Issue 2
December 11, 2008

In This Issue:

• Get Stronger and Live Longer

• Lack of Sleep Causes Inflammation

• Fit Tips

Get Stronger and Live Longer

Aerobic exercise is the type of exercise that is associated with helping you live longer because it strengthens your cardiovascular system, protects your heart and blood vessels from disease, and reduces your risk of heart attack. But it looks like strength training can also help you live longer.

A 19 year study of 8,762 men age 20 to 80 conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that men with the highest levels of strength were less likely to die each year from heart disease, cancer, or any other cause. The men received medical exams and physical fitness tests during the 1980s and their status was reevaluated nearly 20 years later. The men with greater strength reduced their risk of death from heart attack by 50%, from cancer by 32%, and from all causes by 32% compared to the weakest one-third of the men.

Based on the results of this study, strength training is just as important as aerobic exercise in helping you live a long and healthy life. So if your current fitness program only consists of aerobic exercise, you should also start hitting the weights.

Lack of Sleep Causes Inflammation

Scientists have long known that sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy and chronic insomnia, can lead to serious health problems, but a recent study indicates that otherwise healthy people who don't get enough sleep may also be adversely affecting their health.

A UCLA research team discovered that even a modest loss of sleep for a single night increases levels of substances in the blood that indicate a heightened state of inflammation in the body. Inflammation is the body's natural response to injury or infection, however, chronic inflammation is now being linked to several health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis. The head of the research team stated: "America's sleep habits are simply not healthy. Our findings suggest even modest sleep loss may play a role in common disorders that affect sweeping segments of the population."

The amount of necessary sleep varies from person to person, but experts say that most people apparently need between seven and nine hours.

If you're one of the many people who isn't getting enough sleep, it might result in a much more serious health problem than just tiredness.

Fit Tips

• Having too much abdominal fat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, but it might also be bad for the brain. Researchers at Kaiser-Permanente discovered that people with a sagittal abdominal diameter (the size of one's midsection) of 9.8 inches (about a 40 inch waist) were twice as likely to suffer from dementia as people with smaller midsections.

• According to the Archives of Internal Medecine, you'll lower your risk of dying from heart disease by 37% if you take regular naps.

• Studies have shown that you can lower your risk of type 2 diabetes by almost 20% by losing only 5% to 10% of excess body weight.