PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  Adult Obesity Facts Obesity is a common, serious, and costly disease. The prevalence of obesity was 42.4% in 2017~2018.  From 1999–2000 through 2017–2018, the prevalence of obesity increased from 30.5% to 42.4%, and the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%.  Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer that are leading causes of preventable, premature death.  The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was $147 billion in 2008 US dollars; the medical cost for people who have obesity was $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.  Obesity affects some groups more than others. Non-Hispanic blacks (49.6%) had the highest age-adjusted prevalence of obesity, followed by Hispanics (44.8%), non-Hispanic whites (42.2%), and non-Hispanic Asians (17.4%). The prevalence of obesity was 40.0% among young adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.8% among middle-aged adults aged 40 to 5...

  Fructose made in the brain could be a mechanism driving Alzheimer's disease, researchers propose. New research released from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus proposes that Alzheimer's disease may be driven by the overactivation of fructose made in the brain. The study was published in the  Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience  and outlined the hypothesis that Alzheimer's disease is driven largely by Western culture that has resulted in excessive fructose metabolism in the brain. The paper brought together an interdisciplinary team of neurologists, neuroscientists, and experts on sugar metabolism. It presents evidence from extensive data and research conducted in Alzheimer's disease that links high fructose levels in the brain to the disease. It also helps explain associations, such as why diabetes and obesity are associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease. "In essence, we propose that Alzheimer's disease is a modern disease dri...

  For migraine sufferers with obesity, losing weight can decrease headaches. For migraine sufferers with obesity, losing weight can decrease headaches and improve life quality, researchers from Italy and the United States report. The results of their meta-analysis will be presented Saturday, March 23, at ENDO 2019, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in New Orleans, La. " If you suffer from migraine headaches and are obese, losing weight will ameliorate the quality of your family and social life as well as your work and school productivity. Your overall quality of life will greatly improve," said lead study author Claudio Pagano, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Padova in Padova, Italy. "Weight loss in adults and children with obesity greatly improves migraine headaches by improving all the main features that worsen migraineurs' quality of life," he added. "When people lose weight, the number of days per m...

  How and why resistance training is imperative for older adults For many older adults, resistance training may not be part of their daily routine, but a new position statement suggests it is vital to improving their health and longevity. "When you poll people on if they want to live to 100 years old, few will respond with a 'yes,'" says Maren Fragala, Ph.D., director of scientific affairs at Quest Diagnostics and lead author of the position statement. "The reason mainly being that many people associate advanced age with physical and cognitive decline, loss of independence and poor quality of life," adds Mark Peterson, Ph.D., M.S., FACSM, an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Michigan Medicine and one of the senior authors of the statement. The position statement, published in the  Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , and supported by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, highlights the benefits of strengt...

  Moderate muscle strength may lower risk for type 2 diabetes Of the 30 million Americans with diabetes, 90 to 95 percent have type 2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New research shows building muscle strength may be one way to lower risk for the disease. The study of more than 4,500 adults found moderate muscle mass reduced the risk for type 2 diabetes by 32 percent. The benefits were independent of cardiorespiratory fitness, and higher levels of muscle strength did not provide additional protection. The findings are published in the journal  Mayo Clinic Proceedings . DC (Duck-chul) Lee, associate professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University and corresponding author of the study, says the results are encouraging because even small amounts of resistance exercise may help prevent type 2 diabetes by improving muscle strength. However, it is difficult to recommend an optimal level as there are no standardized muscle strength measurements, he sai...

  A study on 90-year-olds reveals the benefits of strength training.         After specific training for 12 weeks, people over the age of 90 improved their strength, power, and muscle mass. This was reflected in an increase in their walking speed, a greater capacity to get out of their chairs, an improvement in their balance, a significant reduction in the incidence of falls, and a significant improvement in muscle power and mass in the lower limbs. These are some of the study outcomes recently published in the journal  Age  of the American Aging  Association  and which was led by Mikel Izquierdo-Redín, Professor of Physiotherapy at the NUP/UPNA-Public University of Navarre. 24 people between 91 and 96 participated in the research, eleven of them in the experimental group and 13 in the control group. Two days a week over a 12-week period, they did multicomponent training: a program of various exercises designed specifically for them and combi...

  Researchers find brief, intense stair climbing is a practical way to boost fitness. There are no more excuses for being out of shape. Researchers at McMaster University have found that short, intense bursts of stair climbing, which can be done virtually anywhere, have major benefits for heart health. The findings negate the two most common couch potatoes: no time and no access to the gym. "Stair climbing is a form of exercise anyone can do in their own home, after work or during the lunch hour," says Martin Gibala, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster and lead author on the study. "This research takes interval training out of the lab and makes it accessible to everyone." Previous studies have proven the benefits of vigorous stair climbing over sustained periods of time -- up to 70 minutes a week --, but scientists set out to determine if sprint interval training (SIT), which involves brief bursts of vigorous exercise separated by short periods of recovery, was a...