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by Jill Barrett
Everyone knows that moving your body helps reduce your risk of heart disease and obesity, but what about other benefits of exercise? Some forms of exercise have unusual positive effects, including reducing the risk of dementia, increasing self-awareness, and getting in touch with your spiritual side.
According to recent studies, cardiovascular exercise can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Information available at www.mentalhelp.net explains that maintaining a regular exercise program and a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol decreases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life. Some sources, such as the web site of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation, state that you can reduce your risk this way by as much as 50 percent. The key to remember? “What is good for the heart is good for the brain,” says Zoe Dearing, professional education coordinator of the Alzheimer’s Association. “When you are getting the heart pumping, you increase the flow of oxygen to the brain. That gives the brain a better chance to stay healthy.”
Keeping the physical brain healthy is one outcome of exercise; keeping the mind healthy is another. For example, the mental benefits of yoga are well-known. “As soon as you sit down and start to breathe, your blood pressure drops,” said Nancy Cline, a yoga instructor in Maryland Heights, Missouri. “[The benefits are that yoga] tones organs, helps you become more limber, and keeps you relaxed but more focused and aware.”
The physical aspects of the postures of yoga contribute to a relaxed awareness, according to Cline. “The postures are just one piece. We get to know ourselves. Postures help because it’s a time, as a teacher, that I try to get people to pay attention to themselves.”
The Alzheimer Research and Prevention Foundation supports Cline’s experience. According to one study, people practicing Kirtan Kriya (a yoga meditation) showed an improvement in such things as concentration, short-term memory, judgment and psychological and spiritual health.
While yoga is a popular physical activity that increases spiritual health, a lesser-known one is walking labyrinths. A labyrinth is a path that winds around itself in an intricate pattern that ends in the center of the path. It differs from a maze in that the labyrinth has only one path; it does not branch off in other directions.
The labyrinth is an ancient tool that people use to free their minds. It works much like yoga in that it promotes a relaxed awareness.
“The main benefit [of a labyrinth] is getting away – taking time out from everyday life and turning your orientation from the everyday and going inside,” said Robert Ferre, president of Labyrinth Enterprises, LLC. “It can also do such things as help creative people get away from the intellectual mind and go someplace deeper.”
Monks in medieval times used labyrinths as a path to enlightenment, and labyrinths have their purpose in modern life as well, according to Ferre. “Modern life is way out of balance. It is too aggressive and masculine. Labyrinths can help combine the feminine as well. It’s very left brain. [Walking a labyrinth] brings us back to a better balance between the left brain and the right brain.”
Labyrinths can be found throughout St. Louis. Labyrinth Enterprises provides locations to area labyrinths. Go to www.labyrinth-enterprises.com.
| September Featured Stories |
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Coffee Break with the Barista
Creating Mind, Body & Spirit Health — One Peace at a Time, by Milan Galan, Ph.D.
Waking Up to the Truth About Sleep, by Jessica Wilson
The Power of Sound, by Marian Rein
Health Myths & Facts, by Pamela Kramer Childress
Mind, Body & Spirit Health at Midlife and Menopause by Diane G. Sanford, Ph.D.
Age – It’s Simply A Number, by Milan Galan, Ph.D.
Physical and Mental Well-Being Combining Body, Mind & Spirit, by Jill Barrett
Getting Better With Age: A Healthy Perspective, by Phylis Clay Sparks
A Piece of Kitchen Nostalgia Returns — Retro Appliance Comes to the Aid of Busy Families, by Mary K. Morgan
The Healthy Side of Your Morning Brew, by Marian Rein
Todd Lewis If you make a list, it will come by Pamela Kramer Childress
Toby’s Tale — More About Toby by Jessica Wilson
Live Large Spend Small by Mary K. Morgan - September 2008
Java Journal Movie Morsels by Mary Morgan - September 2008
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