Cycling

Cycling and Risk for Erectile Dysfunction, Infertility, Prostate Cancer

Sports.Cycling1Cycling is a popular activity that offers clear health benefits, but there is an ongoing controversy about whether men who ride have a higher risk of urogenital disorders such as erectile dysfunction, infertility, or prostate cancer. The results of a study of nearly 5,300 male cyclists who participated in the Cycling for Health UK Study are presented in an article in Journal of Men’s Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

Milo Hollingworth, MBBS and Alice Harper, MBBS, University College London Medical School, and Mark Hamer, PhD, University College London, analyzed the risk for these three disorders in relation to the amount of weekly cycling time, ranging from 8.5 hours per week. They report their findings in the article “An Observational Study of Erectile Dysfunction, Infertility and Prostate Cancer in Regular Cyclists: Cycling for Health UK Study.”

The results show that there was no association between cycling time and ED or infertility, disputing the existence of a simple causal relationship. However, a graded increase in the risk of prostate cancer in men aged over 50 years (odds ratios: 2.94, 2.89, and 6.14) was found in relation to cycling 3.75–5.75, 5.76–8.5, and >8.5 hours/week, respectively, compared to cycling less than 3.75 hours/week.

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Source: Medical News Today

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Forty not Too Old or Too Late to Start Endurance Training

Sports.Shoes.RunningWe have all heard the saying, “life begins at 40.” Now, a new study suggests that endurance exercise can, too, while still providing the same heart benefits as it would if started before the age of 30.

The research team, including David Matelot of the Inserm 1099 unit at the University of Rennes in France, recently presented their findings at the EuroPRevent Congress in the Netherlands.

For their study, they assessed 40 healthy men from France aged between 55 and 70 years old. All participants were split into groups dependent on their levels of exercise and the age at which they began.

This resulted in three groups; one group had never exercised more than 2 hours a week throughout their lifetime, another group exercised at least 7 hours a week over 5 years and started before the age of 30, while the third group exercised at least 7 hours a week and started after the age of 40. Exercise in all groups involved either running or cycling.

From echocardiography results, the team found that the left ventricle and both atria in the heart were bigger in the two exercising groups, compared with the non-exercising group. The non-exercising group also had much thicker heart vessel walls than the exercising groups.

“Despite biological changes with age, the heart still seems – even at the age of 40 – amenable to modification by endurance training. Starting at the age of 40 does not seem to impair the cardiac benefits. However, endurance training is also beneficial for bone density, for muscle mass, for oxidative stress. And these benefits are known to be greater if training was started early in life.”, Matelot says.

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Source: Medical News Today.