Aug/090
Parkour. Training metropolitan body and mind
Jumping from one building to another, climbing walls do somersaults and barrel rolls in a metropolitan context. This is the Parkour, sport somewhere between martial arts and extreme sports, founded by Frenchman David Belle who began to practice in an urban environment, the techniques he learned as a child by his father, an ex-military, playing in the woods. The name was obtained by adding a K instead of c in the French word parcour (path). Parkour is the fact in reaching a specific objective through a path established earlier, full of obstacles in this case represented by bridges, buildings, railings, steps. However, the Parkour is not simply a competition between those who jump higher or run faster, but aims to achieve mastery of body and mind to overcome obstacles that stand between us and our physical and mental goals.
Its practitioners, called traceurs, undergoing a gradual but challenging workout which does not claim that they are immediately ready for testing, but that gives them the opportunity to exceed your limits gradually. These are the only help that the traceur affonta obstacles with bare hands. More than one sport the Parkour philosophy is thus a way of life for those who want to achieve a better understanding of them and learn to overcome their fears. The sport has spread around the world especially in France and England, but also slowly taking root in our country. The French director Luc Besson has made a movie “Yamakasi, the samurai of modern times”, to see even for the spectacular stunts of traceurs.
Jul/090
Zumba. The new way to make fitness
Salsa, merengue and rumba all together in an aerobics class. This in a nutshell, the essence of the Zumba fitness to the rhythm of Latin music from the United States. This is a series of movements designed to tone the body and Latin-American dance steps mixed together in a lesson of fitness that promises to be overwhelming. The steps proposed are those typical of Caribbean dances and are very effective for toning thighs, abdomen, buttocks and arms and waist shaping. The Zumba was invented in California by Colombian Alberto Perez, aka Beto, a real fitness guru who has also imported in Europe. During class the instructor is not any kind of indication from the minutes, but makes use of body language and an intriguing game looks to invite the group to follow him.
Harmonize the body, be more attractive and fun are the main objectives of Zumba, thanks to which you also get great benefits on the health of the heart: thanks to the constant changes of pace that increase and decrease heart rate thus increasing the capacity of endurance athletes dancers. Those undergoing this type of exercise is not at all the perception of being involved in an exercise demanding and icky but to join a real party, has no case in which the slogan was launched in the States is: It’s not a workout, it’s a party! “(” It’s not a chore, it’s a party! “). Do not worry if you are not experienced dancers do not need. Enough to want to be fit and have fun and the rest will follow. It absolutely indicated for people of all ages because it can be calibrated to the needs of participants using various levels of intensity.
Jul/090
Write a blog is good for social relations
Australian researchers Susan Moore and James Baker of Swinburne University in Melbourne conducted a study, published in the journal CyberPsycology and Behavior in which they analyzed the psychological benefits arising out of blogging. The researchers asked 600 users of MySpace in a survey on-line getting 134 accessions. From 134 respondents 80 said they wanted to create from there soon, their own blog. 59 of these have achieved in the two months following the completion of the questionnaire, their intentions.
Whereas when they had their own blog these individuals had declared themselves dissatisfied with their lives to report thereafter had reached a higher mental well-being resulting from the feeling of belonging to a community made up of people with whom we share interests and values as well as emotions and points of view. Furthermore, new bloggers have said they felt more confident about the possibility of being able to count on others as well as less depressed and anxious. The figure is even more interesting is that the benefits of constant blogging is reflected not only the quality of relationships that exist in a virtual, but also on those “real.”
That evidence in fact contradicts the view, widespread, according to which so assiduously attend the web affecting the quality of everyday interpersonal relationships, offering alternative false to those who fail to provide satisfactory human relations within their group membership. Although the study conducted by Australian researchers has the merit to highlight an aspect overlooked or ignored, the potential of the internet, however it was done on a sample of individuals too small because its results can be considered definitive. Until maybe we should be expanded to reflect a bit about what we really when we turn on the computer and click on the icon, for better or worse, opening the window on our world.
Jun/090
Making a big breakfast helps weight loss
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Who’s sick at the thought of swallowing anything that is not a coffee before eleven o’clock in the morning must resign? Likewise those who believe that stepping aid weight loss. A study by the University of Minnesota, since in addition to confirming the health benefits of a hearty breakfast to start the day, seems to have shown that having the habit of eating well early in the morning helps you lose weight, while the other exhibits at risk fat. The study was conducted by Dr. Mark Pereira professor of epidemiology at the Department of Public Health American University.
The results of the study, published in Pediatrics, were based on analysis of a sample of 2000 adolescents followed for a period of eight years. The boys, who at the time of their involvement in research had on average 15 years, who had the habit of having breakfast had a body mass index lower, while those who skipped the morning meal weighed on average 2.5 kg more. Among the boys involved as much as 25% had the habit of skipping breakfast, tendency, especially among girls. For some time it is known that skipping meals does not help you lose weight but the study says that eating a big breakfast helps you consume more calories and reduces your appetite during meals following facilitating weight loss.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether the data is also valid for the classic American breakfast rich in fat and high calorie foods from which many experts have long warned Metten. Sure, it would be for our Italian breakfast rich in carbohydrates and typically consisting of foods such as milk, coffee, biscuits, jams, yogurt and fruit juices. Finally, a hearty breakfast and balanced also protects against the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease as overweight and obesity are major risk factors for the occurrence of such diseases.
Apr/090
Milk for infants. Important content of omega 3 and omega 6
Has been known for a long time all of the benefits from breast milk to the health of the newborn, because it contains nutrients essential for proper physical and psychological development. In particular, several studies and research have shown that omega 3 fatty acids DHA and AA omega 6, found naturally in breast milk are essential for the development of the visual system and brain structures not only of children but also the fetus.
For this reason, new guidelines published in the Journal of Perinatal Medicine and undertaken by experts from 11 countries with the approval of the World Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Child Health Foundation and the Early Nutrition Foundation, provide that infant formula is supplemented with these substances. When you cannot breastfeed then instructed to use milk that contains DHA omega 3 and AA omega-6 as a percentage of between 0.2 and 0.5%. Some studies have also shown that the brain development of infants who did not use these acids Piò be slow.
Moreover, since the benefits of these nutrients are already beginning in the prenatal stage even during pregnancy is appropriate to take an adequate amount of nourishing foods that are rich, like fish, rich in DHA (acid decosapentaenoico) and meat, eggs and milk rich in AA (arachidonic acid). DHA omega 3, as well as having a key role in brain development and the visual system is also important for the health of the heart, whereas AA omega-6 contributes to the formation of ecosanoidi agents acting at the level of the immune system. From now on it will be therefore appropriate for mothers who breast-feeding, take an adapted milk formula in which this is the right amount of these acids, and for nursing mothers is recommended that consumption of foods that contain or alternatively, the intake of food supplements.
Apr/090
Sleeping problems? Technology indicted
Seems to confirm that abuse of the technology to affect adversely the quality and quantity of sleep. After recent studies have shown that radiation from mobile phones may disturb the quality of sleep, to be put on trial now are Internet and television. In particular, studies conducted on the use of mobile phones has shown that people who use their mobile phone before going to bed, have difficulty reaching the deeper stages of sleep (those where you rest more.) As for the bad influence of the Internet and TV is the discovery of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Americans who conducted a study of nearly 20,000 people from four different states: New York, Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Island.
The study showed that people who spend much time in front of the computer or the TV not only sleep less but even worse. The data seems to correlate with bad habits such as sipping a coffee or drink alcohol while you are busy watching their favorite TV or surf the Internet. Most affected are young Westerners. All study participants were asked how many days in the previous month had slept little or bad. The results found that only a third of respondents stated that it had no problem sleeping in the period.
The experts who conducted the survey highlight how’s insomnia is a problem as widespread as undervalued, if persisted in time it may cause diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, stroke. Moreover, poor quality of sleep can lead to feeling constantly tired and daytime sleepiness that follows can be a danger to themselves and others. Downturn in attention and concentration difficulties are just some of the consequences of ‘insomnia that can cause motor vehicle accidents or at work. Finally, in Italy would be less than thirteen million people suffer from insomnia, especially women and older people with a worrying increase in the spread of the phenomenon among young people.
Jan/090
Angry is bad for your health
A search of Neurology shows that knowing how to ward off the anger makes us feel better. It makes our body 4 times faster when it comes to heal a cut. So angry is bad for your health. They said the ancestors; we experience it every time we make us drag anger. And now the university’s research also confirms Ohio.
The study found that the body of persons unable to control anger, it takes much longer to heal. Although it is only a small flesh wound. Experts had compared a hundred subjects; their ability to control the anger and speed that employed a small lesion of the skin to heal. In people more angry injury put us up to four times the time to heal, compared with calmer people.
And guinea-pigs were also asked how to express anger, if you kept everything inside and verbally responded vehemently. We have seen so that those that caught fire more often had higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, and take longer to heal. The team headed by Jean-Philippe Gouin indicates that therapeutic approaches such as relaxation techniques and cognitive therapy can help to control anger.
In very simplified terms we can say that therapeutic intervention has two main objectives: the first is to identify and define the kind of thinking that accompanies negative emotions (e.g. pain, discomfort, fear), the second is to look for alternative ways, more functional, to address problematic situations. The adoption of more constructive ways of thinking leads to a modification of emotional experience.
The therapist will identify the most appropriate techniques that can help a person to achieve these objectives, while the latter task will engage in meetings and in real life to follow the directions of the operator. An angry person can indeed learn to manage anger by taking psychotherapeutic techniques such as to also increase your immune system and achieving a balance psycho - physical track.