PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  PHYSICIANS COMMUNICATING WITHOUT HARM When someone is seriously ill, the emotional toll on both patients and their families is heavy—sometimes just as heavy as the physical burden. Researchers, including a Texas A&M professor, say that how doctors talk to patients matters as much as what treatments they offer. They argue that “compassionate communication” should be a standard part of care, not an afterthought. They’ve even created a list of “never words”—things clinicians should never say—and offer ways to replace them with language that supports rather than scares. A recent paper in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, co-authored by Dr. Leonard Berry from Texas A&M’s Mays Business School and colleagues from Henry Ford Health in Detroit, points out that even as medicine advances for diseases like cancer and advanced heart or lung failure, some things never change. Fear, confusion, and hope—sometimes unrealistic—are always part of the patient experience. Trying to explain complex tre...

  LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE IN FIVE MINUTES DAILY New research suggests that adding a small amount of physical activity—such as uphill walking or stair-climbing—to your day may help lower blood pressure. The study, published in  Circulation , was carried out by experts from the ProPASS (Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep) Consortium, an international academic collaboration led by the University of Sydney and University College London (UCL). Just five minutes of activity a day was estimated to potentially reduce blood pressure, while replacing sedentary behaviors with 20-27 minutes of exercise per day, including uphill walking, stair-climbing, running, and cycling was also estimated to lead to a clinically meaningful reduction in blood pressure. Joint senior author Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, Director of the ProPASS Consortium, from the Charles Perkins Centre, said: "High blood pressure is one of the biggest health issues globally, but unlike some major causes ...

  BETA-BLOCKER HEART MEDICATIONS MAY CAUSE DEPRESSION IN SOME PATIENTS :         All patients who have had a heart attack are typically treated using beta blockers. According to a Swedish study conducted earlier this year, this drug is unlikely to be needed for those heart patients with a normal pumping ability. Now, a sub-study at Uppsala University shows that there is also a risk that these patients will become depressed by the treatment. "We found that beta blockers led to slightly higher levels of depression symptoms in patients who had had a heart attack but were not suffering from heart failure. At the same time, beta-blockers have no life-sustaining function for this group of patients," says Philip Leissner, a doctoral student in cardiac psychology and the study's first author. Beta-blockers are drugs that block the effects of adrenaline on the heart and have been used for decades as a basic treatment for all heart attack patients. In recent years, their ...

  SITTING: AN UNEXPECTED HEALTH RISK         Between long commutes, video conference-packed workdays, and evenings of streaming and scrolling, millennials now spend more than 60 hours per week sitting, potentially increasing their risk of heart disease and accelerating other signs of aging, according to new research from the University of California, Riverside. The study, which involved more than 1,000 former or current Colorado residents, including 730 twins, is among the first to investigate the impact of sitting on health measures such as cholesterol and body mass index (BMI) in young adults. It found that more than meeting the minimum recommended physical activity guidelines—about 20 minutes per day of moderate exercise—is needed to counter the hazards of spending most waking hours in a seat. "Our research suggests that sitting may be necessary to get more vigorous exercise, or a seated po,smayombiay be necessary to reduce the risk of premature aging in earl...

  CONCUSSIONS LINKED TO HIGHER IRON IN THE BRAIN         People who have headaches after experiencing concussions may also be more likely to have higher levels of iron in areas of the brain, which is a sign of injury to brain cells, according to a preliminary study released today that was presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 76 th  Annual Meeting. "These results suggest that iron accumulation in the brain can be used as a biomarker for concussion and post-traumatic headache, which could potentially help us understand the underlying processes that occur with these conditions," said study author Simona Nikolova, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. The study involved 60 people who had post-traumatic headaches due to mild traumatic brain injury or concussion. The injuries were due to a fall in 45% of the people, 30% were due to a motor vehicle accident, and 12% were due to a fight. Other ca...

  YOUR PERSONALITY IMPACTS YOUR ACTIVITY LEVEL A study conducted at the Gerontology Research Centre and the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä observed associations of personality traits with physical activity and sedentary behavior . Individuals characterized by high conscientiousness and extraversion are likelier to accumulate more extended periods of physical activity and sedentary behavior. In contrast, individuals with higher neuroticism scores tend to interrupt their sedentary behavior more often. Your personality might influence how you move throughout the day, not how you think. A fascinating study from Finland's University of Jyväskylä has uncovered some surprising connections between who we are and how we move. Think of the friend who can't sit still and is constantly fidgeting or who goes for long, scheduled runs. These behaviors might be tied to personality traits. The researchers tracked the same people aged 33, 42, 50, and 61, exam...

  STRESS: TAKES TOLL ON COGNITIVE RESERVE While mentally stimulating activities and life experiences can improve cognition in patients with memory clinic diagnoses, stress undermines this beneficial relationship, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in  Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association . Researchers in the late 1980s found that some individuals who showed no apparent symptoms of dementia during their lifetime had brain changes consistent with an advanced stage of Alzheimer's disease. It has been postulated that so-called cognitive reserve might account for this differential protective effect in individuals. Cognitively stimulating and enriching life experiences and behaviors, such as higher educational attainment, complex jobs, continued physical and leisure activities, and healthy social interactions, help build cognitive reserve. However, high or persistent stress levels are associated with reduced social int...