Category Archives: Fitness

New Study Suggests “Heavy but Healthy” is a Myth for Heart Health

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A new study has examined the relationship between weight, physical activity, and cardiovascular health.

According to this new research regular exercise cannot offset negative effects of excess body weight on heart health. Giving pause to the idea that one can be heavy and completely healthy.

The study was published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology.

This new study contradicts previous studies which found that physical activity could help counter the effects of extra body weight on the heart. The study stated that being heavy but healthy equates approximately to being thin and unhealthy when it comes to the cardiovascular system.

The author of the study worries that recent prioritization of physical activity overweight loss is a dangerous road for many patients to go down. They believe their data shows that the opposite is true.

The study examined over fifty thousand Spanish adults and found that physical activity was important for everyone to maintain cardiovascular health but that weight is still a factor.

WHO Releases Stay-at-Home Exercise Recommendations

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Since we are supposed to be staying home many of us are losing out on exercise we would normally get. Whether that’s extra steps at work or missing out on gym visits.

Because of this the World Health Organization (WHO) has made some recommendations about how much exercise we should be getting each day to remain healthy beyond just not catching Covid 19.

The WHO, in their new physical activity guidelines, recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes or 2 and ½ hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week.

These recommendations come on the heels of the continued surge in cases in the United States. Being overweight has been associated with increased risk of severe illness and or hospitalization from Covid 19.

The World Health Organization had previously recommended that anyone 18-64 years of age do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise and 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week. Previously they had recommended this only healthy adults but now include anyone living with disability or chronic conditions in their recommendation of 2.5 hours of moderate to vigorous exercise a week.

Of course, anyone with any kind of health condition should consult their physician on a new exercise program.

 

 

New Study Suggest High Intensity Exercise Not Dangerous for Seniors

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New research determined that high-intensity exercise isn’t a risk factor in mortality among older adults.

The research was published by the MJ medical Journal. It found both high intensity interval training and moderate intensity continuous training demonstrated no increase of risk in mortality among adults 70-77.

The study collected date on about 1,500 men and women (split about evenly among the two) in Norway over five years.

After the completion of the five-year research plan, the mortality rate for the combined HIIT and MICT groups just 4.5%. This was half the expected outcome, researchers expected 10%. This, based on the Norway’s yearly mortality rate of 2% for people 70-75 years of age.

Researchers stated they this met their expectations they based on observational studies that showed active older adults have higher health quality of life than those who are inactive.

The researchers did point out, however, that the study may be biased as 87.5% of participants self-reported “overall good health” before participating in the study.

 

Another Reason to Do Yard Work

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According to new research homeowners may have a new reason to get out and mow the lawn or pull those weeds. The new research shows that homeowners burn a substantial number of calories every year just by doing yard work and other home projects. Amid the pandemic, this might be a good way for some to work off weight put on during shelter-at-home mandates.

According to one report from Southwest News Service, on average, homeowners burn some eighty thousand calories—that’s right 80,000—every year by doing DIY projects and gardening.

A new study states that while many people don’t see lawn care as exercise a year’s worth of exercise could offset the caloric intake of eating over 300 Big Macs.

The study was conducted for Draper Tools by OnePoll and surveyed 2,000 homeowners. They spent 165 hours a year maintain or fixing up their homes.

As long as these activities are consistent, they can help people burn lots of extra calories in a year.

Mowing the lawn, 4,100 calories
Serious gardening (harvesting, weeding, spreading compost), 3,100 calories
Weeding, 6, 300 calories.

So put on those gardening gloves and that sun hat and get to work!

Simple Stress Reduction Techniques

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One thing you can do to reduce stress is exercise. Scientist think that this will increase blood circulation to the brain, especially areas like the amygdala and hippocampus. These regulate motivation, mood and response to stress. One thing exercise will do is release the body’s so-called feel-good hormones. Scientists have found that it only takes exercise intensity of a moderate level to reduce depression.

Some scientists believe that high impact interval exercise can actually increase stress and inflammation. This is especially true for those who are not used to exercise.
Exercise will also improve your sleep quality which is another thing you can do to relieve stress.

But it isn’t just sleeping more. You are giving your body time to go through enough cycles of sleep to repair itself.

To promote this develop a routine. One wants to teach the body and brain to calm down and get ready for bed about an hour before bedtime. Turn off your devices and TV. A warm bath or shower, reading, listening to relaxing music, meditation, light stretches are all activities that can signal your brain its almost time for sleep. Experts even say you should keep a weekend schedule as well.

Something as simple as taking deep, slow breaths can do amazing things to our brain and therefore our stress, experts said.

Taking deep breaths can do great things for our brain and therefor our stress, scientists say. Learning breathwork gives you the ability to control your own brain to an extent.
When you are able to psychologically calm yourself, you change your brainwaves. Deep breathing realigns the sympathetic system, the source of stress in the body.

These are just a few things you can do to keep yourself stress free that don’t cost you any money and that you can start working on today.