Does exercise boost energy levels?

Exercise increases energy levels in several ways. It adds muscle, spurs your body to produce more energy producing chemicals in your cells, and boosts energy-promoting neurotransmitters in the brain, which provide that mental lift you feel after a workout. It can be a challenge to exercise when energy levels are already low, so start small. Some research suggests that just 20 minutes of low-to-moderate aerobic activity, three days a week, can help energize you. It doesn’t really matter what kind of exercise you do. Studies have found that non-aerobic exercises like strength training can have the same energy- boosting effect as aerobic activities.

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What are some simple scientific ways to boost energy levels?

Three ways to boost energy levels: Exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and stay well hydrated. Exercise increases energy levels in several ways. It adds muscle mass and spurs your body to produce more ATP, the energy-carrying molecules found in all living cells. Exercise also boosts energy-promoting neurotransmitters in the brain, such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, which provide that mental lift you feel during and after a workout. 

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Do beta blockers interfere with exercise?

All beta blockers slow down your heart rate. The slower rate happens at rest and also when you exercise. A competitive athlete’s performance likely could be diminished by taking a beta blocker. However, for most of us who exercise to stay healthy, the evidence tilts toward no decrease in benefit, even though you may not hit the standard heart rate goals. So, your beta blocker won’t prevent you from getting the positive effects of exercise. 

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What are the pros and cons of intermittent fasting?

Intermittent fasting involves restricting calories a few days a week or limiting eating to a shortened "eating window" each day.  In addition to weight loss, the body can experience numerous benefits from being in a fasted state. In a fully fasted state, your metabolism switches its primary source of fuel from glucose to ketones, which triggers a host of positive cellular responses. Repeated exposure to a fasted state induces cellular adaptations that, at least in the short term, improve markers of metabolic and cardiovascular health. On the downside, the risks are feeling unwell, rebound overeating, losing too much weight, and potentially dangerous if you are taking certain medications.
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What is the best diet for reducing belly fat?

Intermittent fasting involves restricting calories a few days a week or limiting eating to a shortened "eating window" each day.  In addition to weight loss, the body can experience numerous benefits from being in a fasted state. In a fully fasted state, your metabolism switches its primary source of fuel from glucose to ketones, which triggers a host of positive cellular responses. Repeated exposure to a fasted state induces cellular adaptations that, at least in the short term, improve markers of metabolic and cardiovascular health. On the downside, the risks are feeling unwell, rebound overeating, losing too much weight, and potentially dangerous if you are taking certain medications.

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What’s a high-fat weight loss diet?

There are several ways to approach a high-fat weight loss diet. You could simply cut out all simple carbs and eat more healthy fats, while setting a goal of total daily calories at less than what you take in. Another option is to go for a true ketogenic (keto) diet that calls for up to 90% of your daily calories to come from fat. People often find they can achieve faster weight loss with a keto diet compared with a calorie-reduction diet. But staying a keto diet long term is challenging, and it can be heavy on red meat and other fatty, processed, and salty foods that are notoriously unhealthy. Its long-term effects are unknown, probably because it’s so hard to stick with that people can’t eat this way for a long time.

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How do you manage knee pain?

The best ways to manage knee pain depend on why the pain is there, though in many cases, the cause of knee pain isn’t immediately clear. For non-urgent situations, acetaminophen, rest, and a cool compress are good first steps. When the knee pain represents an emergency (such as following major trauma, when there’s knee swelling and fever, or there’s an inability to bear weight) the person with knee pain should seek medical attention right away. 
Some of the more common causes and initial treatments of knee pain include:
•    Osteoarthritis – exercise, loss of excess weight, topical anti-inflammatory pain relievers or capsaicin
•    Noninfectious bursitis – exercise, loss of excess weight, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, cortisone injection
•    Tendinitis – rest and ice, followed by exercise, physical therapy, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication or acetaminophen
•    Rheumatoid arthritis – anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive medications, exercise, physical therapy, cortisone injections 
•    Gout – anti-inflammatory medications (when gout attack begins), cortisone injection, long-term medication to lower uric acid (such as allopurinol)

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What are the signs and symptoms of lumbago?

Lumbago is an old term for “low back pain.” It is a symptom and may be caused by numerous conditions. In many cases, no cause can be found and no findings (signs) suggestive of a specific disorder are present.
The symptoms of lumbago include pain in the lower back that may:
•    be chronic or intermittent
•    worsen in certain positions or with movement
•    be located on one or both sides
•    radiate down one or both legs
•    be worse standing up and improve leaning forward or sitting down
Signs that may accompany lumbago include:
•    pain when pressure is applied to certain areas of the lower back (especially various muscle groups or the area of the buttock through which the sciatic nerve travels)
•    worsened pain when a leg is raised by the examiner
•    abnormal or asymmetric reflexes
•    loss of sensation in one or both legs
•    weakness of one or both legs

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How to diagnose and treat cervicalgia?

Cervicalgia is a medical term that refers to pain in and around the neck. Given the number of structures that make up and support the neck, there is a long list of possibilities. Common causes of neck pain are muscle strain, muscle spasm, degenerative disc disease and arthritis. For these conditions, conservative measures should be tried first unless there is evidence of ongoing nerve dysfunction causing extreme pain or muscle weakness. Treatment might be warm or cold compresses, temporary intermittent use of a soft cervical collar, physical therapy, anti-inflammatory drugs and pain relievers.

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What is dystonia and what causes it?

Dystonia (or dystonic reaction) to a disorder of muscle tone, which generally appears as an overactivity of muscle, leading to twisting motions and abnormal body positions. The symptoms of a dystonic reaction can come on suddenly and be quite alarming. They include abnormal movements of the eyes, slurred speech, and twisting of the neck that can progress to a severe type of muscle spasm in which the head, neck, and back are locked in a muscle spasm. Some patients develop chronic dystonia, in which these symptoms persist for an extended period.

Dystonic reactions can be caused by medications, including prochlorperazine and metoclopramide used for nausea and vomiting and psychiatric drugs such as haloperidol. Other causes of dystonia include Parkinson’s disease, stroke, brain injury and birth injury. Dystonia can be inherited, but often no underlying problem is identified.

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