Why Exercise is Good for the Brain

Source: Men's Health Feb 2009

Drive for 55 - Exercise Volume Benefits for Fat Loss Maintenance

The magic formula for keeping off lost weight

To drop 10 per cent of their body weight and keep it off for two years, obese and overweight women must exercise at least 55 minutes a day, five days a week, according to a new study.

Research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine this week said that in addition to limiting calories, overweight and obese women must exercise substantially more than was previously recommended.

"The less they exercised the less weight they lost and the less they kept off," said John Jakicic of the University of Pittsburgh, who led the study. "It seemed like this magic number of 275 [minutes a week] is what really made a difference."

Dr. Jakicic and his team spent two years studying 191 women between the ages of 21 and 45 with a body mass index of 27 to 40, which is above the threshold of healthy weight. Before taking part in the research, all of the women exercised less than 20 minutes a day, fewer than three days a week.

The women were prescribed diets of between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day, and were divided into groups with different exercise goals.

While women in various groups lost weight, only those who exercised more than 55 minutes a day, five days a week, managed to keep the weight off two years later.

"We really wanted to delve into the issues around how much you might really need to do to keep this weight off long term," Dr. Jakicic said. "This study sheds some clear light on what those numbers need to be."

Before this study, health professionals often recommended that people exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes, five days a week. But that level is helpful only for those trying to maintain their health, Dr. Jakicic said, and is not effective for those who have managed to lose a large amount of weight and are trying to keep that weight off.

Obesity is a major issue in Canada, where 59 per cent of adults are overweight, including 23 per cent who are obese, according to Statistics Canada. Overweight is defined as having a BMI - an approximation of body fat based on height and weight - of more than 25, while a BMI of more than 30 indicates obesity.

But much of the focus on obesity has centred on issues of diet and ignored the impact of regular physical activity.

"There's been so much about the Atkins diet and the Zone diet and surgery," Dr. Jakicic said. "But even people who have the surgery gain weight again without a major lifestyle change."

Dr. Jakicic does not believe people should be discouraged by the exercise level required by his findings, even though working out 55 minutes a day, five days a week, may sound like too punishing a regimen.

Most of the women who were successful in the study were working mothers, he said, and got their exercise by walking. They were only required to reach a moderate level of intensity with their workouts, and few women put in serious hours at the gym.

"This shouldn't be discouraging. It can be done," he said. "They were able to find ways to make it work with their lifestyle."

Keeping up the intense workout schedule was sometimes difficult, Dr. Jakicic admitted, but because the women were focusing on both diet and exercise, they were able to make up for any momentary lapses of will.

"Not that over two years these women didn't flounder," he said. "But when they floundered with their diet, they were a little more diligent with their exercise."

The women exercised in periods that would previously have been designated as "sitting time," spent in front of a TV, a computer or a book.

"Most women say, 'I can't fit this into my lifestyle because it's going to negatively impact my family and children,' " he said. "When in fact what's negatively impacting the family is that they're not taking care of themselves."

Source: TheGlobeandMail.com

Long Distance Running Benefits - New Study

Will running ruin my knees?

Studies show that non-runners are more likely to develop osteoarthritis than those who regularly pound the pavement

This is a fear that stops many would-be runners in their tracks and lurks in the back of the mind of even the most experienced runners. Running and injuries go together like shin splints and ice, so it's entirely reasonable to wonder about the prospects of long-term damage.

These fears should be put to rest by a pair of long-term studies due to be published this year.

In next month's Skeletal Radiology, a team of Austrian radiologists presents knee MRIs of seven runners who had taken part in a previous MRI study before running the Vienna marathon in 1997. The use of MRIs offers a significant diagnostic advantage compared to earlier studies that relied on X-rays.

The results were clear: no new damage in the knee joints of the six subjects who had continued running in the intervening decade. "In contrast, the only person who had given up long-distance running showed severe deterioration in the intra-articular structures of his knee," the authors note.

An even more long-term study at Stanford University has been following 45 runners and 53 non-runners since 1984. All had been taking regular X-rays. The latest results, which will appear in a future edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, show that after 18 years, 20 per cent of the runners had developed osteoarthritis in the knee, compared with 32 per cent of non-runners.

These studies raise a possibility that several earlier studies have proposed: Running may help preserve the joints. But that's not a conclusion that can be drawn at this point, says Eliza Chakravarty, lead author of the Stanford study.

"I don't think I would strongly recommend running for the purpose of protecting the knees."

One drawback with both studies is selection bias. The runners in both cases were committed recreational runners who had a history of being able to run without serious problems.

Data for non-runners who are considering taking up running are harder to come by - a gap that was partly addressed by a large-scale study that appeared last year in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism, involving 1,279 subjects from the famously long-running Framingham Heart Study.

Rather than studying "runners" versus "non-runners" the researchers examined the general study population, looking for associations between exercise (including running) and the development of knee osteoarthritis over a nine-year period. They found no link, suggesting even overweight non-runners can start exercising without putting their knees at risk.

In sharp contrast, though, the American College of Sports Medicine recently reported that each additional pound of body mass puts four extra pounds of stress on the knee, so packing on a pound a year for about a decade increases your chances of developing arthritis by 50 per cent - a fairly powerful argument for running to keep off weight and protect your knees.

Of course, the decision doesn't have to be strictly utilitarian. As one of the Vienna study participants (who was preparing to run his 37th marathon) put it in a recent e-mail to lead author Wolfgang Krampla, "Even if minor aches and pains occur over the years, the gain in joie de vivre far outweighs them."

Alex Hutchinson is a former member of Canada's long-distance running team, and has a PhD in physics.

Source: GlobeandMail.ca

Supplement MisLabelling

Source: Women's Health April 2008

Shorter Effective Workout Routines Bring Gains

A shorter workout – but it will hurt

The question

Can I get fit by exercising just a few minutes a week?

The answer

Breathless claims about exercise regimens that produce near-instant results with minimal effort are generally the domain of late-night infomercials and their ilk.

So it may seem surprising that one of the hot topics at last month's American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting in Indianapolis was research on "high-intensity interval training" (HIT), suggesting that many of the benefits of traditional endurance training can be achieved with a few short bouts of intense exercise totalling as little as seven minutes a week.

The latest research on the topic, from a group at Hamilton's McMaster University, was just published in the online edition of the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. It shows that that HIT improves the structure and function of key arteries that deliver blood to the muscles and heart, just like typical cardio training.

The McMaster group has produced a series of remarkable studies on HIT over the past few years, led by exercise physiologist Martin Gibala.

Their subjects cycled as hard as they could for 30 seconds, then rested for four minutes, and repeated four to six times. They did this short workout three times a week.

"The gains are quite substantial," Dr. Gibala says. When compared with control subjects who cycled continuously for up to an hour a day, five times a week, the HIT subjects showed similar gains in exercise capacity, muscle metabolism and cardiovascular fitness.

Similar studies by University of Guelph researcher Jason Talanian have found that interval training also increases the body's ability to burn fat, an effect that persists even during lower-intensity activities following the interval training.

The results are no surprise to elite cyclists, runners and swimmers, who have relied on interval training for decades to achieve peak performance. To break the four-minute mile in 1954, Roger Bannister famously relied on interval sessions of 10 60-second sprints separated by two minutes of rest, because his duties as a medical student on clinical rotation limited his training time to half an hour a day at lunch.

Such time constraints are the main reason Dr. Gibala advocates HIT, since studies consistently find that lack of time is the top reason that people don't manage to get the 30 to 60 minutes of daily exercise recommended by public health guidelines.

"We're not saying that it's a panacea that has all the benefits of [traditional] endurance training," he says. "But it's a way that people can get away with less."

High-intensity exercise is generally thought to carry some risks, so sedentary or older people should check with a doctor before trying HIT. Interestingly, though, University of British Columbia researcher Darren Warburton presented results in Indianapolis showing his work with cancer and heart disease patients, demonstrating that these higher-risk populations can also benefit safely from HIT.

There is a catch - the disclaimer at the end of the infomercial, if you will. To cram the benefits of an hour-long workout into a few short minutes, you also have to compress the effort you would have spent.

"That's the trade-off," Dr. Gibala says. "Going all out is uncomfortable. It hurts." But at least with this approach it's over quickly.

How to take a HIT

The guiding principle of HIT is that the shorter the workout, the higher the intensity you need to reap the benefits. "Basically," McMaster University's Martin Gibala says, "you need to get out of your comfort zone." Start by trying a HIT workout once or twice a week.

The Street-lighter: For a sedentary person who gets winded walking around the block, HIT can be as simple as walking more quickly than usual between two light poles. Then back off, and repeat after you have recovered.

The Bannister: Go hard for one minute, then recover (either

by slowing down or stopping completely) for one to two minutes. Repeat 10 times. This is a staple workout for a wide range of abilities, suitable for any

cardio activity.

The Timesaver: Dr. Gibala's protocol of 30 seconds of all-out cycling four to six times with four minutes rest is the shortest workout shown to be effective. But achieving the necessary intensity outside the lab is extremely challenging, so it's best suited to experts and those capable of extreme self-punishment.

All these workouts should be preceded by a gentle warm-up of at least five to 10 minutes.

Alex Hutchinson

Source: GlobeandMail.ca

Benefits of Exercise Education Reaped in 65+

Retraining promotes physical fitness in seniors: study

Attribution retraining" may be the key to convincing seniors that advanced age is no excuse for
being physically unfit, according to American researchers.

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles used the technique, which changes a person's perceptions and patterns, to boost seniors' activity levels.

"We can teach older adults to get rid of those old beliefs that becoming sedentary is just a normal part of growing older," Dr. Catherine Sarkisian, assistant professor of geriatrics and the study's lead author, said in a release.

Four times a week, the study's 46 participants — all over the age of 65 — were taught in hour long sessions that activity can continue in old age.

The seniors then participated in exercise classes of the same duration and frequency. The classes focused on exercises that increased stamina, flexibility and strength.

During the seven-week study, the participants were fitted with electronic pedometers that counted how many steps they walked each week. They also filled out surveys that were meant to determine their views on aging and fitness.

Over the course of the pilot program, the people involved in the study increased the number of steps they took weekly from a mean of 24,749 to 30,707, an increase of 24 per cent.

The study was published online Thursday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The study's participants also reported higher energy levels, less pain and an improvement in the quality of their sleep.

As for their views on exercise and aging, there was a 30 per cent increase in positive feelings towards aging and exercise, the researchers found.

Source:CBC.ca

Ease Fibromyalgia with Holistic Exercise Approach

Exercise eases fibromyalgia pain

Regular walks and stretching exercises can help ease the chronic, depressing pain of fibromyalgia, a mysterious ailment with no obvious cure, researchers said on Monday.

Striking more than 3 per cent of U.S. women and 0.5 per cent of men, the illness' primary symptoms are debilitating pain throughout the body -- often with sensitivity and stiffness focused in the joints. Other symptoms include sleep problems, fatigue and depression.

No single test can diagnose fibromyalgia, and sometimes patients are treated with behavioural therapy.

Pregablin, a drug that calms nerve cells, gained U.S. regulatory approval in June to treat the pain from fibromyalgia. It is sold as Lyrica by Pfizer Inc.

In a study of 207 women aged 18 to 75 diagnosed with fibromyalgia, researchers assigned one group to a twice-weekly aerobic and stretching program for 16 weeks. Another group added mild strength training, a third group attended a two-hour education course every two weeks, and a fourth combined all the approaches. The 135 women who completed the courses were reevaluated six months later.

"An appropriately structured exercise program that involves progressive walking and flexibility movements with or without strength training improves physical, emotional and social function," concluded study author Daniel Rooks of Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Assessing their own well-being, the participants scored better in such categories as pain reduction, physical functioning and vitality after completing the courses. Those who both exercised and took the education course improved the most.

"The beneficial effect on physical function of exercise alone and in combination with education persisted at six months," Dr. Rooks said in the report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Such findings should encourage people with aches and pains to exercise more, as they tend to be "even less active than the relatively sedentary general public," the report said.

Source: TheGlobeandMail.com

Type 2 Diabetes 2 Step Mediation

Pump iron and jog to manage Type 2 diabetes

Adeceptively simple exercise routine could significantly improve the health of people suffering from diabetes, a Canadian study suggests.

The key to its success is using two types of exercise, rather than just one.

The study found that diabetics who combined endurance exercises (such as brisk walking or jogging) with strength training (like weightlifting) saw their blood-sugar levels improve at twice the rate of those who only did one form of exercise.

People with Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, either don't produce enough insulin or their bodies cannot use it effectively, a condition known as insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone that plays a major role in moving glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream into the body's tissues, where it is needed for energy. As a result of insulin resistance, glucose levels build up in the bloodstream which, in turn, can lead to heart disease, blindness and kidney damage.

Doctors have long known that regular workouts help to control blood-sugar levels. But there was very little research on what exercises work best to manage the disease, which afflicts two million Canadians.

The new Canadian study, by researchers at the University of Calgary and the University of Ottawa, suggests that a combo approach appears to offer clear benefits.

Ron Sigal, who led the study, speculated that endurance (also known as aerobic) exercises combined with strength (resistance) training worked on muscles in different but complementary ways that led to an overall improvement in blood-sugar levels.

"It makes insulin work better and makes the muscle use more glucose," said Dr. Sigal of the University of Calgary.

Although the approach sounds easy, he cautioned diabetics who are in poor shape not to jump into a new exercise routine without first talking to their own doctors.

Source: The Globe and Mail.com

Training Rest Durations

Source: Women's Health June 2007

Weight Training Rejuvenates Aging Muscles

Weight training reverses aging damage in muscles: study

Healthy seniors benefit from strength training by rejuvenating their muscle tissue, say Canadian and U.S. researchers who found the proof at the molecular level.

Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, director of the neuromuscular and neurometabolic clinic at McMaster University in Hamilton and Simon Melov of the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, Calif., compared tissue samples from 25 healthy older men and women who did six months of weight training and a similar group of 26 younger people.

The researchers looked at the molecular "fingerprint" of aging in mitochondria, the powerhouse that supplies energy to cells. Studies suggest poor mitochondrial function is involved in the loss of muscle mass and function commonly seen in older people.

Older adults showed a decline in gene activity for mitochondrial function, but exercise was linked to a reversal back to levels similar to those of younger adults, the team reports in Wednesday's issue of the journal PloS One.

Before exercise training, the older adults were also 59 per cent weaker than the younger adults, but after the training, their strength was only 38 per cent weaker.

After four months of follow up, most of the older adults were no longer exercising at a gym but continued to do resistance exercise at home by lifting soup cans or elastic bands.

"They were still as strong, they still had the same muscle mass," Tarnopolsky said in a release. "This shows that it's never too late to start exercising and that you don't have to spend your life pumping iron in a gym to reap benefits."

Aging reversal

While aging studies on worms, fruit flies and mice have shown similar results, Melov said the researchers were surprised at the extent of the results in humans.

"The fact that their 'genetic fingerprints' so dramatically reversed course gives credence to the value of exercise, not only as a means of improving health, but of reversing the aging process itself, which is an additional incentive to exercise as you get older."

The younger participants were 20 to 35 with an average age of 26, while those in the older group were all over 65 with an average age of 70. Both groups were similar in terms of diet and exercise, and none took medication or had diseases that affect mitochondrial function.

The hour-long resistance training sessions were done twice a week on standard gym equipment, involving 30 contractions of each muscle group.

Tissue samples were taken from the thigh muscle, and the strength test was based on knee flexion.

Future studies are planned to determine if resistance training has any genetic impact on organ tissues. The researchers also want to determine whether endurance training such as running or cycling affects mitochondrial function and aging.

Source: CBC.ca

Get Your Game On

Source: Wired May 2007

Training Order Priority for Efficiency

Source: Men's Health May 2007

Laughing Health Benefits

According to a study in the INternational Journal of Obesity, laughing out loud can help you burn more calories. For 90 minutes 45 people watched videos that were funny (Austin Powers) or big snooze fests (a show about the English countryside) while scientists measured their heart rate and calorie burn. Laughing out loud increased both numbers by up to 20% compared with watching quietly. So giggle for 15 minutes a day could burn as many as 50 calories.
Source: Women's Health April 2007

Mandatory High School Phys Ed -All Grades

Manitoba to make phys-ed mandatory for Grade 11 and 12 in 2008

As part of a push to encourage healthy lifestyles for young people, the Manitoba government is making physical education part of the curriculum for Grade 11 and 12.

Education Minister Peter Bjornson says the new requirement will take effect in September 2008.

He says students will be able to earn the required phys-ed or health credits either in class or through outside activities such as intramural and inter-school sports or community-based sports.

They will be encouraged to find activities suited to their interests and abilities.

The addition to the curriculum is one of the government's responses to an all-party committee's report on healthy kids released in 2005.

Bjornson made the announcement Tuesday at a Winnipeg high school, where he joined Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross and students in a game of basketball.

Source: CBC.ca

15 Minute Obesity Respite

Exercise key to avoiding childhood obesity, study shows

A brisk, 15-minute walk daily may be enough to help prevent childhood obesity, British researchers say.

The study in this week's issue of PloS Medicine looked at 5,500 children who wore a motion-sensing device and had their body fat measured with an X-ray scanner, which offers more precise measurement than the body mass index.

Among children who increased their physical activity levels by 15 minutes a day of moderate exercise, the chances of being obese were lowered by almost 50 per cent, the researchers found.

"This study provides some of the first robust evidence on the link between physical activity and obesity in children," said study author Prof. Chris Riddoch of Britain's Bath University.

"We know that diet is important, but what this research tells us is that we mustn't forget about activity. It's been really surprising to us how even small amounts of exercise appear to have dramatic results."

Without accurate measurements of activity levels and body fat, it has been difficult for researchers to determine the relative importance of activity in preventing obesity in children, compared to dietary changes.

Easy to find 15 minutes

Most families would be able to add 15 minutes of moderate exercise a day as a starting point, said Prof. Andy Ness of the University of Bristol, who co-directed the research with Riddoch.

The average age of the children in the study was 12. Those in the 10 per cent levels of fat mass were classified as obese.

"Our findings, if confirmed, suggest that public health policies that increase physical activity levels and in particular [moderate and vigorous physical activity] in children may help to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity," the researchers concluded.

One limitation of the cross-sectional study is that it is possible that instead of becoming obese because of lack activity, obesity may restrict children from being more active, the study said.

Rates of overweight and obese children nearly tripled among Canadians over the past two decades, the Canadian Institutes of Health Information reported in 2004. Obesity rates are also on the rise in other developed countries.

Source: CBC.ca

Sweat Stats

Source: Men's Health March 2007

Brain Fitness for Better Memory and less Dementia

Exercising your brain can improve memory and cut the risk of developing dementia.

By Christopher J. Gearon

If you think electronic games are just for your grandchildren, you've somehow missed the marketing blitz aimed at older adults. Computer- and video-game makers are targeting seniors and baby-boomers with products that claim to boost the power of an aging brain. But can games such as Nintendo's Brain Age or Web sites such as MyBrainTrainer.com really stave off dementia?

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Scientists have found that certain exercises conducted in a laboratory, such as matching and counting games, could improve memory. But it's unclear whether a regimen of such exercises could help aging adults remember to take medication, follow directions and engage in other activities of daily living that enable seniors to remain independent.

But researchers say you can take measures to increase cognitive function and delay dementia, even Alzheimer's disease. "My advice: Travel, go to the theater, go to museums, take a dance class," says Denise Park, director of University of Illinois' Roybal Center for Healthy Minds, which studies cognitive function and aging.

The Aging Brain
Weighing in at three pounds, the adult brain begins shrinking even before middle age. The clues are common: You can't find your keys, or you forget where you parked. You can easily adapt to such minor changes, by perhaps putting keys in the same place every day, for example. By the mid sixties, such cognition lapses become more noticeable. After age 65, the risk of Alzheimer's disease doubles every five years.

Over the past 30 years, however, scientists have found that engaging in a range of basic activities can improve a person's memory and mental health. "Everyday life gives us an opportunity," says George Rebok, a professor at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Continue to be as active as you can. Search out new ways to stimulate yourself mentally, socially and physically."

The key to any brain-training regimen is physical exercise. Research shows that blood flow stimulated by exercise improves short-term memory and concentration. One study showed that six months of brisk walking by healthy adults between the ages of 58 and 78 led to big benefits. The walkers were able to pay closer attention while disregarding distracting information.

Staying socially connected is also linked to reduced cognitive decline. Volunteering may be especially helpful. Case in point: A Hopkins study of Experience Corps, a program that places older volunteers into urban schools to mentor students, found benefits for the seniors. Researchers studied 128 volunteers ranging in age from 60 to 86, who worked at least 15 hours a week. Cognitive stimulation, as well as physical strength and social interactions, increased. "We think volunteer experiences will make a big impact in terms of cognitive ability," says Rebok.

Frequent intellectual stimulation could also re-duce dementia. A National Institute on Aging study found that adults who regularly listened to the radio, read newspapers, played puzzle games and visited museums over a four-year period cut the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 47%.