Personally exercise is important to me. It’s never crossed my mind  that exercise can have adverse effect on the body. I am glad that HealthBeat of the Harvard Medical School shared this interesting article supported with findings over a period of time.

Does exercise contribute to arthritis? Research says no

If you’re putting off getting into a regular exercise routine because you’re worried that exercise contributes to arthritis, think again. Studies show that exercise can be safe for joints, both in older, overweight folks and in athletes.

The knees of Framingham

In 1948, more than 5,200 residents of Framingham, Mass., volunteered for the Framingham Heart Study, which has produced major insights into the causes of heart attack and stroke. In 1971, scientists began a new study of the children of the original volunteers and the spouses of those children. Between 1993 and 1994, 1,279 members of the Framingham Offspring Cohort enrolled in a study of exercise and arthritis. Their average age was 53.

All the volunteers were free of arthritis when the study began. Each answered detailed questions about their patterns of exercise, including walking, jogging, being active enough to work up a sweat, and their overall exercise level. All the people provided information about knee injuries and symptoms of knee pain and stiffness. In addition, all the volunteers were weighed and measured, and they each had a full series of knee x-rays.

Between 2002 and 2005, the subjects answered the same questions about knee pain and injury, and the x-rays were repeated. All the x-rays were independently evaluated by two experts who had no knowledge of the subjects’ exercise histories.

When the results were tallied, the researchers found no link between exercise and arthritis of the knee. The most active people had the same risk of arthritis as the least active, in terms of both symptoms and x-ray abnormalities.

Exercise was as friendly to the knees of joggers as walkers, even though jogging subjects the lower body to much higher impact and stress than walking. And even though obesity is an independent risk factor for arthritis, physically active overweight members of the study group fared just as well as their slim peers.

Australian knees

Although the Framingham study goes a long way toward dispelling the idea that exercise causes arthritis, it did not confirm a fond hope of exercise enthusiasts: that repetitive exercise could be good for joints.

However, a high-tech Australian investigation of 297 men and woman without knee injuries or disease showed that people who performed the most vigorous weight-bearing exercise had the thickest, healthiest knee cartilage.

Runners’ knees

A 2008 study that compared 284 dedicated runners with 156 nonrunners also found little evidence that exercise causes arthritis. After a remarkably long 21-year follow-up period, the runners experienced significantly less musculoskeletal disability than did their less active peers — and the runners also enjoyed a 39% lower mortality rate.

The research is impressive, and it confirms earlier studies. Former varsity runners, for example, are no more likely to develop arthritis in their legs than former college swimmers, and champion runners are no more likely to end up with arthritic hips than nonathletes.

Exercise as therapy?

Exercise is often prescribed for patients with arthritis. Exercise may be safe for healthy joints — but is it also safe for arthritic joints?

In 2005, British researchers found that both walking and muscle-strengthening were safe and effective, reducing pain and disability in people with arthritis. And in 2006 and 2007, scientists in the Netherlands and the U.K. reported that graded exercise programs are safe and effective for patients with arthritis of the hip or knee.

Healthy body, healthy joints

To prevent problems caused by exercise, be sure your general health is good; older people and patients with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, or other significant problems should get medical clearance. And all of us should get in shape gradually. Listen to your body as you exercise and report any problems to your doctor.

Warming up and cooling down will help protect your heart and your joints. Stretching exercises, good shoes, and good technique will also reduce your risk of musculoskeletal injuries. With these simple precautions and a dose of common sense, exercise will be safe for your joints.

Next excuse?

I’d wanted to link this page but… For more interesting articles, please go to: www.health.harvard.edu.

Please let me know if I had infringed media rights by downloading or uploading this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8332473.stm.

Artist Angela Palmer has given us concrete understanding on what air-pollution is about.

She observes that people living in Linfen, China which is the most polluted place in the world exudes life though poor. By contrast to having the cleanest air on earth, the people in Cape Grim, Australia are reserve and out of sight.

Thank you Artist Angela Palmer for sharing and BBC for putting this up.

For a believer to take the step of confirmation in the church is a solemn affair. This warrants celebration on the part of the clergy and congregation.

Yesterday (25th October, 2009) at St Andrews’ Cathedral at 5pm service was dedicated to confirmation of about 52 believers to the church. It was a special time for celebration. Sadly the service was poorly conducted by those involved.

There was need for printed sheets of hymns and songs as part of the service but some worshippers did not have the printed sheets. Without the words of the hymn or song, a worshipper’s mind and heart was disrupted. This spoiled the mood of the service for the worshippers. (Unfortunately this happened every time when there was a special service conducted.)

[Mind you there were many LCD screens installed hanging overhead in the church building but no one considered using that to flash the words of  hymns or songs?]

The choir sang poorly. Instead of helping the congregation to sing the hymns or songs, most of the time they were behind in timing and turned the beautiful hymn into funeral timing!

During the Holy Communion, the choir’s rendition was appalling. Many choir members do not know their music, much less the meaning of the lyrics sang! Where was the commitment or dedication? Many sang with their natural voice. If this was the case, disband the choir. Let the organist or musician lead the singing instead.

If there was need, get a special group of singers to present meaningful and memorable rendition for the occasion.

Yesteryears when fewer members were able to take up learning of musical instruments, this could be excused. Today, choir members pride themselves able to sing when they had not gone for vocal training.

Where is the fear of the Lord? If the clergymen do not care about administration of worship, then who is able to reform? Preachers are found crying foul from the pulpit that members lack in spiritual growth and involvement, how could members improve given this tardy and sloppy way of conducting the worship service week after week and where sermons are reduced to rantings and ramblings and on occasion, it was clear that the sermon was ill-prepared?

Interestingly, many were found criticising the public for poor administration but when it comes to church matters, Christians become sheepish. Why?

Has the church become obsolete? Have the clergymen and leaders and those involved in affairs of the church become complacent and sloppy?

We make our houses beautiful homes to live in but the church…????

Last Sunday at St Andrews Cathedral 5pm service, the preacher asked, “What is the opposite of trust?” “I hope you will not answer ‘distrust’.” Was he condescending? Was he treating his congregation like his Sunday School kids?

Guess his answer? “Fear.” He was quite smug about his answer!

It’s a wonder why Christians do not fear God! Fear in this context has negative connotation. Often the word ‘fear’ used with God implies ‘reverence’.  If the opposite of trust is fear then, Christians rightly can question God and disbelieve all that written in the Bible. (I’m sure he will argue and excuse his way out on this.)

The preacher could have used ‘afraid of tomorrow; disquiet; anxiety; and so on…’ 

I went away wondering…what is the role of the pastor? His role is to bury, to marry, to visit the sick and to baptise. Does this mean he hasn’t the time to pray through when he was preparing his sermons?

Yesteryears, a pastor was able to take care of one congregation. Today a pastor has many paid helpers and there are more pastors to the number of congregations at St Andrews Cathedral.

There is the constant complaint that pastors have a lot to do. Does this mean he can be excused for his ill-chosen words? Can he be excused for his wooly sermons? He is called to preach God’s Word — a sermon at Sunday service is a fresh reminder for the congregation to lean on God throughout the week. Can the congregation members recall that he preached throughout the week?

He claimed he had shattered dreams but… The truth is shattered dream is relative in understanding as the intensity of one’s shattered dream differs from another…

Was he able to say he went through the same experiences that Job in the Old Testament went through? He made no direction to Job’s predicament at all.

What was he taught in homiletics during his theological or bible school days?

I discover whatever regular regime of exercises (jogging, walking, swimming…) helps:

1. increase my heart rate to maintaining a strong and healthy heart
2. strengthen my body muscles, preventing aches and pains; over-exercising hurt though
3. loosen bowels — less constipation
4. make me breathe deeply to strengthen my lungs; I find I breathe in shallow manner as I grow older, sometimes causing poor sleep at night
5. clear my mind as deep breathing carries oxygen in blood into the brain
6. release toxic energies in body as toxic energies in body can cause depression or emotional problems or pathological illnesses or …
7. by making me drink more water to replace that lost as the body is made up of 75% water and to flush out toxins in body, prevent constipation and cut down bad cholestrol (?)
8. increase my appetite when I feel good and healthy

Lately I’ve been getting solicitation to join facebook! I’ve deleted or spam individuals, yet I kept receiving from different ones whom I don’t know asking me to join the facebook.

I’m happy with this blog — and I’ve no intention of getting another one or join the twitter farce!

I hope this blog will NOT disappear conveniently as a result of my expressing freedom of speech.

Today while shopping at the Bukit Timah NTUC Finesse supermarket, I find workers at the fresh vegetable and fruit produce rather irksome.

My friend and I were trying to decide on some freshly packed salads when a worker came around to shove my friend aside. When I questioned him why was he so rude, his answer was: “I thought you were talking.”  The disgust was we received no word of apology!!!

In the first place, there was presumptuous on the part of the worker. Mind you he is only a WORKER and NOT customers! How dare such presumption!

WORKERS are paid to render service and CUSTOMERS paid for the services. If there is NO CUSTOMER, workers are NOT paid and soon workers will be out of job!

If the supermarkets want to survive, I suggest the management consider the RIGHTS OF CUSTOMERS and offer GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE!

Is this the new generation of WORKERS? Is this how the management is training its workers?

Is this what service means here in Singapore especially at the high end of the NTUC supermarket?

In the 1960s, at tender age, I remember shopping at Cold Storage, the high-end supermarket that treated their customers as kings.

All fresh produce and products were nicely placed on the shelves before the supermarket actually open its doors for service.

Today, generally Cold Storage still remain the same but not all outlets though. Marketplace and Kimisawa are worth the mention on generally courteous service. These are high-end supermarkets unlike…

By contrast today, we find workers streaming in at the same time as the customers. Often times, these workers are always in the way of customers and workers feel they have the right of way and boldly asked customers to move aside for them to trolley their produce or move aside for them to place the produce on the shelf!!!

Singapore has been talking about offering good customer service. Where is customer service especially at the high-end NTUC supermarts? Are these workers trained to be rude and abrasive and presumptuous to customers?

Can the civil law pass judgment to cane one for drinking beer?

Has Malaysia become a theocracy where there is law to cane a muslim for drinking beer? Should a verdict be passed in the law of courts? Is this not a religious issue? Is Malaysia mixing religious law with civil law?

It is an offence for a muslim to take alcoholic drinks. However should this be applied in their national law?

How are those caucasians in the West converted to Islam taking this law to cane those who actually take this as a social drink?

Finally the real question is asked on poverty in some nations: why is Africa poor?

A commentator, an African, candidly acknowledges that Africa is rich in resources but it is their national leaders who are corrupt and squandered the people’s wealth for their own pleasure.

The leaders fill their own stomach but the people…?

Should surrounding or rich nations offer charity to help these poor?

Unfortunately civil unrests and killings are endemic in Africa. Why do people kill people? 

Many mad leaders who champion freedom exploited children to fight! The leaders would not soil their hands… How depraved some adults or leaders are!

What is freedom? Where is freedom? What is democracy? Where is human rights?

Neil Sedaka, an American pop singer and songwriter whose career spans 50 years, looks so youthful and fresh at age 70. I remember enjoying the pop hit ‘O Carol’ at a tender age.

His speaking voice is gentle and distinctive. His singing voice remains almost the same clarity as when he was young. Apparently he was first trained as a classical concert pianist at the Julliard School of Music in NY on a scholarship and not in voice. Yet this unique singing voice brought him this far in life.

It was such a treat to view this video produced by BBC on 8th July 2009 during his tour in UK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast/8140100.stm.  (I hope the video sounds ok as this speaks for itself his career and person and singer.)