Health Habits: Keep Score On Your Fitness

Adopt Standards For Your Weekly Exercise

healthrider treadmill

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publishes "Physical Activity Guidelines" for adults. In 2008, those guidelines called for moderate-intensity aerobic exercise at least 150 minutes a week, vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise at least 75 minutes a week, and strength-training at least twice a week.

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This May, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reported that those adults who had followed the 2008 HHS guildelines for exercise reduced their risk of mortality... healthy adults by 27%, and those with an ailment by 50%. I don't know that I generally believe in the government's prescriptions for health, but I do think adopting regular exercise standards - and keeping them - does help maintain your vitality.

My exercise routine, adapted from Bill Phillips' stellar "Body For Life" suggestions, comes pretty close to those HHS standards, and has the added virtue of being do-able even when your job requires a heavy schedule of work and a lot of travel. I own a business, and I do need to spend a fair amount of time on the road, so that's an important factor for me (and for many of my business-running clients).

Three days a week, I do interval training on a treadmill. Not sexy, not glamorous, but you can find a treadmill (or exercise bike, or elliptical machine) at virtually every mid-size (or larger) hotel. My interval workouts definitely qualify as vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, and though I'm only running hot for about twenty minutes each time, my pulse readings tell me I'm getting a great weekly dose of highly-intense cardio work.

Three other days a week (alternating with the interval workouts), I lift weights. That's one more strength workout than the HHS standards call for. I can usually find the equipment I need when I'm on the road... and when I can't, I travel with resistance bands that give me a decent substitute workout and are light and compact in my luggage. Each workout only lasts 40-45 minutes, but because I've learned how to maximize the efficiency of the workout, I'm okay with the fact that I only get about 120-130 minutes of the sort of moderate-intensity aerobic activity that comes along with strength training. Add in the walking and other "hidden" exercise I do every week, and it's plenty.

The goal is to be as strong as possible for as long as possible. Think about how you can create a weekly exercise regimen to which you can stick with some discipline. And remember, Exercise is only one of the five key daily health habits I call "The NEWSS," along with Nutrition (favor fresh foods), Water (get two liters a day), Sleep (get eight hours a night), and Supplements (take at least one good supplement to give your body what the modern diet doesn't).

To your success... and to the personal vitality upon which that success depends!

by Michael D. Hume, M.S.

Health Habits: Keep Score On Your Fitness

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The Five Components of Health Related Fitness

In order to properly design a fitness program we must first understand the five components of health-related fitness. these are:

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1: Cardio respiratory endurance - the body's ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues and organs and the ability to utilize them over sustained periods of time. This component is illustrated during long-distance running or swimming.

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2: Muscular Strength - the ability of your muscles to exert force. This component is illustrated when lifting or moving heavy objects such as doing a weightlifting workout.

3: Muscular Endurance - the ability of your muscles to exert force or to perform repetitive movements over prolonged periods of time. This component can be tested by doing sit ups or push-ups

4: Flexibility - the ability to move our joints and muscles through their full range of motion. This can be seen when doing stretches or splits.

5: Body Composition - this refers to the ratio of lean muscle to fats in the body. A good fitness program should include each of these five components of health-related fitness. You should begin each workout session with 5 to 10 minutes of stretching and low intensity warm-ups. Cardio respiratory endurance can be improved by doing at least 20 minutes per session of aerobic activity. This can be in the form of jogging, bicycling, brisk walking, rowing, swimming or playing tennis or racquetball. Lifting weights whether free weights or strength machines will help you improve your muscular strength. Muscular endurance can be improved by doing push-ups sit ups or pull ups. Flexibility can be improved by doing 10 minutes of stretching exercises a couple times per week.

By including each of the first four components in your fitness program you will improve the fifth component by increasing the amount of lean muscle in your body and reducing the amount of fats.

The Five Components of Health Related Fitness

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Definition of Health Related Fitness

Health is related to fitness; that is one thing that can be easily overlooked. This is a basic fact, but with what the technology and other people have brought us, a lot of people forget to see this.

The definition of health related fitness is fitness done with balance among the development and improvement of the whole body. The definition can be better understood when elaborated. Health-related physical fitness includes two major parts; Activity and diet.

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Activity (Cardio and Strength Training)

For health related fitness, the activity components included are not only for strength, and muscular development and endurance training. The lungs, heart, and circulatory system are also the focal points in health and fitness. The reason for this is to improve stamina, immune system, and maintain good body composition. Health-related fitness reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases and other diseases like cancer and arthritis, and may cure respiratory problems like asthma.

There are lots of activities that can be your favored workout plan. You may choose sports, aerobic any other or exercise work outs. The exercises are much better when you include another exercise that will focus on improving your strength, muscle development and endurance. It will make you less prone to injuries.

When strength training and cardiovascular fitness plans are combined, one will also look and feel younger. This will lead to improved self-esteem. Also, the level of stress and depression will decrease.

If you are wondering about the types of activities that will work best for you, visit a professional and consult with him or her. If you have certain health conditions, it is best if you consult with your doctor first. Aside from cardio and body composition, strength and muscular endurance, flexibility is another important thing that you need to consider. Your fitness health training program should be able to let you enhance your flexibility.

Healthy Diet

Eating proper and balanced food is a must. Your plan including any physical activity may render useless if you do not conform your lifestyle altogether. You are trying to become healthier, so eat healthy food. Your training will let you excrete the toxins in your body, but if you replace the flushed toxins with another unhealthy food, you are then wasting your time, because you will either take a very long time before you get a result, or might not be able to get a positive one in the end.

Also, it is best if you consult with your doctor or dietitian first. They can come up with a diets plan that will work best for you. Especially if you have a certain health condition, it is best to ask for recommendations to make sure your diet plan will not cause another health problem.

As suggested above, cardiovascular training plus strength training plus healthy eating is the definition of health related fitness. Movement and diet must complement each other, in short, opt for healthy lifestyles.

Health and fitness is something recommended to everyone. However, there are different categories that separate the needs that must be met for children, adolescent, young adults, and adults. Being healthy doesn't need to stop once one reaches the age of 99!

Definition of Health Related Fitness

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How to Lose Weight Fast: 4 Easy Lose Weight tips Just for You

If you're searching for how to lose weight fast, you've come to the right place. Welcome! You do not require drugs or supernatural formulas to achieve an ideal weight. You can lose extra weight with a common sense approach to weight loss for yourself. Because I believe that everyone can lose weight fast and easy, if they learn by themselves. Here are four easy tips and if you follow these tips you will most likely to lose weight easily and quickly.
Loose Weight with Fat Loss 4 Idiots

1. When an individual feels that he or she is suffering from obesity, the first approach should be to do is count calories. Take in lesser calories and burn off more calories and you will see the pounds shed off. In order to really gain the full effect of the "calories in, calories out" idea, you will have to engage in exercise and figure out how many calories you are burning.

2. Dividing your breakfast, lunch and dinner into 6 smaller meals has proven to be best way to lose weight fast. Eating larger meals throughout the day when you are most active will help you to feel satisfied during the day and control cravings for unhealthy snacks.

3. When trying to lose weight fast eating the right foods will help you to maintain energy levels whilst dropping the unwanted body fat. To boost your metabolism you should eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Eat fresh fruit instead of drinking fruit juice because when you eat fruit, you are taking in a lot of fiber, which is required by the body, and fruits obviously are an excellent source of vitamins. This will also help you to burn extra calories and lose weight fast in a very healthy manner.

4. To lose weight fast you should drink plenty of water. Drinking water is going to help you to lose weight fast. When you drink lots of water, your kidneys will function properly and will need less help from the livers, so that livers will concentrate more on their main work of burning fat will help to control your appetite. The extra the better but drink at least eight glasses of water every day.

Weight Loss - The Best Way to Burn Fat and Keep the Weight Off!

The best way for burning fat, doesn’t matter where it is, is to prepare the body to burn the fat. The single method to do this is to enhance your metabolism. Boosting metabolism burns extra calories and reduces fat all through your entire body. Read on to find out some of the best ways to burn fat at a rapid speed and achieve the desired results.
Loose Weight with Fat Loss 4 Idiots

Attempting a starvation diet to burn fat will only irritate you and searching for any more solution after some days later. Pay no attention to all the publicity out there that suggests just lowering calories can magically shed off fat. These kinds of diet modifications are not possible to continue for a long period of time. Therefore the best way to burn fat is to create some lifestyle changes that you may concern for the long period.

The best way to boost your metabolism is to eat smaller meals all over the day. Eat every 2-3 hours informs your body that you are providing it energy and it does not need to store calories as fat. Thus eating smaller meals each day is a good step to keep your metabolism firing all over the day. Through having an increased metabolism during the day you can burn extra calories and loose more weight. It's vital to take breakfast everyday. Staying hungry till mid-morning will slow down your metabolism and you won't be able to burn extra fat.

Exercise is also the best way to burn fat. Exercise is significant feature of fat burning and improving body form. Your body's metabolism starts to slow down when you don't exercise.

Finally, the best way to burn fat is to avoid the fault many make of starving yourself and to eat smaller meals, regular, along with healthy meals.

How to Burn Fat Fast: A Proven Diet to Burn Fat Fast, naturally & With Ease!

Many people have asked the question, how to burn fat fast though diet? Take just a quick 2 minutes out of your busy schedule to read this article and learn more about a proven diet to burn fat fast by boosting your metabolism to the peak!
Loose Weight with Fat Loss 4 Idiots

Our body requires energy when it moves. The sum of energy required is calculated as a calorie. We can get energy from numerous sources, generally carbohydrates and fat, and rarely protein. These energy sources are present in the food stuffs you eat.

Burn fat fast diet does not suggest starving yourself. Starving will cause your metabolism to severely decrease. So if you really want to burn fat fast, you should eat healthy and well balanced diet. Fat burning foods will help in burning extra calories than the calories those foods contain. Burgers and Fried chicken though good in taste but not available to help your cause. On the other hand, there are definite "super foods" which will help you in your query how to burn fat fast.

Fat burning foods are natural plant foods such as fruits and vegetables. Many amazing choices are available such as apples, blueberries, pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, apple, papaya, cherries, oranges, grapefruit and tomatoes. These will help you to feel packed for longer and assist digestion due to their high fiber content.

These super foods also contain enzymes which can boost the metabolic rate of your body, therefore helping you to burn more calories faster. Also, in order to burn fat fast high starch, high sugar, and junk foods should be eliminated from diet.

Well eating and regular exercise should be an important component of living a healthy lifestyle and will show to be your best weapon when wishing to burn fat fast.

Burn stomach fat: 3 Intensive Workouts to get rid of stomach fat

Do you want to burn stomach fat quickly? Well the answer is to burn off a more calories than you take in. The best way to burn stomach fat is to speed up your metabolism. So, following are a few easy and reliable workouts that can boost your metabolism and you can start doing now.
Loose Weight with Fat Loss 4 Idiots

1. Sprinting – Sprinting is an affordable way to burn stomach fat and one that is easy to continue. It is an extremely intensive workout which acts the whole body and burns lots of calories than most other workouts. Sprinting includes almost every muscle group into each movement you make. With each step your chest, shoulders, back and stomach are also working.

2. Rowing - Rowing on indoor rowing machine is one of the most effective workouts to burn stomach fat. This is an outstanding workout as it includes cardiovascular stimulation with strength stimulation. Other than burning fat, it will also tone up your arm muscles.

3. Skipping- There are several ways to burn stomach fat but jumping rope for burning calories can be a cheap and easy way. You can learn this exercise within very less time and perform anytime, anywhere. Jumping rope is a high intensity cardio exercise that can burn up to 200 calories in 20 minutes. Except burning fat, it can help teach your stamina to swim and run further.

This entire workout really helps you to get desirable results when you perform regularly. Your lower stomach fat will be gone and slowly become muscle instead.

Cases of Acid Reflux Disease in Children

An 11-year-old boy in Boston developed a Gastro esophageal reflux Disease (GERD). According to his mother, Cathy, it was the end of June in the year 2005 when his son developed a cough which usually happens during sleep, and even during daytime. It is only a short dry cough symptom. His pediatrician thought it was only allergy, however, when his son was tested, result showed that his son had no allergy. According to her, it was his son's asthma that relates to GERD.

Studies show that GERD is likewise normal to infants and children like in adults, though this fact is often times being overlooked. The symptoms come in continual sickness, coughing, and other respiratory trouble.

Children are vulnerable to GERD because of their immature digestive system. Truth is majority of the infants grow out of GERD once they reach the age of one year old.

The medical specialists further stated that symptoms for children may come in difficulty in swallowing foods, or failure to grow. The doctors recommended that in situation like this it is best to lessen the amount of acid in the children's stomach before it could lead to acid reflux, since this disease is not very curable in children.

However, the doctor suggested some approaches to avoid acid reflux on children; an example of these is burping the infant quite a few times during feeding, or letting the infant stay in an erect position for 30 minutes after nourishing.

Although, for a child ages three and up, doctors suggested to keep them off from sodas that includes caffeine like soft drinks, carbonated drinks, spicy foods like peppermint, acidic foods like citrus fruits, too much chocolate, and fried and fatty foods. Ideally, establishing a healthy eating habit diet can really decrease the acid reflux in children.

It is also suggested that children will eat smaller meals before sleeping, if possible, do not allow them to eat two to three hours before sleeping, also, elevate the head of their bed for at least 30 degrees.

Further treatments include the use of H2 blockers; this is available in any drugs store. Prevacid, proton plump inhibitors, can also be used in treating acid flux for children.

However, if these treatments fail to stop the symptoms, other treatment method needs to be done. It is very atypical, but doctors' recommends surgery, this is so far the best treatment for relentless symptoms which do not anymore counter to other treatments.

The Esophageal reflux surgery for children is designated for children who have had unsuccessful medical treatments, and continuous surgery is essential as the child grows.

Now, if you get confused whether when is the time to consult a pediatrician regarding acid reflux. The answer is you observe, observe the amounts of vomiting of the child, if it already comes out in green or yellow or appears to be like blood or coffee grounds, there difficulty in breathing after vomiting, and there is pain in swallowing, immediately consult a pediatrician before the symptom gets aggravated.
So to prevent the occurrence of this disease, stay away from the habit of leaning forward after eating, or worse, sleeping after taking a large amount of food.

Take note, advanced acid reflux disease has a great possibility to end serious medical complications, and it may lead to hospitalization.

Be keen of the possible symptoms so will not overlook it. Take care of your kids.

Reading the Signs of Acid Reflux Disease

Acid reflux disease is a condition in which the stomach acids abnormally reflux into the esophagus. This phenomenon is irregularly experienced by most people, most especially after eating.

Our body uses gastric and stomach acids to break down the food that we eat. Normally, after the digestion in the stomach, the food is delivered by the digestive muscles to the intestines for extra digestion. But in patients who have acid reflux disease, the acidic stomach contents are moved back to the esophagus, which then causes inflammation. Cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, pregnancy, and fatty foods are some factors which worsens acid reflux conditions.
Our present knowledge about acid reflux based on medical researches tells us that this disease is common in men as it is in women. There is no sexual preference. Moreover, the prevalence of acid reflux is more frequent in people of 40 years of age or more.

Symptoms of acid reflux may be typical or atypical. But based on the diagnosis of acid reflux patients, only 70% of those who have this disease manifest typical symptoms.

Typical or esophageal symptoms concern indicators which are related with the esophagus. Such symptoms include the following:

Heartburn. This is a condition in which the patient feels a painful burning feeling in the esophagus. The pain often develops in the chest and may swell to the neck or throat. This is most probable to occur in relation with these activities: after a heavy meal, lifting, bending over, and lying down. Based on one study, about 75% of acid reflux patients experience this symptom at night. These nigh-time patients also tend to experience more harsh pain than those whose symptom occurs at other times.

Dyspepsia. Researches show that about half of acid reflux patients have dyspepsia. This is a syndrome which consists of pain and distress in the upper abdomen, nausea after a meal, and stomach fullness. It is not a rule however, that those who have dyspepsia have acid reflux.

Regurgitation. This is when the gastric contents back up into the pharynx and sometimes as far as the mouth. In cases where the acids have spilled into the tracheobronchial tree, respiratory complications can be stimulated.

There are many instances, though, that acid reflux patients do not manifest symptoms such as regurgitation and heartburn. Instead, they experience atypical or extraesophageal symptoms which include the following:

Throat Symptoms. Although it does not commonly happen, acid reflux patients suffer from symptoms that occur in the throat. Hoarseness, the feeling of having a lump in the throat, dry cough are undergone by those who have acid laryngitis, a throat symptom. Patients can also have difficulty in swallowing, a condition known as dysphagia. In critical cases, the food may get trapped in the throat or even choke, which can result to a severe chest pain. Other throat symptoms are chronic sore throat and persistent hiccups.

Vomiting and Nausea. When a patient suffers from nausea which persists for weeks, he may have acid reflux. There are few instances where vomiting can occur as often as once a day.

Respiratory Symptoms. Coughing and wheezing are counted as respiratory symptoms. These result from the overrunning of the stomach acids into the tracheobronchial tree creating bronchoconstriction.

Acid reflux disease can last for several months if not given proper medical attention. Drug treatment may only be required for a short time. But when the symptoms tend to repetitively occur, the drug treatment may have to be reapplied.

Preventing Acid Reflux in Your Baby

Acid reflux, which is also termed as gastroesophageal reflux, is one of the most frequent problems among infants. Babies with acid reflux often suffer from a range of conditions, from a mild degree to a severe one, such as recurrent spitting up, abdominal pain, and night waking.

This discussion would be more comprehensive with the understanding of the physiological or the mechanical aspect of the condition. The body has a band of muscle in a circular structure that is called the lower esophageal sphincter. This muscle detaches the esophagus from the stomach. When food comes into the stomach, it closes so as to prevent the stomach acids and contents from backing up into the esophagus or regurgitating. But in the case of some babies, the lower esophageal sphincter has grown immature. As such, the partially digested food and digestive acids are allowed to be refluxed. This condition causes irritation in the esophagus lining which results to inflammation that is also commonly called as heartburn.

Acid reflux among babies usually develops when they are between two to four weeks old. Doctors usually prescribe medicines that minimize the production of digestive acids. Within six to nine months, the acid reflux starts to naturally subside. At this time period, the babies spend most of their time in an upright position. This is to apply the law of gravity on the food taken in; that is, the food stays down more naturally and reduces possible regurgitation.
The following are helpful pointers on feeding and positioning of babies to lessen acid reflux:

Prepare smaller feedings recurrently. It makes sense to feed your baby more than usual but less than the accustomed. If lesser volume of milk goes into the stomach, the digestion will be faster and there will be fewer amounts of contents available for regurgitation.

Maintain the baby in an upright position after feeding. As discussed earlier, gravity helps to keep the digestive contents down. Position your baby seated in your lap while his head rests on your chest. Keep this position for at least half an hour after feeding.

Breastfeeding helps a lot. Breast milk is well-known to have many advantages over other commercial formula, mainly for babies with acid reflux. Breast milk can be digested faster, which of course lessens spitting up, and it has special enzymes that assists digestion. In addition to that, breast milk does not trigger allergy to babies compared to other milks available in the market. But for those who are formula-feeding, it is advisable to use milk with a hypoallergenic formula as advised by a doctor. Aside from having higher tolerance with sensitive intestines, hypoallergenic milk can also be digested faster by the stomach so as to minimize refluxes.

Set your baby in a comfortable position when asleep. Since when a baby lies flat when sleeping, gravity cannot help in keeping the food down in this set-up. As a result, a baby with acid reflux often has to endure a sore night waking. If a baby can sleep soundly, then there will be no need to call for a change in his habit. But some babies become restless, which can be noted by abdominal pain, acid breath, and wet burps. In this case, it is recommended to elevate the baby's crib to about 30 degrees. This will be enough to reduce the regurgitation. You may also try to train him to sleep on his left side. It is in this position where the inlet of the stomach is higher than the exit. This will also help to keep the food down.

The Gloves Are Coming Off!!!

Yes, in many ways our style of wrestling was tougher than boxing, Pride or the UFC. The duration of most of the matches were much longer than a typical MMA style bout, and we did not have any rounds. However, in many ways it was safer than the sports which I have just mentioned. To tell the truth, many entertainment styles of wrestling are much more dangerous than what was presented on Bushido. I hate it when someone who doesn't understand entertainment styles of wrestling says that "if it's all fake, how can anyone get hurt." You ever hear that irritating comment before? Yep, you've probably heard it until you feel like vomiting (on the ignorant person who really doesn't understand a thing about those types of wrestling styles but is a self-proclaimed authoritative voice). Typically, people who infrequently watch such forms of wrestling feel that they're the authority regarding the "It's all fake, and that's that" department. Yep, steroids are the cause of ALL problems and in "real" fighting we cannot allow bare hands or hitting below the belt, that would be gutter fighting, right? I guess certain stereotypes will never die and ever since the cat was let out of the bag regarding the George Hackenschmidt vs Frank Gotch fiasco, pro-wrestling will be surrounded by such stereotypes as being "not on the level". Let me think… fixed matches have never taken place in boxing or any other sport for that matter while no one in the Olympics takes performance enhancing drugs due to the "fail-proof" drug testing policies and they would be banned for life. Lucha Libre is nothing but a form of entertainment with no real value as far as a legitimate fighting form, but when some 90 pound wannabe who would get his clock cleaned by any Mexican Luchador claiming he was trained in the "lost" ancient form (because no one, even in the fight game is familiar with it, hence the "lost art") of "Hu-Flung Dung" throws on a karate/judo/kung-fu gi he ordered through a magazine, takes three deep breaths and throws their hands around in a meaningless performance giving off some "oriental mystique" those same wrestling-bashing meatheads look upon them with utmost respect as this is not only effective in hand to hand combat but also a great way to build discipline, self-confidence, and to simultaneously strengthen the soul as well as the body so you become "one" and achieve "wholeness", a fighting machine who is at peace within their souls. I can't believe that in today's day and age people still believe such nonsense. It was a fun break from playing cops and robbers when we were kids after watching an episode of Kung-Fu or The Green Hornet to pretend we were David Carradine or Bruce Lee and do this sort of thing (Gary Albright actually admitted to me that as a kid he watched an episode of Kung-Fu, ran into the kitchen and nailed his Dad in the back of the head and knocked him out), but after a certain age we should be able to tell the difference between what's real and what's not (by the way, I'm not bashing JKD in anyway, it's very real… I'm just referring to the "pretenders"). If you are unable to see the difference, please do us a big favor and talk about something you do know about. -end of Part III- To be continued.

Information on antidepressant drug Zoloft

There are a few side effects of Zoloft that one needs to be aware of. While some of these are quite common and not that serious, a few are rare and can be serious if not dealt with quickly. If you are under the medication and if you are experiencing any of the side effects over a period of time, then it is best to consult your physician. It is wise to seek a specialist’s opinion as early as possible. For the more common side effects however, your physician would most likely make you aware of them and will tell you to wait and watch, because most of them tend to go away over a period of time.

Zoloft is contraindicated in patients who are already taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors or the antipsychotic pimozide. For elderly patients who have issues of liver impairment, Zoloft must be prescribed under extreme caution. This is so because Zoloft slows the rate of elimination of sertraline in these patients.
There are a few side effects of Zoloft that one needs to be aware of. While some of these are quite common and not that serious, a few are rare and can be serious if not dealt with quickly. If you are under the medication and if you are experiencing any of the side effects over a period of time, then it is best to consult your physician. It is wise to seek a specialist’s opinion as early as possible. For the more common side effects however, your physician would most likely make you aware of them and will tell you to wait and watch, because most of them tend to go away over a period of time.

Zoloft is contraindicated in patients who are already taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors or the antipsychotic pimozide. For elderly patients who have issues of liver impairment, Zoloft must be prescribed under extreme caution. This is so because Zoloft slows the rate of elimination of sertraline in these patients.
One of the major side effects of Zoloft is on babies in the womb, whose mothers are prescribed the drug. This is especially true in cases where the mother has been exposed to the drug during the first trimester of pregnancy. The birth defects that are most likely to be found in babies of mothers under the treatment of the drug include omphalocele, anal atresia and limb reduction defects and septal defects.

As with other drugs of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class, Zoloft can cause sexual side effects and these would include arousal disorder and problems in achieving orgasm and ejaculation.

Also, like many other antidepressants, Zoloft can increase the rate of suicidal tendency, especially among children and adolescents. Hence, the prescription of such drugs to this age group of patients must be made with extreme care and caution.