CARE YOUR HEALTH

he word "fitness" strikes fear in the hearts of many of us. When you hear the word, you may picture yourself sweating it out on the treadmill for hours at a time, or swimming reluctant laps in a seemingly never-ending pool. But real fitness actually has nothing to do with torturing yourself on various gym machines; instead, it is about helping your body to be the best that it can be. Fitness not only provides you with a great way to help you lower your risk of serious illness and disease, it can also increase your energy, boost your mood, and heighten your self-esteem. And fitness can be fun too! Here are some of the basics about physical fitness and how to incorporate a fitness routine into your lifestyle...



What is Fitness?
Though we hear the word a lot, many of us may not actually know what fitness is. There are actually two types of fitness: performance fitness and health fitness.

* Performance fitness is what most professional athletes are involved in. This type of fitness focuses on improving performance and activity times, and is based on stringent training and goals.
* Health fitness is what is recommended for most individuals. This type of fitness is a measure of your overall health and wellbeing, and involves performing activities that are designed to make the most of your physical and emotional health.

Why is Fitness Important?
Fitness actually plays a very important part in your overall health and wellbeing. Engaging in regular fitness activities can offer you a number of wonderful benefits, including:

* increased energy
* better sleep patterns
* improved mood
* improved self esteem

Regular fitness can also help to lower your risk of dangerous illnesses, including:

* heart disease
* cardiovascular disease (including heart attack and stroke)
* diabetes
* osteoporosis
* depression

Exercises that Improve Fitness

In order to achieve true physical fitness, it is recommended that you participate regularly in activities that fall into each of the following three categories:

Aerobic Fitness:
Aerobic fitness is a measure of how well your heart is supplying your muscles and organs with oxygen and nutrients. The less your heart has to work to supply these things, the better your level of aerobic fitness, and the less chance you have of suffering from cardiovascular disease. Aerobic fitness can be improved by engaging in activities that help to increase your heart rate for an extended period of time. Aerobic activities are usually rhythmic and involve the major muscle groups. Types of aerobic activities include walking, running, swimming, and cycling.

Strength
Strength refers to how well your muscles can endure activity. Strong muscles help you to get activities done with less energy and help to protect and support the bones, tendons, and ligaments. Strength training exercises should form a part of any type of fitness regimen, and help to build the strength and mass of all the muscle groups. Strength training activities often include weight lifting, resistance training, and swimming.

Flexibility:
Flexibility is often overlooked when it comes to overall fitness. But flexibility is an important part of your health and wellbeing; after all, when your muscles and joints are flexible you can enjoy full range of movement and reduce your chances of muscle injury. Flexibility exercises should be included in every fitness routine, and can include slow stretching, yoga, or pilates.

Starting Your Own Fitness Routine

If you are thinking about starting your own fitness routine, you will need to know a few basics first. Here are some ways to go about developing a fitness routine that will work for you.

Assess Your Fitness Level
Before starting off on any exercise routine, it is a good idea to get your fitness level assessed. Many gyms offer fitness assessments, or you can do one yourself. Fitness assessments help to tell you where you should be starting off in your fitness training and provide you with benchmarks that you can use to compare against later on. This will help you to see how you've progressed. Your fitness assessment can include:

* a measure of your BMI (body mass index)
* a measure of your waist circumference
* a measure of the time it takes you to walk one mile
* a reading of your resting heart rate (when you aren't active) and a reading of your heart rate after walking one mile

Speak With Your Health Care Provider
It is important for anyone who hasn't exercised in a while to speak with their health care provider about starting up an exercise routine. It is particularly important to speak with your health care practitioner if:

* you are overweight or obese
* have had a heart attack or suffer from heart disease
* suffer from a chronic disease, like osteoporosis, arthritis, or fibromyalgia
* have an existing muscle or joint injury

Make a Fitness Plan
Your fitness plan should include the types of activities you want to pursue and when you are going to engage in those activities. It is generally recommended that healthy men and women get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week. If you are engaging in more rigorous exercise, you need to get 20 minutes at least 3 times a week. However, it is important to start off slowly and methodically. Begin with just ten minutes of exercise a day, and don't forget to stretch before and after. This will help to ensure that you are exercising safely and preventing injury.



If you are looking for a great way to keep yourself healthy from the inside out check out our information on getting a colon cleanse.

Being in good health means more than feeling physically well; it also means feeling mentally well.

Today, we are more aware of how our mental and physical health affect each other. Setting aside time to focus on mental health is important – to you and those who care about you. By practicing mind and body fitness, you can nurture your mind, body and spirit in a positive and enjoyable way.

Life is full of change, risks and challenges. Good mental or emotional health helps us find our balance and stay in control, even during turbulent times. But how do we know if we are mentally healthy enough to deal with life’s ups and downs?

Get Mentally Fit

If your goal is to get into better shape mentally, then this new section is the place for you to discover how. So read on!

A range of other options is available to help you improve your mental fitness, including self-help books, support groups, relaxation therapy, meditation, and talk or behavioural therapy. Talking to a mental health professional, or other health care provider, can help you identify what type of support you will benefit from most.

If you need more information about resources in your area, contact a community organization, such as the Canadian Mental Health Association, to help you find additional support.

Take control of your health. Take care of your mind.

Practice Mind + Body Fitness

For most people talking on a mobile phone, cooking dinner in the microwave or driving in a car is simply part of modern living in 21st century Britain.

But completing any such tasks is impossible for Debbie Bird - because she is allergic to modern technology.

Debbie and her husband Tony often sleep in a silver-plated mosquito net

The 39-year-old is so sensitive to the electromagnetic field (emf) or 'smog' created by computers, mobile phones, microwave ovens and even some cars, that she develops a painful skin rash and her eyelids swell to three times their size if she goes near them.

Debbie Bird's eyelids swell to three times their size when she is exposed to microwaves

As a consequence, Mrs Bird, a health spa manager, has transformed her home into an EMF-free zone to try and stay healthy.

The walls are all covered in special carbon paint, the windows have a protective film on them and she and her husband, Tony, 45, even sleep under a silver-plated mosquito net to deflect the radiowaves.

'I can no longer do things that I used to take for granted,' Mrs Bird said last night. 'My day-to-day life has been seriously affected by EMF.

'I don't own a microwave. I don't use mobile phones at all. I can't even use a cordless phone. We have a plasma screen TV because the old style one gave out gamma rays, which brought on my reaction.

'I can't even get in my friend's BMW. If I do I immediately start getting a headache and my head starts tingling.

'Even shopping is a problem. I can't go in places like Starbucks where there is Wi-Fi broadband and always have to be aware of my environment.'

Mrs Bird first realised that she was electro-sensitive when she moved with her husband, a writer and environmental consultant, and their eight-year-old daughter, Antonia, to a new apartment in Bowden, near Altrincham, Greater Manchester.

Unbeknown to her, however, her neighbours were all using wireless internet connections and had cordless phones.

'At first I couldn't sleep,' Mrs Bird added. 'Then I started developing a skin reaction. I had a burning sensation down my face, on my forehead and elbows. I looked like I had been severely burnt on my forehead.

'I felt very tired all the time and my eye-lids would swell up to three times their size.'

Debbie's home is a radio-wave free zone. A clear protective film has been put on the windows and the walls have been redecorated with a special carbon paint

Mrs Bird was referred to a skin specialist, but the problem was so severe the couple decided they had no option but to move to a new home, in nearby Hale, Greater Manchester.

They took electromagnetic readings of the property and set about making it safe. The house was completely re-wired, had clear protective film put on the windows and every wall was painted with black carbon paint, which cost £250 per tin, to deflect the harmful rays.

All the couple's bedroom curtains are also silver-plated and they sleep under a silver-plated mosquito net, which also protects against radiation.

Although the renovation was not cheap, Mrs Bird said it was worth it. Her skin rashes have gone and she no longer has trouble sleeping. Officially in the UK, electro-sensitivity (ES) does not exist as a medical condition.

Doctors say there is little scientific evidence to back up a link between EMF and poor health. They claim the symptoms, often attributed to flu or viruses, are psychosomatic.

But campaigners disagree. They reckon around 500 people are already being treated for ES and as many as five per cent of the population could be affected.

Rod Read, director of Electro-Sensitivity UK, said: 'I have seen hundreds of people who exhibit symptoms they directly attribute to the electrical items around them.

'But it is a politically incorrect illness, the Government or electronic companies don't want people thinking their mobile phones or microwaves are dangerous.

'In the past doctors have dismissed symptoms as something like flu, but the pathology is now established. It has a huge detrimental physical effect and stops people living normal lives.'

A student collapses every time she laughs due to a rare medical condition.

Kay Underwood, 20, has cataplexy, which means that almost any sort of strong emotion triggers a dramatic weakening of her muscles.

Exhilaration, anger, fear, surprise, awe and even embarrassment can also cause sufferers to suddenly collapse on the spot.

Victims are often left paralysed for several minutes, although they always retain the ability to hear what is going on around them.

Kay, of Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire, who was diagnosed with the condition five years ago, once collapsed more than 40 times in a single day.

She said: "People find it very odd when it happens, and it isn't always easy to cope with strangers' reactions.

"Once, when I collapsed on some stairs, a woman walked past, hit me over the head and said I should have collapsed in a more convenient place.

"But I've learnt to live with it. I can tell when it's going to happen and have learnt to fall in a comfortable position or find something to lean on."

Like most cataplexy sufferers, Ms Underwood is also battling narcolepsy - a condition that makes her drop off to sleep without warning.

Narcolepsy affects around 30,000 people in the UK and about 70 per cent of them also have cataplexy.

Dad's Army star Arthur Lowe was cruelly afflicted by the problem in later life and once famously dozed off during a live TV interview.

There is no cure for either condition and theories on the causes range from brain chemical inbalances due to an immune problem or as the result of an infection.

Ms Underwood is now hoping new medicine can give her a normal life after visiting a specialist in sleep disorders at Leicester General Hospital.

Dr Andrew Hall, who treats around 200 narcolepsy sufferers, said science had still to determine the exact cause of both conditions.

He added: "Cataplexy affects people in different ways. It's not just laughter than can make them collapse - it's usually extreme emotion.

"I had one patient it happened to whenever he had an overwhelming feeling of smugness. But the causes aren't really known."

A musician who has been hiccupping for 15 months is hoping an operation will solve his problem.

Chris Sands, 24, from Lincoln, hiccups as often as every two seconds - and sometimes even when he is asleep.

He has tried a variety of cures, including hypnosis and yoga, but nothing has worked.

Doctors at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre will put a tube into his stomach to monitor acid levels and decide if keyhole surgery is possible.

Brain scan

Mr Sands thinks his problem stems from an acid reflux condition caused by a damaged valve in his stomach.

"If the acid levels are severe enough they are going to do keyhole surgery and grab part of my stomach and wrap it around the valve to tighten it," he said.

Mr Sands, who is a backing singer in the group Ebullient, said the condition has hampered his career as he has only been able to perform four times.

He said brain and chest scans have not revealed what causes the hiccups.

The hiccups first started in September 2006 but disappeared before returning in February 2007.

"When you've had them this long it really drains you, because you can't eat properly and can't sleep properly and it is a proper bane on your life," he said.

He said he has tried about 100 different ways of drinking water to try to stop the condition.

Mr Sands said a fellow hiccup sufferer who has been plagued for four years has had the same operation - and it helped with heartburn but did not cure the hiccups.

American Charles Osborne, of Anthon, Iowa, holds the record for the longest ever bout of hiccups, which lasted for 68 years from 1922 until 1990.

Why this brave girl can only eat tic tacs?

By Chris Hunter

THEY are normally the thing people eat at that point in a restaurant when you've ploughed through a pile of garlic bread, spaghetti and cheesecake and are too full-up to face anything else.

But for 17-year-old Natalie Cooper, the mints alone are the meal.

For as long as she can remember Natalie, from Oxford Road, Shepway, Maidstone, has been afflicted with a mystery illness that makes her sick every time she eats anything.

Anything that is, except that smallest of mints: the tic tac.

For reasons that doctors are unable to explain, tic tacs are the only thing she can stomach, meaning she has to get the rest of her sustenance from a specially formulated feed through a tube.

~ Follow up: Diet of tic tacs story sparks world media frenzy >>>

But as she explained, she certainly doesn’t have an aversion to food.

"I like eating everything you’d expect," says Natalie. "I enjoy eating, it just comes back up. It happens pretty much immediately and it's no effort.

"I really like chocolate cake; I just can't leave it alone."

Only through experimentation did the teenager finally discover the unique qualities that set tic tacs apart from other foods.

"I can’t remember exactly when I found out. I used to be able to eat mints after food; when they started to come back up I started reducing the size of the mints.

"I went from Trebor Extra Strong Mints to Polos and ended up with tic tacs. They give me a bit of energy but I eat them mostly to get rid of hunger; it’s a psychological effect."

Natalie’s matter-of-fact approach belies the impact of the illness on her life. At one point her weight dropped to five stone, but she has since battled back to more than seven stone.

Recently Natalie was rewarded for triumph over adversity at the Kent Try Angle Awards, which recognise the achievements of young people, at Margate Winter Gardens.

She added: "There are days I really hate it but most of the time I’m just like, 'whatever'. I can’t last as long as everyone else. I did have a job but at a shop, but the six-hour shift was too much."

She hopes visits to other specialists in the near future might lead to a breakthrough and cure before she leaves home to go to university.

Her mother, Sharon Cooper, said: "She’s going to have a gap year and we’re hoping a second opinion will find something different. It was quite upsetting at first; they thought it was going to be bulimia, but I knew it wasn’t."

That's the story of AJ, an extraordinary 40-year-old married woman who remembers everything.

The "human calendar."

That's what some people call the woman who contacted UC Irvine neurobiologist Jim McGaugh six years ago and said, "I have a problem. I remember too much."

She wasn't exaggerating. McGaugh and fellow UCI researchers Larry Cahill and Elizabeth Parker have been studying the extraordinary case of a person who has "nonstop, uncontrollable and automatic" memory of her personal history and countless public events.

If you randomly pick a date from the past 25 years and ask her about it, she'll usually provide elaborate, verifiable details about what happened to her that day and if there were any significant news events on topics that interested her. She usually also recalls what day of the week it was and what the weather was like.

The 40-year-old woman, who was given the code name AJ to protect her privacy, is so unusual that UCI coined a name for her condition in a recent issue of the journal Neurocase: hyperthymestic syndrome.

"I have studied learning and memory for over 50 years, and I had never read of or even heard about a person who has a comparable ability to remember," McGaugh said. "However, we do not know whether she is unique or whether there may be others with comparable remembering ability who have not as yet been identified."

McGaugh answered dozens of questions about AJ last week. Here are excerpts from our interview.