Exercise

Working up a sweat is a good thing when it comes to exercise, but being too hot may make you throw in your workout towel too soon. A study finds that holding a hand-cooling device while exercising may help obese women keep moving longer. The small study, presented this week at the American Heart Assn.Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2012 Scientific Sessions in San Diego, examined the effects on various markers of health and fitness from holding a hand-cooling device during a workout.

Active parents of young children once had to stay home or find a baby-sitter if they wanted to jog or bicycle. Now, courtesy of fitness-oriented marketers plugging in to the booming baby market, a variety of safe and sleek devices help parents take their infants and toddlers on the road. Since 1984, parents serious about their jogging have been rolling their children out in jogging strollers, the three-wheeled devices that sometimes even have their own class in 10-K races.

For moderate social drinkers, hopping on the wagon for a month shouldn't have been that daunting of a task. Not just any moderate social drinkers, but a handful of men and women who are exceptionally fit, as in training-for-a-marathon fit. These are people used to discipline and healthy lifestyles, people who can get through a rigorous boot camp class without hurling. Yet some found that wagon trip much more uncomfortable than they thought, and didn't even last a month.

Most people are familiar with that old standby the push-up as a sure way to pump up your pecs. The problem, though, is that many people have developed bad habits over the years. Push-ups can be an important part of a well-rounded fitness program that encourages balanced strength in both your upper and lower body. If your exercise plan consists mainly of biking, hiking, running or brisk walking, your cardiovascular system and lower body muscles are getting plenty of important attention.

The average American spends at least an hour a day in his or her car -- and probably doesn't think of it as a place for physical activity. But those long commutes, maddening traffic jams and endless carpools for the kids can provide a surprising opportunity to tone those muscles and, maybe, relieve a little stress. Besides, drivers (and passengers) focused on tightening the muscles while waiting for a red light to change probably aren't snacking, another favorite pastime.

Until her first breakdown, Pat was trim and active, even playing on the volleyball team in college. But deep scars on her forearms attest to a lifetime of self-abuse. Pat, 53, grew sedentary, obese and reclusive. She said she has been hospitalized 25 times. "The sicker I got, and the more doped up I became, the more I tended to become isolated," she said. This year, Pat enrolled in a program here called In Shape, designed to provide regular structured exercise for people with mental illness.

A Life regimen Dr. Jeffry Life's prescription for a healthy and buff midlife and beyond: Workout: Life recommends at least three weight and four cardio sessions per week: "Do some exercise you enjoy doing -- not something that you dread -- then push it. Work really hard at finding your comfort zone -- and stay out of it." Do aerobics with hard intervals, and push weights to failure (the point where you can push no more). If any exercise gets too easy, up the intensity and the weight; the harder you work, the more fat you burn all day long.

As we enter the season of the year in which Americans typically gain at least a pound or two that never goes away, a new report from the Gallup Poll finds that as our actual weight drifts upward, so do our perceptions of what our "ideal" weight would be.  In Gallup's annual Health and Healthcare Survey , the nation's leading polling organization has asked Americans yearly how much they weigh and what their ideal weight would be. Compared to...

Dozens of studies have reported a link between exercise and lowered blood pressure: Some have found reductions of up to 10 mm Hg (systolic) and 6 to 10 mm Hg (diastolic) blood pressure units in people who already have hypertension. In general, reductions are not as great for people with blood pressure in the normal range: A Belgian review of scores of studies found that for people with high blood pressure, average reductions from exercise were 6.9 mm Hg systolic and 4.9 mm Hg diastolic, and for participants who did not have high blood pressure, only 1.9 mm Hg and 1.6 mm Hg. Age seems to matter.