For the wine enthusiasts in northern California, the wine crush is nearing it's end. A short-drive trip to Amador County from Sac will reward the casual wine drinker with an abundance of tasty opportunities. Unlike Napa, every place I have been in Amador offers free tasting too.
Unless one has issues with alcohol, it seems that a couple ounces a day of red red wine will keep the doctor away.
Some of the Benefits of drinking Red Wine:
Decreasing the levels of LDL's in the blood. That's Low-Density Lipoproteins. Aka sludge!
Increasing the levels of HDL's in the blood. That's High-Density Lipoproteins. These are good!
Decreasing the risk of blood clotting.
Free Radical neutralization with the powerful antioxidant, Resveratrol. Great stuff!
Enjoy some Red this month!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Elasti-Girl gets neck pain
Even super-heroes can get neck pain. Interestingly, all the tissues in your body, even bones, have a certain amount of elasticity. Maybe not as much as Elasti-Girl from The Incredibles film, but some! Perhaps there's a common reason your are not feeling so incredible...
Just like a rubber band, if a ligament (that holds your bones together) is stretched too much or for too long, it will stay lengthened. The more time and the greater the weight, the more stretching that occurs. This is one of the consequences of repetitive actions or of a sustained position.
If stretched too long (think of poor forward- head posture of the neck) then these ligaments can stay permanently lenthened! If this occurs in your neck, the muscles of your neck may have to hold your head up all day. They can get tired and grumpy, since at 10-12 pounds for the average head, that is a lot of work, and is one of the main contributors to a sore neck. Adjustments and postural awareness help combat this.
Just like a rubber band, if a ligament (that holds your bones together) is stretched too much or for too long, it will stay lengthened. The more time and the greater the weight, the more stretching that occurs. This is one of the consequences of repetitive actions or of a sustained position.
If stretched too long (think of poor forward- head posture of the neck) then these ligaments can stay permanently lenthened! If this occurs in your neck, the muscles of your neck may have to hold your head up all day. They can get tired and grumpy, since at 10-12 pounds for the average head, that is a lot of work, and is one of the main contributors to a sore neck. Adjustments and postural awareness help combat this.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
You Should Teach An Old Dog New Tricks (and do them yourself too!)
We've all heard that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. That may be true, unless of course the old dog is motivated! Same for us it turns out.
A study on the effect of formal mental training on elderly volunteers, with an average age of 73 at the start of the study, showed the brain appears to benefit from regular exercise, even as we age. After 5 years of training, a positive effect was seen when evaluating the subjects' ability to do the activities of daily living.
The training involved using things like mnemonics, acronyms and rhymes to aid memory; however, the author of the study believes other mental exercises, such as doing Soduko puzzles, would be effective as well, especially if done regularly. The research is being hailed as showing promise as a non-drug treatment to combat declines associated with aging.
Journal of the American Medical Association, December 2006
A study on the effect of formal mental training on elderly volunteers, with an average age of 73 at the start of the study, showed the brain appears to benefit from regular exercise, even as we age. After 5 years of training, a positive effect was seen when evaluating the subjects' ability to do the activities of daily living.
The training involved using things like mnemonics, acronyms and rhymes to aid memory; however, the author of the study believes other mental exercises, such as doing Soduko puzzles, would be effective as well, especially if done regularly. The research is being hailed as showing promise as a non-drug treatment to combat declines associated with aging.
Journal of the American Medical Association, December 2006
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