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Articles:

Here are some newspaper and magazine articles I have had a lot of positive feedback from. I hope you find them useful.

Ageing Agony
Ageing Chart
Overcoming Stress
Subconscious Reshaping
Hormonal Horrors
Lotions Potions Drugs
Smoking Advice
Heartbeat
Fasting Works Wonders
Investing in Fitness
Sports Injuries
Tendonitis
Potbelly Problems
Hollywood Legs
Cellulite Advice
Ki Massage
Insomnia
Endless Energy
Saving Your Skin
Perfect Gift for a Child

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK:

How to slow the changes of Age

The frailty of age is largely reversible. Most older people, even the very old and weak, have the capacity to remarkably increase their muscle strength, balance, walking ability and overall aerobic power. What does it take to turn back the ageing clock? It's surprisingly simple and the research has proved that it has little to do with how old you are or what shape you are in at the start. The key is to exercise regularly, and the amount you do, plus the intensity and duration of the activity, are what make all the difference. Success is determined by good old-fashioned hard work.

What kinds of activities make a meaningful difference? Both aerobic exercise and so-called resistance training (weight lifting) offer important benefits to older people. Let's take a look at the effects of each type of exercise.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic activities such as callisthenics, rapid walking, jogging, dancing, hiking and the like increases flexibility and overall endurance or aerobic power, but not strength. Several important research studies have shown that older people can increase their general physical fitness - that is, their heart and lung fitness - with regular aerobic exercise. In many cases, the improvements exceed those seen in younger adults, and the results are that many older persons who regularly participate in endurance exercise are more physically fit than their sedentary middle aged counterparts. This certainly surprised the researchers. And the added good news is that these aerobic activities are safe for older people, cause few injuries, and even fewer major adverse health consequence. Furthermore, it doesn't take long to see positive results. After less than a year of regular exercise (e.g. walking several days a week for forth-five minute sessions) older people increase their overall fitness dramatically - in many cases doubling their endurance. 

Weight Training: Pumping Iron

You probably think of weight lifting or other strength training as a young person's sport. But that's a stereotype we must erase because weight training can make a tremendous difference in older people's strength and overall ability to function. Strength or "resistance" training increases the size and strength of muscles without improving endurance. Even the "oldest-old" respond well to resistance training. Their muscles grow in size and strength much as younger people's do. What's required for success? Just as with aerobic exercise, the critical factor is not your age or initial strength, but the frequency, intensity and duration of your training. Again the harder you work, the better you do even in the face of physical impairments. 


Other benefits of weight training in older people

Weight training makes a meaningful difference in the lives of older people in several ways. And to give you an idea of who fast the benefits accrue, consider the findings of one important study: after just three months of training, older men doubled the strength of their quads (the large muscles in front of the thigh that straighten the knee) and tripled the power of their hamstrings (the large muscles in the back of the thigh that bend the knee). It is important to note that these muscles not only got bigger, but significantly stronger as well. Individual muscle fibres enlarged, and more protein appear in the muscles - two key measures of improved muscle quality. In other words, as we like to say, the muscles didn't just get juicier - they got meatier. In fact, over the course of the training, strength increased 5 per cent with each training session! Studies have also looked at nutritional supplementation in addition to weight training in older people. The results: muscles got bigger, but not stronger. Exercise alone does both critical jobs. 

And there's more good news - this time both for vanity and good health. Contrary to popular belief, we now know that pumping iron can help you lose weight. People commonly think that only aerobic exercise has this important effect. But science has shown that by turning up the metabolism of muscles (that is, making your body's engine burn a little harder every day) you burn more calories. And that translates into lost weight.

Finally, in addition to boosting strength and burning calories, weight lifting may offer a third powerful benefit to older people's health. Studies have shown that even short-term weight lifting can help reduce depression in older people. This could be extremely important, as depression is epidemic in our society and terribly prevalent in older people.