“If you can believe it, you can be it” may be an effective approach to enduring the discomforts of exercise. In a small study, women who thought that they could tolerate the pain of exercise reported less pain than women who did not have faith in their ability to continue exercising through soreness.

People who deal effectively with stress may enjoy not only greater peace of mind and spirit but also better physical health. In the Normative Aging Study, older Caucasian men with more effective skills for coping with stress had higher levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol than their more hostile or socially isolated peers.

For people with hypertension, qigong practice may offer a cost-effective alternative or complementary therapy, according to a growing body of research. Investigators conducted a research review of all the randomized clinical trials aimed at testing the benefit of qigong practice in patients with hypertension.

Is your facility offering more integrated wellness programs, such as “Back to Health” clinics in combination with weekly “Healthy Back” classes, or does it host an annual wellness event? If yes, what types of programs are being offered in combination with each other?

Offering body-mind techniques to help cope with stress may be particularly beneficial for clients who have chronic neurodegenerative diseases. Unmanaged stress is detrimental to the health of all people. However, new research suggests that for those with neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), stress may have an even greater negative impact, causing their disease to worsen.

Studies have shown that a discipline of consistent meditation improves immune system response. Now, new research suggests that tai chi and qigong practice may offer similar immunity-enhancing characteristics: older adults who did tai chi and qigong regularly for 5 months had a superior positive reaction to a flu vaccine compared with individuals who received the same vaccine but did not practice these traditional Chinese martial and healing arts.

Body-mind fitness and wellness professionals should note the growing trend of wellness festivals occurring throughout the nation. For example, in Jackson, Wyoming; Sun Valley, Idaho; Snowmass Village, Colorado; and Mammoth Lakes, California, wellness festivals are now popular annual events, according to an article in The New York Times (August 3, 2007). Festival activities typically include health and nutrition workshops, educational lectures and motivational speakers, as well as fitness experiences such as nature hikes, outdoor cycling and outdoor yoga, all in a resort setting that takes advantage of the inspiration offered by nature’s beauty.

Practicing a daily yoga routine designed specifically for pre- and post-menopausal women helped women feel better and experience less severe menopausal symptoms.

"To be 70 years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be 40 years old!"

—Oliver Wendell Holmes,
American author and physician 1809-1894