Cited: HealthDay

Doctors around the world will tell a new mother to keep active during her pregnancy. The main reason is that it will make delivery much easier on the woman. However, experts now say that it also will benefit a baby. Of course, a new mother might be a little unsure of exercising while she is pregnant because she does not want to harm the baby. A woman’s body goes through a lot of changes during pregnancy and it is only natural that women worry. Medical experts now say that a good exercise program is in the best interest of the mother and the child.

“We know that women who exercise during pregnancy have less chance of developing certain conditions like gestational diabetes,” said Dr. Raul Artal, Chairman of Obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health for the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. “Not only that, exercise maintains musculoskeletal fitness. Women can cope with the anatomical and physiological changes of pregnancy better when they’re in good shape. They also tolerate labor better and recover more quickly from delivery.”

The baby also benefits. One study found that when an expectant mother works out, her fetus reaps cardiac benefits in the form of lower fetal heart rates. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that pregnant women do at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day most days of the week. First, though, all women should consult a doctor to make sure it is OK.

When choosing what sort of exercise to pursue, a woman should take into account the shape she was in before becoming pregnant, said Dr. Thomas Wang, a family practitioner for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. “A lot of things depend on the level of fitness they had before,” Wang said. A mom-to-be should pursue activities that will provide a good level of exertion without testing the limits of her body’s current conditioning. If she is just starting a fitness program to improve her health during pregnancy, she should start out slowly and be careful not to overexert herself.

However, there are certain activities that should at least be undertaken with caution, if not avoided altogether. Pregnant women, for instance, should not go scuba diving, as that activity exposes the fetus to a risk of developing decompression sickness, also known as the bends.

Women also should think twice before engaging in activities where the risk of falling is higher, such as gymnastics, horseback riding, downhill skiing and high-intensity racquet sports. In addition, they should avoid contact sports such as ice hockey, soccer and basketball.

“Anything that involves impact or the chance of abdominal trauma, they should try to avoid,” Wang explained.

Exercise that is perfectly safe for expectant mothers includes Kegel exercises, swimming, walking, light dancing and yoga. Riding a stationary bicycle or working out on aerobic gym equipment — elliptical or stair-climbing machines, for instance — is also fairly safe, as long as care is taken to prevent a fall. Most pregnant women also can take part in jogging, running and aerobics, especially if those were exercises they regularly performed before pregnancy.

Pregnant women who are doing weight training should emphasize improving their muscle tone, particularly in the upper body and abdominal area, according to the American Pregnancy Association. They should avoid lifting weights above their heads and performing exercises that strain the lower back muscles.

“There have been some studies that show heavy lifting causes a temporary drop in the baby’s heart rate,” Wang said. “It usually corrects pretty quickly, but they might want to be careful.”

For those women who are pregnant and would like to start an exercise program . . . There is the exercises with Pilates on all Pilate’s equipment and Pilates DVDs, right at your fingertips! Both the Alexander Technique and Pilates offers many benefits by focusing on alignment, proper biomechanics and symmetry of movement. Good posture is key to achieving good body awareness. Exercises for building body awareness and strengthening appropriate muscle groups can be helpful during pregnancy.  Even Alexander Technique in Manhattan can help you relax during pregnancy.

Other things to keep in mind if exercising while pregnant:

• Avoid exercising to the point of exhaustion or breathlessness, as that could affect the oxygen supply to the fetus.
• Avoid overheating, which can affect the baby’s development. Do not exercise in hot weather.
• During the second and third trimesters, avoid exercise that involves lying flat on your back as this decreases blood flow to the womb.

Though that might seem like a lot of cautions for something that’s supposed to be safe, doctors insist that women can and should engage in a well-thought-out fitness program during their pregnancy.

“By and large, if there are no medical complications of pregnancy, women can continue engaging in the same type of activities,” Artal said. “Women should be encouraged to continue living an active lifestyle.”

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My Take: I think every pregnant woman should exercise in some way, to some degree. It makes the delivery so much easier and you have to use fewer drugs during the process, which is better for the infant. The baby will also be much healthier once it is born if the mother exercises during the pregnancy.

Think back in history and consider how women handled pregnancy. The average woman worked hard all day long to provide a clean home and clean laundry for her family. Some women worked in the fields helping their husbands bring in crops while pregnant and sometimes gave birth on the field. All of these women, after birth, would get up and go right back to what they were doing during pregnancy and their babies were healthy. What is even stranger is, these women usually went through their pregnancy with very few, if any, doctors visits.

Of course, those women that were well off usually got pampered while they were pregnant. The consequence of this was that there children were not always as healthy when born. As opposed to a farmer’s wife, a woman who was married to a rich man, usually had regular doctors visits during pregnancy.

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Whether it is a 5,000 square foot athletic training complex or a 500 square foot apartment fitness center, each presents its own unique vision and challenges. In this health fitness equipment company’s view, the solution process begins with the customer’s vision for the overall project and how the fitness components fit into that vision. Consequently, a myriad of issues are involved, ranging from the building’s overall design theme, size of the building, to current or prospective tenant demographics, functional room space and electrical and cable TV requirements. They approach this process very seriously because downtime can result in lost money, angry customers or both.

Cited: HealthDay

At the end of May, US health officials are working as fast as they can to learn about the unusual pathogen, H1N1 virus, commonly called the swine flu before the next flu season starts this fall. Right now, the swine flu is riding a roller coaster in various parts of the country. Health officials are also concerned because it is a more virulent and easily transmitted virus strain.

The reason for the urgency: Some past pandemics were preceded by “herald waves” of a flu strain that surfaced at the end of one flu season, only to return with far greater consequences the next flu season.

“We are mindful that pandemics of influenza have sometimes come in waves,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s interim deputy director for science and public health program, said during an afternoon news conference. “The very severe 1918 pandemic had a moderate herald wave in the spring and a much more severe second wave in the fall. So that very terrible experience of 1918 is in our minds.”

Some estimates have placed the worldwide death toll from the 1918 outbreak — often referred to as the “Spanish Flu” — as high as 40 million people.

“We are really on a fast track, over the next to eight to 10 weeks, to learn as much as we can as this virus heads to the Southern Hemisphere [where flu season is just beginning] and to strengthen our planning for the surge of illness that we expect to experience here in the fall,” Schuchat added.

Scientists will be looking to see if the H1N1 swine flu virus mutates or becomes resistant to antiviral medications, or is more easily spread among people, she said.

Schuchat said there is no way to tell now if the H1N1 virus will be more virulent when — and if — it returns to the Northern Hemisphere with the approach of winter. “Whether it will dominate among the seasonal flu viruses or whether it will disappear is not predictable right now,” she said.

To date there have been 6,764 confirmed and probable cases of infection in the United States, Schuchat said, adding that most of the cases have been mild and patients have recovered quickly.

The CDC is reporting 11 deaths linked to the swine flu, and all of the victims had underlying health problems before they were infected. Illinois health officials reported the death of a Chicago area man over the weekend.

Canadian officials said Monday that a Toronto man who had swine flu died Saturday, and he also suffered from a chronic medical condition.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that 46 countries have reported 12,954 cases of H1N1 swine flu infection, including 92 deaths, most of them in Mexico, where the outbreak began.

The CDC said last week that progress was being made toward the development of an H1N1 swine flu vaccine, with two promising candidate viruses for use in such a shot. In addition, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday that the federal government was allocating $1 billion to the search for a swine flu vaccine.

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In the United States, most cases of the swine flu continue to be no worse than seasonal flu. Testing has found that the swine flu virus remains susceptible to two common antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, according to the CDC.

The CDC believes that another strain H1N1 swine flu circulated prior to 1957 and that this is the reason why some older people may have a slight immunity to the current swine flu. In the United States, only 64% of the swine flu infections have been in people between the ages of 5-24 and that only 1% involves people over 65 years of age.

U.S. Human Cases of H1N1 Flu Infection

(As of May 25, 2009, 11:00 AM ET)

*includes the District of Columbia
**One case is resident of Ky. but hospitalized in Ga.

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My Take: I am a big believer in taking multivitamins every day and if people would take multivitamins every day, they might have a better chance of not getting the swine flu. It would also help if people would cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough and then wash their hands.

Kids are the worst because they never cover their mouth when they sneeze or cough. Then you have the ones that wipe their runny noses on their sleeve instead of using a Kleenex or kerchief. This is the fault of the parents who do not keep after their children.

Otherwise, I think if people are careful and avoid crowds there should not be a problem. They should definitely avoid anyone wearing a facemask because if they are wearing one they are either sick or they know someone who is. People should also keep in touch with their doctors if they do get the feeling sick. I understand it is a simple blood test to find out if they do have the H1N1 swine flu.

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Medical Equipment

A good exercise program can help keep you healthy. There are many pieces of cardiovascular medical equipment that a doctor may use to check how your heart is doing. Like Futuremed’s Easy-ECG Plus. It connects to a laptop or desktop computer’s serial or USB port to become a 12 lead ECG with interpretation. It provides simultaneous 12 lead acquisitions and display, a feature that allows the system to be used for patient monitoring. Tracings can be compared on screen both during acquisition and in review mode. It provides unlimited storage and can interface with electronic medical records. Easy electrocardiography reports can be generated on the physician’s standard plain paper printer with the P80 Six ECG. This unit can generate letter sized (8½x11′) reports that are truly full page with no folds or breaks in the middle at the push of a button. This simple ECG has multiple digital filters to ensure sharp, easy to ready tracings. It is available with measurement and diagnosis software.

Internet Job Searches

Today, the Internet has made it relatively easy to locate healthcare jobs and explore all types of medical jobs, hospital jobs and nursing jobs. A few years ago, all the health care professionals had to do was visit different institutions to look for jobs. However, with the use of online job searches and job portals these things are no longer needed. Those looking for medical jobs need to know how to explore the healthcare job market and where to go to locate medical job vacancies. Healthcare organizations seek high-performance leaders who can bring about change and improve outcomes.

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