The best gift that you can gift your heart is physical activity. Regular exercise decreases cardiovascular mortality and the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in America. Pairing regular exercise with a healthy balanced diet, not smoking, and maintaining a normal weight is a significant protection strategy against cardiovascular diseases. Certainly, for heart conditions, regular exercise can be as powerful as medication. Below are some cardiovascular benefits of exercise. Lowering blood pressure A healthy heart pumps out more blood with every bit, enabling it to work more efficiently. This reduces the stress on...

Many things can become more challenging to do as we age. Losing weight isn’t one of those things, according to researchers. They found out that individuals over 60 years are just as capable of losing weight as younger people. Aging doesn’t create a hurdle to complete weight loss programs or making lifestyle changes. Studies show that seniors lose a higher percentage of body weight than obese individuals under the age of 60. Weight loss is vital at any stage. However, people are more likely to develop weight-related co-morbidities related to obesity. Below are some health benefits and tips to lose...

Emerging evidence suggests that exercise has healthy benefits as we age.  Aging is a fact of life. When older adults exercise, they enhance the quality of their life.  However, how safe is it to exercise?  According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, it is safe for most to exercise.  Even those with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and arthritis (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2019).  If your doctor has approved your ability to exercise, then here are some benefits. Benefits of Exercise for Older Adults  Exercising can prevent disease.  It helps our immune system overall! ...

Fat is the primary energy source during low-intensity exercise.  Unlike carbohydrates, your body uses it as its main energy source.  It’s storage is more concentrated and does not contain water (Blake, 2019, pp. 429). Fat is an Energy Source When the body uses fat for energy, it is broken down further.  For example, it is made into fatty acids before it is supplied to the muscles from the bloodstream (pp. 430).  Fatty acids are consumed from food called triglycerides.  When we finish eating a meal, an increased level of triglycerides are found in the blood (Guerra, 2014).  Since we just...

Carbohydrate loading is simply adding extra grams of carbs in your diet before a type of endurance competition.  Athletes will gradually increase carbohydrate intake and taper their exercises some time before an event (Blake, 2019, pp. 430).  However, why would an athlete take away that very important source of fuel?  According to Blake, the goal is to maximize storage capacity of muscle glycogen (pp. 430). Researching the Science We have already proven that increasing the amount of glycogen, a polysaccharide of glucose, can improve an athlete’s performance at an optimal pace for a longer period of time (pp. 430).  However,...

Glycogen & Carbohydrates During any amount of intense activities, your body will use carbohydrates for energy.  These carbohydrates are broken down into glucose and glycogen.  One is found in the blood stream while the other comes from your muscles and liver.  The body uses these molecules to help sustain itself.  Finally, our body will not be able to continue performing an intense activity without the conversion of glucose and glycogen. How it Works First, glucose comes from stored glycogen in the muscles.  However, it is important to understand that glycogen is stored in the liver plays a part.  By converting...