Hydrate and Vibrate for Healthy Bones and Heart

When acidic-clogged plaque narrows an artery that feeds the heart, the body responds by trying to bulk up tiny blood vessels in the heart. As these so-called collateral vessels grow more muscular and interconnected, they begin to reroute some of the blood flow around the blockage. Scientists have been trying for years to nudge collateral blood vessels to develop and prosper, but without great success. However, you can do it at home without anything more high-tech than a comfortable pair of shoes, reports the Harvard Heart Letter in its January 2008 issue.

Growing new collateral blood vessels can ease chest pain (angina), limit heart attack damage, improve survival, and perhaps even offer extra time for emergency therapy in the case of a heart attack.
And exercise can boost these blood vessels!

Exercise dramatically increases blood flow and removes dietary and metabolic acids through the coronary arteries. The inner lining of the arteries responds to this "stress" much as it does to the stress of atherosclerosis, by stimulating collateral blood vessels to elongate, widen, and form new connections.

The Heart Letter notes that a little bit of exercise won't do the trick. You need to push your heart. If you aren't used to exercising, that may mean brisk walking. Any activity that gets your heart beating faster will do as long as you keep it up for 20 to 30 minutes at a time and do it several times a week.

Exercise removes dietary and metabolic acids and is a great way to prevent heart dis-ease, and a host of studies show that it can help some people with narrowed coronary arteries safely avoid bypass surgery or angioplasty. The Harvard Heart Letter asks: Why not give yourself a natural bypass before you need a surgeon to perform a more painful and hazardous one?

Exercise!! Everyday!!

One of the best low impact, low stress and fun forms of exercising, that exercises every cell of the body simultaneously, is called whole body vibration. Ten minutes of whole body vibrational exercising is worth over 1 hour of other forms of strenuous exercise.

In a research study of whole body vibrational machines, mice that stood on the platform for 15 minutes a day formed more bone mass and less fat.

"The funny connection between bone and fat is they all come from the same cell," Clinton Rubin, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, told Ivanhoe.

A primary stem cell can become muscle, bone or fat.
Scientists have found that the gentle whole body vibrations cause the cell to turn into bone to tolerate the vibration.

"So, it's a different way of thinking about why we become obese," Dr. Rubin said.

In the study, mice exposed to the whole body vibrating platform formed about 30 percent less fat. The platform also showed promise in humans.
Postmenopausal women who stood on the vibrating plate maintained their bone mass, while those who didn't lost about 3 percent. Rubin says tennis players are a good example of how vibration leads to bigger bones. They have 35 percent more bone in their playing arms.

These vibrations may one day be a simple way to prevent or even reverse both osteoporosis and obesity -- problems that plague millions of Americans.