Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Hector Picard Triathalon


Cardiovascular Exercise Benefits & Hazards

Cardiovascular (CV) exercise is important. It has a boatload of benefits and rewards. Also, like any other reward, there are risks. Below is a list of the benefits and hazards of CV activity.
 
CV Benefits     
1. Strengthen heart                                                                     
2. Lower blood pressure
3. Reduce risk of heart disease
4. Improve circulation
5. Increase energy
6. Improve CV health
7. Improve recovery
8. Decrease body fat
9. Change body composition
10. Increase endurance
 
CV Hazards
1. Repetitious (lacking variety)
2. Veering from center of treadmill
3. Losing focus and falling
4. Poor running form
5. Improper footwear
6. Missing step on stepmill
7. Running heavy on feet
8. Running loaded
9. Loose form on rower (using lower back)
10. Improper biomechanical alignment (bike, elliptical, etc)
 
CV activity is an important component of wellness. I prefer to do cardio training (intervals, circuits, boxing, etc.) over cardio equipment (treadmill, bike, etc). Regardless of the mode and type, we all must improve our health with a stronger heart.
 
 
Marc D. Thompson, owner of VirtuFitTM, is a prominent fitness trainer and personal coach with a background in medicine and exercise physiology. He has pioneered virtual training and teaches via Skype one-on-one and group classes. Approaching fitness holistically, Marc believes the fusion of creativity and practicality is essential in moving each individual toward their fitness goals. Along with over 25 years of experience, he draws from thousands of exercises, fitness disciplines, sports psychology techniques and nutritional principals to empower each individual client.

Brain Differences Seen in Kids

The brains of children with conduct problems don‘t react in a normal way when they see images of other people in pain, a new study finds. 
Conduct problems include antisocial behaviors such as cruelty to others, physical aggression and a lack of empathy (callousness).
 
In this study, U.K. researchers used functional MRI to scan the brains of children with conduct problems and a control group of normally behaved children as they viewed images of other people in pain.
 
The children with conduct problems showed reduced responses to others‘ pain, specifically in regions of the brain that play a role in empathy. Among the children with conduct problems, those who were the most callous had the lowest levels of activation in these brain areas, according to the study. It was published May 2 in the journalCurrent Biology.
 
This pattern of reduced brain activity in children with conduct problems may be a risk factor for becoming psychopaths when they‘re adults, said Essi Viding, of University College London, and colleagues. Psychopathy includes traits such as callousness, manipulation, sensation-seeking and antisocial behaviors.
 
The researchers noted, however, that not all children with conduct problems are the same, and many do not continue their antisocial behavior as they get older.
 
"Our findings indicate that children with conduct problems have an atypical brain response to seeing other people in pain," Viding said in a journal news release. "It is important to view these findings as an indicator of early vulnerability, rather than biological destiny. We know that children can be very responsive to interventions, and the challenge is to make those interventions even better, so that we can really help the children, their families and their wider social environment."
 
More information
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about conduct disorder in children.
Health News Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
 
 
 

School Sports may cut rates of violence

Playing school sports is known to have many benefits for teens, but researchers have found a new reason to encourage kids to take up a sport: It may reduce teen girls‘ likelihood of being involved in violence and some teen boys‘ risk of being bullied. 
In the study, researchers examined data from about 1,800 high school students, aged 14 to 18, who took part in the 2011 North Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey, and found that 25 percent played team sports, 9 percent took part in an individual sport, and 17 percent played both team and individual sports.
 
Girls involved in individual or team sports were less likely to have been in a fight in the past year than girls who didn‘t play sports (14 percent versus 22 percent, respectively). Girls who played sports were also less likely than nonathletes to have carried a weapon in the past 30 days (6 percent versus 11 percent, respectively).
 
However, boys who played individual or team sports were no less likely than boys who did not play sports to fight or carry a weapon. About 32 percent of boys in the study reported fighting and 36 percent reported carrying weapons in the past 30 days, according to the study presented Sunday at the Pediatric Academic Societies‘ annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
 
"Athletic participation may prevent involvement in violence-related activities among girls but not among boys because aggression and violence generally might be more accepted in boys‘ high school sports," senior author Dr. Tamera Coyne-Beasley, a professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in an American Academy of Pediatrics news release.
 
The researchers did find that boys who played team sports were less likely to be bullied than boys who played individual sports.
 
"Though we don‘t know if boys who play team sports are less likely to be the perpetrators of bullying, we know that they are less likely to be bullied," Coyne-Beasley noted. "Perhaps creating team-like environments among students such that they may feel part of a group or community could lead to less bullying."
 
The data and conclusions of research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
 
More information
The Nemours Foundation explains how parents can teach kids not to bully.
Health News Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved.