A Swedish study of some 4,000 60-year-olds has found that regular “non-exercise” physical activity such as gardening or DIY significantly reduced risk of heart attack or stroke, with those who were most active on a daily basis having a 27% lower risk of a heart attack or stroke and a 30% reduced risk of death from all causes. This was so regardless of how much regular formal exercise was taken. Regular physical activity was also associated with better waist circumference, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides in both sexes and with lower insulin, glucose and fibrinogen levels in men. Metabolic syndrome was also significantly less likely.
Gardening as good as exercise in cutting heart attack risk
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Light exercise might help teens recover faster from concussions
A randomized clinical trial involving 103 teenage athletes who sustained concussions while playing sports found that those who underwent a supervised, aerobic exercise program took significantly less time to recover compared to those who instead engaged in mild stretching.
Healthy lifestyle associated with lower dementia risk regardless of genes
Data from 196,383 older adults (60+; mean age 64) in the UK Biobank found that a healthy lifestyle was associated with lower dementia risk regardless of genes.
Both an unhealthy lifestyle and high genetic risk were associated with higher dementia risk.
Slower walking speeds linked to dementia risk
Data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, in which nearly 4,000 older adults (60+) had their walking speed assessed on two occasions in 2002-2003 and in 2004-2005, those with a slower walking speed were more likely to develop dementia in the next 10 years. Those who experienced a faster decline in walking speed over the two-year period were also more likely to develop dementia.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-03/ags-oaw032318.php
Getting fit, getting enough iron boosts women students' grades
A study of 105 female college students found that those with the highest levels of stored iron had the highest grades. Fitness was also a factor, but while the effect of fitness was greater overall than the impact of iron status, both factors together had an even greater effect. The difference between fit women with normal iron levels and unfit women who were iron deficient was sufficiently large to to drop or increase a letter grade.
The association between the measure of fitness (peak oxygen intake) and grade was mediated by working memory.
Running protects brain from effects of chronic stress
Memories are made through a synaptic-strengthening process called long-term potentiation (LTP). Prolonged stress weakens the synapses, which decreases LTP, thus having a negative effect on memory. A mouse study found that when exercise co-occurs with stress, LTP levels are not decreased, but remain normal. The exercising but stressed mice also performed as well on the memory tests as the non-stressed mice, and better than both groups of sedentary mice.
Running is mentioned specifically because the exercise the mice took involved running wheels.
High-intensity exercise improves memory in seniors
A study in which 64 sedentary older adults (aged 60-88) participated in a 12-week exercise program found that those who engaged in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) saw an improvement of up to 30% in memory performance while participants who engaged in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise saw no improvement, on average.
Moreover, improvements in fitness levels directly correlated with improvement in memory performance.
Participants participated in three sessions per week. A control group engaged in stretching only.
Obesity linked to inflammation & impaired brain function
Submitted by Fiona McPherson
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A mouse study has found that obese mice had high levels of interleukin 1 in both their blood and their brains, and this was associated with:
- high levels of inflammation,
- low levels of a biochemical important to synapse function, and
- impaired cognitive function.
Moreover, when fat was removed from the obese mice, interleukin levels dropped dramatically, and cognitive performance improved.
Putting obese mice on an exercise program had a similar effect, even though they didn’t lose weight — but they gained muscle and lost fat.
Importance of muscle for older adults
Submitted by Fiona McPherson
on
Data from the American National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III, involving 3,659 individuals (men aged 55+; women 65+), has found that the more muscle mass older adults have, the less likely they are to die prematurely. The findings add to the growing evidence that overall body composition — and not the widely used body mass index (BMI) — is a better predictor of mortality.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/uoc--oab031314.php
Exercise improves heart function via mitochondria
Submitted by Fiona McPherson
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A mouse study has found that long-term physical activity increased levels of two proteins in the mitochondria of their heart. It’s thought this might help explain why regular exercise improves cardiovascular health.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/cfgr-etc021114.php
Lower IQ & fitness in teen years increases risk of early-onset dementia
Data from 1.1 million young Swedish men (conscription information taken at age 18) has shown that those with poorer cardiovascular fitness were 2.5 times more likely to develop early-onset dementia later in life and 3.5 times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment, while those with a lower IQ had a 4 times greater risk of early dementia and a threefold greater risk of MCI. A combination of both poor cardiovascular fitness and low IQ entailed a more than 7 times greater risk of early-onset dementia, and more than 8 times greater risk of MCI.