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Women might need a lot fewer daily steps to lower their risk of heart failure than they think, a new study suggests. The usual recommendation is that people get 10,000 steps a day, but women ages 63 and older actually gain solid heart benefits from around 3,600 steps daily, researchers report Fev. 21 in the journal JAMA Cardiology. On average, 3,600 steps a day at a normal pace was associated with a 26% lower risk of developing heart failure, results show. “Accumulating 3,000 steps per day might be a reasonable target that would be consistent with the amount of daily activity performed by women in this study,” said lead researcher Michael LaMonte, a research professor of epidemiology and environmental health with the University of Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions. For this study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 6,000 U.S. women ages 63 and older. Participants wore a motion tracker on their hip for up to seven consecutive days, except for when in water. They averaged nearly 3,600 steps a day. Among these women, more than 400 heart failure cases occurred during an average 7.5 years’ follow-up. The risk of developing heart failure was 12% lower for each 70 minutes a day spent in light intensity exercises and 16% lower for each 30 minutes daily spent in moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity, results show. By… read on > read on >

Junk food increases people’s risk of colon cancer, as well as alcohol, lack of exercise and obesity. Unfortunately, many Americans don’t know about these risk factors for colon cancer, a new survey has found. Colon and rectal cancers have been rising in people under 50 for two decades, researchers said, meaning that many develop the cancer before screening colonoscopies are recommended. “We know that screening colonoscopy saves lives by detecting the disease in its earliest and often precancerous state, but it’s not recommended for a person of average risk before age 45 right now,” said researcher Dr. Matthew Kaladay, chief of colorectal surgery at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. That makes preventive lifestyle habits vitally important for younger adults. Unfortunately, the survey of about 1,000 adults 18 or older revealed that: Less than half (49%) know alcohol is a risk factor Two in five (42%) are unaware that a lack of physical activity is a risk factor More than a third don’t recognize obesity (38%) or a high-fat, processed food American diet (37%) are risk factors Four out of five people did know that family history is a risk factor for colon cancer. Unfortunately, Black and Hispanic people — the groups at highest risk — had the highest lack of knowledge about lifestyle risk factors. Black Americans are more likely to develop and… read on > read on >

An open question for weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound has been whether folks will keep the pounds off when they stop taking them. Regular exercise could be the key to quitting the drugs without regaining weight, a new Danish study says. “It is actually possible to stop taking the medication without large weight regain, if you follow a structured exercise regime,” said senior researcher Signe Sorensen Torekov, of the University of Copenhagen. As little as a couple hours a week of exercise maintained the weight lost with the drugs, researchers found. “Our study offers new hope, as we have shown that the majority of those who take weight-loss medication and exercise regularly are able to maintain the beneficial effects a year after treatment termination,” Torekov said in a university news release. For the study, researchers recruited four groups of test participants. One group was given a weight-loss drug, a second group was asked to exercise regularly and a third group was given the drug and asked to work out. The fourth group received a placebo. The results showed that the exercise groups experienced an improvement in their quality of life. And those taking the drug while exercising kept the weight off once they quit the medication. The new study was published Feb. 19 in the journal Lancet eClinical Medicine. “All it takes is… read on > read on >

Folks can lose weight even if they pack all their weekly exercise into one or two days, a new study finds. Guidelines recommend that people get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous exercise. “Weekend warriors” who condense all that exercise into one or two days each week can lose about the same amount of weight as people who perform shorter sessions across more days, researchers report Feb. 20 in the journal Obesity. That’s good news for people who find it hard to fit physical activity into their daily lives, researchers said. “The weekend warrior pattern is worth promoting in individuals who cannot meet the recommended frequency in current guidelines,” said study author Lihua Zhang, a health care researcher at Fuwai Hospital’s National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases in Beijing. Zhang noted that office employees, bus drivers and other workers who have to sit for most of the workday could benefit from such an approach to exercise. “Those people are struggling to catch up in their exercise plan in daily life to offset the hazard of a sedentary lifestyle but have less free time to get to the gym,” Zhang said in a journal news release. “Our study could offer them an alternative choice to keep fit.” For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than… read on > read on >

There’s good news for females who think that men shed pounds faster than women do: New research shows women get more health benefits from exercise than men, even if they put in less effort. When exercising regularly, women’s risk of an early death or fatal heart event drops more than that of men who work out, researchers found. Over two decades, physically active women were 24% less likely to die from any cause and 36% less likely to die from a heart attack, stroke or other heart event, compared to women who don’t exercise. By comparison, men who worked out regularly had a 15% lower risk of early death and a 14% reduced risk of a heart-related death compared to their couch-potato peers. “We hope this study will help everyone, especially women, understand they are poised to gain tremendous benefits from exercise,” said researcher Dr. Susan Cheng, chair of women’s cardiovascular health and population science in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. “It is an incredibly powerful way to live healthier and longer,” Cheng added. “Women, on average, tend to exercise less than men, and hopefully these findings inspire more women to add extra movement to their lives.” For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 400,000 U.S. adults between the ages of 27 and 61. The data showed that all… read on > read on >

THURSDAY, Feb. 15, 2024 (Health Day News) — Schools that want little girls to get plenty of exercise might want to rethink their dress code. A University of Cambridge study of more than 1 million kids in 135 countries found that in countries where most students wear school uniforms, fewer kids get the 60 minutes a day of physical activity recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). And regardless of schools’ uniform policies, fewer girls than boys are hitting the benchmark in the early grades, the study found. Researchers noted there was already evidence that little girls aren’t always comfortable participating in active play when they’re wearing skirts or dresses. While the new study doesn’t prove that uniforms limit kids’ activity, researchers called on schools to consider whether specific uniform designs might encourage or restrict opportunities to be active during the day. “Schools often prefer to use uniforms for various reasons,” said study leader Mairead Ryan, of the University of Cambridge. “We are not trying to suggest a blanket ban on them, but to present new evidence to support decision-making.” Previous, smaller studies have also suggested that uniforms may be a barrier to physical activity. The WHO recommends young people get an average of 60 minutes a day of moderate-intensity physical activity. The difference in percentage of boys and girls meeting the guideline across all… read on > read on >

Looking for a workout that will chase the blues away? Try walking, jogging, yoga or strength training, which a new study reports are the most effective exercises for easing depression. These activities can be used on their own or combined with medication and psychotherapy, according to an evidence review published Feb. 14 in the BMJ. While low-intensity activities like walking and yoga are OK, the more vigorous the activity, the bigger the benefits, the Australian-led team found. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 300 million people worldwide have depression. While exercise is often recommended, treatment guidelines and previous research differ on the best ways to prescribe it for depression. To learn more, researchers in Australia and Europe looked at 218 randomized trials that compared exercise with other depression treatments. The studies included more than 14,100 participants. They found meaningful benefits when exercise was combined with SSRI antidepressants or psychotherapy, suggesting that working out could be beneficial alongside these established treatments. Researchers reported large reductions in depression for dance and moderate reductions for walking or jogging, yoga, strength training, mixed aerobic exercises and tai chi or qigong. While walking or jogging helped both men and women, women benefited more from strength training and men from yoga or qigong, the study found. Yoga was more effective in older people, while strength training worked best among… read on > read on >

Folks who get regular exercise are less likely to become infected with COVID or develop a severe case requiring a hospital stay, a new study finds. Compared to couch potatoes, adults who adhere to U.S. physical activity guidelines have 10% lower odds of COVID infection and 27% lower odds of hospitalization from it, results in JAMA Network Open show. “This large, unique study in older adults as they navigated the onset of the pandemic provides important support for physical activity in preventing COVID-19 infection and hospitalization that may extend more broadly to enhanced immune function and lessening vulnerability to infections,” senior author Howard Sesso, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Division of Preventive Medicine in Boston, said in a news release. For the study, researchers tracked the health of more than 61,500 older adults involved in three ongoing clinical trials prior to the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020. The participants all reported on their lifestyles and exercise, including the time they spent on activities like biking, walking, running and climbing stairs. Using those self-reports, researchers categorized the participants as inactive, insufficiently active or sufficiently active, based on U.S. physical activity guidelines. The guidelines say that adults should get at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise each week. Examples of moderate-intensity exercise… read on > read on >

Pickleball has become the darling of older folks trying to stay in shape, but new research shows that with that popularity has come a surge in serious injuries. Bone fractures related to pickleball have increased 90-fold over the last 20 years, with most injuries occurring in adults ages 60 to 69, finds a new analysis presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in San Francisco. “Despite its reputation as a low-impact sport, pickleball can pose serious risk for players, especially if they have weaker bones from osteoporosis,” researcher Dr. Kurt Spindler, an orthopaedic surgeon at Cleveland Clinic in Florida, said in a meeting news release. “It’s important to understand your risk profile of injury and to speak with your physician to see how you can lower your risk.” Pickleball, which resembles its cousin tennis, is played with a perforated plastic ball and wooden paddles on a badminton-sized court. It is the fastest growing sport in the country, with the number of players rising from 4.8 million in 2021 to 8.9 million in 2023, according to USA Pickleball. Importantly, the new analysis only looked at fractures, not some of the most common injuries like sprained ankles or damage to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Other common pickleball injuries include rotator cuff injuries, worsening of arthritis and Achilles tendon tears/strains,… read on > read on >

Don’t expect to sweat away the heart risks posed by sugary sodas and drinks, a new study warns. Canadian researchers found that even if the recommended 150 minutes of weekly physical activity protects against cardiovascular disease, it’s not enough to counter the adverse effects of sugar-sweetened beverages. “Physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with sugar-sweetened beverages by half, but it does not fully eliminate it,” said researcher Jean-Philippe Drouin-Chartier, an assistant professor with Université Laval’s Faculty of Pharmacy in Quebec, said in a university news release. Researchers noted that sugar-sweetened drinks are the largest source of added sugars in the North American diet. For the study, they analyzed data on about 100,000 adults who were followed for an average of three decades. Those who consumed sugar-sweetened beverages more than twice a week had a higher risk of heart disease, regardless of their physical activity levels. With daily consumption, the risk of heart disease is even higher, researchers noted. Drouin-Chartier noted that the sugary drinks in the study included sodas, lemonade and fruit cocktails. The study didn’t specifically consider energy drinks, but those also tend to contain heavy doses of sugar. Artificially sweetened drinks were not associated with higher risk of heart disease, the researchers found. “Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages by diet drinks is good, because it reduces the amount of sugar. But the… read on > read on >