Studio 4 Fitness Blog

Surprising Ways a Chiropractor Can Help You
Karen Erickson, DC
American Chiropractic Association

 Well-designed studies have shown that chiropractic care (often just called “chiropractic”) is at least as effective — and sometimes more effective — than traditional medicine for treating certain types of physical complaints.
Emerging research indicates that chiropractic affects more than just the spine and surrounding muscles. It has been used to successfully treat a variety of conditions, including digestive complaints and ear infections.
Ways chiropractic can help…
DIGESTIVE DISORDERS
A survey of 1,494 patients found that 22% reported digestive relief following chiropractic treatments, even though the majority had never mentioned digestive issues to their chiropractors.
Many of the spinal nerves that are affected by chiropractic manipulation control digestive functions. Patients who undergo routine manipulations may experience changes in their levels of digestive fluids, the speed at which food moves through the intestinal tract or the strength and/or frequency of intestinal contractions.
We’re often told by patients that manipulations for, say, neck or low-back pain not only helped their musculoskeletal complaints but also resulted in improvement in constipation, irritable bowel syndrome and other digestive issues.
Digestive problems need to be medically diagnosed first, but the most effective treatments involve an integrative approach, which can include chiropractic. I often get referrals from medical doctors of patients with constipation, colitis or irritable bowel syndrome.
Help for colic: A study published in Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that colicky babies treated with chiropractic cried about three hours less daily than they did before, compared to a one-hour reduction in those given the drug dimethicone, a standard treatment. The manipulations given to children are very gentle. Many have a reduction in colic after just one or two treatments. Look for a chiropractor who specializes in children’s problems.
TENSION HEADACHE
The headaches that we all get from time to time often are related to the cervical spine in the neck. Known as cervicogenic headaches, these occur when vertebral misalignments cause muscle tightness or spasms. The tension begins in the neck but can radiate through the occipital nerves that rise upward from the base of the skull.
A study that compared patients receiving chiropractic care for tension headaches with those who were treated with the antidepressant amitriptyline showed reduction in both the frequency and pain intensity of these types of headaches. Most important, the chiropractic patients sustained these improvements after the treatment period, unlike patients who were treated with medication.
In a typical treatment, the chiropractor attempts to realign the cervical joints by manipulating the neck and head. The main goals of the treatment, apart from adjusting the vertebrae, are to increase the range of motion, relax the surrounding muscles and decrease pain and inflammation.
People who have only recently started getting headaches often will improve after one or two sessions with a chiropractor. Those who have suffered from headaches for years probably will require multiple treatments before they start to notice a significant improvement.
Also important: The chiropractor will take a detailed history to learn why there is misalignment in the neck. This usually is due to lifestyle issues. For example, many of us look down at our computer monitors, which puts excessive tension on the neck. Raising the monitor to eye level can correct this. Women may be advised to carry a handbag rather than a heavy shoulder bag. Cradling your phone between your neck and shoulder also can cause problems. If you often find yourself doing this, get a headset.
It’s not clear if chiropractic is as effective for migraines, but preliminary research suggests that chiropractic manipulations may affect nerves that control vascular expansion and contraction, a key component of migraines.
EAR INFECTIONS
Some adults and virtually all children accumulate fluids in the eustachian tube, the passage between the throat and middle ear. The fluid is a perfect medium for viruses and bacteria, which can cause otitis media, an infection or inflammation of the middle ear.
Many studies have shown that chiropractic can relieve and prevent ear infections without antibiotics. The treatments, which include chiropractic adjustment and massage of the lymph nodes along the neck and around the ear, help drain excess fluid. The adjustment helps regulate the nervous system, which in turn drains the eustachian tube and promotes long-term drainage.
SINUSITIS
People with chronic sinusitis (inflammation of the mucous membranes in the sinuses) rarely get long-term relief from antibiotics or other types of conventional medicine, such as antihistamines and decongestants. Chiropractic can sometimes relieve all or most of the typical symptoms, such as facial pain and nasal congestion.
People with chronic sinusitis often have a misalignment in the cervical vertebrae. Chiropractic adjustments may help sinuses drain more efficiently. The treatment for sinusitis also includes applying pressure to the sinuses near the eyebrows and on either side of the nose.
REPETITIVE STRESS DISORDERS
Most repetitive stress injuries, including tennis elbow, are caused by tendonitis, an inflammation of the fibrous tissue that connects muscles to bones. Carpal tunnel syndrome, another type of repetitive stress injury, is caused by nerve inflammation in the wrist.
Doctors usually treat these conditions with anti-inflammatory drugs, including steroid injections in severe cases. For carpal tunnel syndrome, surgery to “release” pressure on the nerve is sometimes recommended.
Chiropractic, a more conservative approach, is effective for virtually all types of repetitive stress disorders. Manipulations to realign joints and improve range of motion can reduce pressure on tendons and nerves. The movements also improve lymphatic drainage, which reduces inflammation, improves circulation and accelerates healing.

By Ardath Rodale , Ardath Rodale is Chief Inspiration Officer of Rodale Inc and the author of several books including Everyday Miracles.

Exercise can extend survival even in ‘oldest old’

Obesity will break the bank….

Rising obesity  will cost U.S. health care $344 billion a year.

If Americans continue to pack on pounds, obesity will cost the USA about $344 billion in medical-related expenses by 2018, eating up about 21% of health-care spending, says the first analysis to estimate the future medical costs of excess weight.

These calculations are based on the projection that in 10 years 43% of Americans adults may be obese, which is roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight, if obesity continues to rise at the current rate. Extra weight increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and many types of cancer.

This report comes as the country struggles to find ways to curb medical costs and Congress debates health care legislation.

“Obesity is going to be a leading driver in rising health-care costs,” says Kenneth Thorpe, chairman of the department of health policy and management at Emory University in Atlanta. Thorpe did this special analysis on obesity for America’s Health Rankings, the 20th annual assessment of the nation’s health on a state-by-state basis.

“There is a tsunami of chronic preventable disease about to be unleashed into our medical-care system which is increasingly unaffordable,” says Reed Tuckson of United Health Foundation, sponsor of the report with the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention.

Using weight data, Census statistics and medical expenditure information, Thorpe found:

An obese person will have an average of $8,315 in medical bills a year in 2018 compared with $5,855 for an adult at a healthy weight. That’s a difference of $2,460.

If the percentage of obese adults doesn’t change but stays at the current rate of 34%, then excess weight will cost the nation about $198 billion by 2018.

If the obesity rate continues to rise until 2018, then Colorado may be the only state with less than 30% of residents who are obese.

More than 50% of the population in several states could be obese by 2018: Oklahoma, Mississippi, Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio and South Dakota.

The report adds to the growing body of evidence of obesity’s impact on medical costs. A study released in July showed that obese Americans cost the country about $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008, double what it was a decade ago. It now accounts for about 9.1% of medical spending.

Overall, the United States spends about $1.8 trillion a year in medical costs associated with chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and all three are linked to smoking and obesity, the nation’s two largest risk factors, according to the America’s Health Rankings report.

Smoking is still the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the country, accounting for about 440,000 deaths annually, the report says.

About one in five Americans smoke. More than 3 million people quit smoking this past year. The percentage of people who smoke varies by state, from 9.3% in Utah to more than 25% in Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia, the study says.

“This report is an urgent call to take much more aggressive action to deal with key disease risk factors such as obesity and smoking,” Tuckson says.

Health economist Eric Finkelstein, co-author of The Fattening of America, says medical costs won’t go down unless Americans make a serious effort “to slim down by improving their diet and exercise patterns.”

Mental Muscle ; Research Shows Regular Exercise Can Boost Brain Power — And Keep Alzheimer’s in Check
Buffalo News
11-09-09
We all know the benefits of exercise — health, body image, athletic ability, endurance. But new research links physical activity to expanded brain power.
Exercise, in other words, may make you smarter.
“Physical activity helps with focus, and improves concentration and scoring on standardized testing. Results can happen in minutes. The brain will respond to oxidative stresses of exercise by growing more blood vessels and by altering the neurochemistry and chemical markers that support brain function,” said James Velasquez, assistant professor in the Exercise and Sports Studies program at D’Youville College.
Memory, too, can benefit from physical exercise, research suggests. Regular exercise can boost the brain for the long term, increasing volume in the frontal lobes and keeping Alzheimer’s disease at bay.
Short-term effects — the ability and speed of thought processing — occur immediately and may last up to two hours, studies conclude. Long-term benefits may take months to surface, according to one medical expert.
“In four months, you can reduce your vascular risk,” said Dr. Linda Hershey, chief of neurology at the Buffalo Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “We know that dementia increases if you have diabetes, hypertension, obesity. It doesn’t take extreme exercise. Walk around the block for 30 minutes four times a week. It’s never too late to start. If you’re 60 years old, it’s still beneficial to get out there and get moving.”
Brain power
By triggering an immediate increase of oxygen to the brain, exercise helps remove toxins and reawakens your metabolism immediately, according to Dan Mitchell, a certified personal trainer who has developed exercise programs to facilitate cognitive growth. Mitchell’s 30-day program “Your Health in Motion” incorporates a DVD, manual and interactive Web site.
“Test results are higher within two hours after exercise,” said Mitchell, owner of Soap Box fitness on Franklin. “After those two hours, test scores fall back to pre-exercise levels.”
A research team from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois determined that aerobic exercise increases both mental acuity and the speed of thought processing. Brisk walking, it was found, also adds to the volume of brain tissue.
The hippocampus, part of the body’s limbic system located at the top of the brain stem, is a critical component in the learning and memory processes, according to Velasquez, who teaches exercise physiology at D’Youville.
“As a result of increased blood flow, and the increased metabolic activity that exercise provides, the hippocampus adapts,” Velasquez said. “The hippocampus is also sensitive to dopamine, serotonin and BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). In the science community, BDNF is called ‘miracle grow’ for the brain. It helps the brain develop new neuroconnections.”
Only recently has attention been paid to the brain’s ability to grow, Velasquez said.
“For years people have thought the nervous system and the brain were these static things once we reached full maturity,” Velasquez pointed out. “The brain has the ability to grow, too. Neuroplasticity — the brain changes and molds.”
Locally, some elementary schools have become innovative in their use of physical activity, noted Velasquez, whose children start their school day at Ellicott Elementary in Orchard Park with morning announcements that feature calisthenics.
“It prepares them for the day and sort of wakes them up,” said Velasquez. “Many schools use that to help meet their mandatory physical education time. It helps with focus and improves concentration.”
>Memory function
As you grow older, you’ll probably lose friends, hair, maybe a tooth or two, but there’s one function lost in the aging process that befuddles the best of us: Memory.
“People wonder about their memories,” said Leilani Pelletier, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association, Western New York Chapter. “One of the most frequent questions we get is: Is memory lapse normal?”
Memory lapse — misplacing keys or “losing” your parked car — crosses the line to memory loss when help is required to carry out your daily routine, according to Pelletier.
“A memory lapse is if you have forgotten something,” she said. “You know you went to the basement for something, but you can’t remember what. Or you know your keys are in the house somewhere because you remember unlocking the door. That’s a lapse. Eventually you’ll get it back, when someone cues you.
“In memory loss, the memory is gone and is not going to come back,” Pelletier explained. “Memory lapses are common. Memory loss is not. It’s not normal to lose a memory entirely. That means you need to look into it. Not all memory loss is Alzheimer’s related. It can be caused by [vitamin] B12 deficiency, thyroid problems, depression.”
A good way to distinguish between absent-mindedness and permanent loss? Misplacing keys is one thing, but looking at your keys and wondering what they are used for is another.
“What is good for your heart is good for your brain,” said Pelletier. “Exercise does help your cerebral vascularity. It’s not just memory but spatial distance, too.”
>Cerebral swimming
Retired English professor Vic Doyno swims daily at the University at Buffalo, where he introduced a generation of students to the beauty of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Mark Twain. Doyno was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s six years ago. But 20 laps in the UB pool each day help clear his mind of the fogginess that marks the disease, he said.
“I feel fresher when I finish swimming,” said Doyno. “It’s a form of concentration. I feel younger than 73, or I feel younger than I thought 73 would feel.”
“There’s nothing good about Alzheimer’s, but you do the best you can,” he said during a recent visit to the Alzheimer’s Association’s office in Williamsville. “I was quite surprised, somewhat angry and disappointed. To my knowledge, neither my mom nor my dad had Alzheimer’s. They were peculiar, but they didn’t have Alzheimer’s.”
This year, it is estimated 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, including 5.1 million people age 65 and over and 200,000 people under age 65 with younger-onset Alzheimer’s.
Doyno believes the physiological benefit derived from swimming has helped fend off symptoms that signal disease progression.
>Puzzle therapy
Hershey, who treats veterans suffering from dementia, worries about her own brain health. She realizes that cell loss is part of normal brain function, and that aging spurs that loss. That’s why she times herself daily at sudoku puzzles.
“Some days it takes forever to do those puzzles, and I worry and fret about it,” Hershey said. “When those days come, I need to just relax. I know that I have too much on my mind. I need to spend more time on my Schwinn bicycle.
“There’s pruning going on all the time in the brain,” Hershey said. “We just have to make sure we’re constantly making new connections. When you exercise, you make new connections, new motor memories.”

Top 10 Fitness Facts…Some Things You Should Know About Exercise

Want to be sharper at work? Feel less tired at home? Spend some quality time with your spouse? How about enjoying a cookie without guilt?

If you answered “yes” to all of these questions (and who wouldn’t?), exercise is the answer.

Being physically active offers benefits far beyond the obvious. (Of course, an improved physique and a clean bill of health aren’t too shabby, either.)

If you’ve been looking for the motivation to begin an exercise program or get back into working out regularly, here are 10 fitness facts that may help inspire you to get off the couch.

1. Exercise Boosts Brainpower

Not only does exercise improve your body, it helps your mental function, says certified trainer David Atkinson.

“Exercise increases energy levels and increases serotonin in the brain, which leads to improved mental clarity,” says Atkinson, director of program development for Cooper Ventures, a division of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas.

All that makes for a more productive day.

“It is clear that those who are active and who exercise are much more productive at work,” says Todd A. Astorino, assistant professor of kinesiology at California State University-San Marcos.

Improved productivity not only makes you a better worker, it makes things better for everyone in the workplace. Companies with less wasted work hours and less sick time end up with lower health care costs — and an improved bottom line, Astorino says.

2. Movement Melts Away Stress

As much as it may stress you out just to think about exercising, once you actually start working out, you’ll experience less stress in every part of your life.

“Exercise produces a relaxation response that serves as a positive distraction,” says Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise. He says it also helps elevate your mood and keep depression at bay.

You’re not the only person who will benefit from more happiness and less stress in your life. When you’re less stressed, you’re less irritable, Atkinson says — and that could improve relationships with your partner, kids, and co-workers.

3. Exercise Gives You Energy

You might be surprised at how, say, popping in a workout tape for 30 minutes in the morning can change your whole day. When endorphins are released into your bloodstream during exercise, says Astorino, “you feel much more energized the rest of the day.”

And when you improve your strength and stamina, it’s easier to accomplish everyday tasks like carrying groceries and climbing stairs. This also helps you feel more energetic over the course of the day.

A common excuse among Atkinson’s clients is that they’re too tired to exercise, he says. While exercise may make you feel more tired at first, he says, that won’t last long.

The physical tiredness you feel after working out isn’t the same as everyday fatigue, he says. Besides, once your body adjusts to exercise, you’ll have more energy than ever.

4. It’s Not That Hard to Find Time for Fitness

The key, says Atkinson, is to use your time more wisely. Think about killing two birds with one stone.

Take your kids to the park or ride bikes together, and you’re getting physical activity while enjoying family time, he says. Beyond that, go for a hike, take the kids swimming, or play hide-and-seek, tag, softball, or horseshoes in the backyard.

At work, he says, schedule a meeting on the jogging track or on the golf course.

Also, forget the idea that you have to trudge to the gym and spend an hour or more doing a formal workout. Instead, you can work short spurts of physical activity into your day.

“Everyone has 20 minutes,” Atkinson says. “Everyone has 10 minutes to jump rope, and sometimes that’s better than 20 minutes of walking or running.”

Indeed, squeezing in two or three bouts of 15 or 20 minutes of activity is just as effective as doing it all at once, says Astorino. Vacuuming the house in the morning, riding bikes in the park with the kids in the afternoon, then taking a brisk walk in the evening can add up to an active day.

Recent U.S. government guidelines say that to lose weight and keep it weight off, you should accumulate at least 60 minutes of exercise a day, says Astorino. But half an hour a day is all you need to reap the health and disease-fighting benefits of exercise.

5. Fitness Can Help Build Relationships

Think of what exercising with a partner can do for a relationship, whether it’s with a spouse, a sibling, or a friend you used to go to lunch with once a week.

Not only that, says Astorino, but exercise is always more fun when there’s someone to do it with. So plan to walk with your spouse after dinner every night. Meet your sister or that friend for tennis or an aerobics class instead of lunch.

Besides, Astorino says, people who have exercise partners stay with their programs and reach their goals more often than those who try to go it alone.

“For long-term weight loss, you need to have social support,” Astorino says.

6. Exercise Helps Ward Off Disease

Research has shown that exercise can slow or help prevent heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis (bone loss), and loss of muscle mass, says Astorino.

It also helps ease some aspects of the aging process.

“Because exercise strengthens the muscles and joints, it is going to reduce your odds of having some of those aches and pains and problems most adults have, mostly because of the inactive lives they lead,” Bryant says.

Provided you don’t overdo it, he says, exercise can even boost immune function — so you spend less time down with a cold or flu.

“There isn’t a major health problem where exercise cannot have a positive effect,” says Byrant.

7. Fitness Pumps Up Your Heart

Not only does exercise help fight disease, says Bryant, it creates a stronger heart — the most important muscle in the body. That helps makes exercise — and the activities of daily life — feel easier.

“Your heart and cardiovascular system will function more effectively,” says Bryant. “The heart will build up less plaque. It will become a more efficient pump.”

And “when the heart becomes stronger, it pumps more blood per beat, so at rest, the heart rate is lower,” says Astorino. “It’s not going to have to beat as fast” to expend the same amount of effort.

Within only a couple days after you start exercising, Astorino says, “the body readily adapts to the stimulus it’s getting and it becomes easier. You will feel less fatigue. It will not take as much effort when it comes to breathing. You shouldn’t have as much pain or soreness.”

8. Exercise Lets You Eat More

Pound for pound, muscle burns more calories at rest than body fat. So the more muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate. And, of course, you also burn calories while you’re actually exercising.

All this means that “cheating” with a cookie once in a while isn’t going to take you back 10 steps. “Can you eat anything? No,” says Atkinson. “But you can afford to enjoy some of the things you really like when you exercise regularly. You can better get away with those things in moderation than you can when you’re not working out.”

9. Exercise Boosts Performance

After a few weeks of consistent exercise, you may feel your clothes fitting differently and see that your muscle tone has improved, Atkinson says.

You may also notice your newly pumped-up muscles in other ways, especially if you’re a recreational golfer or tennis player, or like a friendly game of pick-up basketball, says Atkinson. Exercising consistently will strengthen your muscles, increase flexibility, and improve your overall performance.

“Your muscles will work much more efficiently and you’ll gain a greater sense of endurance,” says Bryant. In addition, he says, your reaction time and balance will improve.

10. Weight Loss Is Not the Most Important Goal

Weight loss is the reason many people exercise in the first place. But it’s certainly not the sole benefit of an exercise program.

Bryant says the long-term goal of weight loss is sold too heavily to people starting fitness programs, and that can be discouraging. People have trouble sticking with something if they don’t see results quickly.

“Really, they should think about the level of functioning in the activities of daily living,” says Bryant. “That can serve as the motivation to keep them coming back for more.”

So whatever weight loss goal you have when starting a fitness program, don’t make it your only goal. Strive to feel better, to have more energy, to be less stressed. Notice the small things that exercise does for you quickly, rather than getting hung up on the narrow goal of the number on a scale.

“With a goal of losing weight and enhancing health, exercise has to become a part of a person’s life, not an afterthought,” Astorino says.

The weekend is a perfect time to reevaluate goals both personally and professionally. Whether they are career, family, or fitness related; it is important to assess our progress to get us to our target goals. It’s also important to continually find inspiration to keep motivated along the way.

Here’s a motivational pep talk from a 4-year old that is sure to inspire us all:

Herb Brooks Famous \”Miracle\” Motivational Speech

“This is your time. Now go out there and take it!”

Fitness Basics: Running for Your Life

You don’t have to be an athlete — or even aspire to be one — to start running.

Just look at Jim Scott. In January 2003, a month after he turned 60, Scott began running. That November, he finished the New York City Marathon (it took him six hours).

Scott, a radio-talk show host in Cincinnati, Ohio, didn’t do much in the way of exercise before then. He played golf as often as he could but never found the time for regular workouts.

“When I turned 60, I thought it was a good time to reassess things,” says Scott. “I started thinking, ‘These 36-inch (waist) pants I’ve worn all my life are getting a bit tighter.’”

Scott decided he wanted to get in better shape, feel comfortable in his pants again, and improve his golf game. Oh, and there was one more impetus to try running: “I’m married to a marathon runner,” he says.

Scott himself never intended to run a marathon. He simply wanted to go on Sunday morning runs with his wife, Donna Hartman, and keep up, he says. But sometimes running can surprise you.

Maybe you just want to run around your neighborhood, or explore a new one. Maybe you want to challenge your body in a different way, to tone up, or lose weight. Whatever your goals, says Scott’s coach, Julie Isphording, running is an excellent exercise for a beginner to try.

“It’s cheap, easy, and the perfect thing to do with a friend,” says Isphording, a former marathoner and host of two health and fitness radio shows in Cincinnati.

Running’s benefits include improved cardiovascular hearth, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, a revved-up metabolism, and a sense of self-esteem, says Isphording.

“You can go for a run in the morning and finish at your driveway with your hands in the air and you’ve had success before 7 a.m.,” she says. “This is a gift from you to you.”

Getting in Gear

Before you take your first step, get yourself a good pair of running shoes.

“It’s the most important investment you’ll make,” says Isphording. She suggests going to a store specializing in running gear, where the staff tends to be knowledgeable about the products, and trying on as many pairs as necessary to find the right ones for you. A good fit is essential; blisters and shin splints are not going to inspire you to run.

And don’t even think about running in your regular cross-trainers, tennis shoes, or regular sneakers.

“Running is very traumatic,” says Forrest Dolgener, exercise physiologist and professor of exercise science at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. “The mechanics of running creates specific kinds of forces on the body. Running shoes are designed to absorb and minimize those kinds of forces.”

But don’t get too attached to your favorite pair. Running shoes have a limited lifespan, says Dolgener, co-author of The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer.

“Generally speaking, running shoes have 500 miles of life,” he says. “Even though they make look good, shock absorption diminishes after 500 miles.”

Start Gradually

Before you start any new fitness program, it’s wise to consult with your physician — especially if you’re a man 45 or older or a woman 50 or older, the experts say.

“I always want anyone who’s getting started to know their life digits — blood pressure, BMI (body mass index), cholesterol, blood sugar,” says Isphording.

Running is not the best exercise for everyone, Dolgener says. So listen to your doctor and your body.

“The worst thing you can do is start running, get injured, then stop exercising altogether,” says Dolgener.

Once you get a green flag from the doctor, don those new running shoes and start out with a combination of walking and jogging. For example, you might alternate walking for five minutes and jogging for two minutes.

Over time, steadily increase the amount of time you spend running until you’re able to jog for 20 minutes at a time, suggests Isphording. Once you achieve that, start increasing your distance.

For someone who has been sedentary, Dolgener recommends starting only with walking, then progressing to brisk walking before adding any jogging.

“Progression is the key element for someone who hasn’t done this,” says Dolgener.

Your cardiovascular system will adapt more easily than your musculoskeletal system, says Dolgener. People don’t usually give up running because their hearts can’t adapt but because of injury. Gradually conditioning yourself with a combination of walking and running gives your body time to adapt to the new stress on the joints and muscles.

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“When I first started,” recalls Scott, “Julie said, ‘Do you think you can run for 15 minutes?’ I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’

“I ran about 45 seconds. I was amazed at how little I could do.” But he plugged through it.

“The first two weeks are difficult,” Isphording warns. “Getting out the door is the hardest thing ever. Once you get past that, then you get it, your body starts feeling good and wants to go out and play.”

To keep your body feeling good during your runs, our experts offer these tips:

• While you’re running, be sure you can pass the “talk test”: You should still be able to carry on a conversation. Keep your pace comfortable so you won’t burn out too quickly. “It’s much better to run too slow than too fast,” Isphording says.
• Instead of tracking the miles you run, count time. “Don’t get caught up in measuring distance, and that you ran faster than yesterday. Go for time,” Isphording says.
• As you build up past 20 minutes, be sure to stay hydrated. This is especially important during the warm-weather months. “Know where the water is, where the park is, where the gas station is — or you can stash water along your route ahead of time,” Isphording says.
• In addition to running, do strength training to build muscle and bone density and protect against injury. A 20-minute strength workout a couple of times a week is all you need. To get started, get a personal trainer to write out a program you can do at home — or get a video.
• Save stretching for after your run, when your muscles are warm. Stretching cold muscles increases the risk for injury.

Sticking With It

To stay consistent with your running program, keep a running journal or log, the experts suggest. At the beginning of the week, plot out when you plan to run and for how long, and commit it to paper. “Write down something on a piece of paper and put it in your sock drawer,” says Isphording.

Setting specific goals — whether it’s time, distance, weight loss or cholesterol — will also inspire you to stay on track.

Another thing that helps: finding a friend to run with. Having a partner to meet you at the mailbox will keep you honest, says Isphording.

“Ninety percent of running is just showing up, getting in the game, getting off the sidelines,” she says.

Inside or Out?

Is it better to run on a treadmill or outside? You can get a great cardiovascular workout either way, and there are benefits to both, the experts say

With a treadmill, you’re never too far from home, says Isphording. It’s a good choice if you’re injured or rehabbing an injury — or just feeling a little intimidated about running outdoors.

“There are no stoplights, no dogs, no cars, no pollution,” she says. And, of course, bad weather isn’t an issue. Treadmill running can be lower-impact too, as well. Dolgener equates it to running on grass.

But a treadmill doesn’t quite simulate the outdoors.

“When you’re outdoors, you’re getting fresh air,” Isphording says. “Running during the sunlight you get vitamin D, which women really need to absorb calcium. You have the scenery — you can discover parts of your city or town, or if you’re traveling, it’s a great way to see a city. It’s better with a group of people, and easier to do with a family.”

When Not to Run

Running is not for everyone, say the experts. If you have an injury or disability, or if running is painful for you, try cycling, cross-country skiing, swimming. They all work.

“The advantage to running is it doesn’t take any equipment except shoes, you can do it anywhere, and it’s convenient,” says Dolgener. “It’s one of the best cardio-respiratory activities you can do. The bad news is, it is very traumatic, and the trauma is more prevalent the longer and harder you go.”

But if you can run, why not go ahead and get out there?

“I can promise you this,” says Isphording, “you will never regret a run. There’s hardly anything in life you can say that about. You’ll regret a chocolate sundae.”