Vonnies Health Spot

TWO MORE REASONS TO KEEP EXERCISING

EXERCISE MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE!
The following comes from the Mayo Clinic www.mayoclinic.com: Exercise is one of the best ways to combat treatment-related fatigue if you have cancer and are undergoing chemotherapy, and may even increase the body’s ability to recover from the effects of chemotherapy.

Several groundbreaking studies suggest that exercise doesn’t just help combat treatment-related fatigue, it may help fight against cancer. And obsessive exercise isn’t needed to see a benefit. Depending on the intensity of the activity, you may need to exercise only a few hours a week.

Researchers measured how much energy exercisers expended in metabolic equivalent task (MET) hours. One MET hour is the equivalent of the energy expended by the body during one hour of rest. You can accumulate several MET hours of exercise during one “real-time” hour. For example, one hour of moderate walking is the equivalent of three MET hours and one hour of doubles tennis or slow jogging is the equivalent of five MET hours.

> The first study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed 2,987 women with breast cancer. Women who exercised more than three MET hours a week after diagnosis were less likely to die of their cancer.
> In another study of 573 women with colon cancer, women who exercised more than 18 MET hours a week after diagnosis were 61 percent less likely to die of cancer-specific causes than women who exercised less than three MET hours a week. And exercise was protective no matter the patient’s age, stage of cancer, or weight. Furthermore, patients benefited even if they hadn’t been physically active before their diagnosis.
> A third study, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found similar results after examining the effects of exercise on 832 men and women with stage III colon cancer.

How does exercise help fight cancer? Investigation is ongoing in that area, but researchers theorize that exercise can regulate production of certain hormones that, unregulated, may spur tumor growth.

IRREGULAR EXERCISE PATTERNS

MAY ADD POUNDS
The key to staying trim is to remain active year-round, year after year, and to avoid seasonal and irregular exercise patterns. Weight gained during an exercise hiatus can be tough to shed when physical activity is resumed at a later date. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory www.healthresearch.lbl.gov believe that quitting or having irregular exercise habits may be a contributing factor in the nation’s obesity epidemic.

“The price to pay for quitting exercise is higher than expected, and this price may be an important factor in the obesity epidemic affecting Americans,” says Paul Williams of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division. The study compared 17,280 men and 5,970 women who decreased their running distance with 4,632 men and 1,953 women who increased their running distance over a 7.7-year period. He found that runners who decreased their distance from five to zero miles per week gained four times as much weight as those who decreased their distance from 25 to 20 miles per week. He also found that people who started running after an exercise layoff didn’t lose weight until their mileage exceeded 20 miles per week in men and 10 miles per week in women.

“We are getting fat because we don’t exercise sufficiently and consistently. The real solution to the obesity epidemic is getting people to exercise before they think they need it and to stick with it. The ounce of prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure,” says Williams. “Many scientists attribute the obesity epidemic to excess calories rather than exercise, because dieting has been shown to produce more weight loss than exercise. My findings suggest that calorie intake and body weight may be self-regulating in active individuals.”

The bottom line? If you're already exercising regularly ... don't quit! If you're not, get started and be consistent.

For more information go to: www.mayoclinic.com or www.healthresearch.lbl.gov.

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Photo credits: bald mannequin-Marc Dietrich; running couple-MG Mooij; sunset joggers-Kristy Pargeter

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

THE AGGRESSION AND PLEASURE CONNECTION

During the nine years of my career at a well-know women’s health magazine, I commuted a total of 100+ miles a day on top of working long (often mentally grueling hours). Sometimes the drive along my well-worn path of the Los Angeles freeways (where the earth moves, but the freeways don’t) would become a harrowing experience, not just for me, but also for the drivers around me. If someone had the temerity to cut me off or to transact some other foolhardy move in my presence, I would occasionally turn into a raging monster behind the wheel.

My behavior was shocking even to me, and I justified it to myself by viewing it as righteous indignation at the dog-eat-dog attitude of other freeway jockeys. Muttering all sorts of vile epithets as I made the classic gesture of traffic frustration, I even engaged in speeding duels, using my two-ton auto as the weapon. Now new research from Vanderbilt University shows for the first time that the brain processes aggression as a reward—much like sex, food and drugs—offering insights into our propensity to fight and our fascination with violent sports like boxing and football. So now in retrospect, I begin to understand; perhaps my vehicular behavior was a way of searching for relief, if momentary, from all the other pressures in my life.

I also believe that’s why we, as a culture, engage competitive sports. It’s a socially acceptable way of getting our dopamine fix. If I extrapolate even further into the bigger picture, another example of this drive for the dopamine reward is the act of engaging in war—much less acceptable and, for some, deadly. 

“Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food,” Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and pediatrics, said. “We have found that the ‘reward pathway’ in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved.”

“It is well known that dopamine is produced in response to rewarding stimuli such as food, sex and drugs of abuse,” Maria Couppis, who conducted the study as her doctoral thesis at Vanderbilt, said. “What we have now found is that it also serves as positive reinforcement for aggression.”

For the experiments, a pair of mice - one male, one female - was kept in one cage and five “intruder” mice were kept in a separate cage. The female mouse was temporarily removed, and an intruder mouse was introduced in its place, triggering an aggressive response by the “home” male mouse. Aggressive behavior included tail rattle, an aggressive sideways stance, boxing and biting. (Not too different from human behavior is it?)

The home mouse was then trained to poke a target with its nose to get the intruder to return, at which point it again behaved aggressively toward it. The home mouse consistently poked the trigger, which was presented once a day, indicating it experienced the aggressive encounter with the intruder as a reward.

The same home mice were then treated with a drug that suppressed their dopamine receptors. After this treatment, they decreased the frequency with which they instigated the intruder’s entry.

In a separate experiment, the mice were treated with the dopamine receptor suppressors again and their movements in an open cage were observed. They showed no significant changes in overall movement compared to times when they had not received the drugs. This was done to demonstrate that their decreased aggression in the previous experiment was not caused by overall lethargy in response to the drug, a problem that had confounded previous experiments.

The Vanderbilt experiments are the first to demonstrate a link between behavior and the activity of dopamine receptors in response to an aggressive event. “We learned from these experiments that an individual will intentionally seek out an aggressive encounter solely because they experience a rewarding sensation from it,” Kennedy said. “This shows for the first time that aggression, on its own, is motivating, and that the well-known positive re-enforcer dopamine plays a critical role.”

Kennedy is chair of Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development’s special education department, which is consistently ranked as the top special education program in the nation. He is also director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research of Human Development’s Behavior Analysis Clinic. Couppis conducted her research in affiliation with the Vanderbilt Brain Institute. She is also affiliated with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and the Vanderbilt Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience.

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VONNIE’S HEALTH SPOT VOLUME ONE
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Boxers photo credit: iStockphoto/Piotr Sikora
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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

MARATHONS AND SUDDEN DEATH

Almost every weekend throughout the year, somewhere in the United States, a marathon is taking place, and I suspect that'€™s the case throughout many other parts of the world as well. One might think that organized marathons would cause a lot of traffic tie-ups and car crashes because of road closures, but it seems just the opposite is true. In fact, marathons lower the risk of fatal motor vehicle crashes that might otherwise have taken place if the roads had not been closed.

In the Christmas 2007 issue, BMJ-British Medical Journal released the results of a study of 26 established, randomly selected marathons examined over a 30-year period. Each marathon had at least 1,000 participants and took place on US roadways from 1975 to 2004. Sudden cardiac deaths following each marathon were recorded and compared to motor vehicle deaths during the same hours one week before and one week after each marathon. The same comparisons were then replicated for state counties that were outside the marathon route to check for spillover in traffic flow.

SURPRISING RESULTS
During the period of time studied, there were 26 sudden cardiac deaths, equivalent to a rate of 0.8 per 100,000 participants or about two deaths per million hours of exercise. But because of road closure, 46 motor vehicle fatalities were prevented that otherwise would have occurred, equivalent to almost two lives saved. The reduced risk couldn't be explained by re-routing traffic to other regions or days and was consistent across different parts of the country, decade of the century, seasons of the year, days of the week, and race characteristics.

MEDIA SENSATIONALISM
Millions of people take part in organized sporting events on a regular basis, and the outcome for a few participants is sudden death. These deaths attract widespread media attention, such as the high publicity given to deaths that occur in marathon runners. In contrast, sudden deaths from motor vehicle crashes occur more than a hundred times each day in the US alone and tend to be under-reported in the media.

THE REAL RISK
The data show that the final 1.6 km (about 1 mile) of the marathon accounts for almost half of the sudden cardiac deaths, so the authors of the study suggest the last half of the length of the marathon (and especially the last 1.6 km in particular) should contain the highest number of paramedic staffing and ambulance preparedness. The researchers concluded that the real risk, which is more dangerous than generally realized, was the final sprint followed by suddenly stopping.

For more information, go to www.marathonrookie.com/2008-marathon-calendar.html or www.britishmedicaljournal.com.

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

FATHER OF AEROBICS SPEAKS OUT ABOUT FITNESS

A couple of years ago, Kenneth Cooper, M.D., MPH, and the founder and head of Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas and CooperLife, a residential healthy-living community in McKinney, Texas, broke his leg in a skiing accident. He was 74 years old. Up until that moment in time he had followed a regular, scheduled regimen of exercise. During the recovery period he says, “I became depressed, I gained weight, I felt my quality of life had gone downhill.” But as he slowly returned to his normal level of activity, he started feeling better and better. “I’ve had to substitute fast walking for running, but that doesn’t really make any difference,” he says. “Once I was moving again, my heart rate went down … I returned to my normal weight … my depression lifted. I felt great again.”

He says this proves “Even seniors like me can modify their exercise programs to compensate for injuries and other health problems and continue to stay active. I’m still working 50 to 60 hours a week and exercising at least an hour a day. You can get healthier as your get older. What’s more, to a great extent, you control whether this happens—not your doctor, not your insurance company, not the government.”

“We know from many studies that fitness is the single most important predictor of health and quality of life at any age. In general, people with the highest levels of fitness have the highest quality of life,” avers Cooper.

BENEFITS
Listed below are some of the benefits of fitness:
*Healing—If you’re an older adult who exercises regularly, skin wounds heal faster. It might also help you recover from other ailments.
*Cancer protection—Exercise lowers your risk for every cancer.
*Strong bones—Weight-bearing exercise, such as walking or running, lowers your risk of excessive bone loss after age 50.
*Longevity—Being fit can add three years to your life and you are 65 percent less likely to die prematurely than someone who is unfit.
*Mental health—Up your exercise quotient and you’ll improve your mental health.
*Physical function—You can delay by several years the age at which you develop even minimal disability by establishing good health habits today.

MOTIVATION
Dr. Cooper says, “In my many years of medical practice, I’ve heard, over and over again, the same six reason for not exercising, to the point where I’ve developed an acronym for them—TEMMPF. No time, no energy, no motivation, no money, no place, no fun.
*No time—Build exercise into your daily routine. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, pace while you’re talking on the phone, exercise while watching TV, etc.
*No energy—Just take the first few steps. It will energize you to take the next steps and to keep on going.
*No motivation—A sincere decision to keep your quality of life high is a big motivator. Think about the things you love to do. Getting fit and staying that way means you’re more likely to be able to continue doing them.
*No money—All you have to do is get out and go for a 30-minute walk three times a week. A gym membership or an expensive trainer is not necessary.
*No place—You can walk anywhere, in a mall, in your house or back yard, march in place while watching TV.
*No fun—Saying you’re bored by your fitness program is just an excuse. Find a walking group, listen to music while you walk, dance in your living room.

Cooper says, “Fitness is a journey, not a destination. If you keep it up for the rest of your life, you’ll find that you can build muscle mass and improve your overall fitness at any age, even if you’ve never exercised before.”

*Start your fitness program at any age.
*Continue your program as you age.
*Adjust your program to meet your changing needs and interests.

Dr. Cooper’s latest book, written with his son, Tyler C. Cooper, M.D. MPH, is Start Strong, Finish Strong (Avery, Sept. 6, 2007).

For more information, take a look at www.cooperaerobics.com or click on the amazon.com icon on this page to find out more about his latest book.
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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

ARE EXPENSIVE RUNNING SHOES WORTH THE PRICE?

No, according to a recently released article in The British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) announcing that expensive running shoes are a waste of money. This is validation for all of us who have found through our own personal experience that cost does not always equal comfort. Perhaps, however, not such happy news for the manufacturers of high-end sports shoes.

The objective of the investigation was to determine if more expensive running shoes provide better cushioning of plantar pressure and are more comfortable than low-cost alternatives from the same brand. Three pairs of running shoes were purchased from three different shoe companies at three different price ranges: low, £40-45 (around $82 to $93); medium, £60-65 (around $124 to $135); and high £70-75 (around $144 to $155). A device called a Pedar measured and recorded the in-shoe plantar pressure. Comfort was assessed with a 100 mm visual analogue scale. While the 43 participants ran on a treadmill, a follow-up study was then conducted to see if shoe cushioning and comfort were comparable to walking.

The scientists concluded that low and medium cost running shoes in each of the three brands tested provided the same (if not better) cushioning of plantar pressure as high-cost running shoes. And get this—the researchers also announced that “comfort is a subjective sensation based on individual preferences and was not related to either the [measured] distribution of plantar pressure or cost.” Hmmm-mm … I could have told them that.

The study took place at the Institute of Motion Analysis & Research, University of Dundee, UK. The conclusions of this study were accepted by BJSM in August of 2007 and published in their Online First entity on the Internet in October, 2007. The authors of the study are Richard Thomas Clinghan, Graham P. Arnold, Tim S. Drew, Lynda Cochrane and Rami J. Abboud.

For more information click on www.bjsm.bmj.com.

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.