Sunny Health

Leading an active life is paramount for a cancer patient. The American Cancer Society (ACS) promotes such a view, stating that " exercise is not only safe and possible during cancer treatment, but it can improve physical functioning and quality of life."

ACS also states that "Too much rest may result in loss of function, strength, and range of motion in the person with a chronic illness."

For many people however (including myself), getting round to exercising is easier said than done. Especially when it seems that all we can do is jogging.

So what can we do? Well, plenty it seems. There are many other ways you can exercise and have fun at the same time. Here are 10 great ideas:


1. Yoga

Yoga is a combination of breathing exercises, physical postures, and meditation. Apart from being an interesting and unique physical activity, it is also very relaxing. On top of that, it is thought to be able to prevent specific diseases and maladies by manipulating the body's 'inner energy'. Finally, once you have mastered the basics, you can perform the yoga moves at home!

2. Dancing

Dancing is fun, effective in burning calories and can be done anywhere, anytime. Furthermore, you can dance on your own, with someone or a whole crowd! You will also never get bored as there is a near inexhaustive list of dance genres you can experiment with, from salsa to ballroom dancing to hip hop and even line dancing!

3. Cycling

Regular cycling for periods of between 15 minutes to half an hour helps you to reduce weight. Cycling helps you not only to reduce weight but also prevents cardiovascular diseases, obesity and high blood pressure. It also has an added advantage of improving your mental coordination.


4. Rollerblading

Rollerblading is another fun exercise you can partake in. Picture yourself working out and enjoying the cool breeze slipping past you as you whizz around your estates. That's how wonderful an exercise roller blading can be. Rollerblading can be very cardiovascular as well and works out all muscles of the body. Similar to cycling, it also helps you improve your mental coordination. Make sure you have the proper protective gear like a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and have a go at rollerblading!


5. Team Sports

Joining a team sport like basketball, volleyball, and soccer can allow you to exercise with great fun! Organized sports are regularly offered through the community centers, who have their own sports clubs. In joining these clubs, you're guaranteed opportunities for exercise, during the course of which you'll also get to meet new people and maybe even engage in a little healthy competition.

6. Indoor Rock Climbing

Indoor rock climbing is a quite the modern sport, given that facilities for this sport have only just begun to spring up in convenient locations. That said, there are more than a couple of such facilities available for public use, giving you a good chance good chance to get some solid, fun exercise. Before you begin though, make sure you consult a doctor first because even as tame as it looks, indoor rock climbing can actually be quite strenuous. It won't feel that way though, as it is a truly fun activity!

7. Gardening

According to research from Virgina Tech University, gardening is a really effective way to exercise. It is a "moderate, and sometimes strenuous, exercise that incorporates many important elements of accepted exercise regimes, such as stretching and stance, repetition and movement, and even resistance principles similar to weight training, while expending calories." Gardening is also a rather relaxing activity, given that you are surrounded by peaceful nature while doing it. It will also allow you to enjoy loads of wonderful, fresh air!

8. Hiking

Similarly, taking a nice trek through the forests or a park is good exercise. Like gardening, you get the opportunity to work out and enjoy fresh, natural air. In addition, you may come across all sorts of vivid and soothing imagery as you stride across different landscapes and gaze upon Mother Earth's finest treasures.

9. Wii Fit

Wii ... what is a Wii? Many people are turning to this ubiquitious little gadget made by electronics giant Nintendo. Simply put, its a video games console. However, unlike traditional video games consoles, the Nintendo Wii makes playing games more physically involving than ever before. Take the Wii Fit for example, which Nintendo designed specifically to motivate people to get moving in their living room. The game features loads of exercises, which you can perform on your own time right in your own living room. Exercising while playing computer games? It doesn't get any better than this. Besides, when you're done, you can head out and choose from many other Wii games that allow you to burn some calories such as Wii Sports.


10. Martial Arts

Many martial arts disciplines place great emphasis on maintaining an optimum physique, which is usually accomplished through a basic exercise regime. Practising the different moves also require immense effort, which will pay off in terms of helping you maintain a healthy physical well-being. Like dancing, you have many types of martial arts to choose from. If you are seeking a more leisurely pace, you can enroll in Tai Chi classes for example. Other types of martial arts such as Wushu, Silat, Taekwando and Karate are also recommended, though you should seek medical advice from your doctor should you wish to practise those that require you to perform extremely strenuous feats.


References:
http://www.cancer.org
http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/articles/misc/exercise.html

Today, let me tell you a marvellous story of a man who had the top half of one of his fingers amputated after a motorcycling accident.

Rather than feel depressed about the loss of one of his fingers, this Finnish computer programmer, who is named Jerry Jalava, actually turned the situation into an advantage by creating a prosthetic finger with an integrated USB-powered flash memory , for his own use.

I find that simply amazing.

When illness strikes, or when people suffer some form of physical impairment, depression usually sets in. They are sad and angry all at once, and feel that life is not worth living anymore. Usually, the last thing they would think about is how to exploit their disabled status to get the most out of the situation.

But that's exactly what we should do. By going down this route, we are not only throwing away all negative thought, but are exercising our innovativeness at the same time.

And so, if you are ever in a situation where all hope seems to be lost, try to accept your situation, and instead of railing at everything and everyone, take the opportunity to live life like you have never done so before, doing things that you would never have thought of.

Or you can be savvy opportunist like Jerry and think about how best you can emerge from your position even stronger, even if it looked you were fighting a losing battle at the start.

In fact, Jerry's not stopping there, and is thinking about tricking out his lump of a finger with upgraded memory modules and wireless technology.

His one-of-a-kind 'thumb' drive will soon be considered to be the most advanced in the entire world!

Obesity is linked to many things. One of those things is cancer.

In 2002, about 41,000 new cases of cancer in the United States were estimated to be due to obesity.

There have been numerous reports on this subject, and there is a general consensus now among many doctors that preventing weight gain can reduce the risk of many cancers.

If you are already overweight or obese, do try to shed that excess fat through adopting a healthy, low-calorie diet and regular exercise. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be able to offer some ideas on how you can do so, so watch out for it.

Even a weight loss of only five to 10 percent of total weight can provide health benefits. So don't wait any longer.. act to ensure that your life is free of cancer!

References:

http://www.cancer.gov

What do Green Tea, Mushrooms and Soya Beans have in common? Read on to find out.

Its always been known that eating right is one aspect of living a healthy lifestyle. But when it comes to food that contain anti cancer properties, some are truly more equal than others.

Soy Good

Take soya beans for example.

Scientists have long believed there was some link between consumption of soy bean products and cancer prevention.

A recent collaborative study between the Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine in NUS, the University of Southern California and the University of Minnesota has discovered that regularly eating soya bean products can cut the risk of breast cancer by 18 per cent.

The study looked into consumption patterns of Chinese Women with regard to soy foods including fried soya bean curd like "taukwa" and "taupok". Over a decade, after taking into consideration other dietary and lifestyle factors, the risk of breast cancer was 18 per cent higher in the group that ate less compared to the group that ate more.

The researchers also found that the more soy protein women after menopause consume, the lower the estrogen levels in their blood. This is significant because breast cancer needs estrogen to grow.

And one does not need to eat large amounts of soya to benefit from its protective effects, as just one glass of soya milk a day was enough to help reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to one of the researchers, Assoc Prof Koh Woon Puay of NUS Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine.

Some Mushrooms with that Tea?

Green Tea and Mushrooms are also potent cancer fighting foods, according to results of another study at University of Western Australia reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP), and in order to maximise the effect you have to consume both of them.

The study found that chinese women who did this significantly cut their risk of breast cancer and, in the case of those who already have cancer, lessened the severity of the disease.

According to Min Zhang, one of the researchers in the study, the risk of breast cancer significantly declined with the highest intake of dietary mushrooms, though fresh and dried mushrooms were equally effective.

As in the case of soya beans, Min Zhang found that eating as little as 10 grams, or less than one button mushroom daily, would have a beneficial effect. Min also discovered that women who consumed the most fresh mushrooms around two-thirds less likely to develop breast cancer compared with those who did not eat mushrooms.

In addition to lowering the cancer risk, green tea and mushrooms also cut the malignancy of any cancer which did form, Min reported.

On an objective note, the results from these research studies do not confirm 100 per cent protection from cancer if you consume those foods.

However, eating some mushroom and tofu and drinking green tea everyday won't hurt and there is certainkly a chance that it may help you steer away from breast cancer. So why not try it? It's a win-win proposition for sure.

Besides, if you form a diet based solely on those three items, you're guaranteed to look trim!

References:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i003gzjglHjyx9moZeDh5Ra4ijnQ
http://www.nus.edu.sg/research/rg150.php

Many people will be familiar with the term Stem Cells. Yet, a majority still have no idea what it truly is.

In fact, when I asked a few people recently, one thought that its some kind of vegetable!


Stem cells are...

Put simply, stem cells are the basic building blocks in our body. Theoretically, they can be transformed into any other kind of cell.

To quote the National Institute of Health, stem cells "have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body. Serving as a sort of repair system for the body, they can theoretically divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive."

To date, two major types of stem cells have been identified, which are embryonic and adult stem cells.

Importance of stem cells

Why are stem cells important? They have HUGE potential. They allow us to grow new organs, new bones, new limbs, literally anything we possess in our body. Organ donations would no longer be necessary. If we can grow our own organs, we can use them to replace any damaged or diseased ones that we have. This would also eliminate the problem of rejection, since the grown organ would be an exact duplicate.

Stem cells and cancer treatment

Stem cells have a major role in cancer treatment and research. A form of stem cell therapy is already used, for example, in the form of bone marrow transplants, which is used to treat leukemia and other types of cancer, as well as various blood disorders. However, this process merely involves taking something - a blood stem cell to be precise - which we know that works and putting it in patients.

According to Cancer Research UK, an organisation which supports cancer research in the United Kingdom, What is interesting is that stem cells and cancer cells are remarkably alike in many ways. And so scientists may be able to better understand cancer by studying stem cells. In fact, in doing so, some scientists now believe that cancer is directly caused by faulty stem cells called cancer stem cells.

Indeed, that may explain why cancers relapse - because cancer treatments do not, or rather cannot as of yet, tackle cancer stem cells.

Applications of stem cell research

For those who already have cancer, stem cells may hold for them the promise of new organs without any kinds of drawback in the future. They may be able to discard the diseased organ and put in the new one, though that would be over-simplying the process!

But the ultimate goal would be to see how we can stop cancer from ever developing, and scientists may be able to answer that question with stem cell research. It would allow them to observe cell growth right from its very birth. Armed with that data, they may then be able to see how they can nullify the cancer development process.

While such results are still a long way off, other research efforts using stem cells have already started to bear fruit.

In a Jan 2009 article of Medical News Today, Israeli researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Rambam Medical Center reported success in using stem cells to grow a cancerous tumor in a mouse that mimics the way the tumor would develop in the patient's body.

This discovery may help pave the way toward personalised cancer treatment, a concept which many Singaporeans may be familiar with given that the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) has used it in its projects, including one to develop personalised drug treatments for liver cancer patients in 2005.

Looking ahead

We can look forward to even more exciting breakthroughs in the future, as Geron, a biopharmaceutical corporation in America, announced in Jan 2009 that it is embarking on the world's first human clinical trial of embryonic stem cell-based therapy.

NCCS too will no doubt be involved in leading the field as well, building upon its experience in research and clinical trials.


References:

http://stemcells.nih.gov
http://www.nccs.com.sg
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/
http://www.cancercenter.com/stem-cell/stem-cell-faqs.cfm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/135477.php
http://www.geron.com/media/pressview.aspx?id=863