American Heart Association

walking more is better for your health

People who walk enough to meet or exceed physical activity recommendations may be less likely to die early than those who only walk a little, new research shows.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends adults be physically active for at least two and a half hours per week. Previous research has shown exercising more than that may bring extra benefits.

“An important question left to be answered is how much walking is beneficial,” study author Paul Williams, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, said.

He analyzed data from 42,000 mostly middle-aged people who enrolled in the National Walkers’ Health Study between 1998 and 2001. They had all subscribed to a walking magazine or attended walking events before the study.

Walkers filled out questionnaires about their health and lifestyle, including exercise and eating habits. Williams then used death records to track who in the study was still alive at the end of 2008.

Based on their questionnaire responses, 23 percent of participants didn’t walk enough to meet physical activity guidelines. Another 16 percent met the guidelines, and the rest exceeded them.

Over an average of nine and a half years, 2,448 people died – almost 6 percent.

Compared to people who didn’t meet the guidelines, those who walked more than the basic recommendation had a one-third lower chance of dying during the study period. Those who met but didn’t exceed the recommendation had an 11 percent lower chance.

That was after taking into account other differences between people who walked various amounts, like diet and education levels.

Participants who walked more had a reduced risk of dying from a stroke, diabetes and heart disease, in particular.

Walking provides plenty of health benefits. But it’s important to note that people who walk more may do so because they are healthier and therefore more able to be active, Williams said. So the new study doesn’t prove walking will extend a person’s life.

“There is always the question of the chicken and the egg – whether people who are healthier are able to walk farther or, conversely, whether the longer distance they walk may translate into better health benefits,” Williams told Reuters Health.

Based on the results, he suggested changing current guidelines by bumping up the minimum amount of physical activity to five hours per week and developing a two-tiered recommendation system that encourages people to exercise more than they do currently.

One tier would aim to get people active, and the other to add to the activity people are already doing, Williams said. That would underscore the point that for couch potatoes, starting to exercise is a healthy move – but the benefits don’t stop there.

“Achieving the weekly exercise guidelines is good,” Williams said, “but exceeding them is even better.”

“When it comes to walking, more is obviously better,” María Simón agreed. She is a fitness trainer and national spokesperson for the AHA and was not involved in the new research.

But, Simón said, the current physical activity guidelines are appropriate.

“The AHA has been very clear in specifying that the recommended guidelines are ‘minimum’ requirements to reduce the risk of heart-related diseases and death and has even provided guidelines for increased activity,” she wrote in an emailed comment.

“Nevertheless, I believe the take-home of this and similar studies is a positive one: ‘Move . . . Just get up and move,'” Simón said.

Source:  Zee news

Children’s cardiovascular fitness declining worldwide

Many kids don’t run as far or fast as their parents did, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2013.

The decline in running fitness may indicate worse health in adulthood, the researchers said.

“If a young person is generally unfit now, then they are more likely to develop conditions like heart disease later in life,” said Grant Tomkinson, Ph.D., lead author of the study and senior lecturer in the University of South Australia’s School of Health Sciences.

“Young people can be fit in different ways. They can be strong like a weightlifter, or flexible like a gymnast, or skillful like a tennis player. But not all of these types of fitness relate well to health. The most important type of fitness for good health is cardiovascular fitness, which is the ability to exercise vigorously for a long time, like running multiple laps around an oval track.”

Researchers analyzed 50 studies on running fitness between 1964 and 2010 that involved more than 25 million kids, ages 9 to 17, in 28 countries. They gauged cardiovascular endurance by how far kids could run in a set time or how long it took to run a set distance. Tests typically lasted five to 15 minutes or covered a half-mile to two miles.

Cardiovascular endurance declined significantly within the 46 years, the researchers found. Average changes were similar between boys and girls, younger and older kids, and across different regions, although they varied country to country.

The study is the first to show that kids’ cardiovascular fitness has declined around the globe since about 1975:

In the United States, kids’ cardiovascular endurance fell an average 6 percent per decade between 1970 and 2000.

Across nations, endurance has declined consistently by about 5 percent every decade.

Kids today are roughly 15 percent less fit from a cardiovascular standpoint than their parents were as youngsters.

In a mile run, kids today are about a minute and a half slower than their peers 30 years ago.

Declines in cardiovascular endurance performance are probably caused by social, behavioral, physical, psychosocial and physiological factors, Tomkinson said.

Country-by-country fitness findings are mirrored in measurements of overweight/obesity and body fat, suggesting one factor may cause the other. “In fact, about 30 percent to 60 percent of the declines in endurance running performance can be explained by increases in fat mass,” Tomkinson said.

Kids should engage in at least 60 minutes of daily activities that use the body’s big muscles, such as running, swimming or cycling, he said.

“We need to help to inspire children and youth to develop fitness habits that will keep them healthy now and into the future,” Tomkinson said. “They need to choose a range of physical activities they like or think they might like to try, and they need to get moving.”

Source: American Heart Association

 

Go nuts! Healthy facts about nuts!

Good things come in small packages and nuts are no exceptions. These nuggets are packed with healthy fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Studies have suggested that people who include nuts, including peanuts, in their diet have fewer common health problems such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. Here are some facts you should know before including nuts in your diet:

Nut varieties

A nut usually have a hard shell and a seed and most fruits we called nuts are not technically nuts nonetheless they provide similar health benefits. They include hazelnuts, chestnuts, and acorns, almonds, Brazil nut, candlenut, cashew, Chilean hazelnut or Gevuina, macadamia,   Malabar chestnut, pecan, mongongo, peanut, pine nut, pistachio and walnut.

How much to eat

According to the American Heart Association, include 4 servings of nuts a week in your diet. A serving is a small handful or 1.5 ounces of whole nuts or 2 tablespoons of nut butter. Avoid salted or oiled ones; instead, eat them raw or dry roasted

Calorie count

Almonds, cashews and pistachios have the lowest calorie count at 160 per ounce while macadamia nuts and pecans have the highest at 200 per ounce.

How to eat

You can have them as snacks whenever you feel hungry or sprinkle them over desserts and salads

Source: Zee News