According to new research published by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, women need 60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise every day just to maintain a normal body weight, a conclusion based on a 13-year study of more than 34,000 women with a mean age of 54.2 years and a normal diet.

Can you fit 60 minutes of exercise into your daily routine? According to these findings, you’ll need to if you want to keep those middle-age pounds from creeping in. If you care about your appearance and health, you should find a way.

For most people, an hour at the health club every day isn’t practical, nor is it exciting; so how does one put this into practice?

1. 60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise sounds a bit boring doesn’t it? Try 30 minutes of high intensity if you’re healthy enough. Push yourself harder and burn those calories faster.

2. Gaining muscle means burning more calories. Try strength training with the kettlebells.

3. Weather and locale permitting, make the choice to bike or run to your health club. It’s a great way to get warmed up before your workout and may even add those extra minutes you need.

4. Stop searching for that perfect parking spot. Park at the outer edge of the lot and walk.

5. Ask your employer about implementing a workplace fitness program. Make sure you mention the surgeon general’s 2010 recommendation to create healthier work sites.

While you’re at it, tell the co-workers to stop bringing all those cookies and donuts.

6. Know the difference between performance and appearance. When you evaluate your fitness and health achievements, don’t just focus on body weight and areas of excess fat. If you are faster or stronger than before, congratulate yourself and remember there are solutions to improve your appearance when traditional methods fail.

7. Exercise should be fun. If your current routine feels like pulling teeth, try something new and always try to keep an upbeat, positive attitude.

Sculptra Aesthetic is more effective than Cosmoplast human-derived collagen and lasts as long as 25 months, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

233 patients were treated randomly with Cosmoplast or Sculptra Aesthetic at 3-week intervals.  Injections were performed to reduce the appearance of the nasolabial folds – the lines that travel from the nose to the corner of the mouth. Post treatment visits were conducted at 3 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 13 months after the final injection.

Highlights of the study:

• During post-operative evaluations, Sculptra scored much higher on the wrinkle assessment scale.
• When the patients treated with Sculptra were followed an additional 12 months, they exhibited results lasting over two years.
• Results had a very natural appearance. “[Sculptra] works gradually to replace lost collagen due to aging, resulting in a more natural-looking appearance” said Dr. Gary Monheit of the University of Alabama Medical Center.
• Side effects were mild or moderate in intensity and overall, they occurred more frequently in the collagen group.

Read more about this study on the official press release.

The overall number of cosmetic procedures in the U.S. decreased by 2 percent in 2009, according to statistics just released by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

According to the society, surgical procedures like breast augmentation, liposuction and abdominoplasty decreased by 17 percent, while non-surgical enhancements such as Botox and Juvederm increased by 0.6 percent.  “Plastic surgery is feeling the effects of the recession, just like many other sectors of the marketplace,” said ASAPS President Renato Saltz.

The ASAPS survey tabulated responses from 928 board certified physicians to compile the procedure data, which is useful for understanding trends.

Breast Augmentation the Top Cosmetic Surgery in the U.S. for 2009

For the second year in a row, Breast augmentation was the most frequently performed plastic surgery with 311,957 procedures performed. Surgeons have suggested several reasons for the procedure’s continuing success.

In the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Renato Saltz suggests that there may still be some excitement about the reintroduction of silicone gel breast implants.

Dr. Bruce Genter, a Philadelphia plastic surgeon, agrees and says it could also be the relatively quick recovery time of breast augmentation and the “immediate gratification” that patients experience. Also, “there is an overall upbeat aura about breast augmentation that is not pervasive in other cosmetic surgical procedures,” says Genter.

Statistics show another possible reason: the favorability of breast augmentation among younger women.  For patients 19-34 years old, breast augmentation was the top surgery, while patients age 35-50 chose liposuction more frequently.

More 2009 data will be publicized in the coming weeks from other surgery societies, so it will be interesting to compare their findings and discuss the cosmetic trends that emerged during the recession.

A plastic surgeon on the west coast has been talking publicly about his patient’s harrowing story of workplace violence, hoping that breast implant manufacturers will contribute supplies for the reconstructive surgery she needs.

Lydia Carranza’s breast implant deflated when she was shot in the chest last summer – an incident that claimed the life of her co-worker and left her with disfiguring scars.  When a man opened fire in the dental office where she worked, Lydia was shot twice: “The bullet fragments were millimeters from her heart and her vital organs,” said Dr. Ashkan Ghavami to the Los Angeles Times.

According to a firearms expert interviewed for the story, the deciding factor between life and death for Lydia may have been the presence of her saline breast implant.  Of course he goes on to tell readers they should not get “breast enhancements as a means to deflect a possible incoming bullet.”

Read the entire story on LATimes.com