Sit Up Straight!

"Don't slouch!" "Sit up straight!" "Shoulders back, stand up tall." How many times does the average teenager hear this in a week? Too many! Is there validity to a parent's concerns over their child's posture? Turns out, yes! Having good posture has been proven to improve and help with muscle health. Not only are you less likely to suffer an injury if you practice good posture, but proper posture allows the muscles to stretch and maintain their proper length, which ensures that the ,pmuscles can work together correctly and that the joints move correctly.

How someone presents themselves posture wise is known as their stoic posture. This provides a base from where your limbs and extremities. Basically, if there is something wrong with this base, meaning posture, this can lead to problems in other parts of your body. As we know, the body relies on itself in the sense that if one part of the body is malfunctioning it affects the rest of the body as well. So watch your posture, cause it really is important!

First Long-ish Bike Ride

Since I've gotten out of my boot I've gone for one or two short bike rides down into town to the library to get new books, however today was a little different. Going into town is about 5 miles there and back total which is a nice ride, but not really a workout. I got super antsy and kinda cranky at home so decided that it was time to head out on a longer ride since my foot is still sore from being on it for 11 hours of work yesterday (not fun) so a run was looking less appealing. I went out and headed north on the Wisconsin bike trail. I put on the album "Awake" by Skillet and proceeded to bike until I reached the end of the album, then turned around and listened to in on the way back. I wasn't going for distance or for speed (though I did get up to 14 mph at one point) but was aiming to make it home in the same amount of time as it took for me to get out there. This was a success! I biked a total of 13 miles and I'm still feeling quite good! I'm actually feeling much happier, got those endorphins flowing! :P This was also the first time I got to wear my brand new helmet! :D We misplaced my other one (seriously.....I'm not sure were it is!) and so I got a new one about a week or so ago. 

I'm aiming to get out and ride my bike like 2-3 times a week? That's a little ambitious but I wanna get back into shape! What are you doing this summer to keep in shape? Where are your favorite places to ride? Any suggestions for more music to listen to while I ride?

Statistics on Chronic Disease

I'm sure that many of you have already heard many of the statistics concerning what we call chronic diseases. For those of you who don't know chronic disease is defined as a "incurable illness or health condition that persists for a year or more, resulting in functional limitations and the need for ongoing medical care". This definition goes so far as to include cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and even allergies and asthma. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2006 chronic diseases were five of the top six causes of death in the United States, of these nearly 80% of those caused by cardiovascular disease and cancer (over 50%) could have been prevented by a healthier lifestyle (1). We hear all the time about how our schools are getting less and less healthy and the obesity rate in children is increasing. Over nine million of today's young people are obese or over weight, and it has been predicted that this nearly 1/4 of all American children will be overweight by 2015. The issue with this shows itself in the health of the nation. It has been proven that excessive body weight has a very high probability of leading to chronic diseases later on in life as well as a general decrease in the quality of a person's life.
Now what I'm doing here is not saying that we should all be super skinny, that's not the point here at all! However, if anything other than numbers can be taken away from this then I hope that people understand that it is very important to monitor your health, a healthy lifestyle is something that we can all live with and is something that is, thankfully, becoming more and more popular throughout the nation. Hopefully, we can decrease these percentages of overweight and obese children, and a great example that is set for them by their parents. I also understand that a healthy lifestyle isn't always possible or easy. But I will tell you that if you are willing to put just a little more effort into making homemade meals and eating closer to the correct portion size can make a big difference. At my house we have meatless mondays (well, I'm vegetarian so I'm always meatless, but none the less) and even just trying new foods and replacing some of the unhealthy snacks with healthier ones or even no snacks when we realize we are bored and not hungry. Why not give it a try? It will not hurt if it is done right! Keep that in mind!
Good luck and good health to you all! :)