Weight Watchers is a diet that has been around for 30 years. It is more of a lifestyle than a diet and offers lots of support to anyone trying to lose weight or improve their fitness
I have not taken a nap in at least a couple of years now but many people will swear by the value of taking a nap on a daily basis. After looking atthe following I am thinking that taking a nap may be in everyones best interest.
There is a great post that I ran across about naps and thought I would share it with you.
To paraphrase the article here are five great reasons to take a nap:
Reasons to Take Naps
1. Increased Alertness And Productivity
“It seems nature definitely intended that adults should nap in the middle of the day, perhaps to get out of the midday sun,” said William Dement, director of the Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Center at Stanford University.
2. Less Stress
So find a quiet, comfortable spot and take a nap. Even a short power nap can leave you feeling refreshed, renewed, and more focused. Studies have shown that people who spent 30 minutes each day napping had one third less heart disease than those who didn’t nap.
3. Improved Memory And Learning
Participants improved on the task throughout the first session, says psychologist Sara C. Mednick of Harvard University and her colleagues. The students’ speed and accuracy then leveled off during the second session. The scores of the participants who didn’t nap declined throughout the final two sessions. In contrast, volunteers who took a 30-minute nap after completing the second practice session showed no ensuing performance dips. What’s more, 1-hour nappers responded progressively faster and more accurately in the third and fourth sessions.
4. Increased Cognitive Functioning
n a recent study, researchers at NASA showed that a thirty to forty-minute power nap increased cognitive faculties by approximately 40%!
5. Better Health
Napping in general benefits heart functioning, hormonal maintenance, and cell repair, says Dr. Sara Mednick who is at the forefront of napping research. A power nap, says Mednick, simply maximizes these benefits by getting the sleeper into and out of rejuvenative sleep as fast as possible.
As just about everyone knows I have a bit of a sweet tooth and am very fortunate that my metabolism allows me to eat some chocolate (my wife says I deserve to be fat).
Anyway we had a bit of a scare this week when there was a recall and fears of salmonella poisoning involving many Hershey products made in Canada. I have grabbed a list that is here but also there is a number on the back that must be between 6417 to 6455 as I have stated below. I am no health official so if you have any real questions on this please call the number below.
A number of popular Hershey chocolate products and candies have been recalled because of fears of salmonella contamination at a Smiths Falls, Ont., plant. Hershey brand chocolate bars, chocolate chips, Oh Henry! bars, Reese Peanut Butter Cups, and Cherry Blossom candies are among the affected products. None of the recalled products were produced for Halloween or Christmas products.
There have been no reported illnesses associated with the products.
The recalled chocolate and candy can be identified by date codes found on the back of each package — the affected date codes range from 6417 to 6455. Consumers who have purchased the items in question should contact Hershey at 1-800-468-1714.
The affected products are:
HERSHEY CHIPITS Milk Chocolate Chips 270 gram
HERSHEY’S Creamy Milk Chocolate With Almonds 43 gram
HERSHEY’S Creamy Milk Chocolate 45 gram
HERSHEY CHIPITS Semi-Sweet 350 gram, Chocolate Chips 2 kg
HERSHEY CHIPITS Mini 300 gram, Chocolate Chips 10 kg, 175 gram, 500 gram
HERSHEY CHIPITS Chocolate Chip Bulk 10 kg
HERSHEY CHIPITS Semi-Sweet Mint Chocolate Chips 300 gram
HERSHEY Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 300 gram
HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate 45 gram
HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate with Almonds 43 gram
HERSHEY Assorted 16 count 728 gram
HERSHEY Assorted 50 count 2.5 kg, Nut Roll 5 kg
HERSHEY Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 10 kg
HERSHEY’S Chocolate Shell Topping 177 ml
OH HENRY! OH HENRY! 62.5 gram, 145 gram and 4 x 62.5 gram
OH HENRY! Bites 130 gram
OH HENRY! Peanut Butter 60 gram
REESE Peanut Butter Cups 51 gram, 68 gram, 4 x 51 gram
LOWNEY Cherry Blossom 45 gram
LOWNEY Bridge Mix 52 gram, 340 gram
GLOSETTE Peanuts 45 gram
GLOSETTE Almond 42 gram
GLOSETTE Raisin 50 gram, 145 gram
EAT-MORE Dark Toffee Peanut Chew 56 gram, 4 x 56 gram
Stretching is a great way of stopping or at least doing a large part in the prevention of sports injuries. The simple act of stretching will give you more benefits than simply cutting your risk or injury it will also help you to gain muscle, agility and coordination.
I have stressed in the past that stretching is very useful but here is an article that I found that gives you even more reason to stretch everyday.
Overcoming & Preventing Sports Injury
If you’re involved in the health & fitness industry, whether it be participating in your favourite sport, coaching, training or just keeping fit, you’ll know how annoying and debilitating a sports injury can be.
In reality, when you have a sports injury you’re actually losing on two fronts. Firstly, you’re losing simply because your body has been hurt and now needs time and care to repair itself. And on top of this, you’re also losing the time you could have been putting into training and improving your sporting ability.
A sports injury is a bit like losing money.
Not only do you lose whatever you were going to buy with that money, but you also have to work hard to make up the money you’ve lost.
Take it from me, a sports injury is one of the most frustrating and debilitating occurrences that can happen to anyone who’s serious about their health, fitness, sport or exercise.
I recently read an article titled “Managing Sports Injuries” where the author estimated that over 27,000 American’s sprain their ankle every day. (and, no, that’s not a typo, EVERY DAY) On top of this, Sports Medicine Australia estimates that 1 in every 17 participants of sport and exercise are injured playing their favourite sport.
This figure is even higher for contact sports like Football and Gridiron. However, the truly disturbing fact is that up to 50 percent of these injuries may have been prevented.
Stretching is the Professionals Secret Weapon
While there are a number of basic preventative measures that will assist in the prevention of sports injury, there is one technique that has slowly been gaining in popularity.
It’s still not used as often as it should be by the average sports participant, but with the professionals using it more and more, it’s only a matter of time before it starts to catch on.
Before we dive into this little-used technique for minimizing your likelihood of sports injury, let’s take a quick look at some other techniques to help you prevent sports injury.
How Do You Start Stretching?
Most people are coming to understand both the importance and the benefits of a good warm-up. A correct warm-up will help to raise body temperature, increase blood flow and promote oxygen supply to the muscles.
It will also help to prepare the mind, body, muscles and joints for the physical activity to come.
While warming-up is important, a good cool-down also plays a vital role in helping to prevent sports injury. How?
A good cool-down will prevent blood from pooling in your limbs.
It will also prevent waste products, such as lactic acid, building up in your muscles. Not only that, a good cool-down will help your muscles and tendons to relax and loosen, stopping them from becoming stiff and tight.
While preventative measures such as warming-up and cooling-down play a vital role in minimizing the likelihood of sports injury, other techniques such as obeying the rules, using protective equipment and plain common sense are all useful.
Stretching is The One Technique that Cuts Your Chance of Injury in Half
So what is this magic stretching technique? The real question is, how dedicated have you been to making this technique of stretching a consistent part of your athletic preparation?
Yes, stretching. The simple technique of stretching can play an imperative role in helping you to prevent the occurrence of sports injury.
Unfortunately stretching is one area of athletic preparation often neglected. Do not underestimate its benefits. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that something as simple as stretching won’t be effective.
Stretching is a vital part of any exercise program and should be looked upon as being as important as any other part of your health and fitness.
In recent times, professionals have been getting more and more serious about stretching and ultimately, their flexibility. The coaches and trainers are just starting to realize how important flexible muscles are to helping prevent sports injury.
Flexibility has often been neglected in the overall conditioning of modern athletes. It’s only now that its benefits are proving invaluable to all those serious about staying injury free.
How Does Stretching Prevent Injury?
One of the greatest benefits of stretching is that you’re able to increase the length of both your muscles and tendons. This leads to an increased range of movement, which means your limbs and joints can move further before an injury occurs. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
If the muscles in your neck are tight and stiff this limits your ability to look behind or turn your head around.
If for some reason your head is turned backwards, past its’ normal range of movement, in a football scrum or tackle for example, this could result in a muscle tear or strain.
You can help to prevent this from happening by increasing the flexibility, and the range of movement, of the muscles and tendons in your neck.
And what about the muscles in the back of your legs? The Hamstring muscles. These muscles are put under a huge strain when doing any sort of sport which involves running and especially for sports which require kicking.
Short, tight hamstring muscles can spell disaster for many sports people. By ensuring these muscles are loose and flexible, you’ll cut your chance of a hamstring injury dramatically.
How else can stretching help? While injuries can occur at any time, they are more likely to occur if the muscles are fatigued, tight and depleted of energy.
Fatigued, tight muscles are also less capable of performing the skills required for your particular sport or activity. Stretching can help to prevent an injury by promoting recovery and decreasing soreness. Stretching ensures that your muscles and tendons are in good working order.
The more conditioned your muscles and tendons are, the better they can handle the rigors of sport and exercise, and the less likely that they’ll become injured.
So as you can see, there’s more to stretching than most people think. Stretching is a simple and effective activity which will help you to enhance your athletic performance, decrease your likelihood of sports injury and minimise muscle soreness.
As just about everyone knows I have a bit of a sweet tooth and am very fortunate that my metabolism allows me to eat some chocolate (my wife says I deserve to be fat).
While there are a number of basic preventative measures that will assist in the prevention of sports injury, there is one technique that has slowly been gaining in popularity.
