Archive for the 'Wellness, Fitness and Diet' Category



Tuberculosis; Tubercle Bacillus

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 8:09 pm

Tuberculosis is an infection that often can become deadly. Tuberculosis is caused by the bacteria known as mycobacteria. Tuberculosis can attack the lungs, the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints and the skin at times. The specific name of the bacteria that causes tuberculosis is mycobacteria tuberculosis. Symptoms of the disease are a chronic cough, blood in the phlegm, night sweats, fever and unexplained weight loss. Tuberculosis can be spread through the air very easily. People with the disease can send the disease through the air when they cough, spit or sneeze.

There are a variety of tests that doctors need to perform before diagnosing tuberculosis. They include a chest x-ray, tuberculin skin tests, blood tests and a microscopic examination and microbiological cultures of body fluids. Treating tuberculosis is a difficult process for doctors and patients. It entails various antibiotics. Sometimes there are strains of tuberculosis that can be resistant to antibiotics. Preventing tuberculosis involves screenings and getting oneself vaccinated against the disease.

Tuberculosis is a disease that has been affecting not only human beings but also animals for over 18,000 years. Mummies entombed in Egypt have been examined and it has been scientifically proven that some of those mummies, when alive, were infected with the disease as evidenced by remnants of it in their spine. Scientists have also found strains of tuberculosis in the remains of bison that date back to 18,000 years before the present date. The one thing scientists still aren’t sure of is how tuberculosis developed over the past thousands of years. They aren’t sure if it developed from cattle and then spread to humans or if it spread from an ancestor to other humans and then animals.

The very first doctor to identify tuberculosis as a contagious disease was Ibn Sina in the 1020s. He wrote “The Canon of Medicine.” He is also responsible for developing the method of quarantine to avoid the spread of the disease or any other contagious disease. There was thought at one point that tuberculosis would be eradicated across the globe because the number of cases was beginning to drop appreciably. In 1987, cases of tuberculosis in Great Britain numbered 5,000 after numbering 117,000 in 1913. But then in 2000 the number of cases rose again to 6,300 and the number rose again in 2005 to 7,600.

The recent rise in tuberculosis cases, especially in the 1980s, is somewhat credited to the rise in HIV and patients with tuberculosis not finishing their medicine or treatment regimens assigned by a doctor. People would be heading back to the workplace and other public places before being completely healed of the condition and would begin to infect others by coughing, sneezing and spitting the contagious strain into the air around them.

As of right now it looks as if tuberculosis will never be eradicated on a worldwide stage because of the development of drug-resistant strains. This makes it difficult for doctors to treat their patients because antibiotics will not do the trick in curing the disease.

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Bone Marrow

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 7:46 pm

Bone marrow is an important part of human life. It is a flexible tissue that is found in the hollow interior of bones. Bone marrow exists in two forms. There is red bone marrow and yellow bone marrow. Almost 100 percent of bone marrow at birth falls into the red bone marrow category. Red bone marrow consists of myeloid tissue, red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells. Yellow bone marrow consists of fat cells and some white blood cells can develop in yellow bone marrow. Both the red and yellow bone marrows contain various capillaries and blood vessels.

The red bone marrow converts itself to yellow bone marrow over time. The red bone marrow can be found in flat bones. Flat bones are found in the hip, the breast, the skull, the ribs, the shoulder blades and vertebrae. Yellow bone marrow is found in the hollow interior of the middle portion of bones. If there is ever a severe condition of blood loss; the body has the ability to convert the yellow bone marrow back to red bone marrow to increase blood cell production.

There are a couple of different diseases involving one’s bone marrow that anyone can develop. Diseases of the bone marrow can develop from an infection or a malignancy. A malignancy is also known as a cancer. One type of infection found to disease bone marrow is called tuberculosis. Tuberculosis leads to the decrease in production of blood cells and blood platelets. Cancer of the bone marrow in a human being is known as a leukemia. Other problems of the bone marrow are anemias, lymphomas and plasma cell disorders. To diagnose these diseases a doctor usually performs a bone marrow aspiration. This can also be known as a biopsy. The site of the aspiration is usually on the back of the hip bone. During the biopsy the doctors test the sample for different signs of cancer or any other infection of the bone marrow.

One treatment for leukemia is a bone marrow transplant. This can be done if a bone marrow donor matches a leukemia patient. Once the bone marrow from the donor is inserted into the body of the patient, if the match is successful, the newly infused cells will help with the production of blood cells. A bone marrow transplant is usually only used when the situation is extremely severe for a leukemia patient. Some leukemia cases can be treated with chemotherapy and radiation techniques.

Www.marrow.org is the website for bone marrow donors. If you wish to become a bone marrow donor or learn more about donating your bone marrow to a foundation to help leukemia patients you should give this website a look. If you aren’t looking to donate bone marrow you can make a financial donation to the foundation to keep it up and running.

Bone marrow diseases and leukemia cannot be prevented. They are treatable but not preventable. They can be caused by the lack of blood cell production or the overproduction of one type of blood cell over the other.

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Multiple Sclerosis

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 7:45 pm

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system. It occurs when the immune system attacks the central nervous system, which leads to demyelination. A demyelination disease is a disease of the nervous system when the myelin of the neutrons is damaged. Multiple sclerosis usually develops in young adults but can occur in just about any age group. It is most prominent in women. The very first case of multiple sclerosis was discovered in 1868 by Jean-Martin Charcot.

Multiple sclerosis affects the brain and the spinal cord; specifically the myelin sheath that is wrapped around the nerve fibers. These myelin sheaths electrically insulate the nerve fibers when working properly. Despite being discovered over a century ago, there is no known cause of multiple sclerosis. There are ideas that the disease can be caused genetically, by an infection or even by other environmental factors. There is also no known cure for multiple sclerosis. Treatment is used to restore the body to a somewhat normal state after an attack and is used to possibly help prevent any further attacks. Having multiple sclerosis does not affect the life expectancy of patients. MS patients tend to live just as long as the non-affected population.

There are a variety of symptoms that can appear in a person that might have multiple sclerosis but not all of them will appear at once. These symptoms will appear gradually and from time to time. They are weakness, inability to balance or stand, acute or chronic pain, fatigue, muscle spasms, random eye twitching along with bladder and bowl difficulties.

As mentioned earlier, there are some environmental factors that could play a role in the development of multiple sclerosis. They are extreme stress, a decreased exposure to the sunlight, decreased Vitamin D intake and production and even smoking.

There are treatments available today for patients with multiple sclerosis but there is no known cure for the debilitating disease. The main focus of the treatments is to return the body to a normal functioning state, prevent any future attacks and to prevent any disability to the body. Some alternative treatments not used widely by many doctors is a specific diet tailored to the patient, the use of hyperbaric oxygenation and different types of herbal medication.

The prognosis for people with the disease is promising despite no known cure. Almost 40 percent of patients reach the seventh decade of their life and 15 percent of deaths from the disease are directly related to suicide. Over 50 percent of deaths in multiple sclerosis patients is directly related to the consequences of the disease. The majority of patients with multiple sclerosis loss the ability to walk prior to death but 90 percent of patients are still able to walk 10 years after the disease was diagnosed. More over; the number is at 75 percent for people who have had the disease for 15 years.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease that cannot be entirely prevented nor entirely cured. With proper treatment and excellent care patients with the disease can go about living their lives.

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The History of Medicine

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 7:38 pm

The practice of medicine has been around for centuries. Whether it is used for witchcraft or wizardry or just for the sole purpose of healing; medicine has been a mainstay in the survival of humankind. Medicine is simply defined as the art and science of healing. Practicing medicine involves treating and preventing disease and illness of humans. Medicine treats and prevents disease and illness through medication, surgery and various types of therapy.

The practice of medicine has been going on for hundreds of years. The first medicines were plants, animal parts and minerals. Medicine was practiced early on by shamans, priests and people known as medicine men. The practice of using plants as medicine is known as herbal healing. Herbal healing is still performed today. The Greeks, Egyptians and the Chinese are some of the first civilizations to experiment in the field of medicine.

Medicinal practices have become incredibly advanced over the past hundred years or so. X-rays, MRIs, CT Scans and more testing procedures have been invented. These tests allow doctors and nurses to see the inside of a patient’s body and their organs. Doctors can diagnose an illness such as bronchitis or a disease such as cancer. They can find where a bone is broken or where cartilage is torn and then tailor treatment accordingly.

The advancement of medicine over the years has also helped to save numerous amounts of lives. During the United States Civil War, many soldiers would have a limb or two amputated because of their battlefield injuries. If they survived the surgery, which took place in an open hospital (not in separate rooms), the injury would become infected with gout or other infections. Most of the soldiers that were operated on would die of an infection only days or months later. Medicine was not advanced enough yet to figure out how to successfully perform surgery without causing infection.

Medicinal practices have helped to develop treatments for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Medicine is still working on cures for diabetes and cancer but with continued research will come close within the next 10 years or so. Doctors are now able to pinpoint the exact location of an illness or a disease and what medicines to use to deter the effects of the illness or disease.

One of the biggest advancements in medicine was the development of penicillin. It was developed in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming of Scotland. Penicillin is used to cure tonsillitis, pharyngitis and some skin infections. It is also used to treat gonorrhea, syphilis and cellulitis.

Millions of people have been saved by the advancements of medicine and will continue to be as more and more developments are made in the field of medicine. These advancements can be minute or they could be larger than life like a cure for cancer. If doctors and scientists hadn’t put their time and effort into developing new kinds of medicine then drugs like penicillin might not have ever been invented. Medicines are used to control heart problems, headaches, stomach diseases and sleep disorders to name a few.

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What is Laryngitis?

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 7:31 pm

Laryngitis is when the larynx becomes inflamed. The voice becomes hoarse and there can possibly be a complete loss of voice because the vocal cords become irritated by the inflammation. Laryngitis can be acute; lasting less than three days or it can be chronic; lasting for more than three weeks.

There are a handful of symptoms for laryngitis:

• Having a dry, sore throat.

• Difficulty swallowing liquids or food.

• Constantly coughing; this ironically can cause laryngitis itself.

• Swelling of the larynx.

• Swollen lymph glands in the throat, face or chest.

• Having a cold or flu-like symptoms; this ironically can also cause laryngitis.

• Suffering from a fever.

When should you see a doctor? If you begin to cough up green or yellow phlegm or even blood; you should consult a doctor immediately. If you have a history of breathing problems, such as having to sit upright while breathing, you should see your doctor as quickly as possible because laryngitis could be a life threatening problem.

There are plenty of causes of laryngitis. They are excessive smoking, coughing, alcohol consumption, an infection from a fungus, inflammation due to overuse of the vocal cords and a viral infection.

There are a variety of different treatments for laryngitis. Some of them are breathing in moist air, resting your voice, drink plenty of fluids, treat the underlying cause of laryngitis and suck on lozenges. You can breath in moist air by sitting in the bathroom with the shower running on hot or putting hot water in a bowl and breathing in the steam. Drinking plenty of fluids helps to prevent dehydration, treating alcoholism or excessive smoking will help rid of laryngitis and sucking on lozenges makes the throat wetter and takes away the dryness and soreness.

Sometimes acid reflux can lead to laryngitis. If so, taking pills to prevent or downplay the symptoms of acid reflux can help against laryngitis. Such pills are Zantac or Prilosec.

With laryngitis, more so young children and older adults, the risk of your throat swelling shut is great. If this occurs get to a hospital as soon as possible. The treatment for a swelled shut throat is a breathing tube being placed in your throat, the patient being placed on a ventilator and the patient will have an IV in them. The IV will be pumping antibiotics and more than likely steroids into the patient’s body.

Laryngitis, like having a cold, is almost impossible to defend against. One precaution most people take is constantly washing their hands before they touch their face or their mouth. Young children should receive the influenza vaccine which can help prevent this sickness which can possibly be deadly for children at a very young age.

If the symptoms of laryngitis do not go away after 2-3 weeks you should consult a doctor again. Why? There is a slim possibility that there could be a tumor in your throat that needs further medical attention before it develops into anything life threatening.

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What is Leukemia?

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 7:24 pm

Leukemia is a form of cancer that develops in the bone marrow of human beings. Leukemia is usually caused by an uncontrolled production of blood cells. Those blood cells that produce at astronomical rates are the white blood cells. There are two forms of leukemia; acute leukemia and chronic leukemia. Acute leukemia makes the bone marrow extremely crowded and prevents the bone marrow from producing healthy blood cells. This type of leukemia occurs mostly in children and long adults. In children, this is an extremely common cause of death and should be treated immediately. If not treated immediately, the malignant cells will spread to other tissues and organs throughout the body.

Chronic leukemia usually takes months or sometimes even years to develop in one’s body and progress to the state of acute leukemia. Chronic leukemia is most common to occur in older adults but there is the possibility of it occurring in any age group. Once detected, treatment isn’t necessarily needed immediately. Sometimes doctors will hold off on treatment to find the best way to handle the disease after they monitor its development.

There is no definitive way to prevent leukemia but avoiding such risk factors as smoking, avoiding exposure to chemicals and avoiding exposure to radiation might help prevent the development of leukemia.

Below are the symptoms of leukemia:

• Dizziness

• Nausea

• Swollen tonsils

• Fever, chills, night sweats and other flu-like symptoms

• Bone pain

• Joint pain

• Unintentional weight loss

• Paleness

• Weakness and fatigue

• Diarrhea

• Malaise

• Swollen or bleeding gums

• Frequent infection

• Enlarged liver and spleen

• Constant headaches

For each different type of leukemia, acute and chronic, there are different types of treatments. For acute leukemia patients are treated by induction chemotherapy. Induction chemotherapy is when doctors use different medicines to bring about new bone marrow remission. Treatments also include eliminating any remaining leukemia cells; which is called consolidation therapy. There is also preventative therapy. Preventative therapy is the process of preventing the cancer from spreading to the brain and the nervous system. If the patient is not responding to any of these treatments then doctors will recommend a bone marrow transplantation procedure. Many cases of acute leukemia can be cured and some of them might not be cured.

For chronic leukemia there is no definite cure. Most treatments are combined with chemotherapy and medicinal shots of prednisone and prednisolone. Despite the lack of a cure for chronic leukemia, these cases can be controlled for long periods of time without any setbacks.

There are four factors in determining how well the body will respond to leukemia treatment. Those four factors are the age of the patient, the percentages of leukemia cells in the blood and bone marrow, the degree to which specific systems of the body are affected by the leukemia and if there are any chromosome abnormalities in the leukemia cells.

Leukemia patients can seek counseling and support groups through the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.

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Emphysema; A Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 7:17 pm

Emphysema is a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affecting the lungs of human beings. It is more often then not caused by exposure to toxic chemicals. Toxic chemicals does include long term exposure to tobacco smoke. Emphysema happens when the elasticity of the lung tissue is lost. This occurs with the destruction of the alveoli and the capillaries feeding the alveoli. The alveoli is a round structure found within the lung that aids in gas exchange with the blood traveling throughout the body. Symptoms of emphysema include shortness of breath when exercising and when resting, an expanded chest and hyperventilation.

Emphysema is an irreversible condition that causes degeneration of the lungs. The only way to slow the development of emphysema in patients is for the patient to quit smoking immediately and to avoid any tobacco smoke at all costs as well as other toxins harmful to the lungs. Emphysema cannot be cured but it can be prevented. To prevent emphysema people should not smoke, should avoid others who smoke as much as possible and should not inhale any toxins harmful to the lungs. The two types of emphysema are primary and secondary. There are ongoing studies that are currently examining the use of tretinoin, found in Retin-A (an acne medicine), as a possible reversal of emphysema. It has been tested on mice. The mice exhibited a return to elasticity of the lungs. Even though these studies are in their infancy, being conducted by the European Respiratory Journal, there is the possibility that a cure could be developed over time.

Emphysema affects thousands of Americans each and every year and the majority of cases are caused by smoking and other toxins affecting the lungs. Some of the most famous cases of emphysema have come from entertainers, novelists and musicians in the United States.

The most recent emphysema related death from the entertainment industry came in 2005 when late night legend Johnny Carson died from the disease. He passed away on January 23, 2005 from respiratory arrest caused by emphysema. Johnny Carson was the longtime host of “The Tonight Show” and one of the most entertaining comedians of his time. Carson was known for his love of the cigarette. He would constantly light up while filming the show. He appeared a couple of times at public shows with members of the Rat Pack.

Another famous case of emphysema was a member of the aforementioned Rat Pack; Dean Martin. Martin, one of the most soothing voices in the music industry of his time, died on December 25, 1995. He died of acute respiratory failure from emphysema. Martin was also a fan of the cigarette. In all of his movies, TV appearances and night club performances, Dino would always have a cigarette in his hand.

Other famous deaths from emphysema are T.S. Eliot, Richard Yates, Vincent Price, William F. Buckley Jr., Boris Karloff and Fyodor Dostoevsky to name a few. Among them are musicians, novelists, comedians, politicians and civilians. Emphysema cannot be cured but it can be easily prevented by not smoking and avoiding toxic chemicals that harm the lungs.

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Infantile Paralysis

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 7:14 pm

Infantile paralysis, also known as polio, is a disease that affects the spinal cord and the legs of human beings. The disease is an acute viral infectious disease that can be spread and is usually spread from person to person via the fecal-oral route. Polio usually leads to the atrophy of one or both legs and in some severe cases can lead to paralysis. If a leg becomes atrophied the patient will need to use a cane, crutches, a walker or a wheelchair to move around. Most cases do not cause paralysis and the most common cases are spinal polio.

Infantile paralysis was first documented by Jakob Heine in 1840. In 1908, Karl Landsteiner identified the cause of polio, the poliovirus. Polio became a feared epidemic in the early 20th century as it was striking, paralyzing and killing hundreds of children worldwide. The majority of polio epidemics happened in large cities during the summer months when the air was hot, humid and sticky. The polio vaccines were invented by Jonas Salk in 1952 and Albert Sabin in 1962. These two scientists are widely credited for saving hundreds of thousands of lives with their inventive vaccines. There is a slight possibility that the disease could be completely eradicated across the world because of the efforts of the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Rotary International. These three groups are pulling out all the stops when it comes to educating the public about polio and ways to get vaccinated against the crippling disease.

The majority of polio cases result in only a temporary paralysis. The temporary paralysis usually lasts for a month or longer though. The paralysis disappears when nerve impulses return to the formerly paralyzed area. Recovery from polio usually takes about a full six to eight months. If paralysis lasts for more than a month and any longer than one year it is more than likely a permanent paralysis.

As of the 21st century there is no known cure for polio. All doctors can do is administer preventative vaccines and treat the condition if it does strike a person. The treatment process is to provide relief, speed up the recovery process and most importantly, prevent any further complications of the disease. Antibiotics are administered to patients with polio to prevent infection within the weakened areas, analgesics are administered for pain and moderate exercise along with a nutritious diet are other forms of treatment.

The two known vaccines, from Salk and Sabin, are the two most prominent vaccines for polio around today. Salk’s vaccines, known as inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV), is given to the patient via injection. Sabin’s vaccine, known as oral polio vaccine (OPV), is administered orally to the patient.

As of a study conducted in 2006, there are only four countries left in the world where polio is still considered an endemic. Those four countries are Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Nigeria. With the efforts of the WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International; the world could see complete eradication of the disease within the next 100 years.

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Best Weight Loss Food

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 11:26 am

Wouldn’t it be great if you could eat filling satisfying meals and still lose weight? Well it is entirely possible if we adjust our diets a little. Starvation dieting does little other than lose us water weight in the short term and can be dangerous in the longer term. The best weight loss food is that which satisfies us, provides our required nutrition and keeps us from the temptation of snacking on junk food. Ideally we want something filling so as to suppress our appetite.

So what are the satisfying foods that allow us to do fill up and avoid those evil snacks? Protein rich foods such as lean meat and fish, nuts and beans tend to be very satisfying so replacing some of our carbohydrate and fat intake with protein rich food makes a lot of sense. We can lose weight fairly quickly and we can keep it off too.

We all know that to lose weight we must limit our overall calorie intake to less than our activities require. That way our bodies will start to burn the stored energy reserves of fat in our bodies. The greater the difference between our calorie intake and our energy output the greater the weight loss we achieve. There is a caveat, we do not want to shock our bodies into thinking we are starving or we risk lowering our metabolism and making it harder to lose weight.

So if the best weight loss food is that that helps us feel satisfied and healthy while losing weight lets take a look at some.

Lean meat, fish and chicken are high in protein and are very satisfying. Of course we cannot spoil the benefit by eating fried chicken by the bucket-load. Common sense tells us to avoid fried foods and rich sauces while we are losing weight.

Nuts are naturally high in fat but at least it is a good form of fat and they’re very satisfying, so nuts can actually be a good substitute for other foods we might otherwise eat more of. Again our common sense tells us to avoid the packs of roasted peanuts which are high in calories and added fats.

Beans and lentils are a good source of protein and there is evidence to suggest these help to suppress appetite as well as being a good source of fibre.

Eggs are high in protein and in moderation are good for us. Again use a little common sense and recognise that boiled eggs are clearly better for us than eggs fried or scrambled with butter!

Cereals and grains are good high fibre filling foods and also good for our digestion.

Fruit is a far better choice than processed snacks anytime. An apple probably takes more energy to digest than it adds to our calories but can be a handy snack if we need one between meals.

And let us not forget vegetables, we can think of the strongly colored ones like broccoli and carrot as being healthier than the lesser colored ones like say potato. This keeps it simple and works well as a general guide.

Not rocket science is it? We can identify the best weight loss food through common sense alone!

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What Is Overtraining And How It Affects Your Exercise Program

Monday 20 October 2008 @ 11:16 am

You have been training on a good exercise program regularly at your local gym for a couple of months now. At the beginning, you may have lost some weight, gain some muscle tone, strength and feeling wonderful after every exercise session, but you do not experience those wonderful moments anymore. Your results are now dismal at best or worse, you are not getting the results that you wanted anymore.

You stayed on a healthy diet, supplemented with vitamins and minerals, but somehow you always feel tired and exhausted nowadays. Your enthusiasm for your workout sessions seemed to have waned. You even feel irritable and all stressed up. What is happening?

You know something? If you find yourself dreading your exercise sessions or dragging yourself through the day, you may be pushing yourself too hard. This is how overtraining affects your exercise program. Training plateau is your body’s way of crying out for rest. It is time to now take a rest and recharge your body.

When it comes to getting a good physical shape, most people expect too much too soon. They would usually push themselves too hard at the beginning in order to get faster results. But what happens then? They feel tired, exhausted, easily irritated and so become depressed and lose the desire and enthusiasm for the activities they used to enjoy. Isn’t that such a waste?

Overtraining happens when the physical stress of training is not balanced by adequate rest and nutrition to allow the body recuperate and repair itself. Overtraining is defined as “untreated overreaching that result in chronic decreases in performance and impaired ability to train” by the The Unites States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the American College of Sports Medicine.

In medical term, the overtraining syndrome is classified as a neuro-endocrine disorder where the normal fine balance in the interaction between nervous and hormonal systems is disturbed and the body is so tired that it now has a decreased ability to repair itself during rest.

So if you are consistently push your limits without giving your body a chance to recover, your entire engine may just suffer a major break down. This is because most of us think that if a little exercise can do wonders for your body, more exercise must be even better. That is why we tend to put all the energy into every workout and push ourselves expecting to reach the set goals sooner. Some of us will even hit the gym almost everyday for hours at a time. This is wrong! More is not better in this game.

It is true that in order to make improvements, you will need to challenge yourself out of your comfort zone. That means that you may want to squat heavier or run more miles than you did the month before. Progression is the way you can make improvements towards your cherished goals. The only problem is that your body adapts to the same routine and stops responding. This is the dreaded plateau every athletic fear. Hence there should be a delicate balance between exercise and rest.

Exercising is great for your body, mind and soul, however if you start feeling tired, fatigued and irritated, then you may be creating a very unfavorable physical internal environment. Physiologically, repetitive training alters your hormone levels, weakens immunity and triggers emotional instability wreaking havoc on your mind and body.

Insomnia, elevated resting heart rate, lack of appetite, feeling unmotivated, low libido and a lack of progress are all symptoms of overtraining.

The first thing most people do which leads to overtraining is performing too many sets of different exercises in their workouts. From what I have observed in the gym, most people do between 20 -30 sets per workout.

Have you asked yourself is it necessary to do so many sets? Did you find out how many sets you must do to get the optimum results? What are you trying to accomplish by doing so many sets? Do the extra sets make your muscle stronger and bigger? Are they getting you leaner and more muscular? Are they helping you to recruit more motor units? Are you stretching the fascia and inducing hyperplasia?

If you are really training hard, it is very difficult for most people to perform so many sets and still be able to recover. So reduce you sets.

The next mistake is that people train too long and too often in the gym. Intensive workouts should never exceed an hour. When you begin training, your anabolic hormones are immediately elevated. After a while they will reach a peak and then start to decline.

They eventually return to normal baseline and if you keep training beyond that point, they will dip down to below normal levels. This is when cortisol, which is a stress hormone that eats muscle and stores body fat is produced more abundantly. This is bad news if you want to gain bigger muscles and lose body fat.

You also get over trained by training too often. You must know that training does not stress just the muscles but the entire body including your nervous system. If your nervous system has not recovered, you cannot train again. You can try, but you will not make any progress at all and will just dig yourself deeper into the overtraining phenomenon. If you are training five or six days per week, you are probably overtraining.

So if you are not seeing results and is suffering from overtraining symptoms, give yourself a 2 to 4 week break from exercising and let your body recover fully before you hit the gym again. Don’t be surprised that when you are back, your muscles will be shocked into new growth and the fat starts melting away again.

Chris Chew is a fitness personal trainer and author of “Burn Fat Build Muscles Fast”. More articles at his sites at How To Reduce Cellulite Fast and How To Get Defined Stomach Muscles




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