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Dr. Mercola: The Astonishing Power of Vitamin D to Transform Your Health

In recent years vitamin D has emerged as a star of the “vitamin” world. For example, there are currently over 800 studies showing vitamin D’s effectiveness against cancer. Optimizing your vitamin D levels can literally cut your risk of several cancers by 50 percent!

Further, middle aged and elderly people with high levels of vitamin D could reduce their chances of developing heart disease or diabetes by 43 percent.

How Does Vitamin D Do What it Does?

Vitamin D is actually a “prohormone,” which your body produces from cholesterol. Because it is a prohormone, vitamin D influences your entire body -- receptors that respond to the vitamin have been found in almost every type of human cell, from your brain to your bones.

So what modern science has now realized is that vitamin D does more than just aid in the absorption of calcium and bone formation, it is also involved in multiple repair and maintenance functions, touches thousands of different genes, regulates your immune system, and much, much more.

Just one example of an important gene that vitamin D up-regulates is your ability to fight infections, as well as chronic inflammation. It produces over 200 anti microbial peptides, the most important of which is cathelicidin, a naturally occurring broad-spectrum antibiotic.

This is one of the explanations for why it’s so effective against colds and influenza.

In addition, since vitamin D also modulates (balances) your immune response, it can prevent an overreaction in the form of inflammation, which can lead to a variety of autoimmune disorders, such as Crohn’s disease for example.

When you consider the fact that you only have about 25,000 genes in your body, and vitamin D has been shown to influence nearly 3,000 of them, the bigger picture of its true impact on your health can be easily understood.

It may, in fact, have literally thousands of health benefits!

However, it’s also very clear that unless you have taken specific measures to address it, the odds are overwhelming that you are deficient in this important nutrient.

Are You Vitamin D Deficient?

Vitamin D deficiency is a growing epidemic across the world and is contributing to many chronic debilitating diseases. There are a few reasons for this trend.

First, most people spend far too much time indoors during daytime hours. You may also have also been seriously misled by “expert’” recommendations to avoid all sun exposure, and to slather yourself with sunscreen whenever you do go outside. Please understand that sunscreen will virtually eliminate your body’s ability to produce any vitamin D because it blocks the UVB radiation that causes your skin to produce it naturally.

As a result, in the United States the late winter average vitamin D is only about 15-18 ng/ml, which is considered a very serious deficiency state.

In fact, new studies show that about 85 percent of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient. This is primarily related to the recent appreciation that your levels of vitamin D should be MUCH higher than previously thought.

Consider the following vitamin D facts:

• Vitamin D deficiency is epidemic in adults of all ages who have increased skin pigmentation, such as those whose ancestors are from Africa, the Middle East, or India, who always wear sun protection, or who limit their outdoor activities.
• African Americans and other dark-skinned people and those living in northern latitudes make significantly less vitamin D than other groups.
• 60 percent of patients with type 2 diabetes have vitamin D deficiency.
• Studies showed very low levels of vitamin D among children, the elderly, and women.
• One nationwide study of women revealed that almost half of the African American women of childbearing age might be vitamin-D deficient.

Winter, when sun exposure is at its lowest, is the time of year when you need to be most concerned about the amount of vitamin D you are receiving, as your vitamin D levels can drop by up to 50 percent in the winter.

Of course, if you have the tendency to spend the summer months indoors, out of the sun, or you only go outside with sunscreen on, then you would need to be concerned during the summer months as well.

The Many Health Benefits of Vitamin D

It’s absolutely tragic that dermatologists and sunscreen manufacturers have done such a thorough job of deterring people from the sun -- your optimal source for natural vitamin D.

Their widely dispersed message to avoid the sun as much as possible, combined with an overall cultural trend of spending more time indoors during both work and leisure time, has greatly contributed to the widespread vitamin D deficiency seen today -- which in turn is fueling an astonishingly diverse array of common chronic diseases, including:

Cancer	Hypertension	Heart disease
Autism	Obesity	Rheumatoid arthritis
Diabetes 1 and 2	Multiple Sclerosis	Crohn’s disease
Cold & Flu	Inflammatory Bowel Disease	Tuberculosis
Septicemia	Signs of aging	Dementia
Eczema & Psoriasis	Insomnia	Hearing loss
Muscle pain	Cavities	Periodontal disease
Osteoporosis	Macular degeneration	Reduced C-section risk
Pre eclampsia	Seizures	Infertility
Asthma	Cystic fibrosis	Migraines
Depression	Alzheimer’s disease	Schizophrenia

Vitamin D Against Cancer

A study by Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., internationally recognized research scientist and vitamin D expert, found that about 30 percent of cancer deaths -- which amounts to 2 million worldwide and 200,000 in the United States -- could be prevented each year with higher levels of vitamin D.

Other studies showed that you can decrease your risk of cancer by more than half simply by optimizing your vitamin D levels with sun exposure.

Vitamin D has a protective effect against cancer in several ways, including:

• Increasing the self-destruction of mutated cells (which, if allowed to replicate, could lead to cancer)
• Reducing the spread and reproduction of cancer cells
• Causing cells to become differentiated (cancer cells often lack differentiation)
• Reducing the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones, which is a step in the transition of dormant tumors turning cancerous

When is the Best Time to Go Out in the Sun, and for How Long?

The optimal time to be in the sun for vitamin D production is as near to solar noon as possible. That would be between roughly 10:00am and 2:00pm.

During this time you need the shortest exposure time to produce vitamin D because UVB rays are most intense at this time. Plus, when the sun goes down toward the horizon, the UVB is filtered out much more than the dangerous UVA.

When you’re out in the sun, be very careful about the length of your exposure. You only need enough exposure to have your skin turn the lightest shade of pink. This may only be a few minutes for some. Exposures any longer than this will not produce any more vitamin D but will accelerate photo aging and increase your risk for non-melanoma skin cancers like basal and squamous cell cancers.

Once you reach this point your body will not make any additional vitamin D and any additional exposure will only cause harm and damage to your skin.

Most people with fair skin will produce the maximum amount of vitamin D in just 10-20 minutes, or, again, when your skin starts turning the lightest shade of pink. Some will need less, others more. The darker your skin, the longer exposure you will need to optimize your vitamin D production. African-Americans need perhaps 20 percent more sun exposure time than whites.

And contrary to popular opinion, your body simply cannot make adequate vitamin D from the sun unless you have more skin area exposed than just your face and hands. In fact, at least 40 percent of your body should be uncovered to optimize your vitamin D production.

Another option is to use a safe tanning bed, again paying attention to not getting burned.

New Way to Protect Against Sunburn

A few months ago I found out that a carotenoid extracted from algae called astaxanthin can be extremely useful in preventing and eliminating sunburn.  Interestingly, this is the antioxidant in krill that prevents it from being damaged.

What current research is showing is that if you are on 2 mg of astaxanthin for a month, it becomes very difficult to get sunburned.

Additionally, it also appears to prevent the development of the most common form or blindness, age-related macular degeneration, as well as cataracts, and most likely protects you from EMF when you are flying or being exposed to diagnostic X-rays.

The key though is that it takes weeks to build up in your tissues, so you  can’t just swallow a few pills prior to your exposure and expect to receive any benefit. Astaxanthin is also fat soluble and needs to be taken with some fat or you simply won’t absorb it.

Vitamin D Supplements: How Much Should You Take?

It is wise to consider oral vitamin D3 supplementation during the winter months, or year-round if you haven’t time or sufficient access to the sun or a safe tanning bed.

However, the Reuter’s article above is years behind the research on their recommended dosage of 1,000 IU’s a day

It’s true, there are no definitive studies on the optimal daily dose of vitamin D, but based on studies on healthy indigenous peoples, many vitamin D experts now agree that most adults, including pregnant women, require about 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily for optimal health – or 35 IU’s of vitamin D per pound of body weight, which is certainly well above the current RDA.

That said, although these recommendations may put you closer to the ballpark of what most people likely need, it is impossible to make a blanket recommendation that will cover everyone’s needs.

The ONLY way to determine how much you might need is by testing your blood level of vitamin D.

This is in fact a very important aspect of optimizing your vitamin D levels that you should not skip over.

Why?

Because while overdosing on vitamin D from sun exposure is highly unlikely as your body has a built-in “failsafe” feedback loop, which will tend to shut down production when your levels are healthy, it IS possible to overdose when taking supplements.

So you need to be careful when using oral vitamin D therapy and make certain you have your blood levels checked. Many of you may choose to ignore this warning, but I am telling you in no uncertain terms that while vitamin D has enormous potential for improving your health, it has significant potential to worsen it, if you use it improperly.

What Vitamin D Level do You Need to Stay Healthy?

The OPTIMAL value of vitamin D that you’re looking for has recently been raised to 50-70 ng/ml, with even higher recommended levels required for more serious disease prevention, as shown in the chart below.  The only caution is to use Lab Corp, as tests done at Quest are consistently falsely elevated due to a different assay. 

I hope you can see now some of the many benefits of vitamin D, and why it is so critical to make sure you and your family maintain healthy levels at all times.

Please take this opportunity to use one -- or more -- of the options I’ve suggested for getting your daily dose of vitamin D. Optimal vitamin D, however you get it, can literally make the difference between a lifetime of chronic disease and one of vibrant health and vitality.

2-year-old STOPS Smoking Cigarettes

Indonesia's smoking toddler, Aldi Rizal, has kicked the habit after month-long rehab program. Aldi, who began smoking at 11 months when his father gave him a cigarette, became a tourist attraction and a video of him became a shocking hit on YouTube.

It is not clear whether the storm of protests or apparent health problems caused his family to seek help from psychologist Seto Mulyadi.

Confused Aldi cried after finishing his last cigarette and beat his head on the wall. Heavy smoking appears to have caused the boy’s brain to shrink and could still cause other health problems later. Aldi was also found to be suffering from heart problems; however, this could also be due do that fact he is severely over weight.

Aldi’s mom, Diana, was given parenting classes.

His dad did not go to jail for child abuse as some people had advocated.

Dr. Mercola: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (when it comes to SALT)

Salt is essential for life — you cannot live without it.

Salt has been important to humanity for life on this planet. Even the word "salary" comes from sal because Romans were paid in salt.

African and European explorers traded an ounce of salt for an ounce of gold — salt was literally worth its weight in gold.

Unrefined natural salt is important to many biological processes, including:

• Being a major component of your blood plasma, lymphatic fluid, extracellular fluid, and even amniotic fluid
• Carrying nutrients into and out of your cells
• Helping the lining of your blood vessels to regulate blood pressure
• Helping you regulate propagation of nerve impulses
• Helping your brain send communication signals to your muscles, so that you can move on demand (sodium-potassium ion exchange)

Having outlined the importance of salt it is important to realize that too much sodium can hurt you, but the same can be said of most things — even oxygen and water.

Indeed, there is far too much sodium in processed foods. But you shouldn't be eating those foods anyway — high sodium is but one of MANY ingredients in processed foods that will ruin your immune system and cut your precious life short.

One of the latest harmful ingredients is methanol. This toxic alcohol poison is typically in nearly all fresh vegetables and fruits but is bound to pectin so it does not typically cause problems. But once they are canned in glass or aluminum the methanol dissociates from the pectin and can elevate to very high levels and contribute to diseases like MS.

But getting back to salt, the general question remains — is it harmful?

Salts of the Earth

As it turns out, salt is a very general term that can mean many things. All salts are NOT equal in terms of origin, chemistry, crystal structure, biological effects — or even flavor!

Chemically speaking, a salt is simply any ionic compound arising from the joining of a positively charged ion and a negatively charged ion, so that the product is electrically neutral.

When people talk about salt, they are usually referring to refined table salt, or sodium chloride. But in fact, most minerals are salts, including magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) and ammonium nitrate (used in fertilizer).

But with typically edible salts, most people do not realize there are enormous differences between common, refined table salt and natural, unrefined salt.

One is health damaging, and the other is healing.

ALERT — Natural Salt is 85 Percent Sodium Chloride and Processed Salt is 98 Percent

Ordinary table salt undergoes a great deal of processing between the factory and your grocer. It is approximately 97.5 percent sodium chloride and 2.5 percent chemicals such as iodine and moisture absorbents, dried at over 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. This high heat alters the natural chemical structure of the salt.

By contrast, unrefined salt is 84 percent sodium chloride and 16 percent other naturally occurring minerals, including many trace minerals like silicon, phosphorous and vanadium.

If you want your body to function properly, you need a balanced salt, complete with all-natural elements and free of pollutants. I will speak more about my favorite natural salt a bit later.

The important point is, today's ordinary table salt has nothing in common with natural sea salt.

The Adulteration of Table Salt

What remains after ordinary table salt is "chemically cleaned" is sodium chloride, an unnatural chemical form of salt that your body recognizes as something completely foreign. Therefore, when you add more salt to your already salty Spaghettios, your body receives more salt than it can dispose of.

Typical processed salt has independent crystals that are totally isolated from each other. In order for your body to try to metabolize processed salt , it must sacrifice tremendous amounts of energy.

Inorganic sodium chloride in the form of processed salt can keep you from an ideal fluid balance and can overburden your elimination system.

When your body tries to isolate the excess salt, water molecules must surround the sodium chloride to break them up into sodium and chloride ions before your body can neutralize them. To accomplish this, water is taken from your cells.

This results in a less-than-ideal fluid balance within your cells.

Every gram of excess sodium chloride your body has to neutralize uses up 23 grams of cellular water. Hence, eating too much common processed salt will cause fluid to accumulate in your tissues, which contributes to:

• Unsightly cellulite
• Rheumatism, arthritis and gout
• Kidney and gall bladder stones

Processed salt will also oftentimes contain potentially dangerous preservatives.

Calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, and aluminum hydroxide are often added to improve salt's "pourability." Aluminum is a light alloy that deposits into your brain — a potential cause of Alzheimer's disease.

Current Sodium Recommendations

The American Heart Association has suggested limiting your sodium consumption to fewer than 1,500 mg per day to decrease your risk for high blood pressure, stroke and weight gain.

The CDC reports less than ten percent of adults are meeting this limit, and some studies have suggested many Americans are consuming more than 7,000 mg of salt per day, which is the equivalent of approximately 3 teaspoons of table salt.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition considers a product high in sodium if it contains more than 500 milligrams per 100 gram serving. Similarly, it considers a product low in sodium if it contains less than 120 milligrams per 100 grams.

The foods highest in sodium tend to be processed meats, which often contain a whopping 800 mg per 100 gram serving!

It probably makes sense to limit your intake of refined processed salts to these levels. However, if you are healthy your body should be able to easily tolerate much higher levels of unprocessed salts.

The only exception would be for those who have heart failure and are very sensitive to fluid overload. Those with congestive heart failure (CHF) will typically be on a number of different drugs to improve cardiac function.

So those with established CHF should maintain strict sodium restrictions but should also look into the many effective natural options out there like ubiquinol which has been shown to be highly effective in improving those with lowered cardiac ejection fractions.

Why are Processed Foods so Loaded With Sodium?

At one time, salting was one of the few ways people could preserve foods. Salt kills bacteria that can cause food to spoil.

But today, between chemical preservatives and refrigeration, salt is added for other reasons — and it's added to processed foods in HUGE amounts. The reason for this has more to do with the fact that salt is an inexpensive way to improve the taste of overcooked, bland, nutrient-butchered carnage in a can that some people call food.

Salt is used in high amounts in lunchmeats and cheeses to extend shelf life. Sodium also helps bind ingredients together and acts as a stabilizer.

Besides sodium chloride, sodium is also a component of other ingredients you will find on your labels, further driving up your sodium level:

• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
• Sodium benzoate
• Sodium nitrate
• Sodium saccharin

Hypertension Is Driven More by Excess SUGAR than Excess Salt

While I certainly agree you should not consume large quantities of refined processed salt, just switching to low-sodium foods — especially those in a box or a can — is not going to get you very far toward your health goals.

There are other factors that control fluid and electrolyte balance, blood pressure, kidney disease, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

For example, one of the greatest revelations of late is the link between fructose consumption and hypertension. Uric acid is a byproduct of fructose metabolism, and increased uric acid levels drive up your blood pressure. The amount of salt people in this country are consuming pales in comparison to the amount of fructose they are eating on a daily basis, yet the AMA issues no warnings about this.

I believe that sugar/fructose consumption is the major driving force behind our ever-increasingly elevated blood pressures.

Can Your Sodium be Too LOW?

Yes it can!

You may not be aware of this, but you have an increased risk for health problems if your sodium is too low (hyponatremia). For example:

• A 2009 study of large-bone fractures in the elderly found the incidence of hyponatremia in patients with fractures was MORE THAN DOUBLE that of non-fracture patients. They postulated the reason for the sodium deficiency might have been the use of selective serotonin receptor inhibitors (SSRIs), a type of antidepressant drugs.
• A 1995 study by the AMA published in the journal Hypertension found low urinary sodium associated with an increased risk of heart attack.

Changes in mood and appetite are among the first noticeable manifestations of sodium deficiency, since salt is a natural antidepressant.

And the preponderance of evidence proves that sodium intake does NOT affect blood pressure unless you are especially sodium-sensitive.

Salt as Nature Intended It: Himalayan Crystal Salt

The more you can move toward a diet of whole foods in their natural state, the healthier you'll be — whether it's veggies, meat, dairy products, or salt. If you are a protein type, you will need more salt than your fellow carbohydrate types.

Given that salt is absolutely essential to good health, I highly recommend switching to my favorite unrefined salt, an all-natural source from the Himalayas.

This salt is very special — it is completely pure, having spent many thousands of years maturing under extreme tectonic pressure, far away from exposure to impurities, so it isn't polluted with the heavy metals and industrial toxins of today. And it's minimally processed — hand-mined and hand-washed.

Himalayan salt contains 84 trace minerals from our prehistoric seas, and its crystalline structure actually stores vibrational energy, which is restorative to your body.

The crystal salt from the Himalayas does not burden your body as refined salts do.

It is very difficult for your body to absorb too much crystal salt since there are effective feedback loops that regulate this process. Natural crystal salt always promotes a healthful balance and does not contribute to high blood pressure like refined table salt.

And it's the most delicious salt you'll ever find!

Not only is Himalayan salt nutritionally beneficial and delicious, but it also has several great healing applications when used topically:

• Bath Soak: As a "brine bath," it is stimulating and even moisturizing to your skin, as well as detoxifying. Use a 1 percent concentration, which is equal to your natural body fluids (add about 2.6 pounds of salt to an average tub of water). Soak for 15 to 20 minutes, and do not shower off—just blot with a towel.
• Salt Sole: Sole simply means a supersaturated saltwater solution (about 8 percent salt), and with this you can treat a number of skin conditions, including itching and rashes.
• Sinus Flush: Mix with pure water in a neti pot a 1 percent solution (normal saline) with warm water for a beneficial sinus or allergy treatment; use 1 gram per 100ml (one-fifth teaspoon in 3.34 ounces lukewarm water).
• Eye rinse: The same 1 percent solution rejuvenates tired or irritated eyes.
• Throat gargle: To treat a cold or sore throat, gargle with a 1 percent saltwater solution (but don't swallow).

Sources:

  Bloomberg News June 24, 2010

Lack of Exercise Can Literally Kill You

Exercise is so powerful; a lack of exercise can be used to predict death. 

Researchers at Stanford University studied 6213 men (average age 59) who were referred for exercise testing.  Each man was hooked to an electrocardiogram (ECG) machine to monitor their heart’s activity while they walked and ran on a treadmill.  Based on their blood pressure, heart rate, exercise capacity and medical records the men were classified as having cardiovascular disease or not. 

Six years later, the researchers used the Social Security Death index to determine which of the men had died.  They discovered the men with the lowest exercise capacity were more than 4 times likely to die than the men with the highest.  This was true even if they had cardiovascular disease. 

Exercise capacity was the strongest predictor of death in men and actually outranked smoking and history of chronic disease.  But this study just involved men, you may have noticed.  What about women? 

Exercise is also linked to a reduction in the risk of colon, prostate, and breast cancer—a 14 year study of 25,624 Norwegian women found breast cancer was reduced 37% among those exercising 7 days a week.

Study after study has shown the beneficial effect of exercise in treating mild to moderate depression.  Approximately 19 million Americans suffer from depressive orders; very few realize that a jog around the block will make them feel better.  Even more amazing are the studies that show seniors who engage in exercise at least three times a week can cut their risk of developing Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia by as much as 40%. 

If you want to die early, just sit on your butt all day.  However, you don’t have to get old the way you might think—you can become a radically new person.  Over 50% of all illnesses and injuries over the last 1/3 of your life can be eliminated!  Instead of succumbing to the normal decay associated with aging—the sore joints, lack of energy, weakness, irritability, etc., you can get stronger and feel younger.   In fact, in a biological sense—you can be younger.

To find out if exercise testing could predict mortality in women, scientists tested 2,994 women between 30 and 80 years of age using the “Bruce treadmill protocol,” which measures the amount of oxygen a person can consume and utilize. 

Not too surprisingly, the results were similar to men—an increase in mortality among women with the least amount of endurance.  Women in the test who were below the median of all those tested had a 3.5-fold increased risk of cardiovascular death.

Which WAY is the Girl Spinning?

To some people the girl is spinning clockwise, and to others she is spinning counter-clockwise.  Which way is it? 

In reality, of course, this is an illusion.  The girl is not spinning in one direction or another.  This is a two-dimensional image that is simply shifting back and forth.  To learn more and to see other interesting illusions, visit the NeurologicaBlog.

Why Americans are FAT

Via: Online Schools

YOU are NEVER Too OLD to PUMP IRON!

You’re never too old to pump iron.  Even if you are in your 90’s you can become stronger—a good “resistance” training program will increase your strength by 25 to 100 percent or more within one year!  For comparison, a good aerobic exercise program will increase your aerobic fitness by only 15 to 25 percent. 

Resistance training increases muscle strength by pitting the muscles against a force, usually a dumbbell or barbell.  Body weight itself can provide the resistance: pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups are a form of resistance training.  Isometric exercises, where you push your hands against a doorway or against the opposing limb of an exercise partner, are another example.  The use of free weights or resistance machines is by the far the better method.

As anyone who belongs to a gym or walked by a gym window knows, there is a vast variety of resistance machines.  The most common use weight plates to vary the resistance but others use hydraulic or air cylinder engineering.  The biggest advantage these machines have over free weights is they are safer—you are much less likely to drop a weight on your foot or pull a muscle.  Free weights, however, will increase your sense of balance and coordination.

The “Bowflex” machine you see advertised on late night TV uses yet another system based on “resistance rods.”  We’re not opposed to home solutions like this, but most people are more likely to get into a habit of regular exercise if they go to a gym.  There are too many distractions at home.  And why should you have to bother with maintaining sports equipment when someone else can do it for you?

How does resistance training work?   Basically, the cells in your muscles adapt to the extra workload by enlarging (thus the term, “pumped up,”) and by subsequently recruiting nerve cells to contract themselves.  After a muscle has been subjected to intense stress through maximal force contractions over a moderate repetition range, hormones begin the growth process and muscle remodeling.  

Both testosterone and growth hormone levels can be increased through resistance training.  When this happens, a cascade of highly beneficial events occurs, including an increase in glucose utilization, improved amino acid transport across cell membranes, improved protein synthesis and utilization of fatty acids, faster rate of fat breakdown, and enhanced immune function. 

When using free weights or resistance machines, use a weight that allows 8-12 repetitions before “maximum voluntary contraction” (MVC) sets in.  This means your muscle has contracted to its peak.  If fact, you should feel a burning sensation in your arm as you do the final rep—this is good.  If you do three sets of 8-12 reps using the maximum amount of weight and you only rest for 60 seconds or less between sets, your muscles will release the maximum amount of hormones.   They will grow in size and capacity (strength).  This is so amazingly simply—I wonder why so many people at the gym where I work out don’t do this.  They often sit around for five minutes or more between sets and fiddle with their iPods.

If you don’t want to increase the production of hormones in your body because you are afraid you might start looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger, just do more reps with a lighter weight.   High repetitions (15 to 30 or even more) won’t give you bulging muscles and are best for building up endurance. 

The most important message about resistance training is, “You’ve got to get it right!”  This means a program of exercises that work your upper body, lower body and your core.  And it is vitally important to do them correctly.  If you’re not already pumping iron, we strongly advise a body building class or hire the trainer at your gym.  If these options aren’t available, find a friend to help you or buy a book.  Don’t “just do it.” 

The two most common mistakes I observe in the gym:  trying to lift too much weight, and using your body’s “momentum” to lift.  These often go hand-in-hand.  For example, if someone tries to perform a bicep curl with too much weight, they find they can’t lift the weight without rocking their shoulders and elbows and jerking the weight up.  You don’t really exercise you bicep and you leave yourself open to injury. 

Young men who think they are impressing people are most prone to this—us older folks stick to the basics.

Warming UP is Not so Hard to Do

My observation is that too many of us don’t warm-up before we exercise. At the pool where I swim I see this all the time: a middle-aged person jumps or dives into the water and immediately starts vigorous lap swimming.

And I see it at the gym where I work out: someone walks in and sits at the lat pull-down machine and starts jerking a much too heavy weight up-and-down, thereby risking a serious shoulder injury.

Same thing at the tennis court: an elderly couple strolls out onto the court and without so much as doing a single stretch they starts banging the ball back and forth from the baseline(my elbow hurts just thinking about this.) And I could go on.

Why is this? Are most people in too big a hurry to warm-up or are they too lazy or just plan ignorant of the importance of warming up?

Warming-up prevents injuries and it makes for a better workout. It lubricates your joints, warms the connective tissues, activates your nervous system and charges up your circulatory system. You should always do some simple stretches before you do any type of exercise. And you should always start out slowly and increase your speed over time.

Riding an exercise bike or running on a treadmill will get your heart pumping and cause you to sweat but it won’t properly warm you up for resistance training or weight-lifting. The reason is the related joints and connective tissues you use for most resistance exercise (your elbow or shoulder, for example) are not activated during the aerobic exercise.

So if you immediately try to do some “bicep hammer curls” with a heavy weight you are risking a muscle strain that could keep you out of the gym for a few weeks or more.

When doing resistance training start with a low weight or resistance that allows you to do 30 or more reps so that the specific muscles and joints that are being exercised can warm-up. Do this first and then increase the weight or resistance so that you can do about 15 reps. Increase it again so that you can do 10 or fewer. Gym instructors or personal trainers who tell you otherwise are idiots, stay away from them.

When swimming, do a set of stretches (in or out of the water) that includes warming up your shoulders and stretching the muscles in your arms and legs as well as your lower back. Begin your swim with a couple slow laps and then increase the pace.

In tennis, after stretching you should warm up by hitting the ball inside the service box for a few minutes. This is not only a safe way of getting your heart and lungs, muscles and joints going--it is a good exercise in racket control.

Whatever the sport or activity, stretch first and start slowly. When you finish, don’t just stop, let your body cool down gradually. Swim a couple slow laps, hit a few lobs, do some more stretches. Think of your body as a machine that will function better when properly cared for.

For a great collection of stretches for 20 different sports: click here.

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What Should You ORDER or NOT ORDER at the Sushi Restaurant?

I was thinking today about HUMP, the Santa Monica sushi restaurant that was busted for serving whale meat to undercover activists. You know, after a couple weeks of legal wrangling, they've apologized and actually closed down voluntarily. Good for them.

So when you go to a sushi restaurant how do you order and eat responsibly? How do you avoid fish that is caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment?

Turns out the Monterey Bay Aquarium has the answer, which is a recently published, handy pocket guide. For convenience sake, I've made it available right here on this blog. You can find the Pocket Sushi Guide in the right hand column under "FREE DOWNLOADS."

Just download, cut along the outer black lines, and fold on the gray lines and you'll have a handy guide that fits in your purse or wallet.

And next time your at a sushi restaurant, do order the Suzuki but not the ebi.

Also, while your at it please notice all the other free downloads, including "Best Fish to Eat."

Everything You Should Know About DNA

Well, maybe not everything, but this amazing chart is a good start. And it you think you already know about DNA, it includes a few surprises. Enjoy!