Get Outside And Start Playing With Your Kids With The Purchase Of A Play System

 

 

With the advent of video games, cellphones and television, it’s harder than ever to convince your kids to get outside. Unfortunately, the statistics have proved that the rate of obesity is rising for children across North America. There has never been a more important time to encourage your children to get outside and active. Healthy habits are formed in childhood and children usually follow the model of their parents. If you have noticed that stress and busy schedules have impacted your family’s quality of life, exercise can help. According to a study conducted by the University of Helsinki there is a link between physical activity and stress hormone responses in children. Research has proved that exercise improves your child’s ability to cope with stress and pressure in their lives. When the whole family engages in physical activity, you can all burn off excess energy and anxiety in your lives.

 

The question is how to coordinate an activity that everyone will enjoy. If you have children of different ages or dispositions, it can be hard to hold their attention. This is why the most efficient option is to turn your backyard into a fun play area. Simply by installing a swingset or a jungle gym, you can encourage hours of healthy activity outdoors. Consider working with a company that can offer you a fully customizable play set with free installation. Another classic backyard option is an outdoor basketball net. There’s nothing better than shooting a round of hoops before dinner. The best companies offer basketball systems that adjustas your children grow taller. Start them off with a few rounds of non-competitive play and slowly ease them into a full game. With the right attitude, everyone can feel like an athlete.

This doesn’t mean you should ignore the old classic playground games, like the swings and slides. While some people may question whether swinging is considered exercise, studies have proved that it’s a valuable addition. (An article on Livestrong.com commented that  for every hour of swinging, you burn 200 calories.) This form of exercise also helps to tone young muscles. While kids used to swing for daily exercise 50 years ago, it’s now considered a thing of the past. Make a point to push your kids on the swings and get outside. Whether you add on an extension to your play set or head to the park, this can become a ritual that you and your children will enjoy.

 

Remember that if you’re considering investing in a backyard playset, you can always start small and add on it as your children grow. While doing research on the best options for basketball equipment in Canada, consider the homegrown company Play Rainbow. This manufacturer creates safety-proofed nets that grow as your child’s height and skill level increases. You can add a basketball net to your pre-existing play system or create an entire area for the backyard. In fact, lots of companies will encourage you to fully customize your system with unique accessories. The play manufacturers will be fully safety tested and made of sustainable materials meant for young children to play on. Whether you invest in a full-blown play system or a simple basketball hoop over the garage, you’ll be setting a valuable example for your children to follow. With the right encouragement of healthy activity, you and your kids can come out swinging.

 

Categories: activity, basketball, basketball net, Children, children grow, healthy activity, physical activity, Play, play set

Revealed - How sex makes you more intelligent

 

Sex not only helps decrease stress levels and burn away calories, but boosts your intelligence too!

 

Love-making proved to greatly increase the creation of new neurons located within the hippocampus – an area of the brain that is responsible for the formation of long-term memory, say researchers.

 

‘We discovered that even though there had been the production of new neurons, the cognitive abilities acquired during the experiment decreased once the mice were subjected to long periods without sexual activity,’ psychologists from the University of Maryland in the US were quoted as saying. Read more about reasons why your sex life may have fizzled out.

 

Increased sexual activity floods an individual’s brain cells with oxygen, they noted. Another study by Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea, provided further substantial evidence. According to the Korean study, sex increases intellectual functions. Sexual activity buffers the creation of neurons in the hippocampal region of the brain, which acts against detrimental functions caused by extreme stress. Older couples that are more sexually active have less odds of getting dementia which is due to a variation of complicated reasons, said a report in Glamour magazine.

 

Other health benefits of sex

Besides making you intelligent, sex has some other health benefits too that you probably didn’t know about.

 

1. Makes you look younger

Yes! Believe it or not, sex can make you look younger. According to a study conducted by Dr David Weeks of Royal Edinburgh Hospital, people who had sex more than 4 times a week, felt as much as 10 years younger. Besides having sex, you can do the following things to look younger.

 

2. Boosts your immunity

While eating fruits and vegetables are known to boost your immunity, having sex can have a similar effect. A research conducted at Wilkes University, Pennsylvania, revealed that people who had more sex had 30% higher levels of the antigen immunoglobin A, as compared to people who didn’t. The higher levels of antigen improves our body’s defence against cold and flu. Read more about the health benefits of sex.

 

Categories: activity, Health Benefits, higher levels, nbsp, sexual, sexual activity, university, younger

Get Off Your Backside: Is Sitting at Work Killing You?

What are you doing right now? If I were to put money on it, I’d say you were sitting down. You sit a lot. Whether you’re in front of the TV, at your desk or in the car, you sit down practically all day, every day, and that’s not good for your wellbeing. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) physical inactivity is fourth in the list of major risk factors for chronic disease after high blood pressure, tobacco use and high cholesterol – bad company, indeed. How does this impact your corporate wellness? You spend most of your waking hours in the workplace – which, yes, is a pretty depressing thought. However, what’s even more depressing is the fact that you spend most of these hours sitting down, and that may literally be killing you.

 

In 2012, a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that if you sit for more than 11 hours a day, your risk of dying within three years is 40% higher than people who sit for less than 4 hours per day. If you sit for eight to 11 hours per day, your risk for dying within the next three years is 15% higher than those less-frequent sitters. You may be thinking, “Well, I still run marathons or go to Zumba three times a week” but that doesn’t get you off the hook; your risks are just as high if you sit for extended periods during the day.

 

Basically, you need to just get off your backside and move more often. Dr. James Levine, Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic and an expert on the dangers of sitting, comments, ‘We know that as soon as somebody gets out of their chair, their blood sugar improves, their blood cholesterol and triglycerides improve, and that’s very consistent. Every time you get up it gets better. Every time you sit down it gets worse.’ But where do you come in as an employer? You need to get your employees moving regularly throughout the day, but how do you do that in a way that doesn’t impact productivity or negatively change the environment?

 

Kim Snider, President of Health Systems Group, details, ‘Health Systems Group works with our clients to recommend small changes on both the physical and cultural environments. These changes don’t take employees away from their work but help them to do it more actively. For example, making stairwells brighter and more appealing helps encourage people to take the stairs. Encouraging walking meetings or providing headsets so people can move around when they are on the phone, are small things that can make a big difference.’ However, even though these small changes are helpful, Snider points out you need something to motivate employees to choose the stairs.

 

‘Our search for a highly engaging resource led us to Tractivity,’ Snider recalls. ‘It’s a very simple but powerful tool that we combined with our own communications and programme strategies to create amazing results. Tractivity is a simple, reliable, sensor-based activity monitoring system combined with a web application called Tractivity Online that tracks and displays activity in a motivational and very engaging way.  Using this system we were able to easily implement a number of activity challenges. Tractivity allows administrators to create Challenges—like walking Route 66 or The Appalachian Trail—or individuals can design their very own and invite their friends to join. These Challenges motivate employees to increase their activity levels to support their team, reach a shared goal or win an individual race.’ Snider adds, ‘We realise that in order for our data to be meaningful and fully represent the success of our programs we’ll need more time. But the anecdotal evidence is in and tells a very good story.’

Categories: activity, employees, health systems, hours, motivate employees, nbsp, sitting down, Small Changes, systems group, Tractivity

How to Create a Happy Office by Making Sure You’re Healthy

A corporate space is a difficult one in which to incorporate physical activity. Nevertheless, numerous studies have shown that employees who have better wellness and a strong sense of wellbeing perform better in the workplace when compared directly to employees with poor wellness or low morale.

 

In the past, employers have not been too concerned about the health or lifestyle of their employees, seeing it as ‘private business’, but there is becoming more and more awareness of the impact that wellness can have on the performance of employees and, therefore, a company.

 

Companies are now looking at wellness-related ways to get the most out of their employees, by keeping them healthy, making them feel confident and empowering them to take control of their own careers.

 

There are lots of different ways to go about this, from wellness programmes to individual mentoring, but one way that you may not have considered is hosting an outdoor team building exercise. This is especially useful in an office where the work is generally computer based or desk based, and employees spend long periods of time sitting down. The opportunity to get outdoors for a fun series of activities can improve their mood and physical wellness, and can also encourage them to adopt a healthier way of life. Those who participate in the physical activity and feel the rush of endorphins afterwards may feel themselves drawn to taking more physical activity in the future. All that fresh air could also trigger creative thinking, which could be of huge benefit when back in the office again.

 

Think, too, about changing the menu in your workplace canteen. A healthy menu offering employees the opportunity to consume good, nutritious food can make a great difference to employee wellness and wellbeing.

Categories: activity, employees, fitness, nbsp, performance, physical, physical activity, Wellness

Efficient Exercise: How to Prevent an Overuse Injury

Whether you’re thinking you really should exercise more, or you want to give your current training routing a boost, you need to consider how the added activity might affect your wellness. Doing too much too soon can put you at risk of an overuse injury, which could ultimately prevent you from doing the activities you love, and benefit your health. Typically, overuse injuries are causes by training errors (such as going too fast, exercising for too long or simply doing too much of one type of activity) and technique errors (like using the wrong form and overloading certain muscles. If you do injure yourself when exercising, you should consult your GP as soon as possible. However, the good news is that most overuse injuries are avoidable, so you never need let it get to that point.

 

1. Be in the know: It’s all-too easy to start a new sport or activity and do yourself a mischief because you’re not using the right technique. You may not notice immediate pain, but the exercising using the wrong form can take its toll on your wellbeing over time, until one day something snaps. Whether you’re about to pick up a new activity or you’ve been at this for years, it might be a good idea to have a few lessons and ensure your technique is where it should be – Who knows? It might even improve your performance!

 

2. Dress for the occasion: While all the high-tech gear on the market probably isn’t necessary for you to perform well, one thing every athlete needs is the right pair of shoes. If you’re walking or running, you should aim to replace your shoes every 300 miles or so. For those of you who prefer other forms of exercise, and workout regularly, you should replace your shoes at least twice a year.

 

3. Pace yourself: You know you’ve become a weekend warrior when you begin compressing a week’s worth of physical activity into just two days. However, this approach is the quickest path to an overuse injury, and you need to pace yourself more efficiently. If you’re doing a moderate level of activity, aim for 150 minutes spread throughout the week. If your fitness programme is a little more vigourous, you shouldn’t do anymore than 75 minutes weekly. Also, don’t forget to take the time to warm up beforehand, and cool down after physical activity.

 

4. Build up your activity level slowly: You know the feeling; you finally get round to that jog or fitness class, you see your wellness perk up a bit, and suddenly you want more. However, going to “all” from “nothing” puts a huge strain on your body that it’s just not prepared for – you need to change the intensity or duration of a physical activity gradually. If you want to increase the amount of weight you use during your strength training session, say, you shouldn’t add on anymore than 10% each week until you reach your new goal. This gives your body plenty of time to adjust and adapt.

 

5. Mix it up: You may love your routine, but focusing on one type of exercise can lead to overuse of certain body parts, while building variety into your exercise programme can help to prevent injuries. Don’t just go walking; incorporate a mixture of low-impact activities like biking, swimming and water jogging. In moderation, this allows your body to use different muscle groups and prevent overuse injuries – especially if you’re doing some type of strength training at least twice a week.

Categories: activity, exercise, injuries, nbsp, overuse, overuse injuries, overuse injury, physical activity, Strength Training, techniques, Variety

Could We be at Risk of Devastating Earthquakes?

Much research has been undertaken in recent years as to the impact of human activity on the planet, with earthquakes being the latest topic. Research gathered from a recent U.S Geological Survey (USGS) has reported that the increasing occurrence of earthquakes in the United States could be leaving an enlarging industrial footprint. In unusual locations across the U.S, earthquakes are occurring more and more, leaving a trail of devastation in its path.

 

These tremors could be linked to the surge in industrial activity over recent years, in particular in the fields of gas and oil processes. The earthquakes reported tend to have been noted in western America, such as in California where movements along the Pacific and North American Plates regularly occur. However, experts say that increasingly there are earthquakes sprouting in the eastern parts of the country where industrial activities could be induced by human activity. Man-made earthquakes are triggered by pressure changes because of procedures such as impounding reservoirs and injecting fluids into the ground. There are already naturally developed stresses in the Earth’s crust, and if that pressure rises because of a fault near its breaking point then the result may well be an earthquake. The majority of these tremors are caused by waste-water injection and hydraulic fracturing. The former poses a bigger risk.

 

Hydraulic fracturing involves injecting high-pressure liquid below the surface of the Earth to create fractures where we can then extract natural gases. This process naturally induces micro-earthquakes, but they are so minor that they pose no threat to the public. More than 10,000 wells have been subjected to fracking in states such as Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The largest induced earthquake measured 3.6 on the scale, which was too small to be of any risk. However, waste-water injection is done at lower pressures so that water can be stored permanently underground. Because of the large volumes of water being injected and the considerable depth, these pose a large stress on the environment. One of the largest induced earthquakes caused by this process measured 5.6 in Oklahoma, destroying 14 homes and injuring two people.

There are factors which increase the likelihood of an earthquake, which include the magnitude of the stress or disturbance, the frequency and its geographic reach. New developments in seismology in recent years have looked at where and when these earthquakes occur, as well as hopefully identifying ways that they can be managed more effectively. One of the methods thought to be a possibility is what is known in the industry as ‘traffic light’ systems. These involve setting a guideline that can restrict or suspend the injection activity based on earthquake monitoring to see if there are naturally occurring tremors happening alongside the activity.

 

Other factors being examined are ways to dispose of the water without injecting it, and reducing the volume of water being injected. Other solutions involve recycling the fluid for other applications, such as the development of shale gas or oil recovery in the production of petroleum. If researchers could understand better what the stresses in the earth were then they could do a better job of predicting what the risks are to injecting under the surface. With earthquakes becoming more common across the U.S, these activities require further investigation so as less damage can be caused to the planet, as well as to people living in higher-risk areas. Experts claim that they are manageable risks, which they hope will be reduced with a better knowledge on the subject.

Categories: activity, earthquake, earthquakes, Environmental Wellness, human activity, hydraulic fracturing, oil industry, risk, waste water, Water, water injection

Due Diet Diligence: How to Avoid the Weekend Splurge

The weekend is your time for rest and relaxation – and rightly so – but changing gears into your down time can wreak havoc on your diet and wellness plans. You find yourself eating greasy takeaways or just settling in front of the telly to watch Saturday night talent shows, instead of eating well or getting active. So how can you still enjoy your weekend, but still take care of your wellbeing?

Firstly, plan mealtimes that put the “active” in “activities”. Go to restaurants with a dance floor or have a family picnic where you can play different games like badminton, cricket, basketball. When you’re packing your picnic, or ordering your meals, choose wisely; start meals with a full plate of salad and use low-calorie dressings such as lemon juice, orange juice and vinegar. Dishes that are grilled, baked and steamed are the healthiest choices, as well as lean meats and fish, including chicken, salmon and trout. Remember to include plenty of vegetables!

If you use the weekend to indulge your sweet tooth, try a plate of fruit before you turn to the ice-cream tub. If you want something a little more substantial, sponge cake or fruit pie contain fewer calories than cheesecake or cakes filled with cream. When going out for a meal, why not split a dessert between you? You’d never eat the whole thing anyway, and it will save on unnecessary calories and sugar. In fact, small portion sizes are the way to go on your weekend diet, as moderation is the key to keep those extra calories off.

For your weekend tipple, drink smartly. Instead of beer, choose wine or clear spirits like vodka and rum – although avoiding alcohol altogether is the healthiest option. Try to steer clear of cocktails/mocktails, and instead drink lots of water or fresh fruit juice. However, if you are a little bit naughty during the weekend, and are worried about how your diet will fare come Monday, it’s not the end of the world. Simply make up for the extra calories consumed during your weekend with a high protein, low carbohydrate dinner on the first two days of the week.

Categories: activity, portion control, weekend

How to Look after Your Wellbeing after Heart Surgery

When you’re recovering from surgery, you need to take a lot of care of your heart health and your overall wellbeing. There are so many factors to consider that you may want to give up altogether, but aftercare can be simple if you follow certain tips.

With regards to taking care of your incision after heart surgery, there are three important factors to remember. Firstly, make sure that you keep the incision clean and dry. Then, to make sure you take care of the first factor, use only soap and water to cleanse the area, and, finally, eat a healthy diet. If signs of infection appear, such as increased drainage or oozing from the incision, opening of the incision line, redness or warmth around the incision or an increased body temperature (greater than 38°C), consult your doctor as soon as possible. You should also seek medical advice if you think your sternum (breastbone) has moved, or if it pops or cracks with movement.

It’s normal to experience some muscle or incision discomfort, itching, tightness or numbness along the incision after heart surgery, but it will affect your wellness differently than it did beforehand, and your doctor should prescribe you pain medications. If your leg veins were grafted in a heart bypass surgery, you may experience more pain in your legs than around the chest incision, but this discomfort and stiffness will lessen with walking, daily activities and time.

When it comes to exercise, for the first six to eight weeks it’s recommended that you gradually increase activity. You can do household chores, but it’s not advisable to stand in one place for longer than 15 minutes. Also, do not lift objects that weigh more than 2.5lbs, or push or pull heavy objects. Your doctor should give you guidelines for walking daily, but try not to go up and down the stairs several times a day. Instead, arrange it so you do downstairs in the morning and upstairs when it is time for bed

Finally, it’s usual to have a poor appetite after surgery, so eating smaller, more frequent meals can be a big help. Also, it’s common to feel sad, but getting dressed every day, walking, resuming hobbies and social activities, getting a good night’s sleep and joining a support group can help. If you’re feeling depressed for longer than a few weeks, seek medical advice.

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How to Look after Your Wellbeing after Heart Surgery

Categories: activity, heart surgery, Incision Care

Our genetics are responsible for many things in our bodies, like our hair and eye colour. To a certain extent our genes also have an impact on our wellness, with some conditions more likely to be hereditary. Even if some wellbeing problems are linked to our chromosomes, we can still protect our health by making changes to our activity, diet and general lifestyle. Genetics and health Our chances of getting osteoporosis could be related to our genetics, and doctors take into account whether our relatives have had fractures when making a bone illness diagnosis. But the health of our bones also depends on lots of other factors, meaning we can reduce our chances of getting the condition by adapting our lifestyles. Eat right Like other cells in our body, bone cells need nutrients to be strong and to keep renewing efficiently. Making sure we eat at least 700mg of calcium a day (which can be found in a pint of milk) via dairy products, dried fruit, tofu and green leafy vegetables can help strengthen our bones. We also need to consume Vitamin D as this helps our bodies to absorb the calcium. Sunlight can boost our Vitamin D levels, but we can also find it in oily fish, with 10mg being the optimum daily amount for adults. Speaking to a doctor before making changes to your diet is always a good idea. Activity Challenging our bones with different kinds of exercise can make them stronger and improve cell density. Over the course of our lives the density changes, starting to decline after our mid-30s. Hormone changes resulting from medications and early menopause could also increase our chance of getting osteoporosis. This means that getting active when we’re younger and older can enhance bone health. Exercise that involves our bones taking our weight – like running, skipping and aerobics – can increase cell density. Also, resistance exercises, such as weight lifting, can have positive effects on our bones. These encourage the stimulation of cells where tendons pull on bones as we lift weights. How diet & lifestyle can prevent Osteoporosis

Our genetics are responsible for many things in our bodies, like our hair and eye colour. To a certain extent our genes also have an impact on our wellness, with some conditions more likely to be hereditary. Even if some wellbeing problems are linked to our chromosomes, we can still protect our health by making changes to our activity, diet and general lifestyle.

Genetics and health

Our chances of getting osteoporosis could be related to our genetics, and doctors take into account whether our relatives have had fractures when making a bone illness diagnosis. But the health of our bones also depends on lots of other factors, meaning we can reduce our chances of getting the condition by adapting our lifestyles.

Eat right

Like other cells in our body, bone cells need nutrients to be strong and to keep renewing efficiently. Making sure we eat at least 700mg of calcium a day (which can be found in a pint of milk) via dairy products, dried fruit, tofu and green leafy vegetables can help strengthen our bones. We also need to consume Vitamin D as this helps our bodies to absorb the calcium. Sunlight can boost our Vitamin D levels, but we can also find it in oily fish, with 10mg being the optimum daily amount for adults. Speaking to a doctor before making changes to your diet is always a good idea.

Activity

Challenging our bones with different kinds of exercise can make them stronger and improve cell density. Over the course of our lives the density changes, starting to decline after our mid-30s. Hormone changes resulting from medications and early menopause could also increase our chance of getting osteoporosis. This means that getting active when we’re younger and older can enhance bone health. Exercise that involves our bones taking our weight – like running, skipping and aerobics – can increase cell density. Also, resistance exercises, such as weight lifting, can have positive effects on our bones. These encourage the stimulation of cells where tendons pull on bones as we lift weights.

How diet & lifestyle can prevent Osteoporosis

Categories: activity, genetics, osteoporosis