How to get started in healthy living — part 3B

Improving your diet and increasing healthy activity

Eating a nutritious, balanced diet is perhaps the lynchpin of healthy living. Not only does it keep all your body systems working efficiently, it also provides energy, protects your heart, helps prevent and fight off disease, maintains a healthy body weight, contributes to healthy skin, hair and nails and even influences mood.

Exercise for a healthy life

Despite myriad campaigns and initiatives, we still aren’t getting out and about nearly often enough to benefit our health. The average person in the UK watches 26 hours of television per week! The latest statistics show that 56 per cent of men and 70 per cent of women aged 16 to 54 fail to reach the recommended levels of physical activity for health benefits. No wonder obesity is such a problem in this country ... But we remain sedentary at our peril: regular physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of a number of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes — as well as the risk of premature death.

Take action

• Stop and think before you make a journey. Could you walk it or bike it instead of driving? If it will take under 15 minutes to get there, then the answer is yes!
• Be more aware of how you use your body. Bend your knees when you pick up heavy objects, sit at your desk properly and try to keep your stomach pulled in and shoulders back and down.
• Find a fitness goal that you can work towards. It could be something as simple as being able to walk up all seven flights of stairs at work, or entering a charity fun run.  
• Think of a sport or fitness activity you loved as a child — perhaps netball or judo, cross country running or ballet — and find somewhere that you can give it a go again. It may rekindle your enthusiasm …
• Avoid labor-saving devices in and outside the home — like the remote control, the food processor, the elevators and escalators, the shopping home delivery service — even the ‘no-scrub’ bathroom cleaning fluid!
• Invest in a pedometer (they are not expensive) and monitor your steps for a full day. The goal is to reach 10,000 steps per day, but if you are like most people, your total may be closer to half of that. Aim to build up by 200 steps per day. 

Drink more fluids

Many of us spend a lot of time in a state of ‘hypo’ hydration. We’re not officially dehydrated but just slightly under-hydrated. This can make you feel sluggish, impair mental function and increase the risk of constipation. It also doesn’t do wonders for your complexion. Experts recommend that we consume 1ml of fluid for every calorie we take in — which means that the average UK woman needs around 2l, the average man needs 2.5l of fluid per day. Happily, at least a third of this comes from the moisture in the foods we eat — but it is still important to ensure you drink fluids regularly throughout the day (it doesn’t have to be water — though water is a calorie-free, sugar-free, additive-free choice). If you exercise, then starting at a level of hypohydration practically guarantees that you won’t perform to the best of your ability — so be especially vigilant if you are active.

Take action

• Keep a bottle of water handy — on your desk, in your bag or in the car — you’ll be surprised how often you take a sip from it.
• Drink a cup of water for every cup of tea or coffee you drink.
• Swap sugary carbonated drinks for sparkling water. Don’t drink too many diet drinks — the acid in them is harmful to teeth and there is still controversy over the safety of the artificial sweeteners they contain.
• Swap at least some of your caffeinated beverages for decaffeinated ones. Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it makes the body shed water. ‘Water-processed’ decaffeinated coffee is free from chemicals and much tastier.
• If you are exercising for more than 45 minutes, consider drinking an isotonic sports drink instead of water.
• Monitor the color of your urine. If you are adequately hydrated, it should be the color of pale straw. Dark urine, infrequently passed, is a sure sign of dehydration.

Alcohol consumption

Excess drinking has become so much part of our culture that many of us barely notice we are doing it — but health practitioners certainly are – with worrying increases in alcohol related diseases from cirrhosis of the liver to heart problems, stroke, obesity, some cancers and alcohol-related accidents. Stick to the recommended amounts and you can enjoy alcohol without harming your health (there’s some evidence that consuming modest amounts of alcohol is actually healthier than being teetotal) – but unfortunately, many of us are overdoing it. A survey by the Royal College of Physicians found that one in five women aged 25 to 44 had ‘binged’ (defined as consuming more than six units in one session) at least once in the previous week while in 2001, the Chief Medical Officer’s report stated that liver cirrhosis had increased seven-fold in the last 30 years in women aged 35 to 44 and eight-fold in men of the same age group.

Take action

Know your units. The maximum recommended amount is four units per day for men (but no more than 21 per week) and three units per day for women (but no more than 14 units per week), necessitating at least two alcohol-free days per week. Keep a ‘drink diary’ to find out how much you are really drinking on a weekly basis.

• Find a glass at home and mark on it with tippex or nail varnish the amount that constitutes a unit of your usual favourite tipple. For beer drinkers, that’s half a pint, for wine drinkers, 125ml and for spirit drinkers, 25ml constitutes a single unit.
• When you’ve finished an alcoholic drink, fill the glass with water and don’t drink another one until you’ve finished the water.
• Don’t get involved in ‘rounds’. You often end up drinking just because it’s been bought for you, even though you already feel you’ve had enough.
• Don’t drink alcohol when you are thirsty. Make your first drink a large soft one, otherwise you will gulp it down too quickly.
• Don’t drink on an empty stomach — either drink with food or eat before you go out.
• http://www.realbuzz.com/articles/how-to-get-started-in-healthy-living-part-3/

Type 1 Diabetes: Scientists Step Closer To A Cure

An accidental drug discovery could be the answer to preventing and curing type 1 diabetes, as scientists embark on new trials to find out if a blood pressure drug will work for other illnesses

A drug normally used for blood pressure, heart complaints and migraines could hold the key to curing type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 is the genetic strain of the disease, as opposed to type 2, which is more common (90 per cent of diabetes patients in the UK have type 2).There are around five million diabetes sufferers in the UK, 10 per cent have Type 1 (REX)

Type 2 diabetes is caused by lifestyle factors such as being overweight, and in many cases can be managed or even reversed by lifestyle changes. But because type 1 is caused by the body's failure to make insulin, it needs to be treated medically.

Currently there is no cure or prevention for type 1 diabetes. Instead it's managed with careful monitoring and reactive treatment. But unexpectedly, research into the drug Verapamil, has given scientists hope that a more effective treatment could be in sight.

Insulin is a protein that we need to keep our blood sugar level stable. It works by enabling sugar in the blood stream to enter cells where the body can use it as energy.

When you eat, the food is broken down into sugars, which enter the blood stream, raising our blood sugar level.

When this happens, a signal is sent to the pancreas, telling the cells to make insulin. It does this and releases it into the blood stream, where the insulin unlocks pathways into the cells for the sugar to be absorbed and used. This in turn lowers our blood sugar level.

Diabetics need to regularly test their blood sugar levels and inject insulin if required.

Tests on mice and on human cells have shown that the drug could help reduce the amount of a protein called TXNIP in the body, which has been found to thwart pancreas cells when they try to make essential insulin.

The next step in the research is for the team at The University of Alabama in Birmingham, US, to begin conducting human trials. They've been given a grant of $2.1million over the next three years to investigate.

It's an exciting development because this type of treatment has never been tried before and could be the key to helping the body's own cells to make the insulin it needs, returning it to normal function.

The drug could also potentially be used to treat more extreme cases of Type 2 diabetes, where lifestyle changes have failed.

https://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/type-1-diabetes--scientists-step-closer-to-a-cure-135149095.html

5 Scary Health Conditions Your Dentist Can Spot

[Rex]

“It’s becoming clear that we need to consider integrating oral and general health care,” says Steve Offenbacher, D.D.S., director of the Center for Oral and Systemic Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The oral cavity is the mirror to the rest of the body, so we can pick up on systemic problems by simple dental examinations.” In other words, the state of your smile may shine a light on the rest of your body — sometimes even before other symptoms show up.

Case in point: Offenbacher once told a middle-aged patient he suspected she was pregnant, based simply on the redness of her gums. “The next week, she came back and said, ‘I went to the doctor, and yes, I am pregnant!’’ he recalls. In that case, Offenbacher was the bearer of good news, but not all of the secrets your mouth may reveal are so positive. Your teeth may also provide clues about these five health-threatening conditions:

Diabetes

Your dentist isn’t just worried about how white your teeth are. In a 2014 study, nearly two-thirds of dentists said they’d refer a patient with periodontitis (inflammation around the gums) for a diabetes evaluation. Why that’s a good thing: “Diabetes is not only a common problem, but it’s also highly under-diagnosed,” says Offenbacher. Read: Lots of people have diabetes and don’t know it, which means adding your dentist to your team of health detectives is a smart idea.

So what’s the dental-diabetes link? High blood sugar may be as damaging to your oral health as the sweet stuff in a can of soda. That’s because the condition can cause dry mouth, which increases plaque build-up, making people with uncontrolled diabetes more prone to dental problems.

“[Periodontal disease in diabetics] is usually severe for their age or for local factors, meaning they have pretty clean mouths, but they still have a periodontal problem,” says Offenbacher.

Two common oral signs of diabetes: multiple abscesses on the gums and bad breath. “It’s kind of a sour fruit smell,” Offenbacher says. “It’s ketones — metabolic products associated with poor glycemic control — in their bloodstream that you can smell.”

[Rex]

Heart disease

Your teeth may reveal what’s going on with your ticker. A 2007 study review found that people with periodontal disease are significantly more likely to develop heart disease than folks with good oral health. Among people who have both diseases, “if the periodontal disease is treated, the heart disease is greatly improved,” says Marjorie Jeffcoat, D.M.D., a professor and dean emeritus of dental medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The common thread? Inflammation. “When you look in a patient’s mouth and you see chronic inflammation, you know that it’s creating systemic stress,” says Offenbacher. 

Although there are no dental red flags specific to heart disease, “more severe periodontal disease is strongly associated with heart disease risk,” Offenbacher says. Signs include loose, shifting, or missing teeth, and increased probing depths, where the pockets around the teeth have deepened.

Dementia

Can tooth loss indicate memory loss? In recent British research, a lack of teeth was associated with mental decline, while a 2012 study found that older adults with poor dental hygiene were 76 percent more likely to develop dementia. This is a relatively new area of research, which means the link between the two isn’t entirely clear, says Jeffcoat. However, a small 2013 study detectedPorphyromonas gingivalis — a bacteria associated with gum disease — in the brains of people with dementia, suggesting that it may play a role in the inflammation associated with cognitive decline.

You expect your dentist to flag cavities, but did you know your drill-wielding doc might also be able to spot trouble that extends well beyond your pearly whites?

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis won’t cause your teeth to decay — but your dentist may be able to spot bone loss in the surrounding structures, like the jaw, with digital X-rays, says Jeffcoat. Normal, healthy bone should be dense both at the edges and in the interior, and when that’s not the case, “the patient is more likely to have osteoporosis,” she explains.

In fact, in a 2013 study in the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, the thickness of postmenopausal women’s jawbones — as measured with a panoramic X-ray — was correlated with the bone density of their spine. This means that dentists could potentially diagnose osteoporosis, which often goes undetected until a fracture occurs, in its early stages, the scientists say.

Acid reflux disease

You may feel heartburn most intensely in your chest, but its effects may be most obvious in your mouth. If you have acid reflux disease, the constant uprising of stomach acid could wear away at the enamel on your teeth, says Jeffcoat. “You’ll usually see it in the lower front teeth,” she says. “You’ll see erosion of the teeth — they get thinner. You can’t miss it.” Another sign you may be suffering from acid reflux disease: You have a persistent sour taste in your mouth, she says. 

In a 2008 study review, researchers found that about a third of adults with dental erosion also had gastrointestinal esophageal reflux disease, or GERD. Keep in mind, this erosion can happen even in the absence of chest pain — that is, you may have reflux without knowing it, until your dentist points out the damage to your choppers. 

https://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/5-scary-health-conditions-your-dentist-can-spot-140548144.html

Regular walking breaks 'protect arteries'

“Just a five-minute walk every hour helps protect against damage of sitting all day,” the Mail Online reports.

A study of 12 healthy but inactive young men found that if they sat still without moving their legs for three hours, the walls of their main leg artery showed signs of decreased flexibility. However, this was “prevented” if the men took five-minute light walking breaks about every hour.

Less flexibility in the walls of the arteries has been linked to atherosclerosis (hardening and narrowing of the arteries), which increases the risk of heart disease.

However, it is not possible to say from this small and short-term study whether taking walking breaks would definitely reduce a person’s risk of heart disease.

There is a growing body of evidence that spending more time in sedentary behaviour such as sitting can have adverse health effects – for example, a 2014 study found a link between sedentary behaviour and increased risk of chronic diseases.

While this study may not be definitive proof of the benefits of short breaks during periods of inactivity, having such breaks isn’t harmful, and could turn out to be beneficial.

What kind of research was this?

This was a small crossover randomised controlled trial (RCT) assessing the effect of breaks in sitting time on one measure of cardiovascular disease risk: flexibility of the walls of arteries.

The researchers report that sitting for long periods of time has been associated with increased risk of chronic diseases and death, and this may be independent of how physically active a person is when they are not sitting. This is arguably more an issue now than it would have been in the past, as a lot of us have jobs where sitting (sedentary behaviour) is the norm.

Short breaks from sitting are reported to be associated with improvements in a lower waist circumference, and fats and sugar in the blood.

A randomised controlled trial is the best way to assess the impact of an intervention on outcomes.


What were the basic results?

The researchers found that the widening of the artery in response to blood flow (called flow-mediated dilation) reduced over three hours spent sitting without moving. However, getting up for five-minute walks in this period stopped this from happening. The researchers did not find any difference between the trials in another measure of what is going on in the arteries, called the “shear rate” (a measurement of how well a fluid flows through a channel such as a blood vessel).


Conclusion

This small and very short-term crossover randomised controlled trial has suggested that sitting still for long periods of time causes the walls of the main artery in the leg to become less flexible, and that having five-minute walking breaks about every hour can prevent this.

The big question is: does this have any effect on our health?

The flexibility of arteries (or in this case, one particular artery) is used as what is called a “proxy” or “surrogate” marker for a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease. However, just because these surrogate markers improve, this does not guarantee that a person will have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Longer-term trials are needed to determine this.

The potential adverse effects of spending a lot of time sitting, independent of a person’s physical activity, is currently a popular area of study. Standing desks are becoming increasingly popular in the US, so people spend most of their working day on their feet. Some even bring a treadmill into their office (see this recent BBC News report on desk treadmills).

Researchers are particularly interested in whether taking breaks from unavoidable periods of sitting could potentially reduce any adverse effects, but this research is still at an early stage.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/09September/Pages/Regular-walking-breaks-protects-arteries.aspx

How to get started in healthy living — part 3B

Improving your diet and increasing healthy activity

Eating a nutritious, balanced diet is perhaps the lynchpin of healthy living. Not only does it keep all your body systems working efficiently, it also provides energy, protects your heart, helps prevent and fight off disease, maintains a healthy body weight, contributes to healthy skin, hair and nails and even influences mood.

Exercise for a healthy life

Despite myriad campaigns and initiatives, we still aren’t getting out and about nearly often enough to benefit our health. The average person in the UK watches 26 hours of television per week! The latest statistics show that 56 per cent of men and 70 per cent of women aged 16 to 54 fail to reach the recommended levels of physical activity for health benefits. No wonder obesity is such a problem in this country ... But we remain sedentary at our peril: regular physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of a number of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes — as well as the risk of premature death.

Take action

• Stop and think before you make a journey. Could you walk it or bike it instead of driving? If it will take under 15 minutes to get there, then the answer is yes!
• Be more aware of how you use your body. Bend your knees when you pick up heavy objects, sit at your desk properly and try to keep your stomach pulled in and shoulders back and down.
• Find a fitness goal that you can work towards. It could be something as simple as being able to walk up all seven flights of stairs at work, or entering a charity fun run.  
• Think of a sport or fitness activity you loved as a child — perhaps netball or judo, cross country running or ballet — and find somewhere that you can give it a go again. It may rekindle your enthusiasm …
• Avoid labor-saving devices in and outside the home — like the remote control, the food processor, the elevators and escalators, the shopping home delivery service — even the ‘no-scrub’ bathroom cleaning fluid!
• Invest in a pedometer (they are not expensive) and monitor your steps for a full day. The goal is to reach 10,000 steps per day, but if you are like most people, your total may be closer to half of that. Aim to build up by 200 steps per day. 

Drink more fluids

Many of us spend a lot of time in a state of ‘hypo’ hydration. We’re not officially dehydrated but just slightly under-hydrated. This can make you feel sluggish, impair mental function and increase the risk of constipation. It also doesn’t do wonders for your complexion. Experts recommend that we consume 1ml of fluid for every calorie we take in — which means that the average UK woman needs around 2l, the average man needs 2.5l of fluid per day. Happily, at least a third of this comes from the moisture in the foods we eat — but it is still important to ensure you drink fluids regularly throughout the day (it doesn’t have to be water — though water is a calorie-free, sugar-free, additive-free choice). If you exercise, then starting at a level of hypohydration practically guarantees that you won’t perform to the best of your ability — so be especially vigilant if you are active.

Take action

• Keep a bottle of water handy — on your desk, in your bag or in the car — you’ll be surprised how often you take a sip from it.
• Drink a cup of water for every cup of tea or coffee you drink.
• Swap sugary carbonated drinks for sparkling water. Don’t drink too many diet drinks — the acid in them is harmful to teeth and there is still controversy over the safety of the artificial sweeteners they contain.
• Swap at least some of your caffeinated beverages for decaffeinated ones. Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it makes the body shed water. ‘Water-processed’ decaffeinated coffee is free from chemicals and much tastier.
• If you are exercising for more than 45 minutes, consider drinking an isotonic sports drink instead of water.
• Monitor the color of your urine. If you are adequately hydrated, it should be the color of pale straw. Dark urine, infrequently passed, is a sure sign of dehydration.

Alcohol consumption

Excess drinking has become so much part of our culture that many of us barely notice we are doing it — but health practitioners certainly are – with worrying increases in alcohol related diseases from cirrhosis of the liver to heart problems, stroke, obesity, some cancers and alcohol-related accidents. Stick to the recommended amounts and you can enjoy alcohol without harming your health (there’s some evidence that consuming modest amounts of alcohol is actually healthier than being teetotal) – but unfortunately, many of us are overdoing it. A survey by the Royal College of Physicians found that one in five women aged 25 to 44 had ‘binged’ (defined as consuming more than six units in one session) at least once in the previous week while in 2001, the Chief Medical Officer’s report stated that liver cirrhosis had increased seven-fold in the last 30 years in women aged 35 to 44 and eight-fold in men of the same age group.

Take action

Know your units. The maximum recommended amount is four units per day for men (but no more than 21 per week) and three units per day for women (but no more than 14 units per week), necessitating at least two alcohol-free days per week. Keep a ‘drink diary’ to find out how much you are really drinking on a weekly basis.

• Find a glass at home and mark on it with tippex or nail varnish the amount that constitutes a unit of your usual favourite tipple. For beer drinkers, that’s half a pint, for wine drinkers, 125ml and for spirit drinkers, 25ml constitutes a single unit.
• When you’ve finished an alcoholic drink, fill the glass with water and don’t drink another one until you’ve finished the water.
• Don’t get involved in ‘rounds’. You often end up drinking just because it’s been bought for you, even though you already feel you’ve had enough.
• Don’t drink alcohol when you are thirsty. Make your first drink a large soft one, otherwise you will gulp it down too quickly.
• Don’t drink on an empty stomach — either drink with food or eat before you go out.

http://www.realbuzz.com/articles/how-to-get-started-in-healthy-living-part-3/

5 Scary Health Conditions Your Dentist Can Spot

[Rex]

You expect your dentist to flag cavities, but did you know your drill-wielding doc might also be able to spot trouble that extends well beyond your pearly whites?

“It’s becoming clear that we need to consider integrating oral and general health care,” says Steve Offenbacher, D.D.S., director of the Center for Oral and Systemic Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The oral cavity is the mirror to the rest of the body, so we can pick up on systemic problems by simple dental examinations.” In other words, the state of your smile may shine a light on the rest of your body — sometimes even before other symptoms show up.

Case in point: Offenbacher once told a middle-aged patient he suspected she was pregnant, based simply on the redness of her gums. “The next week, she came back and said, ‘I went to the doctor, and yes, I am pregnant!’’ he recalls. In that case, Offenbacher was the bearer of good news, but not all of the secrets your mouth may reveal are so positive. Your teeth may also provide clues about these five health-threatening conditions:

Diabetes

Your dentist isn’t just worried about how white your teeth are. In a 2014 study, nearly two-thirds of dentists said they’d refer a patient with periodontitis (inflammation around the gums) for a diabetes evaluation. Why that’s a good thing: “Diabetes is not only a common problem, but it’s also highly under-diagnosed,” says Offenbacher. Read: Lots of people have diabetes and don’t know it, which means adding your dentist to your team of health detectives is a smart idea.

So what’s the dental-diabetes link? High blood sugar may be as damaging to your oral health as the sweet stuff in a can of soda. That’s because the condition can cause dry mouth, which increases plaque build-up, making people with uncontrolled diabetes more prone to dental problems.

“[Periodontal disease in diabetics] is usually severe for their age or for local factors, meaning they have pretty clean mouths, but they still have a periodontal problem,” says Offenbacher.

Two common oral signs of diabetes: multiple abscesses on the gums and bad breath. “It’s kind of a sour fruit smell,” Offenbacher says. “It’s ketones — metabolic products associated with poor glycemic control — in their bloodstream that you can smell.”

[Rex]

Heart disease

Your teeth may reveal what’s going on with your ticker. A 2007 study review found that people with periodontal disease are significantly more likely to develop heart disease than folks with good oral health. Among people who have both diseases, “if the periodontal disease is treated, the heart disease is greatly improved,” says Marjorie Jeffcoat, D.M.D., a professor and dean emeritus of dental medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The common thread? Inflammation. “When you look in a patient’s mouth and you see chronic inflammation, you know that it’s creating systemic stress,” says Offenbacher. 

Although there are no dental red flags specific to heart disease, “more severe periodontal disease is strongly associated with heart disease risk,” Offenbacher says. Signs include loose, shifting, or missing teeth, and increased probing depths, where the pockets around the teeth have deepened.

Dementia

Can tooth loss indicate memory loss? In recent British research, a lack of teeth was associated with mental decline, while a 2012 study found that older adults with poor dental hygiene were 76 percent more likely to develop dementia. This is a relatively new area of research, which means the link between the two isn’t entirely clear, says Jeffcoat. However, a small 2013 study detectedPorphyromonas gingivalis — a bacteria associated with gum disease — in the brains of people with dementia, suggesting that it may play a role in the inflammation associated with cognitive decline.

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis won’t cause your teeth to decay — but your dentist may be able to spot bone loss in the surrounding structures, like the jaw, with digital X-rays, says Jeffcoat. Normal, healthy bone should be dense both at the edges and in the interior, and when that’s not the case, “the patient is more likely to have osteoporosis,” she explains.

In fact, in a 2013 study in the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, the thickness of postmenopausal women’s jawbones — as measured with a panoramic X-ray — was correlated with the bone density of their spine. This means that dentists could potentially diagnose osteoporosis, which often goes undetected until a fracture occurs, in its early stages, the scientists say.

Acid reflux disease

You may feel heartburn most intensely in your chest, but its effects may be most obvious in your mouth. If you have acid reflux disease, the constant uprising of stomach acid could wear away at the enamel on your teeth, says Jeffcoat. “You’ll usually see it in the lower front teeth,” she says. “You’ll see erosion of the teeth — they get thinner. You can’t miss it.” Another sign you may be suffering from acid reflux disease: You have a persistent sour taste in your mouth, she says. 

In a 2008 study review, researchers found that about a third of adults with dental erosion also had gastrointestinal esophageal reflux disease, or GERD. Keep in mind, this erosion can happen even in the absence of chest pain — that is, you may have reflux without knowing it, until your dentist points out the damage to your choppers. 

https://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/5-scary-health-conditions-your-dentist-can-spot-140548144.html

Seven Minutes To A Better You

• 
  

Don’t have time to improve your health? 

Some very good news for fans of a quick-fix: running, or even just slow jogging, for seven minutes a day could help halve your risk of dying from heart disease.

Well, nearly halve – a study by Iowa State University found that people who ran for 51 minutes a week had a 45% lower risk of death from heart disease or stroke than non-runners, plus a 30% lower risk of death from all causes, living for an average three years longer.

It’s a pretty fair trade, isn’t it? Seven minutes for three years.

Here are some more seven-minute marvels…

BRAIN

Just recently, experts at the Alzheimer’s Association international conference in Copenhagen announced that crosswords and card games can boost brain power and prevent dementia. A few months ago, the University of Toronto had also concluded the same. So it’s not hard to work out the conclusion to this point is grab your nearest newspaper (with an achievable-in-seven-minutes crossword on the back), pull out a pen, and get puzzling.

EYES

The advice from optical experts is that if you work in front of a computer, you should follow the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look 20ft away from your screen for at least 20 seconds. OK, so lots of people don’t work the standard nine to five with a full hour lunch break these days, but for ease of calculation: 20 seconds every 20 minutes is a minute an hour. Times that by the seven-hour day and you’re at a neat seven minutes. Seven minutes that will reduce eye strain, help avoid painful dry eyes and banish tension headaches.

SKIN

Apparently, the average woman takes seven minutes 39 seconds in the shower. But it’s not all about getting clean; use your bathing time to get glowing too, with a little help from the humble body brush. Daily body brushing – lightly brushing your skin, in the direction of your heart – will remove dead skin cells and encourage your circulation and lymphatic system (which removes body toxins). For an extra nudge to health, use the extra 39 seconds to turn off the hot tap – while not particularly pleasant, cold showers further boost skin glow, and can also help boost the metabolism, apparently.

ARMS AND LEGS

Not keen on seven minutes of running? Seven minutes of toning sound better? Last year, the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal published a hugely popular guide called the ‘High-intensity Circuit Training Using Body Weight: Maximum Results With Minimal Investment’. Basically, it’s 12 brilliantly easy-to-follow exercises (think old-school Jumping Jacks) that you can do in your living room, in just seven minutes, and still gain the same benefits as a sweaty hour in the gym.

WEIGHT LOSS

Breakfast, the meal of kings, yes? Maybe very time-poor kings. A survey earlier this year revealed that most of us spend just seven minutes and 20 seconds on eating what’s meant to be the most important meal of the day. Being short on time doesn’t have to mean resorting to fast-food style breakfasts of croissants, or bacon and egg baps grabbed from the local cafe. Porridge, the ultimate low-fat, fibre-packed start to the day, needs just two minutes in the microwave and one minute to cool down. That leaves a blissful three minutes and 20 seconds to eat.

http://www.silversurfers.com/health/wellbeing-health-articles/seven-minutes-better/

Simple stress busters

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Stress isn’t just a passing feeling. It’s also linked with serious health conditions, including heart disease, digestive problems, autoimmune diseases and depression.

So, instead of shrugging it off, it’s important to treat stress like the serious condition it is. Developing ways to cope with stress won’t only make you feel better, but it might actually prevent more damaging health conditions down the road.

Need inspiration? Here’s our simple stress busters to help you feel right as rain…

Get moving

It may feel like the last thing you want to do, but forcing yourself to get some exercise is a highly effective way to reduce your stress and improve your mood. Join a gym, sign up for a yoga class, cycle to the shops or simply take a 20-minute walk around the neighborhood. Before you know it, those natural endorphins will help lift that stress off your shoulders.

Take a bubble bath

Lounging in a hot bath relaxes the muscles and helps put the mind at ease. Adding scented oils or salts – infused with lavender, sandalwood, eucalyptus or chamomile – is also known to relieve stress and calm the senses.

Pick up the phone

Perspective is a powerful stress reliever. Your ‘to do’ list may be turning into a ‘to do’ scroll, but it helps to remember that none of the tasks are a matter of life or death. Calling a friend is a good way to turn the focus away from your own problems and gain some much-needed perspective.

Get some sleep

Lack of sleep can amplify anxiety; so pay attention to that circadian clock of yours. Give yourself 45 minutes to wind down before bedtime, with a book, a bath or any screen-free activity you find relaxing. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule, even on the weekends, and your body will reward you with the deep sleeps it needs.

Work through your ‘to do’ list

Even small tasks add up, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed with commitments and deadlines. Instead of focusing on the entirety of your workload, try to systematically tick things off your ‘to do’ list one by one. The stress and guilt that come with procrastination are best cured through productivity. So, get to work—no excuses!

Eat a healthy meal

Anxiety isn’t fun. Anxiety on an empty stomach is even worse. A nutritious diet, full of wholegrains, leafy greens and protein, will give your brain the vitamins and minerals it needs to cope with stressful situations. You may also want to avoid foods that are known to trigger stress, including butter, cheese, nuts, sugar, and caffeine. Most importantly, don’t skip meals! Eating regularly will help regulate your blood sugar levels and prevent your mood from taking a turn for the worse.

Turn off your phone

In spite of all their virtues, smartphones are incredible stress inducers. It’s easy to forget that we don’t have to respond to every email immediately just because we can. Instead, give yourself a break from your phone for a bit. Turn it off in the evenings (or at least put it in silent mode) and enjoy some ‘screen-free’ time instead (reading, knitting, a hot bath, etc.).

Breathe deeply

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. It sounds cliché, but deep breathing has been proven to help ease our overactive stress response systems. Whilst we may have adopted shallower breathing habits over time, taking deep, abdominal breaths is a highly effective way to ease stress. Imagine your belly is a balloon. Inflate it slowly with each inhale, and release the air with a powerful, audible exhale. Don’t stop until you’re feeling better.

http://www.silversurfers.com/health/wellbeing-health-articles/simple-stress-busters/