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3/7/2014 0 Comments

Concussions

     According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a concussion is a type of brain injury that is caused a blow or bump to the head or body which disrupts the way the cells in the brain typically work. A concussion may result in impaired thinking, memory problems, emotional or behavioural change.

     Why am I writing about concussion? Because it is a type of injury that is likely to happen in contact sports such as rugby and basketball, but yet it is treated with less importance or simply ignored as compared to other injuries that affect the performance of the athletes.

     The American National Football league (NFL) are currently embroiled in a lawsuit termed the “NFL concussion settlement” with thousands of retired NFL players claiming that many of them are at a higher risk of certain medical conditions such as dementia and brain injury which were associated with concussions incurring during their playing years (New York Times, 2014). This shows that the dangers of concussions are evident and may affect us permanently if we do not address them properly.

The signs and symptoms include;

- Headaches or “pressure” in head

- Vomiting or nausea

- Slurred speech

- Sluggishness

- Balance problems or dizziness  

     Conclusion: Some symptoms may be immediately while others may appear later. If you suspect that you have a concussion, stop all sporting and other physical activity and seek medical attention immediately. Your brain needs to heal with rest before you can slowly and gradually return to your daily activities. A repeat concussion that occurs before the brain recovers from the first can slow down recovery or increase the likelihood of having long-term problems.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States of America (2013, July 03). Concussion. Facts about concussion and brain injury: Where to get help. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/pdf/Fact_Sheet_ConcussTBI-a.pdf

New York Times (2014, June 25). N.F.L. Makes Open-Ended Commitment to Retirees in Concussion Suit. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/sports/football/nfl-makes-open-ended-commitment-to-retirees-in-concussion-suit.html?_r=0

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19/6/2014 0 Comments

physical activity/fitness and sexual performance

     There is abundant literature on the positive benefits of physical activity. However, research on the relationship between physical activity/fitness and different aspects of sexuality is limited. Research shows that there is a relationship between a physical active lifestyle and the individual’s sexual performance and satisfaction (Krucoff & Krucoff, 2000; Stanten & Yeager, 2003).

     Sedentary men could greatly reduce their probability of having erectile dysfunction by being more active (Stanten & Yeager, 2003). Aspects of fitness such as endurance and body composition contributed to the improvement of sexual performance (Krucoff & Krucoff, 2000).  A study was done by Bortz and Wallace (1999) on more than 500 physically active male and female participants with ages of 50 and above to examine the relationship between physical fitness, aging and sexuality. They reported that sexual satisfaction appeared to correlate with the level of fitness. They concluded that physical fitness and high levels of sexual activity are mutually supportive aspects of successful aging.

     A more recent study done by Young and Penhollow (2004) examined the relationship of exercise frequency and self-reported fitness levels on perceived sexual desirability and sexual performance. Data was conducted through a questionnaire on 408 undergraduate students (71% females and 29% males). Results suggested that in spite of differences among different genders,  generally those who exercised more frequently and had higher physical fitness level, had better perception of their sexual performance and desirability. The authors suggested that people who were relatively more fit and exercised frequently had a more positive self-perceived body image which may lead to increased confidence in their sexual performance and desirability. They were also healthier which may lead to an increased ability and willingness to be sexually active.

     Conclusion: Having a physically active lifestyle not only improves your health and fitness, it can also improve your sex life. So if you want to improve your current sex life or seek to maintain it as you age, make sure you exercise frequently and stay in shape!

References

Bortz, W. M. 2nd, & Wallace, D. H. (1999).  Physical fitness, aging, and sexuality. Western Journal of Medicine, 170, 167-175.

Krucoff, C., & Krucoff, M. (2000). Peak performance. American Fitness, 19, 32-36.

Stanten, N., & Yeager, S. (2003). Four workouts to improve your love life. Prevention, 55, 76-78.

Young, M., & Penhollow, T. (2004). Sexual desirability and sexual performance: does exercise and fitness really matter?. Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, 7.

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22/3/2014 0 Comments

sport vs exercIse

The National Health Survey 2010 reported that only 19% of Singaporeans aged 18-69 years engaged in regular exercise (any forms of sport and exercise; at least 20 mins/session; 3 or more days/week) during their leisure time (Ministry of Health, 2011). Why are we not active enough during our leisure time? There are many factors involved which are beyond the scope of this article. I will only discuss about which type of activities (sport or exercise) would be more ideal for long term adherence for those thinking of being more active.

There is a difference between exercise and sport participation. Exercise is defined as a form of physical activity involving exertion of sufficient intensity, duration and frequency to achieve or maintain fitness or athletic objectives (Neiman, 2003). Examples are jogging, aerobics and gong to the gym. Sports participation is defined as a form of physical activity governed by formal or informal rules that involve competition against an opponent or oneself (Lumpkin, 1998).

Literature examining motives towards exercise and sport suggest that sport participants were more intrinsically motivated as they were driven by their own satisfactions and exercise participants were more extrinsically motivated by external outcomes. It is likely that people who engage in sport are more likely to persist in their sporting activities compared to exercise participants regardless of gender (Kilpatrick, Hebert & Bartholomew, 2005; Rintaugh & Ngetich, 2012).

Conclusion: If you are thinking of being more physically active and have no preferences for either exercise or sport activities, consider taking up a new sport or going back to your sport again. But ultimately, you should select the type of activities based on your preferences for best adherence results.

 References

Kilpatrick, M., Hebert, E., & Bartholomew, J. (2005). College students' motivation for physical activity: differentiating men's and women's motives for sport participation and exercise. Journal of American college health, 54(2), 87-94.

Lumpkin A. Physical Education and Sport: A Contemporary Introduction. 4th Ed. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill; 1998.

Ministry of Health, Singapore (2011, November 29). National Health Survey 2010, Singapore. Retrieved from http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/Publications/Reports/2011/national_health_survey2010.html

Neiman D. Exercise Testing and Prescription: A Health-Related Approach. 5th Ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2003.

Rintaugh, E. G., & Ngetich, E. K. (2012). Motivational gender differences in sport and exercise participation among university sport science students. Journal Of Physical Education & Sport,12(2), 180-187.

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4/1/2014 0 Comments

Designing an exercise regimen in year 2014

Designing an exercise regimen

  1. Design your workouts around your schedule
  • An exercise regimen should be a life-long process. Hence, it is crucial to develop your workouts to suit your schedule and not the other way round
  • For e.g., supposed an office worker with long irregular hours, it would be difficult to train everyday. Although it’s said that anything is possible if you have the passion, this belief unfortunately may hold true for some extraordinary people but for regular people (who represent the majority); they cannot keep up with this kind of training. The main obstacle towards persistent exercising is that people give up after a while as they cannot balance between work-life schedule and their workouts.
  • A workout regimen for a professional athlete, student or worker would tend to be different due to our daily priorities.
  • Therefore, how to plan your workouts is an utmost importance. Ask yourself this question and reply truthfully. “How much time can I give to my workouts in order for it to be sustainable?” Let’s say you would want to workout during your lunch hour on weekdays only and you have only 45 minutes to workout. Then you design a 45 minutes workout, 5 days a week
  • Having adequate rest and recovery are crucial to sustain your passion and achieve your goals.

    2. Prioritize your goals and objectives
  • Let’s use the same example again. Your frequency is 5 times/week and duration is 45 minutes. Now ask yourself: “what do you hope to achieve within these constraints?” “Are you a recreational sports athlete or you merely to improve your fitness and physique?”
  • Train towards your goals and not away from it. The problem faced by people is that they want to achieve everything in their workout. They want to train on their muscular strength, endurance, stamina, speed, power all at the same time and also look like a bodybuilder. This would not be realistic.
  • Therefore, prioritizing your goals is very important. What do you hope to achieve in a particular workout? If you want to improve your stamina, the emphasis should be on cardiovascular exercises. You won’t want to lift weights for 40 minutes and go for a 5 min run.
  • Know what you want to achieve and work towards that.

    3. Specifically and functionality
  1. Train specifically to your goals. If you want to be good at basketball, do what basketball players do. Do not train like a bodybuilder. Likewise, a bodybuilder doesn't care how fast he runs or how high he jumps. As long as he looks good, then he had fulfilled his goals.
  2. Having said that, I believe that for personal health and fitness reasons, you should include functional training to your workouts. A good cardiovascular endurance has many health benefits. Imagine a bodybuilder who would struggle up a flight of stairs. His body is not functional to serve his lifestyle needs. Learn to use good posture to walk or sit and good techniques to pick up objects from the floor etc. A strong and stable core, joints and muscles is useful for all sports and also reduce risks of injuries and other health risks such as osteoarthritis etc.
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31/10/2013 0 Comments

Measuring body fat composition

Recently, I started using Omron bodyfat monitor model BF 306 to measure my body fat percentage as I am giving more focus on my physique. Although there are better alternatives to measure bodyfat such as using underwater weighing or DEXA scanning, these methods are expensive and time-consuming. I use electronic bodyfat monitor as it is less expensive and more convenient. Another alternative is by skinfold measurements with a skinfold caliper,which is the least expensive. But this requires a lot of practices to get a consistent reading repeatedly.

The monitor may not give a highly valid (accurate) reading. However, as long as I take it under similiar conditions, it will give a fairly accurate and more importantly, a reliable (consistent) reading. I am more concerned with the changes in my bodyfat % rather than my true bodyfat %. I take my readings after I woke up in the morning, brush my teeth and relieve myself. Refer to the FAQs from Omron's website for details.

My latest reading is 9.9%. Would like to see how I look and perform at a lower %.
BF 306
Picture
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