‘Move More for Less’

The North West Health and Physical Activity Forum
Annual Conference 2009
‘Move More for Less’
Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool
5th November, 2009

The conference focus for this year is making things happen on a budget, getting more mileage for your money and surviving the economic downturn. Another key strand is how to harness new technologies and social networking sites, and the opportunities for physical activity offered by active video gaming.

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Anti-oxidants in Diabetes link

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at Monash University, Victoria, Australia, has found that anti-oxidants commonly touted for their health-promoting benefits, could contribute to the early onset of Type 2 diabetes.

The team, led by Professor Tony Tiganis from the Monash Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has found that Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) may play a protective role in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes by enhancing insulin action and that anti-oxidants prevent the beneficial effects of ROS.

Older adults benefit from improved elasticity of arteries after aerobic exercise

Just three months of physical activity provides heart health benefits for older adults with type 2 diabetes by improving the elasticity in their arteries.

This has the effect of reducing risk of heart disease and stroke, Dr. Kenneth Madden told the 2009 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

Exercise? A fat lot of good that is for weight loss!

Just in case you missed it, an article in Times Online on Monday 19th October, created quite a stir when hackette Helen Rumbelow quoted recent studies that purport to show that the benefits of exercise for weight loss have been overstated.

This prompted a truly British response in the form of ‘a letter to the Times’ not from angry of Tunbridge Wells but from FIA Chief Operating Officer, David Stalker who took up the cudgels on behalf of his members, Human Kinetics included.

Here’s his letter….

The Physical Management of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease, the most prevalent hypokinetic movement disorder, is expected to occur with increasing frequency among aging populations worldwide.

While we await the discovery of a cure, combining physical interventions with traditional medical interventions can significantly improve overall quality of life. Health Professionals’ Guide to Physical Management of Parkinson’s Disease fills a void in this area of clinical management by comprehensively addressing the physical management of Parkinson’s disease in a single volume.

Written for clinicians, Health Professionals’ Guide to Physical Management of Parkinson’s Disease will prove to be a useful resource for physical therapists as well as other health care professionals who manage patients with Parkinson’s disease.

The text expertly distills and blends diverse research-based sources with the author’s own extensive clinical experience. The result is a concise manual that provides not just the science but also the clinical application necessary in the selection of physical interventions.

Price : £44.50 I €49.00
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Exercise improves body image

The simple act of exercise and not fitness itself can convince you that you look better, a new University of Florida study finds.

People who don’t achieve workout milestones such as losing fat, gaining strength or boosting cardiovascular fitness, feel just as good about their bodies as their more athletic counterparts, said exercise psychologist Heather Hausenblas, in a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Health Psychology.

“Body dissatisfaction is a huge problem in our society and is related to all sorts of negative behaviour including yo-yo dieting, smoking, taking steroids and undergoing cosmetic surgery,” she said. “It affects men and women and all ages, starting with kids who are as young as five years old saying they don’t like how their bodies look.”

Supervised strength training is more effective

Half of all Swedish elite volleyball players suffer at least one injury per season. One important reason may be that most players perform injury-preventing strength training unsupervised.

This is shown in a new thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

All Swedish elite-level teams were invited to participate in the study and 158 players returned the questionnaire that had been mailed out near the end of the volleyball season.

The responses show that about half of the players had been injured at least once during the season. Almost everybody performed some kind of injury-prevention activity, but a majority did it without supervision.

5th Edition of Directory of Sport Science

The Directory of Sport Science, Fifth Edition, is a comprehensive reference work covering the entire field of exercise science.

Written by the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE) and a team of international scholars, this book gives readers an informed overview of the sport science field with discussion of key functions, methodology, history, organisations, and resources for each sub-discipline and thematic area.

This book will deepen the common understanding of each prominent area of sport science and strengthen the field as a whole. Readers will gain a clear view of the history and current status of each sub-discipline in exercise science, and they will receive essential information to expand their study of the field and explore their potential contributions to its development and success.

An invaluable reference for those currently working in the field of sports science and for those studying to do so.

Price: £38.00 I €41.80
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UK to host NBA game in 2010?

Following the third staging of an annual exhibition game at The O2 Arena, the NBA has revealed that it could stage a competitive regular-season match in London from as early as next season.

The O2 Arena in Docklands hosted a pre-season match earlier this month between Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz and NBA chiefs want to use the venue again but this time for a competitive fixture.

London 2012 Olympics education logo unveiled

The new London 2012 education logo was created by Reiss Evans, an 18-year-old graphic design student from Dover, who will now see the design for Get Set, the London 2012 official education programme, being used by schools and colleges around the country as part of the effort to get children excited and inspired by the Olympic Games.

“The pencils are symbolic of the creativity in the UK’s schools and the range of colours used represents the global nature of the 2012 Games,” he said. “The colours ensure the logo is eye-catching and they tie in with those used in London 2012’s own brand work.”

‘School Olympics’ promised

Proposals made by Olympic double gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes for a national contest with the finals held in the London 2012 stadium have been backed by Shadow sport secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Mr Hunt promised a “revolution in school sport” if David Cameron wins the next general election. He told the Conservative Party conference he would end Labour’s “political correctness and health and safety madness”.

Youth Strength Training

The benefits of strength training for young people are clearly documented, but many teachers, fitness instructors and youth coaches are unsure how to proceed.

As a result they often end up adapting unsuitable adult versions of strength-training programmes.

However this new book is set to change all this as it guides you in the development of safe, effective and enjoyable training programmes for 7 to 18 year olds.

It covers the latest thinking on nutrition, hydration and recovery to maximize the effects of strength training and minimize the risks of overtraining.

“Exercise is just for the overweight”

At least that is the belief of one in five children interviewed as part of a survey undertaken by The British Heart Foundation to launch its Food4Thought campaign.

They surveyed more than 1,000 children aged 8 to 15 and one in five (20 per cent) said exercise was “a chore” that was only needed by people who are overweight.

Hip Hop to health

Motivating kids to exercise just got lot easier thanks to this innovative DVD that incorporates rap with lessons about basic anatomy, healthy lifestyles and fitness.

Hip-Hop Health offers six five-minute health raps in a format that allows teachers to use each segment of physical activity as a short activity break, or all the segments together as a full 30-minute workout without the worry of instruction time or equipment.

The incorporated health raps teach children about muscles, bones, nutrition, flexibility and stretching.

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Can music make you run faster?

Dr Costas Karageorghis, calls music sport’s “legal drug”, capable of increasing performance by 20 per cent while reducing an athlete’s perception of effort by 10 per cent.

As head of Brunel University’s music in sport research department and the author of more than 100 academic papers on the subject including several published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Karageorghis is well qualified to make these pronouncements.