A new generation of scales helps to control health

Due to the fact that I was already obese in my adolescence, I always emphasized that just controlling our body weight is not free from fat accumulation-related diseases, so we should do that too.

Body fat is serious business. Fat is one of the tissues that make up the human body, and although the national reality shows that more than 40% of the Brazilian population has problems with the balance, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that fat is necessary to the human body, but it must be maintained at healthy levels.

But when it comes to body fat, people soon turn to weight control. However, being in the ideal weight range is not guaranteeing fat at healthy levels, because even in this condition the human body may accumulate excess fat, or present lack thereof. Likewise, being above ideal weight may not mean excess fat.

Scales that provide detailed information on body composition are ideal

This makes conventional scales insufficient for effective health monitoring, because they provide only weight readings. Ideally, scales provide detailed information about body composition, especially fat, as it is not the body's fat but the body fat that is potentially hazardous to health.

TANITA scales and monitors use " bioimpedance, "which emits a harmless electrical signal through the electrodes located on its platform, in contact with bare feet. Impedance readings generated by different body tissues, combined with information on age, height, sex and level of physical activity, are processed in complex equations for the calculation of various body information, such as% fat,% water, bone mass , muscle mass, visceral fat level, basal metabolic rate, metabolic age, daily caloric intake and physical constitution scale.

According to Carlos Calligaris, Director General of DHOXA (Authorized Distributor TANITA), TANITA scales and monitors represent what there is more advanced in this area, as they are efficient allies to monitor daily, accurately and in the comfort of home, the real impact of diets and physical activity programs. The TANITA monitors break the paradigm of weight, as they make it possible to know if, for example, the extra pounds mean gaining body fat or muscle mass, among many other applications.

For athletes applications are equally useful once that the monitors allow to evaluate the level of hydration, evolution of the muscle mass, variations in the basal metabolic index and the body fat levels, avoiding that it is below the rates considered healthy.

Stretching: Tips to do at home

When practicing physical activity, you always hear about the need to "stretch" before performing the most impactful exercises. But will you know why and how important these preliminaries are? Stretching is done by stretching the body tissues, moving the muscle away from one point to the other, in order to give more agility and increase the range of muscle movement and of elasticity.

(Fitness)

Vigorous walk reduces risk of heart disease and diabetes

Speed ​​up the pace walking, jogging or other vigorous exercise may reduce the risk of developing heart and diabetes problems, a new study suggests. Previous research has already suggested that regular physical activity, including moderate walks of 30 minutes a day, could strengthen health. Now, experts at Bispebjerg University Hospital in Denmark say that the intensity, not the duration, is what makes the difference.

(Fitness)