PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  EVENING ACTIVITY BEFORE BED MAY IMPROVE SLEEP       Rigorous exercise before bed has long been discouraged, but University of Otago researchers have found short bursts of light activity can lead to better sleep. In a world-first study published in  BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine  and funded by the Health Research Council, participants completed two four-hour evening intervention sessions of prolonged sitting and sitting interrupted with three-minute activity breaks every half hour. The researchers found that after the participants completed the activity breaks intervention, they slept for 30 minutes longer. Lead author Jennifer Gale, PhD candidate in the Department of Human Nutrition, says sitting for long periods is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and death. "We know that for many of us, our most extended period of uninterrupted sitting happens at home in the evening. Our previous studies found that getting ...

  FRUIT INTAKE MAY HELP PREVENT MILD DEPRESSION          Populations are rapidly aging worldwide, and there is an increased prevalence of late-life depressive symptoms among older adults, which include depressed feelings, lack of pleasure, delayed cognitive processing, and reduced volitional activity, often accompanied by loss of appetite, insomnia, poor concentration, and increased fatigue. This has been related to underlying neurodegenerative changes in the brain associated with aging. The growing imperative to keep older adults in good health has spurred extensive research into approaches that could prevent late-life depression, and accumulating evidence has revealed the plausible role of dietary factors in protecting against depression in aging. Could specific diet or food items consumed earlier in life impact mental well-being in later years? In a longitudinal study conducted by the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS...

  A new study reveals a link between playing contact sports and Parkinsonism in individuals with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Most Parkinson's disease-like symptoms may be caused by CTE pathology, not classic Parkinson's disease.         The most extensive study of CTE to date has found a new link between playing contact sports, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and the development of a movement disorder known as Parkinsonism. The study of 481 deceased athletes by researchers at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and VA Boston Healthcare, published today in  JAMA Neurology , reveals that most individuals with CTE developed Parkinsonism, and CTE pathology appears to drive the parkinsonism symptoms in most cases. Parkinsonism is a condition characterized by symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease, such as tremors, abnormal slowness of movements, or abnormal stiffness of one's arms or legs. It has long been associated with ...

  EXERCISE INCREASES TUMOR-KILLING WHITE BLOOD CELLS IN CANCER PATIENTS A new Finnish study from the University of Turku shows that a 30-minute exercise can increase the proportion of tumor-killing white blood cells in the bloodstream of breast cancer patients. White blood cells, the cells of our immune system, fight against cancer, bacteria, and viruses. However, not all white blood cells destroy cancer cells; some can even promote cancer growth. The most important cell types that kill cancer cells are cytotoxic T and natural killer cells. Cell types that support cancer growth include, for example, regulatory T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells. "The balance of different types of white blood cells determines whether the immune system works to destroy cancer or to support it. If there are more cancer-destroying cells than cancer-promoting cells in the tumor area, the body is more capable of fighting cancer," says lead author, Doctoral Researcher Tiia Koivula from the...

  A new study finds that 40 percent of cancer cases and almost half of all deaths in the US are linked to modifiable risk factors. A new study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) finds four in 10 cancer cases and about one-half of all cancer deaths in adults 30 years old and older in the United States (or 713,340 cancer cases and 262,120 cancer deaths in 2019) could be attributed to modifiable risk factors, including cigarette smoking, excess body weight, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, diet, and infections. Cigarette smoking was by far the leading risk factor, contributing to nearly 20% of all cancer cases and 30% of all cancer deaths. The findings are published in  CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. "Despite considerable declines in smoking prevalence during the past few decades, the number of lung cancer deaths attributable to cigarette smoking in the United States is alarming. This finding underscores the importance of implementing comprehen...

  Teens who view their homes as more chaotic than their siblings have poorer mental health in adulthood. Many parents ponder why one of their children seems more emotionally troubled than the others. A new study in the United Kingdom reveals a possible basis for those differences. Adolescents who view their households as more unstructured, disorganized, or hectic than their siblings develop more mental health and behavioral problems in early adulthood, according to the study. The findings are published in  Psychological Science , the Association for Psychological Science journal. In research tracking thousands of twins born in the mid-1990s, Sophie von Stumm, a psychology professor at the University of York, found that teenagers who perceived their homes as more disorganized, unstructured, or fast-paced than their siblings suffered more anxiety and depression and engaged in more substance use and problem behavior. She said that if future research confirms those findings, psych...

  HIGH-INTENSITY EXERCISE IS A NATURAL BRAIN BOOSTER. High-intensity interval exercise improves brain function in older adults for up to 5 years.         A longitudinal study by University of Queensland researchers has found that high-intensity interval exercise improves brain function in older adults for up to 5 years. Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett and Dr Daniel Blackmore from UQ's Queensland Brain Institute led the study in which volunteers did physical exercise and had brain scans. Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett and Dr Daniel Blackmore have shown that intense exercise boosts cognition in healthy older adults, and the improvement was retained for up to 5 years. Emeritus Professor Bartlett said it is the first controlled study to show exercise can boost cognition in healthy older adults, not just delay cognitive decline. "Six months of high-intensity interval training is enough to flick the switch," Emeritus Professor Bartlett said. "In earlier pre-clini...