Mayo Clinic Researchers New Announcement: Lack of Exercise should be treated as a medical condition by Doctors

This is a huge building block in the bridge we fitness professionals need to build to the medical community. In the U.S.A., we now have exceeded $3 Trillion a year in medical and health-care costs. We know that 80%-90% of those costs are a direct result of the lifestyle choices of American’s. We know that providing Personal Training services that would train, educate and teach every man, woman, and child in the U.S.A. to begin a healthy eating and health exercise program, would not only reduce the cost of medical care, but dramatically improve longevity, health and happiness of our clients.
According to comments made by Dr. Michael Joyner, Mayo Clinic Physiologist in the August edition ofJournal of Physiology: “A sedentary lifestyle is a common cause of obesity and excessive body weight and fat in turn are catalysts for diabetes, high blood pressure, joint damage and other serious health problems. Prolonged lack of exercise can cause the body to become disconditioned, (seen in sedentary workers with desk jobs or immobilized patients) with wide ranging structural and metabolic changes: the heart rate may rise excessively during physical activity, bones and muscle atrophy, physical endurances WANE, and blood volume decline. I would argue that physical inactivity is the root cause of many of the common problems that we have. If we medicalize it, we could then develop a way, just like we’ve done for addiction, cigarettes and other things, to give people treatments, and lifelong treatments, that focus on behavioral modifications and physical activity. And then we can take public health measures, like we did for smoking, drunk driving and other things to limit physical inactivity and promote physical activity.”
This is precisely the reason for the development of the IFPA Medical Fitness Specialist Certification (MFS) and the Fellowship In Integrated Sports Medicine (FIISM). FIISM is a post graduate training program for doctors to gain the knowledge, skills, and abilities to utilize non-invasive sports medicine treatments and exercise and nutrition prescriptions to treat all chronic disorders. The IFPA-MFS Certification Course has been developed so fitness professionals can execute those prescriptions for the doctors’ patients safely and effectively.
Source: Journal of Physiology, August 2012, Michael Joyner, MD

Youth Fitness

Physical Inactivity affects Kid’s Coordination , according to American Journal of Human Biology Children who spent more than 75% of their time physically inactive, have up to nine times poorer motor coordination than their more active peers. Childhood is a critical time for the development of motor coordination skills. If children do not learn to be active in their youth, they never learn to be active. Physical inactivity has a devastating impact, not only on motor coordination skills, but also causes lower self-esteem, decreased academic achievement and increased obesity.
The research showed that the impact of physical inactivity was greater on boys than girls. Girls who were physically inactive for 77.3% or more of their time were 4 to 5 times less likely to have normal motor coordination than more active girls. Boys who were physically inactive 76% or more of their time were 5 to 9 times less likely to have normal motor coordination than more active boys.
This should be a major wake-up call for all parents and education leaders. If children do not get exercise early, their development will be permanently damaged.
Sources: American Journal of Human Biology, August 2012, Dr. Luis Lopes from the University of Miho.
WARNING: Clif Bar recall, some wrappers do not list ALMONDS in the ingredients. This can be life threatening to those with almond allergies

Nutrition News: More Good News on Chocolate

According to new research published in the American Heart Association Journal: “Hypertension,” eating cocoa flavanols daily may improve mild cognitive impairment. One improvement caveat: the study was by Mars Inc. and Mars Inc. provided the standardized cocoa drinks. I have no expertise in Mars candy bars, but it is widely accepted that any chocolate bar should be at least 70% cocoa (preferably higher) to provide the health benefits that have been reported in numerous studies. Most American Chocolate is too high in sugar and too low in cocoa to provide health benefits.
Besides cocoa, flavanols can be found in apples, grapes, red wine and tea (all teas of all colors). Flavanols have been associated with a decreased risk of dementia.
In the study, those elderly participants consuming the highest levels of cocoa, over 8 weeks significantly improved in the ability to relate visual stimuli to motor responses, working memory, task-switching and verbal memory. Participants drinking the highest level of cocoa had significantly higher overall cognitive score and decreased insulin resistance, blood pressure and oxidative stress. Changes in insulin resistance explained about 40% of the composite scores for improvements in cognitive functioning.
Mars Inc. provided daily drink was either 990 milligrams (high), 520 mg (intermediate), or 45mg (low) of daily-based coca flavanol drink for 8 weeks.

Stay Active! Call Phil today at 610-574-3587.