Hi Everyone It looks as though Summer is now well and truly over, the leaves are falling, the clocks

are back to normal, and the cold mornings and nights are with us again, at least for the time being, temperature is very changeable, it is important to keep warm after exercising to avoid those winter chills. Welcome new participants to the KiwiSenior programmes at Bayview, Hastings, Havelock North, Napier & Taradale.

BIRTHDAY BASH DATES If you celebrate a Birthday during April, May or June then the following dates below will be free for you at KiwiSeniors. Bayview Hastings RSA Hastings Sports Centre Havelock North Napier Rodney Green Centennial Events Centre Taradale Rugby Club 25th May 2011 23rd May 2011 24th May 2011 27th May 2011 16th May 2011 26th May 2011

Remember these are only suggested dates and can be changed by the Instructor Everyone please bring a plate of food for morning tea if you can. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS Thank you for your prompt payment, this is now due by the end of March of each year. For only $5.00 per annum, this enables us to provide you with updated information through our quarterly newsletters, Name Tags, Annual Magazine and not forgetting that well deserved cup of tea or coffee at the end of the sessions. ANNUAL MAGAZINE Its never too early to start thinking about a contribution towards the Magazine. All receipts jokes, poems and stories about some of the events from your venues are gratefully accepted.

Early exercise best for heart attack recovery

It could be time to reassess the advice of yesteryear to rest up and take it easy after a heart attack, with a new study from the University of Alberta recommending early exercise for the best health outcomes. Reviewing more than 20 years worth of trials, the study team led by Mark Haykowsky and Alex Clark, found that stable patients who start an exercise program one week after suffering heart attack achieve greater heart performance benefits than those who wait several weeks to start rehabilitation. Haykowsky said While it's been shown that exercise has a favourable effect on heart function, it's also important to dispel the idea that what the heart needs is rest. Clark contrasted the findings to long-given advice; In the past, patients in Canada and the US have been told to wait for one month before beginning their exercise treatment and this treatment typically only goes on for about three months. He noted the review findings that for every week that a patient delayed his or her exercise treatment, he or she would have to train for the equivalent of one month longer to get similar benefits. Our findings suggest that at least six months of exercise is the most beneficial. The team looked at both pros and cons of early exercise and found no apparent dangers in starting earlier than is currently prescribed; In the 70s, health-care professionals were telling patients not to move for three months after a heart attack. Our findings suggest that stable patients need not wait a month to start exercising in a cardiac-rehabilitation setting Clark said. Source: Trials

Tai Chi helps individuals with heart failure

In a study, 100 people with systolic heart failure were recruited to take part in a 12-week program to gauge the effects of tai chi on their quality of life.

Fifty study subjects were placed in an intervention group which practiced tai chi for an hour twice weekly, while the other fifty were placed in an education group which met for the same duration and frequency during the three-month period. As background information, the study authors, led by Gloria Yeh, MD, MPH, of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, wrote, Historically, patients with chronic systolic heart failure were considered too frail to exercise and, through the late 1980s, avoidance of physical activity was a standard recommendation. Preliminary evidence suggests that meditative exercise may have benefits for patients with chronic systolic heart failure; this has not been rigorously tested in a large clinical sample. Although tests showed that the tai chi prescription did not result in improved fitness or oxygen uptake compared to the control education group, the tai chi practitioners did appear to have improved quality of life factors such as exercise self-efficacy and elevated feelings of wellbeing. At completion of the study, there were no significant differences in change in six-minute walk distance and peak oxygen uptake when comparing the tai chi and control groups; however, patients in the tai chi group had greater improvements in quality of life. The tai chi group also showed improvements in exercise selfefficacy (confidence to perform certain exercise-related activities), with increased daily activity, and related feelings of well-being compared with the education group. The study authors concluded, tai chi exercise, a multi-component mind-body training modality that is safe and has good rates of adherence, may provide value in improving daily exercise, quality of life, self-efficacy and mood in frail, deconditioned patients with systolic heart failure. A more restricted focus on traditional measured exercise capacity may underestimate the potential benefits of integrated interventions such as tai chi. Source: Archives of Internal Medicine

2011 Survey Forms

Survey forms for 2011 will soon be distributed out to venues. Your help in completing these would be most appreciated in order to assist with developing future programmes .

TAI CHI FLYER