Tag: exercise

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Exercise for Managing Depression has Greater Efficacy than Meds or Counselling

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University of South Australia researchers are calling for exercise to be a mainstay approach for managing depression as a new study shows that physical activity is 1.5 times more effective than counselling or the leading medications.

Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the review is the most comprehensive to date, encompassing 97 reviews, 1039 trials and 128 119 participants. It shows that physical activity is extremely beneficial for improving symptoms of depression, anxiety, and distress.

Specifically, the review showed that exercise interventions that were 12 weeks or shorter were the most effective at reducing mental health symptoms, highlighting the speed at which physical activity can make a change.

The largest benefits were seen among people with depression, pregnant and postpartum women, healthy individuals, and people diagnosed with HIV or kidney disease.

According to the World Health Organization, one in every eight people worldwide (970 million people) live with a mental disorder. 

Lead UniSA researcher, Dr Ben Singh, says physical activity must be prioritised to better manage the growing cases of mental health conditions.

“Physical activity is known to help improve mental health. Yet despite the evidence, it has not been widely adopted as a first-choice treatment,” Dr Singh says.

“Our review shows that physical activity interventions can significantly reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in all clinical populations, with some groups showing even greater signs of improvement.

“Higher intensity exercise had greater improvements for depression and anxiety, while longer durations had smaller effects when compared to short and mid-duration bursts.

“We also found that all types of physical activity and exercise were beneficial, including aerobic exercise such as walking, resistance training, Pilates, and yoga.

“Importantly, the research shows that it doesn’t take much for exercise to make a positive change to your mental health.”

Senior researcher, UniSA’s Prof Carol Maher, says the study is the first to evaluate the effects of all types of physical activity on depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in all adult populations.

“Examining these studies as a whole is an effective way for clinicians to easily understand the body of evidence that supports physical activity in managing mental health disorders.

“We hope this review will underscore the need for physical activity, including structured exercise interventions, as a mainstay approach for managing depression and anxiety.”

Source: University of South Australia

Categories : Paediatrics Respiratory DiseasesTags :

More Physical Activity Linked to Fewer Respiratory Infections in Children

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A study of 104 children wearing pedometers to monitor daily activity showed that higher levels of physical activity are associated with reduced susceptibility to upper respiratory tract infections such as the common cold. Reporting the findings in Pediatric Research, the researchers suggest reduced inflammatory cytokines and improved immune responses as a possible mechanism.

Wojciech Feleszko, Katarzyna Ostrzyżek-Przeździecka and colleagues measured the physical activity levels and symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections of children aged between four and seven years in the Warsaw city region between 2018 and 2019. Participants wore a pedometer armband 24 hours a day for 40 days to measure their activity levels and sleep duration. For 60 days, parents used daily questionnaires to report their children’s symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections, such as coughing or sneezing. On a second questionnaire, parents reported their children’s vaccinations, participation in sport, whether they had siblings, and their exposure to smoking and pet hair.

The authors found that as the average daily number of steps taken by children throughout the study period increased by 1000, the number of days that they experienced symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections decreased by an average of 4.1 days. Additionally, children participating in three or more hours of sport per week tended to experience fewer days with respiratory tract infection symptoms than those not regularly participating in sports.

Higher activity levels at the beginning of the study were associated with fewer days with respiratory tract infection symptoms during the following six weeks. Among 47 children, with 5668 average daily steps during the first two weeks of the study period, the combined number of days during the following six weeks that these children experienced upper respiratory tract infection symptoms was 947. However, among 47 children whose initial average daily steps numbered 9368, the combined number of days during the following six weeks that these children experienced respiratory symptoms for was 724. Upper respiratory tract infection symptoms were not associated with sleep duration, siblings, vaccinations, or exposure to pet hair or smoking.

The authors speculate that higher physical activity levels could help reduce infection risk in children by reducing levels of inflammatory cytokines and by promoting immune responses involving T-helper cells. They also suggest that skeletal muscles could release small extracellular vesicles that modulate immune responses following exercise. However, they caution that future research is needed to investigate these potential mechanisms in children. In addition, since this was an observational study, causality could not be established.

Source: EurekAlert!

Categories : ExerciseTags :

Fixing Prolonged Sitting: Five Minutes’ Walking every Half Hour

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While evidence suggests that prolonged sitting is hazardous to health, the optimum interval and quantity for exercise breaks has been unclear. Now, exercise physiologists can provide an answer: just five minutes of walking every half hour during periods of prolonged sitting can offset some of the most harmful effects.

The study, led by Keith Diaz, PhD, associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, was published online in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

Unlike other studies that test one or two activity options, Diaz’s study tested five different exercise ‘snacks’: one minute of walking after every 30 minutes of sitting, one minute after 60 minutes; five minutes every 30; five minutes every 60; and no walking.

“If we hadn’t compared multiple options and varied the frequency and duration of the exercise, we would have only been able to provide people with our best guesses of the optimal routine,” Diaz says.

Each of the 11 adults who participated in the study came to Diaz’s laboratory, where participants sat in an ergonomic chair for eight hours, rising only for their prescribed exercise snack of treadmill walking or a bathroom break. Researchers kept an eye on each participant to ensure they did not over- or under-exercise and periodically measured the participants’ blood pressure and blood sugar (key indicators of cardiovascular health). Participants were allowed to work on a laptop, read, and use their phones during the sessions and were provided standardized meals.

The optimal amount of movement, the researchers found, was five minutes of walking every 30 minutes. This was the only amount that significantly lowered both blood sugar and blood pressure. In addition, this walking regimen had a dramatic effect on how the participants responded to large meals, reducing blood sugar spikes by 58% compared with sitting all day.

Taking a walking break every 30 minutes for one minute also provided modest benefits for blood sugar levels throughout the day, while walking every 60 minutes (either for one minute or five minutes) provided no benefit.

All amounts of walking significantly reduced blood pressure by 4 to 5 mmHg compared with sitting all day. “This is a sizeable decrease, comparable to the reduction you would expect from exercising daily for six months,” says Diaz.

The researchers also periodically measured participants’ levels of mood, fatigue, and cognitive performance during the testing. All walking regimens, except walking one minute every hour, led to significant decreases in fatigue and significant improvements in mood. None of the walking regimens influenced cognition.

“The effects on mood and fatigue are important,” Diaz says. “People tend to repeat behaviors that make them feel good and that are enjoyable.”

The Columbia researchers are currently testing 25 different doses of walking on health outcomes and testing a wider variety of people: Participants in the current study were in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, and most did not have diabetes or high blood pressure.

“What we know now is that for optimal health, you need to move regularly at work, in addition to a daily exercise routine,” says Diaz. “While that may sound impractical, our findings show that even small amounts of walking spread through the work day can significantly lower your risk of heart disease and other chronic illnesses.”

Source: Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Categories : Cancer ExerciseTags :

Exercise Improves Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Radiotherapy

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Tired woman after exercise
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Radiotherapy is an important part of breast cancer treatment but can lead to cancer-related fatigue and negatively impact patients’ health-related quality of life. Fortunately, latest research by has revealed exercise may make radiotherapy more tolerable for patients, offering benefits for their emotional, physical and social wellbeing.

Researchers at Edith Cowan University (ECU) included 89 women in the study, with 43 completing a home-based 12-week program, consisting of a weekly exercise regime of one to two resistance training sessions and an accumulated 30–40 minutes of aerobic exercise. The 46 controls did not participate in the exercise regime.

The results, published in Breast Cancer, showed that patients who exercised recovered from cancer-related fatigue quicker during and after radiotherapy compared to the control group and saw a significant increase in health-related quality of life post radiotherapy with no reported adverse effects.

Study supervisor Professor Rob Newton said this showed home-based resistance and aerobic exercise during radiotherapy is safe, feasible and effective in accelerating recovery from cancer-related fatigue and improving health-related quality of life.

“A home-based protocol might be preferable for patients, as it is low-cost, does not require travel or in-person supervision and can be performed at a time and location of the patient’s choosing,” he said.

“These benefits may provide substantial comfort to patients.”

Important changes observed

Australia’s current national guidelines for cancer patients recommend moderately intense aerobic exercise for 30 minutes per day, five days a week, or vigorously intense aerobic exercise for 20 minutes a day for three days a week.

They also call for 8–10 strength-training exercises with 8–12 repetitions per exercise, for two-to-three days per week.

However, study lead Dr Georgios Mavropalias said benefits were still observed with less exercise.

“The amount of exercise was aimed to increase progressively, with the ultimate target of participants meeting the national guideline for recommended exercise levels,” he said.

“However, the exercise programmes were relative to the participants’ fitness capacity, and we found even much smaller dosages of exercise than those recommended in the national guidelines can have significant effects on cancer-related fatigue and health-related quality of living during and after radiotherapy.”

The study also found participants good adherence to exercise programmes once they started. The exercise group reported significant improvements in mild, moderate and vigorous physical activity up to 12 months after the supervised exercise programme finished.

“The exercise programme in this study seems to have induced changes in the participants’ behaviour around physical activity,” Dr Mavropalias said.

“Thus, apart from the direct beneficial effects on reduction in cancer-related fatigue and improving health-related quality of life during radiotherapy, home-based exercise protocols might result in changes in the physical activity of participants that persist well after the end of the program.”

Source: Edith Cowan University

Categories : ExerciseTags :

Lasting Benefits from Swapping 30 Minutes of Social Media for Exercise

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In a study in the Journal of Public Health, participants who exchanged 30 minutes of social media use per day for exercise felt happier, more satisfied, less stressed by the COVID pandemic and less depressed than a control group. These effects persisted even six months after the study had ended.

The downside of social media

While it helped people stay connected during the COVID pandemic, social media consumption has also its drawbacks. Heavy use can lead to addictive behaviour that manifests itself in, for example, a close emotional bond to the social media. In addition, fake news and conspiracy theories can spread uncontrollably on social channels and trigger even more anxiety.

“Given that we don’t know for certain how long the coronavirus crisis will last, we wanted to know how to protect people’s mental health with services that are as free and low-threshold as possible,” explained assistant professor Dr. Julia Brailovskaia, who lead a team from the Mental Health Research and Treatment Center at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. To find out whether the type and duration of social media use can contribute to this, she and her team conducted an experimental study, with a total of 642 participants randomised to one of four groups.

A two-week experiment

The first group reduced the daily social media consumption by 30 minutes during an intervention period of two weeks. Since previous studies had shown that physical activity can increase well-being and reduce depressive symptoms, the second group increased the duration of physical activity by 30 minutes daily during this period, while continuing to use social media as usual. The third group combined both, reducing social media use and increasing physical activity. A control group didn’t change the behaviour during the intervention phase.

Before, during and up to six months after the two-week intervention phase, the participants responded to online surveys on the duration, intensity and emotional significance of their social media use, physical activity, their satisfaction with life, their subjective feeling of happiness, depressive symptoms, the psychological burden of the COVID pandemic and their cigarette consumption.

Healthy and happy in the age of digitalisation

The findings clearly showed that both reducing the amount of time spent on social media each day and increasing physical activity have a positive impact on people’s well-being. The combination of the two interventions in particular increases one’s satisfaction with life and subjective feeling of happiness and reduces depressive symptoms. Even six months after the two-week intervention phase had ended, participants in all three intervention groups spent less time on social media than before: about a half hour in the groups that had either reduced social media time or increased their daily exercise, and about three-quarters of an hour in the group that had combined both measures. Six months after the intervention, the combination group engaged one hour and 39 minutes more each week in physical activity than before the experiment. The positive influence on mental health continued throughout the entire follow-up period.

“This shows us how vital it is to reduce our availability online from time to time and to go back to our human roots,” Julia Brailovskaia concluded. “These measures can be easily implemented into one’s everyday life and they’re completely free — and, at the same time, they help us to stay happy and healthy in the digital age.”

Source: Ruhr-University Bochum

Categories : Ageing GeneticsTags :

When it Comes to Longevity, Physical Activity Beats Genes

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Although low physical activity and greater time spent sitting are well known to be linked to a higher risk of death, a study published in Journal of Aging and Physical Activity showed that a genetic predisposition to longevity was not a substitute for sitting less and greater physical activity, which can benefit even those not gifted with such genes.

“The goal of this research was to understand whether associations between physical activity and sedentary time with death varied based on different levels of genetic predisposition for longevity,” said doctoral student Alexander Posis, lead author of the study.

In 2012, as part of the Women’s Health Initiative Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health study (OPACH), researchers began measuring the physical activity of 5446 women aged 63 and older, following them through 2020 to determine mortality. Participants wore a research-grade accelerometer for up to seven days to measure how much time they spent moving, the intensity of physical activity, and sedentary time.

Higher levels of light physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were found to be associated with lower risk of death. Higher sedentary time was associated with higher risk of mortality. These associations were consistent among women who had different levels of genetic predisposition for longevity.

“Our study showed that, even if you aren’t likely to live long based on your genes, you can still extend your lifespan by engaging in positive lifestyle behaviours such as regular exercise and sitting less,” said Assistant Professor Aladdin H. Shadyab, PhD, senior author. “Conversely, even if your genes predispose you to a long life, remaining physically active is still important to achieve longevity.”

Given the ageing adult population in the United States, and longer time spent engaging in lower intensity activities, the study findings support recommendations that older women should participate in physical activity of any intensity to reduce the risk of disease and premature death, wrote the authors.

Source: University of California – San Diego

Categories : Cardiovascular DiseaseTags :

Maintaining Heart Health may Reduce Cerebral Small Vessel Disease

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Maintaining excellent cardiovascular health may lower the risk for abnormalities in the small vessels of the brain, a new study suggests.

Scientists aren’t sure what causes the condition, known as cerebral small vessel disease, or CSVD. Previous research shows CSVD contributes to about half of dementia cases, a quarter of clot-caused strokes and most bleeding strokes.

For the new study, researchers looked at data from 3067 older adults in Lishui, China. The study team ranked each person’s cardiovascular health as “poor,” “intermediate” or “ideal” based on three medical factors (blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar) and four modifiable behaviours (not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, eating healthy and being physically active).

Next, they compared cardiovascular health to brain MRI scans that looked for signs of CSVD, such as cerebral microbleeds – remnants of blood that has leaked out of small vessels – and lesions called white matter hyperintensities.

The study found participants with ideal cardiovascular health had 26% lower odds of having CSVD than those with poor cardiovascular health. The research was published Wednesday in the journal Stroke.

“The findings were somewhat expected, since a healthy lifestyle can benefit both the arteries and the brain,” said study co-author Yuesong Pan, a researcher of neurological diseases at Capital Medical University’s Beijing Tiantan Hospital in China.

“This suggests that in clinical practice, the target is to attain an ideal (cardiovascular health) score, not just an intermediate score,” he said. “Patients can use a simple self-measuring scale to adjust their lifestyle, assess the risk of CSVD and reduce their CSVD burden.”

Researchers used the American Heart Association’s tool for scoring cardiovascular health that was recently updated to add sleep duration as an eighth factor for ideal heart and brain health. Pan suggested people use the tool, now known as Life’s Essential 8, to find out their risk for cardiovascular disease.

Dr. José Rafael Romero, a neurologist who wasn’t involved in the research, said CSVD is important because “it does not have a specific treatment and it is such a strong contributor to stroke and dementia, which are epidemic conditions around the world.”

In 2020, 7.1 million people worldwide died of stroke, according to AHA statistics. In the US, stroke ranks fifth among all causes of death, with more than 160 000 deaths in 2020, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alzheimer’s disease – the main cause of dementia – is the seventh-leading cause of death in the US. An estimated 6.5 million people age 65 and older have the condition, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. That number is expected to reach 12.7 million by 2050.

“The study is important because it gives additional information on how to lower CSVD risk, which may have an enormous public health benefit,” said Romero, an associate professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine who wrote an editorial published alongside the new research.

“It shows that we shouldn’t stop halfway. We should aim for achieving all the goals and achieving ideal cardiovascular health.”

Pan said the study was limited by incomplete dietary data and because it didn’t follow participants over a period of time. He called for larger, long-term observational studies to learn more about the relationship between CSVD and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Romero said randomised clinical studies are needed to see whether controlling cardiovascular disease risk does indeed lower small vessel disease risk. He also called for future studies to evaluate the usefulness of screening high-risk people for CSVD using brain MRI.

In general, he said, health care professionals and health organisations need to come up with a clearer plan on how to fight CSVD.

“Often, there is no dedicated effort to control risk factors and track this consistently, particularly in patients that have high risk,” Romero said. “We really need to develop programs for effective and sustained implementation of these guidelines for preventing cardiovascular disease.”

Source: American Heart Association

Categories : Diet and NutritionTags :

You Can’t Outrun a Poor Diet, Large Study Shows

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New research reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has found that the detrimental effects of a poor diet on mortality risk are not counteracted by exercise, showing that you cannot ‘outrun’ a poor diet.

Study participants with both high levels of physical activity and a high-quality diet were found to have the lowest mortality risk.

The University of Sydney-led researchers analysed the independent and joint effects of diet and physical activity with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality using a large population-based sample of 360 600 adults from the UK Biobank.

High quality diets were defined as including at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day, two portions of fish per week and lower consumption of red meat, particularly processed meat.

The study revealed that for those who had high levels of physical activity and a high-quality diet, their mortality risk was reduced by 17% from all causes, 19% from cardiovascular disease and 27% from selected cancers, as compared with those with the worst diet who were physically inactive.

Lead author Associate Professor Melody Ding at the University of Sydney said: “Both regular physical activity and a healthy diet play an important role in promoting health and longevity.

“Some people may think they could offset the impacts of a poor diet with high levels of exercise or offset the impacts of low physical activity with a high-quality diet, but the data shows that unfortunately this is not the case,” said Associate Professor Melody Ding, the study’s lead author.

A small collection of studies have previously found that high-intensity exercise may counteract detrimental physiological responses to over-eating.

However, the long-term effects on how diet and physical activity interact with each other remained less explored. The study findings confirm the importance of both physical activity and quality diet in all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

“This study reinforces the importance of both physical activity and diet quality for achieving the greatest reduction in mortality risk,” said Assoc Prof Ding.

“Public health messages and clinical advice should focus on promoting both physical activity and dietary guidelines to promote healthy longevity.”

Source: The University of Sydney

Categories : Antibiotics ExerciseTags :

Antibiotic Use Impedes Athletes’ Performance

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New research published in the journal Behavioural Processes demonstrates that by killing essential gut bacteria, antibiotics ravage athletes’ motivation and endurance. This study, which examined mice, suggests there is a big difference in the gut microbiome of athletes and couch potatoes.

Much research has been done on how exercise impacts the gut microbiome, but this study is one of few to examine the reverse – how gut bacteria also impact voluntary exercise behaviours. Engaging in voluntary exercise involves both motivation and athletic ability.

“We believed an animal’s collection of gut bacteria, its microbiome, would affect digestive processes and muscle function, as well as motivation for various behaviours, including exercise,” said Theodore Garland, UCR evolutionary physiologist in whose lab the research was conducted. “Our study reinforces this belief.”

Researchers confirmed through faecal samples that after 10 days of antibiotics, gut bacteria were reduced both in a group of ‘athletic’ mice bred for running on wheels and those that were not. Since no sickness behaviour was seen in the mice, exercise changes were ascribed solely to changes in antibiotic-induced changes in the gut bacteria.

Wheel running in the athletic mice was reduced by 21%, and the high runner mice did not recover their running behaviour even 12 days after the antibiotic treatment stopped.

Meanwhile, for the normal mice, antibiotics caused no difference in the running behaviour.

“A casual exerciser with a minor injury wouldn’t be affected much. But on a world-class athlete, a small setback can be much more magnified,” said Monica McNamara, UCR evolutionary biology doctoral student and the paper’s first author. “That’s why we wanted to compare the two types of mice.” Knocking out the normal gut microbiome might be compared with an injury.

One way the microbiome might affect exercise in mice or in humans is how carbohydrate metabolites are used by the muscles.

“Metabolic end products from bacteria in the gut can be reabsorbed and used as fuel,” Garland said. “Fewer good bacteria means less available fuel.”

The researchers would next like to identify the gut bacteria contributing to increased athletic performance. “If we can pinpoint the right microbes, there exists the possibility of using them as a therapeutic to help average people exercise more,” Garland said.

Lack of exercise is a risk factor for many diseases, and researchers would like to find ways of encouraging it more.

“Though we are studying mice, their physiology is very similar to humans. The more we learn from them, the better our chances of improving our own health,” Garland said.

Research into foods that can increase desirable gut bacteria is ongoing, and Garland recommends a balanced diet in addition to regular exercise to promote health.

Source: University of California, Riverside

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease ExerciseTags :

Cutting Down on Sedentary Time Reduces Cardiovascular Risk

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Cutting down daily sedentary time can have a positive effect on the risk factors of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in as little as three months, according to a study published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. The study findings suggest that simply one hour less sitting daily and increasing light physical activity can help in the prevention of these diseases.

Regular exercise is well known to be beneficial in weight management and prevention of chronic diseases. However, many adults do not meet the weekly recommendation of 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise, and the majority of the day is typically spent sitting.

In an intervention study, researchers investigated whether health benefits can be achieved by reducing daily sedentary time during a three-month intervention period. The research participants were sedentary and physically inactive working-age adults with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

The researchers compared two groups: the intervention group was guided to reduce their sitting time by one hour per day by increasing standing and light-intensity physical activity, while the control group was instructed to maintain their usual habits and sedentary lifestyle.

“What makes our research design unique is that sedentary time and physical activity of both groups were measured with accelerometers throughout the entire three-month period, whereas in earlier studies activity has typically been measured only for a few days at the beginning and end of the study period. This makes it possible to receive more information on the actual behaviour changes over a longer time period,” explained  Doctoral Candidate Taru Garthwaite from the University of Turku in Finland.

The intervention group reduced sedentary time by 50 minutes per day on average, mainly by increasing the amount of light- and moderate-intensity physical activity. Over the three-month period, the researchers observed benefits in health outcomes related to blood sugar regulation, insulin sensitivity and liver health in the intervention group.

“It is an encouraging thought that health benefits can be achieved by reducing the time spent sitting and increasing the amount of even light-intensity physical activity. For many, this may be an easier starting point than increasing actual exercise,” said Garthwaite.

People who do not meet the weekly physical activity recommendations atre the most likely to benefit the most from replacing sedentary time with light physical activity. However, reducing sedentary time is probably not enough in itself to prevent diseases if the person has several risk factors of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Garthwaite stressed the encouraging nature of the findings: “Reducing the time spent sitting might still slow down the development of these diseases, but greater benefits can of course be gained by increasing the amount or intensity of physical activity in addition to sitting less.”

The researchers next aim to study how changes in daily activity and sedentary time affect energy metabolism and body composition in addition to the risk factors of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases over a six-month study period.

Source: University of Turku