Fight Depression With Exercise

For good health and prevention of disease exercise is a habit that can cure a variety of physical ills. Now, there is growing evidence that exercise can also help people who suffer from depression. Just getting up and moving around seems to have a positive impact on mental health as well as physical health.

The symptoms of depression include loss of appetite, trouble sleeping and just an all around lack of interest in doing things that used to make you feel happy. The good news for people suffering from depression is that studies show that physical exercise can cause an uptick in feelings of well being and the alleviation of feelings of depression. Exercise will help increase your appetite because you're burning more calories and it can help you sleep better because you're burning off some excess energy.

In a 2000 study performed at Duke University Medical Center, 156 people with major depressive disorder (MDD) volunteered to participate in an experiment to test the effect of exercise on depression. After four months, all of the patients reported significant reductions in their depressive symptoms. Also, the results were the same regardless of what kind of exercise they did. Researchers demonstrated in this study that there is an inverse relation between exercise and depression. In plain English, that means that as exercise goes up feelings of depression go down.

Taken together with treatment by a mental health professional, medication is often prescribed to treat depression. To see how exercise compares with taking medication, one of the groups of volunteers did no exercise but instead took Zoloft during the study. The result was that the groups that exercised reported 22% fewer feelings of depression than the group that took medication alone. In addition, the groups that exercised avoided the unpleasant side effects like nausea and insomnia that are sometimes reported by people who take Zoloft.

There are so many benefits of regular exercise. Reductions in heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and stress are just a few. Now, we also know that feelings of depression can be significantly helped by getting up and getting moving. Try adding some exercise to your daily routine and you'll be healthier both physically and mentally.

Quick Exercises For The Home Or Office

These workouts can be done at home or even in your office. With this workout plan, you can work out for just a couple minutes at a time, several times throughout each day, 5 days/week.

This consists of only bodyweight exercises done for about 2-3 minutes, 6-8 times per day, throughout each day. Now obviously if you work a normal office job, you are going to have to not be shy about doing a few exercises in your office and having your cube-mates watch you. Actually, even some people that have tried this have actually gotten their co-workers to join them.

If you work from home, or are a stay at home mom, there's no reason you can't fit these in throughout the day while at home. If you end up having a busy day with meetings and so forth, and can only fit a couple of these 2-minute workouts in, then so be it, but try to get as many done each day as you can.
If you're on a normal 9-5 office schedule, I recommend doing your 2-minute workouts every hour, on the hour, with the exception of lunch. Try doing these at 9am, 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm.

Some of the bodyweight exercises that are the best to focus on are:

* bodyweight squats (and variations)
* pushups (and variations)
* forward, reverse, or walking lunges
* up & down a staircase if one is available
* floor planks (holding the plank position from forearms and feet)
* floor abs exercises such as lying leg thrusts, ab bicycles, etc.
* one-legged bodyweight Romanian deadlifts

This list is not fully comprehensive, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. If you know other good bodyweight exercises, you can add those to your routine also. If you want to keep it real simple and don't want to get down on the floor for anything, you can stick to squats, lunges, and pushups and still get great results.

Feeling a Little Weak in the Knees?

The impact of land-based running can often have significantly debilitating effectson the body. Yet running is one of the most popular cardiovascular activities, andenthusiasts have difficulty cutting back, despite the potential for injury. If this is the case with a client of yours, you might suggest deep-water running (DWR) as a more accommodating alternative to the unforgiving terrain of city streets.
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (2006; 20 [4], 919–27) sought to determine whether two forms of DWR—cross-country (CC) and high-knee (HK)—would provide similar aerobic and kinematic benefits to treadmill running (TR). Researchers tested 20 male and female NCAA Division III runners for VO2max, 60% VO2max and biomechanical kinematics (with markers placed at each joint) during TR. Each athlete was then fitted with an AquaJogger Pro flotation device, entered the deep end of a pool and used the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale to determine intensity. The goal was to maintain 60% VO2max. Each athlete performed CC (visually similar to traditional land-based running) for 5–6 minutes, rested and then performed “pistonlike knee movement” for a further 5–6 minutes.
Results determined that both methods of DWR provided similar oxygen consumption to TR. Researchers found biomechanical differences between the methods, in that CC mimicked TR’s range of motion and gait pattern, while HK was similar to TR in stride rate. Athletes reported higher RPE in DWR than in TR, perhaps because of the water’s natural resistance. Study authors concluded that each method of DWR was effective in providing positive physiological effects and suggested that exercisers could request HK or CC depending on whether their focus was specificity of training (in which case, CC would be the better choice) or stride rate (HK would be more desirable).

Facial Exercises - How Old Do You Look?

I have to admit, facial exercises are not a quick fix. First of all you have to learn the exercises. This takes about 2 weeks of practicing until you can gain control over the muscles of the face. For example, learning to contract only your lower eye lids takes awhile, but once you learn this, it’s effortless. As you engage these newly “revived” muscles, you’re also activating the little lymph nodes that live under the eyes. You therefore not only strengthen and tighten the area under the eyes so that it looks smooth and firmer over time, you’re also flushing away old toxins and those dark circles start to go away.
You see, muscles, skin and connective tissue in the face are complex and intertwined. This allows us to make facial expressions. The body is a little different. Muscles attach bone to bone in the body. The fascia and connective tissue essentially slide “over” the body muscles in comparison to the face. In the face, one end of the muscle is connected to the bones of the face and the other end is connected to another muscle or it connects directly into the skin. Connective tissues as elastic fibers tend to take on the form of the shape of your face as they build. In other words, the skin firms-up around the muscle fiber as it tones and tightens. Wrinkles flatten out and you can literally rub them out. Your neck becomes firm and smooth. Your eyelids lift up. Your cheeks take on a youthful rounded shape. Your complexion improves as more oxygen feeds the cells of your face and neck. In fact, I’ve already done a lot of the research and you can read about it in detail on my website. Just click here: http://www.carolynsfacialfitness.com/ and here: So. Facial exercises have to be learned and they have to be practiced, too. But, for only 15 minutes a workout, 3 times a week, you can take 5, 10, 15 or 20 years off your “real” age. It does require some effort, I admit. But hey! They also help to release tension in the face and you therefore not only look and feel younger; you also look and feel more relaxed and refreshed. How old do you look? You can regain that vital youthful look you thought you’d never see again and it’s just at your fingertips.
Here’s a simple exercise to try once a day five days a week for three weeks. It’s called the “Upper Eyelid Stretch”. Give it 3 weeks and reap the benefits:
• Place the index finger of each hand just under the brows• Push up with your fingers and hold• Try to close the eyes while stretching the lids down towards the bottom of the eyes• Hold this stretch firmly yet gently while counting to 10• Repeat 5 times

How to Do Yoga at Home

There are many benefits to doing yoga at home rather than at a studio or health club/gym. Here are some steps to help you create a home practice that will help you grow physically, mentally and spiritually.

1) Identify what your goals are in your yoga practice

2) Create a tranquil atmosphere

3) You will also need to purchase a yoga mat, which can be found on the internet or local stores. Depending on where you live, you might be able to drive somewhere and buy one.

4) Try buying some beginner yoga CDs

5) If you're following your own routine, you should start your practice with a short meditation and breathing exercise to calm your mind and center your thoughts. The move into a warm-up, standing poses, backbends, twists, forward bends, reclining poses, and finally, final relaxation pose

6) Choose a time in which you will not be disturbed

7) Decide how often you want to practice

8) Deepen your practice

9) Keep a yoga practice journal.

10) Be patient and stick with it