Bodies By M.E.

How Dumbbells Make You Immune to Stress
Crazy commute? No problem. Mile-long to-do list? Bring it on. Mini work crisis? Easy.

Just make dumbbell your middle name and you’ll be practically immune to these kinds of things. Why? Because people with decent muscle mass have an easier time recovering from mental stress.

Pump Up the Jam
Whether you use dumbbells, resistance bands, or your own body weight to build muscle (think push-ups), you’re one step ahead of the stress game. Having a lean body mass (more muscle, less fat) helps your body normalize blood pressure more quickly after a mentally stressful event, because a fit body does a better job of ridding itself of sodium. And that takes a big load off of your heart and arteries when you’re under the gun

Aerobic Exercise Keeps You Young

British study found it shaved 10 to 12 years off biological age

WEDNESDAY, April 9 (HealthDay News) — A person who maintains aerobic fitness may delay biological aging by up to 12 years, a new analysis shows.

Jogging and other types of aerobic exercise improve the body’s oxygen consumption and its use in generating energy (metabolism). However, a steady decline in maximal aerobic power begins in middle age, decreasing about 5 ml/ (kg. min) every decade, according to the information in the analysis.

When maximal aerobic power falls below about 18 ml in men and 15 ml in women, it becomes difficult to do any activity without experiencing major fatigue. A typical 60-year-old sedentary man has a maximal aerobic power of about 25 ml, nearly half of what it was at age 20.

But research shows that a long period of relatively high-intensity aerobic exercise can increase maximal aerobic power by 25 percent (about 6 ml), which equals 10 to 12 biological years.

The analysis was published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

“There seems good evidence that the conservation of maximal oxygen intake increases the likelihood that the healthy elderly person will retain functional independence,” said study author Dr. Roy Shephard, of the Faculty of Physical Education and Health and Department of Public Health Sciences, at the University of Toronto in Canada.

Aerobic exercise also reduces the risk of serious disease and promotes faster recovery after injury or illness. Additionally, it helps maintain muscle power, balance and coordination, which reduces the risk of falls.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about healthy aging for older adults.

Healthy lifestyle changes can improve levels of an enzyme called telomerase that controls the cell aging process. Telomerase repairs and lengthens telomeres; Telomeres are a tail like structures, composed of complex of DNA- protein complexes, found at the end of chromosomes. As telomeres become shorter and structural integrity weaken our cells age and die more quickly according to Dr. Dean Ornish and his colleagues at the University of California. Shortening of telomere length has become a marker for premature death and such cancers as prostate, lung, breast, and colorectal cancer.

In this study Dean Ornish and his colleagues asked 30 men diagnosed with low risk prostate cancer to make significant lifestyle changes. The changes included a diet with only 10 percent of their calories coming from fat, low in refined sugar, rich whole grains and fruits and vegetables. Stress management, relaxation and breathing techniques were included. At the conclusion of the study telomerase increased by 29 percent and LDL cholesterol decreased.

“To our knowledge, we have reported the first study showing that comprehensive lifestyle changes are significantly associated with increase in cellular telomerase activity levels and telomere maintenance in immune system cells.”

Dr. Ornish said in a recent news release” the implications of this study are not limited to men with prostate cancer; comprehensive lifestyle changes may cause improvement in telomerase and telomeres that may benefit the general population as well.”

Aging is a process associated with a loss of muscle mass, muscular strength and impairment in performing some activities of daily activity. These Changes start to occur about the age of 40 and progressively get worse. There are many reasons why we experience muscular aging; research suggests it is related to oxidative stress, cell death, inflammation, inactivity, alterations in protein turnover and mitochondria dysfunction.(Melov et al.2007).Resistance training with older adults has been shown to reduce oxidative stress and increase antioxidant enzyme activity.Melov and colleagues investigated whether training actually does reverse muscular aging.

Old and young non-smokers where chosen for this study. The mean age of the older population was 68 and enjoyed recreational exercise such as walking, gardening, tennis and cycling. The younger participants had a mean age of 24, relatively inactive, engaging in modest recreational activity.

All participants performed supervised resistance activity. Each group began a single set training program at 50% their 1RM (repetition maximum. Intensity gradually increased to 3 sets at 80% of 1 RM.. Each of the subjects had a muscle biopsy before and after the 26 week study to determine whether their genes where expressed differently with age.

The researchers identified 596 differentially expressed genes. Of these genes, the researchers identified 179 age/exercise associated genes showing a reversal in gene expression. This means that resistance training not only slows the aging process, but also reverses it at the gene level. Personal trainers and fitness professional have always encouraged their clients to participate in resistance training programs to reap functional movement and health benefits. Now, there is proof that it increases muscular longevity on a  molecular level.

If you had to choose one fruit to keep your colon happy, which would it be?

If you said apples, that’s not a bad choice. The kind of fiber in apples — called pectin — appears to both bump up colon-protective compounds and clamp down on cancer-causing ones.

The Power of Pectin
In a lab study, apple pectin increased levels of butyrate, a fatty acid that not only keeps colon tissue healthy but also slows the production of a cancer-causing substance. Apple juice extracts amped up butyrate as well. If you opt for apple juice, find out why cloudy trumps the clear kind.

With the distractions of the summer vacations, children’s activities behind us it is time to transition into our calmer more structured fall fitness schedule. The key to making this transition easy is to create a seamless process in developing a weekly routine that is predictable.

Here are some quick tips to develop a new fitness routine.

• Access your goals. Are there changes in your personnel life or injuries and health concerns present? Possibly you may be considering training for an event or just want to increase the intensity of your work out.
• Schedule your work outs in your appointment book. This is big because it makes you accountable to yourself. It is important to sit down and find the days that will work most of the time and have few obstacles.
• Commit to your new plan. Explain to your family and friends that your new goals are priority. Concentrate on your needs and goals.

By spending time getting organized you will ensure a smooth transition into your fall fitness schedule that you are bound to be successful at.

A recent study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that a new treatment protocol may do away with some of the common side effects of chemotherapy, such as hair loss, nausea and fatigue.

In a study researchers examined the effects of starving mice prior to administering chemotherapy. The goal was to find out whether healthy cells reacted differently them cancer cells when deprived of glucose. Researchers wanted to find out if fasting might protect healthy cells from the effects of chemotherapy while still destroying cancer cells.

The fasting protocol did seem to have a protective effect on the healthy cells of the mice. The mice in the control group did suffer from chemotherapy treatment experiencing hair loss and lethargy. The results of this trial are promising and human trials are scheduled to start next year. A note of caution, people starting chemotherapy should not start a fasting program unless directed to do so by a physician.

Gyms and fitness centers have begun to meet the growing need for programs designed to lessen recovery time and to address the fatigue, swelling of the lymphedema and loss of muscle tone caused by chemotherapy. There have always been athletically inclined patients even competitive, for example high-profile Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau and of course Lance Armstrong. Most of the 10 million cancer survivors in the United States are not high profile athletes, but are greatly inspired by these role models arriving at the other side of debilitating treatments.

Oncologists are now prescribing exercise to prod patients into walking, simple stretches or exercise with resistance bands. This shift in thinking began in the 1980 along with a greater awareness in health and fitness. Oncologists were then faced with questions regarding amount, intensity and when to exercise during a course of treatment. Studies reported the positive affects of exercise in reducing cancer. These positive results led to the next question, how does exercise and diet impact those with cancer?

In recent years there has been much research done, one study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute looked at the effects moderate exercise had on a group of breast cancer and prostate cancer patients those assigned to a daily program of walking and exercises done with a resistance band had less fatigue, greater strength and better aerobic capacity. This finding and similar ones have been reproduced many times.

Researchers in France recently conducted a randomized controlled trial to test whether family dietary coaching would improve nutrition and weight control issues for children and their parents.

The study was reported in the January issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, involved 1,000 families in France. The families were assigned to one of three groups: Group A was advised to reduce fat and increase complex carbohydrate. Group B was advised to reduce fat and sugar and increase complex carbohydrate. Group C served as a control group and was given no dietary advice. Groups A and B also received phone counseling and internet based support.

At the end of the study, both groups A and B achieved most of their nutritional goals. Fat intake was reduced and to a lesser extent sugar, complex carbohydrates where increased, whereas the control group experienced no changes. Children in both groups A and B reduced there BMI. Parents in group A had similar success; Parents in group B experienced no change in BMI. This led researchers to conclude that family dietary coaching does improve nutritional intake in children and may even benefit parents.

Is it better to be fit and fat or thin and unfit? Despite our nation wide obesity epidemic, there is growing evidence that our concerns about obesity as a measure of health may be misguided.

Recently a report in The Archives of Internal Medicine compared weight and cardiovascular risk factors among 5,400 adults. The data suggest that half of overweight people and one-third of obese people are “metabolically healthy”. Surprisingly, this means that despite excess pounds many of these overweight and obese people have healthy levels of good cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose and other risk factors for heart disease. At the same time, one out of four “healthy weight people” have at least two cardiovascular risk factors associated with obesity.

What so surprising is the amount of overweight people who are metabolically healthy; despite the fact obese people are predisposed to developing cardiovascular risks and other health problems. This data follows a report published by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and The National Cancer Institute showing overweight people have longer life expectancy than normal weight adults.

What causes this confusion is a skewed perception of what overweight really means. We typically evaluate ones body mass by using a BMI index , 18-25 is normal, 25 is considered overweight, 30 is obese. However a person who measures 25 can present themselves as not so different as the person who falls within the normal range.

Researchers at the Cooper Institute have shown that fitness may be the better predictor of health. Several studies have shown that people who are fat but keep up with a treadmill test may have a lower cardiovascular risk than the thin unfit person. The most striking finding was that regardless of BMI, the higher the fitness level the lower the mortality risk.