June 9, 2009 / by srhernan / Make A Comment / Filed under Fitness & Training
In today’s Wall Street Journal, the article When Sleep Leaves You Tired highlights the problem of sleep deprivation in our society:
Chronic, inadequate sleep raises the risk of cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes and obesity. It impairs cognitive function, memory and the immune system and causes more than 100,000 motor-vehicle accidents a year. Sleep deprivation also changes the body’s metabolism, making people eat more and feel less satisfied.
The WSJ deserves credit for publishing this piece, but it also deserves scorn for this:
To my surprise, the study found that I had a fairly severe case of Periodic Limb Movements, episodes of involuntary muscle movements in the night. About 10% of adults have PLMs…Medications like REQUIP can minimize the movements; I’m going to give them a try.
REQUIP (a.k.a. ropinirole hydrochloride) is a dopamine agonist that is normally used to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease. It has also been recently approved to treat moderate-to-severe primary Restless Legs Syndrome.
And it will definitely help the author get more sleep…
One of REQUIP’s more common side effects is “falling asleep while engaged in activities of daily living.” Here are some findings from the clinical trial results:
Although many of these patients reported somnolence while on REQUIP, some perceived that they had no warning signs such as excessive drowsiness, and believed that they were alert immediately prior to the event. Some of these events have been reported as late as 1 year after initiation of treatment.
It is unfortunately the norm in our society to defer to a “quick fix” solution like this rather than address the key behavioral patterns that are actually causing sleep deprivation. So instead of scaling back on non-essential activities and making sleep a priority, the all-too-common response is to have a doctor conveniently write a script for a newly-categorized “disorder.”
Remember, sleep is an essential human need – and doctors’ offices and pharma companies are businesses.
June 8, 2009 / by srhernan / Make A Comment / Filed under Fitness & Training
Congress created Men’s Health Week in 1994 to heighten awareness of preventable health problems among men and boys. This year, Men’s Health Week occurs during the dates of June 15-21. Subsequent campaigns have led to the month of June being declared Men’s Health Month.
And why is this important? Because, quite simply, men die an average of 5.4 years sooner than women. This is because men have a higher fatality rate than women for every one of the top 10 leading causes of death:
1. Heart disease (78% higher)
2. Cancer (34% higher)
3. Injuries (150% higher)
4. Stroke (12% higher)
5. COPD (43% higher)
6. Diabetes (23% higher)
7. Pneumonia/flu (48% higher)
8. HIV infection (318% higher)
9. Suicide (205% higher)
10. Homicide (253% higher)
The majority of these premature deaths can be prevented with the right actions and lifestyle choices. Be sure to check out the Blueprint for Men’s Health published by the Men’s Health Network for more details on how to successfully confront the main health issues that men face today.
June 7, 2009 / by srhernan / Make A Comment / Filed under Swim Reports
Here are Chris’ notes from this morning:
Well if you slept in you missed out on a wonderful swim opportunity, water temp was 55 degrees taken at ladder one. Gentle rolling waves, with a stormcast sky, I swam a three mile swim to ohio street beach and back, the sun was peeking through the clouds a few times with a nice warm breeze blowing. Upon my return to ladder #1 i noticed the ochoa family out in mass. After drying off decided to grab a couple more pics hoping to get one of the sun peeking through, no luck! But did get some of the ochoa children that didn’t go on the morning run testing out the lake conditions.
June 6, 2009 / by srhernan / Make A Comment / Filed under Lake Monsters, Swim Reports
The sun rose at 5:16am, and I made it out to Ladder #1 just in time to catch the show. I had to clean up some trash around Ladder #1 that some vile picnickers had left the night before. I wonder if they do these things in their own homes? My guess is yes…
While Chris and I were snapping shots of the sunrise, Dave honked at us from Lake Shore Drive and showed up a few minutes later. The lake was somewhat wavy with some slow rollers coming from the north east. But the water temperature was a lukewarm 57F, and the water itself was clean and clear.
Dave and I headed out first and made it to Oak Street Beach in 15 minutes. The return leg took an additional 10 minutes with probably five of these spent trying to escape the incoming surf at the beach. Once out of its grasp, though, it was a textbook half-miler.
We also ushered in a new Lake Monster this morning. Carla came out again and decided to turn a “quick dip” in the lake into an extended swim – without a wetsuit. Way to go Carla!
Carla, Lake Monster #28 (congrats!)
See what you missed out on?
