PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  SEMAGLUTIDE PROTECTS THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM Forget everything you thought you knew about weight loss medications. A sweeping new study from University College London suggests that semaglutide — the drug behind Ozempic and Wegovy — does much more than help people shed pounds. Even for patients who barely lost any weight, the risk of heart attack and stroke still dropped by a dramatic 20%. The secret? It appears that this medicine is working its magic deep inside the body, altering factors such as inflammation, blood pressure, and the health of blood vessels — benefits that extend far beyond the bathroom scale. Massive Study, Big Surprises The research, published in The Lancet and backed by Novo Nordisk, tracked more than 17,000 adults with cardiovascular disease who were overweight or obese. Half of the participants received weekly semaglutide injections, while the other half received a placebo. The result: Both groups experienced a significant difference, with those on semagl...

MOST POTENT ANTIBIOTIC SO FAR, UNCOVERED A team of chemists stumbled on a game-changing antibiotic hiding in a place no one expected: inside a familiar bacterium that scientists have studied for decades. This molecule is 100 times stronger than existing antibiotics, shows no signs of resistance so far, and could finally turn the tide against superbugs like MRSA and VRE. Old Bacteria, New Tricks The breakthrough, led by researchers from the University of Warwick and Monash University, was made possible through creative thinking. Instead of searching for exotic microbes, the scientists looked more closely at Streptomyces coelicolor, a “model” bacterium famous for producing antibiotics and a familiar presence in labs since the 1950s. Buried in its regular antibiotic production line, they found a chemical intermediate named pre-methylenomycin C lactone. Nobody had ever tested it for antibiotic properties before. And that’s where things got interesting. According to Professor Greg Challis, ...

 EXCESSIVE SCREEN TIME NEGATIVELY IMPACTS CHILDREN'S HEALTH Kids and screens go hand in hand these days, but new research from Denmark suggests that those hours spent in front of TVs, tablets, or phones might be setting them up for future heart and metabolic problems. Researchers found that with every extra hour of recreational screen time, children and teenagers faced a higher risk of trouble: things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and signs their bodies aren't handling sugar as well as they should. Looking at over a thousand Danish kids and teens, the study found a clear pattern—more screen time meant higher chances of early warning signs for heart disease and metabolic issues. And when those late-night gaming sessions or binge-watch marathons robbed kids of sleep, the risk grew even worse. It’s not just guesswork; the scientists could actually see the impact in kids' blood, spotting a kind of “screen-time fingerprint” that hints at changes long before disease...

  EXERCISE DOES NOT SHORTEN LIFESPAN It’s time to toss out the idea that working out “spends” your heartbeats and shortens your lifespan. Thanks to new research out of Australia, we now know the opposite is true: physically fit people actually use up fewer heartbeats per day—even when you count all those sweaty workouts. This isn’t just a technicality. According to the study, athletes clock in with an average heart rate of just 68 beats per minute. Sedentary folks? They're up at 76. Multiply that out and you get a huge difference: over 11,000 fewer heartbeats every day for those who keep fit. That’s nearly 10 percent less work for your heart, every single day. Professor La Gerche, who leads the HEART Laboratory at St Vincent's Institute and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, sums it up like this: “Athletes’ hearts work harder during exercise, sure, but their lower resting rates more than make up for it. Over 24 hours, fit people’s hearts are actually doing less total ...