Health & Medical Advice and Information - UK Medical Health

Swimming is known to be one of the best ways in which to keep your body fit and healthy. Since your weight in water is around only one tenth of your weight on land it is an ideal environment for those with arthritis, back pain, excess weight or pregnant women.

Swimming is an enjoyable and potentially relaxing way in which to work your muscles and joints. It imposes far less stress and impact upon your joints than running and can provide a great way to socialise. Regular swimming will build endurance and muscle strength and can provide a great addition to other physical training programmes.

Swimming is also an effective and enjoyable way to work off some excess pounds. Since your body is so much lighter in the water you will find that you tire less quickly than you would when on dry land allowing your water based workout sessions to last longer. Swimming will burn calories at a rate of around 3 calories per mile per pound of bodyweight. So if you swim a mile and weigh about 150lbs then you will have burned about 900 calories.

Aqua aerobics and aqua exercise has been growing in popularity with many sports centres and public swimming pools holding regular classes. Aqua aerobics is generally lower impact than land based aerobics making this form of exercise great if you are overweight. In a 30 minute workout you can expect to burn around 300 calories.

Aqua exercises are generally aimed at improving strength and mobility by using the resistance of the water. The cushioning effect of water makes this form of exercise particularly suitable for elderly people, those who are overweight and pregnant women.

If you are lucky enough to own your own swimming pool then you have a ready made environment that is ideal for water based exercise. Try starting gently by walking or even jogging in the water and maybe make it a social ocassion by inviting friends or family to join you.

Whatever you do it is important to make sure that you have fun. Having fun will encourage you to keep up with the exercises, keep coming back to the classes and keep yourself fit and healthy.

Here are some tips you can easily incorporate into your life.

1. Reduce the number of times you go to the supermarket. The more often you go the more you are likely to buy unhealthy food.
2. Watercress contains 12 times as much vitamin C as lettuce and more iron than spinach.
3. Try half sparkling water and half fruit juice instead of fizzy drinks/sodas.
4. Beans are good for you, but if you find they give you gas/wind, start with split peas and lentils.
5. Many people are short of zinc. Brazil nuts and almonds are great sources of this important trace mineral. If you have problems with nuts take a good quality nutritional supplement.
6. Eat garlic, leeks and onions for the probiotics they contain. These feed the healthy bacteria in our guts.
7. Many people think eating healthily is expensive, but a piece of fruit is often much cheaper than a chocolate bar or a cream cake.
8. Most post-menopausal women do not need iron supplements. Excessive iron intake has been linked to heart disease. If you are taking a vitamin and mineral supplement and you are past the menopause make sure it is specifically designed for you.
9. Some research suggests that a high-fat diet can contribute to bad breath. Fats in meat, cheese and milk seem to be a particular problem.
10. Bought a pizza to cook at home? Add extra veggies (e.g. tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, peppers, corn) to make it healthier.
11. If you’re trying to become pregnant, take 400 mcg of folic acid as a daily supplement and eat folic acid rich foods (yeast extract and dark green leafy vegetables). Folic acid is a B vitamin that can help prevent spina bifida.
12. Fish oils supplements can contain heavy metals and dioxins, so buy flax seed oil supplements instead.

As a man you’re supposed to be fit, rugged, be able to open difficult jars, and carry heavy things like crates of beer and stuff. But too often these days we men are simply slipping into wake up, go to work, come home, watch tv, go to bed - and it does pretty much nothing for a ‘manly’ physique. On top of that, we eat whatever comes our way - whatever is most convenient and easy to make, and this leads to the inevitable beer-belly. Women have been worrying about their diets and bodies for years, so why is it that ‘mens health‘ doesnt even factor to us?

The ironic thing of course is that many men say ‘why bother’ - well, how many men also say that they don’t get sex often enough from their wives/partners ? and how many say they wished they could ‘pull’ more often? Plenty! Yet, few seem to make the link between the two.

Generally speaking, men are attracted to women who are fit, have good bodies, and have a healthy complexion - this is what GIVES men our sex drive, because we are so strongly physically attracted to them. So if your other half is pulling the old ‘not tonight honey, i have a headache on you’ - ask yourself this, if YOU look at yourself, do you find yourself physically attractive? If the answer is, ‘yeah i guess so’ then the real answer is no.

Its a fact that fit, healthy men produce more testosteron, and emit more pheremones - think survival of the fittest. Fit and healthy individuals have it programmed into their genetics that they will be more successful with the opposite sex because nature knows that the offspring of a fit and healthy individual will also be more likely to also be healthy. For that reason, women are programmed to find these individuals more attractive, and want to be with them.

Now I’m sure some of you are saying ‘but she loves me, she doesnt care about that’ - and I’m not disputing that, yes, I’m sure she does love you - but is she physically attracted to you enough?

Its simple, thousands of women love Brad Pitt for a reason, he’s slender, muscular, successful, and he oozes confidence.

So the solution? - Start caring about your body. It isnt going to happen over night, its a slow process, but you can speed it up by starting now, and doing as much as you can to make sure mens health starts playing a large role in your life. Pick up an apple at lunch, have some fruit juice in the morning, do not eat ANYTHING from the oven unless you personally prepared it before it went into the oven, same goes for the microwave. Do 10 pushups and 20 situps morning and evening, and whenever else you get a spare 3 minutes (which, for those who are wondering, is how long it takes).

and in 6 weeks you’ll realise that maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.