The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends anywhere from 75 to 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a week for adults, combined with strength training.
Exercise is essential for a healthy, balanced lifestyle, but sometimes people push that idea to the extreme: compulsive exercise.
Compulsive exercisers find comfort in physical activity, similar to the way binge eaters feel about food. They become obsessed with exercise to an unhealthy degree.
Compulsive exercisers are willing to sacrifice their health and social lives to burn calories, setting them apart from people who simply enjoy fitness. They have even been known to work out when sick or injured.
“Too much of a good thing can still be a bad thing in this case,” said Chantelle Russell, assistant director for fitness at the Student Recreation Center. “I think compulsive exercise happens a lot more than we can tell. There are different degrees of compulsive exercise.”
Determining when someone is addicted to exercise can be difficult, according to rec center literature. Rec center employees can tell when a student enters and leaves the building by how often his or her ID card is scanned, but simply too many people pass through for employees to notice individuals’ excessive exercise trends.
The rise of American obesity often overshadows the issue of compulsive exercise or is grouped under the umbrella of eating disorders. Although compulsive exercisers may also suffer from eating disorders, they often exist independently.
Much like eating disorders, body image problems are often the root of compulsive exercise.
According to “The Athletic Woman’s Survival Guide,” by Carol L. Otis and Roger Goldingay, women generally feel pressure to be thin, and men feel pressure to gain muscle mass.
“For women, getting in shape often means getting thinner rather than developing cardiovascular fitness, muscles strength, flexibility and endurance,” Otis and Goldingay wrote. “This is much different from the ‘get fit’ message many men hear, which emphasizes getting bigger and stronger.”
Russell said many people come to the rec center and focus on only one area of fitness, such as cardio or strength.
“Some people will just come in here and do half an hour of just strength training,” she said. “Balance and moderation are incredibly important when exercising.”
The rec center recommends the same workout guidelines as the American College of Sports Medicine, which is a combination of cardiovascular exercise, strength training and
flexibility work.
Many students already get a variety of exercise, such as University junior Jeannette Kranick. When Kranick works out, she typically runs two miles and lifts weights.
“I just really love working out; it’s like a challenge,” Kranick said. “I feel accomplished afterward.”
Other students, such as University sophomore Maris Thompson, combine cardio, ab work and stretching in their fitness routines.
“I exercise to feel better about myself and hopefully look better one day,” Thompson said. “It also really helps me relieve stress.”
The rec center is using new techniques to educate students about healthy fitness and nutrition habits. In the second week of winter term, rec center employee and University senior McKenzie Schmidt began taping informational slips of paper to exercise machines. Schmidt chose to do this as her practicum project to promote health awareness as part of her work with the Health Center’s Peer Health Education Program.
“I was thinking that people read magazines when they exercise, so I wanted people to read accurate and relevant health information, too,” Schmidt said.
Compulsive exercisers have several campus resources through the University Counseling & Testing Center and the rec center, such as counseling and personal trainers.
“Sometimes it’s more than something you can just deal with on your own,” Russell said.
rhatch@dailyemerald.com
Sunday, February 7, 2010
weight loss
Working on four basic principles of eating smarter, moving more, getting support and developing better habits, Weight Watchers offers smart eating options without any restrictions. Following are some of the examples of points attached to each food items:
- 1 slice bread : 2 points
- 1 small bean burrito : 5 points
- 1 cup broccoli : 0 points
- 1 6-unce steak : 8 points
- 1 ounce chocolate : 4 points
- 1/2 cantaloupe : 5 points
- 1 scoop vanilla ice cream : 4 points
MEDICAL
Medical physics is the application of physics to medicine. It generally concerns physics as applied to medical imaging and radiotherapy, although a medical physicist may also work in many other areas of healthcare. A medical physics department may be based in either a hospital or a university and its work is likely to include research, technical development, and clinical healthcare.
Of the large body of medical physicists in academia and clinics, roughly 85% practice or specialize in various forms of therapy, 10% in diagnostic imaging, and 5% in nuclear medicine. Areas of specialty in medical physics however are widely varied in scope and breadth.
Education and training
The primary clinical responsibility of the Qualified Medical Physicist is to "assure the safe and effective delivery of radiation to achieve a diagnostic or therapeutic result as prescribed in patient care (Medical Physics Scope of Practice)".[2] Various training programs exist to accommodate the demand for specialization in this fielIn North America
In the United States of America the supply of medical physicists has historically outpaced demand. [3] [4]Consistency, Accuracy, Responsibility, and Excellence in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy also called the CARE Bill which can be better understood as a House Resolution. In 2009 the CARE bill is considered as House Resolution 3652. This bill attempts to mandate that states which receive federal Medicaid funds must establish minimum qualifications for individuals to practice medical physics. Many speculate that wording in House Resolution 3652 will place a reliance on certification processes by a regulating body. This will likely play an increasingly important role in establishing minimum qualifications to practice medical physics on new graduates. One such regulating body could be the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the United States of America government or a non-government self-regulating agency such as the Tucson, Arizona based American Board of Radiology. Only Texas, New York and Florida require a specialized licensure to practice medical physics as of 2009. There are very few restrictions for any individual to practice medical physics in most of the United States. Since 1999 efforts have been made to pass theIn North America, medical physics training is offered at a master's, doctorate, post-doctorate and/or residency levels. Several universities offer these degrees in Canada and the United States. (Bear in mind that the supply of medical physicists in the USA has outpaced the demand.) Some programs offer dual medical residency and Ph.D. degrees in medical physics.[5] As of 2008, twelve universities in the United States, and five universities in Canada have graduate programs in medical physics that are accredited by The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP). In order to influence government policy a strong recommendation from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine[6] has been made to the American Board of Radiology that specifies that graduation from a CAMPEP-accredited training program be considered a requirement to sit for the ABR certification exams beginning in 2012.[7][8][9][10][11]. The American Association of Physicists in Medicine has proposed mechanisms for quickly establishing the additional training slots. Graduation from a CAMPEP-accredited residency will be required beginning in 2014. As of 2008, the number of medical physics graduate programs that are not accredited significantly outnumber the CAMPEP accredited programs in North America
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