released in sweat. Lactate forms when the muscles need more energy than the body can supply from aerobic respiration. The body then shifts to anaerobic metabolism, producing lactic acid and lactate. That helps for a while, but lactate builds up in the body, causing extreme fatigue and the infamous “bonking out,” where an athlete just cannot continue. Current methods of measuring lactate are cumbersome, require blood samples or do not give instant results. Joseph Wang and his colleagues sought to develop a better approach.

In their study they describe the first human tests of a lactate sensor applied to the skin like a temporary tattoo that stays on and flexes with body movements. Tests on 10 human volunteers showed that the sensor accurately measured lactate levels in sweat during exercise.  The scientists say that such skin-worn metabolite biosensors could lead to useful insights into physical performance and overall physiological status, hence offering considerable promise for diverse sport, military, and biomedical applications.

Future research will further correlate sweat lactate levels with fitness, performance and blood lactate levels, Wang added.

AVOID THE BONK
If you exercise at high intensities for more than 90 minutes, you’ll need to fuel properly to avoid hitting the wall. How do you know if you’ve hit the wall? You’ll feel dizzy, disoriented, and suddenly heavy and uncoordinated. At this point, it’s best to stop and get some glucose (sugar) into your system. Gels and drinks (Gatorade, Powerade) are best as they take less energy to absorb compared to nutritional bars or bananas.

For more on fueling properly before/during/after a workout, check out Nancy Clark’s books on sports nutrition.

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GOT HEEL PAIN?

From blisters to bunions, most of us will suffer from foot problems more than once during our lives. Some issues can be resolved with over-the-counter remedies, targeted Pilates exercises, reflexology and gently rolling your feet on a tennis ball.

But if the pain you feel is in your heel and it doesn’t go away within a week or so, see your doctor.

The pain is usually caused by the inflammation of the plantar fascia, also known as plantar fasciitis, a chronic irritation due to abnormal biomechanics. Wait too long and you could be headed to surgery.  The pain often feels like you bruised your heel on a stone.  It can also radiate through your arch.

MADE FOR WALKING
The triangular structure of the feet allows the weight of our bodies to efficiently spread out over a broad base. The plantar fascia is a tight band underneath your foot.  Its job is to prevent the foot collapsing out when you walk. When this band is overly stressed, it can tear, causing pain.

The most common cause of plantar fasciitis is faulty biomechanics (walking  abnormalities) that place too much stress on the heel bone and the soft tissues that attach to it. It can also be caused by walking, running, or jumping on hard surfaces; wearing poorly constructed shoes; or being overweight.

To learn more about heel pain and taking care of your feet, visit the American Podiatric Medical Association.

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE

You’re at a restaurant. Your dinner companion chokes and quickly falls to the floor unconscious. What should you do? With CPR certification, you’d know how to help save that life.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING
As a fitness professional, I am required to get CPR re-certified every two years.  Each time I take the class, I feel reassured that I will correctly assess the situation and act in time.  We work with dummies, both adult and infant, so we get a real hands-on feel for just how much pressure is needed to get the heart pumping again.  A lot more pressure that you might think!  We also learn how to use an AED (automated external defibrillator), a portable machine that shocks the heart back to life.

An article I wrote for Baylor Innovations details why reacting quickly in time makes such a huge difference.  Had a by-stander not helped this man, the story would have a taken a fatal turn.

“Time is everything,” says Robert Kowal, M. D., Ph.D., a cardiac electrophysiologist at the Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital, “There is a direct relationship between time to defibrillation and survival.”

WHO YOU CAN SAVE
CPR prepares you to react in an emergency. It’s a skill easily learned and often free or at small fee through the American Heart Association.

• Four out of five cardiac arrests happen at home.
• Statistically speaking, if called on to administer CPR in an emergency, the life you save is likely to be someone at home: a child, a spouse, a parent or a friend.
• Effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival, but only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander.
• Sadly, less than eight percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive.

It only takes a few hours to the learn CPR skills.  There are also more advanced courses where you can learn how to handle emergency first aid situations.  These videos show you what it takes and direct you to CPR courses in your area.

Love,
JoAnn

MAJORITY OF AMERICANS TAKE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

An extensive Mayo clinic study reveals that most Americans take at least one drug, and many take two or more. While prescriptions for lifestyle-related chronic diseases (high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes) are on the list, the most prescribed drugs are antibiotics, antidepressants and painkilling opioids. Twenty percent of patients are on five or more prescription medications, according to the findings.

A COSTLY ISSUE
Prescription drug use has increased steadily in the U.S. for the past decade. The percentage of people who took at least one prescription drug in the past month increased from 44 percent in 1999-2000 to 48 percent in 2007-08. Spending reached $250 billion in 2009 the year studied, and accounted for 12 percent of total personal health care expenditures.

With obesity now officially classified as a disease, prescriptions will continue to rise especially as pharmaceuticals to treat obesity rush to market.

The cost is not only monetary, side effects to patients abound. Learn more about specific drugs and their side effects.  The good news is that lifestyle choices can reduce or even eliminate your condition and your drug dependence.

WHAT YOU CAN DO DIFFERENTLY
Type 2 diabetes, blood pressure, depression and of course obesity can be reduced and possibly reversed. It’s within your control.

• exercise 3-5/x per week for at least 30-minute per session
• eat more nutrient-dense whole foods (fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish)
• avoid processed and fried foods
• reduce stress (meditate, spend time in nature, get a pet)

Living a healthier lifestyle leads to a higher quality of life meaning more joy and happiness for you and those around you.

Love,
JoAnn

HOW TO SAVE YOURSELF

In the July edition of Shamabala Sun I read an article by Norman Fischer titled, What is your body?  In it is that familiar concept of we are all one with the earth.  I’ve never been able to connect with that  – until now.

“Our bodies too are the Earth.  They rise up from her, and are nurtured, fed, and illuminated by her.  Our bodies are in constant touch with Earth, and return to Earth, from which they have never parted…Even our most abstract ideas, like freedom, justice, and happiness, are nothing more or less than Earth’s urge, the thought of wind, sky, water, and light. Nothing we think or do could ever be more profound or true than these natural elements which are literally more or less than our own bodies.”

Soil = food, water = drink, air = breath. We literally sprout from the earth. I imagine us all as plants now with our roots deep into the earth, all of us, standing next to each other. Green. And reaching toward the sun.

ON FRACKING AND ESCAPING
To me, the earth is not a deity and my thoughts of god are fuzzy – can’t quite get solid with it.  What I do know is there is life consciousness within and of the earth.  Recently, the State of Illinois passed a bill to allowing fracking.  A process which fractures the earth, forces chemicals into in order to extract any found gas or oil.  Sigh.  It just makes me sad that with so many alternative methods available and in development that short-sighted, fearful politicians make such a poisonous choice. As resilient as nature is I don’t believe it can withstand our endless abuse.

I met a man recently who after 9/11 fled the mainland United States to live in pristine Kauai.  A few years later, one of his sons’ died there.  There’s no escaping our fates.

As I get older, I am challenged with keeping a faith in myself, my own ability to keep life interesting.  To not give in to complacency and cynicism.  Some days I win the battle.  Some days I do not.  What I find most helpful are the simple pleasures.  Brushing my dog, teaching him new tricks, listening to the birds while sipping coffee, feeling of warm sun on skin, enjoying conversations with old friends.

Love,
JoAnn

PROACTIVE HEALTHCARE

How can you take better care of your health? Be more proactive about your office visits. Here are five tips will help you be a better medical care consumer.

1. Know your family history – know how parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles died. This is especially important if they died young.

2. Have a primary care physician – schedule an annual exam. Primary care doctors are the gatekeepers of your medical care and your medical history.

3. Ask questions. If you don’t understand a process or procedure keep asking questions until it is clear to you. Feel free to take notes during your medical visit.

4. List your medications. Maintain a current list of medicines including over-the-counter medicines and any supplements. Tell your doctor about any allergies.

5. Request test or procedure results. Ask when and how you will get the results of tests or procedures. Make especially sure you get any lab results or x-rays from any Emergency Room visits.
Here are more details on what you can do to prevent medical errors.

NEW HOPE FOR RESISTANT BREAST CANCER

Take a look at any pharmaceutical drugs insert leaflet and you’ll see something called “indications.” Often times, a drug can be used or indicated for more than one health problem. For example, anti-seizure drugs can be used to treat pain. According to a Duke Cancer Institute study, an osteoporosis drug approved in Europe has been shown to stop the growth of breast cancer cells, even in cancers that have become resistant to current targeted therapies.

The findings, presented June 15, 2013, at the annual Endocrine Society meeting in San Francisco, indicate that the drug bazedoxifene packs a powerful one-two punch that not only prevents estrogen from fueling breast cancer cell growth, but also flags the estrogen receptor for destruction.

Paradoxically, in bone tissue, bazedoxifene mimics the action of estrogen, helping protect it from destruction. Because bazedoxifene has already undergone safety and efficacy studies as a treatment for osteoporosis, it may be a viable near-term option for patients with advanced breast cancer whose tumors have become resistant to other treatment options. In clinical trials, the most often reported side effect was hot flashes in the bazedoxifene treatment groups.

BREAST CANCER STATS AND FACTS

• According the U.S. Centers of Disease Control, aside from non-melanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States.
• Heart attacks will kill six times more women that breast cancer
• Men get breast cancer too, onset is typically at age 60-70

A healthy lifestyle can help prevent both breast cancer and heart disease.  Which means:

• don’t smoke
• limit alcohol
• be active
• breast feed
• control your weight

While we can not know what will end our lives, we can improve the quality of our lives by choosing  a healthy lifestyle.  It’s not just about preventing diseases.  It’s about enjoying life more.  I believe that once you experience how good it feels to live in a healthy fit body, that will motivate you to keep it that way.

Love,

JoAnn

THE MENOPAUSE WEIGHT GAIN MYTH?

Women complain to me about their menopause middle and ask how to get rid of it.  Exercise, good nutrition and sound sleep –  the traits of a healthy lifestyle at any age, are ever more important at middle age.  According to Nancy Clark, author of the upcoming new edition of the best-selling Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook (Human Kinetics, November 2013), women do not always gain weight during menopause. “Yes, women aged 45 to 50 commonly gain weight as fat settles in and around the abdominal area,” Clark says. “But, these changes are due more to lack of exercise and a surplus of calories than to a reduction of hormones.”

STAY ACTIVE
In a three-year study of more than 3,000 women (initial age 42 to 52 years), the average weight gain was 4.6 pounds. The weight gain occurred in all women, regardless of their menopause status. According to Clark, weight gain is not caused by the hormonal shifts of menopause, but by other culprits associated with midlife. That is lack of exercise and excess calories.

Middle age women (and men) tend to be less active which is especially unhealthful as we age.  We need to keep our muscles strong and flexible for many reasons: better balance, good bone mass, and for weight control.

more muscle = faster metabolism = increased calorie burn

FORGET DIETS AND EXTREME EXERCISE – GO FOR JOY
You’ve probably dieted a gazillion times by now, has it led to permanent weight loss or are you dieting several times year?  That ought to tell you something about how effective that approach is.  There is no magic bullet when it comes to food or fitness.

What does work is eating fresh, whole foods that are nutrient dense. That is foods that pack a lot nutrition for the amount of calories – think apple vs pretzels.  They may have the same calories but your body gets more satisfaction out of that apple.

Choose movement that you enjoy.  If you like boxing – great! Weight-lifting, Pilates?  Perfer bike riding to dancing?  Do what feels good.  Mix up some resistance training with activities that increase your heart rate enough so that you can talk but not sing while you are doing it and you’ve got a good aerobic pace.

exercise 3 – 5x/wk for at least 30-minutes.

Once you experience how good it feels to live in a strong, fit and healthy body, you’ll want to keep it that way.  You only have one body, one life.  It is mostly up to you how you’re going to feel in it.  Of course, you’ll probably reduce or get rid of the menopause middle too.  That’s just the bonus.  Feeling great in your own skin is the real prize.

Love,
JoAnn

PILATES IMPROVES SEX

Pilates does a body good in many ways. Improves balance, strength, flexibility, confidence and strengthens the pelvic floor. All that helps improve that most intimate of act, sex.  Most people have heard of the Kegel method to improve a woman’s pelvic floor, but Pilates can be better.  So says this blogger/ Pilates instructor in the Huffington Post.  As a longtime Pilates devotee and instructor myself, I totally agree with her post.

THE CORE AND MORE
If you’re talking about the “core” of the body you can’t get anymore centrally located then the pelvic floor. It’s what helps you activate your “corset” muscle known as the transversus abdominis, the muscles that hug around your waist and help support your spine.  Of course, all that flexibility can add much fun in the bedroom too.

When it comes to attractiveness, confidence goes along a way.  There’s nothing like the rush of mastering a new move like plank on the reformer, or teasers performed smoothly and slowly with control.  It’s elegance and power in motion.  It’s a turn on for you.  Nothing like post Pilates glow.

JUST SO YOU KNOW
Many people, especially men, come to Pilates later in life and because they have injured themselves. But why wait?  You can prevent injuries, get stronger and more flexible as you age instead of the reverse.  And guess what guys,  improving pelvic floor is not just for women. There’s a lot reasons it can benefit you too.  For details, read here.

And for more mojo, reformer planks will keep you going strong . . .

Enjoy the Journey
JoAnn