HEALTH AND WELLNESS

OUR BODY: A COLLECTION OF MICROSCOPIC CHAINS Have you ever thought of your body as a collection of microscopic chains? Perhaps not. But in reality, “at the level of its smallest relevant components,” says the book The Way Life Works, life employs “THE CHAIN AS ITS ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE.” For that reason, just a small defect in some of these chains can have a MAJOR impact on our health. What are these chains? How do they function? And how do they relate to our health and well-being? Basically, they are chainlike molecules that fall into TWO main categories. The molecules we will consider in this article are the PROTEINS. The others are the molecules that STORE and TRANSMIT genetic information –DNA and RNA. Of course, the two groups are INTIMATELY related. In fact, one key function of DNA and RNA is to produce life’s vast array of PROTEINS. HOW ARE PROTEINS MADE? 1. Inside a cell’s nucleus, DNA contains instructions for eac

                                    Does it make any health difference whether you exercise by hiking up or down a steep incline? Researchers say that in some ways it might.   Taking the stairs regularly is a simple and practical means to improving health. Researchers asked 69 sedentary employees to use the stairs at their place of work instead of the elevators. After 12 weeks, the workers aerobic capacity had increased by 8.6 percent, which gave them a 15 percent reduction in all-cause mortality risk. The workers also saw significant improvement in their blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, fat mass, and waist circumference. A study conducted on a mountain in the Alps where for two months 45 volunteers hiked up the 30-degree slope and rode a cable car back down. Then, for two months more, they did the opposite. While hiking in either direction helped lower bad cholesterol, the study suggested that hiking uphill was more effective for lowering levels of fats cal