Habits

Any amount of running linked to significantly lower risk of early death

Any amount of running is linked to a significantly lower risk of death from any cause, finds a pooled analysis of the available evidence, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

If more people took up running – and they wouldn’t have to run far or fast – there would likely be substantial improvements in population health and longevity, conclude the researchers.

It’s not clear how good running is for staving off the risk of death from any cause and particularly from cardiovascular disease and cancer, say the researchers. Nor is it clear how much running a person needs to do to reap these potential benefits, nor whether upping the frequency, duration, and pace — in other words, increasing the ‘dose’ — might be even more advantageous.

To try and find out, the researchers systematically reviewed relevant published research, conference presentations, and doctoral theses and dissertations in a broad range of academic databases.

They looked for studies on the association between running/jogging and the risk of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

They found 14 suitable studies, involving 232,149 people, whose health had been tracked for between 5.5 and 35 years. During this time, 25,951 of the study participants died.

When the study data were pooled, any amount of running was associated with a 27% lower risk of death from all causes for both sexes, compared with no running. It was also associated with a 30% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and a 23% lower risk of death from cancer.

Even small ‘doses’ – for example, once weekly or less, lasting less than 50 minutes each time, and at a speed below 6 miles (8 km) an hour, still seemed to be associated with significant health/longevity benefits.

Check the full story.

Source: ScienceDaily

Walking For Longevity

Walking is one of the best ways to enjoy outside while firming thighs, lifting the bum, that helps lower risks of heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and depression. Research suggests every hour spent walking may add two hours to lifespans.

Aerobic doctrine has dominated exercise discussions and health since the 70s. Outdated no pain, no gains slogans hold that benefits of exercise depend upon working hard enough to boost the heart rate to 70-85% of maximum sustained for 20 to 60 minutes at least 3 times a week. Such intense workouts carry risk for injury, and discourage many.

Running is the poster boy for aerobics, that with preparation and precaution is great for health and fitness, but it is not the only way to exercise for health. Maybe seeing the sweat drenched, hard breathing runners counting pulse rates can make others assume less intensive exercise is a waste of time, but in fact that is far from the truth as moderate exercise is excellent for overall health; walking is the poster boy for moderate exercise.

Benefits of any exercise depends on 3 elements: duration, frequency, and intensity of exercises. Walking is less intensive than running, meaning longer periods of time are required or getting out more often to match the benefits of running. Current American Heart Association and American College of Sports Medicine standards suggest all able bodied adults to participate in moderate intensity exercise including brisk walking for at least 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week, or intense aerobic exercises including running for at least 20 minutes a day 3 days a week. One can mix and match to suit health, personal abilities and preferences, and daily schedules with walking, swimming, biking, gardening, dancing, golfing, whatever it is to keep/get the body moving. Add up all the things it takes to do most activities and walking just seems like the perfect anywhere, anytime, free, activity.

Literally hundreds of studies show the benefits of regular exercise on health. Walking has been shown to decrease risks of cardiovascular events by 31%, and decrease risks of dying by 32%, benefits which were equally robust in both sexes. Protection from risks was evident even at shorter distances of 5.5 miles per week at a casual pace of 2 miles per hour; subjects walking faster for longer distances had the greatest benefits.

Cardiovascular benefits are biologically plausible, as with all forms of regular moderate exercises walking improves cardiac factors such as blood pressure, obesity, cholesterol, mental stress, diabetes, respiratory disease, and vascular stiffness and inflammation. Should cardiac protection and lower death rate not be motivation enough walking can help to protect against dementia, peripheral artery disease, colon cancer, and erectile dysfunction.

Walking is not slow running, some speedwalkers can zip past joggers. At any speed walkers have one foot on the ground at all times, runners become entirely airborne at some point during each stride; what goes up must come down which is what makes running high impact, subjecting the body to stresses.

Walking on trails and streets is great for health as it gets the body outside, walking stairs can help up cardiopulmonary function, and can be twice as taxing as a brisk walk on the level, and 50% harder then walking on a steep incline or lifting weights. Even at slower paces climbing stairs will burn calories 3 times faster. A Harvard study showed men who averaged at least 8 flights of stairs a day enjoyed 33% lower mortality rates, men who walked 1.3 miles a day at a level incline had 22% lower mortality rates.

80 steps per minute represents a leisurely pace; 100 steps per minute represents a moderate pace; 120 steps per minute represents a fast pace. 12 average city blocks are one mile, and an average stride length can count approximately 2000 steps in about a mile, a pedometer can help better track progress.

Research shows that walking 7 hours spread throughout the week can help get 3-5 times the recommended amount of leisure time physical activity levels which can help to reduce risk of death by 39%. Achieving minimum recommended amounts of physical activity of at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise can lower risk of death by 31%, as published in JAMA International Medicine. Walking just 30 minutes a day has been shown to lower risk of premature death by 20%.

Ready, set, steady, walk your way to better health, happiness, well being, and longevity.

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Source: WorldHealth.net

Read More Books to Increase Longevity

Despite the recent popularity of the Kindle and other e-readers, sales of printed books are increasing. In 2015, there were 571 million units sold in the United States, compared to 559 million the previous year. Reading books is a popular way of relaxing and escaping stressful thoughts, as well as passing the time. Reading can also preserve structural integrity in the brain, as people age. Now, it is believed to have the added benefit of helping us to live longer.

Becca R. Levy, a professor of epidemiology at Yale University of Public Health, and her colleagues, analyzed data provided by the Health and Retirement Study (a nationally representative sample of American adults, 50 years of age or older). 3,635 men and women were included in the study, and all self-reported their reading habits. For approximately 12 years, they were followed-up, and their survival was monitored. Those who read books for up to 3.5 hours weekly were 17% less likely to die over the 12 year follow-up, compared to those who did not read books. Those who read for over 3.5 hours per week were 23% less likely to die. Over the course of the 12 years, the adults who read books survived almost 2 years longer than the adults who did not read.

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Source: WorldHealth.net

No More Excuses – Hit the Stairs

Everyone knows the health benefits that come with physical activity, but when asked, most people use one of two common excuses. The first is time, as in “I just don’t have enough time in my day”, and the second is place, as in, “There’s no gym near me”.

Researchers have put both of those excuses to rest. A study at McMaster University conducted two separate protocols with female participants, divided into two groups. All the women were healthy but admittedly not active. Each group was asked to exercise in short 10 minute sessions three times a week for a period of six weeks. Each session included a warm up and cool down.

In the first experiment one group was asked to climb stairs aggressively in 20 second intervals, while the second group was asked to simply ride an exercise bike for the same length of time. Results showed that the short 20 second bursts of stair climbing were more effective than the exercise bike.

In the second experiment the women were asked to climb stairs for 60 second intervals. As in the first experiment, participants showed an increase in respiratory fitness.

It would appear that the excuses for not exercising have just gone out the window. Short (10 minutes) intense periods of stair climbing will improve cardiovascular and respiratory health which leads to additional benefits derived from a healthy active lifestyle.

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Source: WorldHealth.net

Study: Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors May Prevent 80 Percent of Heart Attacks

Support.Healthy.LivingFive recommended health behaviors may prevent four out of five heart attacks in men, a new study suggests.

Middle-aged and older men were much less likely to have heart attacks over an average of 11 years if they drank moderately, didn’t smoke and did everything right on the diet, exercise and weight fronts, the study found.

Only about 1 percent of men involved in the study fit into this ultra-healthy-living category. But they were 86 percent less likely to have heart attacks than those who ate poorly, were overweight, exercised too little, smoked and drank too much alcohol, the researchers said.

The healthiest men could still eventually die of a heart attack, of course, and the study didn’t say if they live longer than others.

Still, “there is a lot to gain and money to be saved if people had a healthier lifestyle,” said study lead author Agneta Akesson, an associate professor with the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institute in Solna, Sweden.

As for women, Akesson is the co-author of a previous study suggesting healthy living has a similar effect on females.

Read the full story.

Source: MedicineNet.com

Use Rule of Thumb to Control How Much You Drink

Food.Cocktails2Sticking to a general rule of pouring just a half glass of wine limits the likelihood of overconsumption, even for men with a higher body mass index. That’s the finding of a new Iowa State and Cornell University study to be published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy.

Laura Smarandescu, lead author and an assistant professor of marketing at Iowa State, says the research team looked at a variety of factors to understand and control over pouring. Researchers found BMI affected how much men poured, but had no influence on women. However, people who used a “rule of thumb,” such as a half-glass rule or a two-fingers-from-the-top rule when pouring wine, poured less regardless of BMI or gender.

“About 70 percent of the people in the sample used the half-glass rule, and they poured significantly less by about 20 percent,” Smarandescu said. “It’s a big difference. We would suggest using a rule of thumb with pouring because it makes a big difference in how much people pour and prevents them from overdrinking.”

“In this study, we had every expectation that men would always pour more than women, no matter what. But what we found is that the rule of thumb effect is so strong that men using a rule of thumb at all levels of BMI actually poured less than women who were not using a rule of thumb,” said Doug Walker, an assistant professor of marketing at Iowa State.

“Next time you open a bottle, serve yourself a half glass – regardless of the size of your glass – and you will be less likely to accidentally drink too much.”

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Source: Iowa State University. “Use rule of thumb to control how much you drink.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 August 2014.

Healthy Lifestyle May Buffer Against Stress-Related Cell Aging

Support.Healthy.LivingA new study from UC San Francisco is the first to show that while the impact of life’s stressors accumulate overtime and accelerate cellular aging, these negative effects may be reduced by maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and sleeping well.

“The study participants who exercised, slept well and ate well had less telomere shortening than the ones who didn’t maintain healthy lifestyles, even when they had similar levels of stress,” said lead author Eli Puterman, PhD, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at UCSF. “It’s very important that we promote healthy living, especially under circumstances of typical experiences of life stressors like death, caregiving and job loss.”

“This is the first study that supports the idea, at least observationally, that stressful events can accelerate immune cell aging in adults, even in the short period of one year. Exciting, though, is that these results further suggest that keeping active, and eating and sleeping well during periods of high stress are particularly important to attenuate the accelerated aging of our immune cells,” said Puterman.

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Source: University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). “Healthy lifestyle may buffer against stress-related cell aging.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 July 2014.

UV Exposure: Why Do We Ignore the Health Risks?

Misc.SunExposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation – from the sun, tanning beds, lamps or booths – is the main cause of skin cancer, accounting for around 86% of non-melanoma and 90% of melanoma skin cancers. In addition, excessive UV exposure can increase the risk of eye diseases, such as cataract and eye cancers.

The health risks associated with exposure to UV radiation have certainly been well documented, so much so that the World Health Organization (WHO) have now officially classed UV radiation as a human carcinogen.

UV radiation consists of three different wavebands: UVA, UVB and UVC. The UVC waveband is the highest-energy UV but has the shortest wavelength, meaning it does not reach the earth’s surface and does not cause skin damage to humans.

Both UVA and UVB radiation can damage the skin by penetrating its layers and destroying cellular DNA. UVA radiation tends to penetrate deeper layers of skin, known as the dermis, aging the skin cells and causing wrinkles. UVB radiation is the main cause of skin reddening or sunburn, as it damages the outer layers of the skin, known as the epidermis.

Excessive UV exposure can cause genetic mutations that can lead to the development of skin cancer. The browning of the skin, or a tan, is the skin’s way of trying to stop further DNA damage from occurring.

But regardless of the numerous studies and health warnings associated with UV exposure, it seems many of us refuse to take note.

A 2012 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 50.1% of all adults and 65.6% of white adults ages 18-29 reported suffering sunburn in the past 12 months, indicating that sun protection measures are not followed correctly, if at all.

Read the full story.

Source: Medical News Today.

 

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Swiss Study: A Healthy Lifestyle Adds Years to Life

Support.Healthy.LivingLive longer thanks to fruit, an active lifestyle, limited alcohol and no cigarettes. This is the conclusion of a study by public health physicians at the University of Zurich who documented for the first time the impact of behavioural factors on life expectancy in numbers.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disorders – the incidence of these non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is constantly rising in industrialised countries. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) is, therefore, in the process of developing a national prevention strategy with a view to improving the population’s health competence and encouraging healthier behaviour. Attention is focusing, among other things, on the main risk factors for these diseases which are linked to personal behaviour – i.e. tobacco smoking, an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and harmful alcohol consumption.

Against this backdrop Private Docent Brian Martin and his colleagues from the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) at the University of Zurich have examined the effects of these four factors – both individual and combined – on life expectancy. For the first time the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle can be depicted in numbers. An individual who smokes, drinks a lot, is physically inactive and has an unhealthy diet has 2.5 fold higher mortality risk in epidemiological terms than an individual who looks after his health. Or to put it positively: “A healthy lifestyle can help you stay ten years’ younger”, comments the lead author Eva Martin-Diener.

According to Martin an unhealthy lifestyle has above all a long-lasting impact. Whereas high wine consumption, cigarettes, an unhealthy diet and physical inactivity scarcely had any effect on mortality among the 45 to 55-year-olds, it does have a visible effect on 65 to 75-year-olds. The probability of a 75-year-old man with none of the four risk factors surviving the next ten years is 67 percent, exactly the same as the risk for a smoker who is ten years younger, doesn’t exercise, eats unhealthily and drinks a lot.

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Source: Medical News Today.

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Want to Quit Smoking? New Study Says Try ‘Self-Expanding’ Activities

Habit.Smoking3If you are trying to quit smoking, one method to incorporate is to do new, exciting “self-expanding” activities that can help with nicotine craving. This is the take-home message from a new study. “Our study reveals for the first time using brain imaging that engaging in exciting or what we call ‘self-expanding’ activities, such as puzzle-solving, games, or hobbies with one’s partner, appears to reduce craving for nicotine,” said one researcher.

Check the full article.

Source: Stony Brook University. “Want to quit smoking? New study says try ‘self-expanding’ activities.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 April 2014.