Archive for News & Tidbits
NPR: Sitting All Day: Worse For You Than You Might Think
I came across this article in NPR. It highlights the “hazards” of our sedentary lifestyle. The take away, movement–any movement–at regular intervals is extremely positive for our health.
Yogic movement is perhaps the most efficient use of time, since it incorporates breath and movement. Many of us, including our children are bound to desks, injecting movement into our daily routines is really critical to long term health. Here are a few exercises from Yoga for Small Spaces are that are great to counter the affects of sitting.
Yes, exercise is good for you. This we know. Heaps of evidence point to the countless benefits of regular physical activity. Federal health officials recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise, like brisk walking, every day.
Studies show that when you adhere to an exercise regimen, you can improve your cardiovascular health, lower blood pressure and improve metabolism and levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. You can reduce diabetes risk and the risk of certain cancers. And, finally, exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight, which can boost all of these benefits even more.
But now, researchers are beginning to suspect that even if you engage in regular exercise daily, it may not be enough to counteract the effects of too much sitting during the rest of the day.
Epidemiologist Steven Blair, a professor of public health at the University of South Carolina, has spent 40 years investigating physical activity and health.
“Let’s say you do 30 minutes of walking five days a week (as recommended by federal health officials), and let’s say you sleep for eight hours,” Blair says. “Well, that still leaves 15.5 hours” in the day.
Many of us, he points out, have sedentary jobs and engage in sedentary activities after work, like watching television or sitting around a dinner table talking. When you add it all up, Blair says, “it’s a lot more sitting than moving.”
Blair recently headed a study at the University of South Carolina that looked at adult men and their risk of dying from heart disease. He calculated how much time the men spent sitting — in their cars, at their desks, in front of the TV.
“Those who were sitting more were substantially more likely to die,” Blair says.
Specifically, he found that men who reported more than 23 hours a week of sedentary activity had a 64 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease than those who reported less than 11 hours a week of sedentary activity. And many of these men routinely exercised. Blair says scientists are just beginning to learn about the risks of a mostly sedentary day.
“If you’re sitting, your muscles are not contracting, perhaps except to type. But the big muscles, like in your legs and back, are sitting there pretty quietly,” Blair says. And because the major muscles aren’t moving, metabolism slows down.
“We’re finding that people who sit more have less desirable levels” of cholesterol, blood sugar, triglycerides and even waist size, he says, which increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and a number of health problems. . . . To read the complete article, along with movement tips, click here.
Original Source: NPR
Yoga and Grade Improvement
In today’s Daily Mail from the U.K., there’s an interesting article about the impact of yoga in classrooms. This funded program, is helping kids to relax and calm. The teachers’ claim that grades are improving because of it. According to, Dave Read, 52, one of several instructors helping the children,. . . yoga into schools isn’t just an ‘airy-fairy’ idea. The former history teacher said: ‘It is ultimately about improving concentration and grades. ‘Children are under increasing pressure and this gives them support.’
Read the entire article by clicking here: Daily Mail.
The Power of (Yoga on) the Playground
If you are interested in kids and education, there is an interesting Op-ed in today’s New York Times by David Borestein, The Power of the Playground.
The article describes how educators are taking a fresh look at recess and its importance to learning and social development. Recess is an important learning laboratory where kids not only exercise and blow off steam, but also develop social interactions. Recess, as Borestein notes is, “one of the best predictors of whether kids feel happy in school. [W]hether they feel comfortable and competent during recess.”
Recess can have an ugly side with bullying and social out-casting. W
ho hated getting picked last? In many schools recess has been pushed aside because of safety issues or to increase academic time while at school. The result is that many kids don’t have necessary interactions and physical stimulation which results in positive outlook on education. How does the child answer the question: “How was your day?” If recess was non-existent or negative, then the answer will probably be negative.
Playworks, as the author describes, is one solution trying to address recess problems by placing full-time play coaches in schools to help manage recess. Playworks coaches work on getting all kids involved in activities; help introduce new activities that maximize engagement so that kids are moving more. A lot of people would say, “why manage recess?” I appreciated the comment that, “What’s curious is that while adults have no problem with counselors guiding children’s play at a summer camp, many feel that kids should be left to their own devices at recess.”
Another aspect of recess I had not thought of was, recess is a social canopy. This is the one time of day that all kids of all ability levels, races, and socio-economic backgrounds come together and play. It doesn’t happen is economically segregated neighborhoods, so this is the time for all kids to interact. Isn’t it a good idea to give them a little help? Adults have hard enough time getting along, shouldn’t we show the kids how to do it right.
Here’s where I think yoga can help. Even a few yoga (callisthenic) exercises on the playground can invigorate the participant, setting off positive hormones that will positively carry over into other activities (like learning). With yoga you can have 100% participation. No one is not-selected. No one is waiting a turn. For 10 or 20 minutes everyone can participate the whole time. It’s extremely efficient and good for you too.
Savannah yoga marathon to combat childhood obesity
Here’s a neat event with a great cause, right in Addriya’s backyard. The nonprofit group Louie’s Kids is set to bring programs to Savannah
By Dana Clark Felty
Most of the kids participating in Louis Yuhasz’s after-school programs don’t know how to ride a bike. Most have little access to fresh foods or supermarkets and don’t have physical activities to do with their families.
And many are 100 to 300 pounds overweight.
“There aren’t a lot of resources or opportunities for these kids,” said Yuhasz, CEO and founder of Louie’s Kids.
For the last decade, the Charleston nonprofit has worked to help the growing number of overweight and severely obese children in some of the area’s poorest communities.
Now, local supporters are working to bring that model to Savannah.
On Saturday, they host a Yoga Marathon fundraiser from noon to 3 p.m. at Forsyth Park.
Money raised through pledges will go to COPE, a new nonprofit group working to launch Savannah’s first after-school “Fit Club.”
Louie’s Kids raised $30,000 through last year’s yoga marathon in Charleston.
Louie’s Kids signature “Fit Club” is a 16-week after-school program that provides nutritional education, exercise, family participation and group therapy sessions with a contracted clinician for 20 to 25 adolescents and teens.
The program is offered at some of Charleston’s Title I schools, meaning those where at least 90 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunches.
Among the lessons are “real life nutrition,” Yuhasz said.
“We don’t teach kids the food pyramid. We teach them how to defend themselves in a convenience store.”
Another program called Run Buddies pairs a child with a local adult runner for weekly workouts and mentoring.
The program was featured in the April issue of Runner’s World magazine and is set to enroll up to 400 kids in Charleston this year.
Louie’s Kids also provides assistance through its website, experts and grant programs to children around the country seeking help with obesity.
Bringing it home
Nationwide, the obesity rate is 17 percent among American children ages 2 to 19, according to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That’s up from a 10 percent childhood obesity rate about 20 years ago.
Children living in low-income communities are at higher risk for becoming obese.
Louie’s Kids started out in 2001 raising funds to send young people from those communities to summer camps for obese youth. But the cost for just one child to attend a specialized camp climbed to more than $5,000.
Yuhasz brought the same strategies to local, school-based programs run by clinical professionals, allowing more children to receive help at a lower cost.
Savannah counselor and bariatric support coach Sandy Baker has been working since last fall to bring the Louie’s Kids model to Savannah.
Through her group COPE – an acronym for Childhood Obesity Prevention and Education – Baker plans to launch programs like Fit Club and Run Buddies hopefully later this year.
Baker also hopes to raise money to launch other healthy meal programs through local schools and the America’s Second Harvest Kid’s Cafe program.
In addition to the yoga marathon, she is planning another casino night and auction fundraiser in June.
IF YOU GO
What: Yoga Marathon
When: Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Band shell at Forsyth Park
Details: Some Savannah yoga instructors will lead participants in an afternoon of yoga at Forsyth Park, rain or shine. The event is free. Funds raised through pledges go to support COPE (Childhood Obesity Prevention and Education). To register or donate, visit www.louieskids.org/yoga or call Ashley Gunnin at 843-901-0431.
Original Source: Savannah Morning News
