The human growth hormone could be a preferred choice for those looking to combat the impact of advancing age or people could be using growth hormones for other reasons. But now recent research has shown that less growth hormone could mean preventing cancer and diabetes.

A small, unknown community of people in Ecuador demonstrated this to be true – this group of people had a genetic condition that switched off the human growth hormone receptors. This hormone has the function of regulating the body’s metabolism and is in charge of the way that cells change as they age.

As a result it was found that this group of people had low to nonexistent instances of diabetes and cancer, suggesting the link between the growth hormone and instances of these diseases.

This study reinforces what has been observed before – that slow growing things tend to live longer lives. Certain kinds of yeast, certain kinds of rodents and even flies, were seen to have longer life spans when they grew slower instead of faster.

The study, published in the Science Translational Medicine journal, therefore seems to suggest that taking the human growth hormone to live longer or healthier lives may actually be counterproductive.

It could be that you don’t have the time to enroll in a gym or fitness center, or that it is an expensive or impractical proposition for you. For any of several reasons you would prefer to have the option of fitness at home. Here are some fitness at home options that may work for you –

Home exercise implements – Consider getting a treadmill or an exercise cycle for fitness at home.

You can work out in your own time, which could be early in the morning, late at night or the middle of the afternoon; basically whenever you have the time to fit a workout into your day.

No matter what the weather outside, you can work on your fitness at home and you can do so even as you watch TV or a movie!

Home fitness equipment could include an exer-cycle, a treadmill, an elliptical trainer, rowing machine or a multigym for weights and so on; take your pick in accordance with your requirements, budget and the amount of space you have for fitness at home.

An exercise ball also offers a wide range of exercises to perform for fitness at home. Even a punching bag that offers options for boxing workouts right at home is a great option for an overall workout.

Use your body weight – If you don’t have the space at home or don’t have the budget for buying equipment for fitness at home, you can perform several exercises at home using little but your own body weight.

Pushups are a terrific upper body workout that offers resistance exercise and will have you huffing and puffing in no time. From any convenient bar in the home or neighborhood, or even a close by branch of a tree, you can do chin ups, another great exercise to build strength and muscle. Using a jump rope is also a great exercise that will burn a lot of calories in very little time.

Learn Yoga, Pilates, or Tai Chi – These are mind body disciplines that work really well for fitness at home and can be learned from online tutorials, an exercise DVD or even a book. They require little if any equipment and offer not just fitness at home but a lot of benefit besides – they help reduce stress and help increase the body’s sense of balance and flexibility. Also they are low impact exercises that are suitable for anyone regardless of age, and fitness level.

Keeping to fitness plan can be difficult for so many reasons – there is boredom, losing motivation, feelings of monotony, wanting to sleep just that little bit extra; there are all the excuses that creep back and send you back to square one.

So what can one do to keep the fitness fires stoked? Personal trainer Jo Firman’s tips are-

• Variety in the workout will help sustain interest and keep one motivated.  Vary kinds of exercises, the equipment used, where you exercise and the exercise methods.  This also helps in making gains – muscles adapt to exercises quickly and one will then stop seeing improvements, variety will keep you making improvements.
• Reinforce the benefits of being outdoors; in fact the benefits of doing anything that involves being active.
• Don’t get bound by a timetable or routine, this is a recipe for boredom. Rather work out anytime and anywhere; please yourself and understand that it is all of benefit to you.
• Fix an event or goal that is to be worked towards. This helps keep motivation levels up.
• Set aside a few hours for yourself each week so that you are able to prioritize your workouts.
• Make it a social event – exercise with family, friends and so on.
• Keep challenging yourself to go further, faster and longer!

If you tell a child that they have to go out and play or walk to the park or cycle around the neighborhood, they will probably not like the idea that much. But if you make fitness for kids fun, then they start getting into the groove of being active effortlessly and without even realizing it!

Get with the Music – Most kids enjoy music and this can be a way to work fitness for kids into their daily lives – play their favorite music and let them just move to the music anyway that they want.

If a child shows a special inclination or interest in dancing you may want to enroll the child in a dancing class that is age appropriate.

There are available specific activity song CDs that may be a useful way to get started on fitness for kids. Dancing can be an effective and enjoyable kids’ fitness routine.

Gather Kids together – whatever children do along with other children, they find more fun and stimulating. They get naturally more active and engaged when they are in the company of other kids.

It could be something as simple as playing tag, or running around with a game of hide and seek, which can enhance fitness for kids. So make a play date with the parents of your kids’ friends and get them together to get moving.

Get them involved in a sport – Starting a kid out on a sport early in life can be the start of a lifelong passion and is an excellent way to get them started on fitness for kids.

Not only does a sport encourage physical activity, it encourages a child to develop a sense of teamwork, make new friends and have regular outings that they can enjoy and look forward to.

Video Games – While we don’t ordinarily associate video games with fitness for kids they can be effective to get kids up and moving. Many video games that are designed for physical activity such as Kinect with its unique balance board, or the popular Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution get kids interested and are really useful tools for fitness for kids.

Get active as a family – when it comes to fitness for kids, there is no better way to lead than by example. Whatever form of activity you are involved in, involve kids as well – whether it is going for walks, a bike ride or a swim; take the kids along if possible. Even yoga or Pilates are great options for fitness for kids.

Background:
Nutrition is often a casualty of the busy work day for physicians. We aimed to explore physicians’ views of their nutrition in the workplace including their perceptions of the impact of inadequate nutrition upon their personal wellness and their professional performance.
Methods:
This is a qualitative study of a sample of 20 physicians practicing in a large urban teaching hospital. Semi-structured open ended interviews were conducted to explore physicians’ views of workplace nutrition. The same physicians had agreed to participate in a related nutrition based wellness intervention study that compared nutritional intake and cognitive function during a day of usual nutrition patterns against another day with scheduled nutrition breaks. A second set of interviews was conducted after the intervention study to explore how participation in the intervention impacted these views. Detailed interview content notes were transcribed and analyzed independently with differences reconciled by discussion.
Results:
At initial interview, participants reported difficulty accessing adequate nutrition at work, linking this deficit with emotional (irritable and frustrated), physical (tired and hungry), and cognitive (difficulty concentrating and poor decision making) symptoms. In addition to identifying practical barriers such as lack of time to stop and eat, inconvenient access to food and poor food choices, the physicians described how their sense of professionalism and work ethic also hinder their work nutrition practices. After participating in the intervention, most physicians reported heightened awareness of their nutrition patterns and intentions to improve their workplace nutrition.
Conclusions:
Physicians report that inadequate workplace nutrition has a significant negative impact on their personal wellness and professional performance. Given this threat to health care delivery, health care organizations and the medical profession need to address both the practical and professional barriers identified.