Strengthen Your Bones

Building and maintaining strong bones is essential for  happy and healthy golden years. And the good news is that is never too late. Here are some things you can do to strengthen and maintain your bone health:

1.  Increase your Calcium. Calcium is essential to building and maintaining strong bones.When you do not consume enough calcium, your body takes it from its stored supply, causing your bones to become porous and weak. Good food sources for calcium: milk, cheese, dark leafy greens, sardines, tofu, nuts, white beans, oats and blackstrap molasses. 

2. Increase your Vitamin D.  In order for the calcium in these foods to be absorbed, your body also needs lots of Vitamin D. Fortunately, one of the best ways to get Vitamin D is from the sunlight. Unfortunately, sunscreen and advanced age limit our ability to synthesize this vitamin from the sun. So, once again, food sources can be a good source: sardines, salmon, eggs, cheese, tuna to name a few.

3. Ensure you eat foods with Vitamin K. Vitamin K also seems to play a role in strengthening bones, and can be found in leafy greens, spinach, broccoli, bok choy and Chinese cabbage. 

4. Avoid caffeine. Four cups of coffee or more per day may increase risk of bone fractures.

5. Exercise. Especially weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises. Running, jumping rope, walking, hiking, climbing stairs, dance, pilates, yoga, weight training, resistance bands, cycling and swimming are some good exercises for strengthening your bones. 

The Mayo Clinic has a very useful article that spells out the daily vitamin and exercise requirements for maintaining good bone health. 

Stand on Your Head

How many years has it been since I last stood on my head? Probably too many to count.  Could I do it even if I wanted to? And was there any reason why I should?  Turns out the answer to both these questions is, yes.

If everything I've read on the subject is true, then there are a lot of benefits:

1.  Increases circulation and energy levels. With more blood flowing to the brain, carrying more oxygen and nutrients, improving its performance and your energy levels. Improves mental alertness and clarity of thoughts. May even encourage hair growth.
2. Improves internal health. Stimulates your endocrine system, including your pituitary, pineal, thyroid and parathyroid glands.
3. Improves sleep. Oxygenated blood releases tension and calms nerve receptors that send messages to your brain.
4. Strengthens your neck, spine, arms and shoulders. Helps headaches.
5. Tones your abdomen and legs.
6. Calms, soothes and centres the mind and spirit.
7. Helps align the spine, improves posture, facilitates good breathing and reduces muscular stress.
8. Changes your perspective, both literally and metaphorically.
9. Discourages wrinkles. Turn the negative effects of earth's gravity (14.7 pounds per square inch) upside down. Will definitely monitor this one to see if it is true!  

You might want to give standing on your head a try, although I did read that if you have any of the following conditions, then you should give it a miss: high blood pressure, detached retina, glaucoma, hernias, cardiovascular disease, cervical spondylitis, thrombosis, arteriosclerosis, and kidney problems. 

Strengthen Your Core

We have all read the warnings about why fat storage that results in an apple-shaped middle is dangerous, and it is high time that I buckled down and did some serious core strengthening and whittling.  In reading up on the subject, I have learned that it is not just about ab crunches and sit-ups.  Abdominal muscles are just part of the equation. The "core" is also the numerous muscles that serve to stabilize the spine and pelvis and shoulder girdle. These muscles help control your movements, transfer energy, and shift your body weight. And as I know from previous back pain issues, they protect your back.

In order to be effective, core exercises need to target all these muscle groups. For a list of the various muscles and their locations, along with a set of exercises, check out what exercise physiologist and fitness consultant, Elizabeth Quinn, has provided online.

Take a Hike

Wanting to exercise more and improve my fitness levels, I have been trying to devise ways to reach that goal without having to sign up for cardio classes, which because I don't enjoy them end up being torture sessions that I find excuses not to attend. That's where hiking comes in.  I love hiking because it offers cardiovascular benefits and usually involves being in nature.  With so much to look at I find I am distracted from the physical exertion, making a workout so much more pleasant. We are lucky enough to live near lots of hiking trails so I am incorporating this into one of my regular fitness activities.  Not only is it good for my physical health, it also works wonders for my well being. 

Garden

Gardening is such a pleasure for me. I love flowers and plants and getting my hands dirty.  There is something so therapeutic about it.  If  I lived in an apartment, there would doubtless be plants on the balcony and along side any windows. Gardening is a source of fitness, with all that digging, lifting and bending and takes me away from the kitchen and the temptation of snacking. But best of all it is an aesthetic exercise, blending colours and textures and visualizing how something will look sometimes months in advance. It is calming and meditative and so many life-affirming things all at the same time.

Yoga

It's no secret that the practice of yoga is good for you. I certainly know that yin yoga leaves my feeling blissful. Requiring no expensive equipment or gear, yoga's benefits are numerous. Here are just some of the things yoga can do for you:

1. Relieves stress
2. Improves flexibility
3. Improves strength
4. Increases energy levels
5. Improves sleep
6. Heightens mental and intuitive awareness
7. Increases lubrication of joints
8. Aids in pain management
9. Enhances your breathing
10. Induces a feeling of calm
11. Aids memory
12. Improves circulation
13. Improves concentration
14. Creates inner peace, relieving anxiety and depression
15. Improves posture
16. Promotes relaxation

Stability Balls

It's time for me to get on the ball... my stability ball that is. Inflated and resting in a corner of my living room, there is no excuse for not incorporating it into my fitness routine for a little variety, between stair-climbing and dancing.

Stability balls have the backing of the Mayo Clinic as one of the best ways to strengthen and tone your core muscles (abdomen, back and pelvis) and lower back. They increase the number of muscle fibres used in excercising, thereby increasing the efficiency of the excercises your're doing. Because they roll around, stability balls train stability muscles and improve your balance.

Stability balls are also great for stretching. When you lie on one, it helps your spine decompress. The balls also support your lower back as you stretch and exercise. And don't overlook how they contribute to weight loss: by strengthening your muscles you reduce body fat. What better reasons than all these to use this fun piece of exercise equipment regularly!  

If you care to join me, there are lots of websites that give information and exercises for the stability ball.

Dance

I'm so happy to know that dancing has so many benefits, because it's no secret... I love to dance!

Dancing does wonders for:

1. Flexibility - the greater your range of motion while dancing, the more your muscles can flex and extend.

2. Strength - dance strengthens by forcing the muscles to resist against a dancer's own body weight. Jumping and leaping uses lots of strength in major leg muscles, preventing osteoporosis as well as keeping the joints lubricated, which helps prevent arthritis.

3. Endurance - regular dancing, and especially vigorous dancing, increases endurance; and elevating the heart builds stamina. Dancing also helps improve our cardiovascular system and lung capacity. 

4. Balance - dancing allows us to master balance in numerous positions, strengthens our stabilizer muscles while protecting our core and possible injuries. It also improves our coordination and srengthens our reflexes.

5. Well-being - a stress and tension reducer, dance improves our overall sense of well-being. It raises our endorphin levels, which helps depression and guards our immune system. Dancing is expressive and helps to encourage harmony betweeen the body and the mind. It's soical too if you dance with others.

6. Circulation - dance gets the blood flowing thereby improving our circulatory systems.

7. Memory - memorizing steps, routines and dance patterns improves memory.

8. Weight loss - dancing burns calories: 5 to 10 calories per minute, depending on the intensity and spped of our dance steps.

9. Cholestrol levels - dance raise HDL (the good cholesterol) and lowers LDL (the bad cholesterol).

With so many different types of dance, there is no need to ever get bored. I'm going to make dance one of the main ways I exercise. Now where did I put my disco music... just kidding, it's already right by the CD player, along with all my other dance music!

Arm Exercises

Why, oh why does it seems that all I see in the shops this summer are sleeveless tops and dresses? Why can't designers provide some styles with a slight sleeve for those of us who need to work on toning our upper arms?

There's nothing for it but to do some work on my arms, I know that! Taking a quick look at some of the information that's out there on the subject (and there are loads of helpful tips and workouts  available), I will need to do strength training with arm weights 1 to 2 times a week, as well as have regualr aerobic exercise and watch what I eat to reduce my body fat.

The aerobic exercise and arm weight exercises will help to increase my lean muscle tissue, giving my arms shape and definition. The arm weights that I select should produce muscle fatigue when doing between 8 and 12 reps for three sets, resting for 30 to 60 seconds between each set. More information about this can be found online.

I have an assortment of arm weights already so all I need to do is begin!

Climb the Stairs

It's always a challenge to fit enough exercise into my regular routine, especially working full-time. So it was a welcome revelation to realize that there is a wonderful fitness tool close at hand ... the stairs. My workplace has an air-conditioned stairwell with 9 floors, 2 flights of stairs between each floor making a total of 18 flights. 

And to take advantage of this, all I need to do is change into flat shoes... I have a pair of running shoes in a drawer in  my office... and I am ready to go. So how easy will it be to climb stairs once a day, whenever I am at work? Easy! The hardest part will be to remember to do it, especially if it's a hectic day... so I will set a time to "do the stairs" and make it a part of my regular routine.

When I read about the benefits of stair climbing it made even more sense to take advantage of this quick and easy way to add some exercise to my daily plan. The positives are pretty great. Besides helping you lose weight, improve your fitness tone, strengthen your calves, thighs, tummy and bottom; it also has the following to recommend it:

1. It's free and accessible.

2. It's weight-bearing, so you build bone strength.

3. It is low-impact and therefore safe for the knees.

2. It provides a fairly intense workout that quickly increases your heart rate, improving cardiovascular fitness.

3. It's an efficient way of burning calories, and the more you weigh, the harder you'l work and the more calories you'll burn.

Exercise doesn't have to be complicated or expensive to provide benefits. Nor does it need to be inconvenient, taking time and energy to get to a gym or fitness class. All it takes is resolve to do it!

If you'd like to join me, there is lots of information about stair climbing out there. I came across a helpful Australian site filled with stair-climbing information to help you get started.