YOU .. The Owner's Manual

[ozguy]

Okay folks, this is my contribution to the health and well being of Jubbers everywhere. From now on, I will be posting in this thread daily, providing you with a variety of interesting tidbits and snippets of information to help you stay healthy and live longer!! I'm calling it Ozguy's Guide to the Body That Will Make You Healthier and Younger. Do check it out every now and then!

Today's tidbit .....

One of the many lessons learned from cancer survivor and champion cyclist Lance Armstrong is that while you can't always control what happens to you (no matter how fit you are), there are some things you can control: your attitude, your determination, and your willingness to take your health into your own hands and know as much about your body as possible.

 

[Txgoodoldboy]

Sounds good, go for it.

 

[ozguy]

There are three main factors in age-related disease that you can control - and by controlling them, you slow the aging process. They are:

• 
  [*]aging of your heart and blood vessels
  [*]aging of your immune system
  [*]aging caused by environmental or social issues

To show you the power you have, consider this: You control more than 70% of how well and how long you live. By the time you reach 50, your lifestyle dictates 80% of how you age; the rest is controlled by inherited genetics.

 

[Pushover]

Hmmmm, the genetics in my family have always made us age faster and live longer. My Grandmother that just recently passed away was 103, but she didn't look a day over 200.

 

[oz_doc]

I would define age related illness as illness that occurs as a direct result of ageing and is therefore unmodifiable. You cannot change the fact that blood vessels and your immune system will undergo changes with age. What you can do is limit non age related factors that affect theses systems eg diet (cholesterol), blood pressure, toxin exposure etc.

Guess it depends on your definition but IMHO"age related" means a natural process of changes that occur with age irrespective of other factors which are clearly not age related as people of all ages may have social or environmentaly related disease.

 

[ozguy]

Body Benefit Food Tip

Potassium is found in foods such as Bananas and strawberries and has been shown to help regulate blood pressure, which plays a key role in many hormonal functions. Studies have shown that increased potassium intake can decrease the incidence of some forms of arterial aging. Potassium is an electrolyte - an electrically charged particle needed for proper cellular functioning. Potassium specifically aids in carrying an electrical charge to help a nerve or muscle contract, and it helps regulate blood pressure and allows the heart and kidneys to function properly.

 

[jockboy01]

haha, well, too much potassium can cause cardiac arrythmias and death too. Just everything in moderation! haha.

 

[ozguy]

Blood pressure is the amount of force exerted by your blood on the walls of the arteries as it passes through. Optimally, you want to keep it at 115/76. That's the level at which you'll see the least aging. Ways to lower your blood pressure include medications, physical activity and diet. A great approach that also helps your whole endocrine system is to lose extra weight. Being overweight not only increases blood pressure, it also puts you at risk of diabetes.

 

[Aussieguy01]

You need your own segment on tv ozguy , like on mornings with kerry anne? im liking your little tidbits of info by the way .

 

[ozguy]

You need your own segment on tv ozguy , like on mornings with kerry anne? im liking your little tidbits of info by the way .

Why thank you, mate! I've been a bit slack the last couple of days and haven't posted a tidbit. Anyway, here's today's .....

Maybe you're not terribly worried about your bones, joints and muscles right now, but they're hugely important to the way we age, if for no other reason than this: having Lance Armstrong's heart or Albert Einstein's brain doesn't mean a darn thing if you can't lift yourself off the toilet seat!

 

[ozguy]

Imagine clenching your fist sixty to seventy times per minute for your entire life, which is essentially what your heart does - without ever becoming exhausted. Your heart is equipped to handle drastic change, but it can't work alone, and it can't work efficiently if you don't take care of it!

 

[ozguy]

Generally, what's harmful to your heart is also harmful to your brain. Saturated fats, for example, clog arteries that lead to your brain, putting you at increased risk of stroke, while omega-3 fatty acids - those fats found in fish - are helpful for your brain because they help keep your arteries clear. They also alter your neurotransmitters and reduce depression.

 

[ozguy]

Many bacteria don't just hang out between your teeth; they lounge around on your tongue, too. Use a tongue scraper or brush your tongue while brushing you teeth to help remove some of the bacteria that cause bad breath.

 

[ozguy]

When many people diet, they don't eat enough - and they actually slow their metabolism; they go into a pseudo-starvation mode in which their bodies stop burning calories as fast because they sense a need to preserve them. That's one reason why exercise is so important. Physical activity helps keep the metabolic rate moving quickly.

 

[ozguy]

Body Benefit Food Tip

You should eat three portions of fish a week. Fish, especially fatty fish like salmon and whitefish like cod or bass, is high in those omega-3 fatty acids, which have several powerful benefits. They appear to reduce triglyceride levels in the blood, stabilize the heartbeat, make platelets less sticky, and may bring down blood pressure as well.

 

[ozguy]

It doesn't matter what part of the body we're talking about, practically everything follows the same mantra: use it or lose it!

 

[ozguy]

If you stay in bed more than forty-eight hours after straining your back, your back muscles weaken - and can increase your risk of further injury. To recover from strain, your muscles need to grow stronger and stay active, and the only way they'll do that is by working, even if it's just a little bit. The best method: walk around the house. Keep moving.

 

[ozguy]

The most common signs of a heart attack are:

* chest pain or discomfort (can feel like pressure, fullness, or squeezing)

* discomfort in upper body (either arm, back, neck, jaw, or stomach)

* shortness of breath

* cold sweat

* nausea

* sudden extreme fatigue (without lack of sleep)

 

[ozguy]

Simply doing physical activity for twenty minutes every day is enough to make a difference - in your heart, your arteries, your bones, your joints, your attitude, and your whole health. To define that twenty minutes, it's twenty minutes of sustained activity that leads to you being slightly out of breath, or enough to break a sweat.

 

[ozguy]

Though anything from cat claws to razor blades can disturb the structure of your skin, the greatest enemy, when exposed to it in large amounts, is the sun. Typically, it takes thirty years for sun damage to appear, so the damage you did (or are doing) in your twenties will start showing up in the form of wrinkles during your fifties.