Month: May 2014

Active seniors can lower heart attack risk by doing more, not less

Active elderly people go hill walking in the Trossachs National Park, Scotland. Image shot 04/2010. Exact date unknown.

Maintaining or boosting your physical activity after age 65 can improve your heart’s electrical well-being and lower your risk of heart attack, according to a study in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

In heart monitor recordings taken over five years, researchers found that people who walked more and faster and had more physically active leisure time had fewer irregular heart rhythms and greater heart rate variability than those who were less active.

Heart rate variability is differences in the time between one heartbeat and the next during everyday life.

“These small differences are influenced by the health of the heart and the nervous system that regulates the heart,” said Luisa Soares-Miranda, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and the Faculty of Sport at the University of Porto in Portugal. “Early abnormalities in this system are picked up by changes in heart rate variability, and these changes predict the risk of future heart attacks and death.”

The researchers evaluated 24-hour heart monitor recordings of 985 adults (average age 71 at baseline) participating in the community-based Cardiovascular Health Study, a large study of heart disease risk factors in people 65 and older.

During the study, they found:

The more physical activity people engaged in, the better their heart rate variability.
Participants who increased their walking distance or pace during the five years had better heart rate variability than those who reduced how much or how fast they walked.
“Any physical activity is better than none, but maintaining or increasing your activity has added heart benefits as you age,” Soares-Miranda said. “Our results also suggest that these certain beneficial changes that occur may be reduced when physical activity is reduced.”

The researchers calculated that the difference between the highest and lowest levels of physical activity would translate into an estimated 11 percent lower risk of heart attack or sudden cardiac death.

“So if you feel comfortable with your usual physical activity, do not slow down as you get older — try to walk an extra block or walk at a faster pace,” Soares-Miranda said. “If you’re not physically active, it is never too late to start.”

Co-authors are Jacob Sattelmair, Ph.D.; Paulo Chaves, M.D., Ph.D.; Glen Duncan, Ph.D.; David S. Siscovick, M.D., M.P.H.; Phyllis K. Stein, Ph.D.; and Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.P.H. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and National Institute on Aging funded the research.

Source: News room

Have a one-year-old baby? Dental care a must

dental-care-must-your-one-year-old-baby

 

While many parents remain ignorant about how much dental care their little ones need, a new study has found that babies, who are most susceptible to cavities in their early lives, are least likely taken care of even though they need it the most.

The study reveals that less than one per cent of healthy children receive dental care by the recommended age of 12 months and less than two per cent had seen a dentist by the age of 24 months.

Prolonged bottle use, especially at night, and sweetened drinks are suspected risk factors for cavities because the carbohydrates in the beverages promote the growth of the bacteria that causes cavities, said Jonathon Maguire, a paediatrician at St Michael’s Hospital in Canada.

The findings showed that of the 2,505 children around four years of age who were surveyed from 2011-13 for the study, 39 percent had never been to a dentist.

Maguire said that barriers to dental care for families with young children may include financial cost, access to transportation, school absence policies and a belief that dental health may not be important to overall well-being.

He said previous studies had shown that children who receive preventive dental care in the first year of life have less dental disease and are less likely to require restorative or emergency treatment and have lower dental-related health care costs – particularly among high-risk populations.

According to Dr.Maguire, cavities can cause not just pain in children but also contribute to feeding problems, poor nutritional status and behavioural problems.

The study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

Source: Zee news

Smiling can help fight memory loss

smile

A new study has revealed that humor and laughter can help lessen the damage that stress hormone cortisol has on memory and learning ability in the elderly.

According to the researchers at Loma Linda University, there was a significant decrease in cortisol concentrations among both groups who watched a funny video and showed greater improvement in all areas of the memory assessment when compared to controls.

Gurinder Singh Bains said that their findings offer potential clinical and rehabilitative benefits that can be applied to wellness programs for the elderlyand the cognitive components, such as learning ability and delayed recall, become more challenging as people age and are essential to older adults for an improved quality of life.

The researchers said that the less stress one has the better their memory, as humor reduces detrimental stress hormones like cortisol that decrease memory hippocampal neurons, lowers the blood pressure, and increases blood flow and mood state.
The study revealed that the act of laughter-or simply enjoying some humor-increases the release of endorphins and dopamine in the brain, which provides a sense of pleasure and reward and the positive and beneficial neurochemical changes, in turn, make the immune system function better.

Source: Yahoo news