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Regular exercise has long been hailed as a great way to preserve heart health, but could a morning workout deliver more benefits than an evening visit to the gym? New research suggests that for women in their 40s and up, the answer appears to be yes. “First of all, I would like to stress that being physically active or doing some sort of exercise is beneficial at any time of day,” noted study author Gali Albalak, a doctoral candidate in the department of internal medicine at Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. Indeed, most public health guidelines ignore the role of timing altogether, Albalak said, choosing to focus mostly on “exactly how often, for how long and at what intensity we should be active” to gain the most heart health benefits. But Albalak’s research focused on the ins and outs of the 24-hour wake-sleep cycle — what scientists refer to as circadian rhythm. She wanted to know whether there might be “a possible additional health benefit to physical activity” based on when people choose to exercise. To find out, she and her colleagues turned to data previously collected by the UK Biobank that tracked physical activity patterns and heart health status among nearly 87,000 men and women. Participants ranged in age from 42 to 78, and nearly 60% were women. All were healthy when… read on > read on >

Breast cancer survivors may be able to extend their lives, just by taking a brisk walk every day, a new study suggests. The value of regular exercise — including the oft-cited daily walk — is well known. One of the potential health benefits is a lower risk of developing breast cancer. But it has not been clear whether regular physical activity can help people who’ve already had breast cancer live longer. The new findings, published Nov. 17 in JAMA Network Open, suggest it can. Researchers found that among more than 300 women who survived early-stage breast cancer, those who were moderately active were 60% less likely to die during the study period than those who were more sedentary. In fact, those moderate exercisers had the same survival advantage as breast cancer survivors who exercised more vigorously. That’s “good news,” said senior researcher Reina Haque, since it suggests that intense workouts are not necessary. Moderate exercise has a host of health benefits, including helping control blood pressure, blood sugar and body weight, said Haque, a senior cancer epidemiologist with Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena. And the new findings, she said, suggest that women can reap those benefits after breast cancer, too. Breast cancer is highly treatable, especially when caught early. Among women diagnosed when the cancer is confined to the breast, 99% are still alive… read on > read on >

Something — or rather, someone — may be standing between moms and a regular exercise routine: their children. New research from the universities of Cambridge and Southampton in the United Kingdom suggests that fewer than half of mothers met recommended activity levels, a number that was even lower when the children were younger or there was more than one. “It is perhaps not unexpected that mothers who have young children or several children engage in less intense physical activity, but this is the first study that has quantified the significance of this reduction,” said study author Keith Godfrey. He is a professor of epidemiology and human development at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre at Southampton. “More needs to be done by local government planners and leisure facility providers to support mothers in engaging in physical activity,” Godfrey said in a university news release. For the study, the team analyzed data from 848 women who participated in the U.K. Southampton Women’s Survey. The women were aged 20 to 34, and were recruited between 1998 and 2002. The researchers followed up with them over the years. The study found that women with school-aged children did an average of about 26 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. For mothers with children aged 4 and younger, that was an average of 18 minutes per day. Having… read on > read on >

Getting regularly scheduled, moderate physical activity can help extend the lives of people with colon cancer, according to a new study. Exercise is even helpful for obese cancer patients, reducing inflammation and improving the bacterial communities of the gut’s microbiome, the findings showed. “Inflammation is a key process that drives colorectal cancer. We know a high BMI [body mass index] causes inflammation around the body,” explained study co-author Cornelia Ulrich. She’s executive director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City. “Obesity is on the verge of becoming the No. 1 cause of cancer in the United States, surpassing smoking. More than 13 cancers are linked to obesity,” Ulrich said in an institute news release. “It’s important we understand that moderate exercise can help colorectal cancer patients reduce inflammation, improve their gut health, and live longer — even if they are overweight or obese.” Researchers found these benefits for patients independent of their BMI. The study was conducted as part of the ColoCare Study of newly diagnosed colon cancer patients. Researchers in Germany as well as Utah assessed stool samples of 179 patients with stages 1-4 colon cancer enrolled between October 2010 and March 2018. They found that higher physical activity levels were associated with greater gut microbiome diversity, an indicator of a healthy gut. The findings were published in… read on > read on >

Regular aerobic exercise improves blood flow to the brain, which should help keep seniors sharper as they age, a new trial has revealed. At least a half-hour of power walking or jogging four to five times a week promoted better blood flow in and out of the brain among a small group of older adults, said study co-author Rong Zhang. He directs the cerebrovascular laboratory at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, a collaboration between UT Southwestern and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. “The intensity was like if you’re rushing to a meeting where you are 10 minutes late,” Zhang said. “You’re brisk walking, and you feel a shortness of breath.” The brain requires about 20% of the body’s total blood flow to maintain its function as an organ, he said. But as people age, blood starts to flow less freely in and out of the brain, a condition called cerebrovascular impedence. Less blood flow means the brain is receiving lower levels of oxygen and nutrients, Zhang said. It also means that toxins could build up in the brain, since reduced blood flow is less able to carry away waste products generated by the brain’s high metabolism. To see whether regular exercise could help people maintain healthy blood flow to their brain, Zhang and his colleagues recruited 72 people between the ages of 60… read on > read on >

Extracurricular activities may have many benefits for young children, but researchers have discovered racial gaps in who takes part. Among a group of 401 kindergarten students in Ohio, white children were 2.6 times more likely to participate in the most common extracurricular sports than children of other races and ethnicities. The study found similar results for other after-school activities in this age group. “If racial-ethnic minority students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds don’t have access to extracurricular activities at a young age, they may miss opportunities that could help them succeed in school,” researcher Elise Allen said in an Ohio State University news release. She’s a graduate student in educational studies at the university. Other determining factors were family income and mothers’ education. The researchers found that 47% of children whose mothers had a high school equivalent or less education participated in athletics, while 96% of those whose mothers had a graduate or professional degree did. The study was part of a larger project examining children’s learning, achievement and social development in students in pre-k classrooms through third grade. The project is called Early Learning Ohio. While existing research on the benefits of extracurricular activities tends to focus on adolescents, “given the documented benefits for adolescents, we thought it was crucial to examine who is participating at earlier ages and what benefits they might receive,”… read on > read on >

A good workout can boost mood, making it an ideal routine as the days get shorter and darker. If you’re one of the millions affected by seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and you feel tired, unmotivated, down on life and crave carbs and sweets, staying active can help. An expert from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston offers some tips for maintaining an exercise routine. “With seasonal affective disorder, it is desirable to continue to exercise or maybe even increase your exercise,” said Dr. James McDeavitt, a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation. “Relatively sustained aerobic exercise effects mood positively, but you don’t just have to run or do aerobics — you can do things like yoga, tai chi or meditation, which help with symptoms of depression.” Habits are built through consistency, he emphasized. It takes about three months to form one. Taking a winter break will likely cause a person to lose the habit faster than he or she can build it. “You experience low serotonin and dopamine levels in SAD, depression or other conditions, but there is a benefit to boosting neurotransmitter levels through exercise,” McDeavitt said in a Baylor news release. To exercise outdoors safely in winter, wear reflective clothing and a clip-on light that blinks. Leave earbuds at home so you can be more aware of what’s around you, he added. Predictable… read on > read on >

A lot of people will be watching the Super Bowl this Sunday, but not everyone will be equally excited about it. A new study that considered the influence of gender and sexuality on sports fandom found that though 9 of 10 Americans say they enjoy sports at least a little, heterosexual men most commonly identify as passionate fans. In the study, about 60% of heterosexual men reported identifying as passionate sports fans. This was compared to 40% of both heterosexual women and lesbians, while only 30% of gay men reported being passionate sports fans. Data came from the National Sports and Society Survey, which is sponsored by Ohio State University’s Sports and Society Initiative. It was completed by nearly 4,000 adults from all 50 states and participants answered the survey questions between the fall of 2018 and the spring of 2019. Researchers weighted the study to reflect the makeup of the U.S. population. Previously, there hasn’t been good data on how a variety of gender and sexual identities were reflected in the larger sports fan community, explained study author Chris Knoester, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio State. “One of the advantages of the survey data in this study is that it has a relatively large sample of individuals who identify as a sexual minority or as nonbinary in terms of their gender identity,… read on > read on >