Welcome to the January 2004 edition of The Heart Zones e-Newsletter
copyright: Heart Zones, your source of heart rate training information

1. Music Tunes to the Beat of Your Heart
2. Timex Drops Garman’s GPS for Navman GPS Technology
3. Got Cold Hands? Use Your Heart Rate Monitor to Warm them Up
4. Power Meters versus Heart Rate Monitors
   and...
5. At the Horse Track with GPS and Heart Monitoring
6. Intelligent Clothing For Your Health
7. International Fitness Training Conference 2004 - Date and Location Announced
8. Product of the Month: New 12-Monitor Check Out Station
   

How will we be hauling our tunes and our heart rates around in the coming year? At the CES 2004 show, there are a burgeoning crop of portable digital music players and one of them features a heart rate monitor. In February, Samsung plans to introduce the YP-60. This tiny flash memory player is very specifically designed for fitness buffs. Along with an FM tuner and multiple format support, it will have a heart rate monitor, a calorie-burning counter, and a stopwatch.

The Samsung YP-860 Yepp Sports HDD monitors the user's heartbeat, calculates calories burned and features a stopwatch, radio, and 1.5 GB HDD along with standard MP3 functions. As technologies converge, watch for your cell phone, your pager, your PDA, and now your digital music player all to come standard with heart rate monitoring capability.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1435139,00.asp

To improve the size, battery life, and performance, Timex is changing their Body Link system using New Zealand’s Navman technology. Timex no longer will use Garman as their GPS technology supplier. The Timex Ironman Speed + Distance System consists of two pieces - a Navman GPS receiver and a Timex watch/monitor that are connected wirelessly by a radio signal. The receiver captures position data from GPS satellites and transmits precise, real-time speed, distance and pace readings to the watch. While GPS technology is most commonly used as a navigational tool, the satellites are equipped with atomic clocks, making it possible to also get speed and distance data with near-perfect accuracy.

The Bodylink System is a network of devices worn on the body that together act as a single information and sport monitoring system. Bodylink offers athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike the unprecedented ability to track, store and analyse several key indicators of personal performance.

A leading GPS technology and product innovator, Navman engineered the receiver to have a 233% longer battery life and smaller form factor while continuously tracking GPS, using the latest microelectronics technology.

The GPS receiver can be strapped on an arm or attached at the beltline, rendering the receiver's slim profile and lightweight design nearly inconspicuous to the user. Information is transmitted from receiver to the watch via a digital FM signal, making it extremely resistant to interference from sources such as overhead power lines.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/SC0401/S00009.htm

Ten to fifteen percent of Americans suffer from Raynaud’s Disease, named after the 19th Century French physician who first described it. It is an autoimmune condition that causes some areas of the body - mainly fingers and toes, but in some cases, the tips of the nose and ears - to feel numb and cold in response to cold temperatures or stress.

This circulatory disorder named for 19th-century French physician Maurice Raynaud, who first described it, is marked by periodic "vasospastic attacks" that cause the blood vessels in the digits to tighten and narrow. It can happen indoors as well as outdoors, in the summer when the air conditioning is on too high or on a windy fall day. But the worst season for Raynaud's is winter.

Raynaud's can be one of two types: primary (or idiopathic, where there is no underlying disease and the cause is unknown), and secondary (also called Raynaud's phenomenon, where the condition is part of another disease). "Triphasic response - blanching, cyanosis and resolution of the digital vasospasm provoked by exposure to cold" is the medical jargon. Roughly translated, it means having a white, blue and red response: Blanching represents the lack of adequate blood flow brought on by constriction of the arteries. Cyanosis -- or blue coloring -- results from deoxygenated blood in capillaries and small veins. Re-warming of the fingers causes them to look red.

There are measures that one can take to reduce the number and severity of attacks, and to prevent tissue damage in the fingers and toes. The first obvious measure is to keep warm - not only in the extremities but in all parts of the body. Biofeedback techniques also offer an intriguing means for mediating abnormal response to cold or stress. Biofeedback uses machines that monitor heart rate, temperature, muscle tension, skin conductivity and brain waves. Sensors are attached to one’s fingers, wrist, chest and forehead. Through trial and error and lots of practice, one can learn how to regulate breathing, blood flow and the temperature in the hands by concentrating to relax different muscle groups. After five weeks of once-weekly sessions and daily practice at home using instructional tapes, one participant stated that he could raise the temperature in his hands by 12 degrees -- from 68 to 80 -- in less than 10 minutes. The catch is that unless you practice daily, you lose this ability. Using your heart rate monitor as a biofeedback device is just one of the many uses of this powerful tool.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11103-2004Jan12_2.html

As technology advances, so do the fitness tools to measure, assess, and monitor our workouts. Power meters are an addition to that toolbox for cyclists. Though high-priced, they can pay off if they keep you motivated on the bike and riding faster. A power meter is a tool that measures real-time work. Power is measured on the bike by multiplying your cadence by the amount of force you apply to the pedals. The individual that can exert the highest power (measured in watts) is the one who wins the race.

Heart rate data is the sum of your internal stress added to your external stress. It is measuring your physiological response to the power that you are exerting plus your real-time emotional, environmental, and physical stress. The two measurements are different and both are important. Which is the most important? That is a upcoming debate so stay with us as we provide you with more clues.

5. At the Horse Track with GPS and Heart Monitoring
Today’s professional jockeys are a new breed of equine trainer and IT expert combined. Computer technology and satellite technology -- namely the Global Positioning System (GPS) -- is being used in New Zealand to monitor the fitness of racehorses with an accuracy that will astonish many. The GPS unit provides data that has shown changes in speed during training that trainers and jockeys previously could not detect with precision. The unit fits into something like a blinder hood that is fitted to a horse's head. With a receiver unit that displays the horse's speed, distance traveled, and heart rate, a trainer has data on the horses’ performance. This information is then transmitted wirelessly to a computer or cell phone to the coach who has two-way radio communication to the rider giving advice and information.

Gone are the days of stopwatches and electronic timers – enter the era of GPS stuff that uses fractional times more accurate. Add a few camera angles and video presentations projected on simulcast screens that show the position of the race horses and their rate of acceleration or deceleration as they run through portions of the race (think of NASCAR racing and Fox).
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/horse_racing/7669602.htm

6. Intelligent Clothing For Your Health
Based on dry-electrode technology that can be built into common items of clothing such as bras, briefs or waist belts, Philips’ wireless monitoring technology continuously monitors the wearer’s body signals such as the heart activity to detect abnormal health conditions. This new wearable technology, also known as “Ambient Intelligence” enables the development of a new category of products in the personal healthcare area.

Ambient intelligence is a technology that disappears into the fabric of our surroundings, from where it works to improve our personal health. The wireless monitoring system is worn continuously by the patient and can store up to three months data of body signals such as heart-rate. This information can provide clinicians with the data they need to monitor, and abnormal signals are recorded. The electronic unit is incorporated into a small and slim module that slips into the garment’s pocket and can be removed for laundering.
http://www.gizmo.com.au/public/News/news.asp?articleid=2457

7. International Fitness Training Conference 2004 Date and Location Announced
Heart Zones has selected Edwards Hospital in Naperville, Illinois as the venue for its Third Annual International Fitness Training Conference. Naperville is in the western suburbs of Chicago, 35 miles from downtown.

Mark the dates on your calendar – October 1-3rd for this weekend event that includes workshops, seminars, certifications, a town meeting on Emotional Fitness Training, workouts, awards celebrations and hundreds of teachers, fitness professionals, therapists, athletes, weight management folks who will be attending.

For all Heart Zones events with dates, places, and specific offerings go to the Heart Zones website: http://www.heartzone.com/seminars/index.shtml

Looking for an easy way to keep and transport your classroom or workout set of heart rate monitors? We have the solution. This bright red canvas bag has all the bells and whistles to ensure that you will easily be able to keep track of each and every monitor. It features individual pockets for each transmitter and each watch plus a mesh bag for the elastic straps. The mesh bag features Velcro fastening for easy removal – toss it in the washer and dryer to keep it clean. The whole bag folds up for easy storage and has an easy fastener so that no monitors get lost. This custom bag is available this month for $69. See it for yourself at http://www.store.yahoo.com/heartzones/acclot.html

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copyright: Heart Zones
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The Heart Zones e-Newsletter is a Heart Zones publication
Publisher: Sally Edwards
Editor in Chief: Jessica Menendez

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