SHIJIAZHUANG, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A smog-bothered Chinese school has turned to the country's traditional kung fu for self-defense against polluted air, although the method's effect has been widely doubted.

Guangming Road Primary School in north China's Hebei Province, has designed a set of kung fu aerobics which are claimed to mitigate the effects of smog on the human body.

They consist of 23 moves, with two of them, pressing an acupoint called Hegu and breathing into the belly, being particularly effective against air pollution, said Wei Huanqiang, deputy dean of the school in the provincial capital Shijiazhuang, one of the Chinese cities worst hit by smog.

"Pressing the Hegu acupoint, located between the thumb and index finger at the back of the hand, helps promote lungs' detoxification. Breathing into the belly dispels more residue gas left in human organs, reducing the harm caused by smog," he said.

Wei designed the moves in September and October. They can be performed in the classroom, helpful considering China's smog often forces the school to cancel outdoor exercises.

Students will sweat a little after the whole set of exercise, taking about two minutes, according to Wei.

In recent months, heavy smog has shrouded north and east China intermittently, with schools and highways closed and flights delayed or canceled in extreme cases.

"The smog particles inhaled in our lungs are harmful, and we have to wear mouth cover on our way to school or home. We were taught that the aerobics help us to get rid of the dirty particles," said He Linxuan, a fourth-grade student.

The school, famous for its martial arts classes, has 470 students. All of them are required to do the aerobics four times daily on smoggy days.

The supposedly anti-smog kung fu has drawn wide controversy. Although some Internet users have remarked that indoor exercises can indeed be healthy for children, many others have poured scorn on the idea that a few simple moves can be used to resist the effects of polluted air.

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School uses kung fu as smog self-defence

School uses kung fu to fight air pollution (Reuters)

A primary school in China has started teaching children kung fu - as a form of self-defence against air pollution.

Heavily contaminated smog is a huge problem in China, with children regularly kept indoors to protect them.

Many children grow up with asthma and other respiratory illnesses and the pollution was recently blamed for a child being diagnosed with lung cancer. State media said the eight-year-old girl had contracted the disease after being exposed to harmful particles in the air throughout her life.

In a bid to protect children from the air pollution, the Guangming Road Primary School in China's northern Hebei province has designed kung fu aerobics to mitigate the effects of the smog on the body, Xinhua reports.

The school has developed 23 moves, two of which involve pressing an acupoint and breathing deeply into the belly.

Acupoints boost immune system

Wei Huangiang, the deputy dean of the school who designed the kung fu aerobics, said the moves are effective against air pollution: "Pressing the Hegu acupoint, located between the thumb and index finger at the back of the hand, helps promote lungs' detoxification. Breathing into the belly dispels more residue gas left in human organs, reducing the harm caused by smog."

The kung fu moves can be performed in the classroom and the exercises take about two minutes to complete. All the 470 students at the school are required to do the exercises four times per day on smoggy days.

He Linxuan, a fourth-grade student, said: "The smog particles inhaled in our lungs are harmful, and we have to wear mouth cover on our way to school or home. We were taught that the aerobics help us to get rid of the dirty particles."

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China School Teaches Children Kung Fu - to Fight Against Air Pollution

This week I am revisiting last year's "8 Questions on Diet and Exercise" for Santa Claus. Santa has been spreading joy and happiness in North Idaho and around the world for a very long time. Santa has had a lifelong passion for good health, exercise and nutrition. Santa holds many records including the fastest time for the most chimney climbs in a 24-hour period and one of the fastest sleigh-to-roof transitions ever seen.

Q. Let's start with a basic question. What workout regimen do you use to prepare for what must be a physically demanding time of year?

A. Well that's a very good question. It is a physically demanding time with a vast amount of climbing, carrying heavy bags and running from place to place. In the off-season, the reindeer and I run a lot of backcountry trails at the North Pole. Of course, one of my elves is a Certified Personal Trainer so she helps me stay focused in the gym.

Q. Nutritionally, it must be difficult to be given access to so many amazing cookies that the kids leave out for you. How do you manage your cookie intake?

A. Well, I approach it like you would for any endurance race. When you know you have a long demanding race you need to fuel up. Cookies are an amazing way to maximize the amount of glycogen stored in your muscles and Mrs. Claus reminds me all the time that poorly fueled muscles are associated with needless fatigue this time of year.

Q. Santa, I had heard you are an avid fan of Zumba? How do you find time to work that into your busy schedule?

A. Zumba is very stimulating and I am fond of the catchy Latin beats they use for music. Plus, Zumba is a very fast way to squeeze in a heart-pumping cardio workout in less than 40 minutes. I must admit my belly sometimes moves left when the rest of me moves right, so it does become a bit awkward for me. Those Zumba instructors go pretty easy on me though, since they want to stay on my nice list... Those Zumba instructors need a lot of help in that department.

Q. So what is your favorite and most difficult exercise program?

A. A few years ago, my elves introduced me to Parkour. This is where you develop the physical skills to effectively jump, climb and roll through obstacles without aid of ropes or climbing gear. This is quite a workout, but very good for me since I must scale so many roofs, slide down chimneys, dodge wires and other hazards while delivering toys to all the good girls and boys.

Q. Now Santa, you're not a young man anymore... how do you avoid injury doing all this physical activity?

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Santa talks diet and excercise

SAN ANTONIO - Exercise might help women beat breast cancer. Researchers found it can ease the achy joints and muscle pain that lead many patients to quit taking medicines that treat the disease and lower the risk of a recurrence.

The study is the first major test of an exercise program for women on aromatase inhibitors. These estrogen-blocking pills, sold as Femara, Aromasin and other brands, are recommended for five years after initial breast cancer treatment for hormone-driven tumors, the most common type.

The pills also increasingly are being used to help prevent breast cancer in women at high risk of it because of family history, bad genes or other reasons. A separate study found that one of these medicines anastrozole, sold as Arimidex and in generic form cut this risk by 53 per cent. It's the second aromatase inhibitor shown to lower risk that much.

Despite how effective the drugs are, many women shun them because they can cause aches and pains, hot flashes and other side effects. About 15 per cent of U.S. women have enough risk to merit considering the pills to prevent breast cancer, yet less than 5 per cent take them, said Dr. Powel Brown, a prevention expert at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The exercise study involved 121 postmenopausal women taking various aromatase inhibitors to treat breast cancer who complained of achy joints on a pain survey.

About half were assigned to two supervised strength training sessions a week plus at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. The rest got advice on the benefits of exercise and did their usual activities.

After a year, joint pain scores fell 20 per cent among exercisers and 3 per cent among the others. The severity of pain and how much it interfered with daily live also declined more in exercisers.

The exercise group improved cardiorespiratory fitness and lost weight nearly 8 pounds versus a slight gain in the others. Eighty per cent stuck with the program, helped by free access to a gym and a personal trainer.

The National Cancer Institute paid for the study, which was led by Melinda Irwin of the Yale Cancer Center and Dr. Jennifer Ligibel of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Dr. Eric Winer, breast cancer chief at Dana-Farber, said the results may help more women stick with the drugs.

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Excercise helps women tolerate side effects of breast cancer drugs

For Mankato Wests Maddie Maruska and Rachel Conley, gymnastics is all in their head.

The duo has returned to the Scarlets after missing virtually all of last season with torn anterior cruciate ligaments. Both gymnasts suffered their injury on the opening meet of the 2012 season while doing the floor excercise.

Co-head coach Mark Morphew remembers the day well.

After that meet, (coach) Elizabeth (Mullikin) and I were kind of hanging our heads, he said. Not only did we feel bad for Maddie and Rachel because they had worked hard to get where they were at, but we knew what it meant for the team.

We had high hopes going into last season and then we lost our two best gymnasts right out of the gate. We knew that everybody was going to have to temper their expectations.

The junior Maruska and senior Conley, who are best friends both in and out of the gymnastics room, had their surgeries on consecutive days by the same doctor at Immanuel-St. Joes Hospital in Mankato. They did their rehab and were cleared to resume full athletic activity this past August.

But this where the head part kicks in. While both may be at or close to 100 percent physically, there are still some mental hurdles to be conquered.

The West season began last week and both gymnasts admit that they have yet to cut loose during practice or a competition especially when it comes to the floor exercise.

Theres a fear factor there, Conley said. Were trying to deal with it the best we can.

Morphew says being tentative at the start of this season is natural.

More here:
Local gymnastics teams are getting Ready to Tumble

Thai men hold durians at a warehouse in Tien Giang Province, where the fruits are to be soaked in perservatives and smuggled to China and Indonesia. Photo courtesy of Tuoi Tre

Police in theMekong Deltaprovince of Tien Giang have fined a group of Thai and Vietnamese smugglers for soaking local durians in unsafe preservatives before illegally bringing them into China and Indonesia.

The chemicals and fruit have been confiscated.

The police said the eight Thai people and a Vietnamese dealer will be fined VND10-20 million (US$473-947) each for the undocumented export of the fruits to the China and Indonesia.

Thailand Commerce Company in Ho Chi Minh City collected the fruits at its warehouse in Tien Giang, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.

In one of Tuoi Tres visits, more than 20 Vietnamese were working for two Thai men. The Thaischosewhich fruitswere to be soaked in the strange preservative solution and the Vietnamese did the deed in a roomat the far end of house.

The durians were than tagged with Chinese labels, put in Chinese-language boxes and loaded ontoa truck.

The workers said each bucket (more than 40 liters) ofdark yellow liquidcould bathe 700 durians. The warehouse used around ten buckets a day and the solutions were mixed by the Thai bosses, according to Tuoi Tre.

A Thai man expressed anger and signaled the Tuoi Tre reporter to leave when the latter entered the room where the mixture was being made from unlabeled chemicals including some yellow powder, a yellow liquid, and a green liquid.

A Vietnamese worker said the mixture was said to keep the durians unspoiled for longer than normal, and to make them ripe all over.

Read more here:
Vietnamese durians smuggled, soaked in dodgy preservative

Published: Wednesday, 11 Dec 2013 | 3:27 PM ET

By: Harriet Baskas, Special to CNBC

Source: Chicago Dept. of Aviation

Yoga room at Chicago O'Hare International Airport

Chicago O'Hare International, one of the country's busiest and most stressful airports, took a decidedly Zen turn today with the opening of a yoga room in Terminal 3, adjacent to the airport's indoor urban garden.

"The yoga room provides a space for yoga practice as well as a place to relax or meditate," said Rosemarie Andolini, Chicago Department of Aviation commissioner. "This is yet another amenity to help make the travel experience at O'Hare 'best-in-class.' "

(Read more: Middle class priced out of skiing)

O'Hare's yoga room has a sustainable bamboo wood floor, floor-to-ceiling mirrors along one wall, exercise mats and an area to store personal articles and garments. A wall-mounted video monitor plays soothing sounds and displays yoga exercise techniques and images of nature. Frosted windows along one side of the room provide privacy and natural light.

"The importance of exercise and the opportunity in clearing the mind and body during long travel days cannot be overstated as it relates to one's health," said Brad Jersey, CEO and founder of nLIVEn Health, a company that places sponsored interactive health-care campaigns in airports. "We know from our studies that 75 percent of frequent fliers participate in some workout regimen, so this is a perfect complement at ORD."

Wellness tourism is a $438.6 billion global market "and a rapidly growing niche within the $3.2 trillion global tourism economy," according to the a study presented in October at the Global Wellness Tourism Congress in New Delhi, India.

The rest is here:
Yoga lounge opens at Chicago O'Hare

airport

Harriet Baskas Special to CNBC.com

Dec. 11, 2013 at 2:12 PM ET

Chicago Dept. of Aviation

Chicagos OHare International has opened a yoga room.

Chicagos OHare International, one of the countrys busiest and most stressful airports, took a decidedly Zen turn today with the opening of a yoga room in Terminal 3, adjacent to the airports indoor urban garden.

"The yoga room provides a space for yoga practice as well as a place to relax or meditate, said Rosemarie Andolini, Chicago Department of Aviation commissioner. This is yet another amenity to help make the travel experience at O'Hare 'best-in-class.'"

OHares yoga room has a sustainable bamboo wood floor, floor-to-ceiling mirrors along one wall, exercise mats and an area to store personal articles and garments. A wall-mounted video monitor plays soothing sounds and displays yoga exercise techniques and images of nature. And to provide privacy and let in natural light, there are frosted windows along one side of the room.

The importance of exercise and the opportunity in clearing the mind and body during long travels days cannot be overstated as it relates to ones health, said Brad Jersey, CEO and founder of nLIVEn Health, a company that brings sponsored, interactive health care campaigns into airports. We know from our studies that 75 percent of frequent fliers participate in some workout regimen, so this is a perfect complement at ORD.

Wellness tourism is a $438.6 billion global market and a rapidly growing niche within the $3.2 trillion global tourism economy, according to the a study presented in October at the Global Wellness Tourism Congress in New Delhi, India.

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Relax! Yoga room opens in Chicago's O'Hare airport

Amy Annis, one of the founders of 'The Yoga Tree,' teaches yoga to women in the community to help their mind and body.

Eau, Claire WI (WEAU) - Thomas Jefferson once said, "a strong body makes the mind strong."

It's a concept that a new local organization is using to branch out into the community to benefit local charities.

"I've been teaching yoga for about 10 years, but I really dove in about 5 years ago, when I was diagnosed with cancer. Coming out of that, I really wanted to do is passionate about, says Amy Annis of 'The Yoga Tree.'

Its not a sight you would normally see in someone's basement, but for breast cancer survivor Amy Annis, its a passion.

"Yoga is such a great way to live a healthy life and I used that as part of my healing process, says Annis.

For the last year, she's been stretching her branches into the community through an organization called 'The Yoga Tree.'

"I always had the idea in the back of my head that at some point I wanted to do some kind of karma, yoga project and I just have 3 wonderful friends who are also passionate about yoga and teaching it in the community. 'The Yoga Tree' happens once a month. We have kind of gone through the different charities we feel strongly about and that we know serve the Eau Claire Chippewa Valley community, says Annis.

So while Amy donates time, others like Rose Wiechmann donate money to help a specific charity in the area.

I've attended yoga tree a few times. Its nice to see the community coming together for a cause first of all. Then seeing all the other people in town that also do yoga and just a great group activity on a Saturday morning, says Wiechmann.

Read more from the original source:
ONLY ON SUNRISE: 'The Yoga Tree' branches out into community