Tuesday, March 9, 2010
2009 flu data reports
europeon union and EFTA. 2290
central asia 457
middle east 1450
africa 116
north america 3642
central america 237
south america 3190
northeast asia 2294
southeast asia 393
australia and pacific 217
swine flu
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Online weight loss plans
Online weight loss plans Online weight loss plans are web based fitness programs designed to help participants lose weight. They usually include assistance in the areas necessary for weight loss. For example, weight loss information, goal setting, progress tracking, meal and workout planning, and personal support from personal trainers or fitness coaches. This way of losing weight is fast becoming a distinct weight loss method.
Online weight loss plans usually contain some of these elements:
Workout routines and meal plans
Regular support froma a fitness coach or personal trainer
Some type of online workout calendar/journal
A year long study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association participants of an online weight loss plan lost more than twice the weight of participants who took part in a more traditional program.It's been shown that people who've used online weight loss plans for 18 months were able to maintain significant weight loss.[1]Many studies now show that internet programs are viable tools to help people maintain weight loss over the longterm. In one study a group of 250 people lost weight over a 6 monthe period and maintained weight loss for 12 months afterwards using a online weight loss plan. [2]The low cost combined with the lack of need for face to face meetings with a nutritionist or personal trainer make internet programs easy to maintain long term. The requirement of constantly updating weight and other measurements helps to hold the user accountable as well. This could help people maintain weight loss over a long period. Many studies even show that participants that logged into their online programs more also experienced, on average, more weight loss. There have been upsurge of companies specifically dealing with only online weight loss. Among them are companies such as eDiets.com and Shreddingpounds.com.These are companies that provide their services only over the web. Established weight loss companies such as WeightWatchers.com, have even begun offering online only weight loss programs.There has recently been research into the effectiveness of web-based weight loss programs in primary care settings.[3] As more people join these types of programs there will be a significant increase in companies offering customized online fitness programs.
Nutrition and recovery
Proper nutrition is as important to health as exercise. When exercising, it becomes even more important to have a good diet to ensure that the body has the correct ratio of macronutrients whilst providing ample micronutrients, in order to aid the body with the recovery process following strenuous exercise.[44]
Proper rest and recovery are also as important to health as exercise; otherwise the body exists in a permanently injured state and will not improve or adapt adequately to the exercise. Hence, it is important to remember to allow adequate recovery between exercise sessions. It is necessary to refill the glycogen stores in the skeletal muscles and liver. After exercise, there is a 30 minute window critical to muscle recovery. Before doing anything else, one should drink something for recovery. Liquids are ideal after exercise and there are several studies that show low-fat milk and chocolate milk as being effective recovery beverages because of its ideal 4:1 combination of carbohydrate and protein that fuels and replenishes our muscles the best.[45][46] Branched-chain amino acids are also recommended for exercise recovery.[citation needed]
Delayed onset muscle soreness can occur after any kind of exercise, particularly if the body is in an unconditioned state relative to that exercise.[47]
Benefits
Exercise also reduces levels of cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone that builds fat in the abdominal region, making weight loss difficult.[citation needed] Cortisol causes many health problems, both physical and mental.[8]
Frequent and regular aerobic exercise has been shown to help prevent or treat serious and life-threatening chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes,insomnia, and depression.[9] Endurance exercise before meals lowers blood glucose more than the same exercise after meals.[10]
There is some evidence that vigorous exercise (90-95% of VO2 Max) is more beneficial than moderate exercise (40 to 70% of VO2 Max).[11] Some studies have shown that vigorous exercise executed by healthy individuals can increase opioid peptides (a.k.a. endorphins, naturally occurring opioids that in conjunction with other neurotransmitters are responsible for exercise-induced euphoria and have been shown to be addictive), increase testosterone and growth hormone,[12] effects that are not as fully realized with moderate exercise. More recent research[13][14] indicates that anandamide may play a greater role than endorphins in "runner's high".
Not everyone benefits equally from exercise. There is tremendous variation in individual response to training: where most people will see a moderate increase in endurance from aerobic exercise, some individuals will as much as double their oxygen uptake, while others can never augment endurance.[15][16] Similarly, only a minority of people will show significant muscle growth after prolonged weight training, while a larger fraction experience improvements in strength.[17] This genetic variation in improvement from training is one of the key physiological differences between elite athletes and the larger population.[18][19] Studies have shown that exercising in middle age leads to better physical ability later in life.[20]
