Do you exercise? If so, people see you as ''a harder worker, more confident, and [as having] more self-control'' than non-exercisers, according to a recent issue of the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology.
Dr. Kathleen A. Martin and colleagues at McMaster University in Ontario asked 627 Canadian men and women to rate the personality and physical attributes of individuals based on a brief description that included the person's gender and exercise habits.
Unlike exercisers, who were perceived to be healthy, muscular and sexually attractive, non-exercisers were perceived to be sickly, scrawny, and sexually unattractive.
Non-exercisers were also believed to have fewer friends and be less smart, brave, neat and happy.
Why such radical differences in perception? ''We suspect that knowledge of the physical benefits of exercise had a positive effect on raters' impressions of exercisers' physical attributes,'' researchers write.
These results complicate the problem of trying to get people to exercise: If they know exercise is beneficial and can make someone healthier and more sexually attractive, why don't most people exercise regularly?
In an earlier study, Martin and her team found that negative stereotypes of overweight women could be overcome if a woman was thought of as an exerciser.
She urges people to ''be aware that there are potent social benefits associated with exercise - that is, people will think more positively of you just by virtue of your exercise habits.''
Source: Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 2000; 22, 283-291
Competitive athletes often use a technique called visualization to help give them an edge over their opponents.
By imagining every aspect of a race or performance, from start to finish, they bring themselves one step closer to making it a reality. New research suggests this same technique may apply to strengthening muscles as well.
''Just thinking about exercise can help maintain muscle strength,'' says Dr. Vinoth Ranganathan, who, with a team of researchers from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, investigated the strength benefits of imagining exercising a muscle.
Thirty healthy young adults were divided into three groups. For 15 minutes a day, five days per week for 12 weeks, the first group imagined exercising their little finger muscle, the second group imagined exercising their biceps muscle and the third group served as a control by not doing any imaginary exercise.
''We asked the subjects to think as strongly as they could about moving the muscle being tested, to make the imaginary movement as real as they could,'' explains Ranganathan.
Muscle strength was measured before, during and after the training sessions.
The finger exercisers increased their strength 35 percent, while the biceps group increased 13.4 percent. Measurements of the participants' brain activity during their mental exercises suggest that these strength gains were due to improvements in the brain's ability to signal muscle.
Researchers hope these results will assist in the therapy of stroke and spinal cord injury patients, and follow-up studies are planned for healthy older adults as well.
''We believe that anyone who has difficulty doing physical exercises can use our mental training method to improve the muscle strength they have lost or maintain the muscle strength they have,'' researchers wrote.
Of course, actual strength-training exercises — as opposed to imaginary ones – are still the most effective means of building strong, healthy muscles.
Source: Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, November 11, 2001, San Diego, Calif
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Garlic is the next miracle herb. It can not only prevent, but also reverse the signs of arteriosclerosis, according to a study presented at the 6th Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology in Washington, D.C., last week.
"That [garlic] is able not only to reduce the buildup of plaque but also to reverse existing plaque is really revolutionary," said Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D., president of Berlin Phytopharm Consulting, and author of the Physician's Desk Reference for Herbal Medicine. Because of the strength of the results and garlic's history of safety, he said, several principals from the herbal supplements industry would seek a health claim from the Food and Drug Administration. "FDA should look at our data and give garlic a real health claim in the reduction of risk for coronary heart disease," he said.
Dr. Gunter Siegel, director of the department of physiology at Charit University of Medicine in Berlin, found that a low dose of garlic inhibits the formation of nanoplaque the substance that develops in the earliest stages of arteriosclerotic disease and eventually clogs arterial walls by 15 percent, even when all the factors normally responsible for such blocking are present.
With a higher concentration it goes to 30 percent, Siegel said. In addition, when plaques do develop “they are even smaller”5 percent smaller at low doses of garlic, with further reduction at higher doses. So the plaques which are formed are not only less in number but also less in size, he said.
The effect was observed whether the plaques were induced by high levels of LDL cholesterol or by lipoprotein(a), a component of LDL. Garlic's plaque-busting effects were even more pronounced, however, on lipoprotein(a)-induced plaque, with 40 percent reduction in plaque development and 20 percent reduction in size. Garlic also reduced calcium binding”another factor in plaque development”by 50 percent.
Arterial plaque formation can lead to heart disease and strokes.
Garlic isn't the only substance, however, that inhibits plaque formation. Normally, Siegel said, the good cholesterol “HDL helps to hinder nanoplaque in the same way garlic acts. So garlic can be called a phyto-HDL.
Chicken soup for the herbalist's soul
In a news conference preceding last week's medical convention, experts noted garlic's many traditional uses as well as its safety. Dr. Fred Pescatore, medical director of the AHCC Research Association in Rye, N.Y., noted garlic has also shown promise for altering the course of infectious diseases because it can be used as an antibacterial agent or antiviral agent. Pescatore said garlic has also been shown in some studies to decrease high blood sugar, boost metabolism, inhibit growth and formation of cancer cells, prevent inflammation, and alleviate allergies and asthma. Garlic one of the most versatile plants, Pescatore said. Some call it the chicken soup of the plant world.
Its use has been documented over 5,000 years,said Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council based in Austin, Texas. Additionally, ABC has evaluated data from more than 30 clinical trials involving more than 45,000 subjects. All but three of these trials showed some positive benefit for garlic in cardiovascular and arterial health, for cancer, building immunity and for other circulatory matters, said Blumenthal. A federal government agency has concluded that garlic preparations may have small, positive, short-term effects on various parameters.He noted that aside from rare cases of stomach upset and of course there is the characteristic change in the odor of skin and breath no adverse side effects have been reported, save some interactions with specific medications, including the blood thinner Coumadin, the anti-inflammatory drug Indomethacin, and insulin. Even the World Health Organization recognizes the general safety of garlic when used medicinally.
Unfortunately, Pescatore noted, to derive its health benefits, a person would have to eat enormous quantities of garlic daily. The most efficient way of getting adequate and standardized amounts is by taking a nutritional supplement of garlic extract, he said. Many garlic extracts also are smell-free. He emphasized the importance of using a product that has “all the components of the raw bulb, not just the allicin components, and recommended divided doses totaling 2,400 to 3,400 mg per day depending on the condition it was being used to treat. It's worth trying before a patient gets started on any pharmaceutical medication.
Gruenwald suggested that people should begin taking garlic in their 20s or 30s, when arteriosclerotic plaque buildup is starting, long before people feel any symptoms. "We believe that garlic really is a preventive measurement for heart disease."
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