by Dan | Aug 12, 2012 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Back from our 11 day trip to Alaska–land/cruise. It rained 9 of those 11 days, which apparently is typical. Still saw some great sights. Even though we were on vacation, we, me and the family, managed to exercise every day. Again, once it becomes a habit, you don’t think about it. I will show you over the next several posts what we did for exercise, and the sights we saw, and how it made doing the exercise that much more fun, and rewarding. These pictures are just a few of the great mountains scenes we saw.
Here is one where you can see the glacier in front. I will have some close up shots later. Absolutely amazine. Keep moving everybody! It is good to be back.
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1781
by Dan | Jul 30, 2012 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Year round, there are fun runs, walks, triathlons, bike rides, that it is easy to find some ways to keep busy, and stay fit. Here this last saturday was the annual Kampeska run, 1/2 marathon, 10K, and 5K. It was great weather, perfect day for getting out for a run. Here I am after I won the 10K for my age group. Whether you win or lose, it does not matter. Get out, and try. I am surprised, and of course, when I saw Rhonda Arbogast taking pictures, I had to ham it up a little more. It is all about having fun, right?
Of course, not to even be outdone by myself, here I am holding my winning door prize for the race–a hooded sweatshirt. So everybody, get out, and go have some fun. Whether you are walking, running, biking, it does not matter. Just get out and move. Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah–me! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1768
by Dan | Jul 29, 2012 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Heart Health, Motivation, Wellness/Health
This is the final segment of the heart disease series. Everybody knows somebody, or they themselves personally, have heart disease. No one is immune. Sometimes reminding yourself of the reasons why you should do something about it is as close as your own home. Family should rank as the primary goal. I touch on this more is a minute.
Treatment options include: 1. Medications: These medicines can be used to help lower your blood pressure, lower your cholesterol, improve your blood sugars, but in all, they can help lower your risk of a heart attack. Which medication is right for you depends on your own health issues, and discussion with your doctor.
2. Angioplasty/stent: If you already have heart disease, or had a heart attack, these may be one of the treatments that are used. Angioplasty involves using a balloon to open up the coronary artery, and then placing a stent helps keep it open. If things are too involved for this, then the next step may be…
3. Coronary bypass surgery: Here another blood vessel from your body, very commonly from your leg, is used to “bypass” the areas of blockage. It is reattached above the area of the blockage, to an area below it, so it effectively bypasses the blood flow around the areas of blockage. These 2 options definitely are more advanced ways of treating heart disease, but one of the most effective yet is preventing it from ever getting this severe. This brings up to the last treatment option.
4. Lifestyle changes: This is basically what are entire blog, and Strive 2 Survive program is all about. The more you can do about watching your diet, and increasing your exercise, the better. This can definitely help prevent heart disease from coming on, but are also extremely effective in helping to manage heart disease if any of the other options above come into play also.
Afterall, is life not about having fun!
Wrap your arms around the things in life that are most important to you. We all have to remember we are not going to have them forever. Appreciate them while we can. Family is the center of all of this for me, and why I try to stay healthy. I want to be here and enjoy them a long time. A special thanks to photographer, and friend, Cory Ann Ellis, for once again creating some great family pictures to enjoy forever. Thanks!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1767
by Dan | Jul 23, 2012 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
It was a busy weekend for many parents. It was the state softball tournament held in SF. Boy, was it hot; around 100 degrees both days. Between me running back and forth between my daughter Molly’s game, and my son’s games, I had just as much of a workout as they did. Here Nick is with his Brown Clinic/Glacial Lakes Property Management teammates as they placed 2nd in the U14 division. They played very well, and gave it all they had.
Here Molly is racing around 3rd base on her way to home to score. Both kids had a lot of fun, and for me, as Dad, I can say it was a lot of fun watching them, but I was exhausted afterwards. Keeping up with the 2 of them, while Sarah is back home on call, was quite the workout. I did lots of walking in between games as well, and did not have to worry about trying to do any other exercise for the day. All of this was enough.
For all of you parents out there, you know what you all do for your kids. We make a lot of sacrifices as well trying to keep the kids involved in activities, and trying to be there to cheer them on as well. We have to remember to take care of ourselves as well, and remember to stay active for us as well. If we don’t, we are going to have a hard time keeping up with them. We also run the risk of not being around for them later when they need us. Hopefully, they appreciate all of this as well. For many of these things, it may not be appreciated at the time, but as they look back, they will remember we were there for them, and then it will matter. So remember, take care of ourselves, stay healthy, and keep moving everybody.
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1761
by Dan | Jul 22, 2012 | Exercise, Heart Health, Wellness/Health
There are several tests that can be done in the evaluation of Coronary Heart Disease. These include:
1.) EKG–This is an electrical tracing of your heart, and can help detect any changes in blood flow to the heart, and help determine if someone is having a heart attack, or if they have had one in the past. It only takes a few minutes, and is painless.
2.) A Stress Test–You are monitored continuously with an EKG tracing, and then start walking on a treadmill, such as the one pictured. Every 3 minutes, the speed and the incline of the treadmill increase. We are trying to evaluate not only your exercise capacity/limit, but also help determine if your heart is getting enough blood with activity. We are “stressing” your heart.
3.) An Echocardiogram–it is basically an ultrasound of your heart, giving us information about your heart valves, and how well your heart contracts when it is beating.
4.) A cardiac catheterization, or angiogram–the large vessels in the groin of your leg have a catheter placed and dye is injected to evaluate the coronary vessels of the heart. This is where we can see exactly where blockages exist, and then can place a stent where necessary if blockage is present.
5.) A cardiac score/calcium score–This is a CT scan of the coronary vessels of your heart, and if the amount of calcium present in the coronary vessels are increased, this is also a risk factor with blockage of the vessel going forward. It to is painless, and takes only a few minutes.
Overall, what everyone needs to keep in mind is that if they are experiencing increasing shortness of breath with activity, or chest pain, then you need to see your doctor to decide on which tests above need to be performed in order to help evaluate you.
The final upcoming segment on coronary heart disease will be dealing with how to treat it. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 1760
