Sports « Weekly Gravy

Teens who are active are doing their bones a lasting favor, Japanese researchers report. “Physical exercise in adolescence affects BMD [bone mineral density] more than 50 years later in older adults,” said lead researcher Dr. Yoshifumi Tamura, a faculty member at Juntendo University in Tokyo. “Our findings can guide the selection of sports played during adolescence for longer health benefits.” The deterioration of bone tissue — called osteoporosis — is a leading cause of falls among older adults, leading to fractures and a need for long-term nursing care. The best time to prevent it is in youth, researchers said, because the body’s ability to build bone mass begins to decline in the 20s. “BMD is difficult to increase once it decreases,” Tamura said in a university news release. “Therefore, it is important to increase peak bone mass during adolescence to maintain BMD in old age.” While other studies have shown that a 10% increase in peak bone mass during adolescence can stave off osteoporosis for up to 13 years, this team wondered what sports activities might help most. In their study of close to 1,600 folks between 65 and 84 years of age, they zeroed in on some key trends. The takeaway: Seniors who engaged in high-impact sports as teens had healthier bones than those who didn’t. Researchers looked at their fitness, blood markers such… read on > read on >

Using marijuana can help folks better enjoy a good workout, but it’s not going to boost their athletic performance, a new study has found. A small group of runners reported greater enjoyment and a more intense “runner’s high” when they exercised after using marijuana, according to new findings published recently in the journal Sports Medicine. But runners also reported that exercise felt significantly more difficult if they were high on THC, the chemical in weed that produces intoxication. “The bottom-line finding is that cannabis before exercise seems to increase positive mood and enjoyment during exercise, whether you use THC or CBD, but THC products specifically may make exercise feel more effortful,” said lead researcher Laurel Gibson, a research fellow with the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Health and Addiction: Neuroscience, Genes and Environment (CU Change). The findings defy the long-held stereotype of the couch-bound stoner, the researchers noted. “We have an epidemic of sedentary lifestyle in this country, and we need new tools to try to get people to move their bodies in ways that are enjoyable,” said senior study author Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Colorado and co-director of CU Change. “If cannabis is one of those tools, we need to explore it, keeping in mind both the harms and the benefits,” Bryan added in a university news release.… read on > read on >

Is that New Year’s resolution to improve your fitness already looking less likely? It can be tough to know where to start, said Benedikte Western, a research fellow at the University of Agder in Norway. “It takes time to develop new habits, but if you’re motivated, it is certainly not impossible,” Western said in a university news release. “As time goes on, your new lifestyle will become more ingrained as a habit and a natural part of your everyday life,” Western added. “You’ll discover strategies that work for you and gain experience in overcoming obstacles.” She offers a set of recommendations to help folks turn intention into action: Assess what you want out of exercise. Some people might want to be in better shape so they can play with their kids or go on a hike with friends. Others might want to reduce stress or improve their sleep. “Start by outlining the pros and cons you perceive in adopting a more active lifestyle. This will empower you with better control over the situation before you commence,” Western said. Find exercise you enjoy. It will be easier to stick to a workout plan that includes activities suited for you, Western said. Take into account your level of motivation, the time you have to spare and the equipment you have on hand. “If bad weather prevents you… read on > read on >

Combining mindfulness with exercise could be the key to managing stress during a potentially turbulent 2024, a new review argues. People who exercise and practice mindfulness meditation together tend to have less worry, stress, anxiety and depression than those who only engage in either activity, according to results from 35 studies involving more than 2,200 people. Mindfulness meditation — in which people focus on being in the moment — can help people better embrace exercise by providing them motivation and helping them look past the temporary discomfort that comes with working out, said lead researcher Masha Remskar, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Bath in England. “Mindfulness is an approach that can help us ‘train up’ the psychological strengths we need to exercise and be more in tune with our bodies, as well as make exercising more interesting and help us recognize its benefits,” Remskar said in a university news release. “This may be because becoming more mindful prompts us to think differently about our lifestyle, [and] makes us more accepting and less judgmental of our own shortcomings, which can help to build healthy habits,” she added. “There is a huge potential to use mindfulness to unlock the positive benefits exercise can bring.” Exercise and mindfulness have been linked separately to improved mental health, but this is one of the first major… read on > read on >

Because athletes young and old can suffer cardiac arrest, some states have mandated the placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in gyms, stadiums and other sports venues. But a new study finds the use of AEDs by bystanders for cardiac arrest at athletic sites didn’t improve much after states enacted these laws. The bottom line: “Legislative efforts alone may not be sufficient to improve bystander AED use,” contend the authors of a study published Jan. 2 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. Recent high-profile cases, such as the collapse on the field of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin exactly one year ago, have placed the spotlight on cardiac arrest among young athletes. Hamlin was lucky enough to receive CPR plus the rapid application of an AED, and has since made a full recovery. Numerous states have enacted laws to have AEDs nearby at athletic venues, should similar crises occur. The new study was led by Dr. Ahmed Kolkailah, a cardiologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. His team analyzed data from a national registry on cardiac arrest events and survival, to track how often AEDs were used in states with or without such mandates. They focused on 13 states that had such laws in place before 2020, and 27 states that did not. A total of 4,145 cases of cardiac… read on > read on >

Still weighing whether to make a New Year’s resolution? Or perhaps regretting letting your healthy habits slide during the holidays? Either way, the American Medical Association (AMA) has ten recommendations to help Americans improve their health in 2024. “It is quite common after the holidays to think about all you’ve eaten or your reduced physical activity and get discouraged,” said AMA President Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld. “But the good news is you don’t have to make major health changes in one fell swoop. You can make small, positive health choices right now that can have long-lasting effects,” Ehrenfeld added in an AMA news release. The AMA’s recommendations for a healthier new year include: Increase physical activity. Exercise is essential to physical and mental health. Adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week. Eat healthier. Reduce intake of sugary drinks and processed foods, instead drinking more water and eating more nutritious whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, low-fat dairy and lean meats. Get up-to-date on vaccinations. Vaccines are available to protect people against COVID, influenza and RSV during this winter’s cold and flu season. Make sure all members of your family have all their recommended jabs. Go to your scheduled health screenings. Millions of screenings for breast, colorectal and prostate cancers might have… read on > read on >

Women are more likely to lose more muscle mass during space flight than men, a new lab study suggests. Females participating in the extended bed rest study lost more leg muscle mass at two months than the men had lost at three months, results show. The findings “suggest that women are more susceptible to weightlessness-induced muscle atrophy,” researchers concluded in their report published recently in the Journal of Applied Physiology. NASA’s decision to diversify space crews in future spaceflight missions means that more women will be subject to the rigors of weightlessness, researchers said in background notes. For example, the agency intends to send the first woman to the moon in 2024, researchers said. To see how space travel might affect health, researchers recruited a group of people to spend extended periods in bed. Men spent 90 days and women 60 days in a bed tilted 6 degrees head down, placing their head below their feet. This simulates the weightlessness experienced while traveling through space, researchers said. Both volunteer groups ate, slept, cleaned up, and performed all other activities in either a head-down tilt or a horizontal position. MRI screenings of the volunteers’ thigh and calf muscles taken before, during and after the trial showed that all participants lost a significant amount of muscle mass in both areas of the leg, the researchers said. However,… read on > read on >

Head injuries related to football might be tied to markers of dementia like brain shrinkage and decreased blood flow to the brain, a new study of former pro and college players reports. The study looked at signs of injury to the brain’s white matter, called white matter hyperintensities. These are caused by reduced blood flow to white matter, which functions as the information highway connecting different parts of the brain. “Studies have shown that athletes exposed to repetitive head impacts can have increased white matter hyperintensity burden in their brains,” said researcher Michael Alosco, a neuropsychologist at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. “White matter hyperintensities are easily seen on MRI as markers of injury of various causes,” he continued in a news release. “We know these markers are more common as people age and with medical conditions such as high blood pressure, but these results provide initial insight that they may be related to multiple aspects of brain damage from repetitive head impacts.” For the study, Alosco’s team compared brain scans of 120 former pro football players and 60 former college players against 60 men who never played football and had no history of concussion. They found that the relationship between white matter hyperintensities and stroke risk was more than 11 times stronger in former football players than in those who never… read on > read on >

Elite athletes who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest might have genetics that make them more vulnerable to heart disease, a new study suggests. Analysis of more than 280 top-level endurance athletes revealed that 1 in 6 have measures that would normally suggest heart disease and reduced heart function, researchers report in the journal Circulation. Those athletes also carried a rich load of genes associated with heart disease, researchers said. “The phenomenon of the athletes’ heart has long been known, but we were the first team to investigate the role an athlete’s genetic makeup plays in their heart function and structure,” researcher Dr. Diane Fatkin, a molecular cardiologist at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney, said in a news release. “What we have found is that there are far more profound changes than thought and that a high number of these athletes do have altered heart function,” she continued. A series of recent near-tragedies on playing fields and in gymnasiums have prompted increased interest in how heavy exercise can affect the hearts of elite athletes. In late July, University of Southern California freshman guard Bronny James – son of Lakers basketball star LeBron James — collapsed from a cardiac arrest during an offseason workout. And Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered an on-field cardiac arrest during a 2022 football game, following a hit to… read on > read on >

Hours plunked down in front of the TV or staring at a phone screen in childhood could bring poor heart health decades later, a new study shows. Finnish researchers say kids who were largely sedentary tended to turn into young adults who battled high cholesterol and other health troubles. “Our study shows increased sedentary time in childhood may contribute to two-thirds of the total increase in a person’s cholesterol levels before their mid-twenties,” study lead author Dr. Andrew Agbaje said in a news release from the Endocrine Society. “This suggests childhood sedentariness may be a major risk factor for elevated cholesterol and subsequent premature heart attack or stroke when individuals reach their mid-forties,” said Agbaje, who is at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio. His team published its findings Dec. 14 in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, an Endocrine Society journal. In the study, 11-year-olds were fitted with activity trackers and were also regularly checked for cholesterol levels. Their health was then followed for 13 years. One main finding: ‘Couch potato’ kids became even more rooted to their sofas as they aged. Average sedentary time rose from 6 hours per day in childhood to 9 hours per day as they became young adults. Agbaje’s group calculate that this lack of physical activity contributed to 70% of the rise in cholesterol over the… read on > read on >