Exercise may help protect smokers from inflammation, muscle damage
November 28, 2017
American Physiological Society (APS)
Regular exercise may protect smokers from some of the negative effects associated with smoking, such as muscle loss and inflammation, according to a new study.
Smoking can cause a number of system-wide physiological changes in addition to local damage to the lungs. Inflammation that begins in the pulmonary system can "spill over" into the circulatory system to cause damage to other organs throughout the body, explained a team of German researchers. Inflammation can also interact negatively with the protein pathways in the body, causing muscle to break down more quickly than it is produced. This process leads to muscle loss, also called muscle wasting or atrophy, which causes weakness.
The researchers studied markers of inflammation in the blood and muscle fibers from two groups of mice that were exposed to cigarette smoke on a long-term basis. One group performed daily running tests on a treadmill for the last eight weeks of the study ("smoke-exposed exercise"), while the other group did not exercise ("smoke-exposed"). Both smoke-exposed groups were compared to age-matched controls not exposed to smoke.
Markers of inflammation increased in the blood and muscle samples of the smoke-exposed group but improved significantly in the smoke-exposed exercise group after the research team introduced the treadmill tests. Both smoke-exposed groups had a lower muscle weight when compared to the control group and showed a decrease in fiber area in the muscles prior to introduction of exercise. Exercise reversed some of this type of damage in the smoke-exposed exercise group. "Regular endurance exercise training seems to protect long-term smokers against some important negative local and systemic consequences of smoking," the researchers wrote.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171128113546.htm
Powerful and Proven Ways to Get Motivated to Exercise
Are you stuck in a slump? Do you find that you have the best intentions for a fitness plan only to get distracted, lazy, and not make it a priority? Are there many days when you struggle to get up and go?
We’ve all been there. Staying fit is tough. Netflix is always available. Sometimes you need a little something extra to push you toward your workout.
Let’s take a look at 25 proven and powerful ways to increase your motivation and set you up for success.
1. Determine Your Why
This is the important starting point. Why are you exercising? Do you need to strengthen your core muscles to prevent back pain? Do you suffer from depression and find running improves your mood? Is your health at risk due to your weight? Once you single out your “why” you will be able to come back to that mantra over and over when you’re tempted to throw in the towel.
If you don’t have a compelling reason for exercise, you’ll be more inclined to skip days and then give up altogether. Nail down your why first.
2. Make a Plan
Before you dive into 90 minute classes at the gym, sit down and plan. Make attainable goals. Start small. If you haven’t exercised in 3 years, don’t train for a marathon. If you set goals that are too high you will most likely become quickly discouraged and quit. Challenge yourself but be realistic.
Runners often make two goals: minimum and stretch. For example, if they are running a marathon, their minimum goal may be a 4 hour finish and their stretch goal may be a 3.5 hour finish.
Consider making a minimum and stretch goal for yourself. That will give you options if you find yourself either having great success or struggling.
3. Follow Fitness Bloggers and Instagrammers
There’s nothing is quite as motivating as seeing someone working hard and getting results. Fitness bloggers have lots of excellent advice, recipes, and tips. You’ll come to realize they’re just real people who have the same struggles as you and have overcome a lot of obstacles.
Many fitness Instagrammers share photos and videos of their workouts, which can give you guidance and inspiration.
4. Treat Yourself
Think of a way to reward yourself for diligently working out. Treating yourself to a half-pound loaded burger, fries, beer, and a shake will more than likely be counter-productive. Instead treat yourself to a small splurge.
Watch an episode of House of Cards or buy new workout clothes. Science shows that extrinsic reward is extremely powerful for motivation. Your brain connects the workout to the reward and increases the chances you’ll be consistent.
5. Track Your Progress With an App
There are countless apps out there like NIke Run Club and Runkeeper that track your miles, routes, and calories burned. Its extremely gratifying to see your “Total Miles Run” slowly grow over time.
Plus, tracking progress allows you to tell when you’re slipping and then make appropriate adjustments. If you look at your app and see that you’ve been hitting the gym less frequently, it’s a reminder that you need to get back on track.
6. Train Your Brain
This is going to be hard to believe when you’re not in a routine of exercising, but once you get into a rhythm of weekly workouts you will feel rejuvenated at the end of your workout. In time that alone will be a huge reward.
Exercise releases large amounts of serotonin, which is known as the happy hormone. It’s what gives you that euphoric feeling after an intense weight session or long run. Once your brain is accustomed to having the serotonin, you’ll begin to crave it, reinforcing your workout habit.
7. Make It Legal
This may sound crazy, but draft a document committing to doing “x” exercise for a set period of time and pay a friend ten dollars every week you don’t keep your word. In a sense, create a “binding” agreement between you and your friend that you’ll exercise, and then penalize yourself if you fail to meet the contract.
For some the money is a huge motivator. For others the potential embarrassment of having to tell your friend you didn’t workout is a stronger motivator. Whether it’s one or the other or both combined this is a strategy that will keep you in line.
8. Visualizing
Taking time to think about exercise in a positive light increases motivation. When you’re sitting on the couch debating fumbling into the pantry for the Cheetos and clicking the “Next Episode” prompt on Netflix, visualize yourself running.
Think about how good it will feel when you’re done. How invigorating the sun will be. How energized you’ll be. High performing athletes use visualization to prepare them for an activity before they do it. By visualizing your workout, your can ready both your body and brain for exercise.
9. Identify Your Obstacles
You can’t overcome an obstacle you haven’t identified. Take a minute and determine what prohibits you from following through on your plan to exercise.
Are you a night owl trying to get in a 5:30 AM workout? Rearrange your schedule. Do you feel too weak or tired to run? Guzzle down a glass of water and eat a small healthy snack to energize you. Do you hate running? Get a gym membership. Do you ate the gym? Start running.
Identifying what holds you back from exercise allows you to break down walls and get moving.
10. Create a Ritual
Rituals are a way of telling your brain that something is going to happen. By creating a pre-exercise ritual which you perform repeatedly, your brain begins to associate the ritual with working out. Once this association is formed, it becomes part of your routine and thus easier.
Start your ritual the night before. Set out your sneakers and workout clothes for spin class. Clean up things that could distract you or demand your attention the next morning. When you wake up, drink coffee and eat a healthy breakfast. Getting into a routine of some sort will train your brain to avoid excuses and keep you on task.
11. Find Your Tribe
One of the most beneficial motivators for exercise is having a workout buddy or a group of friends who you’re doing a class with. The accountability is extremely effective in increasing motivation.
You’re also much more likely to stick to an exercise regimen if someone is expecting you. Who wants to call their best friend and cancel a run at six in the morning?
12. Put It In Writing
Depending on your personality there are a couple ways to use good old fashioned pen and paper to increase motivation.
Print out a calendar and mark off every day you exercise with a big, red marker. Doesn’t that sound gratifying? Keeping a log of what you do will help you stay motivated as you see the accumulation of all you’ve done over a period of time.
13. Lower Your Expectations
It’s easy to let shaming thoughts intrude even if you are already exercising. If you want to do more or get stronger or have a hotter body or workout for an hour and a half, fine.
But if you’re squeezing in a 25 minute walk into your day and find shaming “should” thoughts creep in, stop them dead in their tracks. Tell yourself you are being healthy and doing a whole lot more than most people.
14. Appreciate Your Health
The fact that you have a healthy body and can exercise and improve your health is a tremendous gift. Take time to slow down and appreciate your health. Appreciate the fact that you can exercise. Express gratitude about being able to run or lift or do Crossfit.
Gratitude reframes working out from a duty into a privilege.
15. Stop the All or Nothing Thinking
Nothing derails a consistent workout routine like allowing yourself to be defined by a bad day. The fact that you hit the snooze today doesn’t have to mean your good intentions to stick to a program are a wash.
From there you’ll just continue to spiral downward and most likely end up quitting. One snooze doesn’t have to mean it’s going to be a bad day or bad week or a bad month. Give yourself some credit and try to do better tomorrow.
16. Get Past the Scale
The scale is an useful way to measure success, but celebrate successes beyond the scale.
Celebrate your pants fitting better. Celebrate the muscle tone in your arms. Celebrate being able to move in a flexible way that was not even remotely possible a year ago.
The scale is only one very specific metric for measuring progress. Losing weight may not even be your objective, especially if you’re doing intense weight workouts. Gather a variety of ways for celebrating progress beyond stepping on the scale.
17. Don’t Compare
Unfortunately the rise of social media has made it a whole lot easier to compare your body to other people’s. Stop.
Don’t let your mind go down the rabbit trail of self-loathing. If the skinny ultra marathon runner’s daily workout updates complete with photos is making you crazy, unfollow him.
You are chasing your own personal fitness goals, not trying to be someone else.
18. Start Your Day Right
While this is not for everyone, consider starting your day with a workout. Give it a try and set the alarm clock a little earlier to allow time for a pre-work run. You may find that once you get your butt out of bed, the energy and other rewards of a morning run outweigh that extra half hour of sleep.
Additionally, starting your day with a workout means your serotonin and dopamine levels will be high, which will put you in a positive mood for the day.
19. Workout On Monday or Friday
Studies show people start the week with high levels of motivation. You’re rested from the weekend so start the week out on a good note. You’ll feel good and be much more likely to stick with your exercise plan if you start well.
Friday is another alternative. Are you low on motivation? The week’s taken its toll? Imagine how much better you’ll feel when you know you went for that jog when it was the absolute last thing you wanted to do! This is also an effective means to keep your weekend in check and to keep weekend indulging at a minimum.
20. Take a Rest Day
Do not do the same workout every day, because you will be sure to suffer from workout burnout. Your body is not made to go go go. Take rest days or work different muscles groups. If you don’t you will be much more susceptible to injury and likely quit altogether eventually.
21. Make It Fun
Why would you workout in silence when you can speed through an audio book or a good podcast while you sweat? There’s tons of easily accessible entertainment from your smartphone. And who knows. You may even start to look forward to exercising and picking up where you left off in the most recent thriller you’re listening to. Music is an obvious choice, but keep these in mind too.
22. Read Success Stories
If you find you’re overwhelmed at the state of your health, reading the success stories of other people will be a tremendous encouragement. They were in the same shoes as you are now, but look how their hard work paid off.
23. Change It Up
Sometimes you need variety to take your fitness to the next level. If you run 3 miles 3 days a week, try doing cross-fit one day. The variety will not only keep you motivated, but your overall health will improve as you will be working different muscles.
Conclusion
Armed with fresh motivation for exercise, you’ll find these tips will make you more consistent and and get you on the track to health you’ve always imagined for yourself.
No one said working out would be easy. It takes discipline, hard work, and pure sweat. But by implementing these suggestions, you can significantly improve your motivation levels.
This article originally appeared here at http://myelementfitness.com/proven-ways-to-get-motivated-to-exercise/ and has been republished with permission from http://myelementfitness.com
Firmer, fitter frame linked to firmer, fitter brain
August 15, 2017
Science Daily/National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
To determine why more aerobically fit individuals have better memories, scientists used magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), which measures the elasticity of organs, and found that fit individuals had a firmer, more elastic hippocampus—a region of the brain associated with memory.
Scientists have observed that more aerobically fit individuals have better memories. To investigate this phenomenon, they used magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), which measures the firmness and elasticity of organs, and found that fit individuals had a firmer, more elastic hippocampus -- a region of the brain associated with memory. The method could provide early diagnosis and potential interventions in the initial stages of neurodegenerative disease.
"MRE is a technique that has been used in organs like the liver, where it can assess the tissue stiffness and offers a reliable, non-invasive method for diagnosing hepatic fibrosis," explains Guoying Liu, Ph.D. Director of the NIBIB program on Magnetic Resonance Imaging. "This study now demonstrates the tremendous potential for MRE to provide new quantitative biomarkers for assessing brain health as it relates to physical fitness. This is particularly significant given the rise in dementia and Alzheimer's disease occurring in the U.S. and worldwide."
The research was performed by Aron K. Barbey, Associate Professor, Departments of Psychology and Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, along with his colleagues at Illinois, and with collaborators from Northeastern University in Boston and the University of Delaware. Their results are reported in the March issue of the journal NeuroImage.
The work was based on well-established observations of atrophy and reduced size of the hippocampus in cognitively declining seniors and developmentally delayed children. Given that long-known phenomenon, the researchers were puzzled by the fact that in young adults there was a correlation between fitness and memory, but the size of the hippocampus was the same in both groups.
"Most of the work in this area has relied on changes in the size of the hippocampus as a measure of hippocampal health and function. However, in young adults, although we see an increase in memory in more aerobically fit individuals, we did not see differences in hippocampal size," said Barbey. "Because size is a gross measure of the structural integrity of the hippocampus, we turned to MRE, which provides a more thorough and qualitative measure of changes associated with function -- in this case memory."
The investigators explained that MRE gives a better indication of the microstructure of the hippocampus -- the structural integrity of the entire tissue. And it does this by basically "bouncing" the organ, very gently, and measuring how it responds.
MRE is often described as being similar to a drop of water hitting a still pond to create the ripples that move out in all directions. A pillow under the subject's head generates harmless pulses, known as shear waves, that travel through the hippocampus. MRE instruments measure how the pulsed waves change as they move through the brain and those changes give an extremely accurate measure -- and a color-coded picture -- of the consistency of the tissue: soft, hard and stiff, or firm with some bounce or elasticity.
The healthy hippocampus is like a firm pillow that quickly bounces back into shape after you press your finger into it as opposed to a mushy pillow that would retain your finger mark and not rebound to its original shape.
The researchers studied 51 healthy adults: 25 men and 26 women ages 18-35. They measured the participants' performance on a memory test as well as their aerobic fitness levels, and used MRE to measure the elasticity of the hippocampus.
They found that those with higher fitness levels also had more elastic tissue in the hippocampus and scored the best on memory tests. Given the many studies showing the association between hippocampal health and memory in seniors and children, which was based on the size of the hippocampus, the results strongly suggest that MRE is a method that reveals that there is also an association between the health of the hippocampus and memory in young adults.
Said Barbey, "MRE turned out to be a fantastic tool that enabled us to demonstrate the importance of the hippocampus in healthy young adults and the positive effect of fitness. We are excited about using MRE to look at other brain structures and diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, that involve cognitive impairment. We hope to see if and how MRE might be a valuable tool for early diagnosis and treatment of a number of neurodegenerative diseases."
"And, of course, if these results are more widely disseminated," Barbey concludes, "they could certainly serve as tremendous motivation for people concerned about getting forgetful as they age, to get moving and try to stay fit."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170815100425.htm
How physical exercise prevents dementia
July 21, 2017
Science Daily/Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
Physical exercise seems beneficial in the prevention of cognitive impairment and dementia in old age, numerous studies have shown. Now researchers have explored in one of the first studies worldwide how exercise affects brain metabolism.
Numerous studies have shown that physical exercise seems beneficial in the prevention of cognitive impairment and dementia in old age. Now researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt have explored in one of the first studies worldwide how exercise affects brain metabolism.
In order to further advance current state of knowledge on the positive influence of physical activity on the brain, gerontologists and sports physicians at Goethe University Frankfurt have examined the effects of regular exercise on brain metabolism and memory of 60 participants aged between 65 and 85 in a randomised controlled trial. Their conclusion: regular physical exercise not only enhances fitness but also has a positive impact on brain metabolism.
As the researchers report in the current issue of the medical journal Translational Psychiatry, they thoroughly examined all the participants in the SMART study (Sport and Metabolism in Older Persons, an MRT Study) by assessing movement-related parameters, cardiopulmonary fitness and cognitive performance. In addition, magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) were used to measure brain metabolism and brain structure. Following this examination, the participants mounted an exercise bike three times a week over a period of 12 weeks. The 30-minute training sessions were individually adapted to each participant's performance level. The participants were examined again after the end of the programme in order to document the effects of this physical activity on brain metabolism, cognitive performance and brain structure. The researchers also investigated to what extent exercise had led to an improvement in the participants' physical fitness. The study was conducted by the Gerontology Department of the Institute of General Medicine (headed by Professor Johannes Pantel) and the Department of Sports Medicine (led by Professor Winfried Banzer).
As expected, physical activity had influenced brain metabolism: it prevented an increase in choline. The concentration of this metabolite often rises as a result of the increased loss of nerve cells, which typically occurs in the case of Alzheimer's disease. Physical exercise led to stable cerebral choline concentrations in the training group, whereas choline levels increased in the control group. The participants' physical fitness also improved: they showed increased cardiac efficiency after the training period. Overall, these findings suggest that physical exercise not only improves physical fitness but also protects cells.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170721090107.htm
More physical activity and higher intensity physical activity may significantly reduce risk of death in older women in the short term
November 6, 2017
Science Daily/American Heart Association
Using wearable devices to measure activity showed that the amount of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity was associated with an up to 70 percent lower risk of death among older women in a four-year study. The amount of light intensity physical activity was not associated with death risk, but that may not negate the benefits of light activity for other health outcomes.
Researchers found the volume of light intensity physical activity or sedentary behavior was not associated with death rate. However, light intensity activity may be beneficial for other health outcomes not studied in this research.
Previous studies, which used self-reports, showed that active people have about 20 percent to 30 percent lower death rates compared to their least active counterparts.
This research, conducted from 2011 to 2015, is among the first to investigate physical activity, measured using a wearable device called a triaxial accelerometer, and a clinical outcome. The device is capable of measuring activity along three planes: up and down, front to back and side to side. These capabilities increase sensitivity to detect physical activity and allow for more precise measurements.
"We used devices to better measure not only higher intensity physical activities, but also lower intensity activities and sedentary behavior, which has become of great interest in the last few years," said I-Min Lee, M.B.B.S., Sc.D., the study's first author and professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard University's medical and public health schools in Boston, Massachusetts.
More than 17,700 women (average age 72) who were asked to wear the device for seven days, when awake, returned their devices. Data were analyzed from 16,741 compliant participants (i.e., their devices showed it was worn for at least 10 hours a day, on at least four days). During an average follow-up of approximately two-and-a-half years, 207 women died.
Researchers found:
· More moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (such as brisk walking) was associated with roughly a 60 percent to 70 percent lower risk of death at the end of the study among the most active women, compared to the least active.
· More light intensity activity (such as housework and slow walking -- e.g., window shopping in a mall), or more sedentary behavior was not independently associated with death risk at the study's end. Researchers stressed this finding does not mean light activity isn't beneficial for other health outcomes not studied here.
Researchers chose this study population to begin addressing knowledge gaps, said Lee who is also an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "Younger people in their 20s and 30s generally can participate in vigorous intensity activities, such as running or playing basketball. But for older people, vigorous intensity activity may be impossible, and moderate intensity activity may not even be achievable. So, we were interested in studying potential health benefits associated with light intensity activities that most older people can do."
The study's participants, selected from the Women's Health Study, were relatively healthy, and mostly white women, therefore the findings may have limited generalizability to other groups of people.
The findings support 2008 federal guidelines and American Heart Association that suggest at least 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity (or a combination of the two) and muscle-strengthening exercises two or more days a week.
"We hope to continue this study in the future to examine other health outcomes, and particularly to investigate the details of how much and what kinds of activity are healthful. What is irrefutable is the fact that physical activity is good for your health," Lee said.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171106085826.htm
One hour of exercise a week can prevent depression
October 3, 2017
Science Daily/University of New South Wales
Regular exercise of any intensity can prevent future depression -- and just one hour can help, a landmark study has revealed.
Published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the results show even small amounts of exercise can protect against depression, with mental health benefits seen regardless of age or gender.
In the largest and most extensive study of its kind, the analysis involved 33,908 Norwegian adults who had their levels of exercise and symptoms of depression and anxiety monitored over 11 years.
The international research team found that 12 percent of cases of depression could have been prevented if participants undertook just one hour of physical activity each week.
"We've known for some time that exercise has a role to play in treating symptoms of depression, but this is the first time we have been able to quantify the preventative potential of physical activity in terms of reducing future levels of depression," said lead author Associate Professor Samuel Harvey from Black Dog Institute and UNSW.
"These findings are exciting because they show that even relatively small amounts of exercise -- from one hour per week -- can deliver significant protection against depression.
"We are still trying to determine exactly why exercise can have this protective effect, but we believe it is from the combined impact of the various physical and social benefits of physical activity.
"These results highlight the great potential to integrate exercise into individual mental health plans and broader public health campaigns. If we can find ways to increase the population's level of physical activity even by a small amount, then this is likely to bring substantial physical and mental health benefits."
The findings follow the Black Dog Institute's recent Exercise Your Mood campaign, which ran throughout September and encouraged Australians to improve their physical and mental wellbeing through exercise.
Researchers used data from the Health Study of Nord-Trøndelag County (HUNT study) -- one of the largest and most comprehensive population-based health surveys ever undertaken -- which was conducted between January 1984 and June 1997.
A healthy cohort of participants was asked at baseline to report the frequency of exercise they participated in and at what intensity: without becoming breathless or sweating, becoming breathless and sweating, or exhausting themselves. At follow-up stage, they completed a self-report questionnaire (the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) to indicate any emerging anxiety or depression.
The research team also accounted for variables which might impact the association between exercise and common mental illness. These include socio-economic and demographic factors, substance use, body mass index, new onset physical illness and perceived social support.
Results showed that people who reported doing no exercise at all at baseline had a 44% increased chance of developing depression compared to those who were exercising one to two hours a week.
However, these benefits did not carry through to protecting against anxiety, with no association identified between level and intensity of exercise and the chances of developing the disorder.
According to the Australian Health Survey, 20 percent of Australian adults do not undertake any regular physical activity, and more than a third spend less than 1.5 hours per week being physically active. At the same time, around 1 million Australians have depression, with one in five Australians aged 16-85 experiencing a mental illness in any year.
"Most of the mental health benefits of exercise are realised within the first hour undertaken each week," said Associate Professor Harvey.
"With sedentary lifestyles becoming the norm worldwide, and rates of depression growing, these results are particularly pertinent as they highlight that even small lifestyle changes can reap significant mental health benefits."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171003093953.htm
The wrong first step to revive athletes in cardiac arrest
September 19, 2017
Science Daily/Elsevier
New research suggests that the main obstacle to an appropriate bystander response during athletes' cardiac arrest could be an apparently widespread myth: that 'tongue swallowing' is a common complication of sudden loss of consciousness that must be avoided or relieved at all costs to prevent death from asphyxia.
About three million people have viewed the YouTube video of the death of American collegiate basketball player Frank Gathers from cardiac arrest during a game in 1990. The sequence of the events clearly shows the that for two entire minutes following his collapse, he received no form of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). New research presented in HeartRhythm, suggests that the main obstacle to an appropriate bystander response during athletes' cardiac arrest could be an apparently widespread myth: that "tongue swallowing" is a common complication of sudden loss of consciousness that must be avoided or relieved at all costs to prevent death from asphyxia.
"As of February 2017, the 'Hands-Only CPR Demo Video' by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the 'Learn Hands-Only CPR' from the American Red Cross had 337,104 and 227,032 views, respectively. These figures shrivel next to the staggering number of views of the videos showing Frank Gathers, who died of cardiac arrest while an entire jam-packed basketball stadium crowd watched in disbelief, without anybody providing any form of appropriate CPR," comments lead investigator Dana Viskin, MD, from the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
To determine whether inadequate responses by fellow team members may well be an unappreciated serious obstacle to successful resuscitation of athletes collapsing with cardiac arrest during competition, investigators reviewed 29 available videos from 1990-2017 of sudden circulatory arrest (SCA), or loss of consciousness. The rescue process of each collapsed player was analyzed with careful attention paid to the first action performed by the first to arrive on the scene. In videos in which the initial intervention was visible, 65% showed actions to prevent tongue swallowing, which included placing the player on his side or tilting his head sideways, and forcefully opening the athlete's mouth placing the rescuer's fingers in the victim's mouth, sometimes with a visible pull at the tongue. Only 38% show chest compressions. Further, a defibrillator was brought to the scene in only two cases, and in one of those, the first shock was not delivered until 10 minutes later. Of the players presenting with cardiac arrest, 36% survived.
According to Dr. Viskin, "The cardiac arrest events of athletes caught on video and available on the internet portray a very disturbing picture of fellow teammates responding to cardiac arrest incorrectly. Prevention and/or 'relief' of tongue swallowing' appears to take priority over chest compression in the majority of video-documented events."
This misplaced priority has also been encouraged by inaccurate reporting by various media, such as a BBC Sports internet article commending inappropriate resuscitation attempts by teammates and medical staff to prevent the athlete from swallowing his tongue as he lost consciousness.
In an accompanying editorial, Peter J. Kudenchuk, MD, of the Division of Cardiology/Arrhythmia Services, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, emphasizes that the initial moments following collapse are arguably the most critical, since all successive emergency actions depend on SCA first being quickly recognized and properly treated. "It is during this time period when the battle for survival can all too easily be lost, particularly if SCA is mistaken for something less immediately life-threatening, therapies are misdirected, or not given at all."
In the past, the traditional approach to resuscitation relied on ABC, or Airway, Breathing and Chest compressions. Although this guideline was revised by the AHA in 2010 to CAB (Chest Compressions, Airway, Breathing), the old technique may still be holding sway. Dr. Kudenchuk notes that the newer guidelines assume that all collapses are due to SCA, and require only two questions to be answered: "Is the patient conscious?" and "Are they breathing normally?" Two "No" answers trigger immediate chest compressions. This "No, No, GO!" algorithm is proving to increase survival where it is being used.
This lag in understanding is of great concern. Dr. Viskin adds, "Since we began our research regarding this topic, at least three more cases had been added to our statistics, including a very recent one, not included in this present study, involving a soccer player in The Netherlands. It is interesting since the world seems to be moving forward in regard to technology, medical equipment, and research, but in a field with media exposure to millions of people worldwide, we seem to be over a decade behind."
While this study focuses on how tragic cardiac arrest might be when it strikes an athlete, Dr. Kudenchuk emphasizes that it also typifies the bystander inaction that occurs in hundreds of thousands of instances of others who fall victim to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year across the globe.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170919090958.htm
Regular exercise, stress can both make a big difference in lupus
Daily activity appears to cut kidney damage from inflammation -- and stress does the opposite
September 13, 2017
Ohio State University
Waking up in the morning with the joint pain, swelling and stiffness that accompanies lupus doesn't exactly inspire a workout. But research in mice and a related pilot study in humans are showing how regular activity and stress reduction could lead to better health in the long run.
But research in mice and a related pilot study in humans are showing how regular activity and stress reduction could lead to better health in the long run.
In the mouse model of lupus, researchers from The Ohio State University found that moderate exercise (45 minutes of treadmill walking per day) significantly decreased inflammatory damage to the kidneys. While 88 percent of non-exercised mice had severe damage, only 45 percent of the treadmill-exercised animals did.
And the researchers think they know why: Several biomarkers known to drive inflammation plummeted in the exercise group.
To take the research a step further, the team wanted to see what happened to those same biomarkers in lupus mice exposed to a well-established animal model of repeated social disruption known to induce psychological stress -- in particular, daily encounters with a stronger "bully" mouse.
The results were almost exactly the opposite -- the inflammatory markers shot up, which caused substantial kidney damage in the mice.
"If we observe similar results in human studies, this could mean that stress reduction and a daily regimen of physical therapy should be considered as interventional strategies to be used alongside current medical treatment," said study senior author Nicholas Young, a research scientist in rheumatology and immunology at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center.
"We may have started to characterize an effective way to reduce inflammation and help people with lupus aside from conventional drug therapy," he said.
Previous studies have supported the idea that physical activity is good for lupus patients, but hard scientific evidence explaining why has been scarce, he said.
Because of that, daily moderate exercise and stress management often aren't strongly emphasized in the care of lupus patients because their roles in controlling inflammation aren't well understood, Young said.
"What you hear a lot from patients is that they're hurting and they don't want to get out of bed in the morning and don't feel like exercising," Young said. "One of the largest hurdles to get over is that it may not seem intuitive that movement will make you feel better, but it does."
The study conducted in mice appeared in the journal Frontiers in Physiology.
To see if these results might apply to humans, Young's research team enrolled a group of lupus patients into a daily tai chi program in a small pilot study. The classes focused on both moderate exercise and stress reduction. Initial results show a significant decrease in some of the same inflammatory biomarkers identified in the mouse experiments and provided enough supporting evidence that the researchers are seeking funding for a larger human trial, Young said.
The preliminary results of the tai chi intervention, called the Stress Moderation Impacting Lupus with Exercise (SMILE) study, were published in the abstract supplement for the annual European League Against Rheumatism conference in June and will be presented at the American College of Rheumatology meeting in November.
"We've shown on a molecular level that both exercise and stress can impact inflammation by regulation of the immune system, which may provide a unique opportunity to help people suffering from the chronic inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases like lupus," Young said.
"If we find consistent benefits in a large group of people with lupus and can standardize a specific regimen, you could almost imagine a prescription for exercise and stress reduction."
Young said that the research findings prompt him to wonder about the potential for similar exercise-induced inflammatory changes in other diseases that affect the joints, including arthritis and gout. Ongoing work in his laboratory will be examining these conditions as well, he said.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170913192955.htm
Contact in sports may lead to differences in the brains of young, healthy athletes
August 22, 2017
Science Daily/St. Michael's Hospital
People who play contact sports show changes to their brain structure and function, with sports that have greater risk of body contact showing greater effects on the brain, a new study has found.
Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital performed preseason brain scans of 65 varsity athletes -- 23 from collision sports (with routine, purposeful body-to-body contact), 22 from contact sports (where contact is allowed, but is not an integral part of the game) and 20 from non-contact sports.
They found that the athletes in collision and contact sports had differences in brain structure, function and chemical markers typically associated with brain injury, compared to athletes in non-contact sports.
Their findings were published online today in the journal Frontiers of Neurology.
Lead author Dr. Nathan Churchill, a post-doctoral fellow in St. Michael's Neuroscience Research Program, said there was growing concern about how participation in contact sports may affect the brain.
Most of the research in this area has focused on the long-term effects for athletes in collision sports, such as football and ice hockey, where players may be exposed to hundreds of impacts in a single season. Less is known about the consequences of participating in contact sports where body-to-body contact is permitted, but is not purposeful, such as soccer, basketball and field hockey.
This study looked at both men and women from a variety of sports, and found progressive differences between the brains of athletes in non-contact, contact and collision sports.
This included differences in the structure of the brain's white matter -- the fibre tracts that connect different parts of the brain and allow them to communicate with one another. Athletes in sports with higher levels of contact also showed signs of reduced communication between brain areas and decreased activity, particularly within areas involved in vision and motor function, compared to those in non-contact sports, such as volleyball.
However, these differences do not reflect significantly impaired day-to-day functioning, said Dr. Tom Schweizer, head of the Neuroscience Research Program and a co-author of the paper, noting that the athletes in this study did not report significant health problems and were all active varsity athletes.
He said this study fills an important gap in understanding how contact affects healthy brains, as a step toward better understanding why a small number of athletes in contact sports show negative long-term health consequences.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170822092215.htm
Being in a sports club is good for mental health
August 16, 2017
Science Daily/Medical University of Vienna
While so-called social networks are booming and Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp have millions of users in Austria, "real" social contacts are perceptibly declining. Researchers have now investigated the effect that being an active member of a sports club has on our health. Apart from the beneficial effect of regular exercise, the main finding of the meta-study is: active membership has a positive effect upon mental health.
Hans-Peter Hutter will present the study this coming Tuesday (22 August, 16-17:30 hrs, Flora Hall) as part of a partner session at the European Forum Alpbach under the title "The sports club as a health driver."
The main health impacts from the 1,685 reviewed papers on the subject of "Sports Clubs and Health" are as follows:
· Being an active member of a sports club during adolescence helps to integrate a person into society "and helps to stop young people from going down the wrong path," says Hutter.
· Active membership of a sports club increases a young person's self-confidence -- "especially in the case of girls."
· Active membership of a sports club has a beneficial effect upon well-being and mental health (e.g. vitality). Says Hutter: "These effects are much greater than those resulting from individually organised sporting activities."
· Members of sports clubs are generally (more) content with their lives.
· Being an active member of a sports club is fun and also provides socialisation. This in turn leads to more regular sporting activities.
· The beneficial health impacts of the social aspect of sports clubs were observed in all age groups and in both genders.
According to the authors (Hans-Peter Hutter and Peter Wallner from MedUni Vienna, Anna Wanka from Vienna University; Christian Gormász, Anna-Maria Wiesner and Rainer Rößlhuber from BSO), medicine often underestimates social aspects and rarely mentions their positive impact upon health -- and this equally applies to sport.
Finally, recent studies have also indicated that an active social life is beneficial in the prevention of dementia. Says Hutter: "Social contacts keep you vital, because you have to respond to your opposite number. This improves your cognitive abilities. Playing sport in a club has general psychosocial benefits -- that is also a unique feature of a group activity."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170816085251.htm