When it comes to living a longer life, staying active may matter far more than what the scale says. Per the largest study yet on fitness, body weight, and longevity published recently in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers found that people who are aerobically fit (i.e., how well your heart, lungs, and muscles work together to supply oxygen during exercise) significantly reduce their risk of premature death, even if they are obese. In fact, being fit cut the risk of premature death by half for people with obesity, compared to those of normal weight who were unfit. “This tells us that it’s much more important, all things considered, to focus on the fitness aspect” of health and longevity, “rather than the fatness aspect,” Siddhartha Angadi, senior author of the study and an exercise physiologist at the University of Virginia, told The Washington Post. The review pooled data from 20 prior studies involving nearly 400,000 midlife and older adults from multiple countries, about 30% of whom were women. Participants were grouped based on their aerobic fitness, which was objectively measured through cardiovascular stress tests, and their body mass index (BMI). They also pulled data about who’d died during follow-up periods of up to about two decades. The findings were clear: People who were fit and overweight or obese had similar risks of death as…  read on >  read on >

Movement is medicine, or so they tell people with knee osteoarthritis — but are they right? A recent evidence review calls into question just how helpful exercise can be for easing the pain of knee arthritis. “Exercise probably results in an improvement in pain, physical function, and quality of life in the short‐term,” concluded the research team led by Belinda Lawford, a research fellow in physiotherapy with the University of Melbourne in Australia. “However, based on the thresholds for minimal important differences that we used, these benefits were of uncertain clinical importance,” the team added in its report published previously in the Cochrane Library. The review casts a slight shadow on what has been considered an integral part of therapy for knee pain. “Movement is an essential part of an osteoarthritis treatment plan,” the Arthritis Foundation says on its website, recommending that people take part in strength training, stretching, aerobics, and balance exercises. For the new review, the team evaluated data from 139 prior clinical trials involving nearly 12,500 participants that occurred up through early Jan. 2024. On a 100-point scale, exercise for knee arthritis improved: Pain by 8.7 to 13.1 points Physical function by 9.7 to 12.5 points Quality of life by 4.2 to 6.1 points But while those were significant improvements, they did not always meet established scores for making a minimal important…  read on >  read on >

Exercising now can increase your chances of successfully fighting cancer in the future. Even low levels of exercise provided protection against cancer, a new study published Jan. 7 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows. People were 47% less likely to die from cancer if they’d been engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity prior to their diagnosis, compared to people not exercising at all, researchers found. Likewise, those engaging in light exercise had a 33% lower risk of dying from cancer, compared with none at all, the study says. “Physical activity may be considered to confer substantial benefits in terms of progression and overall mortality to those diagnosed with cancer,” concluded the team led by senior researcher Dr. Jon Patricios, an associate professor with the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. “In a world where cancer continues to be a significant public health burden, the promotion of physical activity can yield important benefits regarding the progression of cancer as well as its prevention and management,” the researchers added. For the study, researchers tracked the health of more than 28,000 people diagnosed with early-stage cancers in South Africa between 2007 and 2022. Breast and prostate cancers were the most common, representing 44% of cases. Researchers compared the patients’ levels of physical activity in the 12 months prior to their cancer diagnosis with…  read on >  read on >

Some standard health tips are timeless, aren’t they? The basics of living a healthy life don’t really change. Get lots of sleep and rest, exercise, and nutrient rich food. Manage stressors and symptoms. But as basic as those rules can be, it is still hard to practice them consistently. What’s more, wellness is more about enhancing your life than following rules. As a new year dawns, UCLA Health experts share some of their most practical and not-always-obvious feel-good advice. Here, seven smart tips from seven different health and wellness experts. 1. Keep Doing the Good-for-You Things You Already Do “Most of what people can do to have a healthy 2025 is not much different than what they could do to have a healthy 2024: exercise; don’t smoke; drink alcohol in moderation, if at all; stay engaged; and keep your mind stimulated. Be decent in every interaction and seek optimism every day. You may not find something to rejoice about but you may find something meaningful that may help others and yourself.” — Dr. David B. Reuben, geriatrician. 2. Honor and Nurture Your Feet “Our feet take a pounding every day, but most of us don’t take care of our feet. Give yourself a foot massage. It’s a simple, easy thing that anyone can do – very low cost, low investment and high yield.  There is a whole body of knowledge about…  read on >  read on >

It’s not fun for folks to admit to their doctor that they’re a couch potato. But such a frank talk could help protect against chronic disease, a new study says. People with the highest levels of physical activity have a lower risk of 19 different chronic health problems, researchers reported recently in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease. Those who got at least 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercise were less likely to develop heart disease, cancer, lung problems, diabetes, and a range of other debilitating ailments, researchers found. On the other hand, folks who got little to no exercise had more risk of chronic disease, results show. Based on these findings, researchers recommend that doctors ask patients about their physical activity, and provide encouragement to those who need to get more exercise. “In our health care environment, there’s no easy pathway for a doctor to be reimbursed for helping patients become more physically active,” senior researcher Lucas Carr, an associate professor of health and human physiology with the University of Iowa, said in a news release. “And so, for these patients, many of whom report insufficient activity, we need options to easily connect them with supportive services like exercise prescriptions and/or community health specialists,” Carr continued. Most U.S. hospitals and health systems don’t bother asking patients about physical activity, researchers said in…  read on >  read on >