If you’ve had a heart attack or are in heart failure, doctors often prescribe cardiac rehabilitation to strengthen your heart.  A new study contends that these programs are also appropriate for folks with the common irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation (A-Fib), and may even help treat the condition. That could be game-changing news: Up till now, some doctors have been reluctant to advise cardiac rehab for patients with A-Fib, worrying that exercise might trigger an A-Fib episode. However, the study’s authors say A-Fib guidelines should now “reflect this updated evidence base, by recommending [exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation] alongside drug and ablation therapies for patients with [A-Fib].” The findings were published July 29 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study noted that up to 12 million Americans are expected to develop A-Fib by 2050.  The condition occurs when the heart’s upper chambers begin to malfunction and “twitch,” triggering more general heart rhythm dysfunction and causing symptoms such as palpitations, chest pain, fatigue, dizziness and shortness of breath. A-Fib can also raise the odds for clots that can cause stroke.   Current treatments involve drugs and an electrical zapping procedure called ablation, to try and correct the dysfunction. A-Fib often occurs alongside heart attack or heart failure — but might cardiac rehab provoke A-Fib episodes? The new study aimed to find out.  It was led by…  read on >  read on >

If you’ve had a heart attack or are in heart failure, doctors often prescribe cardiac rehabilitation to strengthen your heart.  A new study contends that these programs are also appropriate for folks with the common irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation (A-Fib), and may even help treat the condition. That could be game-changing news: Up till now, some doctors have been reluctant to advise cardiac rehab for patients with A-Fib, worrying that exercise might trigger an A-Fib episode. However, the study’s authors say A-Fib guidelines should now “reflect this updated evidence base, by recommending [exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation] alongside drug and ablation therapies for patients with [A-Fib].” The findings were published July 29 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study noted that up to 12 million Americans are expected to develop A-Fib by 2050.  The condition occurs when the heart’s upper chambers begin to malfunction and “twitch,” triggering more general heart rhythm dysfunction and causing symptoms such as palpitations, chest pain, fatigue, dizziness and shortness of breath. A-Fib can also raise the odds for clots that can cause stroke.   Current treatments involve drugs and an electrical zapping procedure called ablation, to try and correct the dysfunction. A-Fib often occurs alongside heart attack or heart failure — but might cardiac rehab provoke A-Fib episodes? The new study aimed to find out.  It was led by…  read on >  read on >

Want to cut your odds of an early death by almost 20%?  Take just 15 minutes out of your day for a brisk walk, researchers advise. While it’s known that regular walking is healthy, the new study suggests maintaining a peppy pace is key. “Individuals should strive to incorporate more intense physical activity into their routines, such as brisk walking or other forms of aerobic exercise,” concludes study lead author Lili Liu of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Recommendations for brisk walking aren’t new. The U.S. government’s Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans says: “To attain the most health benefits from physical activity, adults need at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking or fast dancing, each week.” However, as Liu’s team noted, most research has focused on the health benefits of brisk walking among affluent, white Americans. The new study was published July 29 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and involved predominantly low-income Black Americans living in 12 southeastern states. Nearly 80,000 adults aged 40 to 79 were included in the study. As the researchers noted, many of these people lived in poorer areas with relatively high levels of pollution and few “safe walking spaces.” Study participants were asked how many minutes per days they might spend “walking slowly (such as moving around,…  read on >  read on >

Want to cut your odds of an early death by almost 20%?  Take just 15 minutes out of your day for a brisk walk, researchers advise. While it’s known that regular walking is healthy, the new study suggests maintaining a peppy pace is key. “Individuals should strive to incorporate more intense physical activity into their routines, such as brisk walking or other forms of aerobic exercise,” concludes study lead author Lili Liu of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Recommendations for brisk walking aren’t new. The U.S. government’s Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans says: “To attain the most health benefits from physical activity, adults need at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking or fast dancing, each week.” However, as Liu’s team noted, most research has focused on the health benefits of brisk walking among affluent, white Americans. The new study was published July 29 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and involved predominantly low-income Black Americans living in 12 southeastern states. Nearly 80,000 adults aged 40 to 79 were included in the study. As the researchers noted, many of these people lived in poorer areas with relatively high levels of pollution and few “safe walking spaces.” Study participants were asked how many minutes per days they might spend “walking slowly (such as moving around,…  read on >  read on >

LaShae Rolle, 27, is a competitive powerlifter capable of squatting 441 pounds, benching 292 pounds and deadlifting 497 pounds. Last year, breast cancer tried to derail Rolle’s dreams of going up against the best of the best. But Rolle steamrolled her cancer, keeping up an intense strength training program throughout her treatment. And then she wrote a paper about it. Rolle, a pre-doctoral fellow in public health sciences at the University of Miami, made herself the focus of a first-of-its-kind study documenting elite-level strength training while undergoing chemotherapy, a mastectomy and radiation treatment. The study challenges long-held notions that cancer patients should stick to low- or moderate-intensity exercise, according to her report in the journal Lifestyle Medicine. “Strength training has been central to my identity as both an athlete and a rising lifestyle oncology researcher,” Rolle said in a news release. “During cancer, it became a way to stay connected to who I am and to feel in control of my body and mind.” By the end of treatment, Rolle had kept herself in contention, retaining nearly all the strength she’d built prior to her cancer diagnosis, results show. “I’m proud I kept going,” she said. “Modifying my sessions around chemotherapy cycles helped me keep training safely, and physically, it gave me moments of normalcy even when everything else felt uncertain.” Previous studies have shown…  read on >  read on >

LaShae Rolle, 27, is a competitive powerlifter capable of squatting 441 pounds, benching 292 pounds and deadlifting 497 pounds. Last year, breast cancer tried to derail Rolle’s dreams of going up against the best of the best. But Rolle steamrolled her cancer, keeping up an intense strength training program throughout her treatment. And then she wrote a paper about it. Rolle, a pre-doctoral fellow in public health sciences at the University of Miami, made herself the focus of a first-of-its-kind study documenting elite-level strength training while undergoing chemotherapy, a mastectomy and radiation treatment. The study challenges long-held notions that cancer patients should stick to low- or moderate-intensity exercise, according to her report in the journal Lifestyle Medicine. “Strength training has been central to my identity as both an athlete and a rising lifestyle oncology researcher,” Rolle said in a news release. “During cancer, it became a way to stay connected to who I am and to feel in control of my body and mind.” By the end of treatment, Rolle had kept herself in contention, retaining nearly all the strength she’d built prior to her cancer diagnosis, results show. “I’m proud I kept going,” she said. “Modifying my sessions around chemotherapy cycles helped me keep training safely, and physically, it gave me moments of normalcy even when everything else felt uncertain.” Previous studies have shown…  read on >  read on >