Fun and Beneficial Exercising - A Happiness Habit

Moderate or Vigorous Physical Activities. 

At minimum, you should strive for 30 minutes of moderate physical activity each day. That activity can become even more beneficial if you pump it up to vigorous.

Moderate

Walking briskly (3-4 mph)

Cycling for pleasure or transportation (<10 mph)

Swimming, moderate effort

Conditioning exercise, general calisthenics

Racket sports, table tennis

Golf, pulling cart or carrying dubs

Home care, general cleaning

Mowing lawn, power mower

Home repair, painting

Vigorous

Walking briskly uphill or with a load

Cycling, fast or racing (10 mph)

Swimming, fast treading crawl

Conditioning exercise, stair ergonometer, ski machine

Racket sports, singles tennis, racquetball

Golf, practice at driving range

Moving furniture

Mowing lawn, hand mower

Fix-up projects

Everyone Should Exercise
Exercise can be for everyone, regardless of age. Elderly people who regularly exercise say they have more energy, sleep more soundly, enjoy eating more and report fewer aches. Adult exercisers of any age smoke less, drink less, and handle stress better. Beginning and sticking with an exercise program will lower body fat stores and increase muscle strength and flexibility. The added stress supplied by most exercises can help ward off osteoporosis -- a bane many women over the age of 45 may want avoid.

Now, when you are tired the last thing you may want to do is exercise. But doing just that is really what you need. Here are five reasons to exercise away your fatigue:

1.       Exercise will pump oxygen into your blood and brain.  Your circulatory system and organs will benefit.

2.       Exercise can help keep adrenaline hormones in balance. You’ll be able to deal with stress more easily if those hormones is not swinging wildly.

3.       Exercise will help normalize blood sugar so your body has a steady supply of energy for which to draw. Fatigue and listlessness can result from drops in blood sugar.

4.       Exercise can reduce emotional stress. A workout provides a healthy outlet for venting frustrations, and as your physical condition improves, self-confidence for a job well done should follow.

5.       Exercise releases the body’s natural painkillers. These chemicals, called endorphins, can create feelings of well-being and happiness – – a big perk for a fatigue mind.

If you haven’t done much exercising until now, ease into it. Start exercising and reap the benefits.

Let me know how much you are benefiting. Leave your comments below.

Don't Neglect Your Bones

Osteoporosis makes your bones weak and more likely to break. Your bone health may be at risk. By 2020 half of all Americans over 50 will have weak bones unless we make changes to our diet and lifestyle. People who have weak bones are at higher risk for fractures. 

Your Bones Need to Stay Strong
 Americans are living longer, and this means that our bones need to stay strong so we can be active and enjoy life. Thirty years ago, little was known about bone disease. Even many doctors believed that weak and broken bones were just a part of old age and could not be avoided. Today we know that this is not true.

Strong bones begin in childhood. With good habits and medical attention when needed, we can have strong bones throughout our lives.

Weak Bones Can Be Deadly
Broken bones are very painful at any age. Each year 1.5 million older people in this country suffer fractures because their bones have become weak. For older people, weak bones can be deadly. If you are elderly, a broken hip makes you up to four times more likely to die within three months. 

If you survive, the injury often causes your health to spiral downward. One in five people with a hip fracture ends up in a nursing home within a year. Many others become isolated, depressed, or frightened to leave home because they fear they will fall.

Anyone can develop osteoporosis, but it is common in older women. As many as half of all women and a quarter of men older than fifty will break a bone due to osteoporosis or low bone density.

Risk Factors for Weak Bones
According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the risk factors include:

1. Getting older
2. Being small and thin
3. Having a family history of osteoporosis
4. Taking certain medicines
5. Being a white or Asian woman

You can improve your bone health by getting enough calcium, vitamin D, and physical activity. If you have osteoporosis or another bone disease, your doctor can detect and treat it. This can help prevent painful fractures. If you break a bone after the age of so, this could be the first sign of weak bones.

Osteoporosis is a silent disease. You might not know you have it until you break a bone.

Get Your Medicare Benefits – Key Choices for Seniors

For seniors, it is time again to make important choices concerning your health care benefits.

If you are a Medicare beneficiary you must become well informed to get and manage the benefits you are entitled to.

Original Medicare is the federal health care program for almost all Americans age 65 and older and for many adults with permanent disabilities. You are eligible for Medicare if you are:

• a US citizen and eligible to receive Social Security;
• or you are under 65, permanently disabled and have received Social Security disability insurance payments for at least two years;
• or you have a permanent kidney failure or need a kidney transplant; or you have Lou Gehrig's disease.

You have options of not paying the deductible and coinsurance that are part of Original Medicare by joining a Medicare Advantage Plan (MAP). However, if you don’t join a MAP, beginning January 1, 2010, under Original Medicare, the deductible for inpatient hospital care per each benefit period is $1,100 for days 1-60, not per day; then $275 per day for days 61-90; and $550 for days 91-150. For doctor visits, it is a 20% coinsurance after the $155 deductible.

Opportunity to Switch Plans
However during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) from November 15, until December 31th of each year you can join a Medicare Advantage Plan, or switch Medicare Advantage Plans and Medicare Part D Prescription Plans if you choose to do so. From January 1st until March 31st of each year, called the Open Enrollment Period, you can still join or switch MAPs or leave your plan and return to Original Medicare as long as you don’t add or drop drug coverage.

The IEP (Initial Enrollment Period) is still available for those who are just turning 65 and thus are aging in. If you have dual eligibility, that is, if you are entitled to Medicare Part A and Part B and are eligible for some form of Medicaid benefit, you are under the SEP (Special Election Period) which allows beneficiaries to make an enrollment change outside the regular enrollment periods. As a Dual Eligible, you can change from one Medicare Advantage-Prescription Drug Plan to another or from Original Medicare and a Prescription Drug Plan to a Medicare Advantage-Prescription Drug Plan anytime during the course of the year.

Retirement Considerations
If you are retiring, and in an employer-sponsored plan, before joining a Medicare private plan, talk to your employer or former employer to be sure you won't lose valuable retiree health benefits if you sign up with a private plan. Many employers offer retiree health coverage as a supplement to traditional Medicare. Some also offer coverage through a Medicare HMO and other private options.

Some private plans also offer a Special Needs Plan (SNP) designed to address the identified chronic needs - hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes of a targeted population. If you have at least one of these conditions, you are eligible to enroll in this plan during the SEP.

Contact me for a free consultation, (773)614-3201, wwillbar@gmail.com

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