Being a couch potato increases cancer risk!

2-25-12: Here's another report showing how being a couch potato increase your cancer risk. This was presented at the annual conf. of the Amer. Institute for Cancer Research last Nov. 2011. You can read more about this at the AICR website. Check out the graph below highlighting various risk levels.

This graphic shows the various risk based on how active you are during the day, even when you get the recommended amount of physical activity recommended by the DHHS in 2008 (the green blocks). Being sedentary is an independent risk factor even when you do your recommended exercise prescription.

Bottomline: Even if you do your 30-60 mins. of moderate exercise at least 5 days a week, you can't afford to be a couch potato the other 23 hours of the day! You have to break it up and move throughout the day.

New mechanism on how sitting can make you fat!

2-25-12: Conventional wisdom held that the reason people gain weight watching a lot of TV was because they didn't burn a lot of kcals and they tended to eat a lot of kcals while watching TV. Well some new research has now found another reason: the "mechanical stretch load" that is common in sitting or laying down for long periods of time actually stimulate the precursors to fat cells to develop and multiply more rapidly (with kcal intake held constant).

You can read more about the study here. Another reason why you should avoid being a couch potato and hypokinetic disease! For the actual technical article, click on Am J Physiol Cell Physiol October 2011

(A more recent and technical article explaining this can be found Journal of Biomechanics, Jan. 2012)

How to think like an exerciser!

2-15-12: Wonder how life-long exercisers do it? Read this article so you, too, can think like an exerciser. Then maybe one day, you'll find that you're an exerciser, too!

Here are some of the tips in this article:

1. Look for opportunities, not excuses
2. View exercise as a necessity
3. Find ways to move all day long
4. Look at it as a tool for getting what you want

The article gives you examples and more details on how to think this way, so check it out and start becoming a life-long exerciser today!

Eating well alone may not be enough to reverse metabolic problems

2-9-12:  Eating well may not be enough to reverse or prevent metabolic diseases from being passed on from an obese mom to offspring. But when exercise was added, metabolic diseases were reduced.;-)

 

While these studies, like many nutrition and exercise studies, were done in rats, the researchers said that due to the similarties in our metabolic systems, they expect to see similar results in humans.

 

You can read more about it here: http://www.stonehearthnewsletters.com/huge-boost-for-the-fitness-industry-healthy-eating-alone-is-not-enough-to-overcome-metabolic-disease-passed-on-by-obese-mothers/updates/

2-9-12: Sadly, LA County passed an ordinance that will limit what you can throw and dig at the beaches starting this summer. Only beach balls and volleyballs are allowed, and no hole deeper than 18-inches!

We love to throw a football or frisbee at the beaches, and I love to dig deep holes to sit in so that only my head shows. Of course, we fill everything up and are careful not to hit people sitting close by or throw where there's less people, so it's sad that we can pay a hefty fine if we're caught doing those things.

Read more about it here: http://beta.local.yahoo.com/news-la-county-oks-000-fine-throwing-football-frisbee-beaches

Going to the beaches won't be as fun as it used to be...Boo hoo for cramping our physical activities at the beach, LA County!!!

Super paintball!

2-5-12: While many were prepping for some game where they would sit on their rears for hours, a group of us ventured out and created our own excitement on this super day to play. Sarah (in white t-shirt) is a student at CSUSB and an intern at my work, and her first time at paintball (though she brought out all her own gear! Fortunately, she left her Glock (sp?) at home! ;-) She also brought her boyfriend's mom out, Tammy (blue sweatshirt), and it was her first time, too. They both did very well and took their hits well.

In one game, Sarah and I were on opposite sides and I happened to come across her so had to take her out in a hail of paintballs! LOL! Wish I could've captured that on video...next time! ;-)

One lady (wearing hat in pix) from my evening Total Wellness class even came out to just watch--I think she even brought her mom out! Glad they weren't hit by stray paintballs in our staging area. Whew!

Enjoy some of the pixs!

Targeting Sedentarianism with exergaming!

1-11-12: Happy New Year! I hope that you have a great holiday break. I'm sure many received some sort of exergame (such as a Wii or Kinect), and are using it to stay active in the new year.

As I look back on the last few years in the field of exergaming, a lot of the attention has been focused on using exergames as a way to increase physical activity (PA) and to be used as a new intervention for an exercise prescription (Exercise Rx).

However, in just the last year, I've noticed a new focus coming up...that of decreasing sedentary behavior. At first glance, this may seem like 2 sides of the same coin or mere semantics, but in fact, evidence is coming out that shows sedentary behavior is an independent risk factor compared to not doing the your exercise Rx.

In other words, someone who is doing their regular exercise Rx of 30 mins, 5x/wk, but then then is totally sedentary the other 23+ hours of the day (sleep, sitting at work, driving, etc.), is almost at the same risk as not doing your Exer. Rx at all!!! In other words, doing your workout does NOT protect you from being a couch potato the other 23 hours of the day!!!

A study that just came out highlights this in youth. Published by the American College of Sports Medicine, you can read more about it here.

What I like about this new focus is that now, instead of seeing which exergames meet the moderate to vigorous levels of intensity to qualify as "exercise", we are just focused on kids (and adults) being less sedentary!!! They talk about the benefits of JUST STANDING while talking on the phone, for example. With this level of physical activity, EVERY SINGLE exergame would qualify as an tool to decrease sedentary behavior!!!

Imagine schools, workplaces, homes, taking "sedentary vaccinations" by playing a game or two of some popular exergame every hour. It would be a nice mental break as well as a physical activity against sedentarianism.

I think we should encourage more research into the viability and effectiveness of exergames to break sedentary behavior. Then maybe, exergames will be more fully accepted by all those in the sports medicine and healthcare fields and promoted as a tool for their patients/client.

What do you think? Feel free to comment here or e-mail me at xrgamer1@gmail.com or post a message on my Facebook wall (Exergaming Interventionist).