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Is your back hurting? Just a bit? Does your head extend forwards like a tortoise? Just how long have you been sitting at your computer since you last stretched? How long have you spent at your desk today? One hour? Two? Welcome to the modern world! The headache and tension neck pain that never go away are caused by how you sit at your desk – and spending more than eight hours a day hunched over a hot computer screen is taking a terrible toll on the health of all of us.

The ultimate labour-saving device is the computer. We work and play on our computers for prolonged periods, often in artificially lit offices with controlled temperatures. We sit according to how our working environment is set up, which doesn’t always take the human into account. We have become less aware of our bodies and how they work, merely ‘checking in’ when there’s something wrong. Have a look around, notice how many people are sitting with their heads forward at the computer screen, shoulders hunched. This Forward Head Posture becomes a habit very quickly, bringing with it many seemingly unconnected health issues, from a lack of confidence to severe head, neck or back pains.

The human body has always benefited from activity, we are designed to move and to move regularly. Taking regular breaks from your computer and actually walking around and doing something totally different keeps the body functioning and pain-free, and it doesn’t have to be a big change. Basic steps such as moving your neck from side to side relieves tension pain by loosening and stretching the neck muscles as does rotating your. Shoulder exercises also benefit your neck, you must take care as the neck is extremely delicate.

Make it part of your daily routine to take mini stretch breaks throughout your day. Headaches become a thing of the past when you incorporate simple but effective measures for your own well-being. The human body adapts very quickly to good habits as it does to bad, which would you prefer?

Making your own good health a priority can seem difficult as we’ve now become a society where much of what we do is seated and instant. Exercise and fitness on the other hand, is cumulative, how much and how often you exercise determines your ability to enjoy life. Think of it as money in the bank; it builds up.

So why not take control of your health and fitness? A few minor tweaks to your regular routine can make all the difference. You’ll feel fitter and happier – and spend a good deal less time worrying about your health.

Jennifer M Davis is a personal trainer who believes in a commonsense approach to fitness. Finding ways to be active everyday is key to a healthy and balanced lifestyle and doesn’t have to be dramatic or time consuming.

Losing weight is a common goal of many people around the world especially in the U.S. United States of America is said to have the most number of overweight people thus most of them are not trying to find ways to lose weight fast. Some of them are now going to the gym to workout or join exercise programs that includes dancing or other enjoyable exercise routines. Others are turning to dietary pills or even medical procedures to remove excess fats in the body.

Many of us are not aware that the basic yet easiest way to lose weight is not by undergoing medical procedures or rigorous physical training but healthy living. Healthy living requires following simple steps to remain fit and stay healthy. You do not have to spend much time in the gym since you can exercise at your own pace inside your home or around the neighborhood. You might not believe it but walking has been proven to be the best exercise to lose weight. By simple walking for 15-20 minutes around the neighborhood or in the park you can lose calories and have a healthy body.

Studies show that most American follow an unhealthy lifestyle and because of this many of them acquire illnesses which results from obesity. Types 2 Diabetes or Noninsulin- dependent Diabetes Mellitus is a common sickness among overweight people. But then, by walking for 150 minutes a week one can avoid acquiring diabetes and other diseases.

Walking helps your bones to become stronger. This is especially true for adults because there are studies which indicate that walking contributes to the affectivity of our brain. A daily walk of forty five (45) minutes per day or one (1) mile per week is very effective so how much more if you spend 2 hours per day. Plan ahead on your daily walking routine and make sure you do some stretching before you start walking. You can also jog if you want then walk when you already feel tired. Don’t forget to bring your water with you to avoid dehydration.

It is also said that walking in thirty (30) minutes for three times a week can increase your cardiovascular stamina and strength of the body. As you can notice, a physical therapist’s main job is to assist a patient who is having difficulty in walking or moving so that the patient can go back to their normal movement. You can see that the usual form of exercise that physical therapists often start the therapy by assisting their patients in doing a simple walking exercise. That’s how effective walking is.

One of the biggest complaints by drivers every year revolves around having to wear their seatbelts while driving. Those who find them too constricting or annoying simply do not understand their importance, nor why they have to wear them under law. Unfortunately that complaint is shared by way too many and because they refuse to use them, hundreds of thousands of drivers wind up with serious injuries from auto accidents, some that they will have to live with the rest of their lives.

Perhaps understanding the spine and how fragile it is, especially while driving, may help change people’s attitude towards the safety devices designed to protect it.

The Fragile Construct

While it is a miracle of nature of how something so small, so fragile in appearance can support the weight of our bodies, let alone preserve movement by it through its network of vertebrae, nerves and discs. Despite its fragile appearance, the spine is one of the strongest parts of our bodies. But even so, it can only take so much punishment before serious damage can occur and understanding the spine and how it is put together might just give you a clue as to why it is so important to your health and life.

The spine consists of vertebrae, tiny bone joints that allow us to bend, twist and move our entire body. Between each vertebra are resilient discs that cushion the vertebrae, and keep them all in place so that nothing goes awry and the framework remains intact. Surrounding and supporting this entire delicate frame are muscles and ligaments that add tensile strength to the structure, as well as nerves that send messages from the brain to create that movement. If any one part of this ever gets damaged, the entire construct can be put into jeopardy and lead to life changing injuries that will sideline even the strongest individual.

Risk During An Auto Accident

When you are driving or even riding as a passenger, the vehicle you are in has a greater mass than your body. Its forward motion will not affect you until it stops and even normal braking can cause your body to shift forward in its seat. If your vehicle is involved in an auto accident, that forward momentum is much greater as the mass of the vehicle propels your body forward violently by the sudden stop. The greater the speed, the greater the momentum and the greater the forces that will wreak havoc on your body as it is involuntarily shifted forward. Safety devices such as seat belts and air bags can arrest some of that momentum and absorb some of the force, but it will still take its toll on your body.

The first part of your body to suffer from that sudden forward motion is often the neck, as your head snaps forward and back against the seat belt or air bag. That force can cause whiplash, which damages the soft tissues that support the neck, as well as damaging the fragile cervical spine area. Being one of the most fragile parts of the spine, damage here can be lasting and cause chronic neck pain until it heals. Too much force can cause paralysis, either through permanent damage or inflammation of the tissues and discs.

Back Injuries

That forward momentum does not end with the neck. An auto accident will propel your body forward, in spite of restraints and after the neck is thrown, the rest of the body will follow. The middle area of the spine is the strongest, leaving the neck and the lower back, the lumbar, as the weakest. Potential injuries include damage to the lumbar spine area, forcing discs out of place, tearing ligaments or straining the muscles throughout that area. All of this can lead to life long pain, especially from a herniated disc or nerve damage.

Understanding the spine and how each part can be affected should give you a better understanding of the importance for those safety devices. The more devices that are in play, the less your forward momentum would be, leaving behind far less life threatening injuries to the spine.

During the summer I found many reasons for falling off the ‘good health wagon’-too hot to cook, too hot to walk or exercise, etc. The coming of the Fall season brings cooler weather here in the Midwest. The leaves begin to change color and I find I must change (eliminate) some of my excuses for falling off my exercise program. I can no longer claim it is too hot to take a 30 minute walk. I also can no longer use ‘heat in the kitchen’ as a reason not to prepare meals ahead of time. I have found it is easier for me to maintain my healthy eating plan if the food is already prepared or requires limited preparation. I am also able to retire earlier, thus more able to get up in a timely way in the morning, (I am retired and have tended to sleep in this past summer.) I have decided to use October 1 as the beginning of my good health and fitness year. Here are the five reasons that brought me to this decision.

ONE. There is a lull now between the summer cook-outs and the holiday feeding season. I have approximately three months to lose 10 pounds. This is only a little more than 3 pounds per month. Thus it is a reasonable target to achieve. A neat advantage of entering the Holidays with my weight down is that I will not have to punish myself for a few steps off my fitness path.

TWO. Establishing a new plan and routine will help organize how I spend and use my time. I will be more effective and can develop criteria that can then be evaluated (around December 15). In addition to providing a plan of action I will have a yardstick to measure the seven minute workout I will be implementing. Working out three times a week for only seven minutes each sounds like something I can do and stick with. My plan is to weigh, take and record my measurements then retake them on December 15.

THREE. Preparing food for several days at one time will give me more free time. Although I will spend 2-3 hours in preparation on one day, the balance of the week I will only spend a few minutes heating my meal. Another plus is that I won’t have to go through the ordeal of determining what to cook and verify that I have all the necessary ingredients. More free time means more time to visit with friends, ‘shop’, read, etc.

FOUR. IF NOT NOW, WHEN? It is always easy to procrastinate and postpone doing something one considers unpleasant. My plan is to turn this into a pleasurable activity that becomes a lifestyle change.

FINALLY. Losing 10 pounds now will give me a head-start on my 2012 fitness plans. I will look good with a 10 pound loss; really good with a 20 pound loss, and super good with a 30 pound loss. Moreover, I will have implemented a lifestyle change that is a good foundation for increasing the quality and length of my life. In my opinion nothing succeeds like success. A three month time frame is easily doable and now is all we have. We cannot change the past or control the future, but we are in charge of now. Please consider joining me and revolutionize, revitalize or begin your health and fitness routine today.

Trying to find out what the real facts are about diets, diet studies and dieting is an exercise in futility. There are literally tens of thousands of reports, studies, clinical trials and research studies done and they all have different outcomes.

So who do you trust? How do you know what information or statistics to believe when it comes to finding out the truth about your diet? Believe me when I say that it’s not that easy.

Most of the information out there about diets and the results you can expect, come from the manufacturers or providers of the diet plan or products. The information comes from studies they have funded and there’s no way to find out about studies that produced results they didn’t like or weren’t favorable to their product. Because of that, the information they provide and promote is automatically suspect because they will likely only publish information or results that favor what they are selling.

For example, a widely published study done by Weight Watchers in 2011 suggests that people going on the Weight Watchers plan will lose up to twice as much as those on regular diets. The results sound great but the study was funded by Weight Watchers and provided free diets services to those who participated. Even with the free diet services only 61% of those who started, completed the program. Will this level of success be seen with those who pay to go on the program? Who knows, but it’s not likely. Even with this free service the most weight lost by participants was about 15 pounds.

Numerous other studies have shown that diets have varying degrees of success and the level of success reported seems to be directly related to who did the study. Reports by companies promoting diet products report wildly greater results that those done by independent organizations.

A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), about the best you can get when it comes to analyzing and reporting on studies, says that a study of four of the most popular diet programs showed only a 4.8 to 7.3 pound weight loss for participants after one year. Hardly newsworthy results for all the effort of sticking with a diet for a year and not even close to the advertised results of the companies that market the products. It should be noted that their advertised results almost always come with the disclaimer that says “results seen here are not typical.”