That's Fit

Hormones produced by the thyroid gland have a significant effect on your health, particularly on your metabolism -- from the rate at which your heart beats to how quickly you burn calories.

As long as the proper amount of hormones are released by your thyroid, everything is as cool as school and your system function remains status quo. But sometimes your thyroid decides to become a bit derelict in its duties and fails to produce enough hormones, resulting in the disruption of the balance of chemical reactions in your body. This condition is known as hypothyroidism.

This problem -- even if the thyroid is only mildly underactive -- is certainly worth paying attention to. A study published in the American Journal of Medicine suggests that even a slight aberration in the activity of the thyroid can raise the risk of heart disease by as much as 65 percent. If you or someone you know is showing signs and symptoms of what may be an underactive thyroid, speak to a doctor about having a blood test done.

For several days now, I've been writing an ongoing series of diet and fitness posts titled "Why the Pounds Are Sticking Around," which are a collection of tips sourced from the health magazine Self. Since the response has been so positive, I decided to forge ahead with an idea I had for a series of healthy living posts. Since exercise and training are more my forte, I sought out information from an outside source -- Men's Health magazine. To that end, I found ten great health and wellness tips that I thought would be perfect for pieces on healthy living.

So, just as I have been doing with the diet and fitness posts, I will also be posting one healthy living tip per day as part of a series I think I'm going to call "Living Well." I think you'll find these tips to be as interesting and as helpful as I did.

Healthy Tip #6 - Have your thyroid checked

An estimated 27 million Americans have Hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid), but are not aware that they do. Could you be one of those people? Signs of a thyroid condition include muscle and joint pains, neck discomfort and/or enlargement, changes in hair or skin, bowel problems, and several other potential issues.

Not only is an underactive thyroid a health issue by itself, but it also increases your risk of heart disease by 65 percent, says a study published in the American Journal of Medicine. To help determine if you are at risk, the folks at Men's Health suggest a quick blood test to assess your level of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH).

It seems that the older you get, the more difficult it becomes to stick to a healthy lifestyle. The number of commitments to family, friends and work compound over time, making regular trips to the gym and preparing healthy meals seem impossible to pull off. Then, what often happens is that unhealthy behaviors become routine, begetting even more unhealthy behaviors. Before long, these people feel as though they are taken out of the game completely, and that their chances of being fit at their age are pretty much gone.

Not true. Not true at all, actually. Adopting healthier lifestyle changes relatively late in life can still lower your risk of cardiovascular disease and lengthen life, says a report from the American Journal of Medicine.

Researchers looked at more than 1,300 men and women aged 45 to 64 years who took on healthier habits: exercising a minimum of 2.5 hours per week, eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day, maintaining a body mass index between 18.5 and 29.9kg/m, and not smoking. Over a four-year span, researchers found that these middle-aged individuals experiences a 35% decreased incidence of cardiovascular events and a 40% reduction in mortality, compared with the men and women of this age group who did not make these healthy changes to their lifestyles.