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Exercise & Fitness Archive
Articles
Moderate-to-vigorous exercise may help prevent atrial fibrillation
Research we're watching
Regular, moderate-to-vigorous exercise may help prevent atrial fibrillation (afib), according to a study in the May 2020 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.
Previous studies looking at the connection between afib (which causes a rapid, irregular heart rate) and exercise have produced conflicting results. But those studies relied on participants to self-report their exercise habits. For the new study, the 5,147 participants wore devices that measured their activity levels for four to seven consecutive days.
How do I measure exercise intensity?
On call
Q. Exercise guidelines recommend a certain number of hours per week, depending on whether it's moderate or vigorous intensity. So how do I measure exercise intensity?
A. Outside of a physiology laboratory, there really is no standard agreement on how people should gauge their level of exercise intensity.
How to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder
Normally associated with veterans, PTSD can also affect people of all ages who have experienced any kind of trauma.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe and potentially debilitating mental health disorder that affects people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. PTSD often occurs in combat veterans, but it can also strike older adults, and especially men.
About 70% of older men have been exposed to trauma at some point in life, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Many of these traumatic events are accidents (or near misses), injuries, or serious health issues.
Three moves for better spine health
Spinal instability can contribute to low back pain, but the "big three" exercises can help.
A strong core can stabilize your spine to help keep your lower back healthy and pain-free. The muscles and ligaments surrounding your spine can weaken with age or from an injury, which can make movements like twisting, stretching, lifting, and bending difficult.
"The lower back often has to compensate for this lack of mobility, which places greater stress and burden on its muscles," says Eric L'Italien, a physical therapist with Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Center.
Stay active to stay out of the hospital
News briefs
It's well established that regular exercise is healthy. But how much exercise do you need to achieve health benefits? Even just a little activity — both at home and at work — may reduce your risk of hospitalization, suggests a long-term observational study published May 6, 2020, in BMC Geriatrics. Researchers analyzed the self-reported workplace and leisure activity of 25,000 men and women ages 40 to 79 over a 20-year period. During the first 10 years of the study, people who were active were 25% less likely to be hospitalized for more than 20 days per year, compared with people who were inactive. In the second 10 years of the study, people who remained active or became active — even just slightly — were 34% less likely to be hospitalized for more than 20 days per year. Also, people who were inactive or became inactive during the study had the highest risk of being hospitalized. The take-home message: Stay as active as you can, whether it's a brisk walk most days of the week or just vigorous housework. Even a little activity protects your health.
Image: shapecharge/Getty Images
Exergaming: Fitness and fun in front of your TV?
Active-play video games may encourage adults — including those with heart disease — to be more active.
Looking to liven up your indoor exercise routine? You might want to try exergaming — a fitness trend that incorporates exercise into a video game. Also called gamercising, the workouts may be more motivating and fun than a traditional exercise video.
"One advantage to exergaming is that the game choices are so broad, you can tailor the exercise to your own particular interest," says Dr. Ashwin Babu, a sports medicine physiatrist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. Depending on the video gaming system, you can choose from a wide array of simulated sports and recreational activities, including baseball, bowling, boxing, cycling, football, golf, table tennis, track and field events, skateboarding, skiing, tennis, and volleyball. Some offer muscle-strengthening workouts, balance and stretching, aerobic exercises, dancing, and martial arts. Others feature adventure games that you "play" with your body movements, such as moving your arms, jumping, squatting, running in place, and sidestepping.
Brain health and walking speed often decline together
In the journals
Slower gait speed and cognitive decline may be related, according to a study published online April 12, 2020, by the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Scientists recorded the gait speed and cognitive health of 370 people in the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA). Cognitive health was measured with a test that assessed orientation to time and place, attention, recall, language, and other aspects. Gait speed was measured with a timed 10-foot walk.
Midlife isn’t too late for stroke prevention
Lifestyle improvements, such as quitting smoking and exercising more, can reduce your risk of a stroke.
A stroke may seem like a sudden, uncontrollable event — a lightning strike out of the blue. But in reality, stroke risk often builds over time, and many strokes are preventable. A study published in the May 2020 issue of Stroke found not only that lifestyle changes can help you head off a potential stroke, but also that you can still reduce your risk even if you don't make these changes until later in life.
"What is novel about our study is that we found that even in middle-aged women, changing lifestyle has a large effect on preventing stroke," says Dr. Goodarz Danaei, senior author of the study and the Bernard Lown Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "Even in the sixth decade of life, lifestyle changes can still prevent up to a quarter of all strokes." The average age in women for a first stroke is 75.
Can I do anything to prevent urinary incontinence?
Ask the doctors
Q. I'm hoping to prevent urinary incontinence. Is there anything I can do?
A. Nearly half of all women experience some type of urinary incontinence during the course of their lives. It may not be possible to prevent all of these cases, which can be caused by pregnancy, childbirth, or hormonal shifts that occur around the time of menopause. Here are some strategies that may help to reduce your risk.
Can I outwalk breast cancer?
Ask the doctors
Q. I've heard that walking could reduce my risk of breast cancer. Is this true?
A. Yes, it's true. Walking is not only a great form of exercise to help keep your heart healthy, it could potentially reduce your risk of breast cancer. One 2013 study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, found that women who walked seven hours a week — an hour a day on average — had a 14% lower chance of getting breast cancer when compared with women who walked three hours a week or less. The benefit was seen even in women who were at higher risk for breast cancer, including those who were overweight or who were taking hormone therapy. It's not clear how walking helps, but experts speculate that physical activity might help keep the body's levels of estrogen and insulin in check. Both of these hormones can fuel breast cancer, so regulating them more effectively could reduce your risk.
Recent Blog Articles
Celiac disease: Exploring four myths
Does drinking water before meals really help you lose weight?
Which migraine medications are most helpful?
Want a calmer brain? Try this
Do tattoos cause lymphoma?
PTSD: How is treatment changing?
Concussion in children: What to know and do
Ever hear of tonsil stones?
Midlife ADHD? Coping strategies that can help
Ever worry about your gambling?
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