Vonnies Health Spot

LOSE WEIGHT AND GAIN FITNESS WITH "SOFT" EXERCISES

All my life, I’ve known the benefits of exercise. I learned them at my mother’s knee because she was a dedicated exerciser. Mom and I have done it all, from athletics to weight training to dancing. For both of us dancing seemed to be the ideal exercise. We discovered this separately, she when I was away at college, me after my own kids were grown. But hardwired preferences sometimes do run in families and in this case that proved to be true. I lost 40 pounds during the couple of years that I was a competitive ballroom dancer and I made gains in general fitness as well. And it all seemed so easy because I was having fun!

Now from Johns Hopkins Health Alerts comes information that exercise doesn't have to be a chore to offer health advantages. The latest studies suggest that "soft" exercises, such as yoga, dog walking and gardening, can help you manage your weight.

Most of these soft exercise activities are not extra-large calorie burners. But they do get you up and moving and away from the TV and fridge. Here are few exercises you might try to lose weight and enjoy yourself.

YOGA
Yoga is a great way to relax and reduce stress, and new research shows that it may also help control weight. In a recent study of more than 15,000 middle-aged people, those who did yoga for at least half an hour a week for four or more years were better able to fight off weight gain.
    Although a vigorous yoga session can burn up to 250 calories, the energy expenditures related to yoga itself were probably not responsible for the lack of weight gain seen in the study. Rather, it's more likely that taking up yoga makes you more mindful of what you’re eating and of your body and health in general. In addition, yoga can improve breathing, strength, and flexibility, making you more apt to perform other types of physical activity and lose weight.

WALKING THE DOG
Dogs are more than delightful companions — they can help with weight control. In a 2005 study, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that disabled people who started off walking a dog for 10 minutes three times a week, and worked up to 20 minutes five times a week, lost an average of 14 pounds over the course of a year — without purposefully changing their diets. Most weight-loss programs can’t boast of those kinds of results.
    Another study, conducted at Northwestern University, found that people who went on a weight-loss and fitness plan together with their dog lost 11 pounds over the course of a year. Diet and exercise with your dog? That’s right. Like humans, many dogs are overweight, so involving your pooch in your weight-loss efforts can be beneficial for both you and your dog.

OTHER SOFT EXERCISES
Light gardening and yard work can be surprisingly taxing: Performed at a moderate pace, a 154-lb person can burn 330 calories per hour digging up weeds and raking. A similar case can be made for dancing and golfing (when you walk and carry your clubs). Biking at a moderate pace (less than 10 miles per hour) can burn 290 calories an hour, while walking at 3.5 miles per hour can burn 280 calories an hour. Swimming slow freestyle laps can burn a whopping 510 calories per hour.

If you're exercise averse, look for activities that you enjoy or that allow you to socialize, such as doubles tennis or fly fishing with a friend. Consider joining a walking club or taking a class (gentle yoga, tae kwon do, tai chi or chi gong perhaps). In short, look for the fun in moving more as you strive to make activity a part of your everyday life.

If you found this Health Alert interesting and want to learn more about exercise, weight loss, nutrition, dietary fats, fiber, antioxidants and related topics, Johns Hopkins recently published a 2008 Nutrition and Weight Control White Paper.

Written by a team of top doctors and nutritionists from Johns Hopkins, this fascinating 88-page report is filled with important information to help you understand your body's nutritional needs, the factors that affect body weight, and the health consequences of being overweight. Available for just $19.95 US [$19.95 CDN], the 2008 Nutrition and Weight Control White Paper can be ordered as an instant PDF download or in a handsome print edition. Just click on www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com
and search "soft exercises."

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

DANCING YOUR WAY TO HEALTH

A few years ago I was acting in commercials and one day my agent asked me if I knew how to ballroom dance. Off the cuff, I said “sure.” Driving home, I gave it a little more thought and decided, yes, I know how to dance a few steps and I have always been pretty good at following, but do I really know the patterns? The answer was no. So rather than call my agent and 'fess up, I called the nearest Arthur Murray dance studio. My reasoning was that I could take a few quickie lessons and get the moves I needed, then next time I was sent on an audition that involved dancing, I would nail the part.

I started my lessons, commuting 50 miles twice a week. First I started group classes, then I decided that wasn’t fast enough for me, so I took up private sessions. Long story short … I got hooked and started competing. I lost the 40 pounds I needed to shed, got the most toned I ever been in my life (except once about 10 years previously when I had been studying tae kwan do). I felt like an athlete. But those were the days ... not too long ago ... when people outside the dance subculture would snicker when I told them I was a competitive ballroom dancer. People on the inside knew what great workouts we were getting, but those outside looked upon ballroom dancing as kind of cheesy. Now …  finally … the rest of the world is figuring it out. My, how times have changed!

Thanks to the International Olympic Committee for giving ballroom dancing provisional recognition and to the television production of Dancing with the Stars, partner (ballroom) dancing is finally getting the mainstream attention that it deserves.

Writer Nancy Christie says in the fall issue of HealthSmart Today, “Long before ABC’s Dancing with the Stars became a blockbuster success, passionate souls—hidden away in small studios across the nation—have been waltzing their way to lean legs, tight glutes and sleek waistlines for years. Although the exhilaration of the music, the intricate moves and the closely held partner is what inspires most ballroom dancers to take to the floor, ballroom dancing is now being heralded as a great form of cardiovascular exercise.”

A recent study completed by Dr. Hermes Ilarraza of the National Institute of Cardiology in Mexico, which he subsequently presented at the World Congress of Cardiology in Barcelona, Spain, showed that partner dancing can give as good an aerobic workout as more conventional forms of exercise. And let’s face it … it’s a lot more fun than running on a treadmill.

The study was small … a group of 40 heart disease patients, all of whom committed to doing half an hour of exercise a day, five days a week, for five weeks. Twenty of the study’s participants got their exercise from a dance routine choreographed by a professional dancer, while the others worked out on stationary bicycles. Ilarraza found that the dance group’s exercise capacity increased by 28 percent, just 3 percent shy of the cycling group who came in at 31 percent.

In addition to cardio health, burning calories is important too. The chart below gives some typical calorie burns for the average-size person. Of course, the calorie-burn total can be higher or lower, depending on your age, weight and muscular development (even at rest, muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue).

Calories Burned
Per Hour            Activity       
    207            Ballroom (slow)
    306            Swing
    306            General
    326            Twist
    378            Ballroom (fast)
    394            Disco
    465            Hip Hop

According to Christie, “ … In addition to toning your leg muscles, dancing contributes to good posture and body alignment, it works your core and upper body, encourages gentle stretching, increases your flexibility and stamina, is weight-bearing so it builds healthy bones, and all that whirling and twirling helps you develop your balance like nothing else.” Also, for those of you who struggle with that ol’ demon depression, dancing pumps massive amounts of feel-good hormones into your system.

So if joining a gym seems worse than a trip to the dentist for you, try going to a dance studio instead. You will probably be pleasantly surprised.

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.