Say Good-Bye to Your Love Handles

If you're not in love with your muffin top, use this easy guide to amp up your cardio to burn those fat pockets and sculpt the muscles that lie beneath.

They’re called cutesy names such as muffin tops and love handles, but let’s face it, no one loves the roll of flab that pops over the waistband of your jeans and ruins the sleek line of fitness clothes, clingy sweaters, and tailored shirts.

“Love handles are one of the most common reasons people exercise and hire a personal trainer,” observes certified trainer Jason Keigher CSCS, CPT, who works with clients in New York City. It’s often after an ab workout consisting of thousands of crunches that frustration finally leads people to get help from a fitness pro.

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Irregular Heartbeats? Coffee May Not Be So Bad for You

People with irregular heartbeats are often advised to give up caffeine, but a new study suggests they may not have to forgo their coffee.

Researchers had 1,388 people record their intake of coffee, tea and chocolate over a one-year period, and used Holter monitors to get 24-hour electrocardiograms.

More than 60 percent of the participants reported consuming one or more caffeine-containing foods daily. But the electrocardiograms revealed no differences in premature beats or episodes of accelerated heart rate between caffeine users and abstainers. The study is in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“There’s no clear evidence that drinking more caffeine increases the risk for early beats,” said the senior author, Dr. Gregory M. Marcus, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. In fact, evidence from other studies suggests

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To Prevent Back Pain, Orthotics Are Out, Exercise Is In

Lower back pain is an almost universal if unwelcome experience. About 80 percent of those of us in the Western world can expect to suffer from disruptive lower back pain at some point in our lives. But if we begin and stick with the right type of exercise program, we might avoid a recurrence, according to a comprehensive new scientific review of back pain prevention.

Lower back pain develops for many reasons, including lifestyle, genetics, ergonomics, sports injuries, snow shoveling or just bad luck. Most often, in fact, the underlying cause is unknown.

For most people, a first episode of back pain will go away within a week or so.

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More than a stretch: Yoga’s benefits may extend to the heart

Posted April 15, 2015, 4:26 pm
Julie Corliss, Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter   
Yoga's benefits may extend to the heart   

As a long-time yoga enthusiast, I’m always happy to hear about benefits newly attributed to this
ancient practice. Doing yoga for a few hours each week helps me feel calmer and more balanced,
both physically and mentally. Now, new research suggests that my habit also may be helping my heart.

A recent review of yoga and cardiovascular disease published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology indicates that yoga may help lower heart disease risk as much as conventional exercise, such as brisk walking.

As I write in the April issue of the Harvard Heart Letter, the studies in the review looked at different types of yoga, including both gentler and more energetic forms. The participants ranged

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6 Food for Healthy Sleep – Eat Good & Sleep Tight

After day-long hectic work we all are very likely to have a sound sleep. However, in reality everybody is not quite fortunate enough to enjoy such sweet dreams. Most of us usually struggle to get a good sleep. Living in this fast paced society does not allow us to focus on our diet properly, however, to enjoy a nice sleep our regular diet should not be ignored.

Following is a small list of some healthy food options, which can provide you with a good-night sleep:                                              
                                                               Cherries

Cherries are also quite famous as a sleep regulator because of its ability to manipulate your body clock. It’s a rich source of melatonin, which is known as a hormone manufactured by the pineal gland in your brain.

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