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Volume 4, Issue 2
Exercise helps treat symptoms of menopause
Menopause, which generally occurs in women over the age of 40, is associated with a variety of symptoms including hot flashes, mood swings, depression and reduced sex drive. Often times women take medications to help manage these symptom, however a new study has found that, while medication may still be necessary to manage hot flashes, exercise helps treat the psychological symptoms associated with menopause.
This eight-year study examined the impact of regular physical activity on a group of 380 women with an average age of 42. All of the women walked anywhere from 15 minutes to 90 minutes for up to 5 days a week. While none of the women were menopausal at the beginning of the study, by the end more than 50 percent experienced hot flashes. Researchers found that regular exercise did not impact hot flashes, however it did help to reduce stress anxiety and depression levels among the participants.
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Weight loss by either diet or exercise strengthens heart
Research has shown that losing weight helps to make the heart both stronger and Òyounger.Ó However a new study conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine indicates that the benefits are the same, whether the weight loss was achieved by either diet or exercise.
The study looked at weight loss and heart function in a group of 25 overweight, but not obese, men and women. During the study, which was conducted over a one year time period, half of the participants cut their caloric intake by 12 percent and the other half began an exercise routine of either walking, running or biking. The participants who did the exercise routine burned roughly the same amount of calories as the dieters cut from their food intake. At the end of the study both groups lost approximately 12 percent of their body weight and saw similar improvements in heart function.
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Lifestyle changes can help to increase lifespan
A new study conducted in Britain indicates that small changes in lifestyle can make a big impact in ones lifespan. People with four healthy lifestyle behaviors--not smoking, regular physical activity, moderate alcohol consumption, eating five servings of fruit and vegetables daily--live 14 years longer than people with none of these healthy habits.
Researchers administered a questionnaire about the four healthy behaviors to 20,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 79. The group was followed for 9-13 years and once researchers factored in age they found that those participants who had none of the healthy lifestyle habits were four times more likely to die than those who had all of them. In addition, they found that those with none of the healthy behaviors were as likely to die as those with all of the healthy behaviors who were 14 years older than them.
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Obese employees are less productive at work
Obesity is associated with a wide variety of medical and psychological conditions, including high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, depression and anxiety, to name a few. Given this fact it should not come as a surprise, that recent research has found that people who are moderately to extremely obese are less productive at work.
Researchers from the University of Cincinnati studied a group of 341 manufacturing employees, 13 percent of which were moderately to extremely obese, 23 percent that were mildly obese and 43 percent overweight but not obese. The study found that those employees who were moderately to extremely obese had increased rates of health related absenteeism. In addition, those employees had the highest rate of ÒpresenteeismÓ or on the job limitations, costing the employer an average of $1,800 annually per person.
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Higher levels of fitness reduce cancer mortality in men, regardless of weight
While many studies point to reasons to lose weight, a new study from researchers at the Cooper Institute has found that when it comes to cancer related mortality in men, fitness is as important as fatness.
For the study researchers followed a group of 38,410 men, gathering information on BMI, body fat percentage, waist circumference and cardio-respiratory fitness. The men were studied for an average of 17.2 years, during which time 1,037 cancer related deaths occurred. When the results were analyzed researchers found that both body fatness and cardio-respiratory fitness had a significant link to cancer related deaths. The study concluded that leaner men have significantly lower rates of cancer mortality, however independent of weight fitter men were also found to have less risk of dying from cancer.
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Sources
1Nelson DB, et al. (2008). Effect of physical activity on menopausal symptoms among urban women. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 40, 50-58.
2Riordan MM, et al. (2007). The Effects of Caloric Restriction- and Exercise-Induced Weight Loss on Left Ventricular Diastolic Function. American Journal of Physiology, Epub.
3Kay-Tee Khaw, at al. (2008). Combined Impact of Health Behaviours and Mortality in Men and Women: The EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Study. PLoS Medicine, 4.
4Gates DM, et al. (2008). Obesity and presenteeism: the impact of body mass index on workplace productivity. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 50, 39-45.
5Farrell SW, at al. (2008). Cardiorespiratory fitness, different measures of adiposity, and cancer mortality in men. Obesity (Silver Spring, 15, 3140-9.
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