Daily Health News Blog

Increasing activity and limiting calories are the most important ways to keep weight off as you get older. But by following the metabolism-boosting pointers below, you may have an easier time keeping those extra pounds from creeping up on you.   Add muscle . Each pound of muscle burns about six calories a day, versus two calories a day for fat. Strength training exercises, such as lifting weights or doing squats, lunges or sit-ups, can help you build muscle.   Get moving . Just 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise five days a week can burn about 1,000 calories a week. That works out to about 15 pounds a year. High-intensity workouts, such as jogging or using a stair climber, may have an additional benefit -- increasing your resting metabolic rate after a workout.   Eat more often . The American Dietetic Association recommends eating three meals and one or two snacks a day. Just make sure to choose healthy snacks, such as fruit or yogurt, and don't increase ...

CAN YOU SNOOZE AND LOSE? Can getting too little sleep make you fat? Or undermine your weight-loss efforts? On the flip side, can adequate sleep help keep you svelte? It may sound farfetched, but several studies in recent years have suggested such a connection.  A large study from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, in the  International Journal of Obesity , found that dieters were most successful when they got just the right amount of sleep (six to eight hours a night). Having lower stress levels helped, too. In another study, in the  Annals of Internal Medicine , overweight people on calorie-restricted diets lost more body fat and retained more lean tissue (muscle) when they slept about eight hours versus five hours a night. Other studies have linked decreased sleep to greater calorie intake and increased abdominal fat. One proposed mechanism is that not getting enough sleep affects appetite hormones, notably ghrelin and leptin, leading to increased h...

It's not often that you find great exercise equipment costing $25 or less. But cylindrical foam rollers, which you can roll your body over in countless ways, are just that. Sold on the Internet and in sporting-goods stores, foam rollers can help you stretch and massage yourself, do strengthening exercises, and improve balance and body alignment. They're often used by physical therapists for the rehab of certain types of injuries, as well as in yoga and Pilates sessions. In fact, one of the first people to use foam rollers was Moshe Feldenkrais, who developed the movement therapy that bears his name. The rollers, full cylinders or half cylinders, come in different lengths, diameters, and densities. A typical starter roll is fairly dense, about 36 inches long, and 6 inches in diameter. Foam rollers are good at relieving hard-to-reach knots and tension points in your back, legs, and elsewhere. Known as myofascial release, this simple technique uses your body weight to pr...

Magnesium plays many crucial roles in the body and has potential health benefits. It's found in lots of foods, but should you also take a supplement? Notably, magnesium is involved in energy production, cell growth, blood pressure, bone health, and the functioning of the heart, nerves, and muscles. Here's a look at its potential role in chronic disease. Magnesium and heart health.  An adequate intake of magnesium helps prevent arrhythmias, reduce cardiac damage from oxidative stress, keep blood vessels healthy, prevent spasms of coronary arteries that can cause angina, and boost HDL ("good") cholesterol levels. So it makes sense that many observational studies have found that people with a high dietary intake of magnesium have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. But overall, studies on magnesium supplements for heart health or blood pressure control have had inconsistent results. Magnesium and diabetes.  Magnesium is essential for the body's use of i...

A new study led by North Carolina researchers has found that when it comes to weight- and fat loss, aerobic training is better than resistance training. The study is believed to the largest randomized trial to directly compare changes in body composition induced by comparable amounts of time spent doing aerobic and resistant training, or both in combination, among previously inactive overweight or obese non-diabetic adults. The study is entitled "Effects of aerobic and/or resistance training on body mass and fat mass in overweight or obese adults". It is published in the December 2012 edition of the  Journal of Applied Physiology  published by the American Physiological Society. Methodology A total of 234 previously sedentary overweight or obese males and females, age 18-70 years of age, were enrolled in one of three eight-month supervised protocols: aerobic training (AT), resistance training (RT), or a combination (AT/RT). Of the total, 119 participants completed...

The battle of the bulge is on -- any movement on the scale yet? "Losing weight is one of the top resolutions made every year, yet only 20 percent of people achieve successful weight-loss and maintenance," says Jessica Bartfield,MD, internal medicine who specializes in nutrition and weight management at the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery & Bariatric Care. Despite that fact that two-thirds of Americans say they are on a diet to improve their health, very few are actually decreasing in size. "Dieting is a skill, much like riding a bicycle, and requires practice and good instruction, " says Dr. Bartfield. "You're going to fall over and feel frustrated, but eventually you will succeed and it will get easier." Top Four Reasons Why Dieters Don't Lose Weight According to Dr. Bartfield, here are the top four reasons why many dieters fail to lose weight. 1. Underestimating Calories Consumed "Most people (even experts!) underestimat...

And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been. - Rainer Maria Rilke You raze the old to raise the new. - Justina Chen Headley There are as many worlds as there are kinds of days, and as an opal changes its colors and its fire to match the nature of a day, so do I. - John Steinbeck One can begin so many things with a new person-even begin to be a better man. - George Eliot A bridge of silver wings stretches from the dead ashes of an unforgiving nightmare to the jeweled vision of a life started anew. - Aberjhani You're never too old, never too bad, never too late and never too sick to start from scratch once again. - Harriet Morgan Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. - Alan Cohen Life is not a dress rehearsal. Stop practicing what you're going to do and just go do it. In one bold stroke you can transform today. - Marilyn Grey Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways...