PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  PAIN RELIEF WITH VIRTUAL REALITY Imagine finding pain relief without ever reaching for a pill. That’s the premise behind new research out of the University of Exeter, where scientists discovered that immersive virtual reality (VR) nature scenes can significantly reduce pain sensitivity—sometimes as effectively as medication. The study, published in the journal Pain, took healthy volunteers and simulated chronic pain using mild electric shocks on the forearm. Participants were then immersed in 360-degree VR films of forests and waterfalls, or shown the same scenes on a regular flat screen. The difference was striking: those who experienced the scenes through VR reported almost twice the pain relief compared to 2D video, and the benefits lasted at least five minutes after the virtual experience ended. The team, led by Dr. Sam Hughes, wanted to see if the well-known pain-reducing effects of being in nature could be replicated for people who can’t easily access the outdoors—like many...

WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS: HIDDEN DANGERS GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic are making headlines for their ability to help people lose weight quickly. But a new study from the University of Virginia is raising a red flag: while these medications help people shed fat, they're also causing significant muscle loss—and that could have serious consequences for long-term health. The UVA research team points out that drugs like Ozempic have clear benefits, especially for people with obesity, type 2 diabetes, or heart failure. Patients see better blood sugar control, some improvement in heart and kidney function, and, in some cases, longer lives. But there’s a catch: the weight that comes off isn’t just fat. A sizable chunk is muscle, which people need for strength, mobility, and even heart health. “Some of my patients told me they could feel their muscles slipping away,” says Dr. Zhenqi Liu, a professor at UVA’s School of Medicine. “That’s worrying. Muscle is critical for posture, daily movement, and over...

 INSOMNIA TREATMENTS: NATURAL APPROACHES If you’re struggling with sleepless nights, you might not need to reach for a prescription. New research suggests yoga, Tai Chi, walking, and jogging could be just as powerful as traditional insomnia treatments—and with far fewer side effects. A central review published in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine looked at dozens of studies comparing different ways to improve sleep. The verdict? Exercise-based interventions, especially Tai Chi, delivered major wins: longer overall sleep, better sleep efficiency, and less time spent staring at the ceiling after waking up in the middle of the night. Yoga in particular helped people feel more rested, and jogging made a real dent in insomnia symptoms. Insomnia isn’t just frustrating; it’s linked to higher risks for mental and physical health problems, including dementia and heart disease. While cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the gold standard for treatment, it isn’t always easy to access. Medications ...

SLEEP HABITS: REGULARITY IS KEY A new international study has found that irregular sleep schedules—like going to bed at different times every night or having a disrupted internal clock—could put you at higher risk for dozens of diseases, from liver problems to circulatory disorders. The research looked at sleep data from over 88,000 adults tracked for almost seven years, and the results are pretty eye-opening: poor sleep habits were tied to increased risk for 172 different diseases. What stood out was that sleep regularity matters just as much—if not more—than how long you sleep. People who went to bed after 12:30 a.m. had more than double the risk of developing liver cirrhosis compared to those with steadier routines. Another finding: those with unstable daily rhythms were much more likely to develop gangrene. The study also challenges the idea that sleeping more than nine hours is bad for you. When researchers used wearable devices to measure sleep objectively, they found that “long ...

  DIABETICS CUT HEALTH RISKS:  TWO WEEKLY WORKOUTS  If you have diabetes, getting active—even if it’s only a couple of times a week—could make a significant difference for your heart. A new study involving more than 50,000 adults with diabetes found that both “weekend warriors” (people who cram their exercise into one or two days) and those who spread their workouts throughout the week saw significant drops in their risk of dying from heart problems or any cause. The best part? As long as you hit the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per week, it didn’t matter if you squeezed it all into the weekend or broke it up across several days. The research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, analyzed data from over two decades of the National Health Interview Survey. Participants were grouped by their activity patterns: inactive (no exercise), insufficiently active (less than 150 minutes per week), weekend warriors (150+ minutes over one or two se...

    PISTACHIOS: SUPPORTS GUT HEALTH  Replacing your usual nighttime carb snack with pistachios could do more than just shake up your routine—it might change the bacteria in your gut, according to a recent Penn State study . Researchers followed 51 adults with prediabetes who replaced their typical bedtime carbs (such as a slice or two of whole-grain bread) with about two ounces of pistachios every night over 12 weeks. The results? Those who ate pistachios observed a shift in their gut microbiome in some interesting ways. There was a jump in the abundance of bacteria like Roseburia and other Lachnospiraceae family members, which are known for producing butyrate—a short-chain fatty acid that helps fuel colon cells, keep the gut lining healthy, and tamp down inflammation. At the same time, levels of less desirable bacteria, such as Blautia hydrogenotrophica (linked to compounds that can harm kidney and heart health) and Eubacterium flavonifractor (which breaks down antioxida...