Forget the ties, golf tees, and polo shirts. Show your dad you really love him by getting him a gift that'll keep him around a little longer. David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men’s Health magazine has these great gift ideas:
Body-Fat Scale — Tanita Ironman BC558 Segmental Body Composition Scale ($300)While everyone knows that scales don't lie! They don't tell the whole truth! When a man weighs himself he doesn't see how much of his extra poundage is in his paunch — otherwise known as visceral fat. Boston researchers found men with large amounts of visceral fat had a 1.5 times greater risk of developing heart disease than guys without the spare tire. So buy your guy this body-fat scale. It delivers a super fast, painless electric current that measures the resistance of the tissue it travels though, creating an accurate picture of the percentage of body fat that he needs to burn off from his belly.
Pedometer from Sony Ericsson W710 ($260)Exercise shouldn't end just because the dad in your life leaves the gym — especially since the more steps a guy takes throughout the day, the healthier he'll be. Researchers at the University of Prince Edward Island found people who wore a pedometer for 12 weeks and increased their total steps by 3,500 a day to as many as 10,500 steps a day! Not to mention also lowering their resting heart rate and waist circumference. It's also a cell phone.
Motorola S9 Bluetooth Headphones ($100)If you've ever been to the gym, you know how pesky headphone cords can be. These headphones wirelessly receive music from any bluetooth device, and kick out great waterproof sound no matter how sweat-drenched Dad may be.
Office BlueTooth Headset from Plantronics Voyager 510SL ($300)Logging long hours at work can be a pain in the neck — literally! Belgium researchers found that office workers who spent two thirds of the work day with a phone wedged between their head and shoulder were 1.5 times more likely to develop neck pain. On top of that, 50 percent of office workers who spent at least two hours on the phone had neck pain and headaches, according to British researchers at the University of Surrey. Give him this Plantronics Bluetooth headset, designed for use with a regular land line, and he'll sit up straight all day and have the ability to get up and walk around — without looking like an air-traffic controller.
Electric Toothbrush by Philips Sonicare E9500 ($150)This may look like an electric toothbrush, but it's actually a high-tech weapon againstheart disease. Once bacteria builds up in a less-than-immaculate mouth and causes gum disease, there's a good chance that the bugs will travel through the bloodstream to the heart and trigger artery-blocking inflammation. You may not have known it but, people with infected gums have two times the risk of heart disease as those whose mouths were healthy. Pair the plaque-blasting Sonicare with a pack of floss and you'll add years to his life.
Heart Rate Monitor by Suunto ($150)Help the dads in your life make the most of his sweat investment with a heart rate monitor. If he wears this like-magic gadget while exercising, he'll be able to adjust the intensity of his effort so that his heartrate is always in the fat-burning zone. University of Texas researchers found that jumping from 50 percent of your maximum heart rate (MHR) to 75 percent burns two more calories per minute — which definitely adds up! If you exercise 30 minutes — 3 times a week .. that's 180 more calories a week you've burned by monitoring your heart rate!
Blood-Pressure Monitor by Omron HEM-790IT ($119.99)The doctor's office is the go-to place for health tests -- unless blood pressure is what's being tested. Because of the stress of being in the doctor's office, a person's blood pressure can spike, resulting in a false reading (this is called "whitecoat hypertension"). For more accurate (and frequent) readings, give him this electronic blood-pressure monitor. A study from the American Journal of Hypertension found that measuring BP at home was more accurate than getting cuffed and pumped at a clinic to the tune of three points systolic pressure and one point diastolic. What's more, this Omron unit will let him store and then download his morning readings: Japanese researchers discovered that A.M. hypertension equals a strong risk of a stroke.
Improvements Talking Digital Hand Grip ($13)What guy wouldn't want a firmer handshake and lower blood pressure? When you squeeze a grip strengthener like one of these, you're simultaneously building the muscle in your mitts and improving the function and flexibility of your blood vessels. Studies show that squeezing a grip strengthener three times a week for eight weeks can reduce a person's systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 15 points and their diastolic pressure (bottom number) by five points.
Form more information you can visit the Men's Health website: