Since May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, it’s a good time to think about the vital role of youth sports in promoting fitness and health. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged exercise, fitness, health, physical activity, sports
Since the Masters is this week, lots of people in our area are talking about, and playing, golf. Over 25 million Americans played golf last year, making it one of the most popular sports to participate in. In fact, golf is the most popular sport played by adults over the age of 55.
Often perceived as a leisurely activity for retirees or business executives, golf offers a wide range of health benefits that make it an excellent form of physical activity for individuals of all ages. Playing golf can improve cardiovascular health, enhance muscle strength and endurance, increase flexibility, improve balance and coordination, and reduce stress levels. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
According to one study, which measured heart rate in golfers not using an electric cart on a hilly cart, the intensity of a round of golf is consistent with moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. Considering that the average golfer plays for about three hours per round, this accounts for a substantial amount of recommended weekly physical activity. A golfer who walks the course could burn up to 1,000 calories over 18 holes. Of course, the activity level and health benefits are reduced when riding in a motorized cart, but even that level of activity is associated with health benefits.
Playing golf can improve muscle strength and endurance. Golf requires the use of multiple muscle groups, including the core, legs, arms, and shoulders. Swinging a golf club strengthens the muscles of the upper body, while walking uphill and downhill on the golf course strengthens the leg muscles. Carrying the golf bag on the shoulders or pushing a golf cart can further enhance the benefits of the exercise.
Golf can also enhance flexibility, which is crucial for maintaining a healthy range of motion and reducing the risk of injuries. The swinging motion of the golf club requires a full range of motion of the shoulders, back, hips, and wrists. Additionally, the walking and bending involved in playing golf also contribute to improving flexibility. Together, enhanced strength and flexibility can aid in the prevention of back pain, joint stiffness, and muscle soreness.
Playing golf can also improve balance and coordination, which is essential for performing daily activities and maintaining stability. Golf requires a high level of hand-eye coordination, as well as coordination between the upper and lower body. The ability to maintain balance while swinging the golf club and walking on uneven terrain can help prevent falls and injuries, especially in older adults.
Lastly, playing golf can reduce stress levels and improve mental health. Most golfers play in a group, so golf offers social interaction in addition to activity. Furthermore, outdoor activity is known to have substantial benefits on mood and feelings of well-being, meaning that golf can be good for mental health as well as physical health.
In conclusion, golf is an excellent form of physical activity that offers numerous health benefits. The aerobic, strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination involved in playing golf can enhance overall fitness and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Furthermore, golf can provide a peaceful and relaxing environment that can reduce stress levels and improve mental health. So, next time you think of golf, remember that it is not just a sport but also a way to stay fit and healthy.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged activity, exercise, flexibility, golf, health, mental health, stregnth, walking
Aerobic exercise is essential for fitness, weight loss, and overall health. One way to optimize your exercise routine is to understand the concept of “training zones.” These zones are based on your heart rate and reflect different levels of intensity. By tailoring your workouts to these zones, you can achieve more specific fitness goals, from fat burning to improving athletic performance. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
The arrival of spring in our area has brought warmer weather, blooming flowers, green grass, and, for many, seasonal allergies. If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you may want to know if it is safe to exercise outdoors. The short answer is yes, provided you take the right precautions. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged allergies, antihistamines, asthma, exercise, exercise induced asthma, pollen
Chronic stress can have serious emotional, psychological, and physiological effects that contribute to or exacerbate many health problems. In fact, the negative health effects of chronic stress are like those of eating a poor diet or not getting enough physical activity. That said, managing stress, including getting enough sleep, is often overlooked as a key component of good health.
The effects of stress and the importance of stress management is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
The word “stress” is typically used to indicate both the feeling of being “under a lot of stress” as well as the things that cause that feeling. The events and situations that cause stress are properly called stressors, which lead to a stress response that includes consequences we feel as well as physiological changes we may not notice.
The immediate effect of a stressor is called the “fight or flight” response since it prepares the body to deal with a dangerous situation. A classic example of this is a caveman who encounters a saber-toothed tiger, clearly a stress-inducing event.
The sympathetic nervous system is immediately activated, which raises heart rate and blood pressure to pump more blood to the muscles. Additionally, stored fat and carbohydrate fuels are broken down as fuel for the muscles. The adrenal glands release catecholamines (adrenaline) and cortisol (the stress hormone) to prolong and enhance this effect. This coordinated response makes sure the caveman’s body is ready for action. After the danger passes, everything returns to normal.
This physiological response is appropriate for major events like saber-toothed tiger encounters, but not for less perilous stressors like being stuck in traffic, pressure at work or home, and other personal and family issues. But the body responds with the same increase in blood pressure and hormones to them all. Unlike a rare saber-toothed tiger encounter, these stressors tend to occur on a daily basis, leading to continuous stress response.
The increase in hormones can lead to high blood pressure, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases. This is partly due to elevated levels of cortisol, a hormone that plays a role in storing fat and increasing appetite. While elevated cortisol during exercise (including running away from a saber-toothed tiger) is normal, chronic overproduction can have negative effects.
While it is impossible to avoid all stress in life, minimizing stressors and managing the way you respond to stress can have important benefits. To the extent that it is possible, avoiding stressful situations through better time management, setting realistic expectations for ourselves and with others, and learning to say “no” are common recommendations.
Learning how to deal with stressors to avoid the negative effects of stress is also important. Techniques that can be implemented in the heat of a stressful moment include taking a break from the situation, listening to calming music, and progressive relaxation. Even taking a deep breath can help.
Exercise has long been recognized as beneficial for reducing stress and the long-term effects of stress on your health. This includes doing something active during a stressful situation and exercising regularly to improve the way your body responds to stress. While all forms of exercise seem to work, much research and practice has focused on specific types of exercise including yoga and Tai Chi.
Other effective strategies traditionally include meditation and relaxation exercises. More and more research shows that getting enough sleep is also critical for reducing stress and the impact it has on your health. Eating a healthy diet can reduce the effects of stress as well.
The bottom line is that a healthy lifestyle includes stress management as well as a good diet and regular activity. Since all three are essential for good health, it would be wise to eat smart, move more, and chill out!
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged adrenalin, cortisol, exercise, fight or flight, sleep, stress, stress management, Tai Chi, yoga
Saving money for emergencies is good advice and important for maintaining quality of life in the event of a lost job or other financial crisis. While this may seem like common sense, many people have been caught without enough savings when they needed it and found it difficult to meet basic needs.
This principle can also be applied to fitness. When you are healthy, you can maintain a high level of fitness. This makes your day-to-day activities easier and serves as a reserve or “bank” to draw on when you need it. Your good fitness now can get you through a health crisis just like saving money can help you through a financial crisis. This health crisis could come in the form of an injury or illness that keeps you from being active for several days or a hospitalization that keeps you in bed for a week, a month, or longer. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
The problem with periods of inactivity, like bed rest or hospitalization, is that there are severe physiological effects that occur within days and get worse over time. You may have noticed this as weakness and fatigue after spending a few days in bed with a cold. Muscle strength declines with each day of bed rest, and can be 50% lower following as little as three weeks. That reduction in strength could limit a person who was already deconditioned to a point where he or she would have difficulty completing the most basic activities of daily living.
A person who was fit and strong when they went into the hospital would certainly be better off when released. And older adults fare worse than younger individuals. According to one study, the decline in strength seen in older men in just 10 days was equivalent to the change measured after 28 days in men 30 years younger.
It’s not just the muscles that are affected, the bones get weaker, too. In fact, 12 weeks of bed rest can reduce bone density by as much as 50%, exposing patients to a greater risk of fracture. This is due to the reduced stress on the bone from not standing and walking as well as the lack of muscle activity. Two of the most effective ways to build bone density are putting stress on bones through weight-bearing activity and the action of the muscles pulling on the bones from resistance training. Because bed rest eliminates both of these stresses, bone density declines rapidly.
One unique study from the 1960s had healthy young men complete three weeks of bed rest. They all experienced a rapid decline (over 20%) in their aerobic fitness, but recovered quickly after the experiment ended. These individuals also had their fitness tested again 30 years later. It turns out that the decline in fitness in those young men in three weeks of bed rest was greater than the decline in fitness that occurred over 30 years of aging!
The good news is that most patients are encouraged to move around as much as possible. Some receive in-patient physical therapy or rehab, even after major surgery, to help lessen the effects of prolonged bed rest. It is important to take advantage of these opportunities if you, or a loved one, are hospitalized.
There are many reasons to exercise and be fit, but an important reason may be to develop a fitness “bank” you can draw on if you become injured or hospitalized. Since the effects of bed rest are seen in people of all ages, everyone can benefit from a good fitness foundation. Just like putting money in the bank, doing a little now can have great benefits later when you need it most.
Finally, some smart advice: First, achieve and maintain a high level of fitness now, just as you would save money for a rainy day. You never know when you will need it. Second, if you are hospitalized, take advantage of opportunities to move, whether that is limited to moving from bed to a chair or if it includes short walks or even inpatient exercise–if the medical staff approves, of course. While many well-meaning friends and family members will tell you to rest and not move, true bed rest is almost the worse thing you can do.
For example, inpatient cardiac rehabilitation targets patients who are recovering from heart attacks and even open heart surgery. The goal is to get these patients up and moving as quickly as possible to prevent long-term consequences of bed rest.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged bed rest, bone density, exercise, fitness, muscle, strength
Many people in our area are still dealing with damage from Hurricane Helene and the overwhelming impact it is having on their lives. Hurricanes and other natural disasters can have a profound negative impact on our physical and mental health. From everyday pressures to the aftermath of natural disasters, finding effective coping mechanisms to deal with stress is crucial.
Exercise is a potent tool for stress relief and resilience, both in daily life and in the wake of catastrophic events. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged exercise, fitness, health, mental health, outdoors, walking, wellness
Now that cooler fall weather is here, being active outdoors is more enjoyable. October is a great time to get outdoors and go for a walk! That is the spirit of Walktober, an initiative adopted by health organizations, companies, and communities around the globe.
Walking is a great way to be active to help you control your weight, increase your fitness, and improve your health. The most common form of exercise for most people is walking, and for good reason: walking doesn’t require any special equipment (beyond comfortable shoes) or skills, and you can do it almost anywhere.
You can meet basic physical activity recommendations by walking briskly for 30 minutes most days of the week. Even this amount of walking can lead to a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers as well as improved mental health, cognitive function, and greater feelings of well being.
There are many tools, or ergogenic aids, athletes use to improve exercise performance. These include nutrients like protein and carbohydrates, drugs like caffeine, steroids, and techniques like blood doping. Some of these performance-enhancing substances are illegal or banned, so ergogenic aids often have a negative image. Furthermore, many only work for highly trained athletes.
But there is one ergogenic aid that has been shown to enhance performance in everyone. In fact, there is a good chance you use it when you exercise. That ergogenic aid is music. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
Music is a psychological ergogenic aid is known to affect mood, emotion, and cognition. More and more research also shows that music can also enhance exercise performance. In most gyms, there is music playing in the background and many people listening to music using headphones while they exercise. A practical reason, of course, is that listening to music makes the exercise more enjoyable by providing a mental distraction. It turns out that music has additional psychological and physiological effects that can improve exercise performance.
Not only can listening to music make exercise more enjoyable, it can also help you get a better workout. Research suggests that when exercise is coupled with motivational music, people tend to exercise at a higher intensity. They also tend to fatigue at a slower rate leading to longer exercise sessions. This is also associated with a lower rating of perceived exertion, meaning the exercise might feel easier!
Tempo is an important aspect of music that contributes to performance. People tend to prefer a tempo that matches the exercise intensity. Fast tempo music fits well with higher intensity exercise, like running, and music with a slower tempo is suited for lower intensity exercise, like yoga. But music tempo can also influence the intensity of exercise. Music with a faster tempo can promote more vigorous exercise, as measured by a higher heart rate, and a longer distance covered when running or cycling.
Listening to music before exercise can also affect performance. Studies have shown that listening to music prior to exercise can improve motivation, arousal, and focus. This is probably why you see athletes warming up before games and races wearing headphones. Research also suggests that listening to music during cool down can decrease recovery times, as measured by blood lactate levels.
While listening to music may increase exercise performance, the benefits vary based on the type of music. First of all, music that a person does not like is unlikely to elicit any positive impact on performance, so pick something you enjoy listening to. Another factor of music that can influence performance is whether it is synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous is when a person matches their movements with the music they are listening to. This is particularly effective for running, cycling, and rhythmic exercises like aerobics. Asynchronous is when the music and the movements of a person do not match, which may still provide ergogenic benefits for certain types of exercise.
Listening to music during exercise can make your workouts more effective and enjoyable. Music you like can distract you from sensations of intensity and fatigue and lead to longer training sessions. Music played at a fast tempo can make you exercise harder and slower tempo music can help you relax. But you probably knew that already—sometimes sports science makes sense!
What if you prefer to exercise without music or other distractions? Like all ergogenic aids, the additional effect of music is small compared to the great benefits of the exercise itself, so keep doing what you are doing.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged ergogenic aids, exercise, fitness, music, performance
Since May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, it’s a good time to think about the vital role of youth sports in promoting fitness and health. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged exercise, fitness, health, physical activity, sports
Dr Parr Says... 