Physical activity

How to reverse the health risks of sitting all day

admin

sitting in office

Sitting too much can take a serious toll on your health, even raise your risk of early death. But if you’re stuck in your chair at a desk job all day, don’t despair — a new study suggests there is something you can do to reverse the damage.

It comes down to fitting in an hour of walking or other physical activity a day. It doesn’t have to be a super-intense fitness routine to offer benefits, say the authors of a new study.

Researchers from the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences in Oslo, Norway, and the University of Cambridge in the U.K. analyzed data on more than one million people drawn from 16 different studies. Their goal was to find out how many hours of physical activity would be needed to counteract the negative health effects of sitting on your tush all day at the typical eight-hour-a-day office job.

Most of the people studied were over 45 and from the U.S., Western Europe and Australia. The scientists divvied up data on them into four groups according to how active they were, ranging from those who were in motion less than five minutes a day to those who were able to fit in 60 to 75 minutes of physical activity per day. Their activities included brisk walking (at about a 3.5 mph pace) or cycling for pleasure (at almost a 10 mph pace).

The increased risk of death linked with sitting for eight hours a day was eliminated for people who were physically active for at least one hour a day.

What’s more, the eight-hour-a-day sitters who exercised had a significantly lower risk of death compared to people who sat for fewer hours a day but weren’t active, the authors found.

Those who sat for most of the day were at the highest risk for death.

The researchers say what they found was a simple recipe for better health. “Our message is a positive one: it is possible to reduce – or even eliminate – these risks if we are active enough, even without having to take up sports or go to the gym,” the study’s lead researcher, Ulf Ekelund, of the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, said in a statement.

But he noted that, unfortunately, only 25 percent of the people in the study exercised one hour a day or more.

This is just the latest research to look at the health issues raised by sedentary lifestyles. A study out last year in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed less rosy results. It found sitting for prolonged periods of time increased the risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer and early death even in people who got half an hour to an hour of exercise a day. It found sitting for prolonged periods raised the risk of cardiovascular disease by 14 percent, cancer by 13 percent, and diabetes by a whopping 91 percent.

Another 2014 study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that prolonged sitting affected people’s fitness levels, regardless of whether they exercised or not. Two hours of sitting cancelled out the benefits of 20 minutes of exercise when it came to cardio-respiratory fitness, the authors said.

Heart expert Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said any exercise is good for you. It can improve cardiovascular health and help fend off health problems such as diabetes and obesity.

“Our lives have become so sedentary. Often people’s sitting time is significantly more than eight hours a day,” said Steinbaum, who noted that the size of the latest study makes its findings especially significant.

“I love this study because it really is showing that we can do something. There were a lot of people involved. It shows how relevant exercise is in our lives. It’s no longer a leisure activity, and it’s not just a treat to get a workout in, it’s not an option not to. It’s something we have to put in our lives,” she said.

Steinbaum said the study also showed that you don’t have to go to the gym and follow a hard-core fitness regimen to reap benefits; just walking at a brisk pace — enough to get your heart rate up — is an option, too.

“It’s not hanging out and window shopping, but it’s a really nice walk and it can help with stress reduction. You can go outside with a friend and get your heart rate up for one hour and talk about life and laugh,” she said.

The researchers also looked at six studies on daily television watching in half a million people and found that watching for more than three hours a day was linked with an increased risk of death in all but the most active people. The death rate was significantly higher in people who watched TV for five hours or more a day.

Study author Ekelund added, “For many people who commute to work and have office-based jobs, there is no way to escape sitting for prolonged periods of time. For these people in particular, we cannot stress enough the importance of getting exercise, whether it’s getting out for a walk at lunchtime, going for a run in the morning or cycling to work. An hour of physical activity per day is the ideal, but if this is unmanageable, then at least doing some exercise each day can help reduce the risk.”

Source : http://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-hour-of-exercise-reverses-health-risks-of-sitting-all-day/

Yoga can fight off obesity!

Most of us are suffering from health risks due to the sedentary life style and the busy daily routine that allows us to dedicate very less or no time for physical activity. The most common problem that we see today is obesity.

yoga prayer

Obesity refers to weight gain in which excess of body fat has been accumulated to an extent that it may have a negative effect on health. It could also lead to reduced life expectancy or increased health problems. While obesity is most commonly caused by wrong dietary and lifestyle patterns, it can also be caused by endocrine disorders, genes, medications, or psychiatric illness.

It is said that yoga can be very beneficial for obese people as it can help them to lose weight effectively. Exercises of yoga require movements such as stretching, twisting, bending and balancing,
which helps us to lose extra calories.
It also stimulates the heart and lungs, increasing intake of oxygen, which leads to enhanced energy for physical activity and in turn can result in greater weight loss.

Yoga is a tool that helps the body, mind and spirit. It has different types of postures set for individuals that fits all of age groups and health conditions. For better benefits of yoga to full extent, it is suggested to practise it under the guidance of professionals in the initial days until all the postures are known in right manner.Yoga is the best practice to lose weight slowly as losing weight in a short period damages your skin and makes it look saggy. Some of the yoga postures that help in your weight loss regime are sun salutations, dog pose, cobra pose, angle pose, squat and rise pose, the two alterations of bridge pose (face up and face down), spinal twist, tree pose and butterfly pose.

Meditation which is another form of yoga also helps us in losing weight. Practising of yoga regularly helps improve self control and hence, you can easily gain control over your food cravings and reduce your food intake. It also helps to strengthen and tone muscles, leading to greater physical activity.

Pranayama, a set of breathing exercises of yoga, has profound influence on our health.
It is a well known fact that most of the toxic elements which are eliminated from the body during breathing can help maintain good health.

Naturopathic, a treatment which involves the practice of regular yoga postures combined with treatment with things offered by nature. If yoga postures are used daily, correctly and consistently in combination with good food habits, then balance will return to the body and mind and the health of the practitioner will be restored quickly.

Source: zee news

People in desk jobs gain weight for sure

desk job

If you have gained extra waistline, do not get enough sunlight for your bones and strain your eyes in front of a computer screen, you have all reasons to complain about your desk job.

Over 50 per cent of employees who are deskbound said in a latest survey that they do not get enough physical activity.

Also, staring at a computer screen for most of the day and being stuck inside are the biggest disadvantages of having a desk job. Nearly half of employees surveyed gained weight in their current position compared to 30 per cent of workers in non-desk jobs.

“Overall, 58 per cent of workers in desk jobs categorise themselves as overweight compared to 51 per cent of their peers in non-desk jobs,” said the survey from a leading job portal CareerBuilder.

The study was based on a survey of 2,095 employees who typically work behind a desk and 1,102 people who do not work behind a desk. Additionally, 24 per cent said they do not like working at a desk because there is not enough variety in their work.

While 23 percent said there are too many distractions like disruptions from co-workers. There are some positive sides too.

Employees who work in desk jobs reported earning higher salaries. Desk employees also have access to technology and opportunity to communicate with bosses easily, the survey added.

For someone in non-desk job, not being informed about new company developments, having less chance for upward mobility and fewer face-to-face interactions with company leaders and peers are the disadvantages.

Source: Times of India

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

Brisk walk can help beat prostate cancer

Exercise may improve the prognosis of prostate cancer patients by affecting blood vessels in their tumours, a study suggests.

Researchers found that men who walked at a fast pace before being diagnosed with the disease had tumours containing larger and more regularly shaped blood vessels.

Better formed tumour blood vessels may in turn inhibit cancer aggressiveness and promote better responses to treatments, the scientists believe.

Physically active men with prostate cancer have a lower risk of recurrence and death from the disease than those living sedentary lives, but until now the reason has remained a mystery.

The new study looked at 572 prostate cancer patients taking part in a US lifestyle and health investigation called the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Men with the fastest walking pace – between 3.3 and five miles per hour – prior to diagnosis had 8 per cent more regularly shaped tumour blood vessels than the slowest walkers who ambled at 1.5 to 2.5 mph.

“Prior research has shown that men with prostate tumours containing more regularly shaped blood vessels have a more favourable prognosis compared with men with prostate tumours containing mostly irregularly shaped blood vessels,” said lead scientist Dr Erin Van Blarigan, from the University of California at San Francisco.

“In this study, we found that men who reported walking at a brisk pace had more regularly shaped blood vessels in their prostate tumors compared with men who reported walking at a less brisk pace.

“Our findings suggest a possible mechanism by which exercise may improve outcomes in men with prostate cancer. Although data from randomised, controlled trials are needed before we can conclude that exercise causes a change in vessel regularity or clinical outcomes in men with prostate cancer, our study supports the growing evidence of the benefits of exercise, such as brisk walking, for men with prostate cancer.”

Dr Matthew Hobbs, deputy director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Although this research provides a plausible explanation of how exercise might improve outcomes for men with prostate cancer, much more research is needed to confirm the impact of lifestyle factors on men’s recovery.

“We hope that further research in this area may one day give us a way to improve the prognosis for the 40,000 men in the UK who are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year.”

Meanwhile a separate study suggest a good night’s sleep may also held the condition. Scientists have linked higher levels of the night-time hormone melatonin with a 75 per cent reduced risk of advanced disease.

Melatonin is produced in the dark at night. It plays a key role in regulating the body’s sleeping cycle and influences many other functions associated with the body’s 24-hour clock, or circadian rhythm.

Low levels of the hormone are typically associated with disrupted sleep.

Scientists studied 928 Icelandic men who were questioned about their sleep patterns.

Source: the Scotsman

Obesity Linked With Hearing Loss

Obesity is associated with a higher risk for hearing loss, according to a new study in the American Journal of Medicine.

 On the other hand, greater levels of physical activity are associated with a lower risk for hearing loss, found researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“We often think of hearing loss as an inevitable part of the aging process, but these findings provide evidence that potentially modifiable risk factors, such as maintaining a healthy weight and staying physically active, may help in the prevention of hearing loss or delay its progression,” study researcher Sharon Curhan, M.D., Sc.M., of the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a statement.

More than 68,000 women who were part of the Nurses’ Health Study II were included in the study; their physical activity, body mass index, waist circumference and hearing loss were tracked from 1989 and 2009.

Researchers found associations between higher body mass index and waist circumference and hearing loss. Specifically, women who had a body mass index of 30 to 34 (indicative of obesity) had a 17 percent higher risk of hearing loss, compared with women who had a BMI lower than 25 (normal weight is indicated by a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9, while overweight is indicated by a BMI of 25 to 29.9). And people with a BMI of 40 or greater had a 25 percent higher risk of hearing loss.

Women with a waist circumference of 80 to 88 centimeters had an 11 percent higher risk of hearing loss compared with women with a waist circumference less than 71 centimeters. And women with a waist circumference greater than 88 centimeters had a 27 percent higher risk of hearing loss.

Meanwhile, exercise seemed to decrease risk for hearing loss. Women who were the most physically active in the study had a 17 percent lower risk of hearing loss than women who were the least physically active. And it didn’t even have to be especially strenuous activity: Researchers found that walking just two hours or more a week lowered hearing loss risk 15 percent more than walking less than an hour a week.

While the study only showed an association between hearing loss and obesity, this isn’t the first time the two have been linked. A study published earlier this year in the journal The Laryngoscope showed that obese teens have a nearly doubled risk of one-sided low-frequency hearing loss, compared to their peers of normal weight. The researchers of that study speculated that a potential reason for this association is inflammation from obesity; other potential reasons include Type 2 diabetes or heart disease from obesity, which could then lead to hearing loss.

Source: Huffington post