Americans Are Walking More!

Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, issued a press release on Sept 4^th reporting that recent research indicates more Americans are walking. More of us need to take up walking regularly.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also indicates we have miles to go. The review of national survey data found about 62 percent of adults walked at least once for 10 minutes or more in the previous week in 2010. That’s up from about 56 percent in 2005.

People need to do at least 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity to get health benefits. Researcher Dianna Carroll:“In our study, we found less than half of adults get the 150 minutes of aerobic activity each week. This can be improved by doing activity as simple as walking .

 The Signs of Bullying

If you’re worried that someone is bullying or being bullied, look for changes in behavior.

Let’s talk about the bullies. If a child is aggressive, is overly competitive and aware of popularity, or isn’t taking responsibility for his or her actions, he or she might be bullying others. Being bullied has warning signs, too.

Deborah Temkin is at the U.S. Department of Education says, “Children being bullied become more anxious and depressed and may be at more risk to use substances or miss school.”

Parents can be aware of their kids’ actions and habits. “Look for behavioral changes in your kids and talk to them about what’s going on, because it may be either they’re being bullied or they’re bullying others. And sometimes they’re involved in both, so we need to be very aware of any sort of changes we see in our kids.”

Learn more about the signs of bullying and how you can take action to prevent it from happening at stopbullying.gov.

Laughter is good for us!

Here are 10 reasons why you need to laugh as often as you can:

1. Laughter busts stress. It reduces the levels of stress hormones epinephrine and cortisol.

2. Laughter strengthens the immune system.

3. Laughter is anti-aging. It tones facial muscles and expressions. People look younger and more fun when they laugh!

4. Laughter is aerobic exercise. Laughter stimulates heart and blood circulation and is equivalent to any other standard aerobic exercise.

5. Laughter is internal jogging. It massages internal organs by enhancing the blood supply and increasing their efficiency.

6. Laughter is a natural pain killer.Laughter increases the level of endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers.

7. Laughter can control high blood pressure. It helps to control blood pressure by reducing the release of stress-related hormones. (But don’t stop taking your blood pressure medication.)

8. Laughter can help dump depression and anxiety. Laughter can help you sleep better and reduce depression, lessening the stress and strain of modern life.

9. Laughter alleviates bronchitis and asthma. Laughter improves lung capacity and oxygen levels in the blood.

10. Laughter just makes you feel good.

Source: Healing Thru Yoga Laughter, www.yogalaff.com