Cenegenics Complete Guide to Healthy Aging - (Page 56) After four months, those who exercised regularly reported falling asleep in less than half the time and sleeping almost an hour longer than before (Harvard Health Letter, March 99). The American Arthritis Foundation advises moving joints through their full range of motion daily. They caution everyday activities do not accomplish this. • Reduced stress: In today’s hectic world, we face stress on many fronts. Tense or tight muscles may be linked to that stress and can be eased with flexibility exercise. Michael J. Alter, former gymnastics coach and author of The Science of Flexibility states, “One of the greatest benefits of stretching is that it can help reduce stress. From a purely physiological perspective, relaxation is the cessation of muscular tension. Tension wastes energy; a contracting muscle requires more exertion than a relaxed one. Everyday experience has shown that a relaxed muscle is less susceptible to fatigue and aches and pain.” Flexibility Exercise • Increased heart fitness: The American Heart Association stresses a minimum of 0 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, at least 3 days a week, is vital to good heart health. Studies have shown exercise to be an effective way to lower blood pressure. Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart muscle, enabling it to circulate blood throughout the body with less effort. This helps decrease blood pressure, reduce stroke risk and prevent coronary, circulatory and respiratory problems. • Reduced stress: Twenty minutes or more of cardiovascular exercise at moderate intensity has been shown to significantly reduce stress. • Increased endurance: Regular aerobic exercise helps increase muscle endurance, making everyday activities (such as walking a flight of stairs without becoming winded) far easier. • Improved quality of sleep: Researchers at Stanford and Emory Universities, as well as the University of Oklahoma, reported older people who participate in brisk walking and/or low-impact aerobics four times a week fall asleep faster than their inactive peers. Flexibility is defined as the range of possible motion around a joint. As we age, joint mobility proves crucial for muscular strength, proper posture and full range of motion. Flexibility exercises—with their gentle movements—help increase the length of connective tissues and muscles. Flexibility exercise also can help reduce stress, alleviate low back pain and greatly diminish the chance of injury. A program can be simple (such as stretching major muscle groups upon waking in the morning) or involved (such as doing yoga, pilates or tai chi). The recommended method to increase flexibility is a regular stretching program, three to seven days a week. Flexibility exercise benefits: • Increased flexibility and range of motion in joints: Vital for good posture, increasing flexibility (especially hip flexors and hamstrings) and help alleviating a majority of low back pain. Some experts believe stretching can relieve up to 80% of low back pain cases. One common cause: short, tight hip-flexor muscles. A stretching program to lengthen these muscles may reduce the risk of pain (The Genius of Flexibility, Bob Cooley, 00). Synergy For Health Hormone optimization works with nutraceutical supplementation, sound nutrition and exercise to promote optimal health and vigor. Cenegenics® is here to help you live well longer. Call us toll-free at 866.953.1510. V. Maximizing Your Health Potential WWW.CENEGENICS.COM v. M axiMizing Y our h ealth p otential http://WWW.CENEGENICS.COM
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.