by Su Avasthi

Yes, we all know that regular exercise benefits the body as well as the mind.

But what if working out actually makes people smarter?

According to the New York Times, it’s true. Scientists, who’ve long suspected that aerobic exercise makes the brain function better, now have a growing body of evidence to explain exactly how sweat can improve the mind.

Scientists now believe brain cells can regenerate, in mice anyway. That alone is newsworthy. For years, we’ve believed that once a brain cell is lost, it’s lost forever.

But research not only shows that brain cells in all mice regenerate themselves, but also that athletic mice re-grow far more neurons than their couch potato cousins. In fact, the mice who get regular exercise on a wheel produce two or three times as many new brain cells.

Indeed, this type of brain cell regeneration isn’t just limited to rodents. People have also been shown to regenerate neurons, a fact that has changed some of our fundamental beliefs about brain cells. (It is also very good news for anyone who sniffed too much glue in kindergarten.)

One theory is that when we exercise, we get more blood pumping through our bodies, which then stimulates the brain, causing more cells to grow.

I don’t know much about the biochemistry of my brain, but I do know that I feel much more tuned into things when I get a lot of aerobic exercise. And I know that I feel like a slug—mind, body, and spirit—when I skip too many workouts.

What about you? Do you notice a mental difference when you workout? Do you think it’s the result of brain cell regeneration?

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 by Su Avasthi

Some friends and I were driving home after day-trip recently, and my iPod was plugged into the car stereo. For miles, we listened to the mellow, obscure, alternative-ish music that’s popular on college radio stations.

And then ABBA’s Dancing Queen came blasting through the speakers. I clicked past it, only to hit Justin Timberlake’s Sexy Back, Kelly Clarkson’s Since You Been Gone, and Rihanna’s SOS.

My iPod had zeroed in on my workout playlist, revealing the music that motivates me through grueling workouts. I gravitate to dance-y top 40 tunes because they keep me going on the elliptical trainer.

My friends had also created workout-specific playlists. A cyclist in the group swears by The Who and Led Zeppelin for long, arduous rides. (He promised that he keeps the volume very, very low, but I still think it’s hazardous to ride a bike and wear headphones.) A jogger — a serious guy who never listens to the radio — downloaded a bunch of workout playlists from a fitness site and now runs to Beyonce and the Black-Eyed Peas.

Music and fitness websites are excellent places to discover great workout mixes. iTunes offers all kinds of pre-assembled mixes, ranging from “Tracks to Make You Sweat” and “Alt Rock Workout” to Nike mixes created by trainers. Fitness Magazine listed their Top 100 workout songs, and Women’s Health has a huge collection of workout playlists. Some time back, I pulled a bunch of fun songs off Lime’s Dance off the Duck mix.

It’s also possible to fine-tune your playlist to suit a specific workout. According to an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, tempo is an important thing to consider. Music with a tempo between 120 and 160 beats per minute corresponds to a person’s heart rate during a workout which can help set or maintain a pace.

For that reason, tunes on the slower end of that spectrum (think Rihanna’s Umbrella or Salt -N- Pepa’s Push It) might be better-suited to a moderate workout, while songs with a faster beat (like The Killer’s Mr. Brightside, Green Day’s American Idiot, ABBA’s Dancing Queen) can help increase your intensity.

If you want a power-based workout, such as strength-training, consider heavy metal, rap or arena-rock. Experts say that loud, aggressive sounds might help push you through the exhausting repetitions and sets. Just remember to keep the volume low to prevent hearing loss.

Loud, heavy metal may not be your thing. But if it works, your friends might be surprised to discover Metallica on your MP3 player.

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 by Eliza Thomas on February 19, 2008 - 12:50pm.

Image at right: Solar panels at the top of Vail mountain

When a group of eco-radicals from the Earth Liberation Front torched a $12 million development on Colorado’s Vail Mountain in 1998, the ski industry’s ecological footprint — traditionally one of clear-cut trails, ritzy condo developments and fuel-chugging lifts — was thrust into the public eye. Now, nearly ten years later, and with climate change on the nation’s brain, the stark realization that snow could become a thing of the past (and that skiers themselves could be on the fast track towards extinction) is finally provoking the ski industry into action.

According to the National Ski Areas Association, 61 resorts in 18 states are purchasing renewable energy to offset their energy consumption, and 28 of those are offsetting 100 percent — keeping 427,596,000 pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere. California’s Mammoth Mountain is experimenting with geothermal heating and this season, Jiminy Peak, in Hancock, Mass. became the first ski resort to install a 253-foot wind turbine and begin creating its own electricity. Vail Resorts has purchased wind power to offset 100 percent of the electricity use at all five of its resorts — Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly. Many resorts are also offering SkiGreen tags — essentially wind energy credits — to help skiers offset their travel emissions.

Leading the charge, however, is Aspen Skiing Company, which oversees Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass and Buttermilk. In addition to being the first resort to be 100 percent wind-powered, ASC also uses solar and hydroelectric power, and the snowcats at all four mountains are run exclusively on biodiesel.

Auden Schendler, Director of Environmental Affairs for Aspen Skiing Company, says that skiing is a way for people to understand climate change, but that implementing green infrastructure on the slopes is just the beginning.

“We need to find our biggest lever, because the ski industry, as a business, does pull weight in congress,” Schendler says. “We’ve realized reducing emissions isn’t enough. We need to sit down and get involved in policy.”

— Andy Anderson

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Praise for Seven Words…

“Seven Words That Can Change the World reveals the astonishing, simple truths that have the power to forever transform our world for the better while freeing our minds from the enslavement of limiting beliefs. This is not a text for the simple-minded; it is a guiding philosophy for the mindful, intelligent few who are wise enough to seek out — and recognize — the higher simplicities of truly purposeful living.” - Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, editor of NaturalNews.com

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A live interview with Jeff and Sarah Artzi from SimplyHealthyPets.com about pet health and nutritional supplements for cats and dogs.
Click here to listen now (MP3).

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Health Ranger Report #10: Energetic Contamination of Beef Products

Recorded live from a high Andean rainforest in Ecuador, this discussion reveals why eating beef promotes fear, anger and violence.
Click here to listen now (MP3).

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This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Fountain of Youth World Summit program which can be found at (http://www.FountainOfYouthWorldSummit.com) . In this excerpt, Dr. Carol Look discusses how EFT - Emotional Freedom Techniques - can help you change your limiting beliefs and the law of attraction.
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Many of the products we use have heavy metals in them. Heavy metals are in the foods we eat, water we drink, and the air we breathe. We need very little of only a few heavy metals including zinc, copper, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium and strontium. These good heavy metals become toxic to us when the quantity is too high and it takes really very little to be too much. On top of that, we take in more than twenty heavy metals which are non-essential for our healthy functioning.

How do they get into the body? Heavy metals enter your body through drinking, eating, inhaling, and skin and eye contact. Once in the body they do damage on the cellular level by causing dangerous free radicals production. The damage that they do is on the cellular level, and can cause cancer and many other diseases.

Four of the heavy metals that we focus on cause damage to the intestinal tract. They are mercury, aluminum, lead and cadmium. While aluminum isn’t truly a heavy metal, it’s still an extremely poisonous substance that can accumulate in the body’s tissues. And, the number one most toxic heavy metal is arsenic.

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