Get great abs without exercise!

There is no one single secret to eliminate the famous love handles around the abdomen, it's a combination of factors. Of course, the typical response of total body training with high intensity aerobic interval training and proper nutrition are keys to long term success, but there are other techniques to burn belly fat .

You may have heard that cortisol "the stress hormone" is responsible for the extra fat in the abdominal region, but this is only half the story.

Your body produces cortisol to cope with stress - physical, mental, or emotional. This can include diets that do not give you enough calories, infections, lack of sleep, emotional shock, intense exercise, even the stress of everyday life.

Stress and cortisol are not fattening themselves, but studies have linked high cortisol levels in the storage of body fat.

So the key to not store extra fat in the middle section is to control the response of cortisol or your stress levels.

Learn the 4 best ways to rid of belly fat:

1. Frequent meals at fixed intervals. When you skip meals, cortisol levels increase, so aim for 3 to 4 meals a day at equal intervals between them. Usually I tell my clients to eat every 3 to 3.5 hours.

2. Do not skip breakfast. This will cause your body to create more stress hormones. Make a habit to eat something when you wake up in the morning.

3. Sleep enough. Have you ever noticed that when you're tired, you crave carbohydrates and sweets? The secretion of cortisol increases your desire for fatty foods or sugar and not help the diet.

4. Reduce alcohol. It is dumb calories, but beyond that, alcohol boosts fat storage, since it releases cortisol which inhibits the production of testosterone.

"Boost" your brain!

Cognitive impairment can lead to difficulty in memory, communication or learning new skills.

Here are some ways to improve the health of your brain and prevent a possible mental impairment:

- Keep your weight, cholesterol and blood pressure under control by eating nutritious, low-fat foods.
- Include plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables in your diet.
- Skip the saturated fat.
- Include omega-3 fats in your diet such as eating fatty fish.
- Ask your doctor if you should take supplements.

Sleep helps in weight loss

Numerous studies have shown that insufficient sleep affects the metabolism of our body resulting in increased body weight. Specifically, the short sleep duration (less than 6 hours) and excessive sleep (more than 8 hours) can increase your weight gradually and lead to obesity. Many factors contribute to how sleep affects your weight.

How does inadequate sleep affect our body?

- It interferes with the metabolism of carbohydrates increasing levels of blood sugar and insulin levels, which results in storage of body fat
- It reduces levels of leptin, causing increased appetite for sweets
- It reduces the levels of growth hormone which regulates the proportion of fat and muscle mass in the body
- It can lead to inoulinoresistance contributing to type 2 diabetes
- Can raise blood pressure
- May increase the risk for cardiovascular disease
- Reduces the immune system
- Increasing levels of stress in our bodies.

Even in young, healthy people, lack of sleep by 3-4 hours a week has significant effect on the body.

What is the best time to sleep?

The best times to go to sleep and wake up rested is between 9-12pm for ages 18-45 years. If you sleep after 12, even with adequate sleep you may not have achieved the maximum relaxation. This is because everyone has a biological clock that regulates various functions of the body, even during sleep hours.

Specifically, from 11 pm until 3am the blood circulation is mainly concentrated in the liver where the process of detoxification of the body takes place. So when you do not sleep during these hours the process of detoxification is limited. Eg. If you sleep at 11pm There are 4 full hours for detoxification of our body, and if you sleep at 2 am we only have 1 hour! So, if you sleep after 3 a.m. then our body does not detoxify thereby releasing toxins known to have adverse effects on our health.

So the key to proper weight loss is to "eat less, move more and sleep well ...!"

Exercise to improve your memory!

Exercise can improve your quality of life
Researchers have found a correlation between fitness and brain function in children approximately 9 to 10 years: Those who are more fit tend to have larger hippocampus and perform better on a memory test than less fit peers.

The study, which used MRI to measure the relative size of specific brain structures in 49 samples of children, published in the journal «Brain Research».

"This is the first study to date which have used MRI to examine conditions for the brain differences between children who are trained and children that are not", said psychology professor from the University of Illinois and Director of the Beckman Institute, Art Kramer, who led the study with doctoral student Laura Chaddock and professor of Kinesiology and Health Charles Hillman.

The study focused on the hippocampus, a structure deep in the brain, because it is known is a location important for the ability of learning and memory. Previous studies in older adults and in animals have shown that exercise can increase the size of the hippocampus.

A larger hippocampus is associated with improvement in various cognitive functions.

"In animal studies, exercise has been shown to affect specifically the hippocampus, a significant increase in growth of new neurons and cell survival, enhances memory and learning and increases the molecules involved in brain plasticity," says Professor Chaddock.

So rather than relying on reports from second-hand physical activity levels of children, the researchers measured how effectively they used oxygen while running on a treadmill.

"This is the gold standard measure of fitness," says Chaddock.

"Physical fitness for already trained children were much more effective than the less trained and experienced in the use of oxygen," said Kramer.

When analyzed data of MRI, the researchers found that physically trained children tended to have larger hippocampal volumes - approximately 12% greater than the total size of the brain.

Also these children performed better on memory tests - showed a greater ability to remember and integrate various types of information - from less fit peers.

"Fitter children had higher performance in memory, with larger size of the hippocampus, compared to less trained and experienced," says Chaddock.

"The new findings suggest that interventions to increases in childhood physical activity can have significant effects on brain development," said Kramer.

"So we confirmed that the effect of environmental factors and socioeconomic status have an impact on brain development," said research team as a general conclusion.

So even if you inherit some "bad" genes from your parents with appropriate intervention from the environment in which you grow in your lifetime, you are able to greatly improve the quality of your life!

Relieve headaches

Many people feel that their head is about to break and looking for ways to relieve the headache that's torturing them. Remember that the headache is easy to deal if you pinpoint what causes it!

The main factors that caused headaches are:

Stress
About 80% of the migraine cause is stress, according to scientific studies.

Hormones
Many women complain that they have headaches during the period of pregnancy and menopause. This is due to the drop in estrogen.

The weather changes
By the time the weather changes are more frequent migraines due to the change in barometric pressure.

Lack of sleep
Low levels sorotoninis activate the main nerve that is responsible for migraine

Some "heavy" odor
The nerve that connects the nose when it detects bad odors (cologne, cleaning, etc.), can release substances that cause headaches

The disturbing light
Depends on the person and how sensitive it is to light. Others have sensitivity to sunlight, other computers and others in fluorescent lights.

Wrong eating habits
The reduced water consumption and omissions meals during the day can cause headaches

To deal with the headaches and to relieve the annoying pain you can take a proper and balanced diet and exercise. Alternative therapies are meditation, yoga and massage that will help you relax.

One gene makes you sleep ... less

For some, the many hours of sleep is a luxury for others a need. A gene that reduces our need to sleep explains why some people work well shutting their eyes for just 4 hours every 24 hours when others need from 8 to 12 hours sleep each night to function. The gene was named ABCC9 and earlier studies have demonstrated correlation with heart disease and diabetes.

The Great Napoleon and the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher are known for their few needs to sleep.

The study, whose findings are published in the online edition of inspection «Molecular Psychiatry», involving 4,000 volunteers from seven European countries, who completed a questionnaire evaluating sleep habits and underwent analysis of their genetic material. Those of them had two copies of a typical mutation ABCC9, slept much less than what those who had two copies of one another mutation.

"The gene is evolutionarily ancient ABCC9, since there is in drosophila," said chief researcher Dr. Carla Alemprant, Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.

According to the researchers, the gene encoding the protein ABCC9 SUR2, which forms part of the regulatory potassium channel in the cell membrane. These channels act as sensors for energy metabolism in cells.

These findings, in combination, "suggest that the association of sleep duration with disorders of the metabolic syndrome may be partly explained by this common molecular mechanism," she added.

All you need to know about Vitamin A

The term vitamin A describes the compounds that exhibit the biological activity of retinol. Vitamin A is fat-soluble vitamin and two key ingredients in foods are retinol and carotenoids.

Dosage
In the absence of malabsorption or gastrointestinal disease, should not be exceeded in the following regular daily downloads (from food and supplements). The therapeutic dose should not exceed these limits, except when the patient is under medical supervision. For example, in cystic fibrosis, can be given doses of 1200 - 3300 g (4000 - 10000 Units).

Action
Vitamin A is essential for normal functioning of the retina, and particularly on the adaptation of vision in the dark, to maintain the structural and functional integrity of epithelial tissue and the immune system, cell differentiation and division, to develop bone for the operation of the genital organs, and fetal growth. Also vitamin A can act as a co factor in biochemical reactions.

Metabolism
Vitamin D is readily absorbed from the upper intestine (duodenum and nistida) through a body-moderator. For absorption requires the presence of gastric juice, bile, pancreatic and intestinal lipase, and protein and dietary fat.

The liver contains at least 90% of stored vitamin A in the body (the amount you need an adult for about two years). Small quantities are stored in the kidneys and lungs.

Vitamin A is excreted in bile and urine (as metabolites). Appears in breast milk. The absorption decreases significantly with consumption of food low in fat (<5g) and the presence over-oxidized grease and other oxidants in the food. The lack of protein, vitamin E, zinc and heavy alcohol consumption affects the transport, storage and utilization of vitamin A.

The vitamin A deficiency is prevalent in children of developing countries and generally associated with malnutrition. Symptoms of deficiency include:

Weakness of vision in the dark.
Dry eyes.
Dry skin and in the presence of discontinuity in the skin layers.
Metaplasia and cornification of the cells of the respiratory tract and other organs.
Increased susceptibility to respiratory infections and urinary tract.
Occasionally diarrhea and loss of appetite.

Uses
Most children aged from six months to five years is recommended to take supplements of vitamins A and D, unless it can ensure its adequacy from their diet.

There is no evidence of the value of vitamin A in eye problems and prevent and treat infections not related to vitamin A. Vitamin A supplements to a normal, safe doses have no proven benefits to skin problems (eg acne), but synthetic retinoids may be prescribed for this purpose.

In the literature have occurred during periods of independent studies suggest that vitamin D may be beneficial in premenstrual syndrome, but these results have not been confirmed at random.

There is little evidence for a beneficial effect of supplementation of vitamin D beyond the cases of deficiency. The available data on the role of vitamin D in cancer are more related than carotenoids to vitamin A in general.

Precautions
Pregnancy and breastfeeding
Excessive doses of vitamin D appear to be teratogenic, although the levels at which this happens are not well defined.

Side effects
With a single dose of 300 mg retinol in adults, 60 mg retinol in children, or 30 mg retinol in infants can cause acute toxicity. The signs and symptoms are usually temporary (often occurring approximately 6 hours after ingestion of an acute dose and subside after 36 hours) and include: severe headache, stomatalgia, bleeding gums, dizziness, confusion, vomiting, blurred vision, hepatomegaly, irritability.

When the daily intake is> 15 mg retinol in adults and 6 mg in infants and young children may be signs of chronic toxicity.

Symptoms may include: dry skin, dermatitis, exfoliation, skin rash, hives the blade skin disorders, hair growth, pain in bones and joints, headache, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss weight, hepatomegaly, hepatotoxicity, increased intracranial pressure, hypercalcemia (due to the increased functionality of alkaline phosphatase).

The emerging signs and symptoms vary widely from person to person. Most disappear within one week after the reduction of intake, but changes in the skin and bones remain visible for several months.

Vitamin D interacts with the metabolism of other nutrients:

Iron: In vitamin A deficiency reduced iron levels in plasma.
Vitamin C: In conditions of hypervitaminosis A, vitamin C levels in the tissues can be reduced while increasing the excretion of vitamin C in urine. Vitamin C may reduce the toxic effects of vitamin A.
Vitamin C: Large doses of vitamin D increase the need for Vitamin E - Vitamin E reduces the oxidative destruction of vitamin A.
Vitamin K: In conditions of hypervitaminosis A can occur ypothromvinaimia, which is corrected by administration of vitamin K.