Surprising Health Benefits of Sex

Sexual Health

"When you're in the mood, it's a sure bet that the last thing on your mind is boosting your immune system or maintaining a healthy weight. Yet good sex offers those health benefits and more. That's a surprise to many people, says Joy Davidson, PhD, a New York psychologist and sex therapist. 'Of course, sex is everywhere in the media,' she says. 'But the idea that we are vital, sexual creatures is still looked at in some cases with disgust or in other cases a bit of embarrassment. So to really take a look at how our sexuality adds to our life and enhances our life and our health, both physical and psychological, is eye-opening for many people.'

Sex does a body good in a number of ways, according to Davidson and other experts. The benefits aren't just anecdotal or hearsay -- each of these health benefits of sex is backed by scientific scrutiny." *

Sex Relieves Stress

"A big health benefit of sex is lower blood pressure and overall stress reduction, according to researchers from Scotland who reported their findings in the journal Biological Psychology. They studied 24 women and 22 men who kept records of their sexual activity. Then the researchers subjected them to stressful situations -- such as speaking in public and doing verbal arithmetic -- and noted their blood pressure response to stress. Those who had intercourse had better responses to stress than those who engaged in other sexual behaviors or abstained."

Sex Lowers Blood Pressure

"Another study published in Biological Psychology found that frequent intercourse was associated with lower diastolic blood pressure (the lower, or second, number in a blood pressure reading). This study focused on people living with their sex partner.

Still further research found a link between partner hugs and lower blood pressure in women.

Elevated blood pressure is a risk factor for coronary artery disease, heart attack, kidney disease, and stroke."

Sex Boosts Immunity

"Good sexual health may mean better physical health. Having sex once or twice a week has been linked with higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A or IgA, which can protect you from getting colds and other infections. Scientists at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., took samples of saliva, which contain IgA, from 112 college students who reported the frequency of sex they had.

Those in the 'frequent' group -- once or twice a week -- had higher levels of IgA than those in the other three groups -- who reported being abstinent, having sex less than once a week, or having it very often, three or more times weekly."

Sex Counts As Exercise

"'Sex is a great mode of exercise,' says Patti Britton, PhD, a Los Angeles sexologist and president of the American Association of Sexuality Educators and Therapists. It takes work, from both a physical and psychological perspective, to do it well, she says.

The benefits of sex as a form of exercise are many - sex can improve your cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility, and balance, not to mention your emotional health."

Sex Burns Calories

"Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more. It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound. The number of calories burned during sex is about the same as the number burned by walking at 2 miles per hour.

Doubling up on the 30 minute sessions, you could drop that pound in 21 hour-long sessions."

Sex Improves Cardiovascular Health

"While some older folks may worry that the efforts expended during sex could cause a stroke, that's not so, according to researchers from England. In a study published in theJournal of Epidemiology and Community Health, scientists found that the frequency of sex was not associated with stroke in the 914 men they followed for 20 years.

And the heart health benefits of sex don't end there. The researchers also found that having sex twice or more a week reduced the risk of fatal heart attack by half for the men, compared with those who had sex less than once a month."

Sex Boosts Self-Esteem

"Boosting self-esteem was one of 237 reasons people have sex, collected by University of Texas researchers and published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

That finding makes sense to Gina Ogden, PhD, a sex therapist and marriage and family therapist in Cambridge, Mass., although she finds that those who already have self-esteem say they sometimes have sex to feel even better. 'One of the reasons people say they have sex is to feel good about themselves,' she tells WebMD. 'Great sex begins with self-esteem, and it raises it. If the sex is loving, connected, and what you want, it raises it.'"

Sex Strengthens Your Well-Being

"Sex, like any activity that fosters a close and loving connection to your partner, not only raises self-esteem, but strengthens your overall sense of well-being. Studies have shown that people with strong social support networks (which includes lovers) are healthier and happier than their less-connected peers." 

Sex Improves Intimacy

"Having sex and orgasms increases levels of the hormone oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, which helps us bond and build trust. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of North Carolina evaluated 59 premenopausal women before and after warm contact with their husbands and partners ending with hugs. They found that the more contact, the higher the oxytocin levels.

'Oxytocin allows us to feel the urge to nurture and to bond,' Britton says.

Higher oxytocin has also been linked with a feeling of generosity. So if you're feeling suddenly more generous toward your partner than usual, credit the love hormone." 

Sex Reduces Pain

"As the hormone oxytocin surges, endorphins increase, and pain declines. So if your headache, arthritis pain, or PMS symptoms seem to improve after sex, you can thank those higher oxytocin levels.

Oxytocin – The Love Hormone

"A study published in the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine examined the response of the 'love hormone' oxytocin on pain perception in an experiment with 48 volunteers. Study participants inhaled oxytocin vapor and then had their fingers pricked. Those who had inhaled oxytocin lowered their pain threshold by more than half."

Sex Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk

"Frequent ejaculations, especially in 20-something men, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer later in life, Australian researchers reported in the British Journal of Urology International. When they followed men diagnosed with prostate cancer and those without, they found no association of prostate cancer with the number of sexual partners as the men reached their 30s, 40s, and 50s.

But they found men who had five or more ejaculations weekly while in their 20s reduced their risk of getting prostate cancer later by a third.

Another study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that frequent ejaculations, 21 or more a month, were linked to lower prostate cancer risk in older men, as well, compared with less frequent ejaculations of four to seven monthly."

Sex Strengthens Pelvic Floor Muscles

"For women, doing a few pelvic floor muscle exercises known as Kegel exercises during sex offers a couple of benefits. You will enjoy more pleasure, and you'll also strengthen the area and help to minimize the risk of incontinence later in life.

To do a basic Kegel exercise, tighten the muscles of your pelvic floor, as if you're trying to stop the flow of urine. Count to three, then release."

Additional Benefits of Kegel Exercises

"Kegel exercises have a number of proven health benefits in addition to making sex more enjoyable. The strengthening of the pelvic floor muscles can help prevent prolapse (a slipping out of position) of the vagina, uterus, and bladder. Pelvic floor muscles may be weakened later in life as a result of childbearing, being overweight, and aging. Kegel exercises help offset the consequences of weakened pelvic floor muscles."

Sex Helps You Sleep Better

"The oxytocin released during orgasm also promotes sleep, according to research.

And getting enough sleep has been linked with a host of other good things, such as maintaining a healthy weight and blood pressure. Something to think about, especially if you've been wondering why your guy can be active one minute and snoring the next."

Sex As Physical Exercise Also Promotes Sleep

"The physical exercise component of sex can also help you relax and sleep better, in addition to the hormonal effects. People who get regular exercise tend to sleep better and have more restful sleep. Moreover, as we have seen in the earlier part of this slideshow, sex is a great way to get some exercise." 

Summary

"Take note that sex is good for you in ways you may never have imagined and that the health benefits extend well beyond the bedroom."

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Running a marathon: how to survive the historic endurance race

As the weather improves, so does the likelihood of people going out and running. While many people go running as a simple way of keeping fit, for others, it is a necessary part of a long-term project; training for a marathon.

Millions of people around the world run marathons every year, often raising large sums of money for charity.

Those who have signed up to take part in marathons this autumn are likely to have already begun training regimes. If they are going to be running in their first ever marathon, it is recommended that they should have done. Meanwhile, others whose local marathons are held in the spring may only now be thinking about participating in one.

Marathons are rightly considered to be one of the most demanding physical challenges that an individual can undertake. They require months of preparation and dedicated training for the running to be a success and not hazardous to the runner's health.

What could possibly motivate someone to take on such an arduous task? And where should one begin when it comes to preparing to take on running a marathon? For many, running a marathon for the first time is a completely different prospect to any form of exercise they will have encountered before.

In this Spotlight feature, we take a brief look at what running a marathon involves, along with what levels of preparation are recommended for someone taking on the challenge.

Why would anyone want to run a marathon?

Last week, Medical News Today reported on two new studies that found exercising at extreme levels such as marathon running could lead to blood poisoning. Studies such as this beg the question: why would anyone want to run a marathon?

One reason is that people might wish to take part in a long tradition of endurance running. A tradition that has its roots in ancient history, inspired by the legend of an ancient Greek who ran from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to spread news of a Greek military victory.

Athens was host to the first organized marathon, held at the 1896 Olympics. The original distance of the marathon was 40 km, representing the distance from Marathon to Athens, but this was extended at the 1908 Olympics in London to accommodate a request from the British royal family.

This increase in distance - allegedly done so that the course started at Windsor Castle and ended in front of the royal box at the Olympic Stadium - then became the official length for a marathon; a distance of 42.195 kilometers (26.2 miles) that runners worldwide are now familiar with.

Although once a very exclusive event only open to male athletes, marathon races are now open to all and take place all over the world. In America alone, there are more than 1,100 marathons each year, including the Boston Marathon - the world's oldest annual marathon.

As well as a desire to tackle a historical and immense challenge, marathon runners are often spurred on by charitable motives. At many marathons, elite runners will share the streets with eager amateurs running to raise money for good causes.

Marathon runners generate huge amounts of money for charity, including significant funds for various medical research groups. Last year, the Boston Marathon and the New York Marathon raised $27.5 million and $30 million respectively in funds for charities, yet these figures pale in comparison with the estimated $79.1 million raised by the London Marathon.

With figures like these, it is clear to see that marathon runners participating in these races and doing so successfully can make a big difference for charities. There is a lot of pressure to succeed, and so prospective runners do well to spend a lot of time planning out their training regimen.

The importance of well-planned physical training

Running a marathon is without doubt an extreme form of exercise. For this reason, it is recommended that people aiming to participate in one should build up a considerable amount of running experience prior to tackling one for the first time, including running shorter distance races.

It is also recommended that you inform your doctor that you plan to train for and run a marathon. If there are any personal health concerns you need to be aware of, they should be able to let you know and provide advice. You should seek medical clearance before beginning training in case you have a health condition that might make training dangerous.

"While I think that any healthy individual who is willing to commit to the training can complete a marathon, I don't recommend that runners jump right into the marathon distance," states Christine Luff, a running and jogging expert for About Health.

Training for a marathon is a long process that should build up endurance gradually and consistently.

Instead, Luff recommends that beginners first establish a regular running habit, going out around 3-4 times a week, building up a base mileage for runs gradually over the course of 6 months. Once this has been done, runners can get some experience of endurance running by entering shorter distance races, such as a 5K, a 10K or even a half marathon.

Training for a marathon is not just about practicing running for long periods of time. Runners also need to prepare their body for the immense strain that extreme exercise will put it under. Cross-training activities such as cycling and swimming not only improve your aerobic conditioning but also boost the body's resistance to injury.

Activities that increase the body's strength, such as Pilates, Yoga or using weights, can also be beneficial.

A good training schedule for around 20 weeks will include runs over a variety of distances that increase gradually, cross-training and rest days. Rest days can either involve no training at all or "active recovery," a short run at an easy pace to allow the muscles to loosen up.

Shorter training runs should be run at a moderate pace while longer runs - slowly building up toward marathon distance but never reaching it - should be taken slowly, at an easy, conversational pace.

In the final weeks before the marathon, it is important that training is tapered, cutting back on the amount of training that is done in order to allow the body and mind to recover. After 18 weeks of training, fitness is not going to improve any further, so the focus should be on keeping the body as healthy as possible.

Three weeks before the marathon, runners should run their last long run, treating it as a dress rehearsal of sorts. The subsequent weeks should see training reduced gradually, with less attention paid to cross-training and more on easy runs and resting.

Be prepared: eat and dress appropriately

Of course, there are other measures that need to be taken when preparing oneself for a marathon. Improving fitness is crucial, but runners can give themselves a huge advantage by eating properly and wearing the right clothes.

Every runner should have proper footwear. A runner's feet are crucial to their training and their ability to complete the marathon, and so aiding and protecting them with a good pair of running shoes can make a massive difference to a runner's prospects.

With running shoes, there are a lot of factors that need to be taken into consideration when deciding what pair to go for, so discussing the available options with staff in a running store is a good place to start. Runners will need to take into account the running surfaces they will training on when making a purchase.

Appropriate clothing is also important, and women should be sure to find the right sports bra to ensure comfort while running. As a marathon training schedule is likely to take in a variety of seasonal climates, clothing that fits well, allows for good air ventilation and dries quickly is ideal. Again, the staff in a running store will be well-placed to make suggestions.

Eating healthily during the training period is beneficial, but food choices on the day of the marathon - both before and during - can have a big impact too. Dr. Ed Laskowski, co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center, states that hydration and energy-boosting carbohydrates help toward running a healthy race with a low risk of injury.

In the weeks close to the marathon, a runner's diet should involve eating plenty of complex carbohydrates, such as wholegrain bread and pasta, and drinking lots of fluids. Around 65-70% of total calorie consumption should ideally come from carbohydrates. Alcohol is best avoided as it can dehydrate and disrupt sleep.

To increase fluid absorption during exercise, runners should start drinking fluids at least 4 hours prior to beginning. On the day of the race, Dr. Laskowski states that water, milk, fruit juice and sports drinks can be consumed up to 1 hour before the start.

Sports drinks are a good source of energy while running as their sodium content can replace electrolytes lost through sweat. Other options for mid-race sustenance include energy bars and gels.

When the going gets tough

Everyone who runs a marathon will have different reasons for doing it and different expectations for what they want to achieve. It is important to focus on what you personally want to get out of running a marathon, especially if it is your first time running one.

Of course, some people like to take the challenge further, particularly in the name of charity. At many marathons, spectators are likely to spot participants dressed up in costume eliciting huge cheers from onlookers.

Wearing appropriate, comfortable clothing can be crucial to marathon running success.

These costumes are rarely made for the purpose of endurance running and so present extra challenges for the runner to overcome. They can be hot and heavy, they can chafe and they can restrict vision and breathing. As such, additional preparation is needed for people taking on this extra challenge.

"Training for a marathon is always tough. I'm not the most disciplined runner in history, but adding a 10 kg hippo suit to the mix has certainly given me food for thought," Martin Neal toldThe Guardian, ahead of running last year's London Marathon.

In order to prepare himself for the rigors of running in the suit, he decided to travel to Disney World Florida for a long-distance running event at higher temperatures than he was used to. He also went for several runs while wearing the suit to get his body accustomed the challenge. "It was really hard going, incredibly hot and I used muscles I didn't know I had," he stated.

Meticulous preparation is key to running a successful and enjoyable marathon. Runners should work to prepare both their bodies and minds for all eventualities. Seeking advice from experts - trainers, doctors, people who have ran marathons before - is a great way to do this.

It is important that prospective marathon runners should be well aware of the health risks of the task ahead before beginning and also listen to their body when the going gets tough.

"Pain associated with joint swelling or that causes the joint to feel unstable should be checked," advises Dr. Laskowski. "You should also seek an evaluation for pain that persists or intensifies after rest from running or pain that causes you to compensate, change your running, or change your gait."

Running a marathon when not 100% healthy can be dangerous. Runners should not put their long-term health at risk by forcing their bodies to do things they are not adequately prepared for or able to do.

Marathon running has grown hugely in popularity over the last few decades. Around 25,000 runners were estimated to have finished marathons in the US in 1976, and by 2013 this number is believed to have risen to 541,000. With appropriate preparation, anyone can add to these numbers and if you intend to, good luck!

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Fructose powers a vicious circle

Researchers have found a hitherto unknown molecular mechanism that is driven by fructose and can lead to cardiac enlargement and heart failure.

High consumption of fructose can lead to uncontrolled growth of cardiomyocytes and heart attack.

Credit: Copyright ETH Zurich/Peter Mirtschnik and Tatiana Simka

'Walk through any supermarket and take a look at the labels on food products, and you'll see that many of them contain fructose, often in the form of sucrose (table sugar)' -- that's how Wilhelm Krek, professor for cell biology at ETH Zurich's Institute for Molecular Health Sciences, summarises the problem with today's nutrition. Prepared foods and soft drinks in particular, but even purportedly healthy fruit juices contain fructose as an artificial additive -- often in high quantities. In recent decades fructose spread throughout the food market, due to a reputation as being less harmful than glucose. In contrast to glucose, fructose barely increases blood glucose levels and insulin secretion. This avoids frequently recurring insulin spikes after any glucose consumption, which are judged harmful. In addition, fructose is sweeter to the taste.

But there's a downside: the liver converts fructose very efficiently into fat. People who consume too much high-fructose food can in time become overweight and develop high blood pressure, dyslipidaemia with fatty liver and insulin resistance -- symptoms that doctors group together under the name metabolic syndrome.

Unchecked growth of the heart muscle

A new paper by Krek and his team member Peter Mirtschink describes a further, more troubling side effect of fructose. The researchers have discovered a previously unknown molecular mechanism that points to fructose as a key driver of uncontrolled growth of the heart muscle, a condition that can lead to fatal heart failure. Their study was recently published in Nature.

When a person has high blood pressure, the heart has to grow as it is harder to pump the blood through the circulatory system. These growing heart muscle cells require a considerable amount of oxygen. However, since not enough oxygen is available to adequately supply the increased growth, the cells switch to an alternative energy supply. Instead of drawing energy from fatty acids, they rely more on an anaerobic process called glycolysis -- literally, the 'splitting of sugars'. If the heart muscle cells can access fructose in addition to glucose, this can set off a fatal chain reaction.

Flipping the switch for fructose metabolism

In the study, Krek's research group demonstrates that a lack of oxygen in the heart cells cues the appearance of the HIF molecule. This is a universal molecular switch that flips whenever a pathological growth process is under way, such as cardiac enlargement or cancer. HIF causes the heart muscle cells to produce ketohexokinase-C (KHK-C), the central enzyme in fructose metabolism. KHK-C has a high affinity for fructose and can therefore process it very efficiently. The production of KHK-C also has a reinforcing effect on glycolysis. Since fructose metabolism doesn't involve any negative feedback regulation, a vicious cycle starts that can lead to heart failure.

To investigate this mechanism, the researchers used not only mouse models but also biological samples from patients with pathological heart enlargement accompanied by a narrowing of the aortic valve. Samples of heart muscle cells taken by surgeons during heart operations provided the ETH researchers with the means for proving that such cells really do have more HIF and KHK-C molecules. In mice that were suffering from chronic high blood pressure, the researchers turned off the KHK enzyme, which indeed inhibited enlargement of the heart.

One gene, two enzymes

Another fact worthy of note is that the body also contains KHK-A, an enzyme very similar to KHK-C except that it has poor preference for fructose. Both these enzymes have the same genetic code; the difference between them comes from how a molecular cutting tool tailors their construction blueprint -- their messenger RNA, which is a transcript of the relevant gene. Depending on requirements, one of two blueprints can be generated from the same gene to produce either of two different enzymes. The expert term for this process is 'alternative splicing'. Krek explains, 'About 95 percent of all human genes are alternatively spliced. It's a major way to create the extraordinary variety of proteins, enzymes and regulators in the human body.'

Normally primarily liver cells produce the fructose-friendly KHK-C enzyme; other organs produce almost exclusively KHK-A. Now for the first time, the ETH researchers are showing that even an organ like the heart is capable of producing KHK-C, the more efficient of the two enzymes, if it is exposed to pathogenic stress factors. In the process, HIF activates the molecular cutting tool, or splicing factor, SF3B1. This molecule is often genetically altered in many types of cancer, which possibly indicates that even the growth of cancer can be affected by fructose.

Normal fruit consumption safe

Large volumes of fructose are added to many foods, but especially to sweet beverages and soft drinks. This practice drove up per capita consumption of high fructose corn syrup in the USA between 1970 and 1997, from 230 grams per year to over 28 kilograms.

But Mirtschink provides reassurance that eating a normal amount of fruit daily is safe and healthy. 'Besides fructose, fruit contains plenty of important trace elements, vitamins and fibre,' he says. People should, however, avoid overly sweet soft drinks and fruit juices -- these often have sugar added -- as well as ready-made meals and other foods to which large amounts of fructose are added as a flavour carrier. 'Just this surplus of fructose can help trigger the mechanism we have described if one of the stress factors is present, such as cardiac valve disease or high blood pressure,' Mirtschink emphasises.

---

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by ETH Zurich. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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'Sugar and carbs are the obesity culprits, not lack of exercise'

Bad wing controversial questions about this established health risk. The article published in a journal from The BMJ says the problem "cannot be outrun by exercise."

Commercial messages that say sugar and carbs are OK as long as you exercise are not true, say the authors.

Even the exercise done by athletes cannot counter a bad diet, say the authors, who cite evidence that while obesity has rocketed in the past 30 years, "there has been little change in physical activity levels in the western population."

Excess sugar and carbohydrates, not physical inactivity, are to blame for the obesity epidemic, says the editorial.

The review, which aims to lead the opinion of sports medicine researchers and clinicians, is written by Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a UK cardiologist and consultant to the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in London, with Prof. Tim Noakes of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa in Cape Town, and Dr. Stephen Phinney, professor emeritus of medicine at the University of California Davis.

The healthy choice of regular physical activity is not dismissed, however, because while these experts claim it "does not promote weight loss," evidence shows that it "reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and some cancers by at least 30%."

But poor diet is a bigger risk - it "generates more disease than physical inactivity, alcohol and smoking combined." The authors support this claim with information about the global burden of disease published by The Lancet.

The editorial, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, continues by citing a 2013 review of the medical literature for metabolic syndrome, which asks why children are developing this cluster of cardiovascular risk factors.

That article, first-authored by Dr. Ram Weiss, a pediatrician at the Hadassah Hebrew University School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel, concludes that while obesity contributes to the syndrome, it is "unlikely" to be an "initiating factor."

And the present authors cite that "up to 40% of those with a normal body mass index will harbor metabolic abnormalities typically associated with obesity, which include hypertension, dyslipidemia, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease."

Malhotra, Noakes and Phinney - who are well-known for their opinions on diet, exercise and health, having published widely through popular books and the media - add about the phenomenon in normal-weight people:

"This is little appreciated by scientists, doctors, media writers and policymakers, despite the extensive scientific literature on the vulnerability of all ages and all sizes to lifestyle-related diseases."

Food and beverage industry 'lies'

The concluding remark of the editorial reads: "It is time to wind back the harms caused by the junk food industry's public relations machinery."

As an industry example of providing "misleading" information, the authors say that Coca-Cola spent 3.3 billion US dollars on advertising in 2013, and that the company "pushes a message that 'all calories count;' they associate their products with sport, suggesting it is OK to consume their drinks as long as you exercise."

"However, science tells us this is misleading and wrong," says the article, adding:

"It is where the calories come from that is crucial. Sugar calories promote fat storage and hunger. Fat calories induce fullness or 'satiation.'"

The authors further lambast the food industry by blaming it for creating a public perception that "obesity is entirely due to lack of exercise."

Malhotra, Noakes and Phinney argue: "This false perception is rooted in the food industry's public relations machinery, which uses tactics chillingly similar to those of big tobacco."

In March, we looked at a report that similarly alleged the sugar industry "behaved like tobacco manufacturers" when it came to taking action against tooth decay.

The BMJ, the lead journal of the group publishing the present opinion piece, is positioned against commercial bias in health issues, and in February published its own investigations against the sugar industry, publishing claims that companies have attempted to influence public health policy.

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Exercise for the heart may also protect the mind

 It would appear that aerobic exercise may do more than just preserve our cardiovascular health - it may also keep our minds sharp as we age. This was the conclusion of a new study from Canada that found links between aerobic fitness and brain function in older adults.

The researchers, including first author Dr. Claudine Gauthier and others from the University of Montreal, report their findings in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

Dr. Gauthier, now a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany, explains:

"Our body's arteries stiffen with age, and the vessel hardening is believed to begin in the aorta, the main vessel coming out of the heart, before reaching the brain. Indeed, the hardening may contribute to cognitive changes that occur during a similar time frame."

Older adults with more elastic aortas performed better on mental tests

She and her fellow researchers studied a group of older adults and found the ones whose aortas were in better condition and who were aerobically fitter did better on a cognitive test:

A group of older adults who were aerobically fitter performed better on a cognitive test, researchers say.

"We therefore think that the preservation of vessel elasticity may be one of the mechanisms that enables exercise to slow cognitive aging," she adds.

They studied two groups of physically and mentally healthy participants: 31 younger people aged 18-30 and 54 older adults aged 55-75.

They were interested in comparing not only the younger to the older group, but also to make comparisons within each age group.

All participants underwent physical and mental tests. For the physical tests, they worked hard on workout machines while the researchers measured their maximum oxygen intake over 30-second periods. And for the mental test, they performed a Stroop effect task - a scientifically validated test researchers often use to measure cognitive ability.

In the Stroop effect test, the participant is shown the names of different colors, such as RED, YELLOW, BLUE, and so on, with each word printed in a color that is not the color meant by the word. Thus, RED might be printed in blue, and YELLOW might be printed in red. The participant has to shout out the color of the print and not the printed word.

The participants also underwent three MRI scans: one measured blood flow to the brain, another measured brain activity during the Stroop task, and the third measured the stiffness of the aorta. The aorta is the largest blood vessel in the body - it carries oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to the rest of the body.

The researchers found evidence of age-related declines in brain executive function, elasticity of the aorta and cardiorespiratory fitness. They also found links between vascular health and brain function, and aerobic fitness and brain function.

Method could be adapted to study links in less healthy populations

Dr. Gauthier says this is the first study to report using MRI in this way:

"It enabled us to find even subtle effects in this healthy population, which suggests that other researchers could adapt our test to study vascular-cognitive associations within less healthy and clinical populations."

She notes that although other, more complex mechanisms may also link cardiovascular fitness and the health of blood vessels in the brain, "overall these results support the hypothesis that lifestyle helps maintain the elasticity of arteries, thereby preventing downstream cerebrovascular damage and resulting in preserved cognitive abilities in later life."

Funding for the study came from a number of sources, including the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Canadian National Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Ministère du développement économique, de l'innovation et de l'exportation.

Meanwhile, in another recently published study led by Stanford University, Medical News Today learned how physical activity cuts the risk of irregular heartbeat in older women. The researchers found the more physically active the women were, the lower the chance they would develop atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that causes arrhythmia.

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Enjoy life more - your body will age better, study shows

A new study from the UK and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal claims that people who enjoy life will have better physical function and faster walking speeds than their more pessimistic counterparts.
We already know there are health benefits associated with a positive outlook on life. A study from 2013 suggested people who have happy marriages also enjoy better physical health than couples in stressful marriages.
In 2012, Medical News Today reported on a study by researchers at University College London (UCL) in the UK, which found seniors who enjoy life more tend to live longer.
As part of a follow-up study testing the link between happiness and physical performance, the UCL researchers have assessed the enjoyment of life of 3,199 participants aged 60 years or older.

Enjoying life makes your body work better?

The participants in the study were asked to rate on a four-point scale how much they subscribed to the following statements: "I enjoy the things that I do," "I enjoy being in the company of others," "On balance, I look back on my life with a sense of happiness" and "I feel full of energy these days."

The study found that seniors who enjoy life had better physical function than unhappy people.

Interviewing the people in the study, the researchers then assessed to what extent they had difficulty performing daily activities, such as bathing or getting dressed. They also measured the walking speed of the participants.
The study found that people who had a low sense of well-being were more than three times as likely to experience problems in performing daily activities.
"Our results provide further evidence that enjoyment of life is relevant to the future disability and mobility of older people," says Dr. Steptoe, co-author of the study. "Efforts to enhance well-being at older ages may have benefits to society and health care systems."
Although the study recorded - perhaps unsurprisingly - that people suffering from chronic illness had lower levels of enjoyment of life, Dr. Steptoe says the link between happiness and physical health is not simply that happier people are healthier:

"This is not because the happier people are in better health, or younger, or richer, or have more healthy lifestyles at the outset, since even when we take these factors into account, the relationship persists. Our previous work has shown that older people with greater enjoyment of life are more likely to survive over the next 8 years; what this study shows is that they also keep up better physical function."

Enjoying life makes you live longer?

Dr. Steptoe's previous study found that nearly three times more people in the study group of over 50s who had low enjoyment of life had died, compared with participants who enjoyed life more.
That study considered social isolation in seniors - having few hobbies or social interactions - as being a factor in a loss of enjoyment in life. It found that 1 in 6 people aged 50 and over living in England were socially isolated. But there was also a socio-economic aspect - the wealthier seniors were half as likely to become socially isolated as the less wealthy people in the study.
In the new study, people with higher socio-economic status and education were also more likely to enjoy life. Married and working people also scored higher on the happiness scale than retired or single seniors. "The study shows that older people who are happier and enjoy life more show slower declines in physical function as they age," Dr. Steptoe concludes. "They are less likely to develop impairments in activities of daily living such as dressing or getting in or out of bed, and their walking speed declines at a slower rate than those who enjoy life less."

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Sleep Deprivation Protects Runners' Muscles In 200-Mile Race

Runners who complete one of the world's most difficult ultra-marathons experience less neuromuscular fatigue, inflammation, and muscle damage than those who run distances half to one quarter as long.

The finding came from new research published in PLoS One and was conducted by Jonas Saugy and team from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

For the purpose of the investigation, experts analyzed twenty-five male athletes before, during, and about 30 minutes after the race.

The race, known as the Tor des Geants, is an over 200-mile mountain ultramarathon with 24,000 meters of positive and negative elevation change.

The researchers explained:

"Mountain ultra-endurance running has experienced considerable growth in recent years. These events consist of running/walking on mountain trails with positive and negative slopes over a distance longer than the traditional marathon. These extreme events are an opportunity to investigate the physiological responses of the human body when pushed to its limits."

The impact of sleep deprivation as well as blood and muscle markers of inflammation in runners were examined.

Participants at Tor des Geants had fewer changes in neuromuscular functions, compared to runners who completed a shorter Alpine ultra-marathon approximately 103 miles in length.

The runners of the longer race also had lower levels of muscle damage and inflammation, despite the fact that they ran almost twice the distance as those in the other marathon.

The scientists concluded:

"Protective pacing strategies employed by these runners in the first half of the race, combined with sleep deprivation effects in the second half may induce a relative muscle preservation process."

A previous study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise showed that regular long-distance running can help prevent metabolic syndrome, a group of diseases that can lead to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

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Exercise Helps Brain Become More Resilient To Stress

Physical exercise reorganizes the human brain so that it responds better to stress and normal brain function is less likely to be affected by anxiety, researchers from Princeton University wrote in the Journal of Neuroscience.

In an animal experiment, the authors found that when very physically active mice were exposed to a stressor - cold water - neurons in their brains that shut off excitement in the ventral hippocampus became much more active. The ventral hippocampus is a region in the brain that regulates anxiety.

This study may also resolve an inconsistency in research regarding the effect exercise has on the brain - namely that physical activity lowers anxiety while at the same time encouraging the growth of new neurons in the ventral hippocampus.

Exercise should, in theory, lead to more anxiety, not less, because these young neurons are typically more excitable than their older equivalents. However, this study found that physical activity also enhances the mechanisms that stop these neurons from firing.

Senior author, Elizabeth Gould, Princeton's Dorman T. Warren Professor of Psychology, explained that the effect physical exercise might have on the ventral hippocampus specifically has not been explored deeply. In this study, the team was able to isolate brain cells and regions that play key roles in the regulation of anxiety. They believe their findings may help researchers better understand and treat anxiety disorders.

From an evolutionary perspective, the study also showed how the brain can be surprisingly adaptive, tailoring its own processes to an organism's surroundings and lifestyle. Less physically fit creatures, for example, may benefit from a higher likelihood of anxious behavior. Gould said "Anxiety often manifests itself in avoidant behavior and avoiding potentially dangerous situations would increase the likelihood of survival, particularly for those less capable of responding with a 'fight or flight' reaction."

Professor Gould said:

"Understanding how the brain regulates anxious behavior gives us potential clues about helping people with anxiety disorders. It also tells us something about how the brain modifies itself to respond optimally to its own environment."

In this study, the mice were divided into two groups:

• The active group - all the mice had free access to a running wheel
• The sedentary group - there was no running wheel

Mice love running - give them a wheel and they will run about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) every night. Six weeks later, the mice were exposed to brief periods of cold water.

Nearly as soon as they were exposed to the cold water (the stressor) the brains of the sedentary and active mice behaved differently:

• In the sedentary group, the cold water triggered an increase in "immediate early genes" - short-lived genes that are turned on rapidly when a neuron fires.
• In the active group these genes were not present, suggesting that their neurons did not immediately become super excited in response to the stressor.

The brain of an active mouse "showed every sign of controlling its reaction to an extent not observed in the brain of a sedentary mouse". Inhibitory neurons, which are known to keep excitable neurons in check, became much more active. Also, the neurons in the active mice's brains released more GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), a neurotransmitter that calms down neural excitement. There were higher levels of the protein that packages GABA into vesicles for release into the synapse in the active mice.

When the scientists blocked the GABA receptor that tamps down neural activity in the ventral hippocampus, the anxiety-reducing effect of physical exercise was canceled out.

In an Abstract in the journal, the researchers concluded:

"Together, these results suggest that running improves anxiety regulation by engaging local inhibitory mechanisms in the ventral hippocampus."

Exercise, even when forced, reduces anxiety and depressive symptoms

Even forced exercise reduces anxiety - physical activity helps relieve the symptoms of anxiety and depression whether you exercised because you wanted to or were forced to, researchers from the University of Colorado, Boulder, wrote in the European Journal of Neurosciences (February 2013 issue).

The authors explained that previous studies had demonstrated how exercise can help protect against stress-related disorders. However, nobody had looked into the effect forced exercise might have on anxiety. Examples of forced exercise may be seen among high school students, college and professional sportsmen and women, and military personnel.

Greenwood wondered "If exercise is forced, will it still produce mental health benefits? It's obvious that forced exercise will still produce peripheral physiological benefits. But will it produce benefits to anxiety and depression?"

The researchers designed an animal experiment using rats. They were divided into two groups, active and sedentary. The active group was further split into two, with one running whenever it wanted, and the other having to run on mechanized wheels that turned on at different speeds and for varying periods so that both active groups ended up doing the same amount of exercise.

Six weeks later the rats were exposed to a stressor and their anxiety levels were tested the following day.

They found that regardless of whether the rats were forced to run or chose to, the physically active rats were protected against stress and anxiety equally, compared to the sedentary rats.

Greenwood said "The implications are that humans who perceive exercise as being forced - perhaps including those who feel like they have to exercise for health reasons - are maybe still going to get the benefits in terms of reducing anxiety and depression.

A British study showed that regular intense physical exercise protects men from anxiety and depression for many years after they stop.

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