PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  WATER'S POWERFUL ATTRIBUTES  Researchers find it helps with various conditions, from obesity to migraine.         Want to know the real power of a glass of water? It's more than just quenching your thirst. A groundbreaking study from UC San Francisco has finally put some science behind all those "drink more water" lectures we've been getting for years. And guess what? Your mom was right all along. Dr. Benjamin Breyer and his team at UCSF dove deep into the research, analyzing 18 different controlled trials. What they found might make you reach for that water bottle: proper hydration can be a game-changer for everything from shedding pounds to keeping those painful kidney stones at bay. Let's break down the most compelling findings. If you're prone to kidney stones (and anyone who's had one knows that special kind of agony), eight cups of water a day could be your best defense against a repeat performance. For those watching their weight, six cups dai...

CREDIT YOUR LIMBIC SYSTEM FOR YOUR EMOTIONS, THOUGHTS AND MOODS   Inside your head sits the most sophisticated emotional supercomputer ever created - your brain. For years, scientists have been piecing together how this remarkable organ orchestrates every feeling you've ever had, from your deepest sorrows to your highest joys. At its core is the limbic system, a network of structures that sounds like something from a biology textbook but works more like a master conductor. The hippocampus stores your emotional memories, while the amygdala acts as your smoke detector, constantly scanning for threats and opportunities. Together with other neural neighborhoods, they create the symphony of human experience. Picture your brain as a bustling city where emotion and reason intersect. The limbic system is downtown - loud, energetic, raw - while the prefrontal cortex is city hall, trying to keep everything running smoothly. Most days, they work in perfect harmony. But sometimes, like any cit...

  KEEPING THE PEACE AT THE THANKSGIVING GATHERING By Carole Tanzer Miller HealthDay Reporter Politics, especially the 2024 elections, can quickly turn the family Thanksgiving table into a battleground. Steering clear of hot-button topics will not only help a big meal go down easier, but it also has health benefits. Keeping the peace prevents a surge of fight-or-flight hormones that can disrupt sleep and cause headaches, inflammation, and even shortness of breath, according to UT Southwestern colleagues Cameron Davis, an assistant professor of psychiatry, and Sarah Woods, vice chair of research in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. They assure people that staying calm and enjoying this Thanksgiving is possible, even in a divided house. Here are their do's and dont's for reducing stress this Thanksgiving: Communicate respectfully:  Avoid personal attacks and keep the conversation focused on facts and objectives. Be assertive, not aggressive. Don't feel pressu...

  INCREASE WALKING INTENSITY FOR BETTER RESULTS WITH INTERVAL WALKING TRAINING  Health-conscious folks have been known to carry pedometers to track the number of steps they walk daily. The target number is 10,000 steps as a foundation for a healthy lifestyle. Conscientious walkers can now update their device from a pedometer to a smartphone and forget about ten thousand steps with the latest study from Dr. Shizue Masuki of Shinshu University, who found an effective way to increase overall fitness and decrease lifestyle-related disease (LSD) through Interval Walking Training (IWT). It's not how much you walk but how intensely you do so for a  minimum amount of time to get positive results. This finding may be welcome news for those who want to save time and get the most out of their workout. Interval Walking Training is the method of walking at 70...

  MUSCLES EXERCISING POWERS NEURON GROWTH AND REPAIR The findings suggest that biochemicals released during exercise and the physical effects of exercise could help heal nerves. Exercise is good for the body. Regular activity strengthens muscles and can strengthen bones, blood vessels, and the immune system. Now, MIT engineers have found that exercise can also have benefits at the level of individual neurons. They observed that muscles contract during exercise and release biochemical signals called myokines. In these muscle-generated signals, neurons grew four times further than neurons not exposed to myokines. These cellular-level experiments suggest that exercise can have a significant biochemical effect on nerve growth. Surprisingly, the researchers also found that neurons respond to the biochemical signals of exercise and its physical impacts. The team observed that when neurons are repeatedly pulled back and forth, similar to how muscles contract and expand during trainin...

  CANNABIS, THE PHANTOM MENACE, MORE DANGEROUS THAN IMAGINED The relationship between cannabis and our brain is complicated, but new research paints a sobering picture. While millions enjoy recreational marijuana, scientists are uncovering some troubling long-term effects that we can't ignore. Think of your brain as an incredibly complex network of highways, with information zipping along neural pathways like cars on a freeway. Now, imagine what happens when some of those highways start breaking down. That's essentially what researchers at McGill University discovered when they looked at how cannabis affects young brains at risk of psychosis. Using cutting-edge brain scanning technology, the McGill team found something striking: people at risk for psychosis already had fewer neural connections than usual. But when cannabis entered the picture, things got worse. The drug appeared to interfere with the brain's ...

  EXERCISE IMPROVES COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN Researchers investigate the effects of brief periods of light-intensity exercise on increasing cerebral blood flow in children.        Cognitive or intellectual functions encompass thinking, understanding, memory, language, computation, and judgment and are performed in the cerebrum. The prefrontal cortex (PFC), located in the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex, handles these functions. Studies have shown that exercise improves cognitive function through mechanisms such as enhanced cerebral blood flow, brain structural changes, and neurogenesis promotion. However, 81% of children globally do not engage in enough physical activity, leading to high levels of sedentary behavior and insufficient exercise. This lack of physical activity raises concerns about its negative impact on children's healthy brain development and cognitive function. A recent study published in  Scientific Reports  by doctoral stude...

  FLAVANOLS PROTECT THE VASCULATURE SYSTEM DURING STRESSFUL PERIODS New research has found that a flavanol-rich cocoa drink can protect the body's vasculature against stress even after eating high-fat food. Food choices made during periods of stress can influence the effect of stress on cardiovascular health. For example, recent research from the University of Birmingham found that high-fat foods can negatively affect vascular function and oxygen delivery to the brain. Meanwhile, abundant compounds in cocoa and green tea can protect vascular function during stress. Now, in a new study, the same research team has found that drinking cocoa high in flavanols in combination with a fatty meal can counteract some of the impacts of impact foods and protect the vascular system from stress. The research was published today in the  journa l . Dr. Catarina Rendeiro, Assistant Professor in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, and author of the study, knows tha...

  FRAILTY INCREASES RISK OF DEMENTIA         An international study led by a University of Queensland researcher has found frailty increases a person's risk of dementia, but early intervention may be the key to prevention. Dr David Ward from the Centre for Health Services Research tracked the data of nearly 30,000 participants of 4 longitudinal studies in the United Kingdom and the United States, enabling researchers to detect changes in people's health and function 20 years before they were diagnosed with dementia. "The accumulation of age-related conditions is indicative of increasing frailty, which we found accelerates up to 9 years prior to a dementia diagnosis," Dr Ward said. "Our findings show with every 4-5 additional health problems, there is, on average, a 40% higher risk of developing dementia, while for fitter people, the risk is lower. "This suggests frailty is not merely a consequence of undetected dementia but contributes to its onset." Fr...