The Physical Activity Lowers Risk of Death

A study done in Taiwan with 400,000 people in eight years, said that 15 minutes of daily exercise increases life expectancy by up to three years and reduces the risk of death by 14%. According to the report, this benefits all people, regardless of age, physical condition, sex or have a chronic disease. Exercise training reduces chances of heart disease and of cancer.

The research, published in the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, says that 15 minutes of exercise six days a week - or 90 minutes of exercise distributed during the week - protects the heart, reduce diabetes and helps prevent cancer development. The research found that for every 15 minutes of physical activity a day the risk of death from heart failure lowers chances by 4% and lowers chances of developing cancer by 1%.

"If sedentary or inactive people do a little exercise every day, one in six deaths from heart disease or cancer could be avoided. This measure has a similar success to snuff control programs", said Chi-Pang Wen in a press release, of the National Institute of Health Research in Taiwan, the study coordinator.

How was it done? Doctors and physical education instructors in Taiwan recruited 416,175 people over 20 years. All participants gave blood samples, were weighed, measured and cholesterol and blood glucose levels were recorded. Participants also completed a questionnaire indicating how much physical activity per day, and how much they drank or smoked. They were divided into five groups according to the level of exercise they do: idle or low (no or little physical activity), medium (you exercise often), high and very high (almost a professional athlete). All were followed for eight years in order to determine the impact of exercise on your health.

"If only 15 minutes of physical activity is needed to give a longer life to a person, governments and health professionals should give more support to the creation of spaces for people to do exercises," said The Lancet magazine in a comment about the study.

 

Study of the WHO and FAO

A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicates that the daily consumption of fruits and vegetables would prevent 1.7 million deaths a year.

According to the document, the minimum intake of 400 grams of fruit and vegetables (five servings) per day helps prevent chronic diseases, diabetes, hypertension and consequent heart disease, including stroke, one of the leading causes of death in the world.

The report said that inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables worldwide causes approximately 19% of gastrointestinal tumors, 31% of more serious heart disease and 11% of cerebrovascular accidents (stroke).

However, potato and cassava, by excess carbohydrates should not be considered in the list for daily consumption.

Costa Ricans do not have this good habit. A study by the Social Security Fund (CCSS) reported that only 20% of people consume fruits, and usually eats only 3.5 servings three times a week.

A Costa Rican Film will participate in Festival Film in New York

The movie, "El Regreso", was selected for the International Latino Film Festival in New York, which will take place from August 15^th thru the 21^st. "El Regreso" will be displayed in the main feature film category, alongside films from several countries in the region, whose names have not yet been announced.

This festival is considered one of the most important Latin cinema activities in the U.S. The festival will include the participation of more than 100 productions in English and Spanish, including feature films, shorts and documentaries.

The festival is an attractive showcase for potential distribution contracts abroad and to catch a production partner.

The New York event is the first event for this new movie to participate in. This event is faster than expected for Hernán Jiménez (director and lead actor of the new film), as the news came before their official release.

There will be many guests at the event, including representatives of several large distributors such as Columbia, Focus, Universal and other independent film. In the past, films that have participated in this event have achieved good contracts.

"El Regreso" will be released on September in Costa Rica.

Chasing a Guinness Record

A Costa Rican town called Naranjo will seek to achieve a Guinness world record this July 30 by making a cup of coffee that is 8,000 liters. They are doing this to promote internationally the coffee of that area.

The goal to break Guinness’ World record is the idea of ​​the Youth Ministry of Naranjo. Until now, the world’s largest coffee cup contained 7608 liters, 392 less than the Naranjo's goal. The coffee holding the current world record was prepared in the U.S. in October 2010.

The coffee cup combines 8,000 liters of boiling water with 400 kilos of coffee. It is unclear how they will prepare a cup of coffee almost three meters high. "We want to promote that we produce one of the best coffees from Costa Rica", said Marco Vinicio Ruiz, the sponsor of the initiative.

IBM To Invest US$300 million in Costa Rica Creating 1,000+ New Jobs

The announcement was made by President Laura Chinchilla, who called the IBM initiative as "the most significant foreign investment in Costa Rica in the last 13 years and the largest ever in the field of services."

According to Costa Rica's most influential daily newspaper La Nacion, IBM is to invest US$300 million in opening a high technology professional services center which should generate 1,000 jobs in the next three years.

The announcement was made by the Minister of External Commerce (COMEX) and Patt Cronin, General Manager, Global Technology Delivery and Delivery Excellence, IBM Corporation. With them was the Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla, the VP Luis Liberman and Senior Management of the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MICIT).

This significant new investment by IBM is certainly a huge vote of confidence in Costa Rica, it's government and the people. IBM already employs around 1,000 people in Costa Rica and this new US$300 million investment means more high quality employment opportunities in the rapidly expanding high technology services field.

You can see some example of the pages and pages of IBM jobs available in Costa Rica right now at JobCentral.com

Patt Croin said that: "This center plays a vital role in IBM's ability to offer customer support at all levels-local, regional and global, in order to provide flexibility, scalability and the security our customers expect."

"We chose Costa Rica for our newest center for the strong working alliance which exists between the public and private sectors, for the quality of the city of San Jose, it's competitive business model and the talent and skills offered by the Costa Rican people."

There are however some challenges ahead as was discussed at the meeting where the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, together with the World Bank and the Government of Costa Rica hosted its first Latin American Cities Conference in Costa Rica.

At the conference Costa Rica's Minister of Education Leonardo Garnier pointed out that: "Education is not only important in terms of competitiveness but it is important for life. In Costa Rica, we have many strengths--we have schools in every corner of the country. However, we have a few major challenges. Perhaps the most serious one is that many people still aren't finishing high school."

Patt Cronin of IBM added that: "We know there is talent in Costa Rica and we can serve our global customers with the quality we need."

Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 2. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, and 3. Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Tourism in Costa Rica

The tourism in Costa Rica is one of the main economic sectors and fastest growing in the country and since 1995 is the first source of foreign exchange economy. Since 1999, tourism generates more income for the country than the export of their traditional crops of banana, pineapple and coffee together. The tourism boom began in 1987. There were 329,000 visitors in 1988, increasing to one million in 1999 and reaching 2 million foreign tourists in 2008. This has generated and astounding USD $2.14 billion in foreign currency. In 2005, tourism was responsible for a 13.3% of direct and indirect jobs, and in 2008 contributed 7.2% of GDP of the country and 22.7% of foreign exchange generated by exports.

The main comparative advantage of traveling in Costa Rica is its system of national parks and protected areas; covering about 25% of the country, this is the highest percentage on the planet. It is also estimated to contain 5% of the biodiversity of the world in less than 0.1% of the world's land mass. In addition to the vast flora and fauna, Costa Rica has beaches on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea separated by only a few hundred kilometers. On one trip to Costa Rica, tourists can easily visit volcanoes in the north, multiple national parks, the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. In the early nineties, Costa Rica became known as the chief representative ("poster child ") of ecotourism; period in which foreign tourist arrivals reached an average annual growth of 14% between 1986 and 1994. Some well known sites in Costa Rica are:

· Heritage, the Isla del Coco is one of the most outstanding natural destinations of Costa Rica and was one of 77 finalists in the competition for the 7 Natural Wonders of the World.

· Manuel Antonio National Park is a popular destination for its four beaches located within a natural environment, Quepos Puntarenas.

· Some of the most visited beaches are Hermosa Beach and Jaco Beach, also known for surfing.