BBC article here.
"Exercise 'significant role' in reducing risk of dementia, long-term study finds"
…so keep on doing that thing folks! It'll not only help fight the flab but also protect your brain. It's just one more reason to keep on exercising (as if we needed one!).
Over my many years of training I've found martial artists to be particularly driven in what they do and very often they don't need a 'reason' to go to training; it just happens. It's cold outside, it's raining, you're bored with your training schedule at the moment but still…you go.
And now you can rest assured that it's doing you good in lots of other ways you never thought about before.
All about martial arts training and how it affects the way I lead my life: martial arts as personal development. You'll find tips on all aspects of martial arts training such as techniques, fitness, philosophy and history. Shorinji Kempo | Tang Soo Do | Iaido
Showing posts with label article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label article. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Jake Adelstein exposes the world of the Yakuza
Jake Adelstein is flogging his book, albeit five years after his research. But there seems to be good reason to do so. His initial research into the Yakuza in Japan lead to him offering dubious sex acts in return for information and ultimately a death threat. this was enough to convince him to pack up and leave the country. Maybe now, after some time, he feels more comfortable publishing his findings but with names and specifics missed out. Looks like an interesting read... (listen to the interview clip)
Full interview with Adelstein here:
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Bad news for sausage lovers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8688104.stm
"Eating processed meat such as sausages increases the likelihood of heart disease, while red meat does not seem to be as harmful, a study suggests."
One person's solution (not very complicated idea, but nicely put):
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Green exercise aids mental health
Just five minutes of exercise in a "green space" such as a park can boost mental health, researchers claim.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Actor guilty of offensive weapon charge
So it seems that the Scottish courts have judged that the kubotan that Darren Day ('entertainer') was carrying when found drunk was an offensive weapon.
"the sheriff was told by two martial arts experts from Lothian and Borders Police that the kubotan was designed in the 1970s for use by the Los Angeles Police as a self-defence weapon and in a worst case scenario could be used to kill someone."
So there you have it. I'm guessing thought that the same martial arts experts could have argued that owning a pen or a credit card could also be judged offensive if used in an offensive manner. I guess their argument is that the kubotan was developed as a weapon in the first place.
Interesting.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Brain health
Singing helps repair damaged brains and naps boost brain learning power!
Teaching stroke patients to sing "rewires" their brains, helping them recover their speech, say scientists. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8526699.stm
A nap during the day improves the brain's ability to absorb new information, US scientists claim.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Green Tea is Good for You!
(but we knew that didn't we.)
Green tea 'may block lung cancer'
Drinking green tea may offer some protection against lung cancer, say experts who studied the disease at a medical university in Taiwan.
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Martial arts monkeys attack!
A monkey trainer was attacked by his own students in what can only be described as vicious martial arts monkey mayhem! In order to make money street performer Lo Wung trained up a troupe of small monkeys to perform martial arts tricks in Eastern China.
Something sinister was happening in this imprisoned monkeys' brains though and this day they'd had enough. It all came to a head when one of the little chaps had had enough and leapt at Mr Wung with a flying kick. the other monkeys soon joined in bopping him in the eye and pushing him to the ground.
One spectator to this said, "It was better than a Bruce Lee film-they were leaping and jumping all over the place!"
A chastened and humiliated Mr Wung punished the monkeys by tying their hands behind their backs and forcing them to kneel on the ground.
Mr Wung is now being investigated for animal cruelty.
As you sow, Mr Wung, so shall you reap!
Ref: The Sun plus photos. (where did you think this story came from!?)
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Meditation 'eases heart disease'
"Heart disease patients who practise Transcendental Meditation have reduced death rates, US researchers have said."
Monday, 19 October 2009
Martial artists leave man in wheelchair stranded up Snowden!
So much for 'integrity', 'No retreat in battle' , 'perseverance' and 'indomitable spirit'...
This shocking story shows a real lack of moral fortitude or at the very least of intelligence. A group of martial artists ascend Mount Snowdon in a very noble fundraising attempt carrying a wheelchair bound guy with them. Having just checked out some photos of Llanberis Pass where they climbed they must have known they had their work cut out for them. Little did they know that when the hike up the path became too tough they'd decide to leave the man in the wheelchair and finish the climb, returning to pick him up some time later. This seems crazy already but there is still more to come! When they came back to pick him and his wheelchair up for the descent they realised they were too tired to take him down and called mountain rescue!
I don't think mountain rescue were that impressed saying that it was "cheeky"and a call-out could have been avoided if the group had decided to turn around altogether rather than ascending to the summit.
Friday, 28 August 2009
Exercise won't make you thin
Dammit.
I thought it was a done deal! I exercise more therefore I burn more calories and stand a better chance of fighting the flab. Ah, but that it were that easy.... After reading a recent article in Time magazine I can see my efforts are futile.
So my exercising might make me feel good-of that there's no doubt but what I really need to do is knock off the post work out muffins.
"In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless," says Eric Ravussin, chair in diabetes and metabolism at Louisiana State University and a prominent exercise researcher.
The regular exercise I do *may* reduce my risk of developing some of those really nasty diseases so that's coolio, but not help me lose weight. This thinking had baffled me but I read on and was enlightened: your metabolism is regulated by the exercise you do. If you do more exercise you are likely to get more hungry. It's that simple, plus you might be more likely to indulge yourself in an aforementioned post-workout 'treat', piling back more than the colories you burned off.
The important thing about exercise for me, though, isn't the weight loss it's about that great feeling you get from it. Feedback from my body during and after exercise makes me feel great! It could be the endorphins that are released that do this but I'm talking about the real communication with my body-aches, lactic build-up, the feeling of my skin tightening, muscles contracting. Massive.
But exercise as health insurance isn't guaranteed either. The boffins reckon that we are designed more for low energy activity spent very frequently throughout the day (gathering nuts, hunting, checking on the cave guttering-that sort of thing) and it's this sort of exercise which proves very beneficial. Binge exercising is not as healthy as it seems.
Lose weight: eat less and ensure low level activity often.
I'm peckish now.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Guinness is good for you-official!
HURRAH!
"The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers."
Monday, 27 July 2009
Iced coffees 'a meal in a drink'
"Some iced coffees being sold on the high street contain as many calories as a hot dinner, a cancer charity warns."
Another nutrition/dietary article from the BBC website.
(and just in case you were sitting there feeling smug while tucking into some 'healthy' dark chocolate...think again:
Monday, 13 July 2009
So you think you have a strong punch?
A man has been ordered to pay 1,950 euro to the owner of an amusement arcade for striking a punch-bag after it swung back and hit him on the jaw.
Monday, 6 July 2009
Coffee 'may reverse Alzheimer's'
"Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer's disease, US scientists say."
I blame the US scientists!
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Health, sleep and restraint
You know ducks sleep with one eye open? Well it seems humans can sleep upright! Is it safe? ?Is it recommended? who knows. Ask these crazy monks:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8112619.stm
Music is good for you, it's official! Thank chuffs for that. I'm going to see AC/DC on Friday. No wait...
Music is good for you, it's official! Thank chuffs for that. I'm going to see AC/DC on Friday. No wait...
Restraining techniques can lead to broken limbs. Prison chiefs are now looking at how staff restrain inmates at young offenders' institutes.
Hear Brian Caton Prison Officers Association general secretary and ex-judoka talk about how restraint can sometimes lead to broken bits. Interestingly he admits that prior to the current restraint policy they would rely on "a mattress and a fight"...
Friday, 19 June 2009
Lose weight by bulking out meals with lower energy foods
This article advocates eating more food with high water content (such as fruit and vegetables) in order to make us feel full for longer and avoid snacking. This may not be good advice for a long distance runner, but I'm a terrible snacker so it seems fairly sensible to me. It's also good advice to eat more fruit and veg.
"It may not be a licence for a liquid lunch exactly, but consuming foods high in water could be the key to losing weight, nutritionists say."
Friday, 12 June 2009
Basic anatomy 'baffles Britons'
"Less than 50% of the more than 700 people surveyed could correctly place the heart, BMC Family Practice says.
Under one-third could place the lungs in their correct location, but more than 85% got the intestines right."
The above study shows that a large proportion of people just don't know where the major organs lie! Although I can't scoff too much- there's always room for improvement and I had to think long and hard about one of the items in that article (not the heart, ok!?).
Knowing anatomical features and weaknesses is important for the martial artist, not only to have maximum effect when we need it but also to know where we shouldn't strike or apply pressure. The human body seems, to me, a fairly weak structure and the news is often peppered with tragic stories of people being killed in an altercation where only one punch has been thrown. Most of these people, I'd guess, didn't enter the conflict with the idea of killing but ultimately somebody is laying on the floor with their life seeping out onto the pavement. (Det Sup Alan Betts said, "This tragic case is a powerful reminder to all that it can only take one punch to kill a person.")
Some martial artists may find this cautious approach alarming, after all the aim of martial technique is to inflict damage on the opponent (or points in tournament) and I'd be happy to hear from others on this. If you know positions of organs and vital points you are better placed to get out of that altercation by ruse rather than by staring down at a corpse. Of course it is rare to kill in a fight (safety in MMA) and these stories of one punch kills may be flukes; a guy hits his head on the pavement.... There's not much you can do about that once you've lamped the guy and he's heading floorward. The reality is that street or domestic violence doesn't happen in a padded ring: very often it's a bar or a pavement where falls can break you or your opponent.
"The punch was of sufficient force to fracture the jaw and it must have rendered Mr Trimmer unconscious as he went to the ground in a way that quite obviously meant he was unable to break his fall." (Eugene Warwood probably still in jail and Edward Trimmer still dead)
I'm not advocating entering a fight in a state of fear, but knowledge of anatomy, awareness of what's going on and confidence in your technique will help in a 'situation'.
So, I'm armed with anatomical knowledge and a respect for humans but how would I react if my family was in danger?
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Are you violent sir, madam? Mmmm?
Whatever you think of Michael Portillo's Tory politics you couldn't label him a violent man. He seems relatively charming, softly spoken and fairly self-assured but in the show 'Horizon' he's looking deep into himself (and probably all of us) to examine human violence and looking particularly at the questions: do we learn to be violent or is it instinctive? Or what drives people to beat the crap out of each other? (That's my line, not Mr. Portillo's).
An interesting programme in this series examines the South American idea of a tinku: a celebration of violence whereby locals congregate and literally pick fights with each other, even encouraging small children to emulate this sort of stand-off. Portillo is there to see if anyone can act violently or even enjoy it. Somebody, say who's had a posh upbringing, never been in a fight in his life and abhors violence. Yup, you've guessed it: Portillo faced his very own tinku.
A video of a tinku (not Portillo's)
Another thing the show looks at is the pleasure we get when we fight. Dopamine occurs when we experience pleasure through sex, exercise, drugs and indeed violence. Some people are addicted to violence it seems like others are to booze.
Interestingly some studies show that being taught to share before the age of three years old (upto when children can't really control their tempers) helps shape their pre-frontal cortex where violence control mechanisms are built for use in later life.
Doctors have seen that patients who have undergone trauma to the pre-frontal cortex can become more violent. the damage to the brain injures the control mechanisms which are in place and this is why post-trauma patients can become violent.
There are other ways that our control mechanisms can be broken down too: through alcohol and drug use, sleep deprivation, extreme external pressure as well as something we can't change: ageing...
DAMN, DAMN-DAMN-DAMMIT!
AAARGH!
Sunday, 22 March 2009
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