Swimming Benefits

Hitting the water has long topped lists of best workouts because it's a low-impact exercise that puts minimal stress on the joints and a heart-pumping cardiovascular workout that builds endurance and helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.  A 155-pound woman burns about 223 calories in 30 minutes. Plus the resistance of the water forces your body to work harder to complete each movement, toning your biceps, triceps, back, chest, stomach, and leg muscles as you swim.

"Swimming isn't about perfect strokes -- at least not at first," says Jane Katz, EdD, professor of health and physical education at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, and author of Swimming for Total Fitness: A Progressive Aerobic Program. "New swimmers should just focus on getting into the water and moving."

Beginning Swimming

Not all swimming workouts are the same. How you structure your water routine and the strokes you choose make a difference. Beginners often prefer the backstroke and sidestroke, which are less difficult and don't require breathing out underwater. More experienced swimmers who want a demanding exercise session favor the butterfly and freestyle strokes, Katz says.

The trickiest part of learning to swim is mastering the art of breathing. Katz suggests practicing in the shallow end: Put your face underwater and exhale through your nose and mouth, lift your face out of the water and inhale, go back under water and exhale. Keep practicing until it feels comfortable.

Pennycooke's lessons lasted 30 minutes, and each week she was stronger, faster, and more confident in the pool. "The first time our class swam 10 laps, I was one of the last to finish, but I didn't care because I felt such a massive sense of accomplishment," she recalls. "To go from a nonswimmer to a swimmer is a huge item checked off my bucket list."

What You Need for Swimming

To ensure your workout goes swimmingly, swim expert Jane Katz, EdD, suggests stocking up on a few essentials:

Swim cap. A fitted cap keeps your hair in place, reduces drag in the water, and helps protect your hair from pool chemicals like chlorine. Beginners should stick with the more comfortable silicone caps, while competitive swimmers favor thinner, tighter latex caps.

Goggles. Protect your eyes from irritation and inflammation while seeing more clearly underwater. Transparent lenses are best for indoor swimming, and polarized lenses with UV protection are essential outdoors.

Sunscreen. If you're swimming outdoors, sunscreen is a must. The sun reflects off the water, increasing your risk of sunburn. "Apply waterproof sunscreen before you get in the water," says Katz.

Water bottle. Your body still sweats while you're in the pool. Katz advises taking regular breaks from swimming laps to hydrate, just as if you were at the gym.

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TIPS for a beautiful life

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. & while you walk, SMILE. It is the ultimate antidepressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

3. When you wake up in the morning, Pray to ask God’s guidance for your purpose, today.

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, broccoli, and almonds.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

9. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Forgive them for everything !

11. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

14. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will this matter?’

17. Help the needy,Be generous ! Be a ‘Giver’ not a ‘Taker’

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. Time heals everything.

20. However good or bad a situation is,it will change.

21. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed,Pray to God and Be thankful for what you’ll accomplish, today !

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

25. Share this to everyone on your list to help them lead a happier life…!!!!

Top 10 Tips to Refresh Yourself

Time out is essential, not only for peace and quiet, but to get things done for your life. If you try to wait for all of your chores and responsibilities to your loved one to be finished, you may be waiting a long time. Get started now on finding time to refresh yourself.

Here's a list of the top 10 things you need to do regularly.

1.Get regular physical activity. 

Regular, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is a good energizer that reduces stress, helps keep blood pressure and cholesterol at heart-healthy levels and helps maintain a healthy weight. Aim for 30 minutes a day on most, if not all, days. You can break it down to 10- or 15-minute sessions. Walking is a great way to get started, even if you only walk around the yard.

2.Eat heart-healthy foods. 

They give you more energy, keep your brain fed (which helps combat depression) and help prevent other health problems. If you've got to “eat on the run,” choose nutritious snacks.

3.Take time every day. 

for an activity that you enjoy such as reading, listening to music, crafts, cooking — whatever makes you happy and relaxes you.

4.Keep humor in your life. 

Laughter IS good medicine. Find the humor in your situation when possible, watch a silly TV program or pop in a comedy movie. Find things to laugh about with your loved one. They need joy too! Laughing quickens the pulse rate, stimulates the blood circulation, activates muscles, increases oxygen intake and helps you relax. If you've forgotten how to laugh, try to be around people who still know how. Laughter's contagious!

5.Get out once a week and go somewhere enjoyable. 

Visit the local coffee shop, attend church events, take a class, visit a friend or just wander around the mall or a park. If your loved one needs constant attention, ask for help. You can find someone to give an hour a week to let you get out.

6.Treat depression and stress. 

Recognize signs and symptoms and do something about it as soon as it starts. If you think you may be depressed, get professional help. Talk it out. Admit your feelings.

7.Take care of your business. 

Keep your checkbook balanced, work when you need to, spend time with friends and family and don't stop planning for the future. It's out there waiting for you. If you live totally “in the moment” of your caregiver responsibilities, you'll find it more difficult to re-integrate into life later on. Keep living.

8.Keep all your medical and dental appointments. 

Do all you can to keep from getting sick. If you're sick, you won't be able to do what your loved one needs. Ask for help when you need it to get away and take care of your health.

9.Think positive. 

Take time every day to refresh your mind. Admit your limitations. Let go of guilt. Admit that you're angry. Pat yourself on the back for the job you're doing. If you're feeling guilty or angry, take a break.

10.Stay connected with the outside world, even if it's just by phone or online. 

Don't isolate yourself. Talk to friends about something other than your situation. Stay interested in what would be going on in your life if you weren't care giving. It's still there and you're still a part of it.

Did you know? 

Medical studies show that laughter boosts levels of endorphins, the body's "feel-good" hormones. Laughter may even boost the immune system. A good attitude and exercising your sense of humor may reduce stress, lower depression and help your body and mind to heal. As Groucho Marx said, "A clown is like an aspirin, only he works twice as fast."

source:heart.org

Watch your Eye

Try to move your eyes smoothly from left to right and back looking across your room. Your eye will probably actually move in a jittery pattern of fast sweeps and brief stops (fixations). When you are reading, the eyes move very similarly. The brain blocks out the images from the eye during the bursty movements, avoiding motion blur. This makes it very difficult to ever see your own eyes moving in the mirror.

Age Transformation

A 43 year-old Max Von Sydow is transformed through the magic of
Dick Smith’s old age make-up, into the 80 year-old Father Merrin.

Shortcut to Extend your Life

What if I told you in 30 minutes a day you could:

• Get ripped
• lose weight
• extend your life
• reduce your risk of cardio-vascular disease

 My guess  is that you’d want to hear me out.  Well, there’s no gimmicks, or over-promising 5 step scheme behind it, all you have to do is

Walk

That’s right, just walk, every day … Let me give you some context to help you understand why doing something so easy could have such a profound life changing effects on your health.

Your body is designed to walk; we have an upright frame that requires a minimum amount of movement each and every day to function optimally.  That minimum suggested amount is roughly 10,000 steps or 5 miles … How far off were you today?  

Let’s do some comparisons:

• The average American Male takes 5,340 steps per day, or about 2.5 miles
• The average male in Switzerland takes 9,700 steps, almost double at 4.6 miles

As we have shifted our focus in society to jobs that require data entry or thought value, we have taken custom to sitting for the majority of our day.  We sit longer and move less, and it’s killing us.  

To be specific, if you sit in a chair or on the couch for 6 hours a day, you are reducing your lifespan by 7 years.  When you sit down, your body slows your metabolic rate to about one calorie per minute.  After sitting for 6 hours a day continuously (over a year), you will begin to see some long term negative effects take place.  Higher cholesterol, muscle atrophy, reduced oxygen intake (get winded easier), weight gain, reduction in bone mass, and finally, a 64% increase in the chance that you will die of Cardio Vascular disease!

There are plenty of tips and tricks out there to keep you moving while at work or watching TV

• Set an hourly alarm, each hour walk around the office, walk the dog, or just stand up and walk in place for a few minutes
• Stand up during commercials
• Stand up and pace back and forth while you take phone calls of meetings
• The list goes on, be creative, any chance you get to stand up… Take it!

Walking is recommended to all fitness types because it is so easy to implement and will not harm other fitness goals in the process.  Walking is very low impact, your walk will not cause any muscle fatigue or joint swelling (if healthy).  Walking burns fat and and won’t exhaust you in the process.  Since you will be walking slowly, it won’t force you to pull from your glycogen stores to produce the energy needed, over time this equates to a larger amount of fat lost.  Walking has even been proven to boost sexual libido in sedentary people.  And finally, walking makes you feel awesome!  If you start your day as I outline below, you will see an immediate change in your attitude as you get an easy personal win for the day.

So instead of having you try chair exercises over going outside and moving your body the way it was designed to, I present to you:

How to walk like a bad-ass:

• Go to bed, and wake up 45 minutes earlier than usual Once you wake up, drink a cup of coffee or take a 200mg caffeine pill
• 15 minutes later, get your shoes on, and get out the door WALK! You don’t need a destination, but if you have a schedule, make sure you don’t get too far out before you turn around
• Shower, and head to work knowing you have already done more activity than 50% of Americans

Some Tips:

• If you’re in a hurry, take your coffee with you on the walk
• If you are pressed to, a treadmill is just fine (the sunlight has added benefits you should try to take in)

So, get out of your chair, reclaim your 7 years of quality life, and use a morning walk to supplement your fitness goals.

Just Walk!