Lead your Kids to the Right Track

How important is it to be a role model for your children when it comes to fitness and sports?
Some parents underestimate their behaviors and the influencing roles they play in helping their children make healthy choices.

The British Heart Foundation has notably cautioned that only one in eight kids is getting the recommended 60 minutes of exercise a day.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, children who are aged 8 to 18 watch nearly 4.5 hours of television a day. On average, our children spend 7 hours in front of media (TV, movies, computers, and video games).

Research suggests that if the child gets into the habits of exercising regularly, it will boost lifelong benefits—from improved life skills, greater self-confidence, team involvement, to social inclusivity.

Read more tips on how to encourage your children to stay active and fit: Teaching Healthy Exercise Values to Your Children

Reasons to Make Sleep a Priority This Year

Everybody's talking about New Year's resolutions, but we have one for you that can help you lose weight, have better sex, make you look younger, and improve your overall health.

What is it, you ask? Sleep more.

This is a resolution that's definitely easier said than done, especially due to our hectic schedules, but experts agree that getting a good night's rest on a regular basis is essential if you want to look and feel your best.

According to a recent article by The Huffington Post, sleep affects just about every aspect of your life, and this impact can be both positive and negative depending on the amount and quality of sleep you receive each night.

Here are 4 good reasons to make sleep a priority this year:

1. More sleep means a better sex life.
2. Better sleep can lower your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.
3. Good quality sleep helps to prevent diabetes and obesity.
4. Resolving sleep disorders may help prevent or improve mental illness.

To learn more, read the full article: This Year, Sleep Your Way to Better Health

What Your Friends Reveal About Your Health

In life, there aren't many things we can control, but we can choose our friends, and a new study suggests this affects much more than our social lives.

Having good quality friendships has a major impact on physical and mental health, even more so than family relationships.

A new study shows that even online friendships can affect a person's overall health, and might even help them reach their personal goals of quitting smoking or losing weight.

This is especially true for those struggling with obesity. The study shows that online support helps people to follow diet and exercise plans better than real life friends can.

The author of the study, Damon Centola, wrote, "Our findings suggest that obese individuals may be more dependent than healthier individuals on the compositions of their social networks for making decisions about adopting health behaviors."

To learn more, read the full article: The Curious Connection Between Friendship and Health

How Will You Get Healthy in 2012?

The holidays are officially over, which means it's time to make New Year's resolutions!

Although many people dread this long-standing tradition, New Year's resolutions are a great way to work towards becoming a better person. Whether your goal is to quit smoking, eat healthier, or help others, making that promise to yourself is an important first step.

So what are the most popular New Year's resolutions of 2012?

For Americans especially, this year is all about getting healthy. From joining a gym, to cooking healthier meals, adults and kids alike are beginning to take responsibility for their health and well-being. Businesses are recognizing this change as well, and soon fitness centers all over the United States will be fully equipped to get your body, mind and spirit in tip-top shape. Instead of just a physical workout, gyms are following the trend of well-rounded health, and employing mental health doctors, nutrition specialists, lifestyle coaches and more to help clients get back into gear.

Schools and other businesses are also jumping aboard the health train, offering more time to move and exercise, along with healthier food options to make weight loss that much easier.

If all of that isn't enough to keep you motivated this year, social media is also on a health kick, with many networking sites and applications specially designed to keep your health on track.

To learn more about the health trends of 2012, read the full article: Health Trends to Watch in 2012

What Type of Snorer are You?

Snoring is becoming a more talked about health issue recently, especially due to the rising number of sleep apnea cases worldwide.

This sleep disorder is very serious, although not all types of snoring are associated with sleep apnea.

Snoring is both a nuisance (causing strain on relationships, and pure exhaustion) and a legitimate health condition that can lead to heart disease, dementia, and stroke if not addressed by a medical professional.

To get to the bottom of your (or your partner's) snoring problems, experts suggest figuring out the cause of the snoring. This can be a result of excess weight, bad habits such as smoking and drinking, or an underlying health condition. Different types of snorers come with different causes, and each variety of snoring has its own unique treatment plan, which involves everything from at-home remedies to surgery.

To learn more, read the full article here: Getting to the Source of Snoring and Sleep Apnea 

Are We Killing Ourselves With Bad Health Habits?

Just less than a century ago, contagious illnesses plagued our society. With the invention of vaccinations, all of that changed, nearly wiping out tuberculosis, polio, and other killer viruses in the developed world.

With these illnesses eradicated, ideally, there shouldn't be anything to worry about health-wise, but according to the CDC and the United Nations, we couldn't be more wrong.

In September, the UN General Assembly held its first ever chronic disease summit, which highlighted heart disease, cancer, stroke and lung disease as a major cause of death worldwide. Although these conditions are very serious, they are also quite preventable, which is why experts believe that the public needs to take steps for their own personal health, before this international health issue becomes a full blown crisis.

Dr. Janet Brown, dean of the College of Nursing at Valparaiso University told the Northwest Indiana Times, “We could do a lot to help ourselves. We’re much better at helping people once they have a chronic disease live with it rather than prevent it. The road to getting people health is long and arduous.”

However, the prevention of chronic disease is surprisingly easy. These healthy habits can not only increase your chances of a longer life, but they will leave you looking and feeling great in the process.

To learn more about healthy habits, read the full article: Our Unhealthy Habits - A Potential Health Care Nightmare

Another Reason to Smile About Weight Loss: Improved Dental Health!

Although weight loss surgery is a serious procedure to undergo, the health benefits far outweigh the risks.

Bariatric surgery has been proven to reverse the effects of joint pain, heart disease and diabetes, and a new study shows another potential benefit to getting rid of extra fat.

Researchers examined a total of 31 obese patients with gum disease. Half of this group had gastric bypass surgery and abdominal fat reduction, along with dental care for their gum disease. The other half only received gum disease treatments.

The results illustrated a strong connection between improved oral health and weight loss, as the gastric bypass patients fared much better in overall oral health when compared to the other study participants.

This is a good reminder of just how important is is to keep yourself at a healthy weight, and to lose extra pounds as soon as possible, for immediate health benefits.

To learn more, read the full article: Weight Loss Benefits Include Improved Dental Health

Obesity Rates in India on the Rise

According to a 2010 study by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), one in five men and one in six women in India are overweight.

Obesity is better known as a "Western" problem where modern lives are more sedentary and include fat-filled processed foods; not in India, a country with one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world.

However, India's booming economy has brought a new level of affluence to certain parts of the population, and with money, comes problems.

One of those is obesity, and in some parts of India, obesity rates are as high as 40 percent!

Because of this, bariatric surgeons in India are seeing an influx of patients looking to treat their obesity with weight loss surgery, and also to combat obesity-related illness, including diabetes and heart disease.

To learn more, read the full article: Obesity in India - Growing Economy Sparks National Health Crisis

Heart Disease Symptoms 'Hide' in Healthy Young Adults

You're a healthy weight, with good cholesterol levels and blood pressure readings. Plus, you have no family history of heart attack or stroke. You might think you're in the clear as far as any risks of developing heart disease are concerned, but think again.

A new study shows that a large percentage of seemingly healthy young adults already have a major symptom of heart disease called atherosclerosis.

Lead study author Dr. Eric Larose said, “These are young adults with no known risk factors. They had no diabetes, their cholesterol levels and blood pressures were normal. And none of them were obese. They were basically the picture of good health.”

He added, “The proportion of young, apparently healthy adults who are presumably ‘the picture of health’ who already have atherosclerosis is staggering.”

Atherosclerosis is a thickening of the blood vessel walls, and this condition may be present in even the slimmest, healthiest of patients, without them even realizing it.

Scientists in the study used an MRI scan to determine the results, but they also suggested a much simpler approach to diagnosing this problem in young patients; measuring waist to hip ratio.

Dr. Nehal N. Mehta, director of the Inflammatory Risk Clinic in Preventative Cardiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania told MSNBC, “It’s important to realize that these changes in the arteries begin early in life and that atherosclerosis is a chronic disease that takes years to develop.”

She added, “You don’t have to wait to see a doctor to find out if you’re at risk. Just take a tape measure and see how your hips compare to your waist.”

While this easy trick can help gauge your risk for heart disease, experts also say healthy lifestyle choices, especially regular exercise, can improve heart health dramatically.

To learn more, read the full article: Many 'Healthy' Young Adults Have Hidden Heart Problems

Too Skinny for Pregnancy? Why "Mommyrexia" Isn't Healthy

Although it might be a dream to have the ability to become pregnant, gain a cute "bump", and shed the weight just weeks after giving birth, experts say keep dreaming, because "mommyrexia" is terrible for your health.

While celebrities might make this trend look good, it's no good for mom or baby, and can lead to dangerous pregnancy complications and pre-term labor.

A recent study shows another good reason for the super-skinny to gain a little weight: being underweight may also contribute to infertility.

In the study, which examined about 2,500 IVF cycles, scientists found that underweight women had the worst chances for pregnancy.

Head researcher Richard Sherbahn of the Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago said to the Telegraph, “There has been the suggestion from other observations that being too thin is not good for fertility. Women that are too thin sometimes don’t always get periods or have irregular periods, and it alters their hormonal situation.”

To learn more, read the full article: The Skinny on Infertility - Why a Healthy Weight is Ideal for Pregnancy