PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  FASTING FOR WEIGHT LOSS MAY PROVIDE A TEMPORARY FIX Water fasts -- where people consume nothing but water for several days -- might help you lose weight, but it's unclear how long you'll keep it off, according to research from the University of Illinois Chicago. And the other metabolic benefits of water fasts, such as lower blood pressure and improved cholesterol, seem to disappear soon after the fast ends. However, there do not appear to be any serious adverse effects for those who do a water fast or a similar kind of fast where people consume a minimal number of calories a day, said Krista Varady, professor of kinesiology and nutrition, who led the research, which is published in  Nutrition Reviews . "My overall conclusion is that I guess you could try it, but it just seems like a lot of work, and all those metabolic benefits disappear," Varady said. She stressed, however, that only one should undertake one of these fasts for five days with medical supervision. Va...

  HOW DOES EXERCISING IMPROVE HEALTH AS WE AGE? Findings may represent promising strategies for promoting muscle function during aging.         Proven to protect against a wide array of diseases, exercise may be the most potent anti-aging intervention known to science. However, while physical activity can improve health during aging, its beneficial effects inevitably decline. The cellular mechanisms underlying the relationship between exercise, fitness, and aging still need to be better understood. In a paper published in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center investigated the role of one cellular mechanism in improving physical fitness through exercise training. They identified one anti-aging intervention that delayed the declines that occur with aging in the model organism. The scientists' findings open new strategies for promoting muscle function during aging. "Exercise has been widely employed to imp...

  HIGH DOSES OF VITAMIN D MAY PREVENT ATRIAL FIBRILLATION Higher-than-recommended doses of vitamin D taken for five years reduced the risk of atrial fibrillation in older men and women, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland. Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia, increasing with age and associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart failure, and mortality. Vitamin D has been shown to have an effect, for example, on the atrial structure and the heart's electrical function, suggesting that vitamin D might prevent atrial fibrillation. Conducted at the University of Eastern Finland from 2012-2018, the Finnish Vitamin D Trial, FIND's main objective was to explore the associations of vitamin D supplementation with the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and cancers. The five-year study involved 2,495 participants, 60-year-old or older men and 65-year-old or older women, who were randomized into three groups: one placebo group and two vitamin...

  A FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK HAS MANY HEALTH BENEFITS As a four-day work week is trialed in countries across the globe, health researchers at the University of South Australia say they're 'all in' when it comes to a long weekend, especially as new empirical research shows that the extra time off is good for our health. Assessing changes in daily movements before, during, and after holidays, researchers found that people displayed more active, healthy behaviors when they were on holiday, even when they only had a three-day break. Across the 13-month study period, people generally took an average of two to three holidays, each around 12 days. The most common holiday type was 'outdoor recreation' (35 percent), followed by 'family/social events' (31 percent), 'rest and relaxation' (17 percent), and 'non-leisure pursuits' such as caring for others or home renovations (17 percent). Specifically, it showed that on holiday, people: engaged in 13 percent mor...

  COLORFUL FRESH FOODS IMPROVE VISION . :         Nutrition is an essential part of any top athlete's training program. And now, a new study by researchers from the University of Georgia proposes that supplementing the diet of athletes with colorful fruits and vegetables could improve their visual range. The paper, which was published in  Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews , examines how a group of plant compounds that build up in the retina, known as macular pigments, work to improve eye health and functional vision. Previous studies done by UGA researchers Billy R. Hammond and Lisa Renzi-Hammond have shown that eating foods like dark leafy greens or yellow and orange vegetables, which contain high levels of the plant compounds lutein and zeaxanthin, improves eye and brain health. "A lot of the research into macular lutein and zeaxanthin has focused on health benefits, but from a functional perspective, higher concentrations of these plant pigments improv...

  Three or more concussions are linked with worse brain function in later life. According to significant new research, experiencing three or more traumas is linked with worsened brain function in later life. According to significant new research, experiencing three or more concussions is linked with worsened brain function in later life. The study -- the largest of its kind -- also found having just one moderate-to-severe concussion, or traumatic brain injury (TBI), can have a long-term impact on brain function, including memory. Led by teams at the University of Oxford and the University of Exeter, the research included data from more than 15,000 online PROTECT study participants aged between 50 and 90 and based in the UK. They reported the severity and frequency of concussions they had experienced throughout their lives and completed annual, computerized tests for brain function. Published in the  Journal of Neurotrauma , the paper found that people who reported three or mor...

  SEDENTARY ADOLESCENTS SUFFER FROM ENLARGED HEARTS.  In adolescents, sedentary time may increase heart size three times more than moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, a paper published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports concludes. The study was conducted in collaboration between the University of Bristol in the UK, the University of Exeter in the UK, and the University of Eastern Finland. The researchers explored the associations of sedentary time, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with cardiac structure and function. Recent World Health Organization reports and guidelines note that more than 80% of adolescents across the globe have insufficient physical activity per day. Physical inactivity has been associated with several non-communicable adult diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. In the pediatric population, most movement behavior studies have focused on the effect of seden...

  PRAZOSIN CAN PREVENT POSTTRAUMATIC HEADACHES. A study led by VA Puget Sound Health Care System researchers has shown that prazosin, a drug used to treat high blood pressure, can prevent posttraumatic headaches. Senior study author Dr. Murray Raskind, director of the VA Northwest Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center in Seattle, Washington, explained that few treatment options exist for this type of headache. "Persistent posttraumatic headaches are the most common long-term consequence of mild traumatic brain injuries (concussions) in Veterans and active-duty service members, causing substantial distress and disability at home and work. Although these headaches usually resemble migraine headaches symptomatically, they often fail to respond to the prevention treatments useful for migraines," said Raskind. The FDA approved prazosin to treat hypertension in 1976. It has been widely used "off-label" to treat conditions such as PTSD-associated nightmare...

  DOES OBESITY INCREASE THE RISK OF MENTAL DISORDERS? Being obese significantly increases the chances of also developing mental disorders. This applies to all age groups, with women at higher risk than men for most diseases, as a recent study by the Complexity Science Hub and the Medical University of Vienna shows. The results were published in the specialist journal  Translational Psychiatry. "We analyzed a population-wide national registry of inpatient hospitalizations in Austria from 1997 to 2014 to determine the relative risks of comorbidities in obesity and identify statistically significant sex differences," explains Elma Dervic of the Complexity Science Hub. Consequently, it became evident that an obesity diagnosis significantly enhances the likelihood of a wide range of mental disorders across all age groups -- including depression, nicotine addiction, psychosis, anxiety, eating, and personality disorders. "From a clinical point of view, these results emphasise t...