Why Exercise Is a Good Idea – No Matter Your Age

No matter how old you are, the amount of exercise you're getting is an important part of every lifestyle assessment. Staying physically active throughout your life, from childhood to old age, has many great health benefits, including: 

·       Exercise helps fight disease – No matter how old you are, exercise can help prevent your body from contracting many debilitating diseases and conditions. The medical conditions that physical activity has been proven to prevent include Type 2 diabetes, some forms of cancer, stroke, arthritis, and metabolic conditions.

·       It also improves heart health – It's never a bad time to think about your heart health, and exercise is one of the best ways to keep your heart in great shape. Regular physical activity reduces bad cholesterol and triglycerides, and also boosts high-density lipoprotein (aka “good” cholesterol).

·       Physical activity boosts energy levels – If you ever find regular chores and activities are tiring you out, the answer may be to include more physical activity in your day. Exercise improves blood flow, which increases nutrient and oxygen delivery to the body. The more essential nutrients your body is receiving, the more energy you will have.

·       Exercise helps you sleep – Sleeping is an essential process for the body, and getting regular exercise helps people fall asleep faster. It also improves the quality of their sleep time.

·       Improved sex life – A healthy sex life is known to have positive health impacts on the body and mind, and exercise has been shown to help improve sex drive for both men and women. Women who exercise find it easier to become sexually aroused, and men who get regular physical activity are less likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction. 

Some fun and healthy exercise activities that anyone can do, regardless of age, include: 

·         Yoga

·         Zumba

·         Pilates

·         Dancing

·         Running/jogging/walking

·         Swimming 

Contact us today at 800-533-9355 for more great health tips.

7 Amazing Health Benefits of Drinking Green Tea

Looking for ways to improve worksite wellness? One possible way to improve overall company health is to provide employees with access to green tea. Green tea has been shown to have many health benefits, including: 

1.     Improved brain function – There aren't many drinks in the world that have been proven to actually make you smarter, but there’s a possibility that green tea just might. One of the main ingredients in tea is caffeine, which studies show improves the firing of neurons and increases the beneficial neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine. Green tea also contains an amino acid, L-theanine, which has been shown to increase the anxiety-blocking neurotransmitter GABA.

2.     Increased metabolism – As if improving brain function weren’t enough, some studies have also shown that green tea improves the body's metabolic rate and may increase the rate at which the body burns fat, especially in the abdominal area. If losing weight and improving your body's physical performance is a goal, then you might gain some benefit from drinking green tea.

3.     Cancer prevention – Green tea is loaded with antioxidants, which protect the body against the development of harmful cancer cells. Types of cancers that green tea has been shown to prevent include breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer.

4.     Insulin sensitivity – Drinking green tea can improve the body's insulin sensitivity, reduce blood sugar levels, and prevent the development of Type II Diabetes.

5.     Improved heart health – Studies have shown that green tea drinkers are less likely to develop cardiovascular disease, thanks to the tea’s ability to help lower cholesterol and triglycerides.

6.     Bacteria fighting – Green tea has bacteria-fighting properties, which have been shown to reduce the risk of infection and improve dental health. As an added bonus, green tea can also help get rid of bad breath!

7.      Better aging – Thanks to its brain-boosting abilities, drinking green tea has also been linked to decreases in the chance of contracting the two most common neurodegenerative disorders among the elderly, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. 

Learn more about improving your company's overall health by calling 800-533-9355 today.

Water: It's More Important to Health Than You Think

We all know that drinking water is good for our bodies, and we've all heard that we're supposed to drink 8 glasses of water a day. But many people don't realize just how big a health risk not properly hydrating is. Next time you reach for a soda or an energy drink, remember these surprising health facts and reach for a water bottle instead! 

·       Water is involved in almost all of the body's health processes– Drinking water doesn't just help us stay hydrated when it's hot outside. It also helps the body perform many of its essential processes. Water is involved in digesting food, dispersing nutrients throughout the body, regulating kidney function, and cleaning out toxins. When our fluid balance is off, the body has trouble performing all of these essential functions.

·       Water helps you lose weight – Looking for easy ways to shed a few pounds? Drink an extra glass of water! Studies have found that water makes us feel more full, which makes us eat less. Combined with good diet and exercise, water is one of the best ways to control weight and keep off the extra pounds.

·       Water is nature's energy drink – There are many brands of energy boosters, coffee drinks, and other sugary and caffeine-heavy drinks meant to boost our energy, but they can have negative health impacts when consumed regularly. On the other hand, water has been shown to help increase focus, boost energy, and battle dehydration-related fatigue.

·       Water can give you clearer skin – Because water cleanses the body and removes toxins, it also helps our skin stay clear and healthy. 

For more tips on maintaining a healthy, happy, and active workforce, contact a Wellsource representative at 800-533-9355.

 

3 Tips for Getting a Better Night's Sleep

It's amazing how much whether or not we get a good night's sleep can affect us. Just one sleepless night can throw us off, affecting our memory, mood, health, and our sleep schedule for days afterward. We need our sleep, especially as we get older. Once we pass a certain age, we're not able to operate on little to no shut-eye, or recover as easily from a hard day as we used to, and missing sleep consistently can make us more vulnerable to multiple health risks. If you're having trouble getting your 8 hours every night, try these tips for getting a better night's sleep: 

1.     Stick to a schedule – One of the easiest ways to lose sleep is to have an inconsistent sleep schedule. Going to bed at a different time just once can throw off someone's sleep schedule for weeks, as can getting up in the morning at inconsistent times. Pick a time that you want to go to bed every night and get up every morning, and then stick with it as much as possible. That way your body will get used to shutting down and starting up at specific times every day.

2.     Watch what you eat and drink – Diet can have a big impact on our ability to sleep. Going to bed too full or too hungry can mess with our bodies' natural cycles, waking us up in the middle of the night or making it difficult to doze off. Caffeine and alcohol especially can disrupt a good night's sleep. Watch your food and drink intake, and, if certain foods or drinks keep you up at night, cut them out of your diet or limit when you partake of them.

3.     Have a nightly ritual – Start winding down your day an hour or so before you want to fall asleep. With the lights dimmed, try reading a book, knitting, or performing some other soothing activity that will help your mind settle and your body get ready for rest.

For more tips on sleeping, eating right, and other health issues, speak with one of our wellness experts today by calling 800-533-9355.

 

 

The Aging Brain, Part 2 – Maintaining Brain Function with Age

As we discussed in our last entry, understanding the way the brain ages is a key part of health assessment as patients grow older. Research has overturned many of the myths around older brains that make people believe that greatly decreased cognitive function is an unavoidable part of aging, and knowing how to maintain and restore memory and brain function can help even elderly patients stay sharp for many years to come. In this post, we'll talk about some of the things that can help aging brains continue to function as well as possible. 

·       Exercise – While many people focus on brain activities as a way to maintain memory and cognitive function, exercising the rest of the body can have a positive impact on brain performance. Even exercise as simple as walking for 30 minutes every few days can improve attention span and memory in aging adults, as well as spur the growth of new nerve cells and strengthen synapses.

·       Diet – Several types of foods have been found to help maintain brain activity. For instance, the fatty acids found in wild-caught salmon is known to reduce the risk of stroke and dementia, as well as increase blood flow and combat depression.

·       Plasticity – Brain function will begin to naturally slow after age 50, but that doesn't mean the trend can't be reversed. When aging people continue to mentally challenge themselves to learn new things even as brain function naturally declines, their brains will continue to create new neural pathways that improve overall cognitive function. This process is called "brain plasticity." 

For more great tips on healthy aging and other health matters, contact Wellsource at 800-533-9355.

 

 

The Aging Brain, Part 1 – How the Brain Ages

As everyone knows, the brain undergoes several biological changes as it ages. But new science is revealing that many of the common ideas of what happens to the brain as it ages are not true. Understanding the latest scientific knowledge about aging brains can help aging people better understand the health risks they face and how those risks can be combatted. 

In this post, we'll discuss some of the myths about the aging brain. 

·       Myth #1: Brain Cells Die Off as the Brain Ages – One of the most common myths about the aging brain is that, after a certain point, brain cells start dying off without being replaced. No matter how old a brain is, it will continue to have the same number of functioning brain cells (barring injury, illness, etc.). The brain will eliminate its least necessary synapses as time goes on, maintaining those that are necessary to its functioning, instead.

·       Myth #2: Dementia Is an Unavoidable Part of Aging– Another common myth is that dementia is an unavoidable symptom of getting older. To the contrary, only 1-3% of people aged 65 experience dementia.

·       Myth #3: Cognitive Functions Cannot Be Restored – Many believe that once a brain starts suffering from memory loss and reduced cognitive function, the loss is permanent. New studies, however, are discovering the opposite. Walking for 30 minutes three times a week has been found to not only maintain brain function, but also reverse some loss in brain function. Likewise, forgetfulness with age is as much learned behavior as it is a natural process. In the next post, we'll talk a bit more about how brain functions can be maintained and restored with age. 

Want more news and tips on health and wellness? Contact Wellsource today at 800-533-9355.