PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  WATER'S POWERFUL ATTRIBUTES  Researchers find it helps with various conditions, from obesity to migraine.         Recommendations to drink plenty of water have been a common practice for decades. The importance of hydration may have more significant health consequences than initially thought. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have systematically examined the available evidence. They concluded that drinking enough water can help with weight loss and prevent kidney stones, migraines, urinary tract infections, and low blood pressure. "For such a ubiquitous and simple intervention, the evidence hasn't been clear and the benefits were not well-established, so we wanted to take a closer look," said senior and corresponding author Benjamin Breyer, MD, MAS, the Taube Family Distinguished Professor and chair of the UCSF Department of Urology. "The amount of rigorous research turned out to be limited, but in some specific areas, there was a statistically signifi...

CREDIT YOUR LIMBIC SYSTEM FOR YOUR EMOTIONS, THOUGHTS AND MOODS  Research over the past decades has helped us understand the role of the brain in producing our emotions. Scientists have identified a key group of brain structures called the limbic system that underlies emotional experience. The limbic system includes the hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate gyrus, olfactory bulb, thalamus, and hypothalamus. The limbic system plays a crucial role in activating the body's stress response through the hypothalamus, which controls our hormone system. Thanks to our limbic system, we can feel strong emotions, avoid danger, form new memories, experience pleasure, and many other essential functions.  The limbic system and parts of the prefrontal cortex are believed to have complementary roles, with the limbic regions generating emotions and the prefrontal cortex regulating those emotions. For example, activity in the amygdala increases when we are frightened. , whereas activity in the prefr...

  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  Scientists have known for some time that cannabis use has deleterious effects on health long-term. The evidence keeps piling up of how dangerous this drug can be.  A recent study conducted at McGill University showed how cannabis increases the risks of psychosis. These are just the latest concerns, as cannabis has also been implicated in increasing heart attacks and stroke risks, according to a study of 430,000 adults conducted by the American Heart Association. According to findings at McGill University, Young adults at risk of psychosis show reduced brain connectivity, a deficit that cannabis use appears to worsen. In the first-of-its-kind study, McGill University researchers detected a marked decrease in synaptic density -- the connections between neurons that enable brain communication -- in indivi...

  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...