Exercise May Help Increase Activity, Decrease Tiredness

Logical and Proven Correct.

Hey folks,

For those of you who may know, I have a HECTIC Schedule. To say the least. It has already intensified thanks to having a New Born. Not to go into all the details, I'm up between 4 to 4:30am. I'm nonstop pretty much until around 10pm or later. The cycle repeats.

Now by Friday, I'm pretty much wiped. Passing out around 8 pm. Saturday is a day off from the Blog, so I usually crash and get up Saturday and do Family stuff. Sunday the whole thing starts over with the Big Sunday Edition and Monday, back to the Grind. Now with Eli thrown into the mix, even some of those off days are pretty busy.

Now I have started back up my Gym Schedule again. Every other day. One week is Monday, Wed, Fri, Sun, the following is Tue, Thur, Sat. I can hear some of you know. "Pete. WHY? Why bother with the Gym at all. You have so much on your plate to begin with." This is true. I did stop going completely. I had completely removed myself from the Gym. What happened? I was even MORE tired. More pent up. More scattered. I adjusted my Physical routine to satisfy my Tiredness, instead of attempting to combat my tiredness with my Physical routine.

Let me try to explain it this way. First time you ride a Bike, Swim, Run, Walk, WHATEVER, you can only do so much. What happens the LONGER you stick with it? That's right. You can Bike, Swim, Run, Walk, longer, farther, and faster. You gain stamina, and strength to over come the fatigue you first experience right out of the gate.

So now we have proof that a Positive Mind, and Exercise, CAN and DOES help. According to Health Day - Study Says 2 Therapies Help Fight Chronic Fatigue Syndrome By Alan Mozes HealthDay Reporter Fri Feb 18, 11:48 pm ET

THURSDAY, Feb. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Patients struggling with chronic fatigue syndrome may be helped the most when standard treatment is coupled with cognitive behavior therapy or exercise therapy, new British research suggests.

The apparent promise of cognitive behavior therapy and "graded exercise therapy" offers considerable hope to patients combating the complex condition characterized by profound tiredness, impaired concentration, diminished memory, sleep difficulties and muscle and joint pain, the study authors said.

The findings also support the somewhat controversial notion that incremental adjustments in physical behavior and/or mental attitude can ultimately have a positive impact on the disorder, the authors said.

There has been MANY studies done over the years that PROVE beyond any doubt, that a positive attitude and mindset, can contribute valuable assistance to healing. Some hear that they have a disease, and or, some kind of major setback in their lives, and they give up. In which case, they go further down hill faster. But those that FIGHT. Those that keep up good spirits, if you will, CAN over come, and or, prolong both the quality of their lives, and their life itself.

The standard intervention, known as specialist medical care, is centered around giving patients information about their condition, advice on how to manage symptoms and assistance with coping approaches.

The research team behind the new study found little appreciable benefit with a third alternate therapeutic approach that focuses on helping patients strictly structure their activity and relaxation routines to match their severely reduced energy levels. This strategy, known as "adaptive pacing therapy," assumes that chronic fatigue syndrome is not, in fact, reversible with behavioral changes.

"Patients who received either graded exercise therapy or cognitive behavior therapy reported less fatigue and better function than those who received either adaptive pacing therapy or specialist medical care alone," said study author Dr. Peter D. White, a professor of psychological medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine, and a psychiatrist at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London.

White and his colleagues report their findings in the Feb. 18 online edition of The Lancet.

The authors noted that it is not yet understood what gives rise to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

The cognitive behavioral therapy targets the building fear and avoidance of activity that can exacerbate CFS. In effect, it seeks to break a vicious cycle in which mental inhibitions actually perpetuate and aggravate the underlying chronic fatigue.

In other words, they give up. They say, "OK. I can no longer stay awake for 16 hours. So I will now take a nap. I can no longer do this or that, so I stop."But doing this, the body and the mind get USE to it. They adapt to the negative. Yet, some say, "I'm NOT going to give up. I will continue to do the things I chose to do, yet, I will make modifications. I will work at building up MORE energy. I will Eat right, and Exercise. I will improve my stamina. I will overcome." In a lot of cases, they DO.

Exercise therapy, also known as "GET," tries to reduce fatigue and disability by gradually helping patients increase their activity levels to improve their overall physical fitness.

To explore which therapies or combinations of therapies might be best, 641 chronic fatigue patients from four different rehabilitation centers in Britain were divided up into one of four groups. Over the course of a year, all got standard specialist medical care, while three of the groups received one additional treatment: pacing therapy, cognitive therapy or exercise therapy.

White and his team found the greatest improvements in terms of both fatigue levels and physical function were experienced by those patients who were treated with standard therapy in combination with either cognitive therapy or exercise therapy.

What's more, patients who got a combination of standard treatment and pacing therapy fared no better than those who got standard treatment alone.

Specifically, 60 percent of the standard/cognitive or standard/GET patients experienced fatigue and function improvements, while 30 percent reported "normal levels" of fatigue and function. Half as many of the standard therapy alone or standard/pacing patients reported normal fatigue and function levels.

White noted that all the treatments were equally safe, and serious reactions were rare.

"Patients now have a choice of two moderately effective and safe treatments that can help them towards a healthier life," he said.

Dr. Nancy Klimas, chief medical officer at the Chronic Fatigue Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, noted that the merits of various therapeutic approaches to chronic fatigue syndrome are still a matter of debate.

"But here Dr. White is saying that cognitive behavioral therapy and graded exercise are moderately helpful, but not curative," she said. "And I would agree with that."

"On the other hand, it's also important to note that when we talk about helping patients increase their activity levels, we're talking about people who have very limited amounts of energy," Klimas added. "And you have to work within this 'energy envelope,' because if you push beyond the threshold they will relapse. So often, what we're talking about is about five minutes of exercise before taking a rest."

"In any case, I look at this as a first step," she said, "and anticipate more effective therapies, based on a better understanding of the biology of the illness, in the future."

Now I'm not going to disagree with Dr. Nancy Klimas, but I KNOW from experience, that, that "five minutes of exercise before taking a rest," can and most of the time WILL Lead to Ten Minutes. Ten can lead to Fifteen. So on and so forth.

It's like when you start lifting weights. At first, you can only lift X. Say 10 pounds. The more you lift that 10 pounds, the stronger you get. Now you can lift 15, then 20, ETC. Just like the Bike, or Running. At first you may only be able to go 5 minutes. But 5 can lead to 10 can lead to 15, ETC.

I see this as completely Logical. A positive mind, Exercise, along with some Natural and Standard Care? I would rather hit whatever it is on ALL fronts, than lay down, give up, and accept something that may very well be able to be changed.
Peter

Sources:
Health Day - Study Says 2 Therapies Help Fight Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Exercise Is Good For You

Health and Science for Sunday 110709

Hey folks,

Here is a news flash for you. Exercise is good for you. {Laughing} Yeah I know. Obvious is it not. The best and most effective diet EVER, and one that will KEEP the weight off, is a very simple process to follow. It cost NOTHING. Simply put, eat less move more.

But then again, there is a NEW study out there that says it MAY even help prevent Cancer. According to Food Consumer - Exercise Cuts Prostate Cancer Risk By David Liu

A new study suggests that men who get moderate amounts of exercise regularly may reduce their risk of prostate cancer including the types of aggressive, fast-growing tumors.

The study published in the November 2009 issue of Journal of Urology showed prostate cancer was less likely to be diagnosed in men who got exercise regularly than those who followed a sedentary lifestyle.

Now truthfully, I'm not really sure if this study proves that exercise is GOOD or that a sedentary lifestyle is bad. Is not BOTH obvious?

Dr. Stephen J. Freedland, of the Duke University Prostate Center and the VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and colleagues analyzed data from 190 men who underwent biopsies for suspect prostate cancer and found the association.

They found that men who exercised moderately, or three to six hours of walking each week, were two-thirds less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than their sedentary counterparts.

Good news for me. And good news for you if you do the same. I know most do not go to the Gym as I do. I know most will NEVER walk as much as I do. Average of 5 to 10 miles a day. But even a LITTLE bit is better than nothing.

Of 111 sedentary men, about 50 percent were diagnosed with the disease compared to 27 percent of those who exercised to a degree equivalent to three to six hours of walking each week.

The researchers also found that men who got the amount of exercise equivalent to one to three hours of walking each week were 86 percent less likely to develop an aggressive form of the cancer.

Of the men diagnosed with prostate cancer, aggressive cancer was found in 51 percent of those who lived a sedentary life, but only 22 percent in those who were physically active - getting the equivalent of one to three hours of walking every week.

The study found an association between exercise and reduced risk of prostate cancer. But the results do not prove that exercise is the cause for the reduction in the male reproductive cancer even though the possibility cannot be excluded either.

Exercise or being physically active has been linked to reduced risk of cancer. One possibility is that those who exercise may follow a overall healthy lifestyle including a healthy diet.

Well, that is partly true. It also has A LOT to do with your body being active. Which speeds up your metabolism and keeps things flowing the way they should be.

However, exercise by itself may potentially have a protective effect against prostate cancer and possibly other types of cancer as well.

To say the least, it has been known that exercise lowers blood levels of sexual hormone like testosterone and others that are known to promote prostate cancer growth.

Wait! Sex is BAD? Sex is the only exercise some get. {Smile} Well, it definitely beats lifting weights. {Smile}

Exercise can also boost immunity and strengthen the body's anti-oxidation mechanisms which may help reduce odds for men to acquire prostate cancer.

A recent study published on Oct 27, 2009 in the online British Journal of Cancer, also suggests that being physically active may help reduce risk of prostate cancer.

The study, led by N. Orsini from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden and colleagues found an inverse association between physical activity, such as walking or bicycling, and reduced risk of prostate cancer.

Orsini and colleagues analyzed data from a cohort of 45,887 men aged 45 - 79 years; the researchers followed them between January 1998 and December 2007, checking for prostate cancer incidence. They also tested the patients between 1998 and December 2006 for its subtypes and for fatal prostate cancer.

During the follow-ups, 2735 cases of prostate cancer and 190 cases of fatal prostate cancer were recorded.

The researchers observed prostate cancer incidence in the top quartile of lifetime total physical activity was decreased by 16% compared with that in the bottom quartile. A similar inverse association was also found between average lifetime work or occupational activity and walking or bicycling duration and the risk of prostate cancer.

Compared with those who were required to sit for the most of their workday, men who sit only half of the time experienced a 20% reduced risk.

For every 30 minutes per day increment of lifetime walking or bicycling in the range of 30 to 120 minutes per day, the risk for total prostate cancer decreased by 7 percent; for localized prostate cancer by 8 percent and for advanced prostate cancer
by 12 percent.

An estimated 192,280 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009. The disease and its implications are expected to kill 27,360 men in the country this year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Exercise good, laziness bad. Try walking more. Try a Bike. Try just being a bit more active. It has FAR more benefits than it does draw backs. You would be surprised how easy it really is.
Peter

Sources:
Food Consumer - Exercise Cuts Prostate Cancer Risk