Regular readers know that I am a big fan of walking. If you want to learn more about the benefits of the superb, and under-appreciated, exercise, please check out my Page- Why you should walk more.
Herewith chapter and verse from USA Today on where people in the world walk most. Sorry to see that the U.S. was so far down the list.
Filed under cardio exercise, Exercise, exercise benefits, walking
Eat less; move more; live longer remains the mantra of this blog. Incredibly, as important as these factors are, as we age, the move more factor takes on added significance. Seniors with mobility problems can be more vulnerable than those without them. Mobility problems can come from a sedentary lifestyle as well as heavy medication.
More than half of elderly patients (age 65 and older) who visited an emergency department because of injuries sustained in a fall suffered adverse events – including additional falls, hospitalization and death – within 6 months. The results of a study examining how risk factors predict recurrent falls and adverse events were published online in Annals of Emergency Medicine (“Revisit, Subsequent Hospitalization, Recurrent Fall and Death within 6 Months after a Fall among Elderly Emergency Department Patients“).
“Our study shows an even higher rate of adverse events than previous studies have,” said lead study author Jiraporn Sri-on, MD, of Navamindradhiraj University in Bangkok, Thailand. “Patients taking psychiatric and/or sedative medications had even more adverse events. This is concerning because these types of drugs are commonly prescribed for elderly patients in community and residential care settings.” Continue reading
Filed under aging, falls, seniors, seniors falling, successful aging
A reader who happens to be in the business of health, Velocity Athletic Training Radio, enjoys my blog and asked me if I would like to discuss it with her on the radio. You remember radio, don’t you? If you would like to hear it click the link below.
Tony
Eat less; move more; live longer. It’s never too late to start exercising according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Moderate-intensity exercise can help even extremely obese older adults improve their ability to perform common daily activities and remain independent.
Even this fat cat can benefit …
Findings from the National Institutes of Health-funded study are published in the July issue of the journal Obesity.
In the United States, obesity affects nearly 13 million adults age 65 and older. Both overall obesity and abdominal obesity are strongly associated with the development of major mobility disability (MMD), the inability to walk a quarter of a mile, according to the study’s lead author, Stephen Kritchevsky, Ph.D., director of the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention at Wake Forest Baptist.
Previous data on older populations had suggested that obesity may lessen the beneficial effects of physical activity on mobility. However, this research, which analyzed data from the multicenter Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) study, showed that a structured physical activity program reduced the risk of MMD even in older adults with extreme obesity.
Filed under aging, Exercise, exercise and brain health, exercise benefits, obesity, successful aging
Mark Twain famously said, “Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live.”
Few people realize that he was talking about riding the penny farthing bicycle which had a huge front wheel and took some skill to master. If you want a fun read on his adventure, you can experience Mark Twain in the original – Taming the bicycle.
But I digressed. New research by the University of Glasgow and published in the BMJ, has found that cycling to work is associated with a 45% lower risk of developing cancer and a 46% lower risk of heart disease, compared to a non-active commute.
Overall the study found that commuters who cycled were associated with a 41% lower risk of premature death.
Walking to work was associated with 27% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease and a 36% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, but not cancer or premature death overall.
This study analyzed data from 264,337 participants from UK Biobank who were asked questions about their usual mode of commuting to work and then followed up for 5 years. The new cases of cancer, heart attacks and deaths in that 5-year period were assessed and related to their mode of commuting.
The researchers believe that their findings suggest that policies designed to make it easier for people to commute by bike may present major opportunities for public health improvement.
Dr Jason Gill, from the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, said: “Cycling all or part of the way to work was associated with substantially lower risk of adverse health outcomes. Those who cycled the full length of their commute had an over 40% lower risk of heart disease, cancer and overall mortality over the 5 years of follow-up.
“If these associations are causal, these findings suggest that policies designed to make it easier for people to commute by bike, such as cycle lanes, city bike hire, subsidized cycle purchase schemes and increasing provision for cycles on public transport may present major opportunities for public health improvement.”
The greater benefits seen with cycling compared with walking may be because cycle commuters covered longer distances in their commutes than the walkers, the intensity of cycling is higher than walking and the cycle commuters had higher levels of fitness
Dr Carlos Celis-Morales, said: “Walking to work was associated with lower risk of heart disease, but unlike cycling was not associated with a significantly lower risk of cancer or overall death. This may be because walkers commuted shorter distances than cyclists – typically 6 miles per week, compared with 30 miles per week – and walking is generally a lower intensity of exercise than cycling.”
For the record, I consider walking to be the Cinderella of the exercise world – totally unappreciated. Check out my Page – Why you should walk more for additional details.
Tony
Filed under bike commuting, biking, Exercise, exercise benefits, safe biking
One of the stated aims of this blog is to live past 100. Posts every day touch on that goal, but mostly in a ‘part of the big picture’ way. Herewith some positive ideas from Harvard Health publications directly on the subject of super-aging.
Finding role models who are older than we are gets more difficult as we age. But in the last few years, medical science has identified a new group we can aspire to join — the super-agers. The term refers to people in their 70s and 80s who have the mental or physical capability of their decades-younger counterparts.
Although super-agers’ brains show less cell loss than those of their contemporaries, their IQs and educational levels are similar. What sets them apart might be that they view problem-solving differently, Dr. Dickerson says. “They may approach these tasks as a challenge they can succeed at, in contrast to typical older adults who may give up.” Continue reading
I have been writing about obesity for years here. There are included links at the bottom of this post if you want to read further on the subject.
Madeline Drexler, Editor, Harvard Public Health, wrote in the Spring 2017 issue: “According to 2014 national data, 35 percent of adult men and 40.4 percent of adult women are obese—that is, their body mass index, or BMI, a standard calculation of weight divided by height, is greater than or equal to 30. (Normal BMI is 18.5 to 24.9; overweight is 25 to 29.9.) Among youth 2 to 19 years old, the prevalence of obesity is 17 percent, and extreme obesity (a BMI at or above 120 percent of the 95th percentile on standard child growth charts), 5.8 percent. All told, more than 70 percent of Americans ages 20 and over are either overweight or obese. Continue reading
Filed under Harvard Health Publications, obesity
I have written numerous times about the value of walking as an exercise. I have a Page – Why you should walk more which I hope you will check out for further details on this superb form of exercise. Well, now comes Harvard Health Publications with a fresh look at this old exercise – Interval Walking.
Warm weather is here, and you may be walking more to take advantage of being outside. Why not ramp up your routine with bursts of fast-paced walking? The technique, known as interval walking, “is a great way to get the most exercise bang for your buck,” says Dr. Aaron Baggish, associate director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.
Interval walking is a form of interval training, which describes any form of exercise in which you purposely speed up or slow down at regular intervals throughout the session. The benefits of interval training in athletes and people in cardiac rehabilitation are well studied. Dr. Baggish says interval walking hasn’t been examined as much, but he believes the same benefits apply. “Something about strenuous exercise is good for the body. It improves endurance, reduces blood pressure, and helps with weight loss,” he explains. Continue reading
Watching TV the other day, I was struck by how many ads there are for drugs to solve our health problems. We seem to think of drugs as some kind of permanent answer to problems that may only be temporary. Never mind that the list of side effects is often longer than the supposed benefits of taking the drugs in the first place.
Eat less; move more; live longer is a really simple way of living and thinking about our lives. If we put this mantra into our heads each morning, we could forget the temporary problem of weight that seems to plague most of us.
Eat good food in reasonable amounts and make sure you get some exercise every day of your life. Avoid bad habits like drinking too much alcohol and smoking. Finally, make sure you get enough sleep. Pay attention to those simple aspects of your life and you will solve a multitude of problems before they ever arise.
The following Pages have more details on these elements:
How important is a good night’s sleep?
How many ways does smoking harm you?
Important facts about your brain (and exercise benefits)
Tony
Filed under drugs, good night's sleep, sleep, smoking, Smoking dangers, weight loss drugs
As a 77 year old, I was heartened to learn that a lot of the damage expected by aging could be controlled by attention to the American Heart Association’s (AHA) seven steps in yesterday’s post.
Study Highlights
Having the blood vessels of a healthy 20-year-old into one’s 70s is possible but difficult in Western culture, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.
“For the most part, it’s not genetic factors that stiffen the body’s network of blood vessels during aging. Modifiable lifestyle factors – like those identified in the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 – are the leading culprits,” said study author Teemu J. Niiranen, M.D., research fellow at Boston University School of Medicine, Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, Massachusetts. Continue reading
Having written tons about the physical benefits of exercise, it seems timely to mention the emotional ones, too.
Please also check out my Page Important facts about your brain (and exercise benefits),
Tony
Filed under cardio exercise, Exercise, exercise and brain health, exercise benefits
If you would like more detail on items above, please check out the following posts:
Certainly one of the best concepts I have learned in producing this blog is that the brain benefits from exercise. It is the first item on the infographic above – Stay Active. I have written a Page on it – Important facts about your brain (and exercise benefits.)
Regarding the “Don’t be Salty” entry, it is important to keep in mind that most of the damaging salt we consume comes in the form of processed foods. Pay attention to the salt/sodium content in the foods you consume.
Stress damages us in many ways. I have written about it numerous times. You can search S T R E S S in the tags for more. One of the best posts on it is: Super tools for handling stress that I wrote in 2011. Check it out.
Last, but not least, ‘Be happy.’ I have covered the benefits of happiness in lots of posts. I think my Page – Positive psychology – What’s it all about? will also prove valuable information.
Tony
Moderate-intensity exercise can help improve your thinking and memory in just six months.
Happy days! More positive information on the benefits to the brain garnered from physical exercise! This time from Harvard Medical School.
You probably already know that exercising is necessary to preserve muscle strength, keep your heart strong, maintain a healthy body weight, and stave off chronic diseases such as diabetes. But exercise can also help boost your thinking skills. “There’s a lot of science behind this,” says Dr. Scott McGinnis, an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School. Continue reading
With both Alzheimer’s and dementia in my family, I am interested in all research on the subject.
Tufts reported the following in its Health and Nutrition Letter.
Could a trimmer waistline in middle age help you avoid Alzheimer’s later in life? That’s the suggestion of a study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, from the National Institute on Aging. Researchers analyzed data on 1,394 participants in a long-running study of aging, followed for an average of 14 years, who regularly underwent cognitive testing. A total of 142 participants developed Alzheimer’s disease during the study.
After adjusting for other factors, each additional point of body-mass index (BMI) at age 50 was associated with an earlier onset of Alzheimer’s of 6.7 months. “Our findings clearly indicate that higher adiposity at midlife is associated with a long-lasting effect on accelerating the clinical course of Alzheimer’s disease,” Madhav Thambisetty, MD, PhD, and colleagues concluded.
The study was not designed to prove cause and effect, however, and it’s not clear whether the association between obesity and Alzheimer’s risk might begin even earlier. It’s also true that newly diagnosed Alzheimer’s patients tend to weigh less than normal, not more.
To read further on the subject, please check out my Page – Important facts about your brain – (and exercise benefits).
Tony
Filed under aging, aging brain, brain exercise, cardio exercise, Exercise, exercise benefits, Tufts
Really good information in this.
To read more on lining your head up straight, check out my Page – Positive psychology – What’s it all about?
Tony
You probably know that exercise and diet are important when it comes to aging well. But there is something else you control that can help you along: a positive attitude.
Research shows more and more that your approach to life may be just as important in making your “golden years” your best years.
Growing older brings with it some natural changes (think those creaky knees). But folks who see good years ahead and who don’t accept stereotypes about aging — such as you’re less useful — may actually live longer.
And there’s science to back that up.
One study found that thinking positively about getting older can extend lifespan by 7.5 years. And that’s after accounting for things such as gender, wealth, and overall health. Some 660 women and men in Ohio joined this study, and they were monitored for more than 20 years.
If…
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Filed under aging, aging brain, aging myths, Positive Psychology, positivity, successful aging
The waistline on your pants keeps shrinking for some reason. You joined a health club and even went there and sweated. So you have decided you want to get serious about this weight loss thing.
Should you be weighing yourself every morning? Are you going to be bummed if those 30 minutes on the elliptical machine haven’t pared some pounds overnight?
Welcome! You are beginning to learn that weight loss and weight control are mental as well as physical. In fact, I think they are more mental than physical. They are also things that occur over a continuum, as opposed to overnight. I you are carrying extra baggage, it took you a while to accumulate. Give yourself adequate time to unload it.
So, what about weighing in regularly? The answer is … Yes. It is a good idea. You need to get feedback on your efforts. You also need information on more than a weekly basis.
There are a few important things to keep in mind, though. First of all, your weight can vary by one or two percent on a daily basis just based on hydration and elimination. So, you can’t take a daily jump or drop in weight too seriously. Keep the trend in mind. Remember, you didn’t put the weight on overnight, so you can’t expect to take it off that fast. In fact, a good rule to keep in mind is that one pound to 1.5 pounds a week is a good healthy rate of loss. You want to lose permanently, not just water weight. That’s why you are eating intelligently now and working out regularly.
One of the most important aspects to daily weighing is not to feel guilty or get frustrated if you don’t see immediate results. Keep a level head and your eyes on your goal and you will be successful.
I wrote a page on How to Lose Weight – and Keep it Off. There are a lot of very useful guidelines in it. I know they work because I used them myself over the course of writing this blog for the past four plus years. Check ’em out. They couldn’t hurt. And good luck!
Finally, I would like to make one further suggestion. If you have success shedding pounds, and I hope you do, take a moment to reflect on what got you there. You have eaten intelligently and exercised regularly. I have a secret for you. If you continue to eat intelligently and exercise regularly you will never have to worry about your weight again. Wouldn’t that be lovely?! I hope you will consider it as an alternative to going back to your careless ways and packing on extra pounds again.
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Tony
Filed under Exercise, exercise benefits, ideal weight, weighing, weight control, weight loss
