Exercising Regularly Could Mean Less of the Common Cold

by EARTHA

One thing that I have noticed since I've made exercise a habit in my life, is that I don't get as many colds as I used to. I came across an article which explains why this may be the case. Exercising regularly (5 or more times per week) can boost our immune systems. The reason being that exercising stimulates the movement of immune cells throughout the body about three hours after a workout.

The more we exercise, the more our immune cells will be ready for invading pathogens. Since regular exercise can boost the immune system, does that mean we should exercise when we do catch a cold? I would say no. When you're already sick, you will do best to get over a cold by letting your body rest.

If you do exercise on a regular basis and still catch a cold, chances are it won't be as severe.

...researchers found the length of time cold symptoms lasted was shorter by 43 percent to 46 percent in people who worked out five or more times a week, compared with people who worked out once a week or never.

What About the Gym?

I would suggest to do your best to avoid the germs at the gym. When I belonged to a gym, I caught many colds and I'm betting it was due to touching the various gym equipment. Handles on weights and fitness machines will hold the most germs. Hopefully your gym provides antibacterial wipes or spray to wipe down the equipment with.

Read my gym germs article below for more tips:


Avoiding Gym Germs – There's Some Nasty Stuff at the Gym!

You don't need to do extreme workouts to help avoid the common cold. A 30-minute brisk walk on a regular basis can help.

Diet and Fitness Tips for People with High Cholesterol

Post by Lisa Shoreland.

When I was 11 years old I had one summer where I packed on about 50 pounds in about 3 months. My family took me to the doctor and they found that I had high cholesterol. This was brought on by an overconsumption of food, and the fact that I had inherited a trait called familial hypercholesterolemia. Like my grandmother and one aunt, my body fails to respond to any cholesterol lowering medication. Because of this, I’ve had to rely on diet and exercise to regulate my cholesterol. This has not been easy, as I am not a naturally athletic person. What follows is some advice to help regulate your weight and cholesterol based on this personal experience. I am not a medical doctor, and none of this is meant to be a replacement for professional advice.

Use Calorie Tracking Software to Determine Your Intake of Unhealthy Fats and Cholesterol

It always comes up in discussions with my dietician, “so, what’ve you been eating lately?”, and after I’ve left the office I realize how much I’d forgotten to mention. I’m not suggesting that you permanently keep a food diary, but using one for a month or two can help you to pinpoint trouble areas in your diet. For example, I have known for a long time that cheese was a no-no, but I continued to eat it anyways in what I’d felt was moderation. After a month of tracking my diet, I found I was eating it way too much. It wasn’t the low-fat cheese I ate at home that was hurting me, but what I was getting when eating out. Even if you aren’t interested in losing weight, diet tracking software can help you to identify and eliminate these bad habits.

Find and Use Suitable Replacements for High Cholesterol Ingredients

A big help here is to actually like cooking. Although it depends a bit on where you live, finding restaurants that serve low-fat, low-cholesterol alternatives alongside traditional meals can be tough. The best I can hope for where I live are egg beaters, and according to my dietician, I’m allowed to eat eggs. When you cook at home you have the advantage of controlling exactly what it is you put in your body. All the time I modify recipes I find into low-fat, low-cholesterol alternatives, and I find that the more practice I get with doing this, the better I am at making stuff that tastes just as good as something I’d buy at a restaurant anyways.

Avoid Fad Diets

Although weight is a factor in determining your overall health, it is not the only metric that determines it. I don’t know how many people I’ve met with cholesterol and weight issues, that have ignored the advice of their doctors and instead prescribed to some fad diet that ultimately hurts their health. There really is no secret to it, follow a doctor advised diet with a modest exercise routine and you will see results, even if those results take months to achieve.

Set Realistic Fitness Goals That are Focused on Improving Your Health

Like most of us, I have a busy schedule and my work environment is primarily sedentary. Probably the best shape I’ve ever been in has been when I’ve had more physically demanding jobs. Unfortunately, these jobs have never paid very well. I realize that I’m never going to run a marathon, and I sure don’t plan on ever getting to that point. Instead I choose to focus on regularly fitting in a modest amount of exercise. I walk, do light calisthenics, and play basketball with my brother. It doesn’t sound like much, but I’m consistent with it. At my worst I was 203 pounds with a triglyceride level in excess of 400 points. I was having chest pains all the time, had almost no energy, and just felt horrible in general. It took me about 6 months to reach my goals but I am now happy to say that my weight and cholesterol are both within reasonable levels and I feel great.

How To Burn Fat To Turn On The Light While Exercising

Many times when I was working out on elliptical trainer, I was wondering whether it is possible to transform the kinetic energy I created into electricity.  Though the idea may be new, the science behind generating electricity from gym equipment is not new.  I remember when I was young, I was amazed when I first saw dynamos power up the bike front and rear lamps. Generating power in a gym setting is based on the same theory.  I also read that one shoe manufacturer actually invented shoes which can do “energy harvesting” when dancers dance on a special dance floor.  The dancer’s vibration movements help generate about 6 watts which is sufficient to power up a mobile phone.

In Hong Kong, California Fitness actually invested in the system which allows its members to help turn on the lights when they are exercising.  It initiated a program called “Powered by You”.  The energy is stored in a battery that powers some of the gym lights.  A total of 13 machines (elliptical machines and StairMaster) were first wired up to car battery to store the energy. Those machines actually already have small motion-powered generators used to light up their display screens.  In fact, most (if not all) machines, including treadmill and stationary bike screen will be lit up once you start moving the pedals.

Now, with bigger generators added, more energy can be transformed.  Voltage was then converted from DC to AC to power up 13 fluorescent lights above each machine.  Initially, I thought that much energy can be generated, but then later realized that it is just enough to run 3 television sets and 5 units of 60-watt light bulbs.  So, assuming all these 13 machines were in use for 10 hours a day, it saves the fitness center merely $15 worth of electricity a month.  With that rate, the company needs about 83 years to pay off the $15,000 investment.

California Fitness parent company (24 Hour Fitness Worldwide) in US was watching the Hong Kong experiment closely before it decided to do a global rollout.  It has about 3 million members and close to 400 gym outlets in US alone.  I did not hear much after the Hong Kong pilot.  Guess, from commercial standpoint, unless the upfront cost of investment can be reduced, the setup will remain as pilot, because it just does not make business sense to recoup the investment after 83 years!  So, idea like this may look good on paper, but not really when come to feasibility.  If you look at hybrid cars, they were very expensive 7 years ago.  The price now become slightly affordable only after more manufacturers jump into the bandwagon and governments step in to provide subsidies and have the cars exempted from taxes.

 Comment:

• It is a creative way to tap on the power of human body.  It can turn out to be a very good motivation – the faster you run, the brighter the light is.  So, you actually watch yourself burning fat on that light.  However, the power generated is a drop in the bucket compared to the entire gym overall electricity consumption.  If there is any other gym wants to set up those machines, I doubt that saving electricity is the real reason of doing so.  Rather, it serves as the good motivation tool to get gym members to work out harder and longer. When the exercisers are sweating, they see an instant result and who knows, they may get pumped up to work out more frequent. No pain, no power.
• I still hope that someone will be able to mass produce the generators and energy storage to bring down the cost.  Manufacturers should also considering building the machines from ground up by using smoother gear ratio to reduce friction and transform more kinetic energy to electricity.  The challenge is to build new generation of environmentally friendly exercise equipment which is more cost effective.
• Also, I am wondering – instead of buying the expensive battery as storage, not sure if it is possible to transmit the electricity back out to the grid and sell it back to the utility companies? I mean, plug the machines into any wall outlet and then start pedaling and watch the power meter go reverse.  You may be skeptical about what I just said, but I believe that it is possible, technically.

• When I told my friend about the idea, he asked me, “Why not you put the prisoners into a big wheel and get them to walk to generate electricity.  Feed them bread and water.  Or you set up a gym with free membership, get people walk in to run or cycle to start generating electricity, and then sell it back to the utility company.”  It may work.
• At the mean time, if the gym really wants to save some money (and the environment) yet do not want to spend, turning off some of the unused lights and increase the air conditioner temperature will help more.